House Finch

I found a bird with a nest in a fern plant on my patio 2 weeks ago. After looking on the internet, we decide it is a house finch.  It laid 6 eggs. The bird laid one little, blue egg each night in the nest. 

When I come out on patio sometimes, the mother
bird flies away in a nearby tree and when I'm gone she comes back to the nest.  We learned it will take 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch.  I'm excited to see the baby birds.  More pictures to come.

By Zhanna Linscombe 

Painted Lady Butterflies

Painted Lady Butterflies

A couple of weeks before Easter, we received some caterpillars in the mail from a friend.  They arrived in a container with food for them.  After 7 to 10 day, they stopped eating and climbed to the top of the container. 

They hung upside down and turned into Chrysalides.

Unlike a cocoon, which had a silk covering, a chrysalis has a smooth, hard, outer covering also know as a pupae.

After another 7 to 10 days, the Painted Lady Butterflies emerged right before Easter in their butterfly habitat.  I enjoyed letting them fly away.

By Zhanna

Equine Sports Medicine & Surgery 

On March 12,  2013 about 20 from our 4H group participated in a tour of  Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery  in Weatherford. Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery helps about 75 horses a day and has several doctors on staff.

We saw a very cute foal that was one-day old.  Another foal we saw was about 3-days old and was walking and nursing on the mare.  We found out the mare was a surrogate.

In another barn, we observed a horse dentist pulling 2 teeth on a sedated horse that was standing up.  He had to put a different kind of bit in the horse's mouth to keep it open. The dentist's tools were very large!

The Equine hospital performs surgeries on horses. One horse we were observed had colic. First, the doctors put the horse to sleep (sedated it).  Once the horse is asleep, they need to get it on the table. This was very cool! They lifted the horse up with a pulley — by his legs, upside down! The pulley moved it over the table and lowered the horse down slowly. The nurses shaved and cleaned his belly really well, and then they put "gloves" over all his hooves! Then the doctor's started the surgery. I saw the first cut and I saw the doctor put his hand inside.  We had to leave at that point.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is offered there and they have been successful with treatments for horses. 

I learned a lot on the tour. Here is their website if you want to learn more about the center.:  www.equinesportsmedicine.com

~Zhanna

Our "Neighbors" – Lucy and Midnight

I am going to tell you about my neighbors, Norma and Kevin's two dogs, Lucy and Midnight.

Lucy is an eight year-old Chihuahua / Jack Russell Terrier. She greets us on our walks around the block. Lucy is an outdoor dog that sleeps in a laundry basket in the garage. Her favorite toy is a star squeaky toy.  I found out she snores and snorts in her sleep. Lucy also loves to take a bath. 

Lucy

Lucy’s “Sister”, Midnight, is a 2 year, 3 month-old female German Shepherd. Midnight is also an outdoor dog and sleeps in a kennel. Her favorite toy is a sheep squeaky toy. She loves to crack and eat pecans. Midnight is also so tall that she likes to drape herself over her igloo dog house and watch the squirrels.

Midnight

My Neighbor's Dog - Roxy

My neighbor’s dog is Roxy. She is a lab that is 14 years old. She is yellow and old but still likes to play. Her favorite toy is people. She likes to wrestle. Roxy lives indoors with her people. She sleeps in the office during the day and beside your owner’s bed at night.

She used to chase squirrels but since she is old she watches them from the porch.Roxy likes to jump on people when they come in the door. She doesn’t jump so high anymore. She likes to sleep a lot. Her favorite boyfriend is Harry. He was a Golden Retriever. Harry moved and Roxy was sad.

The most unusual facts about Roxy are that she does NOT like water. She tiptoes through the water. She also eats Cheerios every morning with her regular food.

Next week I hope to have another neighbor dog story. ~Zhanna

Addy and me

We had a dog named Addy long ago. She loved me and I loved her. We got her as a puppy from the animal shelter. She was really cute.  When she was bigger she liked to chase squirrels and chase our other dog's tail. One time I said,  “Get’em, Sick’em” and she ran toward the squirrel. She tripped and rolled trying to get this squirrel.  

 Addy at 3 1/2

One day I was up on the slide and Addy wanted to come up. She was running and jumping and acting nuts to get to the top and me.  Addy would play tug-of-war with my dog Angel. Unfortunately Addy didn’t get along with Angel. Angel was hurt really bad by Addy several times.

 Addy and Me

 I hope you enjoy my story about Addy and me. ~Zhanna

Family Ski Trip!

My family went to Taos Ski Valley to go skiing this winter. I loved it!! While we were there, we went on a snowmobile ride. 

It was very cold, but it was still fun! Each of the adults drove their own snowmobile. I rode with my Dad. The group drove up to the top of a mountain near the Ski Valley. At the top we stopped and took pictures. We were on the mountain at sunset, so the view was beautiful! 

We back down the mountain with our headlights one – that was awesome… and pretty cold!