It's all about the Chickens!

So I deep-6'd 50 chickens. See, this is how it went.....

I ordered my supply of chicks from one of my favorite hatcheries (Mt. Healthy Hatchery). Originally wanting 25 we noticed that they had a special of 25 free chicks with the purchase of 50. Well, math not being my forte, I figured, ok, 25 more chicks. But then when that little concept sunk in got it was realized that 25 + 25 + 25 does not equal 50. Not even in my world, but more like 75 (most days). This was still ok (sort of), I'll let them grow and then put them in the freezer, keep a rooster and maybe 8-10 hens over the winter to re-populate next spring. But then a niggling feeling kept at the back of my brain. 75 chickens is A LOT of chickens. Way more than we need, really, and started thinking that maybe I should just call and re-do the order (even if that means giving up 25 free chickens!). So I did it. Just today. They're due to ship May 2, so likely they haven't even been laid yet (the eggs, not the chickens, let's not get into that).
My life is a bit complicated right now, and I neither have the time or space (or time to make more space) for 75 chickens. 25 additional will be a stretch, but MUCH more manageable. And they can still re-populate. And that, is how you deep-6 50 chickens!

Finished a pair of slippers last night, now have to throw them in the washer and dryer to shrink and felt them. Doesn't seem like the season to be knitting slippers, but my toes still get cold. I knit them out of bits and pieces and scraps of Lopi (which is really more of a roving than a yarn, but it knits up nicely, and will shrink felt just fine. Nice. Warm. Slippers = No. More. Cold. Toes! YAY!!

Lots of miles on the bike. Another YAY! The bike is my Zen, I start off down the road and "whoosh" everything just goes away. Very relaxing. Hubby and I are planning a 5 day bike trip around Lake Superior in July. I cannot wait. Have to talk The Mouth into taking care of my farm (and the Bu-Dawgh). She's more than capable, having grown up there, but she has time constraints too. My ultimate dream... one of these days I will ride my bike out to Colorado (brother), then on to San Diego (another brother), then up to LA (another brother), then up the coast to Alaska (another brother, that's all, I swear, there are only 4 of them, sometimes that's more than enough!) Then I will ride through the Canadian Rockies back down home. One of these days. And if hubby wants to go with, that will be even better!

Murphy Has Returned!

I should have known it would happen, it never fails. I had a couple of wonderfully productive days at work, beautiful weather, gorgeous rides to and from work, and then it happened. Got to knit night last night and my bike stalled. This isn't really all that shattering, the clutch is messed up a bit and "touchy" as hubby likes to call it. So it stalled.

I tried to start it again and it wouldn't. Start that is. Wouldn't really even try. It acted all like "My battery is dead, hello!" So I was like, "duh, I can tell that, but I've been riding you all day, why are you dead?" And it was like, "Did you not hear me? My battery is dead". And on and on it went. You can imagine. So what does anyone do in such a situation? Deal with it - later.

Yup, I'm all about Dealing With It Later.

When "later" happened, after several hours of enjoyable, relaxing knitting I tried to pretend that I didn't know what had happened earlier. Tried to ignore the previous discussion I had had with my bike, ignorance being bliss and all, and you know what? It worked!

Shhhhhhh, I'll say it again, but I'm gonna say it really, really quiet: "it worked!"

There we are! Hey, the font sizie thingie is kinda cool! We can go extra large or we can go really small. I'll bet there are colors involved too! Let's see... this is red, and this one is green. Yup! works pretty well. I should play with these buttons more often!

All of this nonsense is a ploy, really, just to throw Murphy off track. And the reason I'm blaming Murphy, is because hubby got my egg fixed and it is now driveable again, so, of course, it stands to reason that my other vehicle would break. We can't have more than one driveable vehicle after all!

Pretty lame post, but that's all I got for you.

Closing in on getting GD's sweater done, just sew it up, put on the binding and do the hoodie thingie. And it's off in the mail. And not a moment too soon (however it is about 4 months too late!)
Coming soon, a picture of said sweater!

Hey, I have another blog now that I'm writing, check it out, I'm the new Knitting Editor (all fancy title, complete with caps!) for Craftgossip.com.

Here we are:
http://knitting.craftgossip.com/

Check me out!!

It's All About Relaxation

I've come to a conclusion that relaxation and having your ducks all in one puddle, that you can actually find, on command, are both related.

This insight all came to me on my ride from work last night (and it only took 50 some years to get to this conclusion)!

Beautiful night, gorgeous, looking forward to the meteor shower and all (it's all about the universe!). But it's a bit chilly on the toes, (wearing socks might have helped, but they were in another puddle - probably in another universe). But I was relaxed because I was riding, and knowing that I'd be witness to a majorly cool solar event later that night (after dinner, laundry, dishes....) And then it rained. Rain = clouds, and clouds = no view of night sky. There's probably a mathematical equation in there somewhere, and I'm sure one of my engineer brothers would love to help me out with that one.

Relaxation is accepting that rain is good, and that meteor showers will be visible again, at another time. The tomatoes and peppers like the rain, as does the corn and cucumbers. And I really don't like watering the garden from the well and since I don't have the watering systems set up yet, that's what has to happen.

