I'm Over It! Time To Start Over....

I am sooo over this cold. It had it's day (week) and then came back for round 2. No! No round 2!
Jumped out of bed (crawled, whining and crying) with renewed ambition.
Spring is right around the corner, and someone has to whip this farm into shape. This year will be the year of the farm!
Yup! This year the farm will start to pay for itself.

And my first act is to get the chickens in shape. Have to wait a bit for some of the 1.5' of snow remaining to melt, but with temps in the 40's this week, plus rain coming that will help. The chicken pen needs to be enlarged. We set the posts last fall and then someone who shall remain nameless saw fit to break his leg and ankle, sending us down a 5 month road to nothing getting done. I have to go to Home Depot, maybe today and see what kind of netting or hardware cloth I can get (cheap) to drape over the top of the chicken pen. Yesterday I hacked enough ice away from the door of the coop so that I could pen them in again. Pen them in at night, let them out during the day. At least until I get a "lid" on the pen so they can stay in there.

I can't go to the Tractor Supply Store yet, (because they have baby chix) and I can never resist those. Especially since I want to get turkeys again this year.
I'm torn between my chickens. On one hand I wanted all of one breed (did the research and figured that for eggs and meat, in this climate, buffs were best, so I bought a bunch of them last year, they would lay and give me eggs and more little birdies, but on the other hand, it looks kind of cool to have all different kinds of chickens, all shapes and colors, running around. So I'll wait a week or so to visit the Tractor Store, then probably come back with more chickens than I need.

In the knitting arena, I'm still working on a mohair cowl made from Aloft (Knit Picks). I got the yarn to try out, and Clover USA was totally cool enough to send me their new line of bamboo interchangeables from Takumi to try out. I LOVE them, but I knew I would. I'm all about wooden and bamboo needles. I have the Addi Clicks and the Denise set, but even though they "click" into place and the others "screw", I prefer the bamboo. Easier on these old, arthritic, farmer hands. They have just enough "grab" to keep the stitches in place while my stiffer than they should be hands and fingers have a chance to work the stitches. Anyway, the pattern is just a long rectangle with a herringbone stitch. Totally cool stitch pattern, but it's not one of those mindless patterns. Have to watch every stitch. But it's almost done, then a picture.

So, for today, after work, I'll get into town and do some grocery shopping, then come home and put Bu-Dawgh's trolley back up. I have a run for him, from the cabin to the barn, but last year during haying season, the trolley broke and never got put back up. That will get done today, as well as planting more tomatoes.

Going to set up my Ebay shop again too, lots and lots of stuff I can get rid of to make room for living as well as make some money to buy more yarn, I mean to get stuff paid off!

My bike is on the trailer, ready to go to the bike doctor. It needs a few fine tune ups, to survive our Ride in the Rockies this summer. If hubby doesn't go fishing tonight, we'll take that over.

Life is Good!

Check!

Outside version of chicken condo (the adolescent cage) assembled. check!
Baby stinkies, I mean baby chix moved outside. check!
asparagus weeded. check!
onions weeded. check!
beets planted. check!
spinach planted. check!
radishes planted. check!
3 loads of laundry done and hung out. check!

pictures taken of all the above. uncheck!

Busy day, and all in 1/2 day! Started raining shortly after lunch, so the rest of the day I stayed in and played with my seeds. (my laundry, if it ever dries, will smell soooooo good!)

Thunderstorm last night, power in and out. this isn't good. normally power out doesn't really affect us, however when we have baby stinkies, I mean baby birdies that need heat, it's not good to have the heat lamps go out. So the first night they're outside they're subjected to a good old fashioned thunderstorm. Only lost one, I think he/she got squished when they all huddled together.
That sounds glib. It's not meant to be. Even though these birds are destined for the table, it's still heartbreaking when a baby dies. They depend on me to keep them healthy and alive and this one got let down, it's not taken lightly. And it's not even from the financial aspect of losing eggs or meat... it's just the fact that one of my babies has died. It hurts.
But life on the farm moves on, it's not the first loss, it would be great if it were the last, but I know better.

Enough of that! tonight, the rhubarb needs to be weeded. Whether or not that gets done depends on how much happens between that and Game 7!

Go Wings!!! Drown them ducks!!!

Some Of My Critters

This post has lots of pics, sorry dial-up readers!

This is Dr. Pepper and Mr Salty. Yes, even though we raise these boys to eat, they still have names and still get lots of hugs and cuddles.

Barn Kitties (4 sisters - by next year I should have about 29 cats!) looking down out of the hay loft.

My horses, Mike McMustang and Sierra's Mercedes Benz. They look a bit rough in the spring, before they get their winter coats all combed out. They are both mustangs, both branded. Mike was captured in California and Sierra, in Wyoming.

My baby chicks are going outside TONIGHT!!! they are getting a bit stinky! Also on tap for tonight, get beets planted, then if I have time, carrots and spinach too.

Last night I dug up all of the strawberry crowns that didn't grow and used that space for my garlic and chives. I might put some radishes in there too. Rather have strawberries, but oh well!

Yeah, and about the lawn, if I don't get after that, might need to break out the haybine!

We plowed up 1/2 of our 1st hayfield last night. It's getting too weedy and doesn't produce, so tentative plan is to seed corn for a year, then put in a pasture mix. So far the tractors are not acting up. This is huge (and unusual) and now that I've said that...... aye!

In Which A Trip To TSC.....

just gets out of hand! Went to the local Tractor Supply store (my favorite store in the whole wide world!) and what did I find? Baby chix! On sale. As in clearanced out! And no more coming in! So I did what any sane, logical, demented farmer would do, I bought a bunch of them! See! Aren't they cute?
So, 47 new babies have arrived! and were housed in my bathtub, something hubby's not real fond of, but what was I supposed to do? They had to be contained, and they had to be somewhere that was waterproof, washable and I could put heat lights on them.
Below, is an example of the elaborate Chicken Condo's that I've built. My architech brother would be rolling in his grave, or maybe just laughing so hard.... never mind....
Anyway, enter the Chicken Condo. Several rooms, some with food, some with water, and 2 with heat lamps. This all lives on a tarp in our guest room until they are feathered out and it gets a bit warmer outside, then they go to the adolescent cage. There was a time I used to keep them in the barn in lights, but they got drafty anyway, so for a few weeks, they live inside.

