Computer Problem?

This has been a no news day. (except that all my Yahoo email went poof!) So... just so I have something to post I'm going to find a photo from a few days ago to put up.

The snow glare has whited out Morgan a bit. She is asking me to let the chickens out. The chickens are yelling at me to let them out. I think I did let them out later after I decided it wasn't going to rain. I didn't want to have to put the raincoat back on Morgan.

Things are so dull around here that I didn't even cook dinner. Kristine went out and picked up burgers and fries from the local burger place.

I did run across this piece of news when reading blogs:

SusiesBigAdventure was hacked. This has made me nervous because I need to change my passwords, (I guess) but I hate to do that because I have to go through the whole business of making up new ones and then remembering them. Ugh!

I hate spammers and hackers!!!

PS:

Missy (Little Messy Missy) has a problem on her blog and this is the only way I can contact her because she has noreply email and the problem is that I can't leave a comment on her blog. My advice is for her to change her comments to popup so there will be a comment box in a separate window for people to use. Right now no comment box shows up under her posts. If someone else can get to her comments let me know, ok? Maybe it is just my computer?

Peek at the Past

(March 6, 2009)

Sheesh... I was in bad shape last year.

[2 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Coop Ladder

The chickens are being very sneaky because I have yet to see any of them on the ladder roosts. Maybe they hop off when they hear me come outside?

I think the weather is finally getting to me because I couldn't get warm this morning (even when I stood in front of the wood stove) until I went back to bed. Yep! I gave up trying to deal with the cold damp dreary morning and crawled back in bed to read and warm my bones. 

Kristine says it's so cold because the cloud cover is gone. I guess so and also because of all the rain and then the snow. I don't know if it is the temperature as much as the dampness.

Hopefully, the sun will be out tomorrow. I've got stuff I want to do.

But look at those poor chickens standing out in the cold pen waiting for me to let them out to search the snow for snowy thing to eat. Yeah,  they make me feel like a wimp. But now I'm a warm wimp.

Kristine found this little critter in the hallway upsidedown and helpless. She looked him up in the Lone Pine bug book and it is from the Darkling Beetle family. A Stink Beetle! Yikes! I hadn't noticed one in the house before, but Kristine says she sees them outside.  I wonder if the chickens eat stink beetles?

The book says the bug stands on its head and puffs out stinky stuff, but that some of them just stand on their heads and fake the puff. I saw a lot of photos of stink bugs on Google Images that don't look like this guy. I hope the rest of his friends stay outside!

Peek at the Past

(March 5, 2009)

I'm very glad the migraines are staying away.

[4 eggs today]

The hens and Morgan were out today.

~:>

Smiles

Potato Leek Soup

Morgan kinda blends in with the snow and is hard to see in the photo. It was hard to get a photo with her in it because she was running back and forth chasing snow squirrels.

It was a damp cold day. I like the cold weather better when there is a lot of snow. Seemed like a soup day.

I made a super simple potato leek soup by leaving most of the ingredients out. Some of them I didn't want to use (the hot stuff and the spices) and some of them I didn't have (the parsley or cream.)

I washed three leeks very, very well and chopped them, chopped some garlic and added them both to a pot with a couple of spoons of butter. Salt to taste, covered and let simmer low but not brown, for 10 minutes.

Then I added three cups of chicken broth (from chicken breasts, and three chopped potatoes. Covered the pot and let it cook on the trivit on the wood stove until the potatoes were done. I mashed up most of the potatoes with a potato masher. Simple soup.

I think we may be getting a sunny day tomorrow,

or at least not a rainy day. 

Notes: The chickens got out for half a day. Tom got a bale of straw and put it in the shed with the chickens feed he got a few days ago. I gave up on the computer. I would like to mess around doing some uninstalls, but I don't have any re-install disks. So, if I mess up my OS I'm cooked. 

Peek at the Past

(March 4, 2009)

[4 eggs today]

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Smiles

Snow Surprise!

Morgan got to run around today for an hour or two, but the chickens had to stay locked up.

We are supposed to get a break in the weather tomorrow and have some sun. But, we were supposed to have rain today not snow. So?

I hope the sun forecast really happens. There isn't that much snow, so it should all melt off if we get a sunny day.

If we start having harder winters with more snow and rain, I am going to need to make some changes to the coop and pen.

