Amelia's Menagerie

      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...