I was a worker bee yesterday. So, today every single critter I own has clean sleeping places, fresh bedding, pristine litter boxes & crystal clear water (goats/cats, hens, fish).

Which is not to say they were in terrible straits the days before yesterday. It’s just that yesterday I got a super shot of get up and go, so I got up and WENT CRAZY CARING FOR MY CRITTERS because the next few days promise to be very wet and wild, and I didn’t want to have to think about half-assing their care then! I wanted it done in such a way that they will be pristine, warm, and happy for the next several days, no matter what the weather brings, so I did that.

 

I took over 10,000 steps getting it all done.

 

GOAT DETRITUS (chips, pebbles, dirt, earthworms) TO HEN PASTURE

 

I dug the old stuff out of the goat shed (where they bed down at night) and out of the several feet beyond it (so the rain that falls will go into the earth instead of into the goat shed) and then wheeled the detritus to the hen pasture to dump so the hens could pick the yummy earth worms out of it. They made short work of that and scattered the rest evenly across the pasture while searching for the worms, so I didn’t even have to come back and spread it out.  Great helpers, those lay-dies!

 

TRIP TO WILCO AND TRACTOR SUPPLY FOR PINE CHIPS AND STRAW

 

After I finished that major chore, I went online to order some pine shavings and straw to put down where the old stuff had come out. Wilco didn’t have any straw, so I called several other places and finally found a compressed 3/4 bale of straw at Tractor Supply in Puyallup, so I drove to Wilco for the pine shavings (three bags, so I could refresh the henhouse, too) and then to Puyallup for the bale of straw.

 

REFRESHED THE PENS

 

Upon returning, I put the shavings and about half of the straw into the goat shed and into their outdoor calf sheds. They immediately took over the goat shed, happy to have fresh, warm bedding again.  Here’s proof!

 

 

CHICKEN CARE CAME NEXT

 

After that, I cleaned the henhouse and put new pine shavings and straw in so they’ll be cozy and warm if they decide to hunker down in it.  They will probably roost at night, but they have the option to hunker down if they want to, and they can lay eggs in there if they want to, too.

 

I replenished the straw in their laying box. They have lots of options for where to lay their eggs, but they prefer the same box. Only occasionally do I find eggs in any of the other places.

 

LAST NIGHT I CLEANED THE 55-GALLON AQUARIUM

 

Then, the last “merry maid” thing I did I did last night was to clean the gravel in the 55-gallon aquarium.  To do that, I siphon the detritus from rocks at the bottom of the tank. The water that sucks it out goes into a five gallon bucket, which I carry to the kitchen door and toss out onto the lawn. (It’s great fertilizer.) While I siphon the rocks, I have to be very careful not to suck up living beings — frogs, snails, eels, fish, and other critters that spend a lot of their time near the gravel.

 

By the time the rocks are clean, the water level has dropped down about 50%, so I have to draw warm water from the sink into the 5 gallon bucket and condition the water to remove the chlorine from it.It takes just drops of conditioner to do that.

 

When the water level is topped up again, I check the PH level in the tank to be sure it is staying within range. (It always does, but I check anyway.)

 

The result is always (by morning) crystal-clear water. It looks like the fish are swimming through air!

 

 

So, that was my day yesterday, other than looking for more writing work.