Drawing some mail art...

I've officially been bitten by the drawing bug! Having always loved pen and ink pieces along with mixed media of pen and ink and watercolor...I'd finally decided, "hey, maybe I can do this."

So in the spirit of trying something new...here's a few examples of what I've been working on. I thought blank envelopes would be a cool thing to draw on...and also easy to share with others.  As with anything art...the more you create something the better you get at it...so mailing these to others forces me to have to keep drawing! Some of my friends have already been gifted with one of these drawing experiments thanks to a stamp and the delivery of the USPS.

If you'd like to receive one in the mail...just drop me your mailing address in an email and I'll be happy to send you one. Email your mailing address to rachel (at) racheldickson dot com.

Hopefully you've not been bored with my barnyard tales here on the blog and wondered what ever happened to my artwork.

More new art to come!  I will be posting soon about the mini-abstract refrigerator magnet art I've been working on too!

Have something specific you want me to draw? Send me your thoughts in an email.

Until then...onward and upward for the arts.

when the weather forecast reads "warmest day in months"...

one wakes up and says, "hell yeah!"

We haven't seen 60 degree temps in northwest Ohio in I can't tell you how long (and yes...I realize we aren't the only ones, I realize many of you relate to this...winter was rough in many parts of the country this year).  And when I read this weather forecast on my phone this morning...I laughed out loud and said, "hell yeah"!  Warmest day in months means forget everything else and get the hell OUTSIDE!!!  Don't walk...run...RUN to the woods!

So I snatched up the dogs (who also have been feeling couped up and over it) and zipped over to Oak Openings for as long a tromp in the woods as our bodies would let us handle.  (The only serious unfortunate thing was that Chris had worked the night before and had to sleep this beautiful day away. And to that I say...never forget the dedication of nurses who work nights...and how this is truly stellar for those who have relatives in the hospital that need 24 hour care).  Otherwise...she would have been along on this trek for sure!

Judging by the joy depicted in the above image (note both dogs over my left shoulder with that "Glee...omg this is freakin amazing look about them")...it was well worth the time today. We tromped through the woods with huge smiles on our faces...I talked to birds and squirrels and such...and then I laughed when the dogs ripped through the muddy patches on the trail...not caring the least bit that they were turning black in the process.  I get it. Couped up in the house warrants ripping through black mud.  I agree!

The air smelled good today. And I smiled especially to the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about doing a tick check upon return home.  Nope. Not today.

Huge smiles as Northwest Ohio wakes from an ugly winter. We made it. We survived what we call in our house "snakes on a plane winter 2014".....interpretation...if you've seen this movie....you'll know the line...."I'm tired....of these mother-F*cking snakes...on this mother-F*cking plane"...which we have chosen to apply to the snow...of 2014.  Yep...we grew tired of it...just like everyone else.

Welcome Spring. Welcome!!

Mouse relocation plan update...

Well, now that the temps are above freezing, clearly the mice aren't as eager to fall into a five gallon bucket in pursuit of whole corn kernels.  (If you're not sure what I'm talking about here...read the blog post below which tells more details.)  Guessing that the remaining mice from the barn have wandered off into the wild blue yonder (the yard that is) since I haven't caught any mice since my last post.
The bucket still sits in its same spot...but no takers.
But...YEAH warmer weather!! Had I known that placing a "mouse relocation bucket" in the barn would have brought wamer temps...I would have done this WEEKS ago!
Cheers.

Barn mouse relocation program...

It's "day 4" of the "Rachel's barn mouse relocation program" and the total is Rachel 11, mice 0.
The idea came straight from a complete accident.

A few weeks ago when I walked into the barn for the usual morning chicken feeding...I realized that I'd forgotten to put the lids back on the trash cans that hold the corn for feeding.  Somewhat blind from sun/snow glare having just stepped into the barn from outside...I had to double-take when I looked down into the can to see the bottom of it full of gray little moving blobs. Must have been close to 20 mice in there!! zoiks!!

