Egg In The Basket

This basket is one of the things that I found when I was sorting through over thirty years of stuff to donate to our town garage sale. I have sooooo much stuff to get rid of that I don't know quite where to start. My approach so far has been to sort through small areas like closets.

I have moved on to a small storage area that has been used as a catch all spot. I am tossing stuff! All that stuff that was saved because we might need it, or once used it, or someone gave it to us, or it's was something the kids had or... There was some kind of reason it got put away. Now I only want to save things that I love, that I use, and that are too expensive to toss.

I remember talking to a lady once who said that people spend the first thirty years of their life collecting stuff and the next thirty years getting rid of it. Sounds about right to me.

Just once in awhile I see something that I think I might find a use for and keep the item. Amazing, but a chicken has decided that she likes the little basket and she has made a round little nest.

Cute. I will keep trying to get a photo of the hen in the basket. When I remember the camera the basket is empty. The hen I saw in the basket yesterday was a Dark Brahma. Today I gave the chickens a peach and two apples for a treat. I will try to get a video of the hens chasing the "ball." Pretty funny stuff!

[11 eggs today]

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

:)

Good Start

(all photos are clickable!)

These are all the scraps I had left after sewing

them up into what looks like a big mess.

I'm thinking "chicken scratch."

After I took these photos I did find some more fabric bits

to add to this jumble.

I would like to end up with

enough fabric to cut

into about 20 to 30 blocks.

I think they would look good in my chicken quilt.

I left the sewing on the table and went out to get my rake

and check on the chicken roost experiment.

The wood shaving look nice and clean.

I guess the chickens slept on the roosts.

Yay!

The girls are out and about in the leaves.

I finished the raking from the motor home to the gate.

And went to check on Morgan.

She is a versatile dog.

She not only herds chickens,

she also exerts a lot of effort keeping squirrels up in their trees.

She herds the squirrels from tree to tree.

Pretty neat!

OK, back to raking leaves.

Below is the before photo.

And this is 1/3 of the way finished.

If you click the photo,

you can see way down there past the table

are the rakes and a chair.

I take the chair with me

so I can take a rest now and then.

It is hard to tell in the photos

but these trees are very tall.

Some of them are over 100 feet tall.

And they make a lot of leaves!

There are many more leaves

over on this side of the property

so I resort to using what I call my leaf shovel.

It is really a snow shovel

that I push along gathering up leaves

and then push them off to the side.

Then I use the dirt rake

to finish up the job. 

Yep, it's a snow shovel.

Morgan is checking for the coyote.

I think.

Maybe.

Or?

There is something

over there in the woods

that she needs to watch.

A squirrel?

I'm done. For today.

The rake and leaves will be waiting for me

for the next month.

It takes a while to rake around

3 acres plus the driveway,

and around the house and other paths.

I hope it rains soon.

It is much easier to move damp leaves.

This is my "work outside in the woods outfit."

I love my boots!

Morgan wants to come in too! Please...

She has been working very hard

all day keeping the squirrels

up their trees, and keeping the

coyote and other critters

off the property.

My boots live outside next to the wheelbarrow.

The wheelbarrow is full of wood for the wood stove.

No, Morgan,

you know you have to wait

until the chickens go to bed.

Poor doggie.

I'm so mean.

But dusk is when the coyote wants his dinner.

I've let Morgan in the house

before we lock up the chickens

 and we have lost chickens to a hungry critter.

Go on, Morgan, go watch your chickies.

Smiles