I could cover the pen top and sides with plastic tarp so the hens would have a dry spot outside. I haven't had to do that because the longest the hens have had to stay inside has been around five days and that only happens a few times a year.

I have some old fence wood that I could use to build a new chicken coop this summer. I fantasize about what kind of chicken coop I would like to build and keep photos of coops I like.

Kristine picked up a "My Book" backup drive for my Mac and I have spent hours trying to get it to install. Arrrgh! I gave up for today. I'll tackle the problem tomorrow.

She got me the My Book Essential 500 and I should be able to just hook it up and run the software, but, no, it has issues with formatting and not running the software. I am going to call the customer service number tomorrow if I can't figure out an answer.

Peek at the Past

(March 3, 2009)

I don't know what happened to Marion.

Snow last year today.

[8 eggs today]

I guess the hens liked the wooden eggs?

~:>

Smiles

Hugelkultur? Skillets? Eggs?

Yesterday during a walk in the sunshine I took this photo of our poor empty planter boxes.

I'm going to use the Hugelkultur idea and put fallen branches, twigs and logs in the bottom of the planter boxes. This is a before photo to spur me into gardening action when it ever stops raining.

The plan is to put a layer of wood at the bottom of the boxes, then a layer of chicken pen stuff, then a layer of twigs, then a layer of leaves and then dirt. The wood is supposed to act as a sponge and hold water in the soil through the dry California months.

I'm good for everything but the dirt. Well, maybe I do have some good dirt? I have been raking and piling up leaves for ten years. I'll go check those piles of old leaves. It would be so great if there was beautiful composted dirt at the bottom.

While searching for info on hugelkulture I found info on permaculture, where I found info about building ponds, building sheds out of rocks, dirt and trees, etc., and then info on iron skillets.

I'm interested in all that stuff, but especially in iron skillets. This fellow wrote a big article about using iron skillets and then he made a video. He explained that in the '30's and before skillets used to be machined smooth. Not anymore. That's why grandma's skillet was so good.

Here is the video he made of his old skillets. More "how to cook an egg stuff," but I think he overcooks his eggs. Neat skillets.

Here is the page that got me sidetracked when I started clicking on all the links. 

Peek at the Past

(March 2, 2009)
I love my little chicken pot lid holders.
Last night the rains started up again,
so the chickens and Morgan won't be able to go outside this week.
Maybe there will be a break on Thursday?

[3 eggs today in the wood shavings)

I put some fake eggs in the nest boxes until we can get some straw. I took the eggs out of the nest boxes because some of the hens were going broody sitting on the fake eggs. I finally got the brilliant idea to take the fake eggs out of the nests when I collect eggs to keep the hens from going broody and then put the fake eggs back in the nest boxes when I lock up the coop at night. We'll try that and see what happens. 

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Smiles

Education and Free Range Chickens

The chickens were out today and went free ranging in a wider area than usual. I think they were happy to be warm and out in the sun having fun finding stuff to eat.

I was searching around for information about chickens that free range in forests and I came up with this pdf titled Creating An Environment For Free Range Chickens. Ok, I thought, this should be interesting.

But! It is not about chickens except by way of comparison. The article is about how to raise children to be "free range chickens" vs "battery hens."

I never thought of education with free range chickens in mind, but it is true that I had some teachers, very few, who taught their students how to think, how to learn, and to recognize their capabilities and expand them. Most teachers I had treated us as robots (or battery hens.)

I never though of my chickens free ranging as an example of an ideal learning environment. Works for me. Amazing! You just never know what you are going to find on the net.

Peek at the Past

(March 1, 2009)

Oranges?

I think I must have been desperate for something to post.

Those were great oranges!

[3 eggs today]

Laid on the wood shavings.

~:>

Smiles

Nest Box Bedding

Down with wood shavings!

Kristine says our chickens hate wood shavings as bedding in their nest boxes.

She went out to collect eggs today and didn't find any eggs in the nest boxes, but she found 11 eggs on the floor under the roosts. Ick!

So, ok, I need to get rid of the wood shavings. Sigh...

And the boxes looked so nice. 

I read up on lots of different kinds of bedding that people use in nest boxes.

Straw! Our hens like straw! It is easy to handle. I like it too because it looks good and the hens like to snuggle down in it and make a nice warm nest.

