Taa Daah!

I now have the cleanest chicken coop in the county! I also (for completely unrelated reasons) have a very shiny clean, fresh smelling Wonder-Dog. Also, for reasons that are TOTALLY related to having to clean out the chicken coop by myself, with my weak, totally out of shape muscles--I finally sewed myself the nice heat pack filled with wheat that you heat up in the microwave (and my house totally smells like overtoasted wheat). Yay me! The back and shoulder muscles should stop protesting eventually.

The Big Brag

Time is zooming by so fast, and I have (as always) so much going n, that it is hard to remember what I need to post about. So, here is a short review of how awesome my peeps (both animal and human!) really are:

At the fair:

Each of the 3 children did 2 projects. Each of them got Grade A Blue Ribbons on all projects. One of the children also went to the State Fair for their project AND their Demonstration. We also ended up with 3 silver platters, which are what they give instead of trophies for "Best in Class Overall".

The projects were:
LargeCousin & BigGirl both took the same projects--"Savvy Shopping", where they learned about clothing selection and care (including Laundry Care) and assembled a complete outfit from Thrift Stores, and then they modeled their outfit, and "Designing Interiors" where they learned principles of design and then used them in a room*.

LargeBoy did "Exploring Electricity" and can now tell you all about circuits and such (with a HUGE shout out to Mr. Ken, our dear friend--and electrician/teacher extraordinaire, who made the process painless!) He also did Meat Chickens, which are a whole category unto themselves. They are Cornish/Rock cross breeds (also known as "White Broilers". They are bred to grow to full size in 12 weeks. Normal chickens start laying at 20 weeks. They grow more than twice as fast as the layers. If you don't butcher them at 11 or 12 weeks, they start dying of heart attacks, because they grow so big!

The WonderDog has gone back to 4 Paws for a "tuneup"--just to brush up on his training.

The chicks we got this spring just started laying their super cute, tiny little pullet eggs. The eggs are smaller than ping-pong balls, and the yolks are the size of marbles, but they are perfectly formed, and very beautiful!

I got to spend the weekend with my sisters (two of them!) and it was great--but not enough time!

SmallDaughter has started back to school, and I am not sure how I like the new setup--they switched schools and teachers again, but this teacher is out on maternity leave, so we have a long term substitute...anyway, I am hoping for the best.

Early morning Seminary starts tomorrow. LargeCousin is in the Main Class, and I am teaching the "far hinterlands" class again--which includes my own BigGirl this year! I am super excited--it is Old Testament, which is my favorite!

*BigGirl did a much needed bedroom makeover. LargeCousin was planning on re-doing the room she was supposed to inherit from her brother, but circumstances...circumstanced, and she ended up redoing the tiny 1/4 bathroom off of her old bedroom. They both did a really good job--on rooms that REALLY needed redoing, and I am very pleased with the results--and with the girls, too!

Stuff to Ponder

I have had a lot of things running through my mind lately.

Here are a few of them:

How grateful I am for our Nation. For the people who have sacrificed their entire lives so that my children can live without fear on a daily basis.

Fireworks on television are just not as good as the real thing. We are very fortunate that our front yard is the perfect spot to watch our town's display--and for a small town, it is a really good show!

If you are a SmallDaughter who is bored, you can easily entertain yourself by pouring a bottle of hair conditioner on the floor and sliding around in it. Even more entertainment can be found by pouring a bottle of maple syrup on top of it. It provides a lot of "entertainment" for mom, too!

We seem to have become the home of last resort for all the gray cats in town. I am not sure why they are all gray, but we have some really pretty variety. They don't know about the surprise spaying/neutering that is in their futures!

Chickens are a lot more entertaining than I ever would have guessed. However, filling the waterers (especially when it is really hot or really cold and they are drinking a lot) is really a drag.

My sweet husband did a bunch of "honey-do" stuff around the house, and it is really great having a new kitchen faucet, etc.!

I worry about my friends far away. I have been really blessed to have amazing people in my life. I keep them in my prayers, but I wish we could be a lot closer.

My big kids are really awesome. They are busy doing camps, and hikes and sleepovers and--LargeBoy just got offered employment (baling hay!).

Back Home

I had such a great summer adventure, I didn't have time to post anything! I am home now, and attempting to settle into real life--but have found myself with several new projects on top of what I already had going on!

This week I set the humane trap for the !@#$%^& raccoons. They look cute, but they are horrible pests--they have eaten (or just killed for fun) a third of my chickens--I had 50 when I left, now I have around 33.

