memorablemeanders.blogspot.com

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Word verification free blog !

About a week ago a regular follower of my blog mentioned that she'd finally managed to comment after the fourth attempt. I'd just experienced the same problem on another blogger's post so I went into my settings and deactivated the word verification. I notice a little spam, but it is seperate form normal comments so I'm able to delete them. I hope all bloggers will follow suit and de-activate this irritating and frustrating feature that Blogger has deemed fit to add to our posts!

My blog is a word verification free blog!

Last week I made a trip to Shinyanga to buy fresh produce from the market. This town is a mere 30km from our camp and has three produce markets, various small shops opening up onto the street and two larger supermarkets.

Above is a typical street scene in Shinyanga with markets visible in the top two photos

Top left is a row of dukas (informal shops)  which open onto the street. Then you have a beauty salon, a motorcycle dealer and a general dealer

Last week I posted photos of the chickens, especially the handsome rooster in our garden. A few days later a hen emerged from the outhouse with nine chickens. The rooster is so proud of his offspring, is a hands-on father and can be seen strutting around the garden with mama-hen and babies.
The resident rooster in our garden shows his chickens how to scratch for food!

Meanwhile  at the Guest House I started feeding several chickens in a coop greens from the kitchen vegetables and bits of rice from the cooking pots . A few days later I went into the henhouse and saw a hen and very-newly hatched chicks inside the henhouse. The edge of the house was too high for the chickens to get out so mother hen was scratching in vain for food on the floor. I asked the gardener to bring me a cardboard box, placed the chickens inside (I counted ten) and managed to get the hen in with them and then closed the flaps. The gardener then carried the box carefully over to our house where we placed the [indignant] hen and terrified chickens in the outhouse to settle into their new surrounding. I gave them some maize mash and a shallow bowl of water. The hen concealed her babies under her belly for the rest of the day.

That evening when Edward, our askari /gate guard shooed the first hen into the outhouse, she immediately attacked the new hen.  Edward made a barricade between the two hens and soon they all settled down to sleep.
The new mother-hen and her young chicks enjoy the wide-open space of my garden

The next day, the original resident hen and her chickens made a dash for the garden while the new hen had a good look around  first before coaxing her chickens outside. Three days later I'm enjoying the original chicken family, with a dad and siblings from a previous batch of chickens,  and the single mum and her ten fluffy chickens.  Life is so much better in a lush garden to scratch for insects and juicy greenery.
The chicken run at the Guest House which I cleaned out with the help of gardener, Kedia and from where I rescued the white hen and her ten new chicks

When I returned to the cage above, I noticed that two more hens were sitting on more than a dozen eggs each. I removed most of them leaving each hen with only four eggs. My brother , Phillip suggested I do this. Apparently if you take away all the eggs, the hens would become depressed. Now there's a thought: post-natal depression in hens...

And then I just had to add another aaaaawwwwe factor to my post...
A little cat I came across in a shop in Shinyanga. And no, even though it was difficult to resist, I didn't bring it home!

For more of other people's worlds, click here

15 comments:

  1. Hooray! I wish EVERYONE would turn off their word verification. The new version is almost impossible to get right the first time. :))

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  2. I Hate this new verification too. So I turned it off and immediately got hit with spam. I may try again.

    So now you have added chickens to the menagerie, and not another cat. Having fresh eggs will be nice.

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  3. Oh My Goodness, Jo.. I am surprised that you didn't take another kitty home with you... (Glad you didn't though.. Think you have enough!!!)

    You are so good to all of the animals --even the chickens... That rooster does look proud of himself though... ha

    Looks like you do have some good places to buy produce..

    Thanks for the heads-up about the Word Verification. I tried 5 times tonight to get one comment posted.. I asked that person to please take it off... Please tell your brother to take his off. Thanks.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. Thank you Jo, for turning off your word verification. I guess I am lucky by not seeing spam. I enjoyed your post on the hens and the chicks. They are so cute. Have a wonderful week!

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  5. It is quite annoying...But it's awesome to hear about your adventures and to see them through the pics you always share. God bless.

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  6. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!Hahaaa....Ahhhhh, Comment Freedom! Feels better than a loose pair of pants!!!

    Didn't they realize chickens Need grass? How Sad! Love that you once again, came to the rescue Jo!
    It's one of the many things I love about you!
    hughugs

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  7. I have always been verification free and now with the double words I am not visiting so many people. It is infuriating. I get very little spam, but as I check everything before publishing then it really does not matter very much. I would rather my readers do not have the hassle. Well done for going verification free as well. Thanks Diane

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  8. Marvelous look at your new world, Jo! Love the kitty and I am surprised you didn't take it home with you! I don't know if I could have resisted!! I've never used word verification, didn't like the old form and, fortunately, I've had no spam to speak of the entire time that I've been blogging -- going on four years now. I'm glad to see so many people feel the same way about it!! Have a great week!

    Sylvia

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  9. Hello Jo, very interesting stories and pictures I enjoyed every moment I spent on your site from Our World Tuesday. Blessings, Nona

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  10. I have turned mine off. The chickens look like the ones I helped my mum keep when I as young.

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  11. Loved this post, Jo! It's amazing to watch your flexibility in any situation in Africa and to see you taking the positive and loving attitude that you do for humans and animals alike. I've missed some of your posts because this chemo has me "flying under the radar", so to speak. I'm gonna get better though. I may not be around to post much but will continue to read your blogs. God Bless you.

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  12. I never had a word verification, but I put a link on my posts what to do to remove it !
    Love your chicken story !

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  13. I, too, have disabled the Word Verification...It was often too hard to read. Blogspot just changed it on us!

    It sounds like you are a farmer, Jo, now that you have chickens and you can collect fresh eggs almost every day. Yum! There's nothing like fresh eggs for breakfast!

    The markets look interesting and quite colorful! Do you have your hair done at a hair salon, or do you cut your own hair? It always looks nice.

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  14. I really enjoyed my visit to your world. The local markets are fascinating! I missed reading your blog while I was on hiatus but I'm back. Always so interesting!

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  15. How interesting that hens become depressed if all eggs are removed. Makes sense, but I wouldn't have expected it from hens!
    I'm with you on word verification. It's a pain, and not really necessary. I get a little spam but not enough to worry about.

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Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo