Photos of Quail babies

On Valentine's Day five baby Coturnix quail hatched. A "surprise" sixth chick hatched on February 17th. Hubby was planning to take the unhatched eggs out of the incubator and saw the little fuzzball running around. It may be hard to see him in the photos, but he is the smallest one. Here is a link to our quail babies. They are almost a week old now, and are already getting wing feathers. They all seem healthy and happy.

http://photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus/

Valentine Babies!

After two failed attempts, we now have five healthy, walking, pooping, chirping, eating and drinking quail babies. They are cute little brown butterballs. Either we are finally getting this incubation thing going, or Fred and Ethel (mommy and daddy quail) are just getting stronger. They run all over their brooder box and are just adorable. I'll post photos of them later.

Coturnix quail are bred for both meat and eggs. The Coturnix hen will lay up to 300 eggs a year, usually in Ethel's case about one a day, sometimes skipping a day. We really have no interest in eating the eggs and will not be killing them to eat or hunting them, but we'd like to have a bunch of quail at the farm to enjoy. These little quail have very sweet sounds and are not too flighty. So, we just incubate what she lays and hope we'll get a few babies in the process. We do need to get some eggs from another location to keep these little guys from inbreeding too much.

House update: The wallpaper should be finished today. The builder has been hanging lights, so the house is getting its character. Its very colorful. John's room is adorable and the wallpaper in the downstairs bath is really pretty.

They put in the pipe for the propane tank yesterday. We have to get a mail box, because we are actually getting mail. We also should be having the final concrete flatwork done, probably nextw week.

Chickens, quail and others, oh my!

I haven't talked much and have never introduced our newest additions to the farm family. Right before Christmas, we adopted a pair of Coturnix (Pharoah, Japanese) quail. This pair had been living with a lady who loved birds, but found she just couldn't take care of them anymore and was interested in giving them to someone who would be willing to incubate their eggs. Coturnix hens are prolific layers, usually laying one egg a day. We've had two hatchings (6 babies) of their eggs, but sadly none of the babies have survived. Tomorrow starts our third round, so hopefully by Valentines Day we might have some babies that will be strong enough to survive. Around the time of the first hatching, our friend contacted us about a pair of chicks that someone brought to her door. She asked us if we'd like to have them, so we brought them home and housed them with the quail until they got so big they were in danger of hurting them. They are now outside in the duck pen. We've named them Thomasina and Henrietta. The two quail are Fred and Ethel. I have a few photos of the chicks online at the following link - http://photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus/?action=view&current=henrietta.jpg
I still need to take updated photos of Fred and Ethel. They are looking tons better that they did when we brought them home.

This weekend, we are also expecting to receive about twenty-five quail from a rescue operation in California. The birds are just a small number of over 5,000 quail that were found in deplorable conditions at a slaughter house there. They are coming by van to deliver the birds to us. So, we have to get cracking on building pens for the ducks, quail and chickens. It has been a fun month or two, we hope everything will go smoothly when we move to the farm.

House update: Our granite countertops are in and are very pretty. The type of granite is Volga Blue and is very dark blue with peacock color blue shiny pieces randomly through it. I have yet to take a photo of it that shows it to its best advantage. In fact, that is one of the reasons I don't have current photos of the painted rooms yet on the blog. Its very hard to get good pictures of vacant rooms, especially in small spaces, so I'm goint to try to work on them. Charles has laid the floor in the master bedroom and hallway. It's looking really pretty. John's room is adorable and the two upstairs baths look great, just the way I thought they'd look. The master is still missing the clawfoot tub though. It will be installed with the rest of the plumbing fixtures. I meet with a wallpaper hanger on Monday, so hopefully we will have all the wallpaper finished next week.

Four Things Meme

I was tagged here

Four jobs I've had:

1. Ice cream shop
2. Bank Teller
3. Museum Curator
4. Mom (the best job)

Four places I've lived:

1. Dallas Metroplex
2. Colorado Springs, Colorado
3. Brazosport area, Texas
4. Lubbock, Texas

Four websites I visit daily:

1. Yahoo Groups (Moms, Chickens, Pets, etc)
2. Ebay
3. Soapcentral.com
4. Google (I look for info on lots of different stuff, right now mostly house or kid related)

Four television shows I love to watch:

1. 1. Desperate Housewives
2. Greys' Anatomy
3. Extreme Home Makeover
4. All My Children

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Chicken Fried Steak
2. Sliced tomatoes
3. Enchiladas
4. Seafood

Four albums I can't live without (at least for the moment):

I'm terribly boring and can't remember the last one I bought, probably kid related though.

