Holiday Silliness.

It is that time again where the silliness ensues.  I have composed some new songs for the season from a slightly poultry point of view:

O Come All Ye Chickens

Oh, come all ye Chickens

Flying, Running , Flapping

Oh Come ye 

Oh come ye to e-eat your scratch

Come and enjoy it

Eat until your crop is full

Oh Come peck up the kernels

Oh Come peck up the kernels

Oh Come peck up the kernels

And don't forget your grit

Oh come all ye Chickens

Squawking, crowing, clucking

Oh Come and lay eggs for me

So I may hatch them

We will have more birds

Little fluffy chickies

Oh come let us hold them

Oh come let us watch them

Oh come and make me just another

Chicken addict!

A challenge was put to me, so I answered the call:

Ava Maria, you say?
My hen's version-

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk
Baaaaawk BawkBawk Baaaaaawwwk BawkBawk

Baaaawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Bawk
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwk Bawk
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Ba-gawk

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Bawk Ba-gawk  Ba-gawk
Baaaaaaaaaaa-gaaaaaaaaawk   Ba-ba-ba gaaaaaaaaaaaaawk
Bawk bu-bu-bu-bu-ba-gawwwwwwk


I need her to work on the rest, it is such a long song for such a small chicken.

Rudolph the Naked Neck Rooster

Rudolph the Naked Neck Rooster

Had a very cozy scarf

And if you ever saw him

You would even say he crows

All of the other roosters

Used to laugh and peck his head

They never let poor Rudolph

Try to breed any of their hens.

Then one windy Autumn eve

Farmer came to say

Roosters who like to peck and fight

Go to freezer camp tonight

The how the hens all loved him

As they clucked around with glee

Rudolph the Naked Neck Rooster

Should change his name to Mr. Lucky!

(Along the lines of Silent Night)

Silent Night Chicken Style

Leg-horn White
Gold-en Se-bright

All the hens
In their pens
Coo-ing sounds com-ing
from their roost
Eggs come pop-ping out
In their nests

In the morning Ome-lets we'll enjoy
My pet makes my break-fast

A-mer-au-cana
Black Ja-va

Eggs in Blue
Green ones too
Brown and White, and Speckled ones too
Large and small and Jum-bo too
All my hens are so haaaaa-ppy
Nest-led all in their coop

Leghorn Whiiiiiiiiite
Golden Se-briiiiiiight

Check Your Nest (to the sound of Deck the Halls)

Check your nests or you'll be sorry
Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck

Frozen eggs bring you no glory
Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck

Heat your nests or collect them often
Cluck cluck cluck
Cluck cluck cluck
Cluck
Cluck
Cluck

Snatch them up put 'em in the bator
Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck

Chicken Wonderland

Roosters crow

Are ya listening

In the coop

Where their scratching

They're singing their song

As hens cluck along

Crowing in a winter wonderland

In the meadow we can throw some corn seed

and the Crows will come and chow it down

Bald Eagles with come and circle 'round here

Until the Crows all mob and chase them around

Later on, they'll puff their feathers

To fight off

The cold weather

Dreaming of lawns

As the night lingers on

Crowing in the winter wonderland

Crowing in the winter

Snowing in the winter

Crowing in the winter

Won-der-land

If you can escape them, you start to think like them.

Know they enemy!

Okay, my chickens are not my enemy, I love each and every one of them.  Some I love with dumplings more than in the coop, but I do love them.

The new house is getting closer and closer to being done and I have it almost half full now.  The birdies are appreciating not having to huddle and roost in the portable pens that set on the ground.  They are in deep shavings and out of the wind, or at least the ones that are smart enough to sleep in the back of the pen away from the windows.  Some are just not smart.  Yes, it is true, chickens are not the brightest of the bunch.  I felt terrible for my one Minorca boy, he is already showing signs of frostbite.  It is the downside of having birds with such large combs in this cold climate.  I have read that putting Vaseline or Bag Balm on them helps.  I will have to find me a can and give it a try.  Poor guys.