That wasn't the only fun we had this weekend. After our momentous trip to Tractor Supply, we decided to stop by Walmart and what did we find? Come on, think about it, what sits outside of Walmart on the weekends, attended by cute little blondes in a box marked "free......". Yup. Kittens! They are so cute. 3 of them are identical, I've named them Inky, Stinky, Blinky and the other Chuck because well, she's not identical. So 4 barn kittens have come to call our zoo home. They have so much fun up in the hayloft, climbing in the hay, hiding between bales, waiting for the slightest breezes to stir up the loose strands of hay, pouncing on each other, and that's not even counting how much fun there is to be had up in the eaves. A Disneyland for kittens! That's what a hayloft is. Especially since there isn't a Mother to tell them "No"!

I didn't get ANY gardening done this weekend, the weather was beautiful, but circumstances beyond my control kept me away. I've decided to start the rest of my seeds using the paper towel method. So far the only seeds that aren't responding to this treatment are the parsley, but they take a long time to germinate anyway. I direct seeded (into pots) tomatoes, peppers, and some flowers, but being away from home and not able to tend them didn't work out so well for them. So, paper towels it is! And, because I don't buy stuff like that, I use extras that we always get when we go to places like Dairy Queen and McDonalds. That experiment will play out over the next few weeks. Tonight, maybe, just maybe I can get part of the garden tilled. My onions are doing GREAT!! My asparagus is peeking up and my strawberries NADA! I'll give them a few more weeks, then take the roots back and get a refund. Seems like I should see some green within this time!

Good News and Bad News

whaddya want first, they always ask. The good news or the bad news?

Well, I'm gonna sprinkle it around cause there's 6 bad news'es and 1 good news. Here's Bad News #1. Yes, it's real. No, it's not brown, it's really orange, yellow and green, and yes, it's on the ground and it wasn't yesterday.

Exhibit #2 and 3, 4, and what the heck, the rest of my "leaves on the ground at the beginning of summer" pictures:

Ok, here's the good news:

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! I got a part time job!

This one is sooo cool. I still have my 2 or 3 depending on the week full time jobs, but this one brings in a bit of extra money without requiring any change of plans, current employment, or location!

I am going to be the new Knit Blog Editor for CraftGossip.com!

Not sure when it starts yet, but how cool is that?????

More of the bad: Yeah, it's not all that unexpected, it's the middle of August and all, and on my way to work this morning, I did notice a few of the trees were starting to show some color. Ugh. Better get my spring planting done, eh?

After completeing my chores last night and noticing that all 3 of my turkeys seemed to have disappeared into thin air, I kind of figured that that's exactly just what they did; disappear into thin air. I'm thinking they heard the call, and all, and flew off to join some of their less-than-domestic cousins. Grrr. So much for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I really don't want to buy a turkey, maybe I'll do a ham instead, but here I am talking about Thanksgiving at the beginning of summer. What's up with that. Seems like I should be getting ready for our annual 4th of July celebration!

Tonight I have to fix the chicken coop, as my little houdini's are endlessly proving to me that they don't deserve to be penned up.

And, yes, I'll knit some more. My GD's sweater is almost done, and soo pretty. I love this pattern. I used a women's small, even though she's only 10 she's very tall. And instead of the size 7 and 9 needles, I used a 6 and 8, to make it just that much smaller, and a tighter knit. Very nice.

And.... hockey season is but a mere 6 weeks away!!!

Gotta get to job #1!

And What Did I See???

Went out to the barn and what did I see?

8 baby buk-buks staring back at me!!!

Well, in this picture you can only see one, but there were 8 (I think), with all the scurrying around, it was hard to get an accurate count. I had purposely left this hen alone, because it was just easier, she seemed to be a bit moody, when actually, she was broody ;-)

When I decided it was time to move her into the chicken pen with the rest of them, she growled at me! Then I found out why!

Now, I'll let her have free run of the barn and yard until her babies get a bit bigger, then I'll shoo them all into the pen.

I LOVE baby chickens!

I got quite a bit done in the "reclaiming the garden from the weeds" project and started, in earnest, ridding the world (or at least my world) of zucchini, one plant at a time. I didn't even plant this stuff! I planted a few seeds last year and got enough zucchini to feed the entire county for 10 years, I certainly didn't need to plant more this year, but it seems to be quite capable of rejuvenating itself. And while I was watching the beautiful Caribbean sunsets, and not my garden, it took over. And yes, it's taken me this long to get back to it. We also waged war on the burdock this weekend, they have a habit of taking over also.

Started haying for real Saturday. We had a straight shot of 4 good dry days, so we'll get as much done as possible. Last night it was still too wet to bale, (we did bale about 20 just to see) so we raked it, and I'm sure tonight, it will find it's way into the barn. I seem to have lost an incredible amount of muscle mass this past year, couldn't believe how heavy those bales that we did finish last night were, ugh, gonna be a long night.

But it's gotta get done, and during January, when it's 1000 degrees below zero, and the critters need extra hay to keep them warm, these days will be a nice memory.

Talked to hubby about our addition (no more critters, this is a small addition onto our house). He wants to enclose the fish tank, but yet keep it outside so if (when) it leaks again, the mess will be outside, so we're going to put an addition on that side of the house, and part of it will be for my greenhouse! Can you say vine ripened tomatoes all winter long????? yum! Rabbit food! And, since it will be off the corner of the house where the woodstove is, we can open a few windows and let the woodstove heat it also. We've already got one nice window (huge Anderson windows about 10x8 foot) scrounged for just this purpose. We have the logs for the outside, and we have extra lumber sawed out for the framing.

Another thing off the scrounge list? Hubby managed to procure enough tin to finish the roof! This was left over from another job one of his construction buddies did and he got it for pennies on the dollar. Not the right color, but the price was right, so as soon as we're done with this round of hay, guess what? Yup! Back up on the roof, that will be NICE to have that little job done!

Still looking for leftover eaves and downspouts at auctions... (hey, baby brother, you just put new siding on your house, got any leftovers? You can ship them to me with the fishies!). I want to collect rain and snowmelt off the roof of the barn, chicken coop and house for watering the critters and gardens, it seems a shame to let all of that water just soak into the ground, when we could be storing it for when we need it.

Lots of projects and where in the heck did July go???

