Cock-a-doodle-do!

The chickens! Haven't posted about them in a while! I bought ten sexed pullets in May, lost one early on, and ended up with one that wasn't a pullet. Well, in the sense that he is young yes, but definitely not female! He is actually quite pretty, and although I didn't want any roosters to start, as long as he doesn't turn into the typical a-hole rooster, I will keep him. First time he turns those spurs on me though.... chicken salad!
I am getting a door made for the coop, it will have a window in the upper half that can be open or shut for air circulation and a small chicken door in the bottom that can be closed and latched in bad weather. Also on order is a screened window for the back of the building, also capable of being left open or closed.
Here is the whole group. See the rooster there second from the left? The hen standing to the left of him is my favorite, Lucile. She is the only one that has cheek tufts, and her legs are green. She is very brazen, has no fear of me at all. Three have no tails, Araucanas aren't supposed to have tail plumage.
I was sitting here at the computer the other night and heard a chicken squawk. Now this might not have been a big deal but for the fact that it was after sunset and even if it wasn't after their bed time, the chicken coup is way at the end of our driveway. I jumped up, snatched the door open and there stood Cujo, looking proud of herself, standing over my favorite hen (of course), looking up at me, while she (the hen) squawked and scrambled to... well who knows what she was trying to do, chickens are a bit twitchy around dogs. Especially dogs that pick them up and carry them around!
We figured out that Jari had left the protective cover (it keeps the hawks out, and the chickens in!) slid back when she had went to water earlier and my pretty little Lucile had flown the coup! All through her verbal thrashing, Cujo managed to look meek and apologetic. Im still not sure what her intentions were. Obviously she had not needed to bring the chicken up to the porch to eat her, so was she trying to say "Hey! I found this out of its pen, thought I would bring it up here before some 'dog' got it! Here ya go Mom, safe and sound!"

sigh I'll never know.

Moving on to Sheep!
I went to my friend Jen's house to visit last week, ended up helping her coat her two sheep. She had two small coats and offered them to me to use, so I did. Its obvious George is going to need a bigger coat before long. The other, an as yet unnamed ewe lamb out of Honey will be fine for a bit. I had 5 or 6 coats a couple years ago but cant find them, really ticks me off! The prices have gone up, it will cost me about a hundred dollars to replace them. The only other one I want to coat this year is Babs.
I've been working on going to Oregon to visit Laura, go to OFFF over the weekend of my birthday, have got all the details worked out but higher forces may be working against me in this. I will know more later.
This is Honey on the left, the ewe lamb out of her I'm going to keep (coated), and her sister behind her. Honey is really good at turning away just as I snap a picture...
George has already ripped his coat (had it on two days!). Isn't there some kind of guarantee with these things??
These are the last of my lambs; Grace is closest to me, then Harry, the last tunis lamb (looking at the camera), and a tunis cross ewe lamb. Well, there are Honey's two but they are in with the ewes now and I dont think of them as 'loose ends' anymore. Grace and Harry are in with the other two because Harry doesn't do well in with the ewes.

For Sale
I've also been trying to sell my saddle. Pretty sure I wont be needing it again, I doubt I will ever own another horse.
Made by Saddlesmith Saddlery in the '70s, it is in very good shape. It is well made, structurally sound. Its only real blemishes are along the back of the skirt where the rawhide has cracked. I am asking $950 for it but will haggle. If I get full price, shipping is free.

I bought it used and I wanted to find out more about it; when it was made, what type of saddle it is, that kind of thing. I decided on my own that it is a roper (I was wrong), but couldn't find the number on the makers mark anywhere! I called a company that sells Saddlesmith brand and they in turn sent me to their wholesale suppliers.
I talked to three different people before finding someone who knew how to find the information I needed. She looked through her catalogs and told me that not only could she not find the number, but SS hadn't been numbering their saddles like that for years. She went to an older catalog, then an even older one, and finally found the number. She asked me if it had rawhide around the skirt and I excitedly told her, yes it did! She said the saddle was at least 30 to 35 years old, it is a cutting saddle, and that it had sold new for over $1200. Cool! :)