Life on the farm - always interesting

[fileen]

fileen, that post just brought back a lot of memories that are actually very pleasant, except for the smell. I know that oily stinky stuff very well...sort of a cross between musk and urine.

After a day of playing with snakes, I'd have to find a sleeping position that kept my hands away from my nose. It was a bad smell but it never stopped me from playing with snakes!

Thanks for that post , haven't remembered that for years.

At first I thought you were going to tell me you have fond memories of jumping turkeys!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

At first I thought you were going to tell me you have fond memories of jumping turkeys!

Do they ever roost in the trees around you? They do here in the late summer and make a terrible racket when they fly into the trees.

 

[fileen]

Do they ever roost in the trees around you? They do here in the late summer and make a terrible racket when they fly into the trees.

Oh yes, they scare my silly dalmation dog right back into the house. She is not very brave! They are really noisy and clumsy fliers, and rarely go more than a few feet up to a tree branch. We usually throw stale bread and such into the front yard (off limits to the dogs) and then we can watch them scratch around bobbing their heads. Occasionally we get a large tom with his big tail on display. My cats are all indoor and line up in the window to watch. We have often laughed about the mayhem that would ensue if one of them ever encountered one of the birds. Two of our cats were bottle fed by hand and have never been outdoors. They think they are pretty fierce when they manage to kill flies and lady bugs. I

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh yes, they scare my silly dalmation dog right back into the house. She is not very brave! They are really noisy and clumsy fliers, and rarely go more than a few feet up to a tree branch.

They have caused me a jump a few times as well!

Something else that we get around here are guineas. They are even worse than turkeys and will scare the bejeezuz out of you if they catch you off guard. I knew a guy who had guineas roosting in his trees. One morning he was walking out of the house with a cup of coffee and on his way to work, when apparently he startled some guineas. They all took off while making a terrible racket that caused him to react in an unfavorable manner: He spilled his coffee all over his shirt and burned himself, fell down porch, and finished with a nose dive onto the driveway. Needless to say, he didn't care for guineas much after that.

 

[fileen]

They have caused me a jump a few times as well!

Something else that we get around here are guineas. They are even worse than turkeys and will scare the bejeezuz out of you if they catch you off guard. I knew a guy who had guineas roosting in his trees. One morning he was walking out of the house with a cup of coffee and on his way to work, when apparently he startled some guineas. They all took off while making a terrible racket that caused him to react in an unfavorable manner: He spilled his coffee all over his shirt and burned himself, fell down porch, and finished with a nose dive onto the driveway. Needless to say, he didn't care for guineas much after that.

That is one hillarious image. I don't think we get wild guineas here naturally, but I've seen them wandering around presumably from other peoples farms. They are popular here at the moment with the organic farming trend for their abilities to manage large populations of insects without damage to plants. We do however get partridge, and they behave in a similar manner. They wait on the ground as you approach apparently terrified, until they decide youve come too close and then they take off with a racket. This is ok if youre on foot, but my poor horse just about melts when they go crashing out on trail rides, especially because they wait for you to get so close before they take flight. We were once wading through the creek when a duck made a similar escape and scared her right out of her wits. We were almost on top of it, and horses tend to be nervous walking through moving water anyways. Now as we approach that creek on trail rides I can feel her pulse quicken and she looks around for ducks all snorty and twitchy.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

That is one hillarious image. I don't think we get wild guineas here naturally, but I've seen them wandering around presumably from other peoples farms. They are popular here at the moment with the organic farming trend for their abilities to manage large populations of insects without damage to plants. We do however get partridge, and they behave in a similar manner. They wait on the ground as you approach apparently terrified, until they decide youve come too close and then they take off with a racket. This is ok if youre on foot, but my poor horse just about melts when they go crashing out on trail rides, especially because they wait for you to get so close before they take flight. We were once wading through the creek when a duck made a similar escape and scared her right out of her wits. We were almost on top of it, and horses tend to be nervous walking through moving water anyways. Now as we approach that creek on trail rides I can feel her pulse quicken and she looks around for ducks all snorty and twitchy.

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the guineas are actually native or not. I know a lot of people around here have them, but they do seem to hang around one house as if domesticated.

Where [about] do you live?

 

[fileen]

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the guineas are actually native or not. I know a lot of people around here have them, but they do seem to hang one house around as if domesticated.

Where [about] do you live?

I live in southern Ontario just off the lake... or at least that's where my family lives. I am a full time student at the University of Guelph, and since I've been taking some summer lab courses I've been stuck in Guelph over the summer. I am not sure about the wildlife in Guelph but it seems to be similar.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Did you grow up on a farm?

 

[fileen]

Did you grow up on a farm?

Sort of... We live out in the country but didnt have any farm animals. We are surrounded by farms but our property is not big enough to keep our horses on it. I spent every day with a friend on her farm riding horses, painting fences and catching frogs in the pond (home- schooled). I took riding lessons, went cow tipping, four wheeling and taught the chickens tricks. It was a nice way to grow up. My dad and I bought my mom a horse when she had her midlife crisis. Now my sisters are old enough to ride with me, so we have too many horses to be boarding them. It costs way too much. My mom and I are waiting for me to get out of school so we can buy our farms together.