The Chickens Have Landed

My chickens are getting "old".

The base flock are Golden Buffs 

(red sex links)

which are a hybrid breed,

"designed" for heavy laying.

They start laying early.

And they lay A LOT.

But only for a short time.

About a year and a half, tops.

Which is why I have 64 chickens

and I get an average of 26 eggs a day.

SOMEBODY is slacking!

Most of my girls are Buffs.

There are a few random others mixed in

that I have gotten from people getting

out of chickens.

I have a couple Barred Rocks.

An Easter Egger,

and a white Silkie.

Some of them are molting, and not laying.

But most of them are coming to the end of

their laying careers.

So...

I ordered the next round of layers.

This time I'm doing exclusively Golden Buffs.

They will all be little red hens.

(Most of the older girls are black, white, red or a combination)

They came today.

I got a call from our local post office

at 7:00 this morning.

They weren't open yet,

but kind of anxious to get rid of them.

They are a little NOISY.

Although when I opened the box,

most of them were catching a quick nap.

I counted each one (and checked their health)

as I took them out of the box and

set them near the water and food.

They were hatched on Monday

and have had nothing to eat or drink yet.

They were HAPPY to see the water!

And didn't take long to figure out the food.

The neighbors weren't sure what to make of them.

Lucy meets the new neighbors
Cutest picture EVER!

But you gotta admit.

They are ADORABLE!

And there are a LOT of them.

I ordered 50.

They snuck in 2 extras.

SO CUTE!!!!!

Soggy

It has been raining.

A lot.

Not like Colorado or anything.

But...

Poor Rod has to try to deliver fuel.

In the rain.

Every night.

It gets old.

The sun has been peeking through the clouds.

Until Rod leaves for work.

This was the intersection as he gets into town.

Nice.

Yum! Make This... SOON!

I promise, I'm NOT going to become a "foodie".

But if you haven't decided what to cook for dinner yet,

may I make a suggestion?

This is called

"Melt in Your Mouth Chicken"

I have no idea who to credit.

I saw it while wandering around on the internet

and visited about a gazillion sites.

Jotted it down in my notebook

for "some day" and then

decided to give it a try.

(Since I had everything in my pantry...)

HA!

Pantry!

That sounds so uptown.

But it sounds better than

"on the kitchen counter and in the fridge"

which is actually the case.

I've been doing a new way of eating.

It's not a diet.

It's a way of eating.

But as a result, I have lost 7.6 pounds 

and 11.25 inches

And Rod has lost 12 pounds

and who knows how many inches

(but his belly is shrinking...)

I "started" a month ago.

Rod joined me about 3 weeks ago.

(Kyle eats what we eat, but supplements with junk.)

(Like last week he ate a gallon of Blue Bell Ice Cream.)

(Must be nice to be 22 and weigh 6 pounds.)

Anyhow.

If nothing else, it is forcing me to cook.

And it's saving quite a bit of money.

Since I haven't had any soda or fast food

in a month.

Just not buying Sonic for breakfast and Wendy's for lunch

is saving gobs of $$$ a month!

So anyway...

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken.

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup fat free Greek yogurt -plain

1 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Spread mixture over 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, 

bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes--

Absolutely Delish!

Yah, I take awesome pictures.
Wish you could smell this...

I served it with a side of spaghetti squash with butter

and a little parm cheese.

EASY.

And boy howdy, it's delicious!

Skippers

My family is well known for skipping.

Just ask our High School teachers!

*and Mom...

But this summer, we took skipping to another level.

Grandma Sondra and Grandma Nancy

(I love calling them that!)

bought a set of Double Dutch ropes

for Soni's granddaughters.

EVERYBODY had fun trying them out.

I, unfortunately, didn't get video of everybody.

But here are a few of the ones I DID get...

Syd has been skipping AT school for a couple of years.

She's great!

Zoe is a talented little skipper!

Wish I had gotten video of them skipping together - impressive!

Kyle got into the act.

He has NEVER skipped before.

(That I know of... lol)

But then Grandma Nanc showed them ALL up.

Go Granny Go!