Even with the extended fall, I wasn't able to get all the preparations done that I needed to for winter, but I  got my snow pants and heavy work jacket, several pairs of gloves and hats to help me continue my quest.  I finally got all the wire on the outdoor runs the first day we really started accumulating snow.  It was tough trying to tack up the wire at the 6-foot level and having to look up into the clumping snowflakes to do it and having them going in my eyes.  I was glad I forgot to wear my glasses that day, it would have been no help if I had.

It has been a cold last couple of days and tomorrow is supposed to be the worst yet for this time around, a high of 14 and the low nearing zero.  Ouch!  I can't say as I like the sounds of that.  In this old house, we feel the cold a bit when it gets like that.  I can't wait until next year when we are supposed to be tearing this old house down and putting up a new, very efficient and comfortable in-ground dome structure.  (Look them up on wwwformworksbuilding.com).  It makes more sense than trying to fix all the problems this 100+-year old house has.  This week it was a drain/septic issue.  We are just praying that it doesn't all give out on us before spring.  I told Husband that I don't think we should hedge on things working through the winter, but we still have not come to a decision on whether or not we should do something different right now.  It all cost $$ and sometimes you just feel like you are throwing it away in these cases to band-aid fix something that is going to be all taken out in the not so distant future.  Decisions.  Decisions. Decisions.

Someone is happy the snow has come though.  Middle.

He has been just chomping at the bit to have snow.  He wants to go snowboarding tomorrow after school.  I hate to break it to him, but in addition to it being colder that a witches nose, he has a bedroom that needs cleaning AND he has been having problems with his back for a few weeks from an injury during soccer season.  I had him in the chiropractor yesterday and have had him in there several time before that to help get over this problem.  We did find out a couple of weeks ago, the boy's feet are as flat as a ducks!  We wondered why it sounded like duck feet slapping down the hall when he would go to the bathroom.  Now we know.

I had suspected this a long time ago and had him show me his feet, but I went about it wrong.  I had him lift his foot to show me the bottoms, to examine the arches.  Well, when you lift your feet it pulls the arch up, therefore appearing normal.  So, this guy we see had him stand with his feet on the floor with no shoes and he has NO arch.  Add that to the almost half inch difference in his leg length, and no wonder he has some issues with standing up straight.  It is hard to get it through a 13-year old, stubborn boy's head that jumping on his snowboard and going up and down hills is probably not the best thing for him to be doing right now.  Any bet on how big of a hissy fit he throws when I tell him he can't go?

Well, the sun is out and there is much to be done.

Let the silliness continue, if for no other reason but to help deal with Old Man Winter's extended visit which has only just begun.

In case I don't get back to say it,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND MAY YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!!

CC

Once Upon a Time

There was a very tired and stressed out mother/wife who just wanted there to be not so much work all of the time.  She wanted to go with her family on a vacation somewhere where they could all relax and have fun together, instead of always working to get this project done or that project done.  She was saddened by the thought of her children growing up and going off into the world and that they would never be able to take that time to get away and just be a family for a while without all the rest of life's baloney.

Okay, I am awake now.  Must have been dreaming again.
I do look forward to hubby and I taking the kids and going to do something fun away from all that we have going on here, while the kids are still kids.  It has seemed like we would still have so much time, but it has flown passed so quickly, and before we know it, Eldest is going to be done with high school and off to college.

Today was spent first running Middle to the chiropractor to get his back adjusted and get my spine in line too.  I wish he lived next door so I didn't have to spend 2-hours running to get that done every time, which is 2-3 times a week now since Middle hurt himself during soccer season.  Then I got back to work on the chicken house (outdoor runs) some more.  I was sure we would get them all up and ready to put wire on before it got too dark, but Daughter had dance and Eldest had work and Hubby had to take them while I kept plugging away.  Then Middle needed help carrying rabbit cages that he was cleaning and I just ran out of daylight for getting the frame done.  Now tomorrow is supposed to be rainy turning to snow and then we are supposed to get 4-6 inches of the white stuff tomorrow night.

How pleasant.

Middle is just chomping at the bit to go snowboarding, so he is yelling "Bring on the snow!"  While I am saying, "Can we just skip winter this year?  Please?"  We have been quite lucky so far though, this fall has been warm and dry and good for getting projects worked on out there when I do have the time away from the family/parental obligations.