Enjoy the moment! - caution DEEP

Life is all about stress. And anxiety. And overscheduling. And sometimes there's nothing to be done about it. Sure, someone can sit back and say, "Well, you really don't need to be doing that (or this or the other thing)", but in my mind there really isn't anything that can be let go... except..... the future.

This rather deep thought came to me last night as I was riding my motorcycle home, after work, in the rain. With the hard rain pelting my skin and face and feeling like hail, I decided to enjoy it. I might never ever ride again. Pretty unlikely, as that's my favorite mode of transport, but what if it did happen? What if the last ride I ever did was just endured, in my haste to get out of the rain, to get home. Or, what if it was enjoyed, and relished, and laughed at (a kind of "bring it on" type of mentality).

This is a big problem for me. I feel like I need to enjoy the journey more and forget about the destination and what I'll do when I get there. I think all of us do.

So, rather than fret and stew because it's raining really hard and the chicken coop won't get worked on, like I planned, I'll just enjoy the rain. It was really a soft, warm rain (just not out on the bike..), and it's not like it was 35 deg. And sure, my laundry was wetter when I got home than it was when I hung it out that morning, but you know what? It will dry! The chickens won't perish because I can't keep them in their pen. The garden will grow despite the weeds, but what won't happen is ever getting this day back again. It's gone. Kaput! Never to be relived, so live it while it's here. Or enjoy the moment, no matter what it brings. Or the best yet...just smile and let it go!

I struggle on a daily basis with depression and even more than that, anxiety. I am constantly trying to put a lid on this bubbling pot and keep it under control. And, because I really really really don't want that pot (and myself) to blow apart, I'm always aware of the little things that trigger this, ever under the surface, anxiety.

Right now, it's about money. In 5 mins it will be something else. I figure if I get good enough at talking myself down, then eventually it will become a habit, much like worrying about everything and everybody has become.

Just let it go and smile! Small words, big task, but I will win! Bring it!!

On a bit of a cuter note, I wrote yesterday about my baby buk-buk thinking it's a cow and roosting on the back of the calves, I took a picture and here it is! Too cute!!

And it's things like this that can make me smile, enjoy the moment, and truly relax!

Update on "Stuff" (which is a technical term)

First of all, Mexico was awesome. My family reunion was awesome. The Caribbean was awesome. Diving was awesome. Um, yeah, you could say I had a great time!

Except for the fact that hubby, who's allergic to bees, took a nasty bite from some sort of tropical jungle insect. His legs swelled up and got all blotchy and rashy. Still not looking too good. He seriously spent 3 days when he could hardly walk, but he's a trooper. He managed to hold down a beach chair, AND consume a fair amount of Bud Light! What a guy!

Still doesn't look good but he won't even consider going to the doctor. I've been rubbing it night and morning with antibiotic cream and aloe, and massaging to get the circulation going so the bloodstream can do it's job and get rid of the toxins. It's less tender, and seems to be receding a bit, but if it's not getting steadily better, I'll pull rank on him and take him in.

When I got back.... ugh. Life sure has a way of reminding you when you've checked out for awhile that it expects some form of payback.

Like... weeds overtook my garden. I HAVE to get out there and find stuff. The only hope I have is that I still remember where I planted stuff. Tonight I'll try to find my peppers and weed them and replant my aloe. That's it for the garden. Baby steps, if I keep it to one or two things, it's not so overwhelming.

All of my chickens decided to escape out of the really cool pen I built, so I'll have to do a bit of renovating. Tonight, I'll do that too. Shouldn't take real long.

The Bu-Dawgh is suffering from extreme separation anxiety. He is shar-pei, apparantly that's one of their wonderful traits, that they're completely loyal to their person/family. So much so that he feels my lap is the best place in the world to be. Also, right under my feet is a good spot, especially if I'm trying to walk from one room to the other. He's not going too far from me right now. 10 days in the kennel probably about did him in. (between you and me, he survived, but I can't afford to be that glib with him - it would destroy his fragile self esteem - we do have to pamper our 4 footed babies!).

All of my other critters survived also, with self esteem in tact, except my one baby chicken who thinks he's a cow. He/she lives in with the calves, roosts on one of their backs, eats with them, naps with them. Leave it to me to come up with something like that. Maybe I should have gone into cross breeding and genetic research as a career. Imagine, a critter that tastes like a chicken and has as much meat on it as a cow! My luck, other way around. Either way, I guess..... I'm going to have to break it to him slowly that he is, in fact, a chicken and as soon as the pen is escape proof and the others quit picking on him, he's gonna have to go live in the coop with his own kind. Likely he'll need therapy. I don't see any way around it, but he's gonna have to adjust. Life's rough, get a helmet, stuff like that.

Knitting...... can't tell you. I'm almost done with a stealth project so I can't go into too much detail, but I can show you some pics. The only reason I can't go into much detail is because it's a gift and the giftee reads this once in awhile.

But here is the whole mess:

In all it's shimmery pinky and silvery goodness.... double strands of leftover (my favorite) bulky yarns, and knit on 11 and 13's. Very quick, it's quickly becoming my quick to knit ________ item.

Almost done!

Gonna have to ride my bike to work today, my car broke. Yup, the egg finally cracked! Hubby needs to take the motor out to do something or other to it, I realize that I know a lot more about vehicles than a lot of people do, however, I also know a lot less that he does. He'll fix it, in the meantime, I can walk or ride depending on time constraints.

And the best news of all... my son is on his way home from Iraq! It's only a short leave, and I won't see him again for another year, but I'll make the best of this week. Don't have a for-sure date yet, apparantly, when they fly "space available" it's a crap shoot. Luckily, his leave won't start until he hits the states. I do know he's on his way, left Baghdad yesterday!

Woo Hoo!!!!!

Gotta go, get ready for work and all that, got a big project there that needs all my attention too! Bring it on, I can take it!!

