Chick update #3

It's gorgeous outside so we took the chicks out for a few minutes.

Blaze desperately wanted to play with them.  Not that I would ever let her do so, but I honestly think she just wants to play and wouldn't hurt them on purpose.

The chicks are growing like weeds, and are starting to tame a little bit.  I got them to eat mealworms out of my hand today, and they're doing better about being handled. 

I've noticed that their little "voices" are starting to change, too.

We've changed Chaps' name, since both the araucanas are developing tails.  We've decided on the name "Norway," since there's a running joke in the house that The Architect thinks that anything with ear tufts is a Norwegian Forest Cat, and one of the araucanas has very distinct ear tufts.  :)

Oft Overlooked Preps

I think that occasionally some preppers/survivalists overlook a few essentials.  I am no exception.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of going to the dentist, but it's something I need to make a habit of.  It had been a year since my last visit, and upon a visit to a new dentist, it turns out I need some extensive dental work.  Some fillings were decaying, and I was let known that the work was a bit shoddy.

Despite my hatred for getting dental work done, I'd rather take care of it now when it's not causing me problems, than to wait two years down the road when it would be much more difficult and expensive to take care of.  Worse, if the S has already HTF, I'd be kind of out of luck.

Once all this dental work is out of the way, I'll be visiting an eye doctor for what I think is only the second time in my life.  I know I've never had my pupils dilated, and I can't say I'm looking forward to that, either.

But again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and all that.

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As an update, the dogs are doing splendidly now that they are getting 5 or more raw meals per week.  Logan has probably shed two years off of his age already.  He has a marked spring in his step again, and his attitude has lightened.  He's noticeably more affectionate.

...and Logan totally loves the new bed I got him...

I'm doing as best I can with it.  One of the items suggested in the book "Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet" is sardines for Omega fatty acids.  This is not very appetizing to me, and I tend to enjoy eating fish in general.

Another food the dogs have never had is broccoli, which I cut up and put into ground beef.  Thankfully, it has not caused the gastric upset that I anticipated.  I wonder if it's because I'm gradually adding new foods at one item a week.  Next week is spinach.  After that, I'm going to begin adding organ meats.

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The Architect and I went and purchased a knife sharpening kit last night.  I look forward to practicing with it.  I figure since our cheap set of steak knives cannot possibly get any duller, there's nothing to lose with using them as practice.

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I hope everyone is doing well.

Going raw.

On Thursday, I took Logan to have his teeth cleaned, as they were badly in need. His breath smelled like poop and fish, and his teeth were quite tartar-laden.

Logan's had two dental cleanings before, and he loves having his teeth brushed, but he has not-so-great teeth.

In the previous two cleanings, Logan didn't slow down in the least after returning home after being under anesthesia. This time... well, I was honestly afraid I wouldn't be able to get him out of my car by myself, as The Architect was still on his way home from work at the time.


Logan's just not as young as he used to be...


Logan is since doing great, and his teeth are pearly white, and his breath no longer causes small children to run crying to their mothers.

However, Akitas are large dogs, and are therefore not very long-lived (11-12 years), and become "seniors" at a younger age than most other breeds. Between Logan's age (he's 6), and the fact that I don't like putting an animal under anesthesia if I don't have to, I've decided to switch the dogs from a kibble diet to a raw/BARF (biologically appropriate raw foods) diet. Chewing on raw bones scrapes their teeth and helps keep them clean.

I've tried it with Logan when he was much younger, but I didn't research it well, and though Logan did well on the raw diet, I don't think I ever truly got the hang of it.

Blaze and Logan both occasionally get raw beef bones or hamburger as a treat, but I think they'd do much better on a mostly-raw food diet.

Aside from it being better for them, in the case of SHTF, the only thing available for dogs to eat will be raw meat and anything else that can be scavenged.

So, I ordered


to better prepare myself to try the BARF diet again and to make sure I do it properly.

My ripe-melon sniffing dog...

....is, uhm... a little too good at her job.





I was wondering where she got the random beige football that she was kicking around.




*sigh*

Just a pic...

...of Ms. Blaze-dog.




....who is still blowing coat like you wouldn't believe.

It has come to my attention that I Really, Truly, Honestly, FerReals need a compost heap.

This poses several obstacles.

First: where to put the darn thing. I cannot put it in my front yard, since being in Small Suburbia, that counts as Rather Unsightly. So the compost heap MUST go in the back yard.

Onto the subsequent obstacles...

Ideally, the thing needs to go toward the back of the property, since I am convinced it is going to smell, despite various websites telling me otherwise. Part of my brain is whining that it'd be so much easier to have by the back deck for easy disposal of table scraps and egg shells.

Another problem is BlazeDog tends to do things like roll in smelly things, tip stuff over, dig, flail, kick dirt around, etc. She's kind of a goofy kid.



Since I'm not doing a huge garden (yet), I figure the 65 gallon bin from Tractor Supply will probably suffice for my needs.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/redmon-compost-bin-65-gal--1023603

I'll have The Architect drive us up to the Tractor Supply to nab it.

...I'm sure I'll have tons of future stories about my dogs getting into more fights with possoms over this thing...