When I was a kid, we always had a trip that Mom and Dad took us on in the summer and we ALWAYS went to Florida for 2-weeks.  My grandparents had a house down there and my dad hated being up north all winter.  So, when I was 2, we started going to Florida every year in February for 2-weeks.  The last time I made that trip with my parents, I think I was 13 or 14.  After that, I got to stay home and do chores with my older siblings.  I was glad then that I didn't have to go.  I liked going to Florida, but who wants to go with their parents to a small town that wasn't close to anything to spend 2-weeks?  I did enjoy my grandmother's company though.  We sat almost every night playing cards and laughing about some stupid things, listening to stories of mischief and mayhem.  My Gram was quite the hell-raiser when she was young.  Then she had 11 children and 44 grandchildren to tell stories about.  She was definitely NOT a dull person to be with.  I sure loved that lady.

One summer when I was 7, whole family, minus 2 brothers, went on a trip "Out West".  We loaded up a motor home, towing a pullout camper on the back, and we went from Buffalo, NY to Billings, Montana.  My father had a cousin of some kind out there, so we went on a loooooong trip out there.  There were 13 of us because my grandparents went along too.  Being that I was only 7, I don't remember a whole lot.  We almost always stopped at a KOA Campground that had a swimming pool.  One night, it was near the Badlands in South Dakota, there was a huge thunderstorm and we couldn't stop where there was a pool, and I just couldn't understand why not.  Well, being the hopeful child I was that Mother Nature would surely see I need to take a dip, I believed that once we found the one with the pool, the rain would stop and we could all go swim.  Of course, I was a knucklehead for not realizing that that was no way going to be the case, and we went to a place without a pool.  Funny thing is, I don't remember anything else about that night.
I do remember, most of our trip was a lot of flat plains with nothing to look at.  We listened to George Jones and Dolly Parton a lot on the old 8 Tracks.  There was other country music too, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind that always make me think of our trip "Out West".  There were things that were easy to remember, like this huge game reserve park with bears all over that we drove through.  Those are the places that have the signs that tell stupid people who don't have enough brains in their heads to NOT FEED THE BEARS.  Yes, some other knuckleheads would always come in thinking that these were the real Yogi Bears and they would just steal your pickanick baskets and run.  Let's see....does your pickanick basket include your arm?  Maybe just a hand?  How anyone could be so stupid as to ignore warnings, I just don't know.  But there were plenty of stories that told of how someone would be that stupid.
Probably the most beautiful memory of that trip was the morning we reached the top of a mountain somewhere in the Rockies, and you could smell the flowers and hear the water running off the snow cap that was still there on the mountain tops regardless of the fact that we were WELL into summer.  There was a beautiful lake and it was just so serene.  In fact, when I hear or read the word serene, that is the picture that comes to mind for me.
It was a bit scary though.  We had this big motor home and looking out the windows, everything was straight down.  As we wound our way up and around mountain roads, there was a shear drop on the one side all the way up and all the way down.  I recall being scared half to death that we were going to slide off the side of the mountain.  My grandfather HAD to sit in the front seat next to the window all the way there and back, and when we were going on those snaking mountain roads, you could see the terror on his face.  It is a wonder he didn't have a heart attack on that trip.  He was going through nitro like they were Tic Tacs.
The lucky ones to get to sleep in the pull out camper were my grandparents and 3 of my siblings.  One night, all the rest of us were in bed in the camper (or on the floor in sleeping bags as it were for some), and we heard all kinds of noise coming from the camper.  We had all assumed it was Grandpa telling stories again went to sleep.  The next morning, we found out it wasn't the laughter of Grandpa's storytelling.  Every night the camper had to be hooked back onto the motor home for stability.  We had probably unhooked it to service the motor home or go to a restaurant or something, but it didn't get hooked up again.  My grandparents outweighed my siblings by enough that it had tipped up and my siblings rolled over onto our grandparents and they were screaming and laughing and couldn't get themselves righted.  Grandpa was really in need of his pills then!  The next morning they found Grandma's teeth in someone's shoe and Grandpa finally did find his pills somewhere in the mess.  I am certain that no one forgot to hook up the camper after that.
There was one place that had a fishing pond.  It was a fun for us kids, it was almost guaranteed that you would catch something it was so stocked.  When we ran out of bait and Mom and Dad said no to getting more, we started throwing Cheetos to the fish.  BOY, did they love those!!  We should have used that for bait, but we already turned in our rods for the day.  So, it was just about as much fun watching them go after the Cheetos as it was catching them, and not nearly as messy.  Then the owner/manager/whoever was in charge came out and yelled at us and talked to our parents so we couldn't do that any more.  They were mad because our feeding the fish the Cheetos was making them too full and they wouldn't bite for anyone else.  I think we all spent the rest of the day plotting our revenge for them having spoiled our fun.