Hay: I wouldn't want to use hay because it is supposed to spread chicken lice and not last very long?

Newspaper: People shred up newspaper and use that for nest box material. I bet the ink could make your light chickens spotty. LOL

Plastic Mats: I've read about people using plastic mats in nest boxes. Sounds neat because you can just shake them and hose them off and dry them and they are ready to use again.  But my hens are too picky.

Wood Shavings: I like the shavings. They smell good. But the chickens don't like them and Kristine said the fumes from the shavings can be bad for livestock to breathe. Now she tells me! Oh, well, I can use it out in the pen.

Leaves: I have used leaves in the chicken pen, but not in the nest boxes. The chickens are out in the leaves all day, so I suppose I could try putting dry leaves in the nest boxes  especially if I cleaned out the boxes and put in new leaves every day or so.

I read that some people use different shredded mixtures of straw, hay, shavings, newspaper or leaves. Interesting. I suppose people use what they can. 

Since we have so many leaves around here, this year when the leaves are well dried I'm going to bag some to use in the winter. At least I can use them as cover in the chicken pen. I'll see how that works.

Peek at the Past

(February 28, 2009)

The door is staying put!

[0 eggs]

All the eggs were poo eggs. Ick!

~:>

Smiles

Chicken Guardian Dog

Morgan is just the best ever little caretaker of our chickens. She is part Border Collie and part Australian Shepherd. I think she shows more of the Australian Shepherd part of her heritage.

Kristine bought Morgan when she was a puppy and Morgan was introduced to the chickens when she was very young. In fact I think the chickens scared her because the hens would cluck at her and try and peck her.

We always kept Morgan on a leash when she was around the chickens and never let her chase the hens, try to play with them, bark, or show any aggression.

Morgan learned from the beginning that the chickens were to be watched, but not messed with. In fact, I used the word "watch" as my command word when I would take Morgan out to see the chickens and I would have Morgan sit or down and we would watch the chickens together.

Morgan does run around the chickens or through them at times, but I have noticed that she only seems to do that when I'm out feeding treats and the chickens are excited. Then Morgan gets excited too.

I think there are some breeds of dogs that would be very difficult or impossible to train to guard chickens or even to just leave them alone. But, there are many dogs who just need proper training to become good farm dogs.

I have read about dog breeds that have been bred especially as guardian dogs for hundreds of year. The predator instinct has been bred very low and they have been used to guard livestock and poultry.

And I have read that herding dogs like Morgan are not suitable as poultry guardians. I have even read that some herding dogs are not left alone with livestock because they can not be trusted. I'm very glad that we have Morgan!

I finally found the photo of the mossy rocks I was going to post with the mossy trees yesterday.

It is supposed to be sunny tomorrow so I hope to get outside and rake up the area around these rocks. The water feature on the rocks has still not happened. I made a little dry stream bed by the rocks.

Peek at the Past

(February 27, 2009)

[6 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Raining Buckets!

The chickens are locked up for the day. There is way too much rain for Morgan and the hens to go out and about. I took a bag of lettuce out to the chicken pen this morning. The lettuce cheered them up for a little while.

The trees are starting to turn green from the bottom up!

This is one of the oaks with multiple trunks.

I have a feeling the tree started out as many little trees that grew together.

The multiple trunk oaks have a tendency to fall over

because the wood rots where the trunks join.

This tree has lost a trunk on the left side.

The moss does brighten up the forest.

I was playing around on the computer looking for chicken and rain related articles and found a pdf that was written for village based poultry production systems in "foreign countries." (I was looking originally for information about chickens and moss. Do chickens eat moss? I didn't find anything.)

There were 6 chapters and I didn't read them all, but I enjoyed looking at the illustrations in Chapter 2 - Housing. (if you want to get to the other chapters change the number after "chapter" in the URL.)

I thought the way they made nest boxes by stacking bricks and laying boards across was pretty neat. And the basket nest in a branch stuck in the ground was inventive. I like the whole idea of taking what is available and making it work.

And adding sand to a basket to keep it from tipping over was another good idea. Much better than my idea of nailing the basket to the wall. Cute drawings.

Kristine left for work early today so she would have time to stop and buy Morgan a new bed. Poor Morgan has been unhappy with her old bed and has abandoned it for the rug or floor. Hope she like the new bed.

Peek at the Past

(February 26, 2009)

Wow! 9 eggs!

