aug 12 2022
she had the shock of her life yesterday when she was in the back of the car with sizzle. and I just asked jiminy to jump in with her... she had no idea who he was and was not very enthusiastic about it but she got used to it and I got her back out of the front seat and we went on... today she's gonna have to learn about larkey... and after that I'll be ready for four in a car.. Hopefully with three who do come when they're called. but she's pretty random.
I can't say as she walks a very straight line either.. she still has that hangover that most puppies get from trying to cut off their mother and slow her up so they can run around and get another drink of milk... it seems all puppies know about that trick but they have to forget it because it can waft over into cars and golf carts to slow them up and that's just not a good thing..
There are some basic instincts you just can't get rid of quickly... an interesting one is. the puppy born to parents of a herding. Bloodline. will chase almost anything and make super frisbee catching dogs because their timing is so accurate.. To watch a working herding dog is amazing and there aren't too many around....
Actually I wish there was someone around to train some of our staff on how to chase a loose animal.. be it chickens ducks sheep goats whatever.. they will move away from the eye they can see you out of -----have you got that... So many times I have watched people try and herd a bunch of our donkeys back into the barn door.. and invariably one person stands right there by the gate to shut it which of course prevents the donkeys from going in there.. it's a lot easier to learn to herd with a bunch of ducks that can't fly. and you can really steer them very accurately by which I they can see you from you go the other way... those people who have been around here for a long time are very good at this--- they've had a lot of experience.
now on the topic of chickens.. I'm afraid we're too late to even consider baby chickens.. you have to have baby chickens over the spring and summer because you have to keep them very warm.. and let's face it we missed all those or hopefully.. so now I really would like to find some half raised chickens which I'm told are sometimes available on Craigslist... baby chickens have directions like keep at 95 degrees which was apparently what the underneath side of a mommy chicken would be if you had any way of measuring the temperature of the bottom of a mommy chicken ----I'll take somebody's word for it.. in my life as provider of baby chickens for movies and things I have suffered with heat lamps red and white and whatever those heaters are that look like they're going to start a fire at any minute... and even keeping 100 baby chickens on the floor in the bathroom because that was the only place I could get the temperature high enough to keep them all alive for a commercial..
and just so you people stay educated... when somebody wants a picture of a baby chicken they do not want a picture of a four day old chicken.. because a four day old chicken has funny little feathers on the side which tell you very clearly this is not a very baby... just to keep your education complete most of the hatcheries in the Midwest and elsewhere set eggs to hatch on a Monday.. that means that on Tuesday they sex them to try and figure out the males and the females which they do with about 99% accuracy and put them in the mail so you get them on Thursday..
now if if you're counting that means if you want baby chickens you better book the photo studio for a Friday because by Monday those chickens will be six days old and definitely have those little feathers.
and you thought this. this photo bit was easy.
my most complicated was for the movie the next karate kid where I needed a praying mantis. and we were in the wrong hemisphere for praying mantises at that time and I had to get one from Africa which got shipped into Miami and hand carried over to being shipped to Boston in one corsage box
and then the director tells me he wants me to turn it loose in a hay field..... which we did but let me tell you I was nervous... and I also had bought a dozen butterfly Nets and had the whole crew standing around in case the thing took off ----all this was engineered by the bug department of the University of Massachusetts.
moving on ..
