November Beach Day

Our other chickens!

 Grandma Sally and HaPa dropped off our new flock a little over a week ago- three red hens and three white ones.  They've adjusted extremely well to their new coop and outdoor run, and were all laying eggs by their first full day here.  The kids really are enjoying their new "chore" of collecting the eggs and helping with the feeding duties.  We're learning by trial and error what types of vegetable scraps these ladies love, and which they turn up their combs at.  So far they love watermelon, tomatoes, and apples, but can't be bothered with bananas, alfalfa sprouts, or pumpkins.  I wonder if there's some rhyme or reason to it all (sweet things? seedy things? watery things? things rich in a certain vitamin?), but so far I haven't puzzled out their code.

Grandma (with homemade hat) and HaPa

They are amusing to watch, though, scratching earnestly at the leafy ground in their run, looking for grubs or a little leftover scratch.  When they see any of us, they come running with this comical waddle, looking for handouts.  And the eggs are delicious.  We are getting more than 3 dozen per week, so at this rate we're going to have to start finding egg eaters to give some to, or we'll all end up on Lipitor by the end of the winter.

Aiden feeding kale

Haley feeding "scratch" (cracked corn) - with her "new to her" ski goggles (?)

Kimball loves the chickens too- a little more than the chickens would like!

Little Green Chicken

We came so close to losing our little green chicken, Tupelo, this week.  She is our 12 year old quaker parrot who we have had since she was a newly-hatched chick.  Last week she somehow chopped off the end of her toe, or pulled the nail out (we're not sure which, or how) and very nearly bled to death.  When Andy went downstairs to open up the birds' cages after work, he found Tupe on the bottom with her head down and blood ALL OVER the cage.  All over the walls, pooled in her sleeping hut, everywhere.  You would not believe a small parrot even had that much blood.

We went into emergency mode in a flash.  Got her warmed up and started force-feeding her fluids to try and keep her hydrated.  I knew that there was no chance of getting her a blood transfusion (have you seen any blood drives for parrots lately?) so all we could do was support her with fluids, food, and heat.  The toe itself had scabbed over by the time we found her, but she was so wobbly she couldn't stand or do much of anything.  Over the next two days, she seemed to be getting better... slowly...and then on Saturday morning (of course, the weekend,when the vet is closed) she started shaking and jerking her head and body like she was having a seizure, and could not stand up again.

We rushed her to a 24-hr emergency vet in Concord, where they admitted they had little experience with avian medicine, but said they would see her.  The doctor there said he'd put her in an oxygen chamber for awhile and administer subcutaneous fluids, but cautioned us that the prognosis was not good.  We could tell that ourselves.  Birds don't just lie down unless they are literally on death's door.  Andy and I kissed her and whispered in her ear and left her there in the chamber while tears were starting to stream down both of our faces.  We truly thought we'd never see her alive again, and we cried pretty much all that day.  Aiden cried too, but I think more because he was so disturbed that his parents were both in tears for hours.  Haley provided a very small bit of comic relief by stating over and over that "People like to cry."  (Herself included, though not over Tupelo).  When we got a call from the vet that evening who said he thought she'd "improved considerably" we were totally stunned... "You can pick her up tomorrow" they said.  Oh, and don't forget the $830 you owe us!

Tupelo is nowhere near 100% recovered yet, but she's getting better every day.  She's still very very wobbly, due most probably to her extreme anemia.  At the e-vet they had drawn a small blood sample (a drop) to see what her red cell count was.  Normal is 40% red cells, and the vet said he'd never seen a (living) animal with lower than 20%.  Tupe's was 15%.  So she still has a long way to go.  She may also have had a small stroke because of her low blood pressure, and now has a head tilt to one side, which can't be helping her balance.  She is definitely improving every day now though.  She's clucking like a chicken, squawking at Zaitsev, and saying "Tupe-Tupe" again.  So far she's still being hand-fed and sleeping most of the day in her recovery cage in our room, which is handicapped-accesible with low perches and food dishes so she doesn't have to climb anywhere.  We are very happy to have our little green chicken back!

Hurricane Halloween

Hurricane Sandy turned out not to be a real problem in this area.  We did get a lot of wind and rain for several days, and lost power for a few hours, but that is nothing compared to the horrendous damage Sandy brought to many of our relatives and friends on Long Island.  Even though the hurricane did not impact our Halloween celebrations in New London, the thought of so many people we love struggling definitely put a damper on it.  The kids, as kids should probably be, were oblivious to anything but costumes, pumpkins, and candy, candy, candy.

Spooky fog in our yard

Haley was "Ladybug Girl"

Aiden was "Mario"

Donuts on Strings at the Kennedy's Halloween party

Before the hurricane hit, we went to a Halloween party at the Kennedy's house, which was lots of fun for all ages.  On Halloween itself, the streets were clogged with small imps and witches, and we made our way along them, house by house, as part of an entourage including 8 adults, 5 kids, two dogs, and one stroller.  We didn't cover much ground, but the kids were more than happy with their haul, and they also got the traditional free ice cream at Arctic Dreams (and their photo taken there so that they can see themselves all year long on the wall).  Although we didn't even attempt to hand out candy at our house (kept the lights off and everything so we could all go out together) we didn't even get egged.  All treats this year for us... feeling grateful all around.