Amelia's Menagerie

     Hi guys, I am so sorry for not writing in forever. I could apologize for paragraphs upon paragraphs, but that is boring ;). So, here are some things that have been going on lately! Bareback, of course :) I am going to ride Chessie with my friend, Anna, in a few days, and it will be a tackless (no bridle or saddle!) ride! \ Making rat hammock sets ( this one is for sale ) Making more rat hammocks. Making wreaths and garlands :) I also got a new rat cage, but don't really have any pictures of that yet... I will soon.                                                      Making youtube videos! So, I will be writing a proper post soon, but for now, I would say this is pretty good! Love you guys! -Amelia :)

      Well, because the main sport I am participating in currently is horseback riding, I have been getting comments from some friends about how it doesn't take any work or is a useless sport and is just plain dangerous. So, because riding actually takes more work than sitting down, contrary to many beliefs, I figured it was time I wrote down a handy list that I can have people refer to with their smart phones when I get told horseback isn't a sport. So, without further ado, several reasons why horseback is actually a sport: No, I do not ride western, even though it looks that way from my hand position. I was taking the picture with my other hand, and still had to keep my pony under control. At the canter on Dijon. To ride a horse in any way, shape, or form, you are going to have to be physically exerted in some way or many ways. Riding a horse, and especially riding one well , is going be a lot of work. Even if you just lead a horse around, you are going...

     That is what makes up my life right now. Oh, and babysitting, church, and horses... I live a very normal homeschool life. Kind of. Okay, so school is going pretty well, I aced my Latin scripture quiz, and am slowly catching up on math. I have started to get 8 hours or more of sleep, thanks to getting to bed before 10:00 pm now. I read school books or do math at night until I need to sleep. Right now I am reading Paradise Lost by John Milton, and I get to read The Pilgrim's Progress and write a paper on it this week. I had my first debate today, and I think we won. I do not really know. The debate was about GMOs. Here is what we were working off of:  Resolved: The U.S. government should ban the use of genetically modified food. Our team was assigned the negative position, and we found that out this morning, and we debated this afternoon. Being on negative was a bit hard for me for two reasons. One, I am very much against GMOs and did not like defending them, as...

   So, as you have probably gathered from the title, I have a lot of school. A lot. Now, I have skipped a grade in Classical Conversations' Challenge class. If you have been through Challenge, then you may know that it is, well, challenging. I also had already skipped some other math... books up to skipping ninth grade, which set me up for a lot of new learning. Put on top of all that, I also have a full time Latin class. And I am attempting to write a book. And I have a small farm to run, complete with messy ducklings that I have to vacuum up after. I am very tired most of the time, and I have to work on the weekends. I have cried, laughed hysterically, which is probably worse, and even dyed my hair because I just cannot think quite right at the moment. The hair dye has thankfully faded, and I am happy that I am back to being me without hot pink hair. Yes, I did dye several inches of my hair, and yes, it was hot pink/red. All this being said, I am having the time of my life. ...

     Salvete! I am going to write a post that I talked about in my previous post, which was requested by my good blogger friend Micah from  Micah's Farm . I recently had a hawk attack one of my chickens, but I managed to intervene in time to save her from the hawk so she could die in peace. I am really glad I brought her inside because she stopped rolling her head around and just sat, trying to get all the blood out of her mouth. So, to help her clear her mouth out so she could breathe, I gave her a basic electrolyte solution of water, maple syrup, and salt. I used maple syrup, but you could use honey, or even sugar. I just wanted to get her system back up and running as soon as possible so I went with a liquid sugar. If you want to, you can also add a small drop of apple cider vinegar and some garlic for extra immune system boosting. If the bird/animal has a wound, you should disinfect it. I did this with one of my quail when she got bitten by something on her wing ...

     Hi guys! Why do I always say that? Okay, forget about that bland salutation, and keep on reading! Hallo! How are you today? I am doing fantastically, and am enjoying a bit of rest after my first day of Classical Conversations, my homeschool co-op. I skipped ninth grade, so I will be doing quite a lot of work this year. I will try and keep up with the blog, but it may not be as often as I would like.I have been a bit  AWOL on the blog, I know, but I have been busy with awesome things. "What things?" you may ask, so I will answer with a semi-lengthy list: Chickens, Ducks, Ducklings! Latin Class, Horseback, School! Creme Brulee Making, Dreaming of Having a Cow or Goat, Youth Group, WRITING MY BOOK!!!!    So after that ramble, I will tell you about some of these things, of course not in order, as I am a homeschool child. Let's start with horseback. I am having a ton of fun with horseback, and just yesterday went over a vertical jump several time...

