Donny Osmond

After watching the video White and Nerdy for my theme song paper over and over. I was cracking up at watching Donny Osmond in the background dancing. Then I remembered him dancing to one of my favorite songs 'You Spin me Right Round' on dancing with the stars. So I looked him up on youtube and watched it, then remembered he won that year. So I ended staying up until past 2am watching him dance. He is so great! I love how he is so full of energy and enjoys himself. I love him!

Here's a good one. Although I really love all his dancing.



After looking him up on Wiki, I also found he sung on one of my favorite disney movies! Mulan! He sings 'I'll make a man out of you.' You knew? I love that song. haha.


Wow he is so awesome. Just look him up. *goes back to watching videos*

Silkie Chickens

What is one of the world's dumbest, and cutest birds of all time?

It would have to be Silkies.

Silkies are a type of chicken. They are a bantam, which means they are a miniature breed. The are meant for showing, and pets, not for major egg laying.

Instead of feathers like most chickens, their feathers resemble fur. Making them very soft, very fluffy, and very silkie. Silkies are extrememly cute. But their skin is black, and they have 5 toes instead of 4. They are actually a very ugly bird, with pretty feathers. There are two different catagories of silkie. Pets and Show birds.

Pets are very very ugly, they don't have a lot of fluff, so you can see their skin, and they just look scraggly. Most if not all silkies you will see are just pet quaility.

But the show ones are very beautiful! Their crests (the fluff around their head) get so big, they have trouble seeing and doing things like normal birds.

Because of selective breeding over time to make their crests bigger their brains are not inside their skulls. They have no skull on the top of their head, and their brain is only covered by skin. So a light tap on the head gives them brain damage and they die.

You can see in the picture of their skull how the top is open.

This combined with their low sight makes them one of the most fragile birds in the world.

Because good show silkies are so fragile, and because they don't lay many eggs, they are very rare. Making them a very expensive pet.

I used to hate them, but over time I grew to love them and dived into the venture of breeding them.

I've bought birds from across the country, and spent way more than I care to think about.

I have two nice flocks now. But I'm still trying. It hasn't been easy. I've lost more birds, than I have. If they get stressed or pecked in the head they get brain damage and get a condition called wry neck. They neck bent backwards, and they can't eat or drink, and they just flop in circles and eventually die.

I've had to force feed with an eye dropper several birds for months on end. They also have to take steroids. (Try explaining that one to the vet) Out of the ones I spent months working on I've saved maybe 2, out of at least 6 times that many.

They have to have special housing, and they really can't go outside very much. They stay inside most times. You have to make sure they can see enough to eat, by putting their crests in little pony tails.

To sum it up, they are a pain in the butt. I don't know why I still have them. After watching hundred dollar birds after bird die from stupid reasons.

But they are beautiful!Have I made any money back?

Nope. Not yet. They don't lay enough eggs to sell to hatch. And It's hard to raise birds old enough to sell.

I had 4 beautiful birds to sell in a couple weeks. They are like 6 months old. Despite all odds I got them to make it to adult hood where they are more hardy.

Of course I worked late last night so my mother took care of my pets.

What does she do. She lets them outside where they have never been before. And thinks they will just go back in their house at night. o.O

Well they are dumb as rocks, and of course they don't.

So I wake up in the morning and go feed. And find them outside in the pouring rain, gasping for life.

I could have killed her.

I rushed them inside and blow dried them. Luckily 3 seem like they are okay. The fourth was a little hen that I just saved from wry neck a few weeks ago and still hadn't recovered her strength yet. She is barely hanging on, but she is laying down, eyes closed, and I don't have much hope of her living.

Gr. Darn it. All my work. *bangs head on desk* I was so close to selling one. lol Then mom had to go and kill it.

The blue one on the right is the one that is on the edge of death. Such a pretty bird too....

I still don't know why I have these birds. lol

I guess they are just too cute to resist.

*crosses fingers that she makes it*

Dogs

In case everyone doesn’t know I am obsessed with animals! I mean for real. I have way too many but that is a different story. Anyway, I have an entire farm full of beloved pets, but there is one thing that is missing for a true farm setting.

A Dog.

Growing up I never had many friends. I’m sort of one of those weirdos that are no one likes because I’m quiet, and prefer animals and books to people. Well my best friend was my dog; Brutus.

He was a Toy Poodle that I got when I was pretty young, when my grandma’s dog had puppies. I loved that little stinker, we did everything together. One of my few gifts is the ability to train animals, any kind. I know everyone says their dog is one of the smartest there is but he really was. He knew tons and tons of words and tricks. He could act out entire scenes. An example:
I would tell a little story about an army guy. Brutus would walk on his back legs, and I would go bang, bang with my finger pointing at him like a gun. He would drop to the ground and army crawl across the floor, until I pretend shot him again. Then he would roll over, and twitch back and forth for a few seconds then take a deep breath, close his eyes and freeze. It was hilarious, and we had to acted out perfectly.

He knew how to give high fives, high tens (with both feet), shake, roll over, sit, walk on back feet, pull little wagons, dance, clean up his toys, open drawers, speak, we even did agility courses. He also knew all kinds of words. Cheese was his favorite treat. If I said that he would run to the fridge and wait patiently for me to get him out a piece. We shared a kraft single every day when I got home from school. He knew exactly when dad got off work, or I would get home on the bus. And when it was about 5 minutes till he would wait by the front door. If you said ‘catch a fly fly’ he would run around the house and track down every single fly and kill them.

