And here's his other playmate now! Yes you are seeing correctly - it's a little kitten! This kitty stays with the chicken pack all day and night and meows if he is left behind. The rooster crows for him when he meows and they actually wait up for him! Here they are sharing a little kibble that dropped from the sky (tee hee).
Isn't he the cutest kitty ever! We can't touch him....yet. We give this one and another one (Holstein) some food when they show up but neither will let us touch them. Yet. Our real cat, Dakota (aka "Little Boy") was like this when we first got him and now he is a potato. For now though, the chickens are his friends.
Here are some more "Red jungle fowl" that our neighbors a few blocks away have befriended. They throw out corn and the chickens come running! The rooster will even jump into your arms. I want my roosters (the one's that live in our yard) to do that but they don't like corn. Preferemos comer cosas natural.
The neighbors with the trained chickens also have this cool gourd tree near their home. We wander around and see all kinds of oddities so we never know what to expect!
Lots of clip pity-clopping (but odd sounding) in our neighborhood. I can hear them coming through the bamboo tunnel and if I go to the end of the driveway or at least look that way from up top I can see them. Other times they are really really fast. Some of them are the side-stepping Paso Fino horses which look really funky when they are moving if you look at their feet. It seems like Sunday is the biggest riding day when groups of 15 or 20 neighbors on horses ride together. I miss having horses in the yard but...things are looking better up there and we are starting to plant things. So far I've planted a Plumeria (frangipani), Canisteel (eggfruit), moved lots of palms from the giant coconut tree-that-almost-knocked-me-out, and a 6 inch tall blue Flambuoyant. There are millions of mangos growing on the super tall tree and I am getting the real vegetable garden area prepped. I decided to wait for Mangosteens, Rambutans and other special fruit trees until the rains start. No point to putting them in and having to water - they won't be growing anyway. The time for planting is later...(if I can stand the wait)
1 comment:
Hi Jeff & Katrina,
I think the little kitten was raised by the chickens! I hope he warms up to you guys.
The gourd tree is older than my grandparents whom no longer are alive. My grandmother used to make "ditas" by splitting the gourds in halves, getting the meat out, and letting them dry. They were the equivalent of kitchen bowls to aide in food preparation and serve the traditional "bacalao con viandas" or codfish with roots (yuca, yautia, malanga, n~ame, etc.) with sautee onions and olive oil. There used to be a well right next to it, maybe that is why it still survives today with lots of underground water. The tree name in PR spanish is "higuera" (actually from indian word roots, pronounced "eegooera" or something like that) and the bowl tradition dates back to the Taino indians, here is a link with lots of info:
www.kacike.org/FerbelEnglish.html
Its from the Dominican Republic, but it applies to PR as well since they were the same indigenous people. You'll see where some of the garden root names come from. BTW, the name of the area where you live in San German comes from the name of the indian chief that used to rule over the area at the time the Spanish made it to the island. I always find these things interesting, perhaps you will too.
Enjoy!
H Jr.
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