Birds & Fences

This weekend was pretty busy here at the Ward compound. We put up a picket fence out back, Saturday we put in the posts and Sunday we put up the panels. Never having put up a fence before I think it came out pretty good. We're gonna have a lot of painting to do.

I had been reading that Guinea hens are really good for gardens because they eat bugs but leave plants alone. I was pretty excited to get some because they are supposed to keep tick numbers down, too. And since we've moved here I've been finding ticks like crazy on the cats and the dog. So Saturday I took a ride down to Holly Springs to Sumner-Byrd Hatchery, that's the place I bought the 2 chickens we already have. It's a really clean place and the guys that own it seem to really love what they do. So anyway, I went there with the intention of buying the guineas and somehow walked out with 6 adorable little chicks! They're the cutest things you've ever seen.... or heard. They were only three days old.

I'm not quite as in love with the guineas but they're growing on me. Catching them to take home was a bit of a harrowing experience. I was standing there with my boxes ready and the hatchery guy was trying to catch them while they ran around like crazy, flapping their wings and making this hideous scream. I was definitely having second thoughts at that moment. Oh and I got scratched in the process. He eventually had to use a net on one of them and grab it by it's feet so he wouldn't get mauled. Let's hope I never have to catch them. I'm hoping they make up for it with their bug-eating. Another upside is that they require almost no care in the warm months, since they run loose and sleep in the trees. They seem to be settling in now and are kinda cool to watch, and they have really pretty feathers.

Last week I took a trip down to Durham and stopped in at my favorite thrift stores, I found this little metal firetruck toy, not sure what I'm gonna do with it, and these metal ceiling tile things. I love thrift stores.