     Maybe some of you have heard. Maybe some of you have not heard. I have some very big news. No, I have not gotten more quail, or more chickens. Or even more fish! I did not publish or finish my book. I am not moving. I did not get a second blog or youtube channel. I did not buy a horse... I got ducklings! Five sweet, adorable ducklings. Four girls and one boy, and they are just precious! I do not have any names yet, but I hope to soon. They are only two days old, and are tiny! I have not raised ducklings in over a year, maybe over two. I am enjoying them being cute and relatively mess free, because I know that they will start to need their bedding changed multiple times a day in a few weeks. I love ducklings so much! I will have pictures and write more soon, but I just wanted to let you guys know about our new additions!

      So here it is! I am sorry I have kind of put this off, but I have been very busy lately. I have been reading, writing, cooking, farming, and many other things. I have started to write a book, and that is going very well so far, and I hope to talk about it more in another post. I have been cooking and baking, the most recent being chocolate mousse and tiramisu. I have been farming, and the latest big but sad news on that is that Ferris, my beautiful male quail, got killed by something. His ladies, Ophelia and Athena, are doing well, though they have stopped laying. I have finally signed up for Classical Conversations, which is my local homeschool co-op, and I am going into tenth grade level, although I still have to do some ninth grade things during the year. I am the only girl out of four students, but I know all the guys, so it should be fun. Katie is still being a very crazy puppy, but we figured out some new ways to help tire her out. Right now, she is laying dow...

     So, this is my 50th post! Just think, I have written on this blog 50 times over the course of a year. Wow! This Blog has been around for a year! I started my youtube channel last night, which is very exciting, and here is the video:      Yes, I did make a mini birthday cake for you guys to see. It was delicious :) I was also allowed to read the  Evil Guest Post  my sister wrote, and this is my celebratory post for, thanks to all of you,  reaching... over 2,000 page views over the course of a year! I will now tell you all the countries that I receive page views from and how many I have gotten (all time history) United States 1843 Russia 127 France 30 Poland 30 Germany 13 Romania 8 Italy 6 Ireland 5 United Kingdom 3 Mexico 3      Well, that is an awful lot of page views and countries, right? Right. I am very happy to have kept on blog...

     I uploaded my first video! You are not able to see it yet, but you should be able to tomorrow. I will put it on the blog tomorrow if all goes according to plan. The little Birthday Cake for the Blog and Youtube Channel!                                                                                 

    Ahh, I love the quail. They are so much easier, quieter, less messy, than any of our other pets. Except the fish. But, they are adorable and give us eggs!

Well, I have three posts to go now, well two, kind of... I have less posts to write than when I started! Yay! I am going to go see if the quail have laid any eggs today. I will write another blog post when they do. If they do.

Sunrise. Waxing the board. Looking for sand crabs.

Here are our first quail eggs! All our types of eggs!

Preparing to surf. Thea catching a wave. "Wild" ponies. Not very wild looking to me :)

Hi guys, as you probably have heard, tomorrow is my one year blog anniversary. I read that on my evil twin sister's post, although that was as far as I got before she distracted me with another scheme of raising our roosters for meat, which got into a very heated argument which ended in us eating hash browns from the garden potatoes. I have  want to write seven posts, including this one, today so I can write my 50th post tomorrow, on the actual anniversary. I will hopefully not have to do very many lengthy ones, mostly just picture posts, which should be fun. I am trying to see if I can make a one year anniversary cupcake and decorate for tomorrow. We shall see. So, if you want to stay tuned, I will be writing A LOT of posts today. Grab a cup of tea, or coffee, or hot cocoa, whatever you want, and join me as I try to write/post like crazy! See you tomorrow! -Amelia

Bonjour, merveilleux lecteurs, votre grand-mere cuit mauvais biscuits (*) ! Before we discuss anything else, I must ask a question. Don't you love this font?!? I feel all Lois Lane. I wonder why Amelia doesn't use it more often... As you've probably guessed, I am not your usual, very lovely Amelia. I am, in fact, her evil twin. Seeing as Amelia is quite a kind person, I must be quite evil. Indeed. I like moonlit walks on the beach, watching Despicable Me for tips, and puppies... It's actually been (almost) a year since our good, fair Amelia wrote the first syllabub (Princess Bride, anyone?) of this blog. And it's been quite a year. However, seeing as she doesn't exactly know what I'm doing right now (mwa ha ha ha... EVIL!) I've developed an IDEA. Only, I call it scheme or   plot   http://evilspeculator.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/my_evil_plan-1000x563.jpg Evil Plan #376  Tomorrow is the One Year Anniversary of the blog. We should do some...

     And I am tired, tan, and a bit teary. Okay, first two things have nothing to do with the third thing. We went on a week long camping trip to Ocracoke Island, which caused most of the tired, and all of the tan. We got back at midnight last night after being in our clunky old RV for the whole trip. While we were at Ocracoke, we learned to surf! And do many other things, which for me consisted of getting a cactus stuck in my foot (which hurt like crazy!) and getting pinched by two crabs (also very painful!). I had tons of fun, and will try and catch you guys up more on that trip at some point. The teary part is because I watched two of The Hunger Games movies, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I got very emotional after watching the last one, as the ending was probably the best ending I have ever seen in any movie. I don't know quite why I cried, I just know I did, and I cried A LOT! I have watched it twice, and it has the same effect even the second time. Okay, okay, I k...

