Memorial Day 2010

Earn it !

They lied! It is overcast and cold. It is in the 70's somewhere... just not here. I'm staying in and giving myself another day to let my back settle. Kristine is going to rest today too. Tom isn't up yet.

Update: I can't believe it... it's true... Kristine called me to the slider to see raindrops on the porch.
It's raining? Good grief! It is supposed to be hot today. 

click Peek at the Past

(May 31, 2009)

[8 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Memorial Day Tribute

Here is another Memorial Day Tribute.

One more to go for tomorrow on Memorial Day.

Tom and Kristine went down to celebrate the day with family. I stayed home and nursed my rattled bones. I read my book and rested. I do feel better. They brought home tomatoes so I can make more tacos tomorrow. And a watermelon for desert! 

Tomorrow I hope to be outside moving slowly and doing stuff. It is so nice to see a week of days in the 70's all lined up in the weather forecast. Maybe we have seen the last of winter and Spring has really arrived.

The chickens were locked up again today and probably will be tomorrow. Bad things always seem to happen to the chickens on holidays and weekends. I will spend some time cleaning up the chicken pen floor. Those hens better not trip me again. 

click Peek at the Past

(May 30, 2009)

[7 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Honor, Remember And Revere

For my blog this holiday weekend I looked around on YouTube for videos that honor the men and women who put themselves in harms way and suffered and died so that we can live the lives we choose.

This is my way of remembering.

The sun is back and so is my energy. I did some house work, raked leaves in the driveway and then fell down in the chicken pen and took some skin off my hand and banged up my knee. I knocked down a feeder, got chicken poo all over me, but I didn't squash any chickens. Their fault... they tripped me when I went in the pen to give them some scratch.

Kristine brought me home a very nice surprise. Deceiver! The latest book (#11) in the Foreigner series. We have all the books so far with #12 due out in 2011. I have read a lot of her other books and have reread this series several times. It's fun, I like the characters, and she can write.

click Peek at the Past

(May 29, 2009)

The chickens love to dust!

[10 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Remember And Honor

In 1945 I was 4 years old. I remember watching newsreels at the movies during the 40's. No tv. On the weekends we would go to the movies (matinees) and watch lots of cartoon, shorts and newsreels. That's how I learned about what was happening in the world. We did have one of those old radios with tubes, a rounded top and lots of knobs to turn that didn't do much. I don't remember listening to news on the radio. I would try to find cowboy shows... those were my favorites.

click Peek at the Past

(May 28, 2009)

[8 eggs]

~:>

Smiles

More Rain And Thunder

Chicken coop in the rain. Bear proof, but not beautiful. The chicken coop (read dog pen) was originally built by my brother to keep his doberman pinchers confined. It works equally well to keep the bears out.

I keep waiting for the white paint to fall off so I can stain the wood brown. I think I might as well go ahead and paint it all white this summer after it dries out. 

The wagon is butted up against the door as an added deterrent because I am freaked out about the fox and other predators getting in the coop. I need to add another lock to the bottom of the door.

Kristine just came home and surprised me with Jim Butcher's latest book. The 12th book in the Dresden series, Changes. I'm going to bed early tonight and read!

Click here to read chapters of Changes online. I have read all the other books in the series. We started buying the books when they were only in paperback.

She also came home with a loaner car. I am going to try very hard to calm down (about the insurance company of the guy who hit her) about how the insurance people are acting. Our insurance company is finally being a bit helpful. I know I have issues.

After the earthquake, the insurance company we had coverage with was extremely uncooperative. We finally got a check from them but the payee was made out wrong. They asked for the check back so they could issue anther one. That was the last I ever saw of the check. They stole our money that we needed to repair our house. Argh!!! Calm, I need calm. I still get angry when I think about what happened.

Kristine said that it would be a good idea for me to post a Rant post about my insurance company horror stories. But, no, I won't do that. I get too upset.

Well, back to everyday stuff. I'm sure I have mentioned this stuff before. 

I was going to shift the compost pile, but it keeps raining. I checked and it is a soggy mess. When it stops raining I will be sure to add a lot of straw. Or... I could wait until the leaves dry out. No, it may start rotting. Not good.