Anyway--the first night I baited the trap with fresh corn on the cob. They spurned it, and left a mangled chicken corpse next to the trap. So, I used all the bones and leftovers from our dinner porkchops. HOWEVER, I had to move it outside the chicken yard, cause the dumb chickens kept trying to steal the meat!

In the morning (before the glasses were on!), I looked out of the window, and could see movement in the trap, so I called handy neighbor guy and asked if he could take care of it for me--he nicely agreed. THEN I went out to feed the chooks, and found--it was one of the kittens, mewing piteously! I could take care of that by myself, and had to call neighbor guy and cancel the marines!

Whoa!

Have just been attacked by a crazy chicken. Note to self: Never let the cat follow me into the barn again.

The best way to recover self possession: Spend some time reading some really awful prose over at the Bulwer-Lytton Contest. Truly.

Here is a little sample, just to whet your funny bone (to truly mix some metaphors!)


The notes blatted skyward as the sun rose over the Canada geese, feathered rumps mooning the day, webbed appendages frantically peddling unseen bicycles in their search for sustenance, driven by Nature's maxim, "Ya wanna eat, ya gotta work," and at last I knew Pittsburgh.

--Sheila B. Richter, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1987 Winner)


The lovely woman-child Kaa was mercilessly chained to the cruel post of the warrior-chief Beast, with his barbarous tribe now stacking wood at her nubile feet, when the strong, clear voice of the poetic and heroic Handsomas roared, "Flick your Bic, crisp that chick, and you'll feel my steel through your last meal."

--Steven Garman, Pensacola, Florida (1984 Winner)

2009 Dishonorable Mention (In Romance)

As she slowly drove up the long, winding driveway, Lady Alicia peeked out the window of her shiny blue Mercedes and spied Rodrigo the new gardener standing on a grassy mound with his long black hair flowing in the wind, his brown eyes piercing into her very soul, and his white shirt open to the waist, revealing his beautifully rippling muscular chest, and she thought to herself, "I must tell that lazy idiot to trim the hedges by the gate."


Kathryn Minicozzi
Bronx, NY


Enjoy Yourself!

Chicken Update

The cute fluffy little chicks have turned into stately chicken matrons, who spend their days commenting on everything around them, and behaving in the most chickenly way possible.



They are much prettier than the photos show, because their feathers are actually iridescent, with mainly green, but some purple highlights in the sun.



They have started to lay (5 eggs so far!)--cute little pullet eggs, about 2/3 the size of a regular egg, but very lovely.



Today one of them even layed her egg in the nesting box!



I tried to get one of the "ladies" in the nesting box, but she hopped off so fast my picture turned out fuzzy! (darned digital slowness!)

A little bragging

The kidlets did very well at the fair. In showmanship (which judges their poise and presentation --while holding and showing a chicken!) BigGirl and LargeBoy each came in 3rd, and LargeCousin came in 4th. I am so proud of them! Also, BigGirl's chicken layed our first egg!

Easy come...

We have now passed the beginning of the end (chicken-wise). The plan has always been to raise chickens for eggs and meat. If we had a rooster in our flock his destiny was always the stew pot. Once I finally accepted that the one with the unusually large comb and tail feathers was actually a rooster, we all knew where he (Pepto Bismo--no that isn't a typo, that is his name)was headed. However, that did not prepare me for the eventuality of having him injure his leg and the need to find a butcher quick!

The upside of living in the middle of Amish country is that you can find people with diverse "back to the land/self sufficient" skills. The problem is that they don't advertise. So, I spent 30 or 40 minutes driving around to various farmhouses--"do you butcher chickens?" "No, but I think if you go to the house by the railroad tracks, they do...or they will know who does."

I did finally track down the people who do, and they were very nice. The rooster is now in the freezer. The kids were much more philosophical about it than I was. Even LargeGirl, the softest hearted animal lover you could ever know, took it much better than I thought possible.

On the other side, the "girls" are getting very big, and we just got our new waterers, which I am really excited about! Cleaning out the waterers is just a gross job--since chickens are notoriously unfussy about where they perch and/or poop. The new waterers work rather like a hamster waterer, where they peck the "nipple" and it gives up a drink of cool CLEAN water. Yay!

Summer

It smells like summer rain this morning. That is good--the garden could really use it, and so could the lawn*. The chickens are surprisingly silky and soft, quite lovely to stroke--although our chickens are where the term "chicken" got it's negative connotation. They freak out and panic every time you get near ("AAAGGGHH! It's the food! Panic! PANIC!!!!"). Which I don't mind much--especially since the opposite of that behavior is mean attack chickens. I have been around MAC's before, and this is WAY better.