Almost makes you wanna go grab some rope.

Almost...

A Sign?????



I woke up cranky today.

One of my students was sick Sunday.

And several of my co-workers

have been “playing hurt”.

(They come to work sick…)

Yesterday, after bragging I never get sick…

(that’ll learn me…)

I started feeling the old scratch in my throat.

The minute I got home, I took (3) D3’s and

(3) Oil of Oregano capsules.

Another round before bed.

Woke up at 3:30-ish with my throat

absolutely ON FIRE!

Tossed and turned (and drank water)

until about 4:45 and finally

went back to sleep.

This morning it is just the tiniest bit scratchy.

So you would think I would be happy!

BUT…

Last night I went to our Relief Society

“whatever they are calling it now”.

It was a brief demonstration on dehydrating.

There were only 6 women there.

Our ward is TERRIBLE about attending these.

The sister did a nice job and then we sat

and visited and ate kale chips and jerky.

When I got home I whipped up a quick

jalapeno cheese quesadilla with sliced turkey.

YUM.

And then Kyle and I watched a little TV

and I headed to bed.

When my throat woke me up,

I remembered I never went back out to close the coops.

Darn it.

Probably the raccoon won’t notice one night.

Probably they are fine.

Probably if they aren’t it is too late.

(grin)

When my alarm went off and I got up,

the girls were all still asleep.

So I quickly hung their feed and got the horses’

grain ready and in their buckets.

Andy has TERRIBLE manners when it comes to food.

He stands at the gate and bangs and bangs and bangs

with his hoof – basically screaming FEED ME NOW!

Which ALWAYS ticks me off.

But this morning he woke up all the chickens

and they came flying out of their coop.

Which means I have to try to feed them,

In the dark,

With them all surging around my feet.

Hard to do in the light.

A ROYAL PAIN in the pre-dawn.

(And my little miner’s head-light is dieing…)

So I was cranky.

Made him wait and come in last.

Not that it will fix anything.

It rained HARD in the early morning hours

so the pasture behind the barn was under water.

Which meant I had to go through a slippery,

Icky, mud/water puddle/lake to put out the hay.

Which made me cranky.

Everything else went smoothly,

But I was still cranky.

Just enjoying a little tiff.

Sometimes you just gotta blow off a little steam.

At least that’s my story.

And I’m sticking to it.

But when I got to work,

that all changed.

You just CAN’T be cranky when you see this.

BONUS:

See the “end of the rainbow”?

Where the famed pot o’ gold resides?

  

It’s pretty close to right above the airport.

Where Rod’s new job is.

A sign?

And now I’m not cranky anymore.

(It’s awesome to have a Heavenly Father who loves you…)

What's Up These Days...



Helloooooo…

Where aaaaarrrreee yoooouuuu?

I’m here.

I’m just busy.

And boring.

LOL

So.

There has actually been lots going on.

I just haven’t blogged about it.

First and foremost.

ROD GOT A NEW JOB!!!!!

But we don’t know when he starts.

Or what shift he works.

Or anything else.

So while it’s EXCITING as can be,

It’s hard to get “for-reals” excited.

Yet.

(And I have that teeny tiny voice in the back of my head

warning that if I talk about it, I’ll jinx it…)

(So this is me, not talking about it…)

(Thanks everybody for your prayers,

sorry to keep you in the dark)

(LOL)

Let’s see.

What else.

Oh.

At my teaching job we have switched over

to a new system where the instructor is now in charge

of inputting all “walk-in” students and then at the end

of class inputting all their hours for that session.

Also printing our own rosters and certificates of completion.

Which, of course, meant I needed to buy a printer.

I found an inexpensive ($39) HP 1000 at WalMart.

I brought home my work laptop.

Hooked up my printer.

Nothing.

So I called IT to have them sign on as

“administrator”and do it for me.

Except that they don’t work in the evening.

I work 7:30 to 4:00 every day.

So do they.

Sigh.

So…

Rod to the rescue.

He spent over an hour (two days in a row)

messing with IT and my silly brick/laptop

(hey, it was free…)

But…

NOW IT WORKS!

