Spinach On The Porch

   Today the chickens enjoyed a bunch of spinach from the large bag of outdated greens that Tom picked up at the grocery store yesterday. By the time I got the camera ready for action the chickens had gobbled up most of the leaves. The brown plastic is covering wood for the wood stove.

   The hens and Morgan got to spend some time outside for half a day today. I spent my day thinking and planning what I'm going to change in the chicken coop when I finally get well enough to get out there and do something. At first I wanted to move the nest boxes around and put them against the wall and put up new roosts.

   Well, I finally decided I really didn't need to to all that. I was getting carried away. So, I calmed down and thought about how I could build partitions in the communal nest boxes and how I could build some frames to hold wood ashes, from the wood stove, inside the entrance to the nest area. I read about putting something for the hens to step in that would dry off their muddy feet as they are on the way to lay their eggs. Now I have some plans running around in my head. All subject to change.

   I did find a neat site here (A Dust Box For The Chicken House - w w w. The Modern Homestead . U S) with photos that show how to build a dust box for chickens. This is pretty fancy and may be beyond my capabilities, but I can make a good try and come up with something. I think the reason the dust boxes I made in the past didn't work was because I didn't make the sides high enough.

   So, here is a list of to-do's:

1. Make partitions in the nest boxes.
2. Make a dusting box.
3. Make a frame by the entrance to hold wood ashes for the chickens to step in.
4. Make the entrance smaller.

   Maybe I can at least get the tools and wood together tomorrow. Getting everything ready is half the battle. I've got the plans in my head, if I get the supplies and tools ready all I'll need is to get me out there on the ground.

  I did find this site here (http: //urban garden project .wordpress .com/ 2009/ 03/ 26/ 6 -uses-for -wood -ash/) that has lots of good ways to use wood ashes. We have just been dumping them out in the woods. I never knew there were so many uses.


   I have been searching around trying to find out if there are any negative side effect to letting the chickens dust with wood ashes and I haven't found any yet, but there may be some.  ??? 

   

Peek at the Past

(February 14, 2009)

Gee, I didn't even notice it was

Vatentine's Day last year what with all the snow.

I want more snow!

(5 eggs today)

One icky floor egg.

~:>

Smiles

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

   These are really my Anniversary flowers

doing a pretty good stand in for

Valentine flowers.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

[6 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles 

 Peek at the Past

(February 13, 2009)

This post is really for the 14th because I post late in the day it is still the 13th. All my posts are a day late. It usually doesn't matter because the post is supposed to be about what happened that day. But once in a while I like to post about something before it happens. I slept most of the day and my sore throat is gone at least for now. Tomorrow I want to work in the chicken coop making some partitions in the nest boxes. 

Chickens Dusting Under The Flatbed Trailer

   Morgan and I found the chickens under the trailer bed again dusting in the relatively dry dirt. Well, at least it was dryer than the surrounding ground. Some chickens tried laying out in the sun which didn't work out all that well because of the clouds passing in front of the sun blocking the rays. (That Dark Brahma really doesn't look happy.) The hens are not happy staying inside because things are finally getting wet and messy. The pine I put down in the pen is muddy and needs changing as soon as it stops raining for a long spell. Maybe Saturday I can rake it out?

   Some of the hens are sleeping in the nest boxes and leaving chicken poo presents. I read that you should cover the boxes after they lay and you shouldn't let your chickens sleep in the nest boxes because then they poo and it can get on the eggs. Well, I wanted the chickens to sleep in the nest boxes when it got cold and snowy so they could keep warm. So, what to do? Well, I could get myself together in the morning and out to the coop and clean out the nest boxes before they lay. Yep! I think that's what I'm going to need to do.

   While looking around for information about nest boxes, instead I found chicken and feed housing information here (Range Poultry Housing - pdf) and here (Pastured Poultry - pdf.)

   Ah, Ha! Nest Box info Here I finally found some good information about nest boxes. I'm going to have to remodel the inside of the coop and move and rebuild the communal nest boxes I built last year. This all sounds much better. Then maybe the hens will not poo in the boxes anymore?

   Morgan went to the groomer this week and still looks white and clean even though she has been running around in the muddy leaves. I think she licks herself clean like a cat at night. I know she licks her paws.