1. The Wiggles Big Red Car (when we're in the big red truck)
2. Styx Paradise
3. Phantom of the Opera
4. Les Miserables

Four DVDs I can't live without (at least for the moment):

1. Anything Thomas the Tank Engine
2. Phantom of the Opera
3. Gone with the Wind
4. Showboat

Four places I'd rather be:

1. Grand Canyon
2. Colorado
3. Mountains
4. London

Four people I am tagging to do this meme are:

I don't know anyone else that does blogs, so I'm sending it to my book club and my mom's group.

This little exercise really shows you how boring my life really is.

Starry, starry night

Yesterday, we had the first party at the new house. My son turned 4 on Wednesday, February 1st. Its hard to believe four years have gone by. We had mostly family over and his best friend. They seemed to have a blast. One of the nice things about living out there is it is great for kite flying, no trees, houses to crash against. We gave John a huge dragon kite and after a little bit of tweaking he was flying it really good. After dinner, we went back down to the house. As we got out of the car, I looked up at the sky. It was clear and you could see stars everywhere. It was so beautiful, quiet and still. We went up to John's new room and looked out his window to see the moon. Many people have wondered why we want to live so far out from town. This is definitely one of the benefits. I can't remember being able to see stars like that from my home, and the moon is usually behind the trees.

House Update: We now have a septic system and one flushing toilet. Wood flooring is being laid. I will be meeting with wallpaper installers sometime this week and we will be purchasing all of the hardware (door, cabinet, bathroom), and the last of the lights. We hope to be moving in by the end of February.

Painting!

Well, the upstairs has been painted. John's room turned out so cute. Charles built a window seat with bookshelves on both ends, painted it white and the rest of the room is blue. We also have tile in John's bathroom, the laundry room and partially in the master bath. I think the paint looks great, Charles isn't so sure. They should start staining the kitchen cabinets by Monday. The electricity lines were dug so we now have real electricity running to the house. The septic system is another story. We're trying to get a conventional or low drip pressure system instead of an aerobic system and are having trouble finding someone who will install it for us. Seems to be too much rock where they're drilling and they seem unwilling to drill in a different location. We're hoping that we will at least have a flushable toilet installed for John's birthday party in two weeks. Its not looking too good right now. Hopefully, things will pick up.

Glory be! We have thunder bumpers going on. Some much needed rain is falling as I type. We've been blessed with good weather during the house construction, but Texas is sorely in need of this rain.

Recent Photos - stairs, cabinets, fireplace

Here are photos of the fireplace, stairs and kitchen cabinets. The painter starts tomorrow. We have have set up a phone line, electrity and propane services, which have yet to be installed. Still waiting on septic, flatwork and the final plumbing and finish out.

Showers and cabinets!

Friday the showers were installed in the master and downstairs bathrooms. We used cultured marble and they really look nice. Hubby wanted something that really looked like marble, so we chose "walnut swirl" for the master and "grey swirl" for the downstairs bath. Our cabinets have also been installed. Here are photos of the vanities for the master bath. I will post photos of the kitchen cabinets when I can get photos made of them. The stairs will be installed on Monday and the painter should begin painting by Wednesday.

Happy New Year!

We celebrated last night with family at our house. We played board games and just had a good time watching John enjoy himself. My parents bought blowers with balloons, noisemakers and party poppers. John got a kick out of these. We started the tradition last year and hope to continue it in the years to come.

We finally selected our wood for the floor at the house. We bought Bellawood Brazilian Mesquite. Its really pretty. It has a golden tone, but also some red in it. We plan to match the color when staining the kitchen cabinets, doors and trim. We're still discussing the tile in the rest of the house. We also have selected wallpaper for the kitchen and dining room and are going in the right direction for the downstairs bathroom.

My baby will be four years old a month from today. It's amazing how time flies.

Well, have a Happy New Year.

