Men! and the Guinea

It sure is hard to find time to get on the computer. Here it is almost bedtime again!

We were up at 5:00 am and by the time Poppy left at 6:00 to work at the deer processing plant, I had made the bed, folded and put away two loads of laundry, emptied the dish drain, cleaned the litter boxes, and swept the floors.

At 7:30, after feeding the animals, I raked leaves for one whole hour. Hardly made a dent, but at least the three king size sheet loads I hauled off won't be back.

I stood the rake by a tree and came inside, picked up what was left of my cup of cold coffee, and my camera, and ambled over here to the computer, thinking I would load a few pictures and attempt to halfway write a post. Anyhow, that's when Poppy walked in the front door. He was at work for two hours. Not many deer, he said.

The rest of this day has been spent making pies, wrapping packages to mail, addressing a few cards, cooking supper, and washing a huge pile of dishes.

This picture is from last December. The guineas were watching as I made a huge wreath for the yard. Predators had killed all but two of this group...

Good gosh, is there time to tell you about the guinea? By the time I back up to explain the whole story, well, lets see...

It was just before daylight Monday when the owl flew in and killed one of our last two grown guineas, the female. He grabbed her her right out of the big cedar tree. It was awful. 

The light colored female guinea was killed. Their baby was killed a few months ago by a neighbor's dog.

I worried all day about the one male guinea, left alone. Last spring we had thirteen guineas and one by one, predators have killed them.

We do have three young guineas that I raised over the summer. These three young guineas are tame. They stay in the chicken lot all day and roost safely in an enclosed pen at night.

sweet babies

It was getting dark Monday evening and I watched as the one lonely male guinea paced back and forth looking up into the cedar tree. He knew what had happened to his mate and he was afraid. He wandered into the woods and back a couple of times looking lost and hopeless. It was sad to watch.

That's when I started calling...having never called a guinea before, I was saying, come on little guinea, come with me. I coaxed him into the chicken lot, then into the enclosed guinea pen by throwing a few pieces of lettuce into the pen. The young guineas love lettuce so when they started eating, he joined them and I quickly shut the door. By this time it was pretty dark outside.

I still don't believe this guinea listened to me and followed me. It was the best feeling knowing he was safe inside the pen with three other guineas. Later, I slipped outside with the flashlight to check on them and to my surprise all four were huddled safely together. It was the happiest feeling.

Okay, I should delete this and start over but Poppy needs the computer...men! So, please overlook my "Dick and Jane" writing style. :) 

Love, 
Henny