Thanks Honey!!!

Then, a week ago, he decided it had been

too long since he had last changed my oil.

So he bought all the stuff to change it.

And the tube the dip-stickie thing sticks in

came off in his hand.

(or something like that…)

(I’m a little light on my mechanical stuff since Kyle

took over as Chief Mechanic’s Mate)

Had to order a new dip-stickie tube thing.

And wait til Monday to pick it up.

So I borrowed his Honda and drove down to school.

That’s a fun little car to drive!

(I haven’t driven a Honda since 1977 – Rodney…)

(And we all know how THAT turned out…)

(May he R.I.P.)

I drove the Honda all week.

Rod drove the Trooper.

Without air conditioning.

He is such a good guy!

This past Friday, he finally had a day off and enough

time to get back under the hood.

And under the truck.

And REALLY dirty.

Turned out he practically had to take the entire

truck apart to get this stupid dip-stickie tube thing

installed.

It required hours and hours,

much help from Kyle,

many many paper towels,

muscles,

grunting,

you know…

Man Stuff.

As the sun went down, I blew a kiss

(He was REALLY dirty)

and jumped back in the Honda.

Saturday he got it ALL DONE.

(And Kyle washed my truck.)

THANK YOU GUYS!!!!!

But then, I remembered that the new

company policy states we can’t leave our

class final exams at the school.

They MUST be stored off-site.

So I keep them in a box in the backseat of my truck.

Which was currently 122 miles from where I needed them.

Rod to the RESCUE!

AGAIN!

He found them,

took one apart,

scanned it

and emailed it to me!

Thank goodness for my new little printer

(and the extra ream of paper and ink cartridge I

“picked up on a whim”)

(Thank you Heavenly Father!!!)

School was out at 6:50.

I finally finished printing 16 new exams at 9:30.

But I had good music to listen to.

(Yup, The Piano Guys)

And was ready to go on Sunday.

Whew!

There’s other stuff going on too…

but this is long enough.

So…

Stay tuned.

I might even talk about it tomorrow!

Cauliflower

Do you like cauliflower?

I love it.

It's yummy.

I usually just steam it with a little butter.

But tonight I tried a recipe I found online.

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/01/better-than-potatoes-cheesy-cauliflower.html

It was YUMMY!

This is her picture.

Mine isn't nearly as pretty.

But it's just as tasty!

And...

it was EASY!

And fast!

And delicious!

Home Run!

Kyle wouldn't try them.

Which means there will be leftovers for us tomorrow.

(grin)

Meanwhile, I haven't done a sunset in awhile.

Tonight's was really pretty!

Of course, today was also the 12th anniversary of

September 11.

There were lots of tributes on the radio today.

It's hard to believe it has been 12 years.

But listening to the recordings, it felt like today.

I hate it when I cry at my desk.

PS - thanks everybody for prayers for Rod.

I'll keep you posted...

Peanut Butter

Ha!!!!

I honestly didn't think it would work.

Which is why I didn't take any 

"before"

pictures.

But here's the after...

I took a jar of plain, roasted, unsalted peanuts.

Like these.

Actually it WAS these.

They went into the food processor.

And we (Kyle was my helper) turned it on.

Good thing he was there.

It's pretty thick.

He had to "shake" the machine to keep it moving.

The peanuts turned into little chunks.

Then they turned into concrete.

Then they turned into a big ball.

And FINALLY they turned into peanut butter!

Which I put into cute little jars and stuck in the fridge.

Tastes GREAT!

(But I might add a little Truvia - I'm used to sweeter peanut butter...)

(Thanks Jiff...)

I have a couple of recipes I want to try 

that call for unsweetened peanut butter.

So now I'm ready to give 'em a try...

The Piano Guys

I’m at work.

And I’m working hard.

But The Piano Guys put out a new YouTube video.

So I watched it on my phone.

Which got me stuck on YouTube watching

The Piano Guys videos.

I have to say…

I’m a “little” addicted to these guys.

I play them on my iPod when I’m walking in the woods.