Suze

Christmas and stuff

Christmas this year seemed more of an afterthought in our family. We've been running crazy for the past few months trying to get all the decisions made for the house and its still continuing. Plus, everyone has been sick off and on for the last couple of months, my mom, John and I lately. But, we had a very nice time with family. Santa brought John lots of great things, his favorite being a "Doodle Thomas" or Aquadoodle. He's also already broken a few of his items. His Channel 11 helicopter got caught in Miss Piggy's hair and it fried the motor, he had a case of the intentional dropsies and broke the battery casing on his North Pole train. But, he's having a good time. Santa's biggest goof, the Limited Edition Fire Truck pedal car, has really got his attention, especially the bell and horn.

Trimming the house is continuing. Almost all of the doors are hung, and they are waiting on the cabinets to finish some of the other trimming. All of the debris has been discarded from around the house. We're still in limbo on the wood, tile and marble for the entry. But, everything's coming around.

We have a couple of new additions. I adopted a pair of Coturnix quail from a lady who wanted them to have a home that might be interested in incubating their eggs. So, we are now the proud owners of Fred and Ethel. We got our incubator yesterday and currently have 4 eggs inside. We'll see how it does. Hubby wants to raise quail, ducks and chickens out there, so this gives us a small start. Of course the family thinks we're crazy, but they've always thought that.

Finally, a brick house!

Well, the brick has finally been laid. It took three additional loads of brick, and lots of wall tear downs, but it's done. The bricklayers did less than good job. It probably won't look too bad to the average person, but there are alot of imperfections in the job.

The bedding and texturing has also been done. Also, the fireplace has been installed. Charles is helping the builder trim the house - hanging the doors, base trim, window trim, etc.

Here are some photos of the brick. The exterior of the house still lacks paint on the porch, shutters, final doors and flatwork (concrete around the house).

Lost another one - I can't wait for this year to end!

Tonight I lost my first pet that I had as an adult outside of my parent's home. Well, make that the second. This little bird was a replacement for a cockatiel that flew out our back door in February, 1985. Tonight I lost one of my best friends, my Frisco, a Cinnamon Cockatiel. Upon reflecting on his long life, I realized he made it to his 21st birthday. Quite a feat for a cockatiel. But, then Frisco had almost as many lives as some cats do. He probably should have died, or came close to dying at least two times. He had two wives, Roxie and Stormy, that he truly loved. And he left behind two sons that he taught how to wolf whistle and his own special form of whistling. He also has lived in every place I've lived - Dallas area; Lubbock, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado and Lake Jackson, Texas. His final resting place will be on the farm with the other animals we've lost.

This photo shows a one year old Frisco with a one year old Chloe (cat, died 2000) and his first wife, Roxie. Frisco has the yellow face.

We have lost so many pets this year - Poodah, Hayley, Jausenclaus, Lord Nelson, Nemo and now Frisco. I'm glad there are only a few days left in the year. Surely, 2006 will have happier times for us.

Brick!!!!....Finally!!!

News Flash! They started laying the brick this morning. It was a very, very windy day with temps in the 40's when I was down at the house this afternoon. We do have a problem. The number of bricks was underestimated, so we are going to need another 4,000 to finish the house. We had a little over 11,000 to start off with. The person who estimated it did a bad job. The brick layers will install all the brick probably tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't take another 6-8 weeks to get the new brick in and the color will not be off. The interior doors were purchased today also. They will start trimming out the doors tomorrow. The bedding and texturing is on hold until the "mud" dries. It has been pretty cold and moist, so it still hasn't dried from last week.

Tuffy in the tree

BRRRRRRRRR!!

It's cold out there! Not much has been done with the house this week. The sheetrock has been taped but the bedding and texturing was supposed to start yesterday and its too cold for them to do it. We bought the vanity for the downstairs bathroom. We got a display and quite a discount on it. There's a little loss of finish on one of the legs, but it can be covered with a furniture pen. I've been going over and over trying to decide on the wallpaper for the kitchen. Just can't decide between roosters, floral or fruit. The lights we plan to use are stained glass and the pattern name is Tuscany, which means there are grapes on them. So, if we can incorporate grapes we're doing okay. We're also trying to make final decisions on the floors, do we want wood, tile, marble or what. We're getting close, but haven't finalized anything yet. I've told my mother, nothing is final until its put on the floor. Of course, then I worry and worry about whether we've chosen the right thing or not. It's seems I can't make any decisions without "buyers remorse", no matter how good or bad the decision is.

