Turkeys smell really bad

Today was my second and final field trip for my animal husbandry class. First we went to the turkey production plant in Moroni. I could've done just fine without ever seen dead turkeys on a conveyor belt getting their insides chopped out. Although, I do appreciate it in a way, since I saw them dead, but still with a face it made it more real. They were live animals that gave up their life to feed us. We shouldn't be wasteful and take it for granted. The production plant was very very clean, and didn't make me feel disgusted about how my food is slaughtered.
Next we went to the turkey grower. I have a love-hate relationship with turkey farms. Love the baby turkeys (called poults, not chicks). Hate the smell! It's like cat litter+giraffe house at the zoo+gas station bathroom. And these barns were enclosed with fans, so the yucky poo dirt was circulating through the air. Gag. I had my sweatshirt over my face the entire time. At first I was the only one, others caved in soon after. Anyways, back to the poults. Adorable, and they follow you. Turkeys respond to sound, the adults will "gobble" back at you if you make a noise. The poults are attracted to lights, shiny things (such as wedding rings), and the colors red and green. That's why the feeders are always red.

I would stick my hand in and they would run over to peck my ring. In this barn, the "brooding barn" they had 9,000 poults! It's 8,000 square feet, the rule of thumb is roughly 1 sq foot/poult. As you can see, the guy keeps it very clean, hardly any poop in there. Which is good because it has to be like 90 degrees in there so they don't die.

Isn't he cute? I promise I'm not squeezing him, I just didn't want him to jump out of my hand. I know he's a "he" because this farmer only raises toms (male turkeys). They grow to be 40 lbs! HUGE! I didn't take any pictures of the older birds because 1) they're ugly 2) I couldn't hold my sweatshirt around my face and take a picture. But this is what they look like.

Blue faces and all. Fun fact: When they are maturing, some faces turn blue before the majority of the flock's, those ones get pecked to death because they look different from everyone else. Turkeys are merciless. Also, if they happen to have a black feather or two they'll get pecked to death. Walking through the barn some even pecked at my blue boots. Did I mention I don't really like turkeys?
Lastly we went to a sheep farm. This was by far my favorite. Sheep smell bad, but it's a grassy/hay stinky bad, I can deal with it. Right now is peak lambing season. So...

I got to hold one. It was so darling and sweet. All the lambs in this barn are less than a day old. They are put into small pens with the ewes so the ewes can "mother up." Basically get to know who their baby(s) is, and vice versa. Gradually they are put in larger pens with more ewes.

Ewes with proper nutrition tend to have twins. Once in a while they will have triplets (like this one, the third lamb is there, I promise) or quadruplets. Ewes only have 2 udders, so usually if they have more than twins the extra lambs will be placed with a ewe and a single, or bottle fed. As you can see, lambs are born with long tails. When they're happy they even wag them like a dog. Usually their tails get docked when they are a couple weeks old.
While we were here we even saw a ewe give birth. The feet were sticking out but she was taking a long time, so the farmer just pulled the first one out. Then he stuck his hand in and grabbed the second one right away. Usually they don't bother helping, but it was going too slow. The lambs were able to stand up after about 15 minutes, it was amazing. No pictures, just because I was kinda far away, and there were too many people crowding closer. As cute as they are, sheep are incredibly stupid creatures.

