Green Acres

Yeah, I know...

Makes me want to break out in song too.

But this weekend (and last)

I was substituting in Green Acres, FL.

For reals...



You kind of need to click on it and blow it up to see it.
I was driving!

It was a small class,

but successful.

The folks in charge were really complimentary

and invited me back,

but there is a regular instructor there

(I trained her - she's good).

And the door knob on the office door

is broken and VERY picky.

It took me nearly 5 minutes to get it unlocked

Saturday morning.

Argggh.

And they don't have a real white board

like stuck on the wall.

They have a tiny one on a tripod.

The board is old and has holes and stains

and the tripod isn't very sturdy.

BUT

the real kicker?

I can't get to any of the food establishments

(breakfast and lunch)

without doing a U-turn to get there

AND a U-turn to get back!

My truck doesn't really like to do U-turns.

I love my truck.

But its turning radius leaves much to be desired.

So...

Green Acres Ain't the Place to Be....

(you knew that was coming, right?)



Daily Smile

I try to find something to smile about every day.

This morning,

on my way to work,

the truck in front of me

had something on his roof.

No idea what it was.

But it looked,

for all the world,

like a slab of Brontisaurus Ribs

like Fred Flintstones.

Had me smiling for at least a couple of miles.

In other news...

Rod got me smiling yesterday.

Look what HE did!

Before..... 

After.....



Now all he has to do is wrap the bottom

with hinged wire and the meaties

have a new home!

None too soon either.

Before...

Not really "after"...

How about "during"...

Hideous, aren't they?

The poor things are growing so fast

their feathers can't keep up!

Some Do have feathers coming in.

But they look more like turkeys

than chickens.

Hard to believe they are only 3 weeks old!

The other girls (easter eggers) are

growing, but at a more normal rate.

They are pretty cute still.

I LOVE their eye makeup!

We lost one over the weekend.

No idea what happened to her.

But all her sisters are still doing well.

Can't wait to find out what the

random "rare exotic mystery chick"

might end up being.

PLEASE don't let it be a rooster!

I have one Silkie rooster for sure.

He's learned to crow.

It's much quieter than Fred...

but still.

In other, other news,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARY!

(With his lovely wife, Lisa)

THANK YOU!

I have been CRAZY busy here at work.

We had a glitch.

And it caused MUCH havoc.

They finally decided on a solution.

And we printed out 2,283 pages

that needed to be hand posted.

By the end of the month.

THIS month.

(I can post 20 of these pages in an hour.)

(And I'm FAST.)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I printed out a cheat sheet.

Gathered my troops.

Trained them.

Got them ready.

And the provider FINALLY

(three weeks late)

came through with the electronic files.

(well, 4 of the 6, we're

still hoping for the missing 2...)

WHEW!

Dodged THAT bullet.

(I hope...)

So on the way to work this morning,

I stopped at Publix and bought some

fresh, Florida strawberries

and some Whipping Cream.

Put one of these with a squirt of cream

on everybody's desk this morning.

Thanks for helping out!!!!

(I've been working on a giant project since

mid-February and have about six more

weeks to go - so my team have been

picking up my regular work.)

They are awesome.

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

In other news, Kyle has his phone interview with

the college he hopes to attend this fall, today.

He is SUPER nervous.

Lots of prayers on his behalf today.

And then we have to start working on finding

grants etc to help PAY for this.

More prayers will be needed...

(And then this Florida boy will be heading

to OshKosh Wisconsin for a year...)

MORE prayers will be needed.

And a new coat.

Growing!

Goodness!

Everybody/Everything is GROWING!

These are the baby chicks when they arrived.

And here they are last week.

At one week old.

And yesterday!

I tossed in an Easter Egger just for size comparison.

(She is the little brown girl)

They were all hatched on 2/28.

But those meaties are GROWING!

And EATING!

They eat almost a full horse feed scoop

TWICE a day!

(I'm so glad we moved them to the wire bottom cage...)

And...

and update on the bunnies.

There is a "B" and 2 "C"s.

(There are 5 C's total)

The B is the last from that batch.

Her two kindle mates are livin' the life.

They've been to school for show and tell.

They have two little girls who love them.

She, however, is coming up on 5 pounds.

Yeah!

Then we have 7 D's.

They are only 2 weeks old.

And CUTE!

They just opened their eyes yesterday.

They have moved out of the nest box.

They are hanging out in the back with Mom.

Because THESE guys have taken it over.

Yes, there are NINE.

These are the remaining 9 from Orange's 12

she gave birth to on Sunday.

Three of them were already dead.

We moved the survivors over to Green's nest.

They were going to die anyway.

But maybe, just maybe, they would get fed.

There is a runt in there that might not make it.

But at 1 day old, they are already starting to get hair.

Green gets Mom of the Year Award.

Feeding SIXTEEN babies.

And she's pregnant.

I need a nap.

Happy St. Paddy's

Yes, I'm wearing the obligatory green.

I no longer have little children who delight in

pinching anyone who isn't wearing green.

But I have Rod.

ha ha ha

However, that's about as far as my

St Paddy's Day celebrations go.

So, on to other stuff.

Like death and mayhem.

That's very Irish, isn't it?

I just learned that the Irish

invented the submarine, the tank and

darn... something else war-ish.

Anyhow.

Orange (the dud rabbit)

had TWELVE babies yesterday.

She has been saving up.

However,

she gave birth to them

and promptly ignored them.

She is a crappy mother.

And I need her cage space.

Rod moved Red (another crappy Mother)

in with her, but they tried to fight

to the death.

(which ... well never mind...)

Anyhow.

We put Red in with Bob and the juvies.

But Red and Orange are headed to the gallows.

Today.

If Rod can get one built.

