Thursday, March 31, 2011

Chicks Working On Their Suntan



The hen who hatched the guinea fowl eggs had some eggs hatch a few days later and she was ignoring these little ones, so I took them "under my wing" so to speak. I took them outside yesterday to learn to scratch and peck around like chicks should do and they just loved the sunshine!





Ahh,bliss!




Hard at work on the tan...




Mmmm....




Come a little closer, ant...





It's possible to feed while lying on your side! Yaj!




Whoops,where's the sun gone too?




Hey,Bro,I think we should tan our tummies now!






Ok,whatever...





Ok,sweet and all,but you have to go back inside your coop now,I've got to go make supper!





Whaaat?




No,just a little more...




Not yet!


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

African Sunrise



Sunrise from the back porch this morning...





If you look very closely,you will see two very befuddled ducks in the foreground who was NOT very much impressed with the paparazzi creeping up on them before they even had time to brush their teeth or comb their hair!





A beautiful start to the day!


Monday, March 28, 2011

Nyala and Impala for Your Garden?



Wild animals pitch up in the strangest places sometimes....I have a hadeda who prefers to wander around with my ducks every day....he is on the right hand corner of the pic in front...the brownish "duck"





Walking into a barn where Cules was shoeing horses,we found this young Nyala buck whom had lost his horn in a scuttle with another young buck,patiently waiting for the vet to come see him...





Later that same week,shoeing horses in another town,these people had a tame Impala ewe in their garden...



Friday, March 25, 2011

The Mama Hen Who Hatched Guinea Fowl Chicks




Cules was given some guinea fowl eggs by a friend and put them under a broody hen who was chased of her nest by another hen, six of those eggs hatched and Mama hen is so proud of her babies. I wonder what she is going to think when they start calling.......I am keeping them in a coop until they are stronger and will then allow them to wander around the yard, along with all the other yard wanderers..






Not a bug survives their foraging....






Some bugs are a bit big,but they work them down....



Thursday, March 24, 2011

Farmers Day On The Banks Of The Letaba River

Cules and I had a stall for our  feed company at a farmers day on a beautiful farm on the banks of our beloved Letaba river yesterday. What fun we had! We loaded two sheep ewes and two young goat rams for our display and off we went. There were lots of farming equipment,earth moving equipment and interesting stalls and people.






A labourer's cottage on the banks of the river,it must have been flooded during the recent floods judging by the flood line on the right hand corner of the picture..






This machine looks like something straight out of a Mad Max movie and is used to trim orange trees.






Still assembling this tree trimmer...






The entrance to the stalls area...






Minki had a ball,her body must be stiff today because she was wagging her tail the whole day!






Putting up our stall...






A close up on our sign board,note the rhino likes red undies!!






The pub and diner,where we could watch the crocs and hippos,they had a floodlight on the river during the night and it was magical!






Old cars..






Game viewing vehicles....






Anyone need a lawnmower?






Cules and Minki posing with the charming owner of this STUNNING farm,Kallie Erasmus.






I supported this cooldrinks stall during the day because my two girls went to this Primary school,neat hairdo's guys!






Two huge pots of maize meal porridge were kept going all through the day and most of the night!







Getting ready to watch the display of farming and earth moving equipment...






A humerous touch by the organizer of the event,the mens urinals, to fit all sizes short and tall,from little boys to Mr Beeeg! No I didn't slip into the mens toilets,Cules went back and took this picture for me after he came out in a fit of giggles.





It was terribly hot and humid and these two little boys found an ingenious way of cooling off! We were all wishing we were kids again!






Fun,fun,fun....









Some of the farmers arrived in style and I highjacked a heli for picture purposes!






More arrivals...








Coming in fast and low with his siren blaring away! Show off...., but it was a really good show!







Touch down...





This bird looked like a racing machine to me! There is something about a fiery red car or helicopter!
I was glad I wasn't flying back home in one of these after the party!







I was not getting out of this one until the owner gave us a flip in it over our farm...it worked!!!
Check that ear to ear grin!








Saturday, March 19, 2011

Pomegranates,Mud Horses,Hippos and Minki's Latest Tricks



Firstly,I would like to welcome  Eartboysblog and Roxy,two new followers of my blog. Welcome girls!

Nitro thought I needed to give him some attention, so he went and did this...
We also had a lone hippo come grazing by the dam nearest our house about 80-100m away from us around 3:30 yesterday afternoon causing lots of excitement in the household! In retrospect, maybe Nitro caught a few tips from the hippo as he was in the same paddock as said visitor!





Minki has been doing weird things lately like occupying my favourite chair whenever she can...





It's just so much more comfortable than ANY other chair in the house....she also likes to wake me up VERY early some mornings and pretend like she HAS to go outside,so I struggle up out of bed,stumble down the hallway,open the glass sliding door and....no Minki.....I call and call her but she doesn't come,so I stumble back down the hallway to find this.....





What you want....?
It is getting cooler here in the mornings,so maybe thats why she likes to have more space in the bed for that last lie in before getting up!





I was so scared of missing out on our Pomegranate tree's fruit again this year because of flies and riding school children stealing them...  (I still love those kids!)  that I plucked them as they were just starting to blush....they were so tasty!