I took the photo of the porch because the rain was coming down so hard (not hail) and in such big drops it was bouncing and making a lot of noise. I was trying to catch the bouncing splashes.

There is more weather moving across the pacific. The question is whether it will hit higher up the coast (N. Calif, Oregon) or continue to make it across to our part of the country. Long time residents of this place think this may be  one of the years when we get snow in June. Maybe. Gee, June is almost here. And Spring?

Peek at the Past

(May 27, 2009)

[6 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Thunder, Lightening, Hail

When the hail started I tried to catch the thunder and lightening but gave up and just went with this. The chickens finally went in their coop. I don't understand why they stand outside in the rain. The thunder was the big boom and crash sounding thunder. I'm staying in the house.

The chickens are locked up and unhappy

even though I gave them a lettuce treat.

They would much rather be out under the trees.

Since I am thinking about cars and eggs I looked on YouTube and found this fun little project for children to make a car out of an egg carton. I always liked my girls to be able to make things to play with. These little cars would make fun place cards especially if they each had the persons photo that was supposed to sit there. The cars could be filled with things appropriate to the theme of the party. Or the little cars would just be fun to make and play with.

Kristine is home after visiting the doctor and finding out that the tremor in her hand was due to whiplash in her shoulder. She will need therapy.

Tomorrow will be filled with dealing with insurance companies, getting a loaner car and dealing with any other stuff the accident caused. No surprise I suppose, but the insurance company is not being helpful. Sigh. So, evidently we have been paying for the privilege of having them brush us off. Argh!

I am so glad I don't have to interact with the insurance people. I am afraid I would get upset (angry) and that wouldn't be a good thing. 

Peek at the Past

(May 26, 2010)

[7 eggs today]

P.S. Just a note of thanks to those who decide to Follow this blog. I do try to leave a comment and thank you, but some don't have blogs and some have Friends. I don't have an account for Friends. So, here is a thank you to everyone.

~:>

Smiles

Cell Phone, Car, and Crash

Update: 5/26/2010 - Kristine has whiplash in her shoulder... that is where the hand tremor came from. She will need therapy. No loaner car yet. We are still waiting for info from the car repair place.

This is not a lot of fun.

--------------------------
It was raining today, the chickens were locked up because of the rain and because we lost another hen to a predator. Something got one of the Dark Brahmas. She was slow and not too bright. She was the one who forgot where the door was every morning.

My neighbor is down to one chicken because of a fox getting in her pen and taking her chickens.

She still has the polish hen we gave her that Kristine found.

 I was having fun cooking dinner on the wood stove. Stew in the dutch oven and vegetables in the steamer. I made shortcake in the dutch oven later.

Then the phone rang!

Kristine called to let me know she never made it to work because while she was stopped at a red light someone who was talking on a cell phone (there were witnesses who left their names and numbers) ran into the back of her car. 

Kristine was checked by the Fire Dept and EMT's. They made her promise to go to a doctor. I don't want to post about that. His car had to be towed. Kristine's car was towed to a place to be repaired.

Click here (Kristine's blog) to read Kristine's account of what happened.

Kristine is home, I'm trying to calm down. I'll post more about the accident tomorrow. I really don't think you could call it an accident. I think using a cell phone while driving is criminal.

Be safe everyone!

I don't know what you can do to be safe when some idiot runs into you.

Peek at the Past

(May 25, 2010)

[7 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

And I'm very grateful Kristine is home!

Buff Brahma On The Rocks

One of these rocks is
not like the others.


When I first looked at the rock pile I didn't see the hen. She just looked like one of the rocks until she moved.

Then she moved up

to one of the

water basins

for a drink of rain water.

She didn't stay up there very long.

I guess I disturbed her

when I was walking around

taking photos.

The myrtle (vinca minor) is so pretty and green this year because of the wet winter. Some years it suffers when it is a hot dry year with not much rain in the winter. It is a hardy plant and manages to hang on with little care from me as long as it has some shade. It might die back a bit in full sun in the summer if it gets too dry and hot, but then it will recover with the first rains of the year.