   Missy at Little Messy Missy has passed on an award to Chickens On The Porch. Thank you Missy and I really  appreciate you thinking of my blog. Instead of me picking out blogs that I read to pass the award to, what I would like to do is ask those bloggers who would like to accept the award to hop on over to Missy's blog here and pick up the award. All the blogs I read are certainly worthy!

[6 eggs today]

The hens laid 5 early and 1 in the afternoon.

Peek at the Past

(February 12, 2009)
Wow! I remember those trees where sooo pretty.

~:>

Smiles

Valentine Chicken

   This is a pink Valentine Chicken. Just thought I would say in case there is any question. The origami paper had a yellow spot in the center which just happened to turn out to be the part that was cut off and ended up as the egg. Sweet!

   Valentine's Day brings back lots of fun and not so fun memories of giving and not always getting Valentine's Day cards at school. In the 1940's we would each decorate a shoe box or paper bag in class with a Valentines theme and take it home, fill it with valentine cards, bring it back to school and then hand out and collect cards. There was this counting thing that happened: "How many cards did you get?" "Did you get one from, Salley?" Oh, boy! I got one from, Billy." Yuk! I remember using white school paste (I love the smell of that stuff) and making cards out of paper doilies, glitter, construction paper, candy, fuzzy pipe cleaners, ribbon, lace, crayons, paint, and other stuff that I can't recall. Mostly I remember buying bunches of Valentine cards at the store and spending lots of time writing down names and little messages.

   Lately I have happened upon a few bloggers who are busy churning out Valentine Day gifts to share with friends and family. All that industry has made me feel bleh and that I ought to do something too... but what? I was looking around on the web for some chicken foil pants (that's another post) and spotted this cute little chicken. Ah! Ha! I can do that and it kinda looks like a Valentine chicken. Kinda...  I had a very hard time figuring out the folds for this little hen. Kristine even tried to help me, but she wasn't feeling very well. I shouldn't have asked her to help anyway, because I was going to use the chicken on a card for her. So, I kept at the folding and watching the origami chicken video and finally figured it out!

   It seems that I don't so much celebrate holidays for their sake anymore as just view the days as an excuse to have some time off. I guess it's just old age. Well, at least I have a few days left to pull together some cards.

   Note to myself: I need to make another deal with myself about this blog and go back to posting everyday because I don't really like this hit or miss kind of blogging. Besides my egg count is getting off.

(Peek at the Past)

February 11, 2009

   [5 eggs today]

Rain tomorrow, poor girls.

~:>

Smiles

Poaching Eggs Experiment

   Poached eggs are one of my favorite ways of eating eggs. However, poaching eggs is not a favorite way of preparing them because I have trouble keeping the whites and yellow from flying apart when they are cooking in the hot water. I was very careful this time when heating the water and lowered the heat when bubbles showed up on the side of the pan.

   Since these eggs were laid today and the whites should want to hold together,  I thought I would try not adding vinegar or salt to the water and see what happened. I don't like the taste vinegar adds to poached eggs.

   I liked the idea of dipping the egg in the poaching water before letting it loose to continue cooking. The measuring cup seemed a good choice for this job because it had a handle to hold and I didn't have to worry so much about the hot water scalding me or having the cup crack.

   I discovered that letting the water enter the cup slowly and surround the egg worked out much better than just dunking the measuring cup in the water. If I let the water flow around the egg too fast it would cause the whites to fly apart. Slow is good. And I held the cup in the water for half a minute or so until the white started getting solid around the edges. Next time I do this I will add some vinegar and see if it holds the whites together and makes enough of a difference to justify putting up with the vinegar taste.

   Hello! This is neat! I just had an old fuzzy 1940's "memory picture" surface that has my Great Aunt Bertha or Great Grandmother Callie holding a ladle filled with an egg, first with the bottom of the ladle in the hot water and then letting the hot water slowly into the ladle with the egg before tipping the egg out into the poaching water. I wonder if she oiled or buttered the ladle first? I've got to try this out! They were farm folk and I know they didn't have any fancy kitchen stuff, so it had to have been a ladle or a very large cooking spoon.