Relaxation is knowing I'm right on top of a major life changing deadline at job #1 (and having the confidence to actually acknowledge that I'm right on top of it, and I WILL meet this deadline. (now that I've sufficiently jinxed that one...)

Relaxation is starting a new job without leaving any of the previous jobs and figuring out how to get another hour or so out of every day (it is a part time job, after all). But, hey, the universe will get me through that one, and the extra money will buy me a really, really awesome vacation in January in Colorado.


Relaxation is knowing that I have to have 2 sweaters done by the middle of Sept. and that both of them are nearly done. (I just did the jinx thing again didn't I?). But both are extremely enjoyable and are easy to knit while watching tv (what's that?) or walking.


Relaxation is riding to work with a turkey carcass strapped to the back of the bike, so that even though I have to work until late, my son (who is home from Iraq for another week) can have his turkey noodle soup that he loves (have to make it at work for various reasons, mostly so I only have to cook once, and my Dad can eat too). Gotta love the looks you get from people, although this being farm country and all I'm sure I'm not the only one who has attempted this.....


True relaxation comes in knowing that tomorrow night, come hell or high water, I'm going to my Knit Night, even if I'm late, and even if it's raining and I get wet, cause, well, that's what I want to do.

And most of all, relaxation is having a soft puppy to cuddle with. Awwwwww. No, not the Bu-Dawgh, he's not soft, although he is cuddly. But The Mouth has a Siberian Husky, who is very, very cuddly and of the Soft Enough To Spin His Fur Into Yarn To Later Knit Into Something That Will Hopefully Not Smell Like Dog Hair When Washed variety. Plus, he smiles too, now that's relaxing!

Relaxation is conquering my demons one at a time with a grace and strength (still working on those, but hey, gotta have goals..) that sets me apart from, well, ok, not from anyone else who's ever conquered demons, but they will be conquered. I will whip them into submission. I will win! I will rise victorious, and there will be no jinxing of this! I WILL WIN!
Alot of this recent "I will win" attitude comes from a friend, who recently in an accident, and is now paralyzed from the neck down and may never even breathe on his own again (a Christopher Reeves type of injury) fights his own battle. I'm told he has a 1% chance to breathe on his own again and a 1% chance to actually walk again (if he actually pulls through, and this hasn't been verified yet). This has sparked discussion between myself and hubby about what ifs and what nots. We're fiercely opposed on this one. I'd like to believe I'd take the 1% chance they've given him and make it 2. Then make it 4. And go from there. Hubby, not so much. I'd like to believe I got this attitude from my Dad, who fights his own battles daily with a fierceness unparalleled, but on the same plane also hope I never have to find out. I'd like to believe that if forced into a fight such as this one, I'd be able to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, again, hopefully I'll never find out, I'm afraid I'd fall far short of my own expectations.

But, it's all about relaxation, and ultimately, taking what life throws at you, making the best of it, and smiling through it.

And that's deep enough for now!

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!

A Whole Gob of Randomness!

Guess I'm gonna need a new picture pretty soon!

This post will be fairly random, kind of in a random mood today. This is never good as usually it ends up being fairly unproductive.

Why is that? Because today is the day that the folks come home. They winter in Arizona. This just isn't fair. Who ever thunk up the idea about leaving this Winter Wonderland Where The Snow Keeps Coming and Coming and spending their hibernation months in greener pastures should be shot had a pretty good idea. Why stay and fight the snow when someone will do it for you, you know, keep your driveway plowed, keep the roof shoveled off, deal with frozen water and sewer lines.... stuff like that.

There's ALMOST no snow left, just in spots where it was banked up and my Mother's daffs are starting to peek up. They are on the north side of the house so it takes a bit longer for them to creep out of the ground. She'll be glad to see them.

I found a turkey nest full of eggs yesterday. Don't know how long they've been there or if they've frozen or not but I marked and put them in the incubator anyway. The egg count is up to 28. Maybe I won't need to buy birds this year after all!

Still making ice at night. The waters are all clear of ice but there's a skim of ice on our farm pond as well as any puddles every morning. Usually gone by midmorning, the sun is bright and warm (warm is a relative term up here, we realize that, just like cold is relative down south) yet you still see the glare of ice for a few hours in the morning..

Hubby hooked up the battery charger to my bike last night. Watching the weather but I'm thinking tonight might have to be the first ride of the season. I'd love to start riding to work tomorrow, we'll see.

My Wings lost last night to Nashville. Hubby says the games are fixed. He's a bit of a pessimist but it does make sense. The organization would make a ton more money if eaach round went the full 7 games. Next game is Wed. nite. We'll win I just know it. It's a best 4 out of 7 series, and we've already won 2 of the 3 played. The stash busting is a logo from a group I joined, a whole bunch of us hockey fanatics (Wing-Nuts) who are using the playoffs as an excuse to finish up some knitting projects.