The chickens don't eat the myrtle leaves or flowers.

In fact, Nothing seems to bother the myrtle. 

Kristine told me she has some Western Tanagers living in the trees near her slider upstairs. I love this site, All About Birds, there is a great photo of the Western Tanager and lots of information. They are beautiful birds. I have only seen one once and Kristine said they move too fast for her to get a photo. They are supposed to be slow moving? I guess our Tanagers didn't get the word. Kristine and I had a lot of fun today looking up birds on this site and listening to the sounds they make. I can understand how people get hooked on bird watching.

Peek at the Past

(May 23, 2009)

Morgan is so funny!

[7 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Blue Sky Last Week

Instead of rain here is a photo of the sky and the tops of the trees on the morning of the 19th. At least the day started out sunny.

As the trees leaf out more and more of the sky is covered which works out very well in the summer when the temperature moves into triple digits. 

When it's hot the shade is very welcome. But when the weather is bad it can get pretty gloomy under the trees. A branch fell on the back deck yesterday and gave me a fright. We could use another storm to come through and knock the rest of the dead branches down. 

I took these two photos

of the myrtle on the 19th 

when I went down

to unlock the gate

for Kristine.

My brother lined

the driveway with the

trees and rocks.

I planted myrtle along the right side of the driveway and I'm starting to plant it along the left side, but first I still need to make some planting areas along that side.

I love the different kinds of moss that grow on the rocks and trees. All the rain is making for lots of moss and happy myrtle.

I would love to have the myrtle take off and cover all the areas under the trees. It would look so lovely and green all year because the leaves disappear into the myrtle. Amazing plant.

Peek at the Past

(May 22, 2009)

All kinds of compost information here .

[8 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

More Rain And Hail

I moved the chicken feed inside this morning so it would be safe from the rain. Yes, it is raining again.

The weather is not cooperating with my efforts to work outside and there will be at least two more days of rain. It hailed this afternoon! I'm not taking anymore rain and hail photos. Well, at least not today!

I'd like to blame my hiatus from blogging on the weather, but I really don't know why I feel so blah and have such a feeling of blog overload. I should be over recovering from the cold. I hope when warm sunny weather ever shows up my mood will improve and I'll feel like doing something. Cabin fever?

Before the rain and hail showed up today I managed to clean the chicken coop and the nest boxes. I pretty much filled the wagon with wood chips from the nest boxes. I'll put the wood chips in the garden planter boxes.

I still haven't got the chicken pen cleared out because of the weather. Well, that's my excuse. My efforts to divide the nesting area into individual spaces didn't work out, so in the top nest box I stacked straw flakes in the middle to make two nest spaces. I did this in the middle nest box too, but left the bottom nest area flat for the hens to use as a communal nest box. Some of the hens like to nest together.

One of the twisty wooden things that hold the nest box doors shut came off and that took some time to fix. The drill bit kept messing up the heads of the screws and then I had to fix part of the fence. Stuff is always falling apart.

Since I have never had a compost pile before I have been searching for information on maintaining and turning it. This is a helpful video. I like the idea of just taking the wire cage away and forking it all into an empty cage. Since there has been so much rain and I added a lot of water to the compost when I was putting the layers together I think I will be adding straw and other dry stuff to the mix.

Peek at the Past

(May 21, 2009)

Homemade Compost Bins

I need to make another wire bin to turn the bin into.

[8 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Old Fence And Compost

A piece of old 2x4 wire fence, sticks and stones were the beginning of my compost heap. I read that the compost works better if air can circulate from the bottom so hopefully the sticks and stones will make an air space and help this mess break down quickly to black gold.

To have the compost work quickly I am supposed to add green stuff, grass clippings, etc., but I don't have any green stuff around here. So, I added some alfalfa pellets to the straw and leaf layers. I watered each of the layers well.

Morgan is really worrying me because I catch her eating small bits of the chickens stuff that falls when I am filling the pile. Morgan... there is dirt in that stuff! It would be nice if she would eat stuff that was food and not dirt!

