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We stopped in at the Sonora Feed & Supply in Sonora yesterday, to pick up some bird seed. I was out of just about everything. While I was there, I found out that their baby chickens, ducks and other assorted birds will be delivered on Thursday. I tried to talk the hubby into letting me get a baby chick, but he wasn’t giving in. Darn!

Later in the day, we stopped in to the Tractor Supply Company in East Sonora, where I got to see lots of baby chicks. They were totally sold out of ducks yesterday but the baby chicks were so cute. I really wanted to hold one but the sign said not to touch them. I was totally bummed out.

When I had the farm in Ohio, we used to get 300 baby chicks every spring. It’s still pretty cold in Ohio this time of year, so we kept them in a pen in the diningroom. It could get pretty loud in there. Fortunately, we only had them in the house for a couple of weeks. Who could stand it for much longer than that? But the kids really loved having the birds in the house for that short period of time.

One year, we ended up getting talked into to taking home 10-pheasants and 10-turkeys, someone had ordered and never picked up. That year my favorite joke was:

Do you know what the only thing dumber than a turkey is?

Answer: A turkey farmer!

We were told at the feed store that in order to get the turkey’s to eat, you have to put shiny things in their food. How crazy is that? We had marbles in there, coins and a few other things for them to peck at. We didn’t lose a single one, until they were almost full grown. Some darn fox decided he liked turkey more than us. We ended up raising 4-birds to maturity. We lost 6 to the foxes.

The pheasants all made it, and not knowing what else to do with them, we said a prayer for their safety and turned them loose into the wild.

I plan to stop in t0 visit the chicks on Thursday. I hope they will let me hold them.

As far as the weather goes…

It rained all night long and the weather man is predicting rain for most of the week. Right now the sun is shining. Everything is drenched from the rain but I have a feeling most of it will dry out soon — but for how long? It’s 51 degrees outside. A nice day for a hike.

I went out on the deck just before 6 a.m., and was amazed at the sounds which greeted me. About 10 feet from the deck is a small crop of trees surrounded by fallen dead trees, perched in close proximity to each other, were roughly a dozen Steller Jay’s caterwalling in unison. It was the strangest thing.

Normally, when Steller Jay’s gather to feed and fight (their other pasttime) they will take turns calling to each other. One Jay usually can be easily singled out as the leader of the pack, who doesn’t take any guff from his subordinates. Today was different. They were obviously upset about something as they diligently bellowed their urgent call to each other with an intensity rarely seen in birds of this type.

It led me to wonder if they could have been reacting to the earthquake in Japan, and the subsequent tsunamis. Wouldn’t that be something?

After carrying on for roughly 3 or 4 minutes, they went back to their normal cawing like nothing happened. One by one they abandoned their statue-like stance and flew off to do the things that Steller Jay’s do. Last year, we had one Steller’s Jay who loved to annoy the squirrels. Each time the squirrel attempted to get a drink of water, the Steller’s Jay would dive-bomb him, in an attempt to knock him into the water.

My husband took great joy in watching their antics right outside his office window.

Yesterday, we had a doe and twin fawns wander into the yard. She was the largest doe I’ve seen in a very long time in Twain Harte. She looked well-fed and her fawns were nice sturdy stock as well. Our two hard snowfalls this year didn’t seem to do the deer population any harm what-so-ever. In fact, our long warm spell in January probably contributed to their added size and girth.

I can only image how big some of the bucks must be.

I picked up several kinds of bird seed at the feed store today. I noticed we have a large flock of Junco’s and a dozen or more Mountain Quail, as well as a few other birds I still need to identify. I believe we also have a great many Black-headed Grosbeak as well.

Just moments ago I received a telephone call regarding a very strong propane odor coming from across the street from the Twain Harte Post Office, where a Suburban Propane truck was observed possibly delivering fuel.

Post Office patrons should be cautioned that the aroma of propane is heavy in the air and can make you feel dizzy or lightheaded.

Speaking of a trip to the post office — Did you know Twain Harte has a new dog groomer here in Twain Harte?

I received an email just a couple days ago from Laura Kuebler.

She wrote, “I just opened Paws Awhile Dog Grooming next to The Rock in Twain Harte.  I noticed you were telling people that the Shell station has gas again.  Could you tell people about me?”

Well, Laura, I am most happy to let everyone know about Paws Awhile Dog Grooming, located at:  23074 Fuller Road, Twain Harte, CA, 95383. You can call 586-7297, to schedule an appointment.

It’s been raining all day long, the temperature is steady 44 degrees. Fortunately, some of the remaining snow has been slowly melting.