Every year he would go trick or treating with me, and we would wear matching costumes. We have done:

A cowgirl and a cow, hippies, angels, little bo peep and sheep, one year I even dyed him blue and we both went as eeyore.

A few years ago; a couple days before my 15th birthday. We were in the process of moving from our neighborhood home to our current farm. We had been staying at our new house, and only came home twice a day to let Brutus out. We were busy, and I hadn’t given him much attention in a couple weeks. He was sad, and sulked around most of the time. But it was only going to be for a little while. We finally decided it was time to bring him to the new house with us. And I felt so bad that I hadn’t spent enough time with him. So I went to walmart and bought a whole bunch of toys and treats. I came home, grinning from ear to ear, and called and called for my little friend. But he was nowhere to be found. We searched, and I found him. Laying up on the side of the highway squashed.He must of snuck out the door when we were moving boxes or something. It was one of the worst moment of my life. The guilt I felt for ignoring him the last few years still troubles me. Every time I think of him, I remember seeing him there. I wish I hadn’t found him. I still miss him very much, every day. I cried for weeks and weeks. I was heartbroken.

After that I didn’t like dogs anymore. After about 6 months. We thought maybe if I had another dog I would love it, and it would fill the hole in my heart. But it wasn’t so. We got Bella. A great Pyrenees puppy. She was sweet and cute. But I didn’t like her. I compared her in every way to Brutus. I would be like ‘Brutus wouldn’t do that. Or Brutus is smarter than that’ My dad was the same way, and it was unfair to keep her when no one liked her. She really was a good dog. But we were scoured. We found her a loving home with some friends that had lots of children. She is very happy there.

I still to this day don’t love dogs like I did. I still miss my little buddy. But I think I am ready to open my heart to a new puppy. We have the perfect place for a dog, lots of room, and I do live on a farm. A dog would keep predators away. And I would love a new friend. I know I could never replace Brutus in my heart, but I may be able to make room for another special pet.

Last night I was looking on pet finder. I found what seems to be the perfect match.

Olivia

She is a German Shepherd/Collie Mix. If I ever got another dog I wanted German Shepherd, and mom always wanted a Collie. Why not have both? She is cute, and young where we can train her from an early age not to chase our animals. German Shepherds are the next smartest dog behind poodles, and Collie are smart too. It's seems like a perfect fit.

Then there is Sunday. Her sister. She is so cute too! How could I ever pick? I could take both. But I don't have $500 to pay for the pair. And I don't know if I could honestly dedicate enough time for two puppies at once.

I talked to mom about it, and she is on board.

Today we will talk to dad about our little scheme. He loved Brutus as much as me, and he too feels resistance about dogs now. But maybe, just maybe, I might be able to sway him into a new puppy.... or two.

Oh and as a side note:

I have another job now. I was invited to be a dog trainer, and take care of the dogs at the local boarding facility. Thats kind of ironic. Seeing as how I don't even like dogs that much anymore.

Oh well. I'm going to give it a try, and see if I can warm up this cold heart again. Job starts on monday.

As another side note:

I may be quitting the pizza place and working at mcdonalds. There has been a lot of problems and stress, and I think it might just be better. We'll see. Got my application yesterday.

Chrysalis

I had the most amazing and touching weekend I have ever experienced before.



I was talked into going to a Spiritual Retreat called Chrysalis by some of my friends.

The reason for the name is because when we got there we were 'caterpillars' then after we left we had matured into beautiful 'butterflies' and the transformation is called Chrysalis.

It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. But describing it doesn't even come close to what it was. It's a thing everyone needs to experience. We stayed at a 'camp' with a dining hall conference room, and a dorm. We had five talks everyday, about all kinds of topics.

It was for Christians but something anyone would have enjoyed.
We were all broken down into little table groups with 5 people. We gave ourselves a name. My group was the BumbleBee Babez. Because their were three blonds and three brunettes. After a talk we would come up with a poster, skit, poem, rap, or whatever to summarize what it was about. At the end of each night we held a party and showed all our things we had created.

We didn't know what time it was the entire time. They took away all our phones, electronics, watches, and they told us 'Participate, don't Anticipate.' It was a relaxing weekend not to have to worry about anything.

We ate three huge meals every day. One day breakfast included biscuits and gravy, sausage, muffins, scrambled eggs, yogurt, and fruit. It was crazy. There was also a table in the conference hall that had any snack food you could imagine available all day. Chips, cookies, cake, beef jerky, crackers and cheese, fruit dip, salsa, soda, and all kinds of other things. We were always too full from meals to eat it though.

Every time we went outside, when we came back their were always little presents sprinkled all over our beds. There were presents at our table every time we had to eat, or do a talk. Just little cute things with little sayings on them, it was nice.

One night they loaded us up into a bus and took as a few miles away to a church. The lights were out, except a little flickering down a hall, and we could hear some sort of chanting. We were sure we were going to be murdered or something. Haha. But when we went down the hall there were hundreds of people holding candling, singing, and smiling. It was so touching to see that many strangers, they hugged us, and just radiated love. It was very beautiful, yet thinking back now it sounds pretty weird. lol. I guess you have to see it. Everyone was crying, boys and girls.

We did many more things, and had a ton of fun. Although it's just not easy to describe. All of us came away refreshed and in good moods, whether Christian or not, anyone there would of went away without a doubt of God's Presence.

Now to catch back up on all my school.