Picking Strawberries and other Farm Stuff

So, the neighbor girl (queen of everything that needs to be done but I don't have time to do it, and she will do it for a very decent price) has offered to pick strawberries for me. This is waaaay cool! She's so willing (12 year olds still value the good old fashioned quarter a pound concept!) to do this for me. And, to boot, for another 10 cents a pound, she'll wash them, and get rid of the green stuff that seems to be attached to the ends of them, otherwise known as stems.
This is HUGE! I love strawberries. LOVE them! Fresh in cereal, frozen in pancakes in the winter, strawberry shortcake, hubby loves strawberry ice cream (homemade of course, still need to look into finding a small one family cow), and of course, the cream on top of the strawberry pile, strawberry jam!
So tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn (literally, she will start about 6 am!) she'll pick me all the berries she wants to pick. As many as she wants, and I'll gladly pay her to do that for me. Not only do I not like to pick berries (skeeters and all) I have Dad Duty this week, so just can't do it myself. And this will most likely be the last week to do this kind of thing.
I anticipate 50 lbs or better. That's approximately 60 bucks or so for picked, washed and de-green stuff-ed berries, all ready to be cut and frozen. YUMM! Well worth the money! And if she can con her cousin into helping her, I'll be that much further ahead!
Not only do I love all things berry (not just strawberries), I also love to make strawberry jam on a cold winter day. Oooh, the cabin smells soooooo good! They (I love this, "THEY" means anyone who is someone other than me!) say that strawberries are the ultimate summer treat. But definitely a year round deal if you do it right.
My strawberries are not doing well enough yet to pick a bunch of them, but there are so many U-Pick operations around here that it's all good.

So back to the current stuff. Weeding the garden, planting more seeds (due mostly to lack of time and weather weirdness rather than season) and last night we finally went to the neighbors house to re-borrow back our pto driven posthole digger. This item is way cool! Attach it to the back of the tractor and zingo-zango! Instant post hole!
This is a definite plus when we're burying posts for whatever needs posts. Hubby can dig a hole faster than I can bury a post! Currently these are for the new chicken area. We're fencing in a HUGE area for my chickens, it will be sooo nice to have them in an area all to themselves. Scavenged a lot of page wire from a scrap heap so I think I have enough of that, might need to get some chicken wire to wrap around the bottom, and some for the top of the pen, but other than that, we'll be good. This project will definitely see completion this weekend. And now that I've said that, but no, I'm motivated on this one. Gotta have this done before we leave for our vacation/family reunion in just a bit over 2 weeks!!

This time of year, it's all about the farm/homestead. Growing things (both plants and critters), building things and harvesting things to make it through the winter. During any lull in the crazy busy farm life, we spend time getting the wood pile built up, also for the winter. It's tough to find the wood pile when it's buried under 4 foot of snow, so that's best done ahead of time. This past fall, we were fortunate enough to get access to a state land tract that had just been cut. After they took the trees that were big enough to be sawed into lumber there was scraps, just perfect for the woodstove, so we spent a lot of time cutting and hauling that mess home, it will be dry and seasoned for this winter, and I hope to have it all piled and a roof over it also this summer. That's pretty low on the priority list, a roof over the wood pile, but we'll definitely get it cut and dry piled and enough brought up to the house to last us most of the winter.

Not much new on the knitting front, I continue to knit when I walk to work, which isn't nearly enough. I only walk when the weather is good (takes about an hour to get to work), and then when I don't need to go anywhere during the day. If the weather is nice or semi nice, or heck even if it's raining sometimes, I'll ride my bike, but walking is my first option. I can combine 3 and sometimes 4 tasks that way. I get to work, get my exercise, get some knitting done, and at the end of the day, I'll start walking home with my dad, and The Mouth will leave her work in time to pick him up on the way, so he gets his exercise in also! Tell me that's not a good thing!

I need to get into the habit of bringing My Awesome Camera That I Bought Myself For My Birthday A Few Summers Ago along with me, there is some awesome photo ops during my walks and trapses around the yard.

Tonight, after our taco night out (because we do have to go out once in awhile) we'll dig more post holes and start fencing. During any lull in that, I need to sharpen the blades on my mower. Hubby found me the coolest mower at a yard sale last year. There's no motor, just push it. Works pretty well, it's hard to push so it needs to be oiled a bit, and definitely sharpened, but it's good exercise as well as not using any gas! That's the best part, and it's quiet! And if I rake some of the grass clippings, my chickens love them!
One of these days I'll write about my automatic self feeding chicken system! Kind of yucky, but they love it!

Nothin'

I got nothin' for ya today, so I'm gonna ramble. Ready? Are ya sittin'? Ok, here goes.



My Red Wings lost last night. Not a biggie, we still have 2 more games in which we have to win one of them. But desperation is a big factor and the Penguins are desperate. They played hard last night, and my Wings fell short. Triple overtime. Game ended at somewhere between 1 AM and later than that. I'm not sure, I tend to shut down about 10. (one of the reasons my brain is lacking today).
Too much fun - two of my brothers (one from Calif. and the other from Colo) were watching the game also, so we texted back and forth. That's the high-tech way to watch a game. So, here's a shout out to the other two - 8 pm EST on Wednesday night - on NBC! I expect you to join us.

I LOVE texting. On the average I see my brothers between 1 and 3 times a year. That is really hard, my brothers are among my best friends and I miss them badly. But. With text we can all watch the same game and virtually be in the same room. It does make going to the fridge for a beer kind of challenging though. Doesn't make sense to have 3 people make 3 trips to the fridge for 3 beers when one is going, but again, it's better than not being able to share! And M, next time we are up 3-2, with about 45 seconds left in the game and you text me to tell me to go get hubby a sandwich, there will not be enough space between Michigan and California to protect you from me! Just remember that Mr.!

Next..... it's raining today, or it should be. It's cloudy. If it's cloudy, it should be rainy eh? Makes being outside rather hard (and wet). Since Michigan's state bird, the mosquito, is out in force, you risk life, limb and serious blood loss if you stay out for too long. No, Deet has nothing on these critters, they have been evolved to a point where they laugh in the face of a shot of bug spray. "Bring It On", they say. "Give me all you got", they taunt. And when you're all sticky and slimy from the chemicals that are supposed to protect you from these awful creatures, they come and bite you anyway. "No Fair. Take that oh Mosquito God. No Fair", says I! And everyone knows that when I say something, well, we'll just leave it at that!

Tonight..... I have to pound some more nails in the new chicken coop, fix the hay feeder for the horses and remove some fencing from the garden area. Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny, so with all that done, I can start roto-tilling my 1/2 acre garden. And if it rains or the mosquitoes threaten to carry me away, I'll stay inside and maybe sweep some floors or something. My life is so exciting!

My baby calves are finally getting off of milk replacer and starting to inhale grain by the major amounts. They are so cute and so cuddly. I could spend all day out there talking to them and cuddling with them. My social life is probably not what it should be, but hey, if it's not the calves I'm talking to, it's the baby buk, buks. (baby chickens to everyone who's not into the unique language of a 2 year old).