I'm not washing the eggs now until I use them.

[3 eggs today]

I guess the girls are getting old.

~:>

Smiles

Chicken Vocalization

I woke up to the sound of chickens outside my bedroom window making loud chicken noises. It was as if the hens knew I was behind that window and they wanted me to come out and give them some treats. Now!

When I went out, these are the first of the hens that came running.

It would be nice to think the chickens like me, but I know better.

I am the bringer and giver of good things to eat.

Do the chicken calls have different meanings?

I wish I did understand what the chickens were saying. The hens were telling me something in chicken. I find myself repeating back the same sounds as best I can. Something like, tuhuck, tuhuck, tuhuck.

I would also like to find a site with the other 20+ calls and videos of the behaviors. I sent an email to the research group and asked for more information about the additional 20+ calls. I wonder if I will get a return email?

Peek at the Past

(February 25, 2009)

[5 eggs today]

Clean!

The wood ash foot cleaner is working!

I use hot water to wash the eggs now.

~:>

Smiles

Eggs For Breakfast On A Foggy Rainy Morning

I eat a lot of eggs! Two, three or even four a day. I do skip a day once in a while, don't eat all the yolks sometimes or only have one egg once in a while, but I feel much better when I have my eggs for breakfast.

I got to wondering if it was ok to eat that many eggs, did a search, and came up with way too many and confusing web pages to post links. The articles seem to agree that people should use their common sense and eat the number of eggs appropriate to their level of health and other foods they are eating. So no links, except, this is a fun page. I had a lot of fun moving the little blue box and dragging the pages around to see different articles. This is a little blast from the past... 1978. I love the prices and I even found Ann Landers. LOL

I took this photo on the way to the gate this morning. I love these foggy rainy mornings. The woods are so silent and there is something ethereal about them. It's as if I could expect to see a band of elves moving among the misty trees. After Kristine drove out, I locked the gate, and walked back to the house. Time for breakfast! Two eggs, cooked in my little iron skillet with olive oil. Toast. Decafe. OJ.

The photos of these egg recipes look so good that I thought I'd post the link here. I don't think I will actually make any of these egg dishes anytime soon, but I sure like to look at the photos, read the recipes and think about making them and eating them. Yum!

One of my nieces has to eat gluten free and I know I tested allergic to wheat. Not so much now that I'm older, but I have thought about going gluten free for a trial, but I haven't done it yet. I have all these bags of flour to use up!

I think the problem with IPhoto is that the library has suffered some kind of glitch. I created a new library which has made IPhoto very happy and it is now working again. For some unknown reason IPhoto has placed the old library in another folder on my desktop. Well, at least I know where the rest of my photos are. I think the problem started when I created a folder named Pictures in Safari and IPhoto got confused and put the library in that Picture folder instead of the IPhoto Picture folder. Safari and IPhoto are not supposed to mix up their folders. Good grief!

Peek at the Past

(February 24, 2009)
We feed organic feed pellets now.

[5 eggs today]
Chickens were locked up all day.
Sorry girls.

~:>

Smiles

Morgan Thinks She Is A Chicken

Thank you very much for the Birthday Wishes!

Chick, chick, chick!!! And all the hens come running, flapping and clucking! Lettuce!

Then Morgan shows up. Treats?

Oh yeah!

Ok, neat, green stuff.

Morgan is one of the girls. Sometimes I think she thinks she is a chicken. Sometimes I think the chickens think she is a big chicken. Sometimes I think they think I am a bigger chicken. Sometimes I know I'm chicken!

Principles of Feeding Small Flocks of Chickens at Home

This is interesting. I didn't realize that a chicken will stop eating once a certain quantity of energy has been consumed in a day. This will happen even if the chicken has not consumed enough vitamins or protein. I thought they just ate all day. Why don't they tell you these things instead of just saying not to feed your chickens too many treats. OK! This makes sense. 

These photos are from yesterday and are a reminder that the sun will shine again and we will be able to go out and play next week. Yep! We are going to have rainy bad weather until at least Saturday. My fault! I'm the one who kept asking for rain, rain, more rain.

The chickens are going to be very unhappy having to stay in their pen. Unless I can talk Kristine into letting me dress Morgan up in the raincoat again so I can let Morgan and the chickens out. Maybe, if we have some calm spots in the storms late in the day? I would be very happy if it snowed, but this weather is coming in from the Pacific so it probably won't get cold enough. Phooey!

