along with our own farm friends, the cats, dogs...
the donkeys, sheep, chickens, peacock & guinea hens,
we also feed our fetahered friends at a couple of feeders around the farmhouse...
most days, we have an abundance of buntings, doves, cardinals...
titmice, junco, jenny wrens & the usual woodland/field variety ~
i love to watch how they all interact with each other.
this little dove, below, is one of a pair that visits with us every morning~
she has a crippled foot and tends to keep to herself whilst her mate feeds at the feeder,
knocking seeds down to her and the ground feeding birds at it's base.
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| prettly little friends |
I love the way she coos and fluffs herself up ~ but I hate to think how cold her little feet are!!
oh, she can fly alright, but she can't perch on a branch
...because of her crippled foot, so she tends to stay on the ground.
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| sweet eyes |
Recently, we've begun to have 'other' visitors to the backyard feeder...
ones of the 'fur' variety.
Hannah called out to me the other morning, saying:
"MOM! there are CHINCHILLAS in the backyard!!!!"
of course I came running ~ I surely didn't want to miss seeing
WILD Virginia CHINCHILLAS!
to Hannah's dismay, and my amusement, were these:
Brown Wood Rats.
yup. fat, round & yes, cute as buttons....
but not chinchillas....*sorry pumpkin*
(there goes our chinchilla-farm & fur coat factory ~
just kidding, wouldn't hurt a flea on their fuzzy backs)
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| see how big they are next to our dove? |
and, only those who have either visited inside the farmhouse, or have been on the phone with me
will know that we also have a parakeet/budgie named "Barbara"
Barbara came to us from a local pet store ~ Hannah wanted a bird, so Barbara was her choice.
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| pretty-bird! |
Barbara entertains us here in the house with chortles, wolf-whistles and constant chatter...
never idle not even for a moment ~ hanging near the window where the bisd feeder is in view,
Barbara can dream of becoming friends with the 'outside folk' ~
um...did I mention that Barbara is a BOY???
yep. he is....found that out not long after we had him...but Hannah wanted to keep his name, thinking he would get confused if we renamed him
(confused?...how about that!)
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| Hi Barbara! yes...you're a pretty boy!!! |
Hannah figured that Barbara was lonely ~ always looking out the window at the 'outside folk'
so she convinced me to visit the pet store and bring home a friend for him....
so she chose a beautiful, lemon-yellow sunny little girl-bird that she thought would be perfect for Barbara....but she felt bad that Barbara was named after a girl and was a boy.
Hannah figured it would be best to name our new little girl-bird....
"Sylvester"
(yep, that should make everyone feel good.)
Sylvester and Barbara fell in love ~ he immediately became smitten with her...
he would swing frantically back and forth, vying for her attention ~ hopping around on one foot while ringing a little silver bell that hangs from the middle-top of their cage...
even going so far as to sit directly under that bell and wear it on his head like a hat.
(nutball)
That did the trick....soon they were *twitterpating* and we noticed that Sylvester began to act a little strange ~ she grew a 'bump' and started staying at the bottom of their cage more & more.
We did some research and found out that behaviour was indeed indicative of a bird-in-waiting ~
...waiting for a little one to arrive!
So we bought a sweet little nest which hangs on the side of the cage,...we bought pre natal bird vitamin juice stuff ~ we bought fluff & stuff for the new arrivals' bedding....
and
we waited.
...impatiently.
all the while Barbara sang & whistled proudly ~ as Sylvester grew more tired and fatter,
and acted more & more strangely.
Time went on, and sadly, no little one ever came ~
Sylvester became quite ill, and soon passed ~
we found her one morning laying at the bottom of their cage, with poor Barbara stading over her,...
we, of course, had a funeral and buried her beneath the sunflower patch outside where our other friends are at rest and where Barbara can see where she is...
sad story?
no....a story of love is never sad.
Barbara continues to sing and whistle and wear the bell on his head
~ happy that he found love at all.
With Valentine's Day around the corner,
I will be offering some finished items for sale on Friday, February 1st ~
I added a new page here on this blog, you can see the tab at the top of this page, under my header picture that reads
"Goods from Notforgotten Farm"
that's where you can click to see my offerings ~
I'll post more about it as it nears ~
I'm working on some frakturs in my handpainted frames, small pinkeeps, a framed sampler or two and some punch needle things.
Hoping you all have a day filled with folks who love you most!!!
Lori from
Notforgotten Farm