   There are a gazillion poached egg pages on the internet. I found this kinda funny page here (http://www.b3ta.com/ features/ howtopoachanegg/) while searching around for the old ladle method of poaching an egg. The last method seems to work well, but I wonder if you get melted plastic along with the egg? And I gave up searching after I found this site (http://smittenkitchen.com /2008/08/ how-to-poach-an-egg -smitten-kitchen-style/) that has great photos. However, I must say that I had much more white on my poached eggs and they even looked better. Yey for me! I think using a ladle could result in an even better shaped egg. In the '70's I used to make poached eggs in a metal poaching pan, but those were really steamed eggs and I hated cleaning the pan.

   Things are very quiet around here because Kristine has some kind of sinus headache thing (I'm trying to get her to breath steam out of a bowl) and I'm fighting off the sore throat. The gloomy weather doesn't help. Good excuse for me to spend time reading. (Elizabeth Moon, Once A Hero. It would be neat to live on a space ship. I would need a special compartment for the space chickens. Ha!)  

Wow!

[7 eggs today]

Amazing what a bit more sunshine can do.

Back to overcast and storms tomorrow.

Peek at the Past

(February 8, 2009)

What? I have a sore throat again!

~:>

Smiles

Get Along Little Chickies!

Morgan doesn't really chase the chickens, what she does do at times is run around them and through them and break up their little gatherings. In this photo she does kinda look like she is herding the hens. I wish I had trained her to do this and herd the chickens into their coop.

Morgan has a built in automatic response to herding that translates to her always staying on the opposite side from me with the chickens in the middle. When I am trying to get the chickens in the coop, this means that Morgan is standing in front of the door. My plan is to work with Morgan on a long 25' lead. That way I will be able to correct her and have some control instead of yelling at her, which doesn't work at all. Me: "No! Stop! Sit! Arrgh! Oh, for petes sake, No!" Morgan: "Huh? What? What do you want?"

I found out a way to get rid of the annoying underlines that show up under the text in the Blogger editor sometimes when I'm moving photos and text around. The undo arrows didn't work and I couldn't find anything in the edit HTML to change, and I didn't want to retype everything, so I copied the text and pasted it into TextEdit to try and remove the underlines there. When I clicked on the underlined text in TextEdit, up popped a new blank browser window. Ah, ha! The underlines were really a link gone wrong. So, I went back to the blog editor, highlighted all the goofy underlined text, and then clicked on the Link icon as if I was going to make the underlined text a link to a web page. When the box showed up I typed some x's in the URL space and clicked on test this link. Naturally, it didn't work, so then I clicked on cancel and the underlines went away. Phew! There must be other ways that work, but this is the only way that works for me so far.

Well, back to chickens and eggs... while searching around for information on chicken feed I ran across this page, about Beneficial Farm, that I thought was kind of interesting. The article is about a farm that decided to try and raise and adapt some chickens to their harsh environment and feed local feed from local farmers. It is a long piece, so I don't recommend anyone read it unless they have some time to become engaged. I especially liked the chicken facts at the end. I like to learn about stuff like this. I wish there was a farm like this near me. Maybe?

The weather is weird. The rain is coming back around from Nevada. It is supposed to go East, not West. I wonder if the big storm in the East is bumping the weather back this way?

Thank you for sharing the way you handle eggs from your chickens. Very interesting! I appreciate it!

[4 eggs today]

The hens and Morgan got out for half a day.

Peek at the Past
(February 7, 2009)
I need to rake up the leaves again
and the solar fountain didn't happen yet.
The quilt is still calling to me.
But, I'm fighting off a sore throat.
It's raining... that's my excuse.

Smiles

~:>

Wash Eggs Or Don't Wash Eggs?

   Morgan is looking at that molting Australorp as if to say, "What are you doing, you goofy hen?" I'm a bit worried too; the hen could get sick because of the damp cold weather. Or not? I hope the feathers she still has will keep her warm enough. Molting should mean she is not laying, but some hens continue to lay eggs during molt. 

   I have been in a quandary over when, if, or how to wash eggs ever since we started raising chickens. In the beginning it seemed natural to wash the eggs in an organic detergent using hot water, scrub with a veggie brush, rinse them well and dry them before refrigerating. I did a lot of searching around on the internet to try to find out the best method of egg handling.

   People have many ways of handling eggs from their chickens. Some methods are new, some here  and here have been handed down through generations. I was soon confused. Some people bring the eggs in from the coop and keep them in a basket on the counter. In Europe and other countries, eggs are not refrigerated and are sold off the shelf. Some eggs even came with little feathers still stuck to them according to one site I read.

