Good Morning and a Good Friday to you all. Yes, we have four lovely goosies now. The incubator eggs that were placed under our auspicious double broody goosie nest has proven to be a success. Gnome remarked on the fact that we didn’t need an incubator since all our mother goosies are extremely broody. Yes, but we read on the Internet that female geese were bad setters!
Here are G1, G2, G3 and G4 (The collective group called G-Force)…hmmm…not very imaginative names Munchkin!
Four Goosies in a Tank.
I can’t put them all in my apron pockets so I have them two at a time. The oldest one is growing rapidly and at day 12 it is 250g (about 1/2lb). They alternate between the fish tank, the sink and I will start taking them for supervised walks outside…yes that’s right…I will adopt the mamma goosie role. In the last two days, I have separated the two older ones and the two younger ones because the first two were hogging all the food.
Hello!! This morning we woke up at our usual time and had goosie bouncing about on the table as we had a cup of tea. We are having a lovely time with Goosie…
First goosie of the year:
Goosie Side Profile.
Goosie in Pouch.
Morning time is usually a peaceful time for us but not today! There was a huge racket going on outside with goosie honks, screams and shrieks. Gnome turned to me and said that they were even noisier today…what was going on? And then in between all this noise we heard…peep, peep, peep!! Oh, another goosie?? Gnome looked outside from the veranda and sure enough there was a little yellow fluffy thing terrified out of its wits surrounded by a rabble of crazy goosies. Gnome quickly ran down and grabbed the goosie before any damage could be done. And so we have Goosie No.2:
Double Goosie!
As you may recall, Gnome placed the incubator eggs under a goosie mama on Sunday because we had a power-cut. We then neglected to check on hatchlings because we were busy with other things. We now think that this second goose probably hatched about three days ago because we have been hearing peeping on and off…I thought that it was peeping from a wild birdie so did not think anything of it. Anyway, we now have two cute geese to play with!
I don’t have any more pouches in my apron so I don’t know what to do if we get a third one! Gnome says that I should have an apron with six pockets so that I can take care of six at a time!
We are bang in the middle of the insufferable heat of the dry season. Arrrghhhh!!! The relentlessness of the heat!! There was no rain for two weeks (yes, even the Thursday rain stopped) and the pond dried up early this year. On Monday evening, we had a storm….black, black clouds, thunder and lotta rain…what a relief. Yesterday, according to the weather forecast, there was supposed to be five hours of rain and we waited eagerly for the relief…not a drop of rain until about 9pm when we got 5 drops of rain! This time Gnome said:
“….there is nothing wrong with the weather report…the weather got it wrong!!”
Today is going to be hot and sunny, “good day for lawn-mowing” and we just want to find a cool place to go back to sleep! The resolve of Munchkin and Gnome is crumbling with the pressure of the heat!!
Anyway, we had an eight hour power cut on Sunday so we basically had to stay still and out of trouble for the whole time. I will tell you the good news first…we have our first goosie!!
Goosie 2019
We were not expecting it at all because the first two eggs did not hatch. On Sunday, Gnome realised the the power cut would spoil all the eggs in the incubator (that was the bad news) so in attempt to save the goosies he removed all the eggs (found the surprise goosie) and placed the eggs under two broody geese sitting on the same nest.
Broody Geese.
Now we have the pleasure of the company of our first gosling of the year. This one is noisy, naughty, attention-seeking, cute and very, very goosie in nature.
Goosie Goosie!!
Goosie (gender unknown) is all on his lonesome so I take it for walks outside and he sits with us at the table…actually does not sit…sort of runs, leaps and bounds about like a boinging goosie on springs…eek, watch out for the cat underneath the table! Generally, I am giving it a lot of time and I place it in the pouch of my apron when I am in the kitchen or doing housework. I feel like a possum mamma with a little head peaking out of my front pocket!
Hi, I haven’t written because I had trouble with my computer…the monitor screen kept on fading. It worked for short lengths of time when I pressed around the edges of the screen but it still got very temperamental. The plan was to connect a monitor to the laptop but we didn’t have the right cable and we couldn’t find this cable anywhere in Punta Gorda. Yesterday, Gnome had a good look at my screen and wedged a plastic thing against the screen edge which has actually solved the problem of the fading screen! Okay, so I am back on-line now!
We have been busy. Gnome still can’t get the pipe that is stuck at the bottom of the well. Last time, he tried fishing it out with a great big length of bamboo; I think he’s going to try a wire this time round. We have to keep on trying because if we can’t get the pipe out, we won’t be able to use the well. Luckily, we have had plenty of water this dry season and funnily enough, we seem to get a torrential rain every week which always happens to be a Thursday.
