The Gang’s All Here

So Serena (the angora–wool– rabbit) did not have any babies this week.

And as I’ve been praying all month that she’ll have “just the right number” of kits, I’m sort-of backwards relieved.  I’ve been feeling pulled this week back to writing, so not having more fiber animals to maintain is doubtless a good thing.

In other rabbity news, we picked up the crew of Californians (2 bucks, 3 does, purportedly all bred and due mid-July) and have spent this very. wet. week trying to keep them sheltered in their temporary set up and trying to keep their food dry enough that it all gets eaten, rather than soggy and thrown out.

Side note: I cannot remember a more soggy summer ever.  I mean, I remember a persistent drizzle last summer, and the summer I was married 10 years before that, but this year it’s just been coming down *buckets.”

Twice now the press-board ramp up to the porch has become so saturated that I slipped coming down and landed with a slick of mud up my pant leg. Two hours later it was dry again and had no issues.

The ducks are nearly feathered out, and I’m pretty sure they’re full-size.  They go through a five-gallon bucket of food in two days, and still freak out whenever anyone approaches.

Jay is offended by this, but I continue to argue that there are too many to make an effective effort to tame them. I keep figuring that once we cull them down to only two drakes (according to my sloppy tally that gives at least 5 to the freezer) we’ll have a better shot at winning them over with patience and food-treats.

I have named all the new rabbits.  And I use their names when bringing them their nightly food and water.

Their previous owner made her position very clear (They’re meat-producers.  Period), but I realized I’m no good at interacting with numbers (i.e., tattooed designations). I need names.  It ties into one of my favorite quotes and says something real about me:

Names are an important key to what a society values. Anthropologists  recognize naming as ‘one of the chief methods for imposing order on   perception.’  ~David S. Slawson

With all the change in my world over the last year and a half, I am quick to grab at anything that will “impose order on perception.”

And with that in mind, I realized something else interesting about all these animals I have purchased for a concrete purpose: They’re all black & white.

In a world where nothing else seems that simple, here is what I choose to surround myself with.  It’s comforting to see clarity somewhere.

One thought on “The Gang’s All Here

  1. Brooke says:

    Your little farm is coming along nicely.

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