Why I Love Machines?

I had forgotten how much I love to work on machines. But new neighbors moved next door and I felt that old familiar thrill of the old machine. He works on cars and makes them purr. As a child my grandfather put me on the engine of a 1965 Ford Galaxie and showed me how to fix her. He told me one day she would be mine. That Ford was my first love. But moving around the country and youth separated me from her and I have always been looking for her big chrome grin and teal body. So I have moved to farm tractors, wow what wonderful creations. They work, rust and fall apart but they will always be waiting for you to get them going again. They do not judge, do not have loyalties, do not gossip and won't hurt you on purpose. You can paint them any color and add what you want to them. They will perform as hard as you make them. Machines like tractors and cars are so much better than a Barbie doll for me. Give me grease, chrome, oil and gas and find me in the garage. A machine can't hug you but it can purr for you! Long live the machines.

Saving Baby Birds

Late summer and storms bring a lot of bird nests down around our farm. Recently our tabby upended a nest and scattered the chicks. So in the dark of night I gathered them and put them in a nest of shavings and hay and placed baby birds and in a plastic gourd with 2 sized openings. I hung the nest high in a spruce where I heard the parents birds chirping for their chicks. I made sure both holes were open for the parent birds to get in. Most plastic gourd openings are for slimmer martin type birds and my chicks were a larger breed. The next day I observed the parents taking turns feeding the chicks in their new gourd. Nature finds a way to take care of itself. And chicks have a better chance of making it if the parents raise them. Birds do not care about if your scent on the chicks, if they can hear a chick they will seek it out and feed it. The main concern is timing, get those chicks outside next to the parents as soon as possible. Otherwise the parents will begin a new nest/brood. Hand raising baby chicks (or wild animal babies) is a messy full time job and ends in the death of the animal most times.

Ducky Day

Our young ducks are growing up fast. They still cannot fly yet, but they have doubled in size. They eat a lot of duck food along with bugs and worms they dig up. We are hopping they will fly to our pond to cool off out of the heat wave we are having. They still use the toy tubs I set up for them as ducklings.

Old Tractors

We were in Springfield, MO at a farm store looking at old and new tractors. Something about old tractors makes me stop and study them. So much more interesting that the slick new modern ones. I just love to see how they are worn and kept together after so many years. Many have new coats of paint and new seats but most have a coat of rust. All have worked hard out here in the Ozarks.