pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on tue 20 apr 04
but Sand as has 'sharp' edges to it...should be allrighty...
Hi Kelly,
What little I know, would seem to recommend that you
determine if the Sand is of 'sharp' or 'round' edges to the
grains...maybe round up a Microscope with a good sharp
lense...and see.
If the grains are sharp...that is a good indicator, if
round, leave it in the Sandbox for the Cats - or the Kids -
or let them work it out.
Oh, the little 'peep'...! so darling...
"Hand Nest" - Yes...they all love that at that age, or, for
a while after even...some for a long while too...even unto
being grown up. As a little treat now and then, a
revisit...an interlude...in which I tended to let the legs
dangle between my fingers...that is, for Birds as are
large...anyway...even then, they get that 'dreamy' look..and
just melt there...
When I was raising orphan baby Sparrows, I sometimes had
twelve or fifteen at a time. Big hand-nest you may
imagine...cupped in both hands, especially after they had
grown a little, one hand would not do...just as yours,
they'd doze and dream baby-bird-dreams with their little
beak tucked heads held in close, as you mention, as tho' to
assume the posture of being again in the 'egg'...and...if
one of them woke up, and blinked, moreso, if they then saw
me looking at them, if I had not closed my eyes in
time...they'd all get going and remembering how they love to
eat, they'd all wake up, and get excited and start
squeak-gaping, holding their little beaks open and
'up'...and with Sparrows, as you may know, they are fed by
putting tid-bits ( never water or liquid) into their open
beaks. As babys, (or the ones we have here in el-vee anyway)
their beaks are yellow and have 'lips' and are wide...so,
when they'd all get wound-up like that, it looked like I was
holding a handfull of little yellow Flowers, all blooming
and open to the sky...
I would set them in a warmed shallow Bowl with a soft cloth,
to feed them...(minced Pears, minced Apples, minced Bugs I'd
caught, minced Bread, minced Sardines, minced filet of Sole,
on and on...minced Meal Worms I sometimes raised on Apples
and Potatos...) and give my hands a rest from holding them.
But they need that...to be held...lots of it really...but as
you know, it does make it tough to smoke, or drink Coffee
or read a Book or do anything else when one has 12 or 14 or
something to hold...
One method as had merit, was I would place them gently in
the front fold of my shirt, right about at my navel...and, I
could sit and read or work on desk-things or something, and
it kept them warm and snug and they seemed content with
it...delicate of course...to do that.
Baby Pigeons, reach a point where they will weigh more than
most adult Birds do, and quite fill the hand, so hand-nest
then is one hand below, and one on top. If you take the top
hand away, they get wound-up and excited and are wanting to
be fed, or wanting to be social ( which at that age is about
the same thing, but for preening interludes when they will
calm down a while..sort of...and allow their tender quills
to be preened...yellow down tufts on the new Feather's ends
still, for a while...) and, especially if there is eye
contact, they will get all wound up...no matter how 'full'
they really may be from the last round they will be
squeaking for more - so...similarly, the 'shirt' method...is
a blessing...
The last of the 'Dinasaurs'...among us still...
Oh! How profoundly interesting that is...golly...
Love...
Phil
ell vee nuhvahduh, yew-ess-aye
----- Original Message -----
From: "primalmommy"
> OK, I have several hundred pounds of clay, maybe 5 or 6
different colors
> of clay all thrown together in big plastic storage tubs,
been through at
> least 2 winter freezes. It's wet and gloppy but when I
plaster-dry it
> and slice it, it is wonderfully marbled. Would make nice
tile.
> I also plan to use my 4X4 pestle to crush all my bisque
rejects -- and
> maybe the ones from the class barrel at the guild -- into
little groggy
> bits. Any notion how finely they should be screened? Would
my regular
> old metal window screen work? I use it to "grate" chunks
of local clay
> for glaze experiments.. maybe larger chunks are ok too?
There are
> several pounds of drowned spiders, pine needles and clay
tools in there
> besides, which will lend body I am sure.
>
> Yours,
> (refusing to sign my name here just to see if Vince will
bark at me)
>
> p.s. typing one handed and laboriously because one of the
little chicks
> is wimpy and runty and not very smart, even given the
pea-sized brain...
> she is about the same size as a marshmallow peep, bright
yellow, with a
> little fuzzy mohawk because one day will be a sultan
breed, white with
> an extravagant topknot... but now she's a tiny bantam in
the brooder
> among large breeds and keeps getting run over by the
rowdier boys..
> stands in the water dish and then gets wet/chilly and peep
peep peeps
> for assistance. When I hold her in my cupped hand she gets
these dreamy
> eyes -- (mmmmmommy...wwwwarmmm) and curls in an impossible
ball like
> she's still in her cozy egg.. shuts her little eyes and
goes right to
> sleep.. I tried to pillow her in my skirt to type with
both hands but
> she wakes and PEEP PEEP PEEPs until I hold her the right
way again. Poor
> incubator chickies, raised by humans who don't know a
happy peep from a
> sad one or a scared one.. don't know which bug to offer,
ehich seed, how
> much protein, how much greens.. i'm doing the best i can
for not being
> the right mama..
> just took a photo with one hand.. go see...
> http://primalmommy.com/chickybaby.jpg
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