What Came First, The Chicken or the Egg?

A real puzzler, huh?

This is my find from a sale last weekend. During the winter, sales are few and far between. It had also been raining, so if there were any sales, they were inside the garage. I know, a garage sale should be in a garage, but most of the time, they are held in front of the garage, spilling over onto the lawn and sidewalk, and down the driveway if you are in the country.

Back to the find of the day.

These birds of a feather were all in a box at one sale. They hadn't even seen the light of day yet.

I started to ask about one and then decided to ask for the whole box. You know, no need to unpack, I'll save you some work, etc. Well, the whole box for $10.

There are a couple art glass style, and one that has feathers, but I am pretty sure he/she was never alive.

Several are wooden, a few ceramic and one that is like a primitive doll. Two more are pewter.

All in all, they count over 20.

We will be going to a show or two here coming up and I want to display them as a group in a wooden box. After all, they deserve to keep themselves company. 

And, somebody collects chickens...

Pumpkin Farm - For Young and Old Alike

Last month the pumpkin farm in the area was still open

So, on a Sunday afternoon, we loaded up and took a visit.

To Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

We had our 80 year old friend (and his wife)

and we had our youngest friend (a little over a year)

We also had visitors from as far away as Newfoundland

And other older friends, too

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They had a "petting" area and the youngsters enjoyed going in and brushing the goats and sheep

Some did not know what to make of it all

An exhausted mother takes a break from all the attention

While some others visited

A big sister gives treats to her younger brothers

And two special friends hang out together

We had a beautiful day and ended it all with a few treats like these



Friday Finds

Here are just a few of the finds we got this morning.

Mr got a whole lot more that I didn't take any pictures of - like wood shelving, a buffet cabinet (free!) an old metal bed spring (you take the springs out and sell them separately - I have no clue what they do with those!) a metal cabinet with a Formica top that will get a new wood top. Just some basic starter supplies to make some fantastic items with. When you get the supplies for little or nothing, that just makes it greater.

I got this:

Among the items are two colored pottery bowls that I am thrilled with (I have this weakness for bowls and pitchers, if you haven't noticed) some cobalt blue glassware (a tidbit server and a pedestal dish) a covered casserole in a metal server, some ironstone, carnival glass, a unique nutmeg grater (front center) and a number of pieces of mottled grey enamelware. There is also a jar of old marbles a metal box, a strainer and a tin that says "Lipton Tea".

Most of this came from one barn sale and it was so dirty it needed a bath before I set it anywhere in the house. Not a bad haul. Now the hard part - pricing, I don't like to price, it takes time and thought.

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Elsewhere

I came out of the house the other morning and found this

It is all that is left of "Pretty Bird"

True to form, I thought. We never seem to have a pet very long before they either run away (from boredom I wonder) or they get killed.

You can read about him here

Since it has been such nice weather, and he is cooped up inside of the house most of the time, I put his cage outside on a table where he can see us working, here the other birds, etc. Since it was also warm inside without the swamp cooler going, I left him outside overnight (I've done this before...)

Well, something (perhaps a raccoon) had scoped out this convenient place to have dinner and decided that this was the evening to go out to eat. The cage had obviously been pushed off of the table (and it was a large cage, so it must have been a big raccoon). There were a few more feathers here and there, but I am sure that Pretty Bird is now singing with the angles.

Who knows what animal we will next torture... Stay tuned.

Oh, did I tell you that we now have a cat?

Pretty Bird

We have a pet. Now, historically we have not done well with pets or animals. They seem to get sick, run away or otherwise leave. My kids remember "Beau", a beautiful long-haired lab, who one day joined a pack of dogs running through and we never saw him again. And then there was "Old Dan", another dog that ate some poison or something and turned on Mr. Again, the Barbados sheep herd that we had going and was wiped out one night by another pack of dogs. Our cats, "Ringtail" and others, lasted a little while longer. Don't forget "Hank" (steer), whose purpose was to be meals on the table, but happened to be butchered on the day we had a birthday party for #5. (picture little girls standing in awe as he was shot and then disemboweled before their eyes!) And then there were pigs, rabbits, etc. Enough said about that...

Anyway, we now have "Pretty Bird". He was a craigslist find. We originally wanted his cage, but he came with it. We have now had him for about a year. He is a cockatiel. He even has some papers that say he is a male.  The only thing is... we never asked what his name was!  Can you imagine?  He talks, or at least what I recognize is -- Pretty Bird. So that is what we call him.

He sings songs, one that kinda sounds like "tra ra ra boom de ay" , or maybe it is "Happy Birthday". especially if he sees something waving, like a bright color. He really likes a nice bright blue! We put him in a back room if we have a Bible study here, he tries to compete with the singing...

As I said, we are not big on pets, so he has only been out of his cage once, and that was not by design. Mr and grandson chased him around the house with a fishing net, while two grand daughters ducked to the floor and screamed!  Needless to say, he was subdued for a  few hours after that adventure.

When we are gone for a day, he sits in his cage and waits for our return. He has been known to scream at me if I don't respond to his songs. When he gets really loud and obnoxious, we put his cover on and say "good night" (even in the daytime)  On good weather days, we take his cage outdoors and he seems to like it. He can watch othe other birds. He especially likes children, so come on over and say hi...

I must also say that we are indebted to #6 for taking care of Pretty Bird when we have to leave for a few days.