I play them on my iPod when I’m working in the barn.

I play them on my iPod when I’m riding my horse.

I play them on my computer

(and put them on the BIG screen)

before class.

(and my students love them too!)

Last month while we were vacationing in Utah,

we stopped by a nifty resort to check out possible

locations for our next reunion.

And look what I saw in the lobby!

  

Oh my stinking heck!

(That’s  a Utah saying…)

Unfortunately, it was Saturday night.

The same night we were celebrating my

wonderful parent’s 60^th wedding anniversary.

Confession time.

I was a little tempted.

If you haven’t yet… check them out!



Chicken Lady

My family calls me The Chicken Lady.

We now have nearly 60 chickens.

They follow me everywhere!

They especially love it when I am feeding the horses.

The horses often "spill" their feed.

And the girls clean it up.

I've definitely noticed fewer flies since I've been letting them out.

This is a TERRIBLE picture of me.

The angle makes me look like I weigh 200 pounds.

Sheesh.

I generally toss them a little "scratch"

while I feed everybody and get their

fermented feed ready.

It's a little like giving the kids a snack while 

fixing dinner.

Otherwise they are under my feet.

There's not enough room for all of us in the feed room.

This little white girl with the black face

is our new silkie, Fluffy.

She's SUPER shy.

Very flighty.

Hard to get near, and certainly

hard to take pictures of.

Next to her is our new Easter Egger.

Cleverly named Bunny.

She has been laying a blue egg about every other day.

Pearl (our Pearly White Leghorn) lays the

stark white egg on the top left.

The first time I thought it was a joke!

We don't name all 60 girls.

Just the unique ones.

The weather has been a LITTLE cooler this week.

With slightly lower humidity.

We've gotten a few more eggs each day.

Yesterday we got 35!

Today's haul was 30.

I have 15 dozen to sell.

I'm hoping to get another 2 dozen tomorrow.

I take them over to the CSA on Wednesday evenings,

so we should be able to sell 17 dozen.

Not bad!

Especially since their chickens still aren't laying well...

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday my darling Dad turned

82!!

He and Mom went down to Butte Montana to spend

the weekend with Mom's sister Karen

and her son Craig and his family.

Now, my dad is 82.

So how did he celebrate the big day?

He and Craig and the kids went to the gym.

And they worked out.

And then they got in the pool

and swam for 45 MORE minutes.

Cuz that sounds like a nice, relaxing way to spend the day,

right?

Then the whole gaggle went out to dinner.

To this nifty place in town that gives you your age

in % off your dinner.

So, Dad got 82% off his dinner.

He ordered a pound of crab legs.

LOL!

My Dad is no slouch.

He and the guys climbed Mt. Timpanogos 2 weeks ago.

Not ALL of it,

cuz they only had a couple of hours.

But still!

Dad and I have always had a shared love of horses.

One of my favorite memories of my Dad is one day

when he taught me the meaning of true patience.

We borrowed the Robertson's horses, Conker and Sassy.

Rode them, bareback, across Fish Creek and up

to a field in the middle of nowhere.

Then we got off and let them graze for a little

while we walked around and stretched our legs.

Eventually it was time to get back on.

Dad can swing up on a horse bareback like an Indian.

I, on the other hand, do a running jump thing

and then flap my legs and kick and flail

and eventually grunt and groan myself onto my horse.

Poor horse.

(which is why I almost NEVER ride bareback)

Dad decided to teach me to hop on the right way.

He showed me where to put my hands.

Where to put my feet.

How to move my weight.

How to step.

How to hop.

What he couldn't show me was how to get spring in my step.

You've heard the expression "white men can't jump"?

I don't know about that.

But I can tell you....

this girl can NOT jump.

He showed me.

I tried.

He tweaked.

I tried.

He showed me again.

I tried.

He coached.

I tried.

After what felt like 2000 tries,

he sighed and quietly gave me a leg up.

My Dad.

He's gentle.

He's kind.

He's patient.

He's loyal.

He works hard to stay healthy.

He makes a KILLER smoothie.

He loves his family.

And his family loves HIM!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!