Peek at the Past

(February 23, 2009)

Look at that nice clean garage roof!

I need to get out there and rake if off again this year.

[4 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

I ate all the cake!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wacky cake is the first cake I made all by myself and I remember I was really put out when after receiving a complement on the cake I was told that, no, you didn't make it because it was too good. Sheesh! I'm getting better at this baking in the iron pan, but I find I need to cook at a slower and lower temp to keep the sides and bottom from getting too crispy.

Still, the cake tasted pretty good. Kristine said she noticed the oil (I didn't.) I noticed the lack of a real strong chocolate flavor because I used hot chocolate mix since I was out of baking chocolate. Since there are no milk or eggs in the cake the texture is more like a sponge cake.

If I had used good baking chocolate, I know the cake would have been even better. The more I eat of this cake the more I want. It is addicting. It is a fun cake to make, and with the simple ingredients it isn't going to give me migraines. I sprinkled powdered sugar on top.

Wacky Cake

Sift together into an un-greased square 8 by 8 by 2 inch pan:

1 1/2 cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cocoa or carob powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

Make 3 holes in the flour mixture.

Put in first hole: 1 teaspoon of vinegar.

Put in second hole: 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Put in third hole: 5 tablespoons of salad oil.

Over all the holes pour 1 cup water.

Mix well; bake 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sprinkle sugar on top or frost. 

The Food Timeline

Food Timeline: food history & historic recipes

http://www.foodtimeline.org/

I went searching online for some history about this recipe and found Wacky Cake listed (1949 - Wacky Cake) on the Food Timeline page. This Food Timeline site is way too much fun. I could spend days upon days here reading old recipe books. I love looking back through history by reading recipes and reading about how people lived, ate and the origin of different recipes.

Peek at the Past

February 22, 2009

Dolores and Jean called me again this year.

Happy 69th Birthday!

They are so sweet!

Kristine got me books, really neat red pot holders and a super duper bread knife from Japan!

I'm going to go read now!

[4 eggs today]

Morgan and the hens were outside in the sun.

I had more photos, but IPhoto developed a problem with it's delete photo function and started freezing up, so I'm letting it rest in hopes it will recover.

~:>

Smiles

Biscuits On The Wood Stove

Take my picture! Hen Roo posed for a photo and now this Buff Brahma is posing for a picture too. In the rain. I didn't let the hens out today but they went outside anyway and stood in the rain in their pen and yelled at me!

I know it must have been something very unpleasant in chicken, so I'm very glad I don't understand their language. Body language is something else. Their body language said loud and clear that they were upset and wanted out of the pen right now or they were going to hide their eggs or ?

The raincoat has been retired. Morgan spent part of the day outside playing when the rain was fairly light. She wouldn't come back! I tricked her with the slider. She heard it open and came because she thought I was going to give the chickens treats. She always comes for that.

I made homemade drop biscuits on the wood stove last night and tonight. My method was first to pre-heat the iron pan and the lid on the wood stove on a trivit. While the pan and lid were heating I mixed up the drop biscuits. I ran out of butter tonight so I substituted partially with bacon grease. I think bacon grease is the secret ingredient in a lot of recipes.

Then, quick, I got the pan off the wood stove (I left the lid heating on the trivit on the stove) I oiled the pan generously, dropped the biscuits in, popped on the lid and put the pan on the trivit for 10 minutes. Then I checked to see how the biscuits were cooking. I decided it was time to turn them.

I brought the pan over to the cook top. Then I took the lid off and oiled it. Then I put the lid back on the pot and turned the whole thing up side down lid and all. Then I lifted off the pan. The biscuits were in the lid with the cooked side up!

Then I oiled the pan again and slipped the biscuits off the lid back into the pan. This time the uncooked side is against the bottom all set to brown. I love it when a plan comes together! They tasted so good! I really like knowing that I can cook on the wood stove if there is need. For now it is just a lot of fun!

[5 eggs today]

Clean eggs!

The wood ash stepping place is working!

Peek at the Past

(February 21, 2009)
Neat replica hoosier!
I want these!
Well, maybe not. The food bins are not safe for food storage. But the containers are neat. And the spice rack, and...

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Smiles