Knitting is going slow. My arthritis is acting up and knitting is hard, but I will push through. You lose it if you don't use it and all that garbage!

So, onward, upward, forward, ahead, sideways and once in awhile backwards, but it's all good!

later.......

I'm so excited! My brother from Colorado will be here today. He'll be here until Wednesday. There is lots of garden, home improvement, critter enhancement... projects scheduled. But... the most important is the obligatory day long bike ride. Last fall we did this on a day that was gorgeous, he rode Hubby's bike and I, of course, rode mine. It was Mid-October, the leaves were in full color and flying all around, and it was around 80. Unseasonably warm for October, but the day was just perfect. We both still talk about that day, so this Holiday weekend we plan to redo it.
Maybe we'll ride over to the Big Lake for lunch.

No, the chickens and turkeys did not get put outside. They stink, they smell and they're flying and running and &$%^-ing all over the bathroom, but last night was knit night so, we do have our priorities. Besides, it's really something that's a two person job and hubby was out playing too. He likes to do the go kart thing and last night he and his buds were playing go karts. So, chix and turks are still inside. Tonight doesn't look good either, I'll probably be with my brother, and hubby will be go-karting again.

Look at this yarn!!! This is my latest score from Yarn Of The Month Club. It's the bamboo ribbon yarn that I hated but couldn't live without. It's soooo soft and when it knits up the drape is just perfect. I don't know what this yarn wants to be when it grows up, it hasn't told me yet, but someday it will make me a real nice something or other.

Update on the Blueberry Issue. I've filed a claim with paypal. I hate to do that, but it's been almost 3 weeks since I've sent my money or even heard from the guy. I'd still rather have the blueberries than my 30 bucks back, but we'll see. I really don't hold out much hope for either. The picture above is the spot hubby cleared for them, guess they'll be for the strawberries now. Next week, probably, we can start putting stuff outside, so I'll get those planted right away.

Our youngest called from Iraq yesterday, he's doing well, things are quiet for now where he is. I'm still pretty scared about the whole ordeal, but with the addition of N and her Monkey to our household, I've been even more distracted than I normally would be. And that's bad. In a good way.

Tomorrow night, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. I'll be there! Go Wings!!

The Zoo Expands!

This afternoon this (see left) is going outside!

As is this:


It's warm enough with lights that they can go outside. They can go and stink out there! It's time! The time has come! No More! Baby birds that aren't really all that small anymore can live outside (with lights). The Condo will be moved to the side yard in a fenced in area, complete with old truck topper and the windows in my bathroom will be opened, at least for long enough to air it out. It's getting bad, you walk into the house and you can smell them all across the whole house. You can smell them upstairs. They are smelly in the basement. My house smells like chicken poo! Yuck! It's time.

I don't think I'm going to restain this desk. Of course, that means that I won't get my workroom cleaned up, the walls torn down between the workroom and laundry room, the washer and dryer relocated and the whole she-bang painted. Guess that sequence will have to wait until my next pseudo-project (which will come soon, as Ace (future son-in-law) scored a DEEP DEEP sink at a Habitat For Humanity store for only 10.00. Along with the new sink, I have a new faucet, well, it was new when I bought it, not so much anymore, but it even has one of those fancy sprayer thingees! I love sprayer thingees! And a spot for a lotion or soap dispenser. How cool is that??? But, before that, I have to get a new counter, cause, well, you can't put in a new sink and new faucet and not update the counter, can you? Ok, maybe it's do-able. It's been about 17 yrs since I put in a sink and faucet, maybe that will be a good Next Time Hubby's Gone For A Few Days project.
And, I have help now!

My Monkey LOVES PaPa's slippers, she is soooo cute. It's so much fun to have a youngun' in the house again. Last night she helped me collect eggs when I did chores, put them in a basket and had to run out to the garage to show PaPa. Didn't realize an 18 mo old Monkey could run that fast. Yeah, the eggs never made it to the house, but that's ok, it was too much fun watching her!

Herding Chickens

The Bu-Dawgh needs a job. He's totally entranced by the chickens and turkeys that terrorize him all day. Why can't he play with them? Well, he's a bit rough, being a puppy and all. Ok, how about the barn kitties, they are fuzzy and like to play. They just don't like to play with him. That's no fun. The only thing left is the baby chix and turks we have in a box in our bathroom. Yeah, our bathroom. Up here it's still too cold to put them outside, they're just feathered out so I can leave the lights off for awhile now and then, but it's still too cold to store them outside. This gets to be a creative way to see how many boxes you can tape together to give them the space they need, without taking over the house.
Another couple of weeks, then they will go outside, under lights. It's just too cold yet.
So, the Bu-Dawgh still needs a job. Or maybe a pet. That's it, I can get him a pet. When he comes to work with me, he plays with the Puff-a-Fluff all day, those are good days. But when I ride my bike, (and hubby has yet to build me a sidecar for him) he has to stay home all by his little self, and he's bored. If he had a pet, he could have someone to play with when he has to stay home.
Actually one of the remedies for mild depression is to get a pet. Since he's the Poster Puppy For Separation Anxiety, that would classify as depression wouldn't it? So there, medical research that practically shouts: GET THE BU-DAWGH A PET!!
Well we discussed it, he and I and he would pretty much be happy with anything, anything except a porcupine, he tried to play with one of them once and didn't win that little game, so no porcupines. Besides, when it's bring your pet to work day, and he brings his porcupine, and The Puff-A-Fluff wants to play, how in the world would we tell which was porcupine quills and what was just more hair?


Got lots of tomatoes and some peppers coming up, they really sprouted this weekend. The asparagus is all weeded and the rhubarb is just about ready for picking. Haven't gotten my blueberry seedlings yet, hmmmm, strange, the first time I got them almost immediately, now it's been 1-1.5 weeks. Hubby cleared a space for them, and I'm anxious to get them going.

We're still about 2 -3 weeks away from our frost date, although the weather has been so weird this year, it's hard to tell what is gonna happen.

Tonight? Gotta work with the Bu-Dawgh on the shock collar thing, the Red Wings play game 3 against the Dallas Stars and so it goes without saying that there will be lots of knitting accomplished, and well, all the other stuff that a homestead/farm/home requires. Like sweeping the floors now and then. And taping boxes together to make elaborate condos for the baby birdies.

