Animals

Last night I was putting Fiona to bed when she commented on the rhythmic shrill cheeping coming from the basement. At first she thought it was some sort of electronic alarm. “Oh, it’s just a chick,” she said, after listening

For now they’re either named 10, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20 and 22 or else Pip, Peep, Poop, Chip, Cheep, Choop and Lamarr. That’s Lamarr/22 in the bottom right. He’s the smallest, having just hatched out last night, while Pip/10

The Chick Formerly Known as Egg 13 hatched just as we headed off to the regional Suzuki Celebration Concert this morning. We were able to watch him emerge from his shell and snap a photo of him in a state

Yesterday just before the choir concert we noticed that Egg 12 was moving about and peeping. By bedtime it had a small crack and pip hole. We were pretty sure that we’d have another chick by morning. And indeed …

I was at work this morning when the ‘back door’ phone rang in my office. I excused myself, explaining to my patient that my younger kids were home alone and that I needed to answer the phone which they knew

We made a very primitive egg-candler out of an office lamp, some duct tape and a piece of cardboard. It doesn’t give a very good light seal, but we’re using it as best we can. There is a stark difference

Last fall we acquired a lovely Ameraucana rooster from some friends of ours, a quiet complacent guy named “Peepee” (or “pp” as in musical “pianissimo” since he has a quiet and infrequent crow). We’d had bad luck with roosters —

Limpet is turning out to be a really good learner. She walks beautifully on-leash now, will sit, lie down, stay, leave it (restrain herself from eating a treat or similar enticement placed on the floor) and come. We’re now trying

We have a very popular game here these days. We throw the Kong dog toy somewhere out the front door. Limpet, who has a great nose but isn’t very clever yet about following aerial trajectories with her eyes, then goes

I’d have to say that Limpet is working out okay in our family. Ya think?

At least there’s one of us in this family who makes her bed. The rest of us — well, our bedrooms are small, cold and uninhabited during the day, so we figure what’s the point? But our dog has better

I’m glad this isn’t how it goes when the kids have playdates.