   So... what to do. In this country we are very aware of germs and the importance of keeping things clean. I found many sites that stated they and their families never refrigerated eggs or washed eggs until they used them. I decided I like the idea of leaving the bloom on the eggs to protect them. These people here (don't wash their eggs either.

   So, at first I found it a bit strange to just collect the eggs and put them in the refrigerator without washing them. Usually, the eggs are very clean and look as though they have been already washed. My plastic egg container in the fridge has a lid. I toss eggs if they are too dirty or were laid on the ground. I wash and use any eggs that day that need washing.

   I wash eggs with water just before I am going to cook them. The latest change I have made is to now use hot water instead of cold. I read somewhere a while back that cold water was the best, but it turns out that was not true, at least according to the latest information I have found here (North Carolina Cooperative Extension) and here (The Poultry Site - Egg Handling.)

   It seems that the hot water causes the egg inside to expand pushing against any bad stuff trying to get in through the shell. I think that's how it works. 

   Disclaimer: I am not advocating my way or any way of handling eggs. Maybe I should use a sanitizer? I wonder how people handle eggs? Refrigerate or wash them? How? When? Freeze?

[5 eggs today]

Peek at the Past

February 3, 2009

~:>

Smiles

Happy Anniversary to Me.

42 years! 

Molting, Broody or ? - How To Identify A Laying Chicken

We are not  going to be culling any of our chickens that are not laying eggs. They are pets and even if they don't lay they do clear the property of insects, they fertilize and turn over the leaves, look good and are fun to watch. So, they all stay. However, I'm curious.

   I wanted to know which hens were laying eggs and why some of them weren't, why and when some molted, and how the broody business affected egg laying, etc. So... I went on a Google search and I found a site here (University of Kentucky) that not only explains a few things and it also has photos!

   There are photos of a good layer and poor layer, vents and fat deposits, and more. I'm going to read this over a few times and then maybe check my hens at night when they are on their roosts.

   Not all of our hens have yellow skin so I would need to use the other methods to check for layers. At least now I know how to identify which chickens are laying. I think it is interesting how the hen uses up the yellow pigment and then goes off laying and replaces the pigment and then starts up the laying process again.

   These photos show the chickens yelling at me yesterday to let them out of the pen, the hens squeezing between the slats, and then running off to the woods. Do they stop to say hi or thanks? A few stick around for a little bit. I think they are the smart ones who want to find out if I have treats.

   This is, Shorty, the short legged Buff Brahma that wasn't expected to survive because she was half the size of the other chicks  and in such bad shape the feed store added her to the box of chicks for free because they didn't think she would live if left with the other chicks. So she was a freebie.           

   When Kristine went down to the feed store to get the second batch of chicks (actually we'd already gotten 4, but they seemed to need a few more buddies before they'd stop peeping all night long) she  was given two buff brahma chicks, when she'd originally only asked for two. The girl who was getting the chicks said,"Oh. We're going to give you this one for free. We don't think its going to make it."


And indeed, the freebie chick was half the size of the other chicks, and crouched, and weaving slightly, and none too bright of eye. Yep. It was probably a goner. But she took the miserable little thing home anyway, and tossed it in with the all the others, bringing the total number to 7.  3 dark brahmas, 3 buff brahmas, and 1 lone cochin.


They dog piled that night with Death-bait, right in the middle. The next morning, DB was up, eating, and actually frisky... Kristine came to the conclusion that although it was undersized, it just needed less crowded conditions to do well. Today she's sort of short in the leg, but otherwise quite alive and perky. (This paragraph was written by, Kristine. I always get this tale mixed up, so she volunteered to set the story straight.)


   Shorty and the photo of the Wyandotte yesterday both have yellow beaks and yellow feet. So, I think this means that they are getting tanked up on yellow pigment and ready to lay soon?  When we start getting more daylight?


PS:
Here are two more sites I found. I still think the Kentucky one is the best, but these have additional information. Florida Poultry Judging Manual and the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

[3 eggs yesterday]

[2 eggs today]

Peek at the Past

February 1, 2009

~:>

Smiles

Egg Videos From YouTube

    Usually, the hens move away from me when I come towards them with the camera, but today this Wyandotte kept moving towards me as if to ask me to take a photo of her lovely feathers. I wonder if she was the smart one who figured out there were treats in the pen and came back inside.


