Lost And Found

Oops! I pressed the wrong key and published before I wrote anything. There was some blue sky for a bit today so I let Morgan and the chickens out to run around. I gave the hens a head of lettuce on the porch and enjoyed watching them chow down. Morgan came inside for her snack. The chickens stuck around the porch for about an hour and then vanished. Morgan was gone too.

I went out to try and find the chickens in hopes that the reason they were out of sight didn't have anything to do with the fox. Morgan was in the back barking at something. I walked around and finally heard and then spotted a chicken, then another one and then I saw that most of them (10+) were under the trailer taking dust baths. The hens are pretty smart. They found some dry dirt under the plastic covered trailer and a warm protected place to laze about.

I tried out the Auto setting and was able to capture a good photo of the hens shaking their feathers dusting that was OK. The chickens were very happy under there where there was no wind, it was warm and dry and where Morgan didn't run through the middle of them and watch them scatter.

I am way behind making comments and even reading blogs. I do check and moderate my comments a couple of times a day, but I've been under the weather and sleeping a lot. I hope to feel better and catch up tomorrow. Thank you for your comments!

[2 eggs today]

Smiles

~:>

Voting and Rolling in the Dirt

This was the view out the car window on  the way to vote this morning. Trees, lotsa trees. We were the only people voting at the polls. California is in trouble, I wonder if the props will pass? People are mad at the legislature. They might take it out at the polls by voting no? 

This is what I saw when I was walking up the driveway after voting. I had my camera! Maybe I could catch them dusting? Morgan was barking at the dreaded squirrels. I think that was her squirrel bark. Her dangerous critter bark is much more excited.

Oops! The Australorp jumped up! Gee, what does she think I'm going to do. Silly hen. So, I stood there for a long time and finally the Light Brahma went back to dusting and some of the other hens came over to lay down and sun bath. Looks like fun!

There was an egg bounty today.

[14 eggs today!]

And they were all laid in the closed in nest boxes!

And it was cool in them.

Cooler than in the house.

Smart Girls!

Smiles

~:>

Mountain View

I had to go into town today and actually managed to take a photo on the way back of a view out over the tops of some mountains. There is even still some snow out there on the tops of some of them. We are supposed to be getting some more snow towards the end of the week. I sure hope we at least get a good freeze. I want all the mosquitos killed off! There is West Nile Virus up here. Very Bad Stuff.

This is a very pretty photo. Go ahead... click on it!

I did good.

Some of the oak trees have places on them where they collect water and where mosquitos will breed if given the chance. I pour cooking oil in the ones I can reach and fill them in with dirt. I don't know if that is an approved method to retard mosquitos, but it works for me. I'm sure there are spots higher up in the trees that I can't get to, so I only work outside in the middle of the day when the mosquitos are not as active. And the dear chickens do eat mosquitos when they can catch them. And eat the larva too. Good chickens.
Clearing away all these leaves is supposed to be for fire suppression, but the way I see it is that if we have a fire move through here everything is toast. There have been fires that have burned down these towns several times. The fires move through the tops of the trees. Clearing the leaves might slow the fire down, but if there is a fire all I want is for all of us to leave the area. I don't plan or expect anything to survive the fire. So, really moving the leaves and clearing brush for me is just exercise. Good thing I like raking.

This photo below is Bad Chickens! The girls do love to take sun and dust baths and one of their favorite places is under the edge of the spa house. As you can see they are undermining the supports. And I suppose I also move some of the dirt away when I rake up the leaves. I'm going to have to remember to shovel some dirt back under the spa house. I keep trying to get a photo of the hens dusting under here. Someday soon...

Like I said, everyday I am working a bit on moving the leaves away from around the house. Today I got all the way to the propane tank for the spa house. This propane tank used to be used to power the hot tub that was in the spa house, but now it is used just to power my cook top. I saw a propane tank with a smiley face painted on it. Kinda cute. But I do think this tank needs a cover. If you enlarge the photo you can see the shovel where I stopped pushing it and left to take the photo. I was reading a farm blog (Tyler Farm) and they have something called a york rake that they drag around with a tractor. Pretty neat! But I need the exercise, so this is better for me. I keep telling myself!
This is a peek into my sewing/computer room. Three more weeks until Kristine is off for the summer and we can continue with the spring cleaning in the loft and her room. In the meantime I am working on this room. Next photo of the window will show curtains! At least that is the plan. I moved my sewing/cutting table so I can walk around three sides of it which will make for much easier cutting. I hate moving and repositioning the fabric before I cut. Lazy me! I keep my machine and table covered to protect against the sunlight and dust. Ah, but soon I will have curtains!

I need to paint the counter. I primed it but I'm wearing the primer off. I built the counter out of a couple of doors. Hard to believe but true and the counter is still level. I do have a little bit on the edge to fix up with some wood putty, but then I can paint. Except I don't have any paint.  I need to go to the store. Three weeks? Four? Well, at least I can hang the curtains and put up the shade.

It has been really warm today, 87 degrees.

Hard to believe snow is on the way.

And rain.

I'll take the rain. Love the rain.

I'm going to put my egg count down here:

[3 eggs] + 5 = 8

Have a great day!

Smiles

:)