Beautiful Morning

It was another beautiful morning this morning.

Wanna see?

Yah, I know, that old rabbit hutch needs to go.

But it provides shade in the little coop.

So it stays.

For now...

Hi Mama!

(And the bunnies in the background)

(Still no babies)

They say the males go sterile in the heat of the summer.

Breakfast!

The girls LOVE their fermented grains.

I have 4 troughs spread around the yard

so they can spread out a little.

Mama and some of her little fluffy babies

They nearly disappear in the weeds

Rocky is still going strong.

And now we have a new Barred Rock.

And she doesn't limp.

Back?

We had a glitch.

The water-er in the girl’s coop was broken.

I thought it was just not level.

It was leaking.

Running out of 5 gallons of water.

Twice a day.

Which meant the girls were thirsty.

I didn’t put 2 and 2 together fast enough though.

We finally got it figured out.

And we fixed the problem.

So we thought.

But we were wrong.

So we went out and bought a new water-er.

It all appears to be back on track.

This is the calendar in my kitchen.

I mark on there the daily egg count.

(And other momentous chicken/rabbit events…)

 

Notice we were getting lots of eggs at the beginning of the month.

Then we had babies.

Then we quit getting eggs.

I thought the “Aunts” were jealous.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Nope, they were just thirsty.

But once we got it fixed

they went right back “on line”.

My various egg clients will be HAPPY to hear that.

Oh.

And last night I did a “bed/roost check”.

We now have 58 adult hens.

And 7 two-week old babies.

The new 9 girls didn’t lay yesterday.

But I imagine it will take a couple days

to acclimate to the new place

and get back into production.



New Girls

I met a new friend this week.

Her name is Kathy.

She has a BEAUTIFUL farm in our town.

But she has decided she would like to move a little closer to town.

A little more like city/country living.

So they are moving tomorrow,

to a community behind our house,

1.5 acre lots,

BIG houses,

no animals.

So she needed a home for some of her animals.

I was happy to take 9 of her layer hens.

I didn't take her turkey

or her rooster.

She caught them last night and put them in dog crates.

Rod and I drove over early this morning and picked them up.

Put them in our medium coop.

We have a new Barred Rock (the one with the stripes)

Two random white hens (possibly white rocks)

4 standard red production hens

an Easter Egger

and a little white Silkie.

Kyle wanted a Silkie when we bought our last hens,

but they didn't have any at the time.

They make GREAT broody Mamas.

We'll keep them segregated for a couple of days.

Make sure everybody is healthy.

(They look good though)

And then let them out to "general population"

before we leave for vacation

and Jim takes over animal control at our house.

Welcome Ladies!

Now GET TO WORK!

(grin)

Lemonaide

What a morning.

My alarm went off at 6:00.

I hit the snooze, cuz I had just heard Rod come in the door.

So I got to snuggle for a minute or two before it went off again.

At 6:15.

Which means my complex morning choreography would need

to be tweaked and closely adhered to.

So…

Naturally…

I went to the barn.

Hung the fermented chicken feed so it could drain.

Put feed in the horses’ feed buckets.

Not looking first.

CJ’s had about 2 inches of water in it.

(We got LOTS of rain overnight…)

Whatever

Brought in the horses.

Closed Buddy’s gate behind him.

Closed CJ’s gate behind him.

Saw the neighbor’s 2 cats crossing the pasture.

Unusual…

So I stood and watched for a minute.

And then realized I was standing in a fire ant hill.

And now my cowboy boots were full of them.

Ran to the feed room (the only place with a floor)

pulled off my boots and frantically flailed at my feet

and legs to remove the little nasties.

So now I have burning/itching bites on my toes,

between my toes,

on my calves,

and my fingers.

(And one gratuitous one on my forearm…)

Whatever

Then I dashed up to the house and let the dogs out.

And heard a loud noise from the barn.

DARN IT!

I forgot to close Andy’s door,

so he was taking full advantage and

let himself into the feed room,

popped the lid off the metal can

and was helping himself to the rabbit food.