There was stop we made along a river where there was a public beach and 'watering hole'.  We got to go in swimming and it was a nice way to cool off in the hot summer sun.  There were a lot of local kids there.  There was a group of teenagers off in a spot down the river a little, and they had some inner tubes to float on.  One girl went floating out into a spot that had a hard current and was a bit deeper than the rest.  A smart aleck boy went and pulled the tube out from under her and she started flailing because she couldn't swim.  A bunch of her friends came to her rescue while that boy dragged the tube up the beach. My grandmother was just livid.  She got up and went over to that boy and was determined she was going to take that tube away from him after that stupid stunt, and she did.  He even tried taking it back and dragged her down the beach a little, but she did not give in.  I think he learned a lesson about how stubborn and strong some grandmothers are.  It was a funny sight to see though as a little kid, your grandmother with her arms wrapped around an inner tube and a teenage boy pulling like they were in a game of tug-of-war.

So, as I spend my days building chicken houses and pens, and cleaning up the yard and cleaning out our closets and picking up clutter inside and out, along with running kids to and from their things they have going on, I think about how it would be so nice to get away.  I think about how nice it will be if we can go on a trip that will give my children stories to tell about the trip they took with their family and the things they remember.  In all the things that I have always thought my parents didn't do right, that was one that they did do that I will always be glad for, the trips we took.  Not all the trips were the best time ever, I can't say as any of them were that great, but I have memories of things that will be with me my whole life.  Some make me laugh still, 38-years later.  That is what I hope we don't put off until it is too late.


CC

Heartbeat

Tonight I was watching Grey's Anatomy with my kids.  We don't get regular/cable/dish television, but we do stream from Netflix, so it wasn't the most current episode.  That doesn't matter though.  The story included one of the cast being pregnant and being freaked out that she was going to lose the pregnancy.  So, the 'doctor' on the case rolls in this 'special' ultrasound unit to find the heartbeat of the baby/fetus/whatever you want to call it at 8 weeks.  They hear the heartbeat and everyone is teary eyed.  When I say everyone, I mean me too.  Yeah, sappy, I know.  But it wasn't that the characters on the show had brought this on.  No, it became a wonderful memory awakener for me.  When I was pregnant with Eldest, we were getting ready to move and I was all nervous - typical first time mommy jitters.  I went in for my first ob/gyn visit, and just for fun they put on an ultrasound.  I was 10-weeks.  At this point in the pregnancy, the baby-to-be looks similar to a kidney bean, but Eldest was a kidney bean with a heartbeat.  It was a little thing and barely visible, but it was a heartbeat that fluttered very quickly compared to the heart of an adult.  At that point, if it hadn't been real to me yet, it became very real right then.  It is an amazing feeling that I think only a first time parent can really understand - that first moment when the realization of a little baby inside of you becomes very, very real.

