Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road And Why Do I Blog?

This hen is showing proper caution by checking both directions before venturing forth... no cars, dogs, cats or raccoons.

She wants to get to some choice treats on the porch. Watermelon!

I thought I better post something! I'm in the thralls of blog boredom or blog overload. Sad maybe, but I'm not reading blogs or posting and spend my time doing other things. Lately it has been stacking fire wood, raking, and sewing.

And sleeping.


 Yesterday, I had a migraine type episode with fortress lines and pain in the back of my head. The strange outcome is that after the pain wore off my sight improved and I have much more energy... not so tired and sleepy.

So, I could lay the blame for my not blogging on my migraine problem or just feeling overwhelmed.

The truth is that when I started getting over 200 hits a day on my blog it freaked me out! I couldn't handle the replying to comments and visiting blogs and just pretty much gave up. The blog is back down to about 50 hits a day and I feel much more comfortable.

I never thought people would want to read this blog but when they did I started trying to write interesting posts and the blog began not to be fun anymore.

So, I'm going to go back to just writing posts for myself and posting when I have something to record.

When winter shows up I will have much more time for the blogs.

In the meantime I'm going to take a page from Morgan's book and learn how to relax!

Chickens And Morgan Help Me Fix A Squeaky Couch

I was vacuuming which meant that Morgan and the chickens were watching me through the slider. I brought Morgan inside and gave the chickens some lettuce. Then I asked Morgan to pose for a photo in front of the sofa. Couch, sofa?

I leaned against the couch when I shut the slider... squeak! That was the last squeak. I don't sit on the couch because of the squeak. Why have a couch you don't use except to hold afghans, pillows or take up space? And I never wanted company to sit on the goofy thing.

OK!

No painting today. Instead of fighting with the cobwebs I did battle with my little fifty dollar couch. I was told it used to be in the lobby of a hotel in a little mountain town.

I bought it at an antique shop and although the upholstery is in wonderful condition I'm sure they sold it for such a low price because it had a broken leg. Tom fixed the leg, but the couch squeaks .

Fixing this couch has been low on the list of stuff to do, but I finally had it with the squeak. I've been afraid to work on it because I didn't know what was causing the noise. But for the moment I felt brave.

So, I flipped over the couch, got out my drill and different sizes of screws and hooked everything together that looked like it could be drilled and hold a screw. I tightened screws. I put in extra screws next to the ones that were already there and some in new places.

Happy to report that it is now a silent couch. So nice! The couch was a great excuse to not chase cobwebs and paint. It's too hot.

Posting about the couch made me think about Chicken Divan. I looked it up here and what do you know, divan is the German word for couch. This recipe makes it sound more like the couch is on the chicken. I've never made Chicken Divan and didn't know the name meant Chicken on the Couch. Well, anyway, I'm glad the couch is quiet!

Peek at the Past

click here

(August 3, 2009)

[3 eggs today]

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Smiles

Loafing

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly

unless one has plenty of work to do.

~ Jerome K. Jerome

I'm grateful for rest, time-off, relaxing, fun, me-time.

It rained a little bit last night, but not enough to get the deck wet under the trees and it didn't even get the chicken feed damp. It was a cold, damp day and stuff was still falling out of the trees. So, with that as an excuse I took the day off and stayed inside, played on the computer and made stew. And I have to add that knowing I have lots of stuff to do and not doing any of it did add to the loafing experience.

Later in the day I heard a bunch of thud type noises I thought were either more stuff hitting the roof or the stew was doing something strange on the stove. When I went to check, I found a chicken pecking away at bits of carrot ends I had tossed on the porch with the peelings. Noisy little hen. Morgan was interested too. Don't know if she actually ate any carrots. Maybe?

I took my camera with me when I went to unlock the gate for Kristine and was happy to see that some of the trees actually had some color. We haven't had a frost yet so this is a surprise. There is a new layer of leaves covering everything. I don't think even half the leaves have fallen.

