Rain Came And Keeps On Coming

Rain is forecast everyday up to the 24th (10 day forecast) and then who knows... more rain? I hope there are not too many rain related problems on the mountain because there are already mudslides on the highway. I heard a lot of sirens today.

I took this photo because there is smoke coming out of the chimney. There is something really nice about seeing chimney smoke on a cold rainy day. We don't usually see any smoke because our wood stove burns the smoke up after it gets going nice and hot. The stove smokes when we first light it or add more wood to the fire.

The chickens are not happy with having to stay in their coop and pen even though they are dry they would love to be out tearing through the leaf litter. I really am amazed by all the rain... and maybe snow.

The chickens give me such a look and talking to when I go out to feed them in the morning. It is going to get really soggy around here.


Let us out!

I am drawn to find out more about the earthquake and tsunami. For hours I stay away from the news, but finally give in and check to see what's happening. I guess my own experience with a large earthquake, becoming homeless, and perhaps not ever really getting over the disorienting scary experience has left me prey to having to find out the latest news.

Anyway, I'm posting a link to some before and after photos of the coast

 There is a 2nd page.

ABC News - Before and After Photos

I wish I had been blogging in 1989. I could have put together some interesting stuff to post . Wish I could get those images out of my head and digitize them. Maybe someone will come up with a great invention in the future that will enable us to capture our memories and save or print them. I've always thought that if someone can think it up, then there will be someone/s who will be able to figure out how to do it.

 The rain was very heavy last night. We don't often get that loud pounding rain. It will be interesting to see if we actually get more snow toward the end of the week.

3 eggs today 

Damp BBQ

Look what's happening in the chicken pen. Two of the hens decided to lay their eggs out in the wet straw. They were not locked up today. So, why? Don't know. Seems strange to me. 

Kristine and Tom took off for the movies to see Wolverine and I stayed home to watch the place and keep the fire going. All was quiet and not much happening around here except that I decided to barbecue chicken for dinner and then decided to add corn on the cob and asparagus to the list.

The house and deck are surrounded by trees which left me out in the rain, which is OK since it didn't really start raining until I was finished with the BBQ. (That is the point of the roof up there.) The honey and molasses I put in the BBQ sauce I made for the chicken blackened nicely. That was not my plan, but it tasted great. 

I took the husks off the corn, saved them, buttered and salted the corn, put the husks back around the corn, put them in foil, added some water, sealed them up and put them on the BBQ for about 15-20 minutes on the top rack on low.

Sorry if this post is a little off. I have another migraine. Yesterday too. Gee, and I thought they were going away. Hopefully, this will be a light one like yesterday. They really are getting lighter... not as bad as they were, so I do think they are going to stop. Now would be good.

Smiles

:)

Wonderful Visit!

Holly and Danny + Uncle Tom and Aunt Callie

We all had a wonderful visit yesterday!

Holly made a lovely celtic rug for me

and she and Danny brought it to me all the way from Seattle.

They are soooo sweet!

We thought they were just coming up for a few hours

because they have so many other family members to visit.

But they planned to stay for the day and evening.

Yikes!

I hadn't planned anything for them to eat and didn't know

what they could eat.... 

so, Danny and Holly and I went to the store

and they bought all the fixins for a great dinner

and then Holly proceeded to barbecue dinner!

But first we went for a walk!

Well, Holly tried to walk...

Danny had been pulling all-nighters so he grabbed some winks.

While Holly barbecued the tri-tip.

And the chicken, sausage, and zucchini!

Barbecue smells sooo good.

This is the place of honor the celtic rug is occupying.

I love the colors and the intricate weave.

Beautiful!

And Holly made if for me!

Thank you, Holly

Thank you, Danny

Hugs and kisses!

Here are some links that I found that give directions

and they have photos too.

- Tie an Ocean Plait Rug -

http://miniatures.about.com/od/miniatureprojects/ss/oceanplaitrug_2.htm

and

- SummitPost - So You Want to Make a Rope Rug Eh! -

http://www.summitpost.org/article/263578/So-You-Want-to-Make-a-Rope-Rug-Eh-.html

I like the directions and photos on both of these sites

but I really like the wooden platform to hammer nails

 into to mark the turns in the bottom link.

You did a beautiful job, Holly!

I love the rug.

It rained last night! Yea! I hope it rains again today, please. The rain made it much easier to rake up the leaves and I got halfway around the back of the house before I had to call a halt due to fatigue. I'll be back at it tomorrow.

[5 eggs today so far] + 1 = 6

6?

Have a Great Day!

Smiles

:)

Chickens in the Rain

                                 [6 eggs]

Empty loft!!!

Lots of cobwebs!

Today we get to arrange furniture and make a cozy, fun place for Kristine to hang out and read, watch tv, do school work, etc.

The Christmas light strings that run along the bottom of the railing still work! They look kinda cool when we turn them on at night. Better than a night light, well... prettier.

The quilts are being washed and the one on the right is now on a bed. Things are moving along! The white thing on the ceiling beam is a wind up clothes line that we use for delicate things or stuff we just don't want to put in the dryer. We have two of them and the clothes dry very quickly up in the loft because the warm air all collects up here. And we have use these lines (there are two) when the electricity goes up and the weather is bad outside. I want to set up clothes lines in the spa house again. It is called the spa house because it used to have a hot tub in it. But now the hot tub is in Arizona!

It has been raining, but it let up for awhile, so I let the chickens out to run about. Happy chickens!

Our chickens are all Heritage chickens. Kristine chose them especially because they do very well as free range chickens and to help preserve the breeds.

Starting in the front, Light Brahma, Australorp, (left) Wyandotte, (right) Orpington, Dark Brahma, Buff Brahma, (on the right an Australorp and a Light Brahma.)

The hens were eager to get out in the wet leaf litter and scratch out areas into the wet dirt and find yummy somethings to eat. As I said... happy chickens!

All these chickens are camera shy.

As soon as I want to take a photo they all take off in different directions. I'll have to bring some corn with me next time.

Come back! The camera won't hurt you...

Look on the side bar for links to click on to see photos of the hens as chicks and as adults.

And if you are interested in learning more about Heritage livestock or endangered livestock, click here to go to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Kristine used this site, among others, to chose which chickens we would raise. Yesterday, we were talking about eventually getting another rooster/s and having the hens raise some chicks. But that is a few years down the road, unless we have a predator attack. Right now we have enough chickens! Ducks...? Maybe, some ducks? And/or goats? We were talking about how much we would love to have some goats again.

When the girls were in 4-H we had a dairy herd. I loved the goats. They were like big dogs! Sweet girls. Maybe we could get two does. You need at least two because they are herd animals and are seriously not happy if they are alone. I am still deciding if I want to get into the twice a day milking, dealing with raising meat kids (the bucks,) and building goat proof escape fencing. Goats are monkeys when it comes to getting out of pens, and they would have no trouble getting out of the fencing we have now. And they would need predator proof housing too. Chickens are a lot easier to care for. But I do miss the goats... sigh...

Smiles