Now, 16 years later, I think back to that day, that moment like it was just last week.  So much has happened since then.  He has grown into a young man, not quite an adult, but right on the edge of being one.  He is a royal pain in the rear sometimes, but overall, I couldn't be more proud of the young man I have raised with my husband.  A friend told me today that her son who has Downs' Syndrome comes home from school every day and talks about my son and just thinks the world of him.  They have choir together every day, so there is daily contact.  It made me feel very good to hear her say that.  He is an Honors student and in the top 10 in his class.  He has had a job since he turned 14, starting as a volunteer and working into a paid position.  He is well-liked by most every teacher/staff person in the school, adults in our County 4-H too.  What is there to not be proud of?  And to think, it all started as a little fluttering heartbeat.  I look forward to watching him grow more and become a wonderful man, because that is what I know he will be.  Just don't tell him I told all of you so ; )

CC

The Quiet

I love nighttime the best.  I always have for various reasons in my life.  When I was a kid, it was the time the house was quiet and everyone in their bedrooms.  In a family with 11 kids, that is saying something.  Then again, I never had my own room until I was about 12 or 13.  I do remember the only sounds after about 9:00 were the creaking of the boards in the hall when someone was going to the bathroom.  You would have thought there would have been a line, like they used to show on TV shows like the Brady Bunch, but no, it was more like someone in need of using the bathroom would bang on the door and yell, "Hurry up!"  That was about the extent of that.
Then when I was a teenager, I like the night when I could be in my room, listen to my own brand of music and read or do homework.  It was MY place.
When I became a young adult, it was about going out and having fun, followed by going to bed late with ringing in my ears from the night of loud musice, then by getting up much too early and wishing I hadn't stayed out so late the night before.
When we were newlyweds, it was our time (if we were both off work) to watch a movie or television and eat popcorn and split a Coke while lounging on the sofa.
When the kids were little and went to bed all at the same time (8:00), I would pay bills and balance the checkbook, clean up from the day, run the vacuum (since children sleep through white noise once they are asleep, or at least mine did), fold the day's laundry, then read a bit before going to bed.  Occasionally, I would do a project then, like lay new tile or the like, but it was a nice quiet when I knew they were in bed and asleep after mommy sang a little and gave everyone their smooch for the night.
Now, it seems they never go to bed.  Each has a separate bed time, so that is a little crazy, but you can't expect a 15 year old to have to go to bed at the same time as his 9-year old sister.  The ME time has been shortened significantly, and by the time all is quiet, I don't feel much like doing laundry and dishes and vacuuming (which now wakes the beasts rather than soothing them to sleep).  So, it is time when I check out what my friends are doing, via Facebook.  I look at what is new on Craigslist.  I check out what is on BYC, if there are any good auctions ( not that I am hatching at this time) and to see if there is something new I can learn and apply to my flock.  Sometimes it is just fun to see what people need and if I can lend any helpful tidbits.  There is always the game of "What breed am I" or "Am I a boy or a girl"  that people are stumped by, but that is a game that is getting old.
Nighttime is when my brain gets creative and I draw/design new chicken coops or gardens or what I want my new house to look like.  I come up with 101 ideas for our 4-H club to try.  I practice piano a little too, even though I stopped lessons 6-months ago.  I do enjoy actually making music and seeing how much more used to the keys my hands have gotten.  I will never even dream that I could be a concert pianist, it just isn't in the cards, but I like the music I am able to play.

My husband has never bought into the thought that people are morning people or night owls.  Can you guess?  He, of course, is a morning person.  He wakes up on the weekends a picks up a book and reads for an hour.  If I even thought about reading when I woke up, I would just fall right back to sleep.  Then again, I don't have to think about reading to fall back asleep, I just close my eyes and viola!  I'm asleep.  He doesn't get it.  If he is woken up after having fallen asleep, he lays awake for hours.  Me, I crash again, real quick.  It makes him mad too that I can do that.  However, last night Daughter came in at 1:00am.  She could not sleep.  Some kids at school were telling her some stupid story about "Bloody Mary" and if you look in the mirror at night when all is dark and the doors and windows are locked, she will come to get you through your mirror.  Gee, let's see, Halloween is next week.  I asked her if she didn't think it a little coincidental that she is hearing stories like this at this time of year?  Mind you, she is a pretty smart cookie, top of her class, but this thing has got her in a mess.  She woke me up to tell me she can't sleep and she is scared and so on and so forth.  I, of course, being the sweet mommy I am, told her she could sleep with me since daddy was gone overnight for work.  Well, 30 minutes after coming in, she is over there sawing logs and I am wide awake and cannot sleep.  What the heck???  I can almost always sleep anytime, anywhere.  Nope, I was up for 4 hours!!!  Yeah, nighttime is usually a great time for me, but there are exceptions.

