Orange Alert

We stand down now from Yellow Alert to Orange Alert. There hasn't been a loss in over a month, and so our guns are no longer drawn but we are still cautious. The birds "enjoy" only an hour a day in the sunlight per day, but they are alive. Plans of an outdoor, secure playpen are in the making.

Pate the gander appears to be 100% recovered, finally. His play-thing these days is one of "The Michelle's" -- a female Pekin duck. Sometimes it's one of the Runner ducks, which is amusing in a way -- he out-weighs them by four times. I'm surprised they don't drown from the attention.

Foie of Foie and Gras fame is oddly gregarious these days. She was shy at first but is now the more social of the two. "People" change I guess.

Alpine Learning Series Axiom #1: If you can't kill it yourself, you shouldn't eat it.

Today marked the third "harvest" -- a Rouen drake. This will become a Turkey Day feast. It was quite small, tipping the scales at just 2 lb 11 oz after cleaning/eviceration. Did everything right this time: killed it quickly, had the right temperature for the scald, and the carcass had almost no flaws after plucking. Kerrie has selected a nice rub that'll go well in the smoker that my brother will cook it in.