Ahhhh home! With two fat bellies! Mrs. Harrell is an ANGEL! I learned more from her in the first 5 minutes of meeting her than two days of hem hawing with the breeders of my babies. I did find out that Pipp couldn't possibly be full pygmy as she has a half white body (Which is really totally fine, they are just pets. But that does show me that the breeders have no idea what they are talking about, period). Mrs. Harrell looked at my bottles and nipples and said they were all fine. She had me throw out my rolled oats and let me know that alfalfa hay was ok (But not ideal) for the girls but if I ever got a boy it had to go. She gave me a big bag full of what she feeds and the label off her bag and told me where to get it (The girls thought it was yummy by the way). Then she looked at me, rubbed Izzy's horn bud's and said.... "These have to go, that's a safety issue". So she told me we'd take care of that after the girls ate. She went inside and brought out two full mountain dew bottles, one with a pritchard teat and took Izzy from me. (She also inspected the girls and said they were lucky I was so persistent because they looked to be ok and not literally starving, lol).She sat down on her steps and sat Izzy beside her with her butt to the back of the step. Gently she wrapped an arm around Izzy, pulling her into her side and squeezed on each side of her mouth, pushing the lips forward to accept the nipple. It went right in but Izzy seemed to be having issues with the nipple. Mrs. Harrell stopped and said she thought she had just the trick. She disappeared inside and returned with a lambs teat (A red rubber one) and switched out the nipples. She put the nipple in Izzy's mouth and Izzy began to suck, still half chewing but better. Mrs. Harrell pulled the nipple forward slowly as if she might take it away and Izzy went NUTS! All of a sudden it was on like Donkey Kong! Izzy sucked down about 6 ounces in a wink of an eye and was fat as a little tick! Pipp followed the same procedure and then fell asleep, standing up, with the nipple in her mouth, lol. After that, and tears of joy from me, I followed Mrs. Harrell back to her little barn and she gave both the girls a shot. She said they had to get a tetanus before they could be disbudded and she didn't have it by itself so she just plain out vaccinated them for me! She stuck Pipp in the little box, shaved her head (She didn't cry or struggle, what a good little girl!), and I stepped out and BOOM, finished. She handed me Pipp with two round holes and a yellow head, lol. Izzy went next and now they have matching little heads (Ouch!). We put the girls back in their big crate and talked and talked. She gave me the mountain dew bottles with the lambs nipples FULL of goats milk from her goats. THEN as if she hadn't done enough already, she went inside and brought back out TWO FULL GALLONS of her goats milk! This woman had no intention of asking me for one red cent! All I had on me was 15 measly dollars and knowing I owed her a CRAPLOAD more than that, I humbly handed her 10 bucks (I needed the 5 for gas, remember she was an hour and a half away, lol, squeezed her neck, and told her that no words could express my gratitude. I will be returning to NC Promised Land with the girls for their next round of vaccines and wormings, etc... She gave me the number of a lady more local to me to purchase milk from if I didn't want to put them on cow's milk (Which she said would work just fine). I also offered to tag along to shows with her when I can so that I can help her however she needs it. I have shown dogs over half of my life and I know how horribly difficult it can be to venture to a show ALONE with even TWO dogs! When I return to see Mrs. Harrell I'll bring a sufficient amount of moolah with me for her trouble. This woman is unbelievable, her heart as pure as they come and a gorgeous little herd of Nigerians to boot. Thank you to everyone that so graciously helped out a newbie and stranger. My only concern is that of my girls, Izzy and Pipp. Elaine

We do have robins in California. *** Yes. I know that. But we have no robins in this area. From my observation of them in Northern California, I believe our local conditions do not attract them. Traditionally, moreover, we have had a high population of Mockers, Scrub Jays, and big ol' Ravens. The one time a robin attempted to nest here, they ran it off immediately. So in effect: We have no robins HERE. Building projects have driven off the lovely sweet-singing redwinged blackbirds. We haven't seen Quail here in decades. Earlier this week, for the first time, an American Egret dropped in. Yes, mljan -- we do also have redtails, tho no ospreys. Do you get those delightful little blackheaded Oregon Juncos? Jeri

jillmcm: ...We have a very nice woods bordering the east side of our yard that we cleared to ground level, about 15 or so feet back, 8 years ago (accept for the trees and larger saplings and burdock ~ which I enjoy and respect too much to cut back). We leveled the area because the previous owners had used it as a dumping site for waste construction material, & it became a haven for poison ivy and the like. In fighting that nasty plant back off the ground and trees, we all went through a bad time with poison ivy. Worth it. There is now a flourishing old giant umbrella shaped maple [my favorite] & a beautiful holly tree in the back yard, that we transplanted in a prominent place after digging it out of nearly being smothered by poison ivy, as a reminder of that painful/itchy season of endeavor. We, then, just let nature reseed itself in any indigenous way it would, ...while tossing a seed or two in from time to time. Now itÂs thick, beautiful & willful of more space, ...& we are prepared to enhance it with fruiting vines and such...once we get a good list of the MOST effective plants. IÂm thinking wineberry, blackberry, blueberry, sunflowers, buckwheat, Jack-in-the-pulpit, bluebells, goldenrod & some kind of aster ...for starters. There are some cleome, lavender, alyssum, echinacea, coneflower and morning glories there already; I seeded them, ...but probably NONE are indigenous [chuckle] plants. ~You said, "Also, adding a water feature, even something as simple as a glazed saucer with water dripping into it from a suspended milk jug with a pinhole (what I have three of), will bring even more birds in."~ Our water feature is a large concrete bird bath with hanging plants suspended above & to the side; their long branches dangling into the water along the sides of the basin. Sufficient?...or should I install some sort of moving-water device? ~You said, "The only time we've had a mocker in our yard was during a hot spell when they came to drink and bathe."~ Not sure why that notion has gone over my head, ...unless you are speaking of the Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos...or the likes of the Blue Mockingbird spoken of in the following poem: http://www.lukecole.com/Birds/Smew.htm Sorry for the wordiness of this post, ...but you have inspired my imagination.

Blackbird squabbles bothered me, with one pair attacking another pair's baby, etc. Plus they would try to roost on my house. And peck at all my growing things. So, since I have soil with plenty of small rocks I started waving my arms and then throwing rocks NEAR them, not at them. After a few days they learned that arm-waving precedes the rocks, and they would fly away. Next I would slam a door or sliding window before going outside to waive my arms. Persistence paid off and from then on the blackbirds were deterred from spending much time at my place just by slamming a window or door. The next year they only needed a few days of re-training. My neighbors down the street often have fifty blackbirds on their property. I seldom have any.