CC

Running Short

Short of...

Daylight.  There is no longer long, leisurely days of enjoying the sun and green of summer.  The days are getting short, the nights are cold and the leaves are nearly all on the ground.  That doesn't change anything about the amount of work that still needs to get done.  It actually increases it.  Now, on top of all the regular chores, there is the fall clean-up and preparing for winter to do.

Two days ago Husband started the annual "Planting of the Garlic".  Actually, last year the "annual" part was interrupted and we had to buy new seed stock this year.  My father-in-law had cancer and passed away at the time we should have been planting.  It was more sad to lose him, of course, but not having our 8-years' work of seed stock gone was very sad too.  Life is unpredictable that way though.  But the garlic is nearly done, and then he can get back out to help me finish my chicken house and get the birds in so they can be warm and cozy again.  Okay, so maybe they won't be that cozy since it has 4 big windows that will remain open all winter.  They will be healthier for it though, I am certain.

The garden did not get the attention needed to produce a harvest.  In other words, I grew a great weed patch this summer.  My chickens and ducks are really enjoying the 5-foot tall grass that has grown up all over in there.  I sent Middle in today to collect all the supports and cages I put in when I planted last spring.  I sure hope next year is better.  It couldn't get any worse.  I will say though, Sunflowers did wonderfully this year.  That is probably because they grew anywhere from 7 to 12-feet tall and were way above the weeds.

Daughter is pressing us to have our traditional leaf ride for her.  Every year except last year since we have lived here, we have collect leaves on a huge tarp and pulled the kids around on it with the lawn tractor.  The boys have outgrown it, but Daughter is still trying to hold onto those things we have done with them as little kids.  The tough things about doing this leaf ride is that 1.)  they are Silver Maples, so the leaves, if we use the mower, just disintegrate; and 2.) the wind has already blown most of the leaves away.  Let's not forget to mention the 70 asparagus plants and the 2 huge raised beds of garlic that now take up half the front lawn that used to be where we pulled the leaf tarp.  Just one more thing for her to be disappointed about.  It makes me feel bad, but at the same time. there has been a lot going on in the way of work and projects this year.

As much as I want to keep rambling, I will have to pick up with a second part next time.  The day has ended for me, and still I could fill the night with work as well, but that just wouldn't be a good thing.

CC

Back in the Saddle

Oh, I suppose it is time I post something again.  This crazy summer has been so busy, busy, busy!  I spent the last two days taking Middle to State Fair with his market ducks.  Wednesday was entry day and yesterday the show.  I took Daughter along yesterday and had to listen to complaints of aching feet.  What did she think?  I was going to carry her?  Ha Ha!  She did ask, but I pointed out that I would have croaked trying to carry her all the way.  Had to walk to the dorm where Middle was staying so he could change after he showed.  He was holding one drake and I the other, when his decided to poop all down his pant leg.  I laughed, mostly to myself so as to not make him feel any worse about it.  I set mine on the floor for a bit (they are not lightweight birds!) and while he was standing there, he did his business on the floor.  I still came away from the whole thing smelling like a wet duck.  YUCK!  I prefer chicken poop, it isn't as runny and messy, usually anyway.
He did well.  He got called back for the final judging of market ducks, but there were two outstanding pens that were obvious winners.  He would have come close if there were more placings, I think.  Some of the birds in the class were quite small compared to his.  Surely, Middle's were not as old as some of the others and if they had been, I think he would have been more in contention.  As it is though, it has been a good experience for him, I believe.  I heard a lot of complaining yesterday, but I think he was very tired and not feeling the greatest.  The show, which was supposed to run from 1pm to 5:30pm, didn't end until 10:45.  I am glad I didn't stay until the end.  OH MY!  That was a long day for those kids!  Middle opted to go back to the dorm early and go to bed, which was about the wisest decision I have seen him make in a while ; )

I did partake of the yummy fair fare.  I had a frybread taco, which I have been looking forward to for some time now.  Of course, Daughter and I shared an order of curds, a lemonade, and then we had ice cream from Bridgeman's.  MMM!