I didn't have it in me to "off" all these little fury guys so I just tipped the can down and like a stream of water they poured out and ran off into various nooks and crannies.  (Thankfully not up my leg) Yet...NOW knowing that TWO dozen mice are making a good living inside the barn starts to wear on my mind. I'm not really cool with mice wandering amongst our chickens and our fresh eggs.  So I decided to reenact this accidental capture in the form of a 5 gallon bucket plan.

It's working! While not capturing two dozen at a time...3 or more a day isn't bad. There's a certain spot down the road that I walk them to and upon tipping the bucket these little fellas run off into the field in one direction or another.  I'm just hoping they don't find their way BACK to the barn. I've thought about marking them in some way so I could prove whether or not I did recapture them again in the future...but that just seemed like a complication to a simple experiment.  So far it's successful. One, three, four mice at a time...who knows, maybe I'm fooling myself that I'm actually helping anything here?

There is a hawk family that lives nearby. If nothing else maybe I'm helping the circle-of-life?

Life lessons from a masked bandit.

Cornered, yet another life-lesson from the barnyard.
In continuation of my previous post about the masked bandit in the chicken barn, here's the rest of the story.

After a little research I learned that raccoons mate between February and March. This explains why our newest visitor arrived in the barn a few days ago. Then apparently raccoons have their little kits in April.

I've always thought raccoons to be some of the coolest little animals, with their human like paws and their smarts and their athleticism. Yet I'm fully aware that these lil guys are also wild and as wild animals do, survival is the name of the game.

Judging by the fact that broken egg shells have been on the barn floor the past 2-3 days, and that upon my entering the barn at dusk two nights ago and some of the chickens were roosting in the rafters and not on their usual perches (even the turkeys were eyeing higher ground) it was obvious that the birds knew they were sitting ducks for the next strike.

I suppose that chickens probably don't have emotions anything like humans, but they clearly understand immanent danger after they've witnessed the "offing" of one of their own. (Remembering here the gutted hen recently found laying frozen by the entrance to the barn).

Taking an animal life isn't something I would pick to do given the choice. Like euthanizing a wild bear after it has killed a human, sometimes the choices are made for us. Cornered into having to make a decision you don't want to make.

The moral of the story here is, the chickens and turkeys are safe again. No more masked bandit around to prey on them unsuspecting. In times like this I am reminded of those who lived here many years ago and what it might have been like to live in such a place where your livestock meant an increase in your own chances of survival. Where your farm animals were so very important that any threat to them became a threat to you and your family.

While my life isn't anywhere near that sort of experience, raising any animals means that I take responsibility for their care and safety at the very least. Choosing to live in the country will always mean run-ins with the wild. Which also means challenges and the ensuing difficult choices will have to be made.  I just hope that through these experiences I am shaped into a wiser and more aware individual and can pass along this knowledge to others. Sure beats sitting around watching TV!

Rest in peace mr. raccoon.  Thank you for the life lessons.