This post is dedicated to Sara, my best friend. Here are some hopefully not (too) embarrassing photos;). You are a great friend, Sara, Happy Birthday! She and her sister, Kira, are often found at our house on a Sunday afternoon. With her little sister. Helping me with some roosters that were a bit feisty. She was one of the only people to offer to clean up their injured combs. At my house for a blog collab.     Always ready to do my ever crazy hair. We got dressed up! She hates is when people spell her name with an "H"  Her smile of pleasure is always a grace, She loves and she shares,  She prays and she cares, She is awesome as can be!  She is a best friend to me.       Well, Sara, Happy Birthday! Can't wait to see you :).

     Hi guys, how are you? I am quite well, and am enjoying my last two weeks of being 13; wow, it has almost been a whole year since I started this! Well, my birthday is June 10th, if you want to comment happy birthday, or if you just wanted to know. We have been quite busy on what I like to call our hobby homestead.  Two female adult quail have been added to our small flock, named Ophelia and Athena, as well as two Salmon Faverelle pullet chicks. Names for them are TBD, and we just put seven, yes seven, duck eggs into the incubator, this night, as a result of the duck tragedy . Thea is at a dance right now, about to get home. I am quite tired; I had babysitting at high school youth group, as I am not quite in high school. I also did a bit of work around the house with the chicks and quail. I always feel like when I turn another year older, I am going to somehow feel so different, but it just feels like I am another day older, which I technically am. I have been wri...

    Hi guys, I have some really bad news. We have lost six of our animals in one week. First, we lost Lila and Penelope, our probably only two hens out of our seven chicks. They are buried in our iris garden. Then, we lost four ducks, and that was one of the hardest things I have ever been through, because I forgot to lock them in their pen, for the first time even though I have done it several hundred times, and thus if I had remembered they would be alive. They were probably killed by a mink, as four were dead, and mink kill as many as possible, but we only found three, and they were not bloody at all, which is the hunting style of mink, and we have seen mink around our neighborhood. It killed Runner, Taru, Leroy, and Daisy. Honestly, I will miss them very much, but we found out that Taru had put up a fight to protect his girls, which ended in his death, but probably saved Illya and Dragon, and it makes me so proud and even sadder than before. I made a beautiful grave for th...

    Hi guys, I know I haven't posted in a while, but we had some, well, technical difficulties with our computer. Well, er, both of them. They both broke down in the same week. They were easy to fix, except then the other one broke down again. We took it to the shop, again, they were able to turn it on, and it kind of sort of caught on fire. So, not really my fault I haven't posted in a while. Quite surprisingly, the computer that caught on fire is home and all fixed up, thanks to some awesome computer repair people. Anyways, seriously a lot of stuff has been going on. A LOT. First of all we, had chicks hatch. Seven chicks, under Frisky. Aren't they cute? Raising chicks is so much easier with a hen, and if I ever hatch my own chicks or quail again, I am using one. I only have a name for the definite female, and it is Penelope. Frisky is being a great mom, finding food and grubs for her babies. They turned one week old today. I have also been gardening like crazy, so the ch...

     Hi guys, I was wondering if you would like to sponsor me for the Walk for Life! It is a fundraising event for the Valley Women's Clinic, also called the Pregnancy Resource Center, which is an organization that provides free, pro-life options to women and couples facing unplanned pregnancies. They never charge a patient, even though they provide expensive services. The walk is this Saturday , so if you want to sponsor me, please do it before the event. I have 20% of my goal, and I would love to reach it before Saturday! My sister also needs help raising funds, as well as many of my team members. Here is  my fundraising page , and here is  my sister's fundraising page . If you want to sponsor one of my teammates, go to Thea's or my page and click on team and select who you wish to sponsor. As a team, we are a bit over half-way to our team goal, and we need your help. I am trying to raise $1000 as well as my sister for this wonderful organization. We do not ge...

     Hi guys, I know I have been saying this A LOT lately, but sorry for not posting in a while. I have been insanely busy lately, so I think you guys deserve a catch up, hence the title. First of all, we got a puppy. I know, kind of a big thing, but we got to foster her for a week beforehand, and we fell in love with her. Here are some pictures of her: Kate the puppy sleeping. On my lap.      I also had a quail chick hatch, and she is adorable! Here are some more pictures: Ferris the quail.      Another big thing is coming up, and that is the Walk For Life! If you want to support me,  here is my page.  You guys may not know what the Walk For Life is, so I should probably explain that. The Walk For Life is a fundraiser for the Valley Women's Clinic. The VWC, or PRC (pregnancy resource center) provides free ultra sounds and pregnancy testing to soon to be moms who are not prepared to have children. They are a p...