Whiners and complainers

Let me start by saying that it is BYU policy to take your finals during finals week. Shocking. Even more importantly are the classes with scheduled finals. Fun fact: Doug said the algorithm that would ensure that no one had overlapping scheduled finals would take a year to run. So there is the odd case when someone has two finals scheduled at the same time, but the teachers have to allow him or her to take one at a different time. Add to this that a lot of tests are given in the testing center, and are available all week, and there are some rule-benders who give the final the last day of class.
Well, after that preamble I must have something to say. My English class has its scheduled final Wednesday (20th) at 2:30 p.m. This has been in the syllabus since the first day of class. She mentioned it, we all knew about it. For the final we all just have to do a short presentation about our persuasive paper. The last two days we've been doing presentations, so there are only 3 more groups to go. It will take an hour tops, if people aren't too long-winded. And people have been whining (this is an understatement and the edited version of what I'd rather call it) incessantly about coming in on Wednesday at 2:30. Since last Friday (8th) they have been trying to convince everyone we should move it to a closer day.
The catch is everyone has to be able to come. It is considered the final, so technically we can fail the class if we miss it. The teacher wants to be everyone's buddy, so she's trying to be "accommodating." The last three class periods have ended with students' suggestions of, "Let's do it tonight, at 9:30, we're college students, we can stay up late." When faced with the comment of, "I can't come at that time, I have work," these zealots are quick to respond with, "Just tell your boss it's your final. They'll understand, they have to."
Just today I was indirectly called a "loser." Yesterday at 10 a.m. the teacher emailed everyone saying the final would be that night at 9:30 if everyone emailed her back with a "yes." Everyone had to respond, and any "no's" would invalidate the proposal. I said no. Sorry if I don't want to sit around campus until 9:30, sit through an hour of presentations, and then drive an hour home (we have moved to West Jordan btw, and Doug would have to wait for me). A boy was sitting in the hall before class, outraged that we couldn't have the final last night. He said, "Some losers probably emailed saying no, they've ruined it for everyone. Don't they understand it was for the good of the entire class? Why aren't they willing to just cancel some things? I would've cancelled my band practice, and we're performing this weekend!" Dumb boy.
The biggest annoyance is that it's a very vocal minority of the class who wants to move it earlier, the rest of us could care less, or like me, have planned our own schedules around the 2:30 final. Why should we have to change our plans just to make a few people happy? In case you couldn't tell, I'm annoyed. Almost more with the teacher than the classmates. She's the professor for crying out loud! There is no way we can find a different time that will work for every single person in the class with such short notice. She needs to just pick up some authority and stop all this nonsense.

What's wrong with a final at 2:30 anyways? It's not 7 a.m. or 8 p.m. like some other scheduled finals. And it's not even on the last day. If people are leaving early, that is their own fault, they have known about this for months. Plus, it's against university policy to take a final early because you are leaving (unless it's an emergency). By the way, a shotgun Mormon wedding is not an emergency. (Don't get married during finals, wait a week people.)

I'm done.

Sugar Cookies

Over General Conference weekend I did use my cake decorating kit, for cookies. Sugar cookies. I used this recipe and they turned out very tasty. I also used this recipe for the icing. It worked great. A little tedious to spread the thin icing without it spilling off the sides. Next time I think I'll try dipping them in the icing. I only had one set of cookie cutters, thanks to Cathy. They are woodland creatures: Moose, bear (that doesn't really look like a bear), porcupine, squirrel, fox, and a snail. Not quite sure how a snail made the cut when all the others are actual animals. Plus, Doug says the snail looks like a whale, which it does, but I failed to get a picture of it. Overall, I really liked making the cookies. The icing wasn't as finicky as the buttercream, so it didn't melt, and it dries hard so you can stack them. Here are some pictures, also, I don't know why I chose blue, Doug wanted brown, but I don't have brown and no way am I going to experiment and try making it.

Could not get the pictures to rotate, but you can turn your heads. I was trying out the snowflake like in the OBB tutorial and then I was trying to be creative with the squirrel.

This was taken while the icing was still wet and shiny. Doug really wanted a moose, so I only made one. I broke the legs in 3 attempts, this was the 4th and the last. I decorated it with a white Y, it's a BYU moose.

Oh the joys of Spring

It's my LEAST favorite time of year. I love spring. I love the days getting longer and warmer. I love all the new little baby animals. The flowers growing and trees blossoming. I HATE allergies and shedding! Sadly these two things go hand-in-hand with spring. I was petting Pepper today and realized it has come, shedding season. I started brushing her and this (after just a couple minutes of brushing) is what I got. Keep in mind she is a short-haired cat.

Yuck! And it has only just begun.... I have toyed with the idea of shaving them for the summer (Doug doesn't like that idea). Now, I know they will by funky looking for a while, BUT the benefits are: No shedding, no hairballs, they keep cooler in the hot months. And I mean, they wouldn't look that funny.

Caught in the act

For those of you who don't remember this post, here is a little refresher: Milo can open doors. It seems like recently he doesn't like any doors to be closed. He'll open the laundry room, pantry, and bathroom just for kicks. I finally got a video of him doing it.

I'm pretty sure that our new place has round doorknobs... a part of me is sad I'll never see him open a door again. Let's be honest, you have to be kinda proud that he figured it out and can get a door open in one shot.

P.s. Only one full week of classes left!