Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Downhill! And a surprise.

Well, had been sweating (a lot), working on upping the exercise. I found that thirty minutes getting the heart rate UP, rather than just walking for 1 hour made Rudee ecstatic, he loves 'running' (yeah, right) with me. Well, that and getting almost all the soda out of my diet is starting to actually have an effect.

Down 1.2 lbs.

I am hoping that the changes for the good will continue, and I will have something to show my shiny new doctor... (I hope this works out, I have been looking for a while! When you have screwy insurance, and pre-existing conditions, getting a doc can be a challenge. I say nothing more than that.)

On to my guitar playing. Technically, I have reached my goal of playing a song by Christmas this year.

If you call playing a G chord in 4/4 time, while singing "Are You Sleeping" playing a song. I hope to go past this, however. I have been fairly good about practicing between 20-60 minutes of an evening, almost every night. But last evening, Husband trotted in, and said, I have some help for you!

?

Oh.... Kaaaay...

He had a video that had been stuck in a back closet for some time, (Husband had tried learning guitar, and didn't care for it. Sold most of his stuff...), and gave the video to me. Well, it showed some warm ups, and some basic TUNING, that I have desperately needed, so I can now say that, while it might not be perfectly tuned, it certainly sounds better than it did. With the added bonus, I can tune it to another guitar. I want to get in and get a pitch pipe, but that is one of those, gee I should, but just don't seem to get around to things. But, it added one more step to learning, so I am pleased.

I have been watching my young Rhode Island Reds with some amusement. They are just getting old enough to realize they are roosters, and are now starting the fluffing, strutting, and posturing. Two in particular, as soon as I let them out, run out, find a spot to circle off, and start at each other, bowing, and fluffing out of necks. So far, this is about as far as it's gone, they just don't seem to get too worked up past this point. They stop pretty much instantly when Longtail walks by, I guess they've figured out he isn't going to put up with much.

But yesterday, I was watching "the boys" in their posturing, when one of the hens came up and started clucking at them, what for. They ignored her, and her clucking grew more intense. The boys fluffed.

I guess she'd had enough of their silliness, because she flew up in the air a little bit, landed on top of their heads, and started whacking them with her wings and feet, (jokingly referred to here as Chicken Fu), until they broke it off and ran. She then settled down, and started pecking about for bugs.

Moral of the story? Don't tick off the girls!

6 comments:

Chicken Boys said...

It is a bit funny till they get older. Little Chicken is missing a few hackles (only noticeable because the feathers underneath don't quit match up) are missing. He was trying to get at Perogi, my super mean RI Red rooster that nearly broke my hand this year. Good luck with the guitar! I tried (and failed miserably) with the piano.

Cat said...

Yes, we had some birds that I finally had to seperate about 2 years ago, since then I have been pretty careful about watching, so I didn't end up with torn up roosters. Surprisingly, the ones I've kept have been pretty laid back, once the pecking order is established...

I don't think a bird would last long in my flock if it caused me personal damage... Just sayin'.

And with the guitar, I am doing it purely for personal enjoyment, and so if it works out to be useful, great, if I do no more than understand music a bit better, I still gain something from it. All good in my book.

Cat

Friend of the Bear said...

Hi Cat. Love your description of the roosters!

Well done on reducing the soda. That is a big achievement because it is so addictive. They make it that way deliberately of course.

Bearfriend xx

Cat said...

Hi, Bearfriend!

I have great fun watching those silly birds... I chuckle when you talk about soda being addictive, one of my grandmothers was around when Coke had cocaine in it. So it wouldn't surprise me at all to find it still wasn't too hot, drink wise...

Cat

Amy said...

Congrats on the weight loss!
And it sounds as if the guitar playing is coming along nicely.
Loved the description of the roosters. I could totally picture it. We gave our rooster to friends, as I beleive I mentioned in one of my previous posts. Anyway, my point being is we don't get to see any more silly rooster antics. Just basic hen stuff. Still, they are fun to watch too I think!:-)

Cat said...

Thank you! And, I think it sounds more like guitar, not just noise, so yes, it's an improvement. (Husband hasn't been asked his opinion, but he isn't running out of the house when I practice, so I think I'm doing ok.

And yes, the girls are as much fun to watch as the boys, it was just the way this came about that amused me. Chicken Fu Rules!!!

Cat