We had to check out her posters in the poultry and the rabbit departments.  She got a blue ribbon on her rabbit poster.  The poultry ones had not been judged yet.  I am hopeful that she did well with it.  She has some good ideas and we are working on some for next year.

Hubby has been working on my chicken house.  Bless his heart.  I have been off running around while he works.  He is doing a wonderful job.  I may have my birds in it by next week if all goes well.  Then I can dismantle some of my portable pens until next year, maybe.

I would love to post more pictures with this, but my camera I took yesterday stopped working, and my laptop which contains about 5,000 pictures crashed and I have it in the shop for repairs.  I may have lost everything, but I am still hoping the second diagnostic it is running through is able to extract the info.  Otherwise, I may cry!  I was told that I could send it off to pay a few hundred dollars to have it all recovered, but I am so hoping it doesn't come to that.

Well, much work is waiting for me, and I better do something to catch up from my absence.  I am really hoping to get Middle's bedroom cleaned while he is away too and get rid of all the junk he has kicking around in there.  That boy is a pack rat!

Til Late.
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Baby Steps

Yes, baby steps.  It is what I feel like I am taking toward getting projects done here.  Alas, there are steps at least.  I did get some boards cut tonight.  I will get more tomorrow so that I can get the pens in the big chicken house done and get my birds in there to live.  Then there is the painting of the
 boards, and there is the laying of the linoleum.  Then building of the nest boxes and the doors for the chickens to go in and out.  Really exciting stuff, huh?

I started letting my juvenile birds, almost grown and the girls almost to breeding age, out onto pasture this week.  They love it, of course.  There is room to flap and run and plenty of grass to peck and bugs to eat.  Who or what wouldn't enjoy that kind of freedom after being cooped up the first few months of their life?  I hate penning them, it seems sad, but it is not to be mean or anything of the sort.  It is for their protection from things that would eat them for a late night snack.  So, after their romping around, they go back into the pen at night and get locked in for the night.

I have this one very tiny pullet (girl chicken under 1 year of age, ask Daughter, she can quote it to me ;) ).  This pullet is a Bantam Modern Game chicken.  She is the cutest little thing, but is about the size of a Robin with extra long legs.  I didn't intend to get this breed, but as luck would have it, I got her with a mix of chicks that I needed to keep a lone hatcher company last winter.  Of course, being tiny, and sweet and cute, and the only one of her kind in the flock, everyone loves her.  Her name is Birchy, so called because her color (or variety) is Birchen - black body with yellow/gold around her neck.  She really is funny to comprehend as being a chicken.  She spends most of her time in the feed can or on top of waterer.  I got out to check on things or feed them and she is right there cheaping away.  She doesn't even sound like a chicken.

I had to smile, a big mommy, warmed my heart kind of smile the other day, or should I say about 3 weeks ago?  Daughter had to go out and play with the momma broody hen and her little chicks.  We had to pull them from the pen with the other adult birds because they were pecking at the poor little chickies.  We started her in a fold-up puppy pen
 where she bawked, and clucked, and showed them how to drink and scratch and peck around in the grass and dirt.  I looked out from the kitchen window to see... me?  No, but I immediately thought, she is just like me when I was her age:  In her boots, blue jeans, sitting in the pen with baby animals.  It is so funny how in an instance you can get flung back 36-years to "when".  Wow! 

At night we put Momma and babies into the cage on the right and set them in the garage for safe keeping.  I finally decided it was time the chicks joined the others their age and Momma did the same.  She probably won't lay eggs for a little while yet, but she is back to being a grown up.  Does that make her and  empty nester?

We picked out the birds the kids are going to take to the fair, or intend to take.  I don't know, some don't have feathers yet in places they should.  We had to get them later than intended due to incubation difficulties.  They have something to take, we just aren't expecting Grand Champion this year.

So, it is late once again.  The house is quiet where I am the last to head to bed.  It is my favorite part of the day.  I must rest though, tomorrow is building of chicken domiciles and information booth for the fair.  Since it is to rain the following day, or so I see online, I better get things done outside tomorrow, or is it today?  Yikes, 1 A.M.

I bid you ado.

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