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]

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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]

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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]

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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