I love baby birdies, but they don't love the Bu-Dawgh!

Wednesday Night Nothing-ness!

I got nothing for you today. So let's take a wander around the Little Brain and see what pieces we can pick up, shall we? After all, leaving pieces around for Little Brain to trip over is not exactly the recipe for anything good to happen. At all.

First of all, the sweater picture you see is a project that is definitely on my to do list. I actually got to pet the sweater, I tried not to drool over it, and the shop owner, Peg, from Tawas Bay Yarn Company graciously allowed me to photograph it. Not saying it will be the next project, just that it will definitely be on the list.

Let's see, here's another piece: Little Brain and I went to our favorite store last night after work, Tractor Supply, to aquire little buddies for our sole hatchling. They didn't have any meat birds, have to special order those, but they did have lots and lots of cute bronze turkeys and "miscellaneous straight run chickens". So of course, we had to buy our daily supply of cute and picked up 9 "miscellaneous straight run chickens" and 3 bronze turkeys. Just because. I didn't really need them, didn't really want them, but Little Brain won out on this one, they had to come home with us just to keep the sole hatchling company.

Awhile back, on ebay, I bid on and won 25 blueberry seedlings, which arrived in perfect health and as soon as I planted them, died. This was my fault, totally, as it was too cold to plant them outside so I stuck them in a few buckets of compost, and didn't water them enough. I wrote back to the original seller to ask if I could purchase more and he very very kindly offered to replace them for the cost of shipping. I won't do this, it was my fault, totally, not his, so I will send him what I originally sent him for the 25 plus shipping and expect in return another batch of gorgeous blueberry seedlings. How great is that? I've had a lot of good stuff happen with ebay and a lot of bad stuff too, but this guy went above and beyond and deserves an A+++++++++++++ rating. Here is a link to his "stuff". Seriously, this guy rocks! http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZjohnnynoseQQssPageNameZMERCQ5fVICQ5fRCRXQ5fPr4Q5fPcNQ5fQ5fSI

Along the same lines, kind of, in a berry kind of way, Tractor Supply was clearancing out some strawberry plants and I scored 30 of them for 15.00! I also got more tomato seeds that need to be started, jalapeno seeds (finally found them), and cilantro seeds. Can you say yummy salsa? Got to get some onion sets too.

Tonight is knit night, and I'll continue to work on granddaughter's sweater. I really have made some progress on it, tonight being knit night AND my Red Wings play a late game I should get a good 4 or 5 hours to knit. That ought to be good for a couple of rows anyway! Then tomorrow I'll post pics of both the sweater and my new birdies. I love baby birdies!

Go Wings! Take that Colorado Brother! (cause they are playing the Colorado Avalanche, in case you're just tuning in and are, GASP, not a hockey fan!)

Announcing our New Bouncing Baby.....

This baby started pecking his way into world last night around 11. Here are some pics.





There is only the one chick so far so tonite after work I'll go to the farm store and get my meat chix. This one is an egg layer, a Rhode Island Red.

It's kind of discourging in a way. All of these seeds get started and all of these eggs get collected and put in the incubators and you wait. And start more seeds and collect more eggs and wait. Finally you hear the tiniest of chirps coming from inside one of the eggs, or a seedling pops through the soil and all the wait has been worth it.. So tonight I will go to the farm store and get my meat chickens and hubby wil roll his eyes cause I'm the farmer, not him. And I'll set up shop in the guest bedroom with the feeders and waterers and heat lamps cause its still too cold for them outside and hubby will shake his head but I love this life and he knows it so its all good..

In a few weeks i'll start pestering him cause it's time to get the garden worked up and last years compost moved to wherever I need it to be. With the cost of food skyrocketing, my garden will be at least 4 times the size it was last year with every available flower bed turned into spots for asparagus, strawberries, grapes and blueberries along with the staples of beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, corn, squash, punkins ...

I will be a busy gal this summer, with all the canning, freezing and processing but I love this life. Then comes haying season, with the 18 hour days on the tractors, wagons and up in the dusty loft. The exhaustion is overwhelming but it's such a good, satisfying exhaustion. The next day starts all over again. So tonight after work I'll go to the farm store and maybe come home to find that another chick has pecked his way into my life! I love this life! Spring on the farm is the best place to be.

And, to top it all off, my Red Wings won again last night. One more win against the Avalanche will launch them into the finals. Tomorrow night! Go Wings!!

Pics of Eggs Hatching and Other Stuff

Today, a short introduction into my seriously whacked out family!
This is too cool. Li'l Brother #4, who is a "chicken farmer" in the middle of the city in California recently sent me this video of one of his eggs hatching.
http://132.239.50.242/Chicky/Chicky
If and when any of my turkey eggs ever hatch, I'll upload those too.


Another Li'l Brother (#3) who lives in another city in CA, has started his own website called Demand95.com in which he calls everyone to demand that at least 95% of their charity intake goes to the intended recipient. He sponsors orphanages in Thailand, Africa, and Togo, eye surgeries in Viet Nam and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff that he hasn't gotten on his site yet. Be sure to check it out, it's the greatest thing I've ever seen.
This brother also won the Name Ter's Bike contest, in which the only rule was that the acronym must be LIG. "Losing It to Gravity" will be the official name, a nickname will ensue naturally, they always do, just like my critters, they name themselves!

Another Li'l Brother (#1) lives in Alaska of all places. Never will my feet touch the soil, or snow or ice in Alaska. Never! I'm sure it's beautiful, but I'll never find out for sure. Why??? Because it would surely be a one way ticket. On the off chance that my body and mind (which often travel together, much to the surprise of, well, everyone)ever end up there, surely they will not return, together or separately. A one way ticket. So it's just safer to stay in the lower 48. Talk about a logistical nightmare, we can't even imagine moving all of my farm stuff and all of hubby's construction and mechanical toys that far. One day my person will possess a pilot's licence and one day hubby will build me a plane and one day, we will take air trips to lots of different places. This is a for sure thing. The only unsurity is the date when it will happen, but it will happen.

The Mouth has already declared that she will not ride with us. Makes it easier, only have to build a two seater! Well, 3 actually, have to have room for The Bu-Dawgh! Because he can't be left alone. He's a baby, the poster puppy for separation anxiety.

One more brother (#2), and he lives in Colorado. There, I capitalized it, are you happy?

