Happy Easter!

Holidays

Braided Bread

May I wish all my dear readers the same wonderful Easter celebration that my family had today! My younger brother and sister made this beautiful bread for our dinner. It used a special blend of gluten-free flour (rice flour, tapioca, xanthum gum, yes, even chickpea and buckwheat flour) and came out just like regular wheat bread! And just look at the eggs . . .  we dyed our own duck eggs since they were the only white ones we had--all our chicken eggs were brown.

The dying process was so simple: we mixed 2 t. white vinegar in 2 cups of water, which was enough to cover one or two eggs in a small container. We mixed food coloring in til quite dark, doing each color in a separate bowl. The eggs only needed to soak about 45 minutes, depending on how dark we wanted them. It was amazing--it really worked! The only catch was, if we hard boiled them, the color came off immediately. So hard boil first if you use this method. However, interestingly enough, the bread recipe used uncooked eggs, and once baked in the oven, they were just as if hard boiled!

 I just had the idea of making a little nest in the middle with another colored egg . . .

Happy Easter!

Snow Birds

Backyard Poultry

December Snow

Here are my two twin teddy bear Araucanas checking out the snowfall. The one on the left, Walnut, looks like it's about to take a bite into the fresh snow. In fact, most of my chickens love to eat snow (as long as they're not standing in it!). I'm guessing it tastes something like an icy Popsicle! Pinecone, on the right, doesn't seem to know what to think. These two blue egg layers are best friends and go everywhere together; I wouldn't be surprised if they had the same hen for a mother back at the hatchery.

Snow Roost

Soon enough, the chickens find somewhere to get out of the snow and dry their feet off. Hens hate wet feet, so I am told. I think it's actually cold feet, as my pullets will get muddier than pigs when the wet garden is full of worms. It was so funny, once the chickens hopped up on these branches out in the pen, they wouldn't get back down for anything to go inside! They looked like skiers waiting for a ride back down to the bottom, and sure enough, I personally carried each one back to the warm, dry coop.

Spring Snow

Backyard Poultry

Spring Snowfall

We received a surprise blanket of snow yesterday, piling up to almost five inches by evening. Crazy weather for the last week of March! At least we know that it can't stick around for too long. I'm not sure what the chickens thought of it, whether they know that we are officially in spring now, not winter, but in general they are very wary of snow! It partly depends on the breed: the Barred Rocks hardly notice the white crystals under their feet, while the Rhode Island Reds will not budge off the clear ground.

Here is a photo of the three Buff Orpingtons exploring the snow back in December. With a little prompting, they walked all the way out to the fence line. I like the expression on the front hen's face--they seemed to think the snow might suck their feet in or something!

Exploration Crew

Penguin Palooza

Ohio History

A Peek into the Arctic

And one last stop before we say goodbye to Newport Aquarium. This colony of penguins lived in a very cold section of the Aquarium. Most of the large birds stood like statues on this rock, staring out of the glass. But a few little penguines were swimming and splashing in the water you can see in front, diving to the bottom and paddling at the surface. They even swam over to the glass and looked out at us--they were so cute!

Penguins Close-Up

Sharks Topside

Ohio History

Shark Tank From Above

On our way out of the Aquarium, we had the unique opportunity to see the shark tank from the top. Look at all that water! It made it seem a little more scary to have been down in those tunnels! If you look closely, you can see the outline of the glass tunnels on the lower left, and also different rock outcroppings positioned in the tank. Funny thing was, when we walked through the tunnels I had no idea all this was above our heads! The main part of the Aquarium is actually underground, which allows a second floor above all the tanks for maintenance and cleaning. This makes perfect sense, since there was no way to access all those tanks from the museum floor. Imagine designing something like this!

Surrounded by Sharks

Ohio History

And now . . . immerse yourself in the underwater world. I took this movie standing right in the shark tunnel, completely surrounded by water and sharks. The fish drift gracefully past, beside and overhead, even below the tunnel. They did actually look blue like the movie shows, just as in a deep ocean pool. Doesn't it almost feel like this movie was taken underwater (when you can't see the end of the tunnel, of course)?

Shark Rays

Ohio History

Swimming Shark Ray

The Shark Tunnel houses more than just sharks: two extremely rare Shark Rays named Sweet Pea and Scooter also make their home here. The rays have been raised at Newport Aquarium since they were little. They are stars, according to the signs, of the world’s only Shark Ray breeding program, located at the Aquarium. The rays seemed friendlier than the sharks, but also more delicate and gentle. Though the picture is a little hard to make out, these fish were big - seven or eight feet long with their tails. There were also several other smaller rays in the aquarium, including Southern Stingrays and Honeycomb Whiptail Rays.