Ran through the giant puddle/lake in front of the barn

(getting good and wet in the process)

(but cool rainwater feels good on ant bites!)

(SCORE!)

and pushed him out of the feed room.

So, naturally, instead of going out to the pasture,

he headed out to the middle yard by the house.

Whatever.

Got the hay, put it in the pasture,

got Andy, put HIM in the pasture,

let the others out into the pasture,

closed the gate.

Grabbed the chicken feed and poured it into

the girl’s troughs.

Put some in the little coop for Mama and her babies.

Noticed feathers.

Checked.

No “extra” brooder.

(I have/had another black chicken who was going broody,

sitting in the nest in the middle coop,

my fault – I didn’t kick her off or lock her in…)

She was gone.

Only feathers left.

Good thing I didn’t order eggs for her to sit on.

Whatever.

I don’t have time to deal with it right now.

Let the chickens out for the day.

Called the dogs IN for breakfast.

They ignored me.

The neighbor’s cats had headed home and got caught half way there.

By the dogs.

“Treed” on the trailer in the back of our property.

All 3 dogs going nuts.

Whatever.

Go to the house to put out dog food.

Hoping they will either catch the cats or give up.

Walk back out.

They are still running around like idiots at the back of the property.

Grab a rope.

Meanwhile, the neighbors are out of town for the weekend,

so the lady who takes care of their horses arrives.

The cats see her, know it means food,

they take the gamble and jump the fence and go home.

Now my dogs are bored,

realize I am calling them to breakfast

and come running.

(I’m looking at my watch… I have 6 minutes to be on the road to work)

Check all the gates.

All are closed.

Everybody is eating their breakfast.

Dogs are in the garage eating theirs.

(Pull the door closed so they are safe inside too…)

Run inside,

Grab clothes.

(Luckily I set them out the night before)

Down my supplements.

Grab my purse and keys.

Jump in the truck.

Low Fuel Light comes on.

Whatever.

Dash down the highway

(driving safely and following all posted speed limit signs)

Only 2 minutes behind schedule.

My mouth feels funny.

DANG IT.

I forgot to brush my teeth!

(Luckily, I keep a tooth brush and paste in my desk…)

Careen (at a safe speed) into the driveway at Sonic.

Big black Cadillac SUV cuts me off and hits the drive-thru first.

And stops at the FIRST sign.

READS THE MENU.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????

3 minutes later, they make their breakfast selection

and pull forward.

(The delivery truck was there too and couldn’t unload cuz

the Escalade was in his way too…)

(We shared some meaningful eye rolls…)

(We are friends now.)

Got my breakfast.

Took longer to run my debit card than to hand me the burrito.

I was now 5 minutes behind schedule.

Whatever.

Made it to my office.

The timeclock program on my computer won’t come up.

Clocked in SIX MINUTES LATE.

Whatever.

Oh, and there’s another storm heading our way.

Dorian is out there churning away.

I’m blaming the grey skies and drizzling rain on him.

HOWEVER.

My husband made it home safely last night.

My pastures are green and lush.

My babies are growing and ADORABLE.

My kitchen is a MESS.

(ha ha ha ha – just tossed that one in there)

I’m OFF this weekend.

When you get handed lemons,

make lemonaide.

And a REALLY LONG BLOG POST!

Have a great Friday!

***And now the sun is shining!  It's a GLORIOUS morning!



Patio Peekers

I let the horses out into the middle yard yesterday before work.

Our lawn mower is broken.

Our grass is getting long.

And the boys are just standing there…

might as well put them to work!

LOL

I guess it was hot.

 

They were all peeking into the house.

Anybody in there?

Got A/C?

Apples?

Watermelon?

Ice?

Oh, THERE you are!

Hi there!

So I let the chickens out into the yard too.

And sat in a chair.

In the shade.

And read a book.

And the horses came back out to join me.

And eat grass.

All is right with the world.

(And the A/C is OFF in the house.)



Blast From The Past

A couple of weekends ago, when I was in Boynton Beach

I was wandering around the radio dial.

Looking for ANYTHING good to listen to.

