Bee-Stung Chicken Lips.

[One of my recent posts/experiences with backyard urban farming. When hobbies collide!]

No, not a new Angelina Jolie beauty product, but an experience I had yesterday with my flock of Bantams.

I'm a new backyard chicken-keeper, as well as a backyard beekeeper, so needless to say I have more than an average amount of bees in my yard. On the weekends I've started letting the chicks (2 months old or so) out in the backyard to free range while supervised.

Yesterday one of my chicks (pretty sure he's a rooster) was chasing a bee, and then started dashing around wildly clawing at his beak.

I was pretty sure he'd been stung, but didn't think anything of it.

He's a chicken right?

Wrong.

Couple of minutes later I looked over and he was slowly passing out on the lawn. I rushed over and noticed his eyes were closed and he wasn't doing well. Difficulty breathing, etc.

Sure enough there was a stinger stuck to the underside of his beak. I scraped it out and picked him up.

I waited a while in disbelief, wondering if I was going to lose a chicken to a bee! before deciding to try something crazy.

No no, I didn't try mouth-to-beak.

I will admit, I did try blowing in his nostrils. Sadly this had no effect other than inflating his cheeks to comic effect.

After recently seeing what a bee sting can do to a dog (same effect actually, with vomiting) and also having learned giving a dog Benadryl is OK (helps prevent allergic reactions, anaphylactic shock, etc.), my fiance' decided we should try this with the chick.

We took some Benadryl, crushed it up, added some water, pried open his beak, and spoon fed him a couple slurps of pink Benadryl paste.

Within seconds his eyes were open! About 10-15 minutes later he was looking better and was able to stand on his own 2 feet? Talons? Claws? Scratching implements? Something.

After 30 minutes or so he was back to walking around, albeit with not as much confidence and a little wary look in his eyes towards anything buzzing nearby.

CakeInPants.com

CakeInPants.com

Pictures.

It's only been some years, but I've finally decided to start digging up all of those pictures lying dormant in my camera.

Look for multiple albums from "back in the day" to start making their way to the surface. You can also find all of my other albums here.

Caveat: This new found ethic will only last as long as it takes me to get lazy again.

Project Mayhem

New Zealand Getaway 2008

The Skink

Tortoise.

This weekend was spent in Carmel Valley hanging with Cousin Russ and Kyra in their new home. Felt like the perfect bed/breakfast getaway from the hurley burly of the suburbs.

We also managed to pick up an African Sulcata tortoise along the way, while shopping at the Hacienda Feed store.

Yea, you heard me. We picked up a pet who will likely live longer than us, weigh over 100lbs, and loves to pick fights with other tortoises by knocking them over. Apparently they make good lawn mowers, so we've got that going for us. Which is nice.

The upside of hanging at the feed store was seeing what a Bantam-sized chicken actually looks like...and whadya know? They're actually miniaturized chickens! Crazy.

It's like Nature's version of "Honey I Shrunk the Chickens But Not By Much". Another upside is after doing some comparisons it looks like I might only have 1 rooster instead of 3. Still can't be certain, but as in all things, time will tell.

Or should that be Time?

Pictures of all of our pets will, hopefully, be posted soon. As soon as someone develops a camera that auto-posts to the web, instead of just letting the pictures languish in obscurity on my SD card. Got some great pix on those SD cards! Just...can't...make...time...to...post...ugh.

Name This Hen.

Chilling with my peep poolside. Out of my 5 chickens, bantams all, I'm pretty sure 3 of them are going to be roosters. This lovely lady is quite happy to chill on my lap clucking contentedly.

Damn fine way to wrap up a busy weekend.

Music and Renewal.

With the close of Spring and Summer just around the corner, there's heaps of life and good vibes in the air:

• My mini-flock of Bantam chickens is getting stronger and larger every day. They're still living in a brooder box in my basement like surly teenagers, but the bigger they get the quicker I can give 'em the boot out into the yard.
  
• The garden is planted and I'm trying my hand at growing lettuce and hoping to never buy greens at the store again. Needless to say my garden is strongly tomato-centric, due to ease of growing ability, but I'm not complaining.
  