It was really hard for me to lift the material over the top so I cut the fence in half and made two short instead of one tall pile. I need to get a tarp of come kind to cover the piles. They are supposed to work faster covered.

I remember visiting a farm where they laid the stuff they wanted to compost out in rows and covered the long mounds with black plastic. The next year they would have their rows all ready to plant.

One compost pile finished! Pretty good for me for a days work. The chicken pen looks like major demolition happened. Poor chickens. They will be glad to have their pen back with some level ground.

No Broody Chickens! Locking the broody hens in the pen did the trick. I forgot and locked the Australorp in the pen overnight and that must have been what switched her hormones off because it was not warm that night and she could roost outside but not nest. The Buff and the Australorp both gave up the broody business and went back to being chickens! I'm glad because I couldn't lock them out now with the gate to the pen open so I can remove the chicken poo to the compost pile.

Talking about compost... is this neat or what! My greenhouse is really pretty small (about 8x10) compared to this spacious greenhouse. My brother built my greenhouse and it is just the right size for me because I am not a gardener. A bigger greenhouse would be wasted on me. To tell the truth I am rather at a loss when it comes to the whole gardening thing. I plan to plant a cover crop of some kind on the beds and wait until next year to plant. A year should give me time enough to plan out what and how to plant the beds.

PS... This YouTube video is just for fun. Momma bear gets baby bear out of a tree!

Peek at the Past

I still haven't finished this.
(May 15, 2009)

[5 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Digging Up The Chicken Pen

The chickens and Morgan were very interested in my efforts to dig up the chicken pen. I managed to dig up enough to put a layer on each of the planter beds, but didn't really clear much of the pen.

I am going to have to switch from building planter boxes to digging out the rest of the pen before it starts drying out. When the soil around here dries it is like cement and I would need a pick to make a dent.

For now a pitch fork is working well because of all the pine branches layered in the pen the shovel won't be of any use until I get the top layers off. It is going to take me a while to clear out the pen and coop and bring in a new layer of dirt.

Tomorrow I'm going to put together a quick compost area and move the rest of the pen chicken dirt there and let it compost. At least I hope I will be able to put together something with some old fencing I found.

This is only a fourth of the tree that fell on the chicken coop. There is another piece as long as this and just as much of the tree is still waiting to fall. The coop is a lot stronger than I thought because you can't tell that it was hit. 

I was careful and didn't work too hard. I would work for a bit and then go inside for a glass of apple juice and cool down and then go out and cover another bed. After I got them all covered I watered them down and put on a layer of dirt.

Kristine saw two coyotes running down the road on her way home. So, fair warning. I know the predators are out there, but they are easy to forget about until we see them or they make a visit. 

Peek at the Past

(May 14, 2009)

[9 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Soil Screen And Lumber

Everything takes so much longer than I think it will, but I finally got the soil screen built. After I finished putting together my soil screen I went around looking for lumber the right length to fit the planter beds.

I'm sure I should have built the planter boxes first, but that would have been too easy. About now I'm thinking I should try planter beds without boxes. I can try those kinds of beds out next time I make some above ground hugelkultur.

We have a friend who gave us scrap lumber he didn't want that is perfect for the planter boxes. He cuts his own lumber from trees on his property so I know it is not treated with anything. And he cuts his lumber thicker than purchased lumber so I hope it will last longer.

Next chore is to haul out my miter saw to cut the long boards. I tried to find boards that were already a size I could use and got lucky. I only need to cut four long boards, but they are wet and heavy so I propped them up to dry out a bit.

It was in the sunny 70's today so I made myself go outside and work on the beds. The chicken pen is still too wet to dig up... I'll check it again tomorrow. This is a neat combination planter bed/chicken coop.

Kristine says she is still tired and sleepy all the time. I had a few days where I was so tired I just took the days off. Better to rest than get sick again. Kristine said that people can catch this weird cold again and it is worse the second time. Don't want that! 

Peek at the Past

(May 13, 2009)

[3 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Rain and Thai

Nothing much new to post about except that it rained all day with a little snow in the late afternoon and Tom and Kristine went to town for lunch and a movie.