Today when I made stew I added lentils to all the regular ingredients. I used one cup and cooked them before I added the lentils along with the water I cooked them in to the stew. Kristine loves lentils and I have to say that they made the stew thicker and I like the lentil flavor. Next time I would like to add the uncooked lentils to the stew and see how that works. I know I will have to check on it more often to make sure the lentils don't soak up all the liquid. Don't want burned stew. More photos of my easy wood stove beef stew.

Kristine brought home two loaves of French bread yesterday, so I didn't make biscuits. A lady Kristine knows was given a lot of loaves and she gave two to Kristine. Good thing I didn't buy bread.

[1 egg today]

Smiles

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What Did You Say?

This Orpington followed me talking chicken cluck and coo language. I think she wanted me to go back the other way and put out some more lettuce and carrot peelings. She is a sweet hen and I wish she had a name, but I can't tell the Orpington's apart unless they are standing next to each other. The myrtle has made it through the summer heat waves and only looks a little fried. Tom locked up the chickens and collected the eggs today.

This was rather a slow day as far as photos go, so I went back and got another photo from last week. It was clear today, but not at all windy like it was in this photo. I worked on the kitchen some today cutting trim boards and smearing joint compound around over the sheet rock. I was going to post a photo but it was too scary. The joint compound is pink and dries to white, so it all looks a bit goofy because I now have a pink and white kitchen. I decided to wait until I get it all done and then post some of the pink before photos. There is more trim to cut, sanding to do and painting. And the pink needs to turn to white.

[4 eggs today]

Smiles

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Hi, Wanna Play?

"Hi there, little Wyandotte!"

Morgan came into the pen to check on me while I was cleaning up after the mess the chickens had made of their feed and molting feathers all over the place.

"Oops! Good Grief, what did I do?"

That Wyandotte is all puffed up and out of sorts.

I'm outa here!

Poor Morgan, she was so upset she went through the little chicken door.

"And Stay Out!"

Gee! That is one bossy hen! You can see the basket in this photo.

"... I was just standing there, and then the hen chased me."

Kristine comforted Morgan and listened to her sad tale. Poor Morgan, she had a bad experience and after she takes such good care of the hens and keeps the coyotes, raccoons, bears and foxes away. She doesn't get any respect from the girls.

I had a bad experience with my paint trick. Freezing the paint brush with this new non-smelly paint does not work!!! The way it is supposed to work is the paint unfreezes and I can start painting, but not with this new paint. When the brush unfroze, the paint was all sticky and dried out looking. Yikes! It took me a long, long time to soak and scrape the paint out of the brush. Well, that sure didn't save me any time. I did get one side of the doors and wood piece painted.

I even read the directions, well, the drying instruction say that the paint will take 30 days to dry. 30 days! I quick went and checked on the drawers I had painted last month and sure enough they were stuck. They did pull loose when I tugged hard and thankfully the paint did not pull apart. I will have to leave the drawers open for another month and see what happens. I think I will get some felt bits to stick on the inside edges of the drawers to cushion them.

The hens have made such a mess with their corn that I have left it shut up in the barrel. I want to see if the chickens will eat up the corn and seed they have scattered over half the pen. Kristine said she thinks the hens are looking for certain seeds in the scratch and knock all the rest of the grains all over while they are going through the feed. Well, I'll wait a few days and see what happens. I put new straw in their nest boxes and raked up the pen and swept out the coop. I nailed the little basket down in a new spot. Hope I get an egg in there tomorrow.

[4 eggs today]

Smiles

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Chicken In A Basket

A tisket, a tasket, a chicken in a basket. This Australorp hopped in the basket while I was looking for eggs. She looks pretty content in the basket. I put the feed in the barrel again tonight. I don't often find the basket occupied.

This is a a view of the house and garage under the hole in the trees.