I got the second planting of my garden in (finally!). I am now at the stage where I mostly just ignore it, and let it grow. I am harvesting cucumbers fairly regularly, and I think my first crop onions are "done". I have pumpkins and watermelons setting, and the first (early) tomatoes are nice little green cuties. I can't wait until the big ones are ready to be turned into fried green tomatoes. Three of the surprises of being a grownup have been being introduced to (and falling in love with!) 1) Fried Green Tomatoes 2) Steamed Lemon Squash 3) Fried Cabbage. They each have a knack to them, and they are all UNSPEAKABLY DELICIOUS. I still don't care for lots of veggies, but I am getting better.

Our poor hammock finally gave up the ghost, so we are reduced to sitting around in chairs outside to read. Not a good substitute for laying in the hammock with a good book. Nothing really is. We have found some REALLY good books this summer, too. I will post more about them soon.

I am trying to figure out a way to get a tree house built this summer. The kids are the PERFECT age, and it is just something they NEED. I can't do heights (yeah, stupid, I know--I can't even do "small heights" like 3 steps up a ladder! It is ridiculous! ---But then, most of my phobias are!), so I must find someone else whom I can beg or whine or guilt into it. Hmm, I must think.

*I think lawns are fairly immoral--especially in dry areas. Precious resources like water have much better uses. If I lived someplace where there wasn't enough rain to keep it green naturally, I would have to rip it out and replace it with something native that didn't require so much water! I won't even go into the lecture on how much gas we use to cut our grass--super wasteful! (I am looking at goats for next year, maybe). You REALLY don't want to hear me go off about golf courses in Las Vegas and California!

Busy Summer

I have been very busy--which means I have been alternately chauffering all of my short people to all of the many and varied places they have to go (I would like to mention here, that even SmallDaughter has a more exciting social life than I do--Physical Therapy--[which has a POOL!], Occupational Therapy, and Theraputic Riding) and reading A LOT.

The big kids just went to the area level (22 counties) for their
4-H "Health & Safety Speaking Contest" Skit. They were very good, and I am really proud of them. They did a funny skit on Car Safety--so we have had a lot (more than usual) of backseat driving!

MFG has been working out of town, which always throws my groove off. I have remembered to feed everybody (mostly), but the food gets WAY more casual. Also, I can't go to bed when he isn't home--a big problem for the chronic insomniac!

I have thought of a lot of blog entries, but always when I am driving, and far away from my computer. When I get near the computer I have forgotten them, and I am too tired. I have been sleeping even worse than usual lately. Sigh.

LargeBoy is SO happy his best-friend-in-the world has finally come back from Texas. The yard is full of sticks again (battles have been renewed) and yesterday they got in trouble for making a zip-line off of the TV antenna tower to the crabapple tree (they assured me they always dropped off before they face planted into the tree.) I still stopped them.

My garden is flourishing. The tomatoes are as tall as I am. The cucumber is producing about 3 a day--perfect. The chickens are big and busy sounding. I will post pictures of their new run soon.

Almost free range chickens

I spent a large portion of yesterday building a portable chicken run for the ladies. (All of my chickens are ladies--or they had better be--the hatchery guarantees 90% accuracy on sexing them, which means we have a statistical possibility of up to 4 roosters, but none of them have shown any rooster traits--yet!) They seemed to enjoy it, although it may take some time for them to realize that worms and bugs come from the ground, not from the sky (in the always excited hands of the kids).

They can run around in the pen, without me worrying about catching them or getting eaten by critters (dogs are probably likelier, but I really hate raccoons--they are vicious!)

I enjoyed working with power tools, even though I am out of practice, so I took much longer than I should have, and tried in-effective ways of doing things first (as a short-cut, which ended up taking much longer, and being much harder--go figure!) I always feel a bit intimidated by power tools, but then I remind myself "guys do it all the time--and I can read the directions!"

Since I am coming up on "crunch-time" gardening-wise (where I live, historically speaking, if you don't get your garden in by May 14th, it starts to rain, and it is too wet until the first or second week of June). So today, I got one bed of my garden soil turned and mixed (it is so much easier with the lovely compost/loam mix--all light and fluffy and rich). I still need to turn 1 bed(but it needs to be done when the chickens can come out and eat the ant colony!) and build 3 more beds (but I can do that when it's raining!).

I got my herb bed started--I am using raised, bottomless containers layed over weed-cloth, filled with my own lovely soil mix. I got the first 5 herbs planted (the little Mennonite nursery I went to didn't have much selection in herbs). I also planted my Mother's Day perrenials. I am doing a "slowly improving each year" method, because that is all I can do.