   On the way back to the house I noticed that the moss has taken a real hold on the roof. I hadn't noticed because this is the back of the house and believe it or not this is the side of the house that gets sun all day (when it's out.) I knew there was some moss up there, but there is a lot more up there than last year.

   Yesterday, I spent some time searching around on YouTube for videos about eggs and came up with way, way too many to link to on this blog, but there are five I just couldn't resist posting. I also searched using Alton Brown eggs and came up with a lot of his videos. I like watching Alton and how he cooks. I found a bunch of good videos about how to poach eggs, make flan, make an omelet, etc., that I will watch another day.

   The first video is about how to peel a hard boiled egg and may just work if I give it a try. I use a straight pin to poke a hole in the large end of the egg before I put it in the water to keep it from cracking. I have always wondered about toast soldiers so I want to try this video about how to boil a perfect soft egg and use the egg cups I found at an antique store. My Dad made the very best scrambled eggs and I missed how he cooked them. I think he used this method and folded them too and made perfect scrambled eggs, but maybe without the cream? I first heard about Nigella in a book I read, so when I saw this video I had to watch it. I love mexican food and may try a version of this video on Mexican Scrambled Eggs. And this hard boiled egg looked so good I had to post this link to the perfect hard boiled egg.


   I love potato salad and always think of it when hard boiled eggs are mentioned. When the chickens finally start laying again one of the first things I want to make is a big bowl of potato salad. I need a good potato salad recipe. The one I remember had pickles, celery, mustard, mayonnaise, potatoes, eggs and ? I will have to search up a recipe. 

   Everyone must have their favorite way to prepare eggs, their favorite pan, whether they use oil or butter, bacon grease, etc. I use my small iron skillet, a little olive oil and then a little butter to check the temperature. If the butter bubbles the skillet is hot enough. Then I put the eggs in the pan and flip them once when the whites cook. I love poached eggs and after watching the poached egg videos I'm going to give them another try. I use white vinegar and they turn out OK, but I think I have the water too hot because part of the white leaves and floats around the pan.

[3 eggs today]

Peek at the Past

January 30, 2009
This quilt stuff is depressing me.

~:>

Smiles

View From My Kitchen

   A blog I read here (Gardens, Chickens, and Folk Music) tagged her readers to post a photo of the view from their kitchen. I have posted a photo of the window over my sink in a post last year. (My Kitchen window last year.) Not too much has changed in that view.

   But I can also look up and from the kitchen I can look out the windows at the top of the A frame end wall and usually I can enjoy blue sky and green trees, but this afternoon it is overcast and a bit dreary looking. When we first moved here I tried washing these windows, but after having to deal with all the dead birds that would crash into the glass I decided dirty windows were OK and aside from trying to get the cobwebs under control once in a while I let the windows take care of themselves. Clean windows around here are a wildlife hazard for birds. I don't want a deer to run into my slider either. 

   If I look across the kitchen and out the slider by the table there is a view across the driveway of trees and a row of bushes. These hens  planted themselves in a sunny protected spot under the bushes to catch the warmth of the sun. I took this photo when I was outside today, but if I had been in the kitchen I could have seen them through that slider.

Dark Brahma, Dark Brahma, Orpington, Buff Brahma, Wyandotte and there are chickens under the branches. I can see a chicken's head.

   There are actually two other windows and another slider I can see through from the kitchen. There is the slider next to the wood stove. the window over the window seat and the window by the front door. Oh... I just remembered that there is glass in the top of the door so I can see into the entry from the kitchen.  I can keep track of most everything from there. I can even see the gate from the kitchen window if I look along the side of the motor home and down the driveway.

   My brother and Sandy built this house and I remember my brother saying that since he was going to be living surrounded by trees he wanted to be able to see them when he was inside. So, this is pretty much a house of windows. But even so, the house is sited on the property in such a way that the sun mainly shines in the back windows. I only get very late afternoon sun through the kitchen window and never direct sun through the A windows. This all works out very, very well in the summer when we are getting temps in the hundreds, but I do miss the sunshine in the winter.

   I spent some time outside raking leaves and shoveling mud. It is amazing to me how the soggy leaves can dry out so fast with only a few days of not so warm sun.  Raking all the leaves is going to take some time especially since rain is due again tomorrow afternoon and Saturday.

