Tony called at 6:24 this morning to report the barn brooder was fine, the chicks were not huddled up, and the only complaint seemed to be that their water had run out over night. I texted #3 to go refill water and food right away when she got up, and she did call a few hours later to let me know it had been done and all brooder chicks were alive and well. I'm so relieved!
Later in the morning, #3 called and said she thinks she knows where Iris is nesting. She says she heard her off in the brush behind the rabbit colony building. I told her to leave her alone for now, and to just hope she'd come back up to the barn to get some food and water as she needed it.
This afternoon, #3 called again, this time asking what to do about Zombie... Our cat who is 2-1/2 years old who (up until about two months ago) had never gone into heat before... Was in labor and had delivered a kitten in the middle of the bathroom floor. I instructed her in gathering up a laundry basket and a towel, and giving Zom a safe and comfortable place. Flash forward several hours and the update via text was that Zom was still moving around frequently and seemed unable to get comfortable, but still only had the initial kitten.
As of 10pm, I'm back home now. Iris the guinea is still missing, Zombie has just one kitten (a white baby with a club-foot), and my house is a mess. Looks like I'll be spending tomorrow cleaning the house since my kids didn't feel the need to clean up after themselves this weekend while I was away.
I had wanted to add a photo of the new kitten, but the cord to connect my phone to the computer is still packed with the overnight stuff, and I'm not going to unpack tonight.
Quick bedtime check on birds... outside adult ducks have started to hide their eggs in their nests, so we're leaving them in hopes the ducks will go broody and maybe hatch their own babies. The babies in the basement brooder (the keepers from the surprise box, older ducks, and newest hatchlings from last week) are all doing well. A quick peek in the incubator shows one egg has pipped and is making noise. The other has not pipped and has not made any noise - I did not candle it.
I spent a large portion of today with print outs of the satellite view of the property measuring out where most of the permaculture additions will go. So far I've found where each of the fruit trees, nut trees, berry bushes, and strawberries will go. I looked up plans for raised beds for the raspberries and blackberries and for the strawberries. Now it's going to be a matter of measuring everything out and doing the hard work to dig holes, add compost, plant everything, and add mulch. Dare I hope for a nice Sunday when Tony and the kids could help get a good start on this? I know it'll give us a good solid start for our permaculture, but it seems like a huge amount of work, and I'm not confident enough to think I can do it all myself.
And to close out today's very random blog that has literally jumped all over the place with no segways ... I'm so scatter brained today... The colony rabbits have no new babies, but I anticipate we should have some tomorrow. Spot has pulled a lot of fur and bulked up one of the nest boxes with bedding and fur and then covered it up to block it up. No babies in there as of bedtime check, but maybe tomorrow we'll have some more.