The geese are up to their usual shenanigans. There was a cycle of laying and right now, we are not finding any eggs. Are they hiding them? This is a picture of a “goosie pile-up”…three very broody geese sitting on one nest with rocks:
Triple Goosie Pile-up.
They are very aggressive…they peck and hiss at me whenever I get close to them.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I will get my camera out and take some pictures for next time. Have a good evening!
It is that time of the year again. Duckie and Goosie time…this time, the first one out is a duckie! There won’t be any more eggs hatching for about a week so I have this one to feed and entertain until some more company comes along. This one is very quiet and well behaved.
Breakfast with Duckie:
First Duckie of 2019
What else? Oh yes…we re-visited the wormery project; about six weeks ago, Gnome asked me to revive the worm colony…it was sadly one of many projects that had fallen by the wayside. When I looked in the box, there wasn’t much at all…maybe about 10 survivors. Anyway, I placed all manner of chopped up food wastes in the bin and kept this going for four weeks. The other day, we went through the box and sifted out the worms. I am happy to say that there were probably about 200 to 300 baby worms. This encouraged us to persevere! We cleaned out the box and lined it with newspaper and cardboard. We them filled it up with peat moss soaked in water and placed our worms in it.
Making the Wormery.
They have been chomping through hair (Gnome had a hair-cut), leaf litter and scraps from the kitchen. It has been about two weeks now since we cleaned up their box and they look like they are re-producing faster. It looks like the wormery is becoming a reality after all! We plan to use the worms to feed the ducks and make delicious gourmet meals for ourselves. Also, the compost will be soil for plants so this project is definitely worth the time and effort.
Worms:
Worms.
That’s it for now. Gnome’s hand is better so we will be out and about on the farm today.
I have just realised that time has passed and I haven’t written for ages again! What’s Happening? Well, not much really…terrible way to start a post…that’s why I haven’t written!
We had another big Thursday rain this week and most importantly, Gnome has been out of action for a few days because he has hurt his hand. He had been digging holes for posts around the house and I think he got over-zealous in his efforts. I asked him if he wanted to go to Social Security to report the injury and he laughed saying:
“…if I had to report every injury, I would be a permanent feature in Social Security.”
Gnome’s hand is getting better…there was some soft tissue swelling which has now gone down. He had to make huge efforts not to use it…even simple things like opening buckets and jars…at one point we were going to put a sock over it to stop him from using it. All is well and he should be back to work on Monday.
What else? Oh, the fate of the possoms…..
Possum.
If you recall, we caught five possums in two nights because they had been stealing goosie eggs…we found the cracked shells of two eggs. We went through a moral dilemma with this one. First of all, they looked at us pitifully with those beady dark eyes and my heart went out to them,
“…awhhhh…they are kinda cute in a possumy way…”
Gnome said:
“….yes, cuteness goes a long way…”
Possum.
We also found that two of the captives had babies in their pouches so they were released. So, three left after that. Gnome then said:
“…hang on a minute, we have a freezer full of food…we don’t need any-more meat.”
He was right. It didn’t seem acceptable this time round to eat the possums. Last time, rogue possums had decimated our entire population of 30 guinea pigs and we had possum curry as a result of that incident. We released the last three into the bush. I shouted at them as they sped off into the rainforest,
“…don’t come back and steal any-more eggs!!”
I hope they heard me!
It is sunny and dry again today. We will probably have a rest today before starting the week afresh. I will leave you with a picture of the duckies staring curiously at a possum.
“Hello Mr Possum…we are the Duckies!! Pleased to meet you!!”
We are starting to notice a pattern with the geese. This morning, they were very, very noisy…they sounded like they were picking fights with each other. When this happens, it looks like some of the girls want to lay and are jostling for nesting space. There are three designated (designated by the goosies of course) spaces near the house. During these noisy days, we have to continually watch these spaces because the girls are liable to sit on top of each other. The other day, I found two females squashed up on the same nest…we have coined this “goosie pile-up!!” We have attempted to make more nesting locations for the geese with nice bedding material and roofing but the girls won’t have any of it. It looks like we are fully into goosie laying time. Here is a picture of a broody goose sitting on nothing; we have to put her in a cage for a week to break her broodiness…I have tried less than seven days but they always go back to their nesting spot.
Broody Goose.
There is another nesting spot closer towards the pond area which is a bit more isolated. There are different problems with this area: possums!! On top of the chaos of breeding season, we have egg thieving possums too! The cages are out and we have caught five in two days. They are quite cute!
Possum.Another Possum.
Anyway, despite the morning rains for the last week the place is still drying up. This is the pond…it is getting quite low. It usually goes right up to the edge.
Pond Drying Up.
The ducks still go to the pond every morning like clockwork.