   All the time I was outside raking leaves a woodpecker was up above me in that oak tree with the moss on it (I posted a photo yesterday) hammering away non stop. I wonder if he is making a hole in the tree for a nest. I think it is too late to store acorns? I couldn't get a look at the woodpecker to identify him. This is an informative site about acorn woodpeckers here.

   I walked around the property and picked up more downed pine branches and put them in the chicken pen. Smells nice.

PS: I found this site that explains a lot about why and when chickens do and don't lay eggs.
(A Pacific Northwest Extension Publication, Oregon State University, Washington State, University of Idaho)

Peek at the Past

(January 28, 2009)

This quilt business is sad.

It is all tucked away in a drawer.

[1 egg today]

~:>

Smiles

The Sun Is Back!

    There is blue sky with a few white clouds along with some snow on the ground left in shady spots under trees, behind the house and outbuildings. I love how the moss grows even greener and fuller during the cold weather and snow conditions. I went looking for the mushrooms that Kristine said were growing all over before the snow fell, but I couldn't find any. Maybe they will pop up again this week. I'm going to be out by this tree tomorrow raking leaves. The weather forecast is for two more days of sun in the low 50's.

     I have been using a glass pot that has a pour spout to heat water, but this morning I came out to find a teakettle. Surprise! It has a plastic handle and spout so it will have to live on the cook top. It's cute! And it works! I missed waiting for a whistle announcing that the water was hot and that I should get myself out to the kitchen.  Maybe that kettle was a gift we stored and didn't use? Who put it there? Tom?

     Tonight I cooked chicken in the chicken fryer on the cook top with the lid on, with just a little oil and salt to taste. In the old days I used to dip the chicken in egg, buttermilk and then seasoned flour, and sometimes even double dip the pieces or then roll them in crushed corn flakes or potato chips.
  
     But now I do the minimum partly to stave off migraines and partly because I'm watching calories. Sometimes I splurge, but not very often. I'm always amazed to see how the chicken cooks golden and juicy with the lid on the fryer. I always used to cook chicken using a screen to catch the grease splatter. But this works out much better.

     This chicken fryer is old? and very well seasoned. All I could find about the foundry is this. The markings are the same as on the fryer except for the number. Click on the picture. Crescent Fd'y Co., Ozark, St. Louis, Mo. (In capitals)

     I found this chicken fryer at a yard sale about 8 years ago when all the household goods of a home were being sold. I had never used a fryer before or even knew that chicken was supposed to be cooked, or could be cooked covered. I guess I just kept cooking things the way I was taught when young. I'm not that adventurous when it comes to trying out new recipes or cooking techniques. I learned to cook mostly in home economics classes in high school. I wonder if they still teach cooking and sewing in school?

     The chickens and Morgan spent the day out in the woods. I put the hens chicken feed out in the pen so they could have their breakfast in the piney pen under the morning sun tomorrow. I've noticed that they don't eat as much when the feed is inside the coop. I put out some of the chicken scratch that Tom brought home yesterday. That should make the hens happy!

Peek at the Past

(January 27, 2009

I never finished this quilt.

I was and still am afraid of cutting the fabric.

Silly me...

[2 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Chickens And Morgan Out In Wet Leaves and Snow

There is a rock covered driveway under all the rotting leaves.

Two Buff Brahmas and a Dark Brahma hopefully finding something good to eat. I wouldn't know what they are finding because when I look I don't see anything. I haven't seen any ants, bugs, worms, etc., in a very long time. I did find a spider in the bathtub last week, but I can't blame the chickens for not eating the spider since the hens don't patrol the house. But even so, I rarely find spiders or bugs in the house. Sometimes I think the chickens have eaten up all the little critters on the three acres. Chickens are great at pest control!
   Kristine and I heard and felt a big thump yesterday and agree that it was probably a tree that went down somewhere close, but not on our property. I haven't walked around and looked, but the sound and feel seemed farther away.
   I never saw the sun today, but it did stop raining for most of the day, so I let Morgan and the chickens out to play. I almost expect the leaves covering the ground to dissolve and disappear because they are so wet and smooshy. The dirt up here doesn't turn into deep muddy messes because the ground sucks up the water just about as fast as it falls or melts. And we are on a slight slant so extra water has a tendency to run away.