adventures in the chicken barn thanks to Winter 2014

It finally happened. I'd had my share of skunks and double digit mice experiences in the chicken barn. But yesterday marked a new experience. And based upon a few days ago of finding broken egg parts scattered about on the barn floor...my suspicions were confirmed.  Hello raccoon.
I walked into the barn rather unsuspecting. And as I went through my usual routine of entering, grabbing scoops of whole and cracked corn and adding to the troughs for excited chickens I couldn't help but think it odd that one of the chickens was wondering about outside the barn altogether. (should have taken that as my first clue that something was awry).
Also in the spirit of routine...I always take a glance into the egg laying nests as to what I might find there (simply as a reminder as to what the whole point is of having laying hens to begin with). And to my quite shocking surprise found a visitor that I've never seen in our barn (in spite of rumors that such predators do exist in the neighborhood). There was a raccoon cuddled up all cute inside one of the laying buckets. He even let me pet him.
Naturally at first I thought he'd be aggressive or at the very least defensive that he'd been "caught in the act" of egg stealing. But something seemed a bit "off" with this lil fella. He wasn't the least bit aggressive and was in fact quite shy.
My thoughts immediately went to, "now what do I do?"
Most specifically thoughts of "once an egg stealer always an egg stealer"...and also..."did this guy have anything to do with why the chicken I found wandering outside the barn now seemed to appear injured as I looked closer at her?
As I saw it, I had two choices.  Make relocation preparations or off him. After all...we can't have a raccoon (which always means a family of racoons sooner or later) wreaking havoc on our chickens.
There happens to be a place nearby that is known for helping to rehabilitate wild animals. So I went inside and asked Chris to call them (Nature's Nursery) and see if they would take said raccoon if I could capture it. Turns out, no.
There went my plan. I had already managed to seal up the laying bucket he was holding out inside of and make it portable and secure when I learned that apparently there are DROVEs of such calls into Nature's Nursery and it's just not possible for them to rehab all these fury fellas.
So back to the barn I went and Chris followed. After discussing our options, we decided that maybe the best thing was to release him back into the barn.
Need I say here, not the most brilliant move...but at the same time I must also say here I prefer kindness to animals over the alternative. Foiled! Foiled I say!
Apparently Mr. Coon wasn't injured. Because upon entering the barn today...that chicken who was wandering around outside the barn yesterday? well, she is now a frozen corps. One of the perches has been broken so I'm guessing said coon is a stellar climber. And more eggs destroyed too. That can only mean one thing.
Here we go again, forced to do something I'd rather not have to. He found a winter buffet. And we can't have that. So begins the next round of raccoon wrangling. Wish me luck. I hope there is only one.

it REALLY is the little things

I'll bet you're well aware of the relentless cold and nature's winter warfare that has taken hold of the northeast. (hah, if you're a reader of this blog...pretty obvious if nothing else).  It's in times like these that the littlest of things brings the smallest reliefs and poof one's perspective changes.
Vacuuming had become quite a chore at our house simply due to the fact that every time I pulled out the vacuum and plugged it in...usually within the first 5 minutes (or less) the damn thing would fail. I was always having take apart the aparatus that involved the beater bar and fiddle with something to do with the belt...that is until the other day. I'd had enough of the nonsense of this. (Also am confident that Chris tired of hearing me grump and moan and cuss and fuss over the process vacuuming previous caused).
Being hard-headed...with the mindset of "surely this is a simple thing and can be fixed" had begun to grow old. After all the definition of insanity is said to be "doing the same thing over and over expecting different results". Even I have my "this is just stupid" breaking point.  So thanks to the internet and UPS...we are now the happy owners of a forty dollar dirt devil and O M G, why the HECK didn't we do this sooner?
Dealing with the constant strain of being held captive inside by this relentless winter...and trying to do simple things indoors like keeping the house clean became an additional strain because simple little appliances like a vaccum we previously used added to this...naturally having one that actually worked like it was supposed too? A dream!!!
So I say here to all the world...thank you Dirt Devil! Thank you for being a little flicker of light and hope. And even as I write this I know it to be ever so dramatic over a vacuum cleaner. But at the same time is worthy of a blog post because on a day that just wouldn't stop with frustration...the new vacuum arrived. I put it together, plugged it in and POOF. Attitude adjustment activate. It brought a smile to my face. Everything from that point forward on that day seemed much improved. And to know that when it's time to get out this little gem and vacuum again...it will work. Like it's supposed to. Is oh so lightweight and holy crap the sucking power of this thing. I am impressed!
And as ridiculous as it sounds...I can hardly wait to vacuum again. Much mucho easier than shoveling snow, although won't help my cause in winning at arm wrestling as it provides no workout like shoveling.
It truly is the little things. The small stuff...can in fact make us crazy...unless of course we declare enough is enough and look to go more with the flow.
I know one thing...carpet dirt is toast in our house. Thanks again Dirt Devil. You made my day!