Q and A Time

Good morning. I am happy to report that it is a cool and overcast morning. Inside, all the Birds are sleeping, and outside, all the Birds are busy. Seems like a good time to play a little catch-up here at Chickenblog, answer some questions, putter around.


My previous post was a picture I managed to capture of one of the Mini-bots, SheBot. Back when Zelda hatched her first clutch of chicks we got one chick that looked like Dean Kamen, and the rest we decided should be known as the Mini-Bots, in honor of the 2011 FIRST FRC game, LogoMotion, and Mini-Bot challenge. Of all those chicks, only two were hens. Happily Kamen is a hen and the other Mini-Bot we named She-Bot, or Sheba.

Q
Judy in Kentucky, asked: "What a pretty little chica! (It is a chica, isn't it?)

A
Sheba is a egg laying hen. Her mother is a white Silky named Zelda, and her father was a big strutting, villainous, Polish rooster named Edison. Sheba and Kamen have tufted, feathered hats from their Polish side, and incredibly soft-soft feathers which I attribute to their Silky mothers. They are not easy to photograph because of that almost monochromatic feathering, and also because they are flighty, skittish feather heads, with no sense about trusting me, their kind and generous patron. Sheba and Kamen are pretty little chicas!


Q
From Flartus came this inquiry:"Well, I just discovered your Burning Man updates on your sidebar, so that's like a post for me. Perhaps Alex can guest blog for you about some of his adventures? His "voice" on the text you quoted sounds...familiar, somehow."

A
First of all the sidebar updates from Burning Man are archived for now. I even have a draft of a post I was working on, post-Burning Man. I was not there. Geoff and Alex went, and we called it "Art Camp," because going meant Alex missed the first week of school, and we did not feel like defending our decision to let him go to a remote desert with fifty thousand Burners... exhibitionists, artists, hippies, radicals, expressives, engineers, geniuses, brilliant, sometimes nekkid possibly stoned, interesting individuals.

Secondly: They would go again. After a week on the Playa, in the Black Rock Desert, with all those interesting people, where for twenty-fours a day there is music, art, lights, and dust everywhere, they came home dirty, tired, elated, inspired, and loaded with riveting tales of dusty glory. I figure after a twenty-four drive getting home, with four teens sleeping and eating in the Green Goose, if Geoff says he would go back, then it must have been worthwhile.

For thirds: We are still cleaning. And cleaning, and cleaning. The Playa is a dry lake bed, and what they call "dust" is as fine as baby powder, and it goes everywhere. But it is not like silica. It is alkaline. Corrosive alkaline dust that goes everywhere is a pain in the posterior, especially when you get to the coast and moisture affixes the dust to everything. Suki and Alex gave their bicycles a vinegar bath to counter the corrosion factor, but Alex will still need a new chain, and further detailing and tuning to recover his poor bicycle. The Green Goose needs new filters, and more vacuuming. And also, more vacuuming. Yes, twice.

And Fourthwise: The pictures Geoff took are awesome. And their stories are awesome. And If I can get Alex to share, I promise I will post these on CB. Maybe I should record him, when he and his brothers are talking about desert bicyle obstacle courses, Camp Geoff, and art cars, desert ships, and sleeping in a geodesic dome.

Alright, so I don't get lots of questions, or frequent inquiries, but it was fun answering these two comments. Every morning, I love going to my computer, and stealing some time for myself, and this is when I read your blogs, the news, and emails. Some times I respond right away, and some times I get called away by the late hour, or a hungry six year old. But I never fail to be bolstered, encouraged, amused, and delighted about hearing from readers. So, thank you for visiting Chickenblog, and for sharing your thoughts.

The chickens are calling, the six year old is on the move... inside and outside, the Bird House is waking. Time to look busy. And you? How are things in your bird house?