   Treats: The chickens got carrot peelings and cooked egg for treats today. I think I will make them scrambled eggs for tomorrows treat. Morgan is happy with a handful of her dog food for a treat when she comes in to dry off in front of the wood stove.

   This snow weather is making me such a sloth. Well, I'm blaming it on the snow. I am such a bum. I have all these project to do and I don't do them. Instead I play around on the computer, haul wood for the wood stove, read, walk around outside, and sleep. I just want to curl up and sleep. I think sunshine would do a lot to revive me. Sun! I need the sun to shine.
   Soooo, just as I'm going to publish this post, Blam! The power goes off! Like Kristine says, I'm really getting tired of this.  A tree must have gone down, because it is not windy and there is not much snow to speak of. Poor linemen who have to go out in the crummy weather and find and fix the outage. Thank you! I'm posting now before the power goes again.

Peek at the Past

(January 25, 2009)

I miss hot chocolate, maybe I'll give it a try tonight.

[1 egg today]

~:>

Smiles

Chickens In The Pen And Stew On The Wood Stove

   It is raining and sometimes raining hard, but the snow is still hanging on although there are some bare patches here and there. The snow mostly melted away in the chicken pen and I think that has something to do with all the pine I laid down in there. Maybe air can circulate under the pine and that's why the snow melted? The hens were happy this morning to get some cooked egg and some lettuce for treats.  We are supposed to get a few hours of a break in the rain and some sun tomorrow, so I hope I can let the chickens and Morgan out to run around and have some fun in the woods.

     I love my wood stove and thought I would take a few more photos of some wood stove stew. I am always learning every time I cook something on it and tonight I learned that if I cook my stew in the chicken fryer it turns out better than in the dutch oven. It must have something to do with how tight the lid fits. These are the steps I took to make the stew tonight:

1st- I cooked (not browned) chopped up onions in the chicken fryer with the lid on, 2nd- then I added cut up beef to the onions and cooked them together until the meat was not red, 3rd- I added cut up celery and carrots, mixed it all up and added water just to cover. Put the lid back on and let it cook slowly on the wood stove on a trivet. I kept checking and added more water when needed, season to taste. This time the stew cooked with very little liquid left. I would have added potatoes to the stew, but I didn't have any, so I made rice on the cook top and put it on the upper shelf of the wood stove to keep warm. I steamed veggies on the wood stove then moved them up to keep warm too.

   My camera didn't capture the rice at all, but it was really in the green pot. There is something so neat about being able to cook on the wood stove. I cooked hamburgers on it last night in my iron skillet and they really do taste better. They even look better. Next time I'm going to try cooking the hamburger patties in the chicken fryer with the lid on and see how they turn out. When I cook chicken in the chicken fryer with the lid on the chicken turns out beautifully golden and delicious. I promised Kristine fried chicken this week.

   I did a bad thing tonight. I smelled a burned smell and found out that I had melted the lid on my tea kettle. First the whistle melted a while back because the kettle was put on the wood stove. Too hot. And now because there was no whistle and I didn't hear the timer I set... I killed my tea kettle. I want a new kettle that I can put on the wood stove and that has a loud whistle. I want to go shopping.

[3 eggs today]

Nice present from the chickens on a cold day.

Peek at the Past
(January 26, 2009)

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Smiles

Tracks In The Snow

click on photos to enlarge

   The chickens didn't make very many tracks in the snow since there wasn't much snow in the pen, but they ran out to greet me when I brought them warm water. They must be feeling spry because it is a bit warmer. The rain didn't melt off as much snow as I hoped, but Tom didn't have any problems getting out to the road our neighbor plowed and then to the grocery store.

   Morgan made lots of tracks in the snow looking for snow squirrels. Kristine has to make tracks on the road tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn to get to class. Tomorrow, I'm wishing for the rain that didn't really happen today so Morgan and the chickens can get out and run around. Me too! I love the crashing sounds the snow makes as it slides off the roof and hits the porch. 

Today Kristine and I watched some DVD's of the Mentalist. I would like to watch the show online on CBS, but they only have clips. They have full episodes of NCIS, but not the Mentalist. I don't follow that many shows online, just: Castle, NCIS, and Bones. I gave up watching TV and don't miss all the brain numbing shows and goofy news excitement. 

Peek at the Past (January 24, 2009) Lovey still needs attention.

[2 very, very cold eggs]
Frozen?

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Smiles