• I pulled the trigger on a couple of solid concerts over the next couple months; Underworld, Wilco, and Phoenix (see below for what will inevitably be the album of the Summer and MGMT can suck it!). 
• A late July Vegas trip planned with Cousin Russ and Kyra; 4 days of insanity, wrapped in a cheap timeshare-sponsored package.
• The honeybees are currently scoring 50/50 with one hive in jeopardy and the other growing strong. I've probably waited to long to put honey supers on the strong hive, but that's another story. I'm also debating moving some brood from the strong hive into the weak one. Just need to get my ass in gear.
• Not writing enough as is apparent in this blog. Twittering like hell though! Micro-blogging anyone? Yuck.
• Sold my bearded dragon, BD, to a friend and purchased a breeding/mated pair of new bearded dragons. Their cage almost takes up an entire wall of our living room. The word "zoo" is quite appropriate at this juncture.
• Completely behind on posting pictures from the past 2 years. I've got mad gobs of pix from various vacations I keep telling myself I need to process and post. Maybe this weekend?
• Need some music suggestions? Try these on for size: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Thao, Grizzly Bear, Jaydiohead (Jay Z meets Radiohead, surprisingly good!), and Dark Was The Night (compilation).

That's all for now folks. 

Brief highlights from my head, because what good is a blog for anyway?

The Cynics Creed: Thoughts on a Train.

We're all waiting.
Waiting for the Moment in time when life gets easier, gets perfect.
When we've arrived.
Perfect job. Love.
There exists a Moment on our heads when we're finally there.
The place of our dreams.
It might be a house. A person. A job. Not having to work?
A shit ton of money in our pockets.

All of us have a Moment in our head when it's worth all of this effort.
This stress and worry.
This pure unadulterated anxiety of living.

You get older and strangely that Moment, which you thought would draw nearer with success/accomplishment/experience in your skin living YOUR life, gets farther away.
It's more like an imaginary desert oasis and less like graduating in only 4 years time.
Like being caught in the web of grad school, being forced to revise that damned paper one more damned time.

Along the way resignation sets in.
You start medicating.
Movies. Books. Relationships. New job. More money. Drugs. Alcohol. Religion. Children.
Any thing to fool yourself you're closer to being there.
Being in your Moment.
You start to understand less about why you're actually here in this place.
Like the chimp behind bars at your local zoo, you deal.
You adjust.
You settle.

You face the facts that a vanishing horizon and your Moment are one and the same.
Then you take comfort in your cage or throw shit at the passing tourists looking in on your life.
This is living.
This is growing up.
This is the secret sadness to being an adult.
When the candy coating has faded and you're left sucking on a rock trying not to break your teeth.

Of course satisfaction and being content are the only cures for this disease called waiting.
Being happy with what you have, no matter the situation, longing...but not too strongly!...for something better.
To be better.
To do better.

All for the end purpose of someday achieving your Moment.
Winning the mother-lovin' lottery of your life and truly, soulfully, metaphysically, chemically, arriving.
Arrival.

It's Not Just About Chickens.

You never really know how far you've come or how old you are, until you look back and see the distance.
You see the people standing along the path, signposts and mile markers for your life.
Memories and nostalgia flood the senses and blur the reality of the experience.
Which is likely a good thing.
The past always needs a good coat of gold to ensure it remains as halcyonic as ever.

Had a chance to catch up with Keith Joesel last night after I-don't-know-how-many years and my head was set spinning. Spinning in a good way.
I find myself strangely proud to know Keith. Not sure why really. It can't be due to his political career.
Can it? I mean, Councilmen for District 4 is great and all...

Regardless I did find myself casting back for old memories and life events from ages past, and found lots of goodness there. Stories and yarns I'll spin and weave into the fabric of my future, as I've already done with my present.
I can't count the number of times I've told the Halloween urine bag incident. Or the frequent apple-ings cars and trucks would experience on Route 242. Or Adair's Barrel of Goodies. Or Club Empire in Toronto and almost being thrown off our senior class trip.

Madness and self-perceived glory all wrapped in the shiny package of youth.
Could I use any more ridiculous analogies? Yes. I can.
But I won't.

Here's a playlist for you Keith.
Pop it into the tape deck of your Honda Odyssey (blue Ford Ranger), crank it up to 10, tap the ash of your cigarette into your hand, and drive in silence for a while.
Enjoy.

Wednesday Grooves.

Thanks to the wonders of the internets I made you another playlist. This time I didn't eated it so please feel free to take a big chomp!

Some of my favorite bites are Interpol's "Slow Hands", Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)", and of course the absolutely amazing "Y Control" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Good tuneage for a Wednesday afternoon.
Hell, if you're nice I'll even let you use this playlist on Thursday. Maybe.

Back Home.

Spent an amazing week in the natural paradise that is Costa Rica, or "The Rich Coast" as it's known locally; also known as "A Whales Vagina" to a few others. I might be confusing that with San Diego. It's hard to say as my German isn't as good as it used to be.

Heaps of changes at work, and lots of chaos floating around in general (earthquakes, family in hospital, dogs having nervous breakdowns, etc.) but in general things are looking up.
More to follow as I dig out of INBOX hell.