Sunday morning you have a choice between:

Sunday Morning Evangelists

Sunday Morning Infomercials

Spanish who-knows-what-they-are-saying

So…

I was wandering around the radio dial.

And I found Magic 102.7 out of Miami.

On Sunday morning they play

Wait for it…

Casey Kasem!

From the ‘70’s!

Like, back when I was in high school!

It was a BLAST!!!!

I almost couldn’t wait to get in my truck

Sunday morning and turn on the radio.

In fact, I sat out in the parking lot for awhile,

just listening, while I waited for the students

to start arriving.

I wish my local oldies station would do it too.

It was FUN!



Tragedy and a Near Miss (and other stuff)

 After work yesterday I went out to check the chicks.

After counting over and over and over

it became apparent that we only have 7.

Mama hasn’t had a dust bath in 3 weeks.

So, now that she is unfettered,

she obviously took several during the day.

The floor of the little brooder coop

looks like the surface of the moon.

Including several large holes that now allow

access to the great outdoors

(if you happen to be the size of a golf ball…)

So…

I decided one of the little fluff balls

Took a “walk about” and got “got”

By the pterodactyl “aunts” in the great outdoors.

Meanwhile, I needed to clean out the old nest.

Opened the back and was cleaning (using a kitty litter scoop)

(best invention EVER)

when I heard MANIC peeping.

Glanced up in time to see a little red ball

dashing across the chicken yard as fast as her little legs

would carry her.

Followed by about half of the adult birds

with evil intent in their eyes.

They got her.

Half a second later, I got them.

Reached in and scooped her out of certain death.

Whew!!!

She was so tiny and adorable!

But scared silly,

so I put her back in with Mama.

(She is fine this morning)

Turns out, the wire on the coop is too big.

These little squirts can do just that.

Squirt right on out.

Gathered up some smaller wire

(left over from the rabbit hutches –

those baby buns are tiny too)

And re-wired the bottom half of the coop.

Now they are safe.

Nobody in.

Nobody out.

Further tragedy averted.

(I hope)

*******************************

After all the fun in the coop, Kyle came home

and headed next door on Jim’s 4-wheeler

to reclaim his sunglasses.

The day before, he was over there weed-wacking

along the back fence-line.

Just going along, minding his own business, listening to his iPod.

When suddenly, WHAM!

He got stung by a honey bee right on his eyebrow!

YIKES!

Looking up, he realized he was WAY too close to the hives.

Started running.

Tossed the weed-eater in the back of the Rhino

and took off.

Darn bees stuck with him.

He got several stings.

Including one on his finger while picking 4 of them out

of his hair – and naturally the bee didn’t love being grabbed.

In the process, he lost his sunglasses.

But was willing to write them off.

(grin)

Last night he “snuck over, quiet like a Ninja” and rescued them.

To celebrate, he came home and did donuts in the muddy pasture

right in front of the barn.

Normally the water trough is a white bath tub.

Taken from the house when we moved in.

The roof above the bathroom was damaged in the hurricane.

And the tub took the brunt.

It makes a GREAT water trough.

He had a good time “redecorating”.

And washing it all off.

***********************************

Speaking of bees.

Driving to work this morning, I pulled up behind a

small flat-bed pickup truck loaded with something I

couldn’t identify from a distance.

As I got closer, I discovered it was a dozen or so

bee hives – complete with buzzing bees!

Covered by some “sun cloth”.

I backed off a little.

And rolled up my windows.



Chickies Have Landed! UPDATED

21 days ago I set 12 eggs under my broody hen, Mama.

One of them got cracked and I'm pretty sure she ate it.

Then a week or so later, she decided the blue egg wasn't viable

and she kicked it out of the nest.

I let the rest of the flock have it.

So then we were down to 10.

Today was the day I was hoping to have babies.

When I checked this morning, there was nothing new going on in the nest box.

But when I got home from work tonight...

Mama had moved out of the nest box and down to the floor.

There were a bunch of broken eggs in the nest box.

1 egg was pipped and the baby was partially out.

Peeping like crazy, but the membranes had dried

and she was "shrink wrapped" in them.

Without help, she would die for sure.