I had a lazy day watching shows, keeping the wood stove filled and the house warm and cozy. It was hard staying awake because I really just wanted to crawl back in bed and sleep.

Kristine brought me back some Thai food to try and a menu to check over so I will have a good idea of what I will want to order when she takes me out for lunch. When she finishes her classes we plan to go to the quilt store and then out for lunch.

Morgan stayed in the loft all day sleeping (like I wanted to) and didn't come downstairs until Kristine got home. The chickens stayed in the coop out of the rain and I didn't mess with the broody hen so I imagine she was a happy camper in one of the nest boxes. 

I thought this video was interesting. It shows some people building a cob chicken coop. The first part until about 1:55 is two people talking then it shows the cob coop in progress. I think this could be fun if there was a lot of people involved. I would end up with a coop plus I would get to play in the mud.

This video of a coop being built is neat, but I don't really like the music. This coop would work in a backyard but not up here in the woods. Fun to watch. I turned the sound off.

Peek at the Past

(May 10, 2009)

Mother's Day 

[ 4 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Making Beds

Morgan sniffed out the planter beds today and before I knew what she was doing she ate some of the alfalfa pellets. Hope they won't make her sick.

I raked up a bunch of leaves, pine needles and other forest litter and added it and other layers of dirt and straw to the hugelkultur. 

I was going to start work in the chicken pen, but it started raining. Good excuse to quit and watch Inspector Morse.

Here is another new link to a site with great photos on hugelkultur and composting. Somehow I managed to forget to put in a layer of cardboard and newspaper. Photos on composting are at the top and hugelkultur photos are toward the bottom.

Here is a link to a post with great photos of how to hugelkultur that I have posted before. I'm adding more layers to my beds so I can add more layers of the crummy dirt we have around here. If I could have started with some fairly good soil I could get away with the layers in the photos. The dirt we have is like pulverized rocks. Well, we are on top of the mountain so all the good dirt washed away to the valley long ago. 

Hope everyone had a great day!

Peek at the Past

(May 9, 2009)

[7 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Greenhouse Bed

Blogger won't let me type next to the top photo. Bad Blogger!

Today I worked on the greenhouse planter bed and finished up the layers in outside beds up to ground level. The next step will be to build wooden planter box frames so I can add more layers and soil for planting. The top two photos are of the bed in the greenhouse. I dug out the area, filled it with old branches and then filled the bed with water to soak the bed and the wood.

(I tried moving some code around so now I can type next to these two bottom photos. I wish I knew HTML better.)

Then I added a thin layer of dirt over the branches, then straw and some alfalfa pellets. Then I watered the whole thing well.

The soil here has very little organic matter in it and it is very dry so the soak will hopefully help with composting the branches and the other layers.

Once I get the wooden frames built and add more layers I have the feeling that I may not be able to plant this year because it will be too late to plant and the beds may need a year to compost so they won't burn the plants.

There are three beds in this photo. The third bed has a layer of dirt over it so it doesn't show up in the photo.

It is supposed to rain Sunday and Monday which will be great for the beds and for the chicken pen. The chickens won't like the rain, but it will make digging out the chicken pen a lot easier.

The Buff gave up being broody after one day... or she is hiding out somewhere in the woods? The Australorp is still strutting around in the pen like a gorilla chicken clucking away.

Peek at the Past

(May 8, 2009)

[4 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Breaking Broody Hens

Hormones!

When hens go broody they have hormonal changes that tell them to stay in their nest and keep their eggs warm.

The broody hens stop laying eggs and sit in a nest to hatch eggs. Doesn't matter if there are eggs or if the eggs are not fertilized the hen will sit for three weeks or more.

These two hens have gone broody and are not happy with my method of breaking their broody spell. The Buff is pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to the coop nest boxes and making cooing clucking noises. The Australorp is strutting around and is all puffed up and making non stop angry clucking noises. Broody hens are scary!

Shutting the broody hens in the pen during the day so they can't get inside to the nest boxes while having feed and water available will hopefully signal their hormones to change. If this doesn't work my next trick will be to place them in a wire bottom cage with feed and water for four or five days. Keeping their tummies cool is supposed to break the broody cycle.