No sisters, never wanted them, never got them (until my brothers married). I was the oldest and only and happy about it. I was Daddy's girl. I ruled. I still do, ask any of them, they're afraid of my 5'3" mightiness, as rightly they should be.

Delivered a couple more hay bales to a neighbor who ran out and then rode LIG to work. The ride to work this morning was nothing short of GLORIOUS!! Warm enough for just a sweatshirt, the morning mist was in the air as was the smell of the dairy farms. My ride to work very rarely passes anyone else on the roads, I pass through no cities, villages or towns, just 4 miles of 4 season splendidness. Each season has it's own sensory nuances, this is clearly spring. My Mother's daffodils are blooming, and things are turning green. The trees are budding out, it's just waaaay too nice to spend time inside.

Unless the playoffs are on, then all bets are off.
Hey, Li'l Bro #2, your Avs made the 2nd round! So depending on who wins tonight, we'll either play you or the Flames.
Go Wings!! We will seriously spank you!!

What Was I Going To Say? Or The Memory Is Really Getting Bad!

So, last night I'm on my way to the barn to get the curry comb. Maybe that will help the Fluffy Puffy shed out faster. When I got there, I decided to rake more of the hay off the ice so it could melt. Noticed that the horses water trough needed to be topped off, decided to throw a couple of bales down from the hay loft so they'd be ready for me in the morning, and give the chix and turks an extra helping of scratch grains. And went back in the house. 1/2 hour or so later I remembered that I had forgotten to get the curry comb when I was out there, so I immediately went back out to the barn. You can guess where this is going. I noticed one of the turkeys wandering around out in the dark, so put it back in its pen and went back to the house. About 1/2 hour later.... yeah you guessed it. So I reminded myself all the way out to the barn that I needed the curry comb and actually got back to the house with curry comb in hand, only to lay it down to take off my muddy boots and forget that I needed it at all.

Aye-ya!

Brain Fog! It's a technical term. I'm convinced it's related to menopause, or too many pans on the stove, or the wheels on my bike are dirty, or there's too many bales of hay not stacked properly, or the fences need to be fixed, or having too much to do, or something, or maybe, since my brothers seem to suffer from it too, it's an ADHD type of thing. Ok, sorry, John, MOST of my brothers suffer from it, is that better? (he's actually about as bad as the rest of us, but he loves his world of denial, so we won't tell him, k?)

Geez!
Brothers! Yeah, I need a few more of them!

Kind of like the time I was headed up the stairs to get something (or maybe I was headed down, I really don't remember) and got stopped or distracted (I really don't remember) halfway down (or up, I really don't remember). Then I didn't remember what I was after let alone if I was going up or down. Yup! You want to live in this confusion? Spend a day in my brain! Of course the happy pills help LOTS, when I remember to take them. But then I have a whole SLEW of people who are more than glad to remind me to take them.

I really need a new picture for this blog, it's not snowy anymore. One of these days I'll remember to take a new picture. Maybe this one will feature Bu-Dawgh. Or maybe not, it will probably depend on what I'm looking at when I have my camera with fresh batteries all at the same time when I remember to actually use it and take a picture! It's kind of like a suspense thing, you never know what you're gonna get until it's decided at the last moment.

I will ride my bike to work again today, it will be an awesome day. When I went out to do chores as I was climbing up the ladder into the hay loft (because I forgot that I threw down extra bales last night)and the sun was shining and it was probably 45-50 deg with no breeze to speak of, I knew it would be a bike day. My turkeys were barking and gobbling (yes, they really do bark) and were being answered by some wild and unseen turkeys (which was kinda cool - I'll have to remember to tell hubby tonight what direction they were answering from, if I can remember).

It's getting bad!

Tonight my Wings play again I know they will rise victoriously tonight. They have to, it's coming down to the line boys, are you reading this? You Must Win Tonight! There, I sealed it. It's a sure thing now.
There's a cold one in the fridge, so that's good. I have to remember to get something out for dinner before I leave. Yeah, that will happen, like I forget to bring lunch now almost every day for the last 17 years. Yeah, it's a fun trip inside this brain! If I start to argue with myself and there's not a clear winner in sight, please just return me to my rightful owner. He'll be ever so glad you did!

The Evil Curling Iron Strikes Again!

About a year and a half ago, I cut my hair, well, actually, had it cut for me, since I know nothing at all about cutting hair other than that it involves cutting and scissors and stuff. Turns out I was wrong about that too, but.... let's start again. A year and a half ago, the hair was cut. For the first time since 5th grade. That's a long time. It was technically down to my waist, 10 or so strands of it, the other 60 or so strands were anywhere between my shoulder length and the waist. Not that it was supposed to be layered like that, but it was close to 40 yrs old, the longest hair, and very thin, and kind of straggly. So one day I decided that enough was enough and went to get it cut. Since then I've been introduced to the world of hair spray, blow dryers and even a curling iron of all things.

These things are evil, but necessary to maintain The Short Cute Cut that was imposed on me. Who'da thunk it? Long hair was much much easier to maintain than The Short Cute Cut. The only stipulation was that The Short Cute Cut was still long enough to pull back into a ponytail, for barn and haying purposes. Also it had to still look like The Short Cute Cut when I pulled off my motorcycle helmet. Again, enter the curling iron from hell!

This implement of torture is capable of curling as well as straightening! Who knew?? It could also deliver a neck or forehead burn in short order. It also shuts itself off, but mostly when I don't want it to, like when I plug it in, go out to the barn while it's heating up, forget about it and then 3 hours later remember that I wanted to use it. Took me awhile to figure out that one, like, why when I plug it in, it gets hot enough to boil water in 2 minutes flat, yet cold in 3 hours, hmmm, that one took some figuring out. Actually, that one took reading the destructions that plainly stated "safety auto shut off feature".

Safety Auto Shut Off Feature aside, after about a year and a half, I'm starting to get kind of good with the thing, while still maintaining a healthy respect for it's ability to deliver a 5th degree burn if it even suspects that I'm not paying attention.

We won't even go into the heat settings and cool vs hot features. That will take another year or so. Then we'll start to figure out the blow dryer! And hair spray. And gel. And Mud? What's that about? Mud for hair? I'm afraid my daughters and nieces are gonna have to bail me out on this one! Lisa? Alex? Samm? Erin? Where are you when I need you?????