So I pried the membranes off her.

Hopefully she'll be ok.

She was pretty weak,

but peeping and peeping.

She was determined.

It took her about 30 minutes, but she 

FINALLY made it under Mama.

Introducing - the babies!

There are 2 eggs left in the nest.

Not much chance they'll do anything....

So - we have 8.

I hope.

They are a variety of breeds,

so they all look different.

I'll be anxious to see what we have.

What breeds.

What sexes.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

All 8 are looking spunky this morning!
"Shrinky" isn't even identifiable.
Yea chicks!

And I have another black hen who looks like she wants to go broody.
I'll watch her for a few days to see if she's serious,
but this morning I got in touch with my egg lady
to see if she will hold back a bunch of blue eggs for me.

I'm gonna get me some Easter Eggers YET!

Company!

We have a house full.

YEA!

Unfortunately, my friend from Arizona

(originally from here)

lost her Dad this week.

So their entire family made the trek down here.

Mom and Dad and youngest daughter drove

down from their new place in Michigan yesterday.

Oldest daughter flew in from Arizona, last night.

Two sons and their wives and kids drove in…

arriving at 4 this morning.

Rod got home at 3.

So it was a busy night.

We have the NOISIEST door on the planet.

It swooshes across the tile floor.

It’s kind of annoying.

Especially since we have folks sleeping on the couch.

Josh, his wife and 2 kids under 2 are in our room.

(The biggest room, the biggest bed, the darkest room…)

Carol and Dayle (Mom and Dad) and youngest daughter

are across the hall in Jim’s old room.

They have the futon and a mattress on the floor.

And a window A/C unit.

Kyle is in his room.

Older daughter and daughter-in-law are on the couch.

I have no earthly idea where her husband is.

Maybe he slept in the van???

They were going to stay at Jim's but it was so late/early...

Rod and I are on blow up mattresses in the office.

We left the gate (electric) open last night

so folks could come in as they hit town.

Which meant, for the first time in YEARS we actually locked the doors.

And my truck.

It was weird.

LOL

There’s breakfast casserole in the crockpot.

(well, maybe not anymore… lol)

3 gallons of milk and some SunnyD in the fridge.

And they brought doughnuts.

(Love company bearing doughnuts!)

I’ll call Rod in an hour or so and have him

put a pork roast and some BBQ sauce in another

crockpot for some pulled pork.

I hope to get to see them sometime today.

I have to leave this evening and head south to teach.

I won’t get back until 9 Sunday night.

But I think they are all planning to head home Sunday

after church.

I didn’t take pictures last night,

But really, after driving for 18 hours

and visiting with grieving family,

who wants their picture taken?

But maybe later today?

Naturally, we have Tropical Storm Chantal

heading in tomorrow.

She has been downgraded,

But will still bring lots of wind and rain.

But in the meantime,

The sunrise was AMAZING this morning.

I love pre/post storm weather.

The sky is so gorgeous

(And the humidity is generally lower).



Florida Living

I love living in Florida.

I love the tropics.

I love the sun.

I love heat.

I even love humidity.

I know.

What you might not know is

just across the river from us

is a little town we used to live in.

It used to be (years and years ago)

a pineapple plantation!

This is a great climate for pineapples.

Last year I bought a pineapple.

And just for fun I put the top in my garden.

It grew a lovely green plant.

But that was it.

I was disappointed.

And I ignored it.

Last night I happened out the front door.

We are backdoor people.

We NEVER use the front door.

Mostly because it’s broken.

We don’t have a key for the lock.

And even if its unlocked, you can’t open it

from the outside anyway.

If the front doorbell rings,

you know it’s someone you don’t know.

And likely don’t want to see.

But now that we have electric fence

around the entire property,

even THAT doesn’t happen anymore.

(We are SO friendly!)

Anyhow.

I happened out the front door.

And look what I found???

 

Also… just for fun.

Here is a gratuitous photo of the sunrise

this morning on the way in to work.

 

Pretty, eh?

Looking out over the river

not the ocean.

The ocean is another mile east.

Jealous yet?

LOL