We've put some lights up outside and put up our tree inside, but our monster kitten won't leave me alone long enough to put on the ornaments. I've almost decided to not put any on. Every time I touch the tree, he comes running and climbing. (I've tried twice to post photos, but it is not letting me, so I'll try again later.) Tuffy's so cute, but he's totally full of it. He even divebombs our Corgi and Cocker Spaniel. They seem to love playing with him.

We have walls! Well, sort of. Here are some photos.

Here are some photos of areas that you can kind of tell what they are.
1. looking up stairs 2. family room with fireplace 3. looking into dining room 4. looking from dining to parlor 5. Finished porch post and rails (still need paint) 6. Kitchen

Walls!!!!! Sheetrock goes up tomorrow!

Well, if the people show up tomorrow, the first walls should be going up. The sheetrockers are coming! Yippee! Now if we could just get those bricklayers, we'd be doing much better. Our builder has replaced the straight wooden pieces with 3" turned posts on the porch and it looks so much better than it did. They really go with the larger posts. So, if we ever get the brick on, I'll share photos of that when it happens.

I met with the cabinetmaker today and we finalized measurements and plans for the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room cabinets. We're using maple cabinets with a rope detailing on the corners and in the crown molding. I think its going to be really pretty. We still have to decide on our range hood though. I really want a wooden "mantle" style range hood, but we have no way to vent it to the outside, so we may end up changing plans for that. If we do, we'll just put a microwave hood up there. I was hoping to "hide" the microwave in the pantry, but it may not be the best place for it.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm going to try to get the Christmas decorations up either tomorrow or this weekend, if the kiddo and kitten will cooperate. It's going to be all plastic, cardboard or fabric on the tree because of Tuffy. I wonder how long it will take for him to climb to the top? He can't knock it over because it is a 4' tree with a base tied to a table, so it makes it extra sturdy.

Happier thoughts and animal plans

I don't know what came over me on the last post. But, its nice to get my feelings out somewhere. We've had something cool happen at the farm. Some people may not feel its so cool, and I don't know what's going to happen in the future. But I think its pretty neat. A beautiful barn owl is roosting in our garage. I haven't seen it face to face, but have seen it fly away. A beautiful golden tan with white underneath. Apparently he got trapped this morning and spent the day inside the house in the rafters. Our builder told us about him and that he had a very pretty face. He left the window open for him so he could escape when he wanted to. I was hoping I'd get to see him, but he wasn't there. One of the nicest things about the farm is to see the falcons and hawks flying behind the house. Once we move there and they bother us, we might not like them so much, but I love seeing them soar in the air.

I haven't talked about what we plan to do with the farm, so I thought I'd just mention a little of our plans. I've joined a few yahoo groups to get firsthand information on the different animals we're interested in, chickens, miniature cattle, goats, etc. I want to be able to have animals that we don't have to kill to have use of them. I just don't think I can take care of an animal, then put it in my freezer. I love chicken, steak, etc. but we'll have to sell or give away problem animals. One of the animals I'd really love to have is a llama. My husband and I stayed on a llama farm during a vacation to Colorado and loved it. The llamas are so beautiful and sweet, but they require a lot of work and I don't know how they can stand up to the Texas heat. So, we'll see.

My husband is also interested in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). He's been researching that and thinks it might be viable for a small area on the property. I don't know how we're going to manage all these animals and take vacations though. That's one of our favorite pastimes. We want to travel a lot and show my son our beautiful country and history. I guess we'll figure that out when it happens.

We still haven't got a brick layer out there yet! Ugh! The brick has been there for almost a month, but all the people our builder has called are already working on jobs. Very frustrating. The high winds this past weekend have wreaked havoc on the Tyvek housewrap that is supposed to protect the house from moisture. But, they do plan to put in the insulation tomorrow. Everything was caulked today in preparation. I guess we should be thankful we've gotten this far without too many delays. I just hope it starts picking back up soon. It seems like Thanksgiving week has zapped the energy out of the place.