I'm expecting full out lessons when we hit the family reunion this year! And just so you know what to expect? I plan to spend lots of time in the water, so we're either gonna have to come up with a way to maintain The Short Cute Cut while wet, or get some of that mud stuff.

My Wings lost last night, so the series is tied at 2 and 2. Come on boys, I know you can play better than that. Friday night, watch out Nashville!
hee heeeee, I love hockey, almost as much as baby birdies, which are also eluding me this year. Keep layin' them eggs girls, and I'll keep sticking them in the incubator, eventually, the weather will be warm enough and we'll get baby birdies!



Tonight is Knit Night, still working on Granddaughter's cable sweater, I'll take a picture and post it when I find my camera and have batteries that are charged, both at the same time and in the same place.

Go Wings. Go Baby Birdies! Go Mud!

Good Intentions

I really did intend to get out of bed early. I really did intend to go to bed AFTER the game. It was a good game, really, what I saw of it. See this is what happened. After it was apparant that The Project That Must Be Completed Today was not gonna happen in the normal 9-5 time span, I put the petal to the metal, such that it was, and got it done, but not in the normal time span. This put me behind in everything else that happens in its own normal time span. Barn chores were not completed on time, household stuff really didn't happen at all and dinner was not to be. So hubby, being of the sweet and understanding variety (once in awhile) decided to take care of dinner. At the Local Watering Hole. Wednesday being Wednesday and also being Taco Night at said Local Watering Hole.

Before I continue, a digression is a must in that the Local Watering Hole offers a discount on drinks when a local team is playing and I refer you back to the above mentioned game. A discount on drinks takes priority above household chores, especially when you combine Taco Night and a big screen TV to view the game on.

Game not going quite as well as one would hope. Goalie pulled and another put in, game switches around and by the time we left the discount drink place, I forgot about the game, forgot about my later to bed intentions and forgot about my early to rise intentions. (we lost btw)

The Mouth made some sort of comment about whether or not this was gonna be a regular Wednesday night thing - apparantly this has happened before, and then also saw fit to make a comment on yesterday's blog about my talking to snowbanks.

Talking to snowbanks is an art form, and also requires a vigorous imagination. But, that didn't get done either. There is still but about a 60' swath of snow and ice that remains to melt before I dare ride my bike. Did I mention what happened last time I rode in the snow? Well, suffice to say I found out that I could indeed pick up my bike all by myself. Tonight, the Counseling of the Snowbanks will take place! It will! I promise. Anyone who wants to drop by to watch can come by after the game.

So, to summarize, major project did get done, chores were late, household chores and dinner went undone, drinking ensued as did burning holes in my esophagus with hot sauce and tacos, snowbanks went un-counseled and the game went unwatched, which we lost, most likely because I didn't watch past the first period and cheer them on. However, I'll redeem myself tonight and watch the next game.

1st round of baby birds are scheduled to hatch on or around tomorrow, then a steady hatching should take place every day or so from tomorrow (on or about) on. Turkey egg count is at 10! Yay!

2 Black Dogs

Yeah, my titles need some work. Anyone want to apply for the job?

I was here yesterday, but not here really. I tend to suffer from depression (black dog #1)and yesterday was one of those days that I could have gotten out of bed and crawled back in. Seriously, I was awake for 12 hours before I went back to bed. But enough of that!

On the bike front, the road is almost clear! There's still a patch that has so far resisted my mental orders to melt. I'm going to go up there tonight and have a talk with it. I want to ride my bike! I must ride my bike. Plus, there's the fact that my bike gets 50-60 mpg, as opposed to my farm truck that tops out at 11. There's also the path from the barn where the bike lives during the winter to the driveway. That's not clear either, but soon.

I woke up to a balmy 18 degrees this morning. Not condusive to path clearing, but the sun has returned once again and I expect a high of above freezing (dare I hope?) that IS condusive to path clearing. What's that you say? Why would you consider riding a bike when the temps are 18 degrees? It's really no different than riding my snowmobile. Put on my Carhartt overalls, heavy gloves, helmet liner and sunglasses and start her up. Look on the bright side, with temps in the high teens, the occurance of bug dots is pretty much eliminated!

So Earth Hour came and went. I want to personally request an email stating when Earth Hour starts and ends. Oh, sure, we read about it in blogs, and other emails and I get all excited and think, we can outdo this. An hour? Please, we'll do the whole day. A whole day w/o electricity, and gas and stuff, I can do it, just go ahead and tell me I can't! The mind boggles with the possibilities, maybe we can make it a week! Maybe this will really catch on and zoom! It's gone!

Next thing I know, I'm reading blogs and emails about all the things others did for Earth Hour. And I missed it. I kind of like to participate in these things, kind of as a thank you to Mother Earth for things like berries, leaves and stuff, and I missed it. So in honor of the earth hour/day/week that I didn't participate in, I'd like to request that special email please.

That's out of the way now.

The turkey egg count is currently at 9!! Maybe, just maybe I won't have to buy turkey babies at 6.67 a piece. Maybe I can make enough turkey babies to keep my flock going, plus, stock the freezer.

I love turkey babies.

The first Chickens that are scheduled to hatch should be on the 4th. on or about. Everyone who knows about these things say 21 days to incubate a chicken egg. It's personally been my experience that on or about 21 days is more accurate. So anytime now, provided that Mr Rooster has been doing his job, I'll have chicken babies.

I love chicken babies.

The Wings play again tonight, against Chickago Blackhawks. Should be another awesome game, and I'll be parked in front of the TV from 8:30 ET until ??? (or until it's clear that they're either going to win or lose and I'm falling asleep). Note to dd: this is NOT a good time to call me! I'll get another fair amount of knitting done, either that or Mommy/Bu-Dawgh time, in which the baby Bu-Dawgh (black dog #2) climbs up on my lap and cuddles. Hard to knit with him on my lap.

When I say Baby, he's pretty much 18 months old now and at about 60 lbs. But he's still my baby. And being of the Shar-Pei variety, and since he gets left alone most of every day, well not really alone, he's with the Siberian, he's the poster puppy of separation anxiety. And I since during the 3 or 4 hour window of opportunity for such things, I forgot to tell him that he was in fact really of the canine variety, like all of our 4 footed babies, he thinks he's human.

Go Wings! Go Baby Turkeys and Baby Chickens! And since the sun is out in full force today, maybe I'll actually get some work done!