See the dead tree? This happens in the summer mostly and then the trees fall over and usually don't make it to the ground. They usually get hung up in the branches of nearby trees and just hang there for years until they finally fall apart in pieces. You don't want to walk under these dead trees and get hit with a dead branch. Some of the branches are as big as small trees.

This is the area I am using to cut up the sheet rock. I would like to sheet rock these walls, or at least the area around the sliders.

[10 eggs today]

Smiles

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Needs Eyes

Kristine said that she is going to bring me home some googly eyes for this Snack Chicken. This is another find I made. I made this chicken over ten years ago and lost the basket it sat over during the move up here. The wings lift up so you can reach inside and pick up a goody.

Or you can just pop the chicken off the bowl. I found the bowl the other day and decided that instead of getting rid of it I might be able to use it with the chicken. It is not a great fit. The bowl should be taller to hold the chicken up higher, but it will work. Right now the bowl holds snack bars and candy. Any wrapped items should work out ok.

The chickens laid four eggs in the tall bottom nest box. I wonder if hens that usually lay eggs in the woods are laying in the coop or some hens have started laying every day? I check all the boxes carefully before I lock up at night, so I know the eggs aren't left over from the day before.

I have another load of old clothes in the wash that I'm getting ready to cut up for quilt piecing. I'll post a photo tomorrow. Maybe I'll even get another batch in the wash tomorrow. I have another box to look through. All the old hoodies and sweatshirts would make great backing for the jean quilts. I'm going to have fun with this project. I'm having to overcome my reluctance to cutting up clothing. But this a lot cheaper than buying fabric and a great way to recycle.

It was hot today. And it is going to be hot. It is 10:30 pm and it is 80 degrees in the house. Not too bad. No breeze. The fire is 100 percent contained. It burned 643 acres.

[Wow! 13 eggs today]

Smiles

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Henny Penny

I took the camera with me when I went out to collect eggs this morning and was lucky enough to catch Henny Penny. She took advantage of her photo op and slowed down and did some chicken poses and a cluck or two. She seems to be doing well and is back to running around with the other hens. How neat is that! I was really worried about her, but she is fine.

The duct tape doesn't seem to bother her and maybe it is a fix for whatever? Or maybe she ate a bad bug or plant or? Well, at least the duct tape will keep the mosquitos away and keep her from getting sunburned.

Happy Birthday, Kristine!

I must say that having your wisdom teeth pulled is not my idea of a birthday present. I'm sorry you got sick at work today and had to come home, but I'm glad you will be home for a few more days. Hope it all heals up quickly and you are back to yourself very soon.

I'm going to go back to bed. I need sleep.

[6 eggs today]

Smiles

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Duct Tape and Chickens

I didn't see Henny Penny this morning because Tom let the chickens out before I got up. Henny Penny showed up with her duct taped sister when I went out to look for eggs. The duct tape on the Orpington looks like it is coming loose, or maybe it got messed up when the other hens jump on her. Henny Penny looks and acts fine. These two hens are smaller than the others. Maybe they get picked on? They seem happy to come back into the pen when the other hens are out in the woods. Duct tape is pretty neat stuff. I read that the duct tape will come off when they molt, but I think I will check and see what's happening under there before that.

The duct tape will keep the hens from getting sunburned for sure and should keep the mosquitos from a free lunch. I really don't know if that was what made Henny Penny sick, but I hope the duct tape is a fix for whatever was the problem.

Eggs! Tom found all these eggs, when he was counting the chickens last night. Yep, there are still 18 chickens. And all these eggs under the area where the chickens roost. I caught a Wyandotte sitting on them this morning. But from the different sizes and colors of eggs you can tell lots of other hens are laying eggs here. I picked up all the eggs and got rid of them and then got a bucket and filled it several times with dirt and covered up the area. I will have to check tomorrow and if there is an egg here I will find a branch with lots of twigs to put in the corner.

I'm going to go back to bed and see if I can catch up on some sleep.

[2 eggs so far]

The weather changed and the chickens started laying eggs

in strange places.

Can I blame the weather?

Smiles

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