Ducks in Pond.
However, the geese are hanging around the house making noise and making trouble. Gnome said,
We have been having morning heavy showers since Thursday. It rains so much that all the basins fill up and by about 10am the sun comes out in its full glory. This may sound pleasant but it actually feels really uncomfortable. It has happened again today! I will probably run in and out of showers to do stuff. Last week, we took advantage of the rains and planted our basil plants in all the tyres.
Since the mower is out of order, Gnome has been working on the well in the old coop. This coop has been converted into a nursery and contains all our planting beds. To get through the dry (seems like it is a wet dry season this year!) Gnome thought that he would replace the submersible pump, attach solar panels and voilà…we would be able to water our plants with a hosepipe.
(At this point, I need to pause to laugh…or even cry…you will not believe the obstacles that we have come up against!!)
First of all, whilst Gnome was pulling the entire pipe up from the well, the last 15 foot section fell into the well…the whole length of the pipe consisted of three pipes screwed end to end to make a 45 feet length. Gnome exclaimed:
“…I can’t believe the last section just fell off…it was screwed tightly when I put the pipe down!”
Okay, so now we have a 15 foot pipe stuck down the bottom of a well! Gnome has tried hooking, roping, praying and singing…so far, no success. Any ideas, anyone?
And that’s not all of it. The submersible pump is the perfect rinky-dink low wattage for our slow-trickling shallow well. It only needs a 100 Watt solar panel. When Gnome did a test run of the pump, he could not get it to work and had to take it apart. He was glad that he did it because he found that one of the springs was misaligned and wasn’t pushing the brush. Okay, then he got it working…then what happened?
The submersible pump didn’t fit down the 3 inch well casing!! Arrrghhh!! This one Gnome managed to figure out…he used a sanding drum to shave a 1/4inch all around and sanded down the screws.
Fixing Well Pump.
There you go! That’s what has been happening. Frustrating but we are trying to keep a sense of humour!
It is grey and overcast so we could get some rain this morning. While we are waiting for the weather to determine our day, I thought I might write something. Here is a picture of a big rain that we had last Thursday. Gnome had placed a whole line of basins along the back part of our house to catch rain off the roof. Here is a picture of the geese having fun around the water basins:
Goosies at the Basins.
The basins also act as a barricade to prevent the geese from jumping and flying (yes! The younger ones can fly so we will have to clip their wings) onto planting tyres placed around the edge of the house. They are starting to learn that there are tasty titbits like dandelion greens growing in the tyres.
What have we been up to? We have been taking advantage of the hot, dry weather; Gnome is clearing and cutting down trees and since there is no place to store so much wood, he started making charcoal again.
Making Charcoal.
Generally, I do the lighter jobs around the farm which involve maintenance and keeping all plants and animals alive and healthy. We are slap bang in the midst of goosie breeding season and have found three nesting spots so far. The younger geese are nesting close to the house and not trying to hide their locations from us. The older geese, that we did not rear from a young age, can go off very far and are sneaky and surreptitious with there egg laying activities. They are the ones that we have to keep an eye on. Here is a picture of the “Squeakies”…they are definitely No.1 on the list for sneakiness…they know when they are being watched and are capable of throwing you off the trail…
Squeakies! Where are you laying your eggs?!
The Squeakies.
I will leave you with a picture of a praying mantis that looks like a leaf. Amazing…
March Already…what happened to January and February? Is it just me… is time going faster and faster? Anyway, we can’t turn back the time so we must proceed and keep on going. Since the mower is waiting for a part to coming whizzing its way to Belize in a few months, Gnome has decided to chain-saw and clean up the area behind our house. This is an “after” picture…look! You can actually see the mountain to the back…
Backyard Cleaning Up!!
What other things can I show you? We have basil coming out of our ears right now. We have about forty of these…some in pots and some in tyres around the house. I guess we need to get more tomatoes going because we like basil with tomatoes:
Basil.
Oh, and this one is catnip grown especially for our lovely, lazy cat. I have read that cats go crazy for catnip. Well, not our cat!! I’ve tried giving him a few leaves and he just looks up at me like he is saying, “I don’t eat greens…where’s the meat?!”
Catnip Plant.
Gnome has been chopping down some coconut palms to give more space for our mangoes and avocados. We have been eating coconut heart of palm almost everyday…there is so much of it. In my opinion, the heart of palms all taste quite similar. The commercialised one is usually from the peach palm and the main one that is eaten in Belize is the cohune palm. They all have a crunchy texture and sweet taste.
Heart of Coconut Palm.
Gnome has a new modified method of baking bread: in a cast iron pot surrounded by coals in a sand pit. We both love this crusty bread and it tastes so much better than oven-baked bread.