Ode to Nemo - our goldfish - and our other pets we've lost

I am very sad tonight. We lost our little fantail goldfish, Nemo, today. He was such a beautiful little fish and loved to come up and see you when you sat next to his aquarium. We got Nemo for Valentines day for my son on February 15, 2004. He started out in a little fishbowl, then we got a 5 gallon aquarium for him. About a year ago, we got him a companion goldfish who my son named Charlie (after his big sister). We have lost so many animals this year, not just here but in my extended family as well. I thought we were in the clear because all of the sick animals have passed away. It was quite sudden that Nemo left us. We started noticing some things going wrong on Thanksgiving, his eye had clouded over and his gill was showing more than normal. He has had a loss of gill due to a gill fluke for a long time, but it seemed worse this week.

As we get closer to moving to the new house, I can't help but reflect on the pets that I have loved and lost as I've lived in my home. In January, I will be in this house 12 years. When I moved in I had 3 cats - Chloe, Shelby and Jausenclaus, one puppy - Tara (Cardigan Welsh Corgi), 2 cockatiels - Frisco and Stormy and 1 parakeet -Nigel. Shortly after I moved in, Nigel died. I missed the sound of parakeet voices, so I bought a pair of parakeets - Charlie and Hayley. Shortly afterward, I added another Cardigan Welsh Corgi to the menagerie, Cincie who was a retired show dog and Tara's grandmother. She was the most wonderful dog in the world. In the first part of 1995, Frisco and Stormy decided that being together alone for six years was not good enough. They began a family and hatched 2 male babies - Uno and Dos. This was the only time that they ever did this. My little menagerie stayed pretty stable until I married, although Charlie died in November of 1996.

I married in May of 1998 and my husband brought his houseful of animals to live with us - 3 dogs, Poodah, Tipper and Dax; 1 cat - Tiger; 1-rabbit - Bunny. We also bought an English parakeet to be with Hayley shortly after we married. This was quite an adjustment for the whole family. It soon started downhill when Chloe started having kidney failure in 1999.

Since February 2000, we have lost about one pet a year - Chloe (2000), Stormy(2001), Cincie(2002), Shelby(2004). This year the numbers have escalated, we've lost Poodah, Hayley, Jausenclaus, Lord Nelson and now Nemo. Family members have also lost cherished pets in the past 2 years, Lancelot (Akita), Ferrari (cat), Cymbah (cat) and Marvin (cat).

The upbeat to all of this loss, is the wonderful memories we have of all of the animals. If Frisco lives through February of 2006, he will be 21 years old, Tara and Tipper turn 13, Uno and Dos turn 11, Tiger just turned 8, Dax (approximately 10), and Tuffy who is just a kitten. We have a lot to be thankful for these animals. I just am thankful that they all allowed us to share our lives with them and love them for the special creatures they are.

So as we leave this house that has been a home of great joy with the animals, I can reflect back on my memories of them and my life here with them. My greatest joy also came to me here, my dear little boy, John.

Thank you my dear home for sheltering my family and critters for 12 years. I am going to miss you.

Update - November 25

Well, its been pretty slow with Thanksgiving yesterday. A lot of things will be happening next week, delivery of heater units and fireplace, hopefully brick laying, insulation and sheetrocking. The sheetrock was delivered late Tuesday. We are also making arrangements for propane, and one of my jobs is to get in touch with the phone company to find out what's needed to establish service.

Tuesday, we met with our cabinet maker. We're getting maple cabinets with a rope design on the edges and moldings. We're probably going to go with a granite counter top in the kitchen and have chosen "blue pearl". I really like it, there is a lot of mica in it that shimmers, and although blue it is not as dark as a green or black, somewhat of a blue-gray color. We will meet with him out at the house on Thursday to finalize plans.

We have been having intruder problems (two and four legged) and found one on the farm this afternoon. Left the house to go through the garage and surprised an owl that has been roosting in the rafters of the garage. He was really pretty, light tan on top with white underneath. You could see recent remnants of his meal also. At least he got most of it eaten before we surprised him. He's one of a pair that surprised Hubby in the middle of the night when he was staying down there a few weeks ago.

Thanksgiving was at our house, probably the last we'll spend here. It was okay, but none of the family have really been in the mood for celebrating. My mom has been sick for a while and so have all of us here, so we just had a small family get together here. My brother's birthday was today so we celebrated for him yesterday. He has a memorable birthday, born on the day Kennedy was buried, so he is always reminded of that when his birthday rolls around. He has started his own blog at http://ensigneddie.blogspot.com

Hopefully, there will be more to see so we can post more photos next week. It looks like we won't be in the new house before Christmas, so we'll be celebrating here for the last time this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Suze