Feeding Pole

Ever since they were little, Sweet Pea and Scooter were hand-fed by a diver every day in their tank. But as they grew, the Shark Rays began to push the divers around, even carrying a man six feet across the tank. Even though rays don't bite, I guess the divers didn't like the experience and decided to try a different feeding method. The staff have been trying to get the rays to come to the water surface instead to eat their food over the last few weeks. They use colored signs on poles, like the cross seen above, to associate food with a certain target for each Shark Ray. So far they've had very limited success; as you can see in the picture, the sharks were more interested than the Shark Rays. Hopefully, the rays will get hungry enough to come over and check it out!

Shark Tunnel

Ohio History

Shark Silhouette

Welcome to the Shark Tunnel, the most amazing spot at the Newport Aquarium! Three sections of tunnels, at least 50 feet total length, sent us down into the sharks' aquarium (without getting wet, of course!). It really felt like we were in the ocean! The sharks swam so gracefully, it was a very peaceful tank to watch. I especially enjoyed the last section of tunnel, where blue light danced through the water onto the sand below. You can see it in the photo above, underneath the shark silhouette.

Shooting Shark

This shark looks like he has something on his mind! The signs said there were Sand Tiger, Sandbar, Whitetip Reef, Blacktip Reef, Nurse and Zebra sharks in the shark tanks at the aquarium. Don't ask me which kind this is!

One of the tunnels even had a glass floor section, where you could be surrounded 360 by water (and sharks)! I can see where this exhibit got its name, Surrounded by Sharks!

Red Jellyfish

Ohio History

One More Jellyfish

There were a couple jellyfish all by themselves in a separate little tank. They were not transparent like the others, but naturally an opaque red/orange color I think. These jellyfish also had a bit more body and form. The neat thing was, back behind the tank there was a little viewing area. Sitting behind the aquarium, we could watch the jellyfish swimming and at the same time see the whole jellyfish room beyond it. It was a very unique experience.

Colorful Jellyfish

Ohio History

Floating Jellyfish

The large, round aquarium held jellyfish in literally every shape, size, and color you could imagine. In fact, each creature was constantly changing its shape, size, and color as it propelled itself around the tank. The long tentacles trailed gracefully out of their globe-like translucent bodies. It seems like it would be hard to classify jellyfish with names; maybe that's why the signs were so descriptive: "Colored Jelly" and "Moon Jelly" were the only names assigned to all the tanks of jellyfish.

Pink Jellyfish

See how translucent they are? What fascinating, beautiful creatures!

Jellyfish Tank

Ohio History

Jellyfish Globe

Walking into the Jellyfish Exhibit at the Newport Aquarium, it felt almost like we'd entered another world. This large, floor-to-ceiling tank, at least six feet across, dominated the room. Colored lights projected down into the tank, shifting and changing shades constantly. The color did not show in the water, but only lit up the jellyfish (which are ordinarily clear or white). They reflected every color of the rainbow as they drifted up and down and around the tank like floating balloons. It was mesmerizing to watch, although a bit harder to photograph! Around the outside of the room were other interesting aquariums, including tanks with tiny baby jellyfish. You can sure see the Artist's handiwork on these creatures!

Into the Amazon

Ohio History

Here is a peek into the Amazon tunnel! First you can see the strong current of water rippling overhead, full of swimming fish and rays. The light shining in on the surface looked just like sunlight glinting on the water. To the lefthand side in the tunnel was the fountain where the water came out. It looked like rapids washing down into the tunnel from the river. The Amazon is sure amazing!

Amazon Tunnel

Ohio History

A Peek into the Amazon River

Moving on, we passed through yet another tunnel: the jungle-filled waters of the Amazon River. The water was teeming with all kinds of fish, against a backdrop of coral reef and sand. The most interesting animals were the Rays; they looked like kites dipping and sailing in the wind. A Ray would glide down to the bottom, pick up a handful of sand in its mouth (a slit on the underside of the Ray, the white side visible in the picture), and then sift it slowly as it swam through the water. I don't know whether there was actually any food to be found in this sand or not.

Also in the top picture you can see the long, spotted Eel which seemed to slither through the tank. It was kind of eerie-looking! Below is a Puffer Fish which also lived in the Amazon tunnel. It was really a unique fish. But we couldn't get it scared enough to puff itself up!

Puffer Fish

The Alligator

Ohio History

Smiling Gator

May I introduce you to Mighty Mike, the king of the Aquarium's alligator exhibit! This whopping 14-foot-long, 800-pound reptile has been a highlight of Newport Aquarium for several years. In fact, it will be moving to another museum in a few months, so we were very happy to be able to see it! Although no one is sure, Mighty Mike is likely at least 50 years old. It eats 300 pounds of food each year, namely fish, rabbits, and (to my dismay) chickens!

Mighty Mike and the Boat Dock

According to the posted signs, Mighty Mike was an ordinary wild alligator which began living near a boat dock on Lake Talquin, Florida in 2000. Local authorities ordered it to be destroyed because, well, local residents did not really want an 800-pound alligator in their backyards. But a local trapper knew it was a unique alligator because of its large size. He captured it and turned it over to live a domestic life in aquariums around the country. Mighty Mike actually had a pretty nice aquarium, with an actual boat dock as the backdrop.