Sometimes I just give up and let them sit. But it's worrisome wondering if the hen is going to be ok and besides that... no eggs for a month is a bummer. I've tried putting a bag of ice cubes under a broody hen but that didn't work. The hen just moved to a new nest. I should have put her in a cage first.

There are lots of sites on the internet about Broody Hens. Here are two... Feathersite and The Poultry Guide. They both have helpful information.

I gave up on outside work today and decided to make some cookies.

PS: I tried to catch up on blogs and comments, but I may have missed some.

I apologize.

Peek at the Past

(May 7, 2009)

(6 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Broody Chickens

These hens are not broody.

The broody hens are in the pen. I took the broody hens out of their nest boxes and shut them in the chicken pen where they have feed and water but no access to nest boxes. They are not happy but at least they are eating and drinking and walking around.

The rest of the hens can get to the nest boxes to lay eggs but can't get to the automatic waterer. So, I filled a pan of water for the outside chickens. I had to sprinkle some scratch near the water pan before the chickens would would come check the pan out. They like the water in the pan ok but they really like the water that flowed out and made puddles in the dirt when I was filling the pan. They love that muddy water. Go figure.

I spent some time wandering around finding more branches and bringing them back to the planter beds. I'm going to fill the dug out beds with wood then fill it with water and let the wood soak before I put on a layer of dirt.

Next step is to get the branch cutters and make smaller branches out of big ones and arrange all this wood neatly. I think I will try walking around on the branches first and see if some of them will just break into smaller pieces.

iPhoto is giving me a headache! It is just short of crashing running very, very slow. I was going through old photos and throwing them in the trash and evidently I threw too much away and iPhoto lost its mind. I did a search (wish I had done that before I deleted photos) and found out that you are not supposed to trash more than 100 photos at a time. Arrgh!

I was able to find the photos I took today but the photo of the chickens only showed up in the large size so you can click on it and it will enlarge. Screamer and Pastey are the Light Brahmas drinking with one of the no name Dark Brahmas.

Kristine will be calling soon, Morgan is due back from the groomers, and I have to quit typing this and go cook dinner.

iPhoto update: I finally got iPhoto working again, but I had to trash the last two days photos. Live and learn.

Peek at the Past

(May 6, 2009)

[4 eggs so far today]

My egg count may be going down because of the broody hens?

~:>

Smiles

Sunny But Cold

The chickens are eating scratch I tossed on the ground and Morgan is thinking about how she can lick some of the corn up without me seeing her being sneaky. I really don't want to be up all night with a sick doggie. So, I stand and watch while the chickens eat up all the scratch.

There is a pile of small branches behind Morgan. I'm collecting them to use as a layer in the hugelkultur planter beds. I still need to find some more small branches and some larger pieces for the first layer. I wish I knew someone who had cows because I would love to have some manure to add to the soil. I really don't want to buy bags of compost from the nursery. Who knows what is in the stuff or where it comes from.

I guess I will dig up some of the "soil" from the chicken pen and add it to the dirt in the planter beds. I have read that chicken poo will burn plant roots, so I will add the chicken soil as a layer over the bottom layer of logs. Maybe I can take off the top few inches of soil in the chicken pen and put that on the logs and then use the soil that is deeper and has been there longer to add to the dirt I will use for top soil in the planter beds. I'll see what happens when I ever get out there to do some work.

I found another site (OregonLive) with info about hugelkultur with a link to a diagram on how to assemble the layers. It seems that people put the beds together pretty much the way they want according to what they have on hand or can get. I was getting worried about what layers go where, but I have decided to calm down and just do the best I can with what I have available.

Peek at the Past

(May 5, 2009)

Screamer is a kick.

Too bad I didn't catch her "yelling" at me.

[4 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Branches and Beds

This is a photo of two planter beds that I have started to fill with old branches. I dug out the smaller bed today and then wandered around the property looking for branches hiding under the leaves. I am about halfway done filling the beds with the wood. Looking for more wood will be a good job for me tomorrow.

It was so nice and warm today, but the weather is going back to the 60's and 50's for the rest of the week. I will be happy when we get some warm weather. I need sunshine!

