New Turkeys!

Look who arrived today at our little farm! (BTW, I think we need a name for this operation - any suggestions?) Two new turkeys - Sunny (the white one) and Wendy (the dark one). Tinkerbell (our existing turkey, also white) is very interested, especially in Sunny. I'm keeping them separated by a fence for a while so they can get used to each other, but when Sunny and Wendy got here, Tinkerbell and Sunny spent a looooong time making some pretty awesome noises at each other through the fence, and doing some interesting things with their feathers and necks. Too cute.

That's Tinkerbell on the upper left, Sunny on the upper right, and Wendy in front.

Gobble gobble!

I like this one because of the ducks in the background.

Isn't she gorgeous?

Jewelry For Charity Update

Hi all, just a quick note to let you know I'm back in the studio after a lovely week-long vacation, and to give you an update on my charity program...

With your generous support of my work, I was able to raise $709.00 for Ocean Conservancy during the month of October, bringing my total donations since this program's inception in May 2007 to $22,070.00!!!

For November, I've decided to feature Farm Sanctuary, in honor of my sweet Blossom who passed away recently, and who was adopted from Farm Sanctuary two years ago this month. 5% of any purchases made during the month of November will go directly to Farm Sanctuary's life saving work.

Bird Pics

I know it's been a while since I've posted photos of the birds, and you all must all be suffering horribly from withdrawals! Well, shudder and vomit no more*, the bird photos have returned.

* That's my best guess at what is involved with withdrawals - shaking and puking. Yay? Nay?

Clara

Rosa

Polly Wolly Doodle

Blossom

Tinkerbell

Which, if any, of these photos do you think are worthy of turning into a painting? Please help me decide!

A Change of Pace

I don't know what came over me, but the other day I felt compelled to try my hand at a new artistic medium - painting. Of course I had to choose a subject that is compelling to me - turkeys! More specifically, my dear Blossom, one of our two rescued turkeys.

Acrylic on canvas, 8" x 8"

It was really fun to paint. I think I'll be doing more of these - I'll probably do one of our chickens next. :-)

Molting Turkeys

Have you missed my turkey posts? I know, I've been slacking. I had to share how crazy these girls are looking as they molt...

Feathered Friends

I know I have been slacking on the bird photos lately...

Bonding under the rosebush

Chuck Norris with his lady friends

Blosssom

A fun weekend and a new family member!

Matt, Carlos, and I had a fun weekend - we went down to Animal Place for a little party and got to hang out with lots of great animals (oh yeah, and a few cool people too), then we met up with JP from CAPE, who introduced us to a very sweet little guy named Bruno... I'll start with the Animal Place Photos -

This was pretty cute - at first I thought that the turkey and the gray chicken (under the turkey's wing) were snuggling, but then I saw an egg pop out of the chicken's bottom so I think they were actually just jockeying for the primo egg-laying spot.

Food!

This feathery-headed guy was especially handsome.

Aren't these turkeys gorgeous?

Pretty birds.

A little rooster skirmish.

Oink.

I think the rabbit house was Carlos' favorite. I was pretty charmed as well by the bunnies.

You could tell that these two were majorly in love with each other.

The speaker for the event was Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of The Face on Your Plate, The Pig Who Sang to the Moon, Dogs Never Lie About Love, and When Elephants Weep. He was very personable, friendly, and charismatic. Carlos was excited to meet him because Jeffrey stars in one of Carlos' favorite movies, The Emotional World of Farm Animals.

After our lovely visit to Animal Place, we were off to our next engagement - a meeting with Bruno, an adorable one-eyed miniature poodle! After a short visit, and with much pleading and cajoling on my part and Carlos', Matt was convinced that Bruno should come home with us. Hooray!

Bruno is part of a program headed by Compassion Without Borders, a nonprofit working to provide spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, and medical care to companion animals in Mexico. CWB identifies the most friendly, adoptable small dogs from all of the street dogs they encounter, and partners with Animal Place (to provide quarantine here in the US) and the Center for Animal Protection and Education (to provide foster care and permanent placement) to find permanent homes for these dogs here in the US.

Because small dogs are in high demand, and are often in short supply at animal shelters, these groups bring small dogs to the US to give adopters an opportunity to save a rescued dog rather than go to a breeder (or worse yet, a pet shop) because they can't find a small dog at a shelter. Great idea, huh?

Bruno meets Otis.

Hazel steals Bruno's bed.

After some initial growling and position-establishing behavior, mostly from Otis, the dogs seem to be getting along surprisingly well. Hazel and Otis seem strangely compelled to wedge their 50+ pound bodies into Bruno's 20 pound sized dog bed, which is oddly entertaining. I'll try to get some better pictures of Bruno and post them soon.

Get Your Fix of Chicken & Turkey Pix

We got a freaky chicken egg the other day -

Ouch!

This one's for the turkey lovers in the crowd...

I thought some of you might enjoy seeing Blossom and Tinkerbell in action instead of just still photos... be sure to turn up the volume! :-)

Turkey Pic of the Day

Turkey Pic of the Day

I realize I've been slacking on the bird photos. Sorry! I took this one before we left for our trip but am just now getting around to posting it.

That's breakfast crumbs on her beak.

Scenes from the barnyard...

Spring is in the air... and so is avian testosterone, apparently. About a week ago, Mallow the duck suddenly decided that he could take on Chuck Norris the rooster. This has proved to be problematic, resulting in a bloodied duck who can't seem to figure out that a duck picking a fight with a rooster is like bringing a spoon to a knife fight. So poor Mallow has been in confinement for about a week. Every day we let him out to see if he can behave, but he heads straight for Chuck with a narrow-eyed determination, so we have to put him right back in to keep him safe. Here, you can see him shooting eye-daggers at Chuck as he swaggers by the pen -


Silly duck. Next in line - chicken butts! What is it about chicken butts that holds me so entranced? It's one of life's great mysteries.


And here we have lovely, lovely Tinkerbell soaking up the sunshine on this rare, warm day.


And finally, goofy Blossom...


Hope you are all enjoying your day!