Friday I will be without my Bu-Dawgh for the first time. I'm sure I'll survive, not sure he will. How can you be the Poster Puppy For Separation Anxiety if you don't have your mommy to hold you at night? But this is a necessary separation. He's going to visit the Nice Lady Down The Road who will take care of our little territorial issues. I don't have a problem with him marking outside, but I kinda think the house is my territory, I already know that. I don't have to mark it but for some reason he feels the need. Again it's my house, the cats have the barn. And Bu-Dawgh is just gonna have to adjust!

Tonight if I have time I'll try to finish cleaning off the deck. Get the firewood piles consolidated, sweep it off nice, and get out the deck chairs. Also get more seeds started. It's too cold to leave them out yet so I have to bring them in at night. I have an old black plastic tarp that I put them on during the day if it's sunny so they stay plenty warm.

Counseling of the Snowbanks has Been Postponed!

And we won! Touch and go until about the last 11 seconds, but they pulled it off! Go Wings!! One more game until the playoffs start. Of course it goes without saying that I'll have to totally clear my schedule so the whole playoffs can be monitered. I mean, who could live with the fact that a favorite team lost solely because I wasn't there to watch?


And the 120 Days Ago Sweater is DONE. Wait, let me repeat that for the benefit of all of you who have been following this saga since before 120 days ago. The 120 Days Ago Sweater is DONE!!! Not blocked yet, but here it is in all its unblocked glory! Complete with Bu-Dawgh, who of course insisits on being in almost every picture, as cute as he is, who could resist??

When I got home from work last night, I found that the Counseling of the Snowbanks could be postponed, hopefully indefinitely. No doubt it was my threats that spurred them on to further melting. The 52 deg. on the bank clock may have had something to do with it, but I'm going with that they are just flat out in aweful respect of my counseling abilities. So when do we start riding? Well.... while the road is clear, there is still the matter of the snow and ice from the barn to the driveway, so either I wait until that melts (I'm nothing if not teachable, and I did learn this one the hard way) or ask hubby to get the bike out (he's not teachable, and that's all I'm saying on that issue!)

Dirt! That's the word of the day! I found dirt in my pasture. And a picture has been posted for your viewing satisfaction, or to prove that we really don't live in snow and ice 12 months out of the year. It's only the tip of my compost pile, but it's there, so this weekend seeds will be started! I'm so excited! Yeah, there's nothing like a bit of dirt to get me all ready for spring and everything. And today it's supposed to rain, so I will find more dirt tomorrow to start seeds with. There have been seed starting supplies on my front porch for almost a month now, how's that for optimism?


Turkey egg count is at 11, nothing has hatched yet, but anytime now!

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!

Random Stuff

A few random thoughts pinging around in my little brain. You're in for a treat I tell ya.

No knitting has gone on this weekend. Not one stitch, not one knit, not one purl, and definitely no ripping. That in itself was a good thing.

I need to speak to the people who schedule sports events around the globe. How is it that Nascar and NHL both have an event going on, neither of which I can miss, on Sunday afternoon? On the good side, we (Red Wings) tromped the Predators. Well, maybe not tromped, but we did win. I always like to watch these two teams battle it out. There's a history between them and the intimidation games that take place within the Flinging Of The Puck Toward The Net game are just as much fun to watch as the actual Flinging Of The Puck. On the other side of the coin, my fantasy Nascar team needs to step it up a bit. My points are waaaaayyyyyy, well..... down.

The water in my barn is frozen again. OK. enough! There! I've said it. I'm always the last to say Enough to Mother Nature's yearly Winter Games but I've said it now. Now we can maybe climb out of the single digits at night and a bit higher than 23 during the day.

My electric bill arrived with it's always fun surprises. For some reason this month was a bit higher than the previous month. I don't know why. We heat with wood so there's no furnace that requires a fan which requires electricity. In the winter I do a lot of my cooking on the woodstove, so it's not the electric range. I suspect hubby's aquarium. That has to be it. I don't know what else it would be. Certainly none of my computer stuff, or washer and dryer, freezers, or all the little black boxes that are hooked to the tv. So, the sooner I can start slogging through the snow out to my clothesline the better. I've done this before, it's no biggie. I had at one time 2 kids in cloth diapers in the UP of Michigan with no dryer. I hung them out. All winter. I survived to tell about it, and I do regularly.

Gas prices? what's up with that??? Well, they're up, again. My truck gets about 11 miles to the gallon. Before you tsk tsk me for driving such an inefficient vehicle, this is my farm truck. I need this truck. I've not yet met a Geo that will haul critters or hay as well as my farm truck. And besides that I really love my truck, even though it only gets 11 mpg, going downhill, with the wind, on a good day. I seriously need to figure out a way to turn all of this manure we make on a daily basis into fuel. But until then, I should get to work, you know, my paying job. But, first I have to haul water out to the livestock in my 5 gal. bucket that lives by the side door. That's a log of hauling, so we're back to the water in the barn being frozen again. Let not go through that again, shall we?

Besides, once the ice is off the roads and I'm certain it will stay off for at least a few months, I'll pull my bike out of the barn. That get's lots better gas mileage!

I think I'll paint it this year. To match hubby's bike. And spruce it up a bit. But until I can get it out of the barn......