Morgan did a lot of barking today that I would like to think was at foxes, but I think she was probably after squirrels. At least the barking will hopefully keep the fox away.

Things are pretty boring around here. The big event today was when a propane truck parked out by the gate with the engine running. Noisy thing! I was out checking on the chickens and taking photos so I clicked off a pic. I thought the truck drivers might be lost... or maybe they stopped to eat lunch?

The chickens are so happy to be back out in the woods. The ground is still fairly wet so the hens are having a ball digging holes looking for yummy eats.

I have started reading comments and blogs. It is going to take me a long time to catch up.

Kristine and I are still tired and sleepy. I'm going to cook steak tonight in hopes that will give us some energy. Maybe I should get some salmon. Fish and chips sounds good.

Peek at the Past

(May 4, 2009)

mmmm... BBQ

[ 5 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Porch Chickens

The chickens enjoyed a cabbage treat on the porch this morning and then stuck around in hopes of more good things to eat. The hens look bigger to me now. I guess they gained weight over the winter.

One of the Wyandotte hens has been acting poorly for over a week, but looks like she is feeling better today. She is moving around quicker and is eating and drinking. One of the hens is laying tiny eggs. Maybe it's the Wyandotte? Hope the sunny warm weather perks her up.

One of the trunks of an oak tree has bent itself all the way over and is touching the top of the chicken coop. The trunk is way too big for me to mess with. I guess Tom is just going to wait for it to fall on the coop?

I watched movies on YouTube today instead of going outside. But I did have an appetite and ate so I hope I'll have some energy tomorrow. I hate feeling so blah.

Peek at the Past

(May 3, 2009)

I still haven't done much genealogy.

[8 eggs today]

I had a cute egg basket just like this

but it was hard to use and didn't hold many eggs.

~:>

Smiles

Sleepy Sunday

Most of my plans for today didn't happen because I slept most of the day. I did manage to dig out one of the planter beds and get it ready to fill with a layer of old branches. Morgan and the Buffs came to check out what I was doing. This editor is acting goofy again and not letting me type next to the photos.

I thought the egg balancing trick was hard to believe too. This Australorp looks amazed! No, I did not put the egg on the board. The last thing I did before I came back in the house was to clean out the automatic waterer and put some pine branches down around it to help keep the chickens from scratching dirt in it. Poor chickens. Nobody cleans the waterer when I'm sick and I didn't think to tell anyone to do it.

I haven't started reading blogs and answering comments yet. Sorry. Hope to get to that soon.

Kristine just told me that HenRoo was out in the driveway today crowing! This is how HenRoo sounded last year. Kristine says now she sounds like a rooster with laryngitis. I'll try and get a video of HenRoo crowing.

Peek at the Past

(May 2, 2009)

My bears!

[8 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

May Myrtle

I actually got myself outside today and took some May photos. I would have liked to take more May flower photos, but Myrtle is all I found.

I promised Kristine to just do one job today and not get carried away with different tasks and make myself sick again. I was good and just cleaned up after the Buff house chicken. Somehow her pen, straw bedding, etc., was waiting for me to clean up and put away.

The weather has been so unpredictable, but we are supposed to have some sunny days this week in the 6o's. That's still kinda cool for my taste.

When I'm cold in the morning, I just put my clothes on over my pajamas. Kristine thinks I'm silly, but I don't care. I'm more interested in staying warm.

The Buff house chicken is all healed up, fine and happy and back in the chicken herd hanging out with her buddy, Pastey, the smaller white Brahma.

Hard to see in the photo but that is an apple tree on the left being propped up by a stake. Two tall cedars in the middle and lots of new green leaves and needles brightening up the forest.

Kristine still sounds like she has pneumonia, but she is back to work and classes. She says most of the problem now is from allergies. Too much pollen around. She got an allergy shot and pills to go along with the antibiotics.

I know I'm on the mend because I want to work on some projects I have planned. Before I really didn't care about anything. I haven't read any blogs yet. I am soooo behind. I still feel so tired.

[9 eggs today]

Peek at the Past

(May 1, 2009)

~:>

Smiles