And it's not raining.

(They are forecasting thunderstorms

and possible tornadoes today...)

Anyhow.

I was ticked.

But in other news...

the babies are getting BIG!

(chicks and bunnies)

These are last week's pictures.

Because I'm an idiot, that's why...

Aren't they just the cutest things?

This was at 1.5 weeks.

They turned 2 weeks yesterday

and all had their eyes open.

If it's not raining (see above)

I'll take new/better pictures.

And since it's spring on Thursday,

you just have to have chicks!

Gobs and gobs of them.

The yellow ones are the Cornish Cross.

They have doubled in size.

So they got moved to Red's old cage last night.

They were happy to be able to spread out.

And the little Easter Eggers (brown)

were happy to see them leave.

(So they could actually get some food!)

Those Cornish X EAT like crazy!

Anyhow.

Lots to do today.

Have to work and then attend the

Town Council meeting on behalf of the

Trails and Greenways Committee.

(I'm Vice-Chair)

We are re-re-re-re-doing (yes, we've done it 4 times before)

the grant application for a new ADA bathroom

at the Trailhead.

And we need Town Council's okey dokey.

(Since the town is kicking in $)

Hopefully we are first on the agenda.

I can do my "smile and nod" thing

and then high tail it!

I have things to do!

Gotta make some roasted cabbage!

(I don't like corned beef...)

Except my only cabbage is red.

Oh well,

I'm sure it will be fine....

I'm wearing a green shirt, after all!

Happy Birthday Nanc!

Today is my awesome sister, Nancy's birthday.

She is one above me on the step ladder.

(And in a gazillion other ways too...)

I won't tell you how old she is.

That would be rude.

But HONESTLY,

it's cuz first I would have to figure

out how old I am,

and it's too early to do that kind of math.

Nancy is strong.

Nancy is kind.

Nancy is dizzy.

(ha ha - I've STILL got that stupid song in my head)

Nancy is athletic!

(This is in Utah)

(in the mountains)

(where there is no oxygen in the air)

(wearing ballet flats)

Nancy is a talented jewelry designer.

And a pretty good photographer of jewelry!

(Along with big sister, Soni)

Nancy LOVES people.

You can generally find her listening intently while

someone else shares.

She loves to hear your story.

But these will ALWAYS be my favorite pictures of her.

She is happy.

She is beautiful.

She is doing YOGA at the beach house!

She is my hero.

And I love her.

Dizzy!

Our local radio station plays a "forgotten favorite" every day.

This morning it was

"Dizzy!"

Dizzy, I'm so dizzy

My head is spinnin'

Like a whirlpool

it's never endin'

You're making me DIZZY!

Wow.

Flash back to the 70's much?

It was Nancy's FAVORITE song.

(And all they played on CKXL 1240)

And now it's stuck in YOUR head too.

You are welcome.

Improvements All Around

My darling husband takes such good care of me!

And of my chickens!

The newest babies are growing FAST!

But with the time change, it was still dark

when I went out to look this morning.

(For those of you in Arizona, we are,

once again, 3 hours ahead of you!)

The Cornish Cross (Meaties) "can" be

pasture raised, but "they" say the meat

is more tender if they don't get to do a

ton of running around.

Makes sense.

I only have 20, so there is PLENTY of room

for they in the condo.

The problem is there isn't any room for ME!

I love the condo.

But it's short.

As in not tall.

As in, I have to nearly crawl to get in.

(Cuz I'm not good at duck walking...)

And, I am now, officially, the SHORTEST

human in our family.

Darn you Kyle!

(grin)

So.

Rod took it upon himself

(yup, all by himself)

to fix that situation.

Using his floor jack and his muscles

and his amazing puzzle sovling abilities,

he jacked up one end and stuffed some

cinder blocks underneath.

Then he jacked up the other end

and stuffed some cinder blocks under that.

It's even LEVEL!

Next he is going to frame in the bottom

probably using 2x2s and welded wire

but the trick here is there will be sections,

with HINGES! 

So we can open a section, stick in a rake

and clean out the poop!

(Cornish Cross birds EAT a lot

so they can GROW a lot

which means they POOP a lot.)

BUT

The bonus is,

you can WALK inside.

So no more hanging in the window

trying to change the water and feed!

(See the open window on the side?)

(to the left)

That's where we feed and water.

The two panels on the right

drop down.

The top is where the nest boxes are.

The bottom is because they keep

ignoring the nest boxes and laying on the ground.

Sigh.

In other news...

Last weekend.

He made some major improvements to the

girls BIG coop.

They have six nest boxes in there.

They slant.

So the eggs roll to the back.

And there is a panel so they can't sit on them,

or walk on them,

or peck at them...

But the panel wasn't quite right.

So Rod fixed THAT!

He added another row of wood

to make it harder for them to reach under.

The girls LOVE it!

(That's somebody's body part...)

(She's getting ready to lay her egg...)

And I love it!

It's so quick and easy and convenient.

And the eggs stay CLEAN!

(Except that one up front...)

Which is a nice bonus when you figure

we get between 69 and 72 eggs

EVERY DAY.

That's a LOT of eggs to wash.

(There are 21 dozen eggs on the counter

that need to be washed tonight.)

I love my darling husband.

He really does take amazingly good care of me.

He makes my life so easy!

And really.

What's NOT to love?????

Spring Has Sprung (at least in Florida...)

Sorry to all of you who don't live in Florida.

But here in Florida, all the signs are here.

My oak trees are filling up with green.

(And Kyle's sinuses are filling up with ... )

(SO glad I don't have allergies!)

I saw a bunch of robins the other day.

They stop here on their way to wherever

they are going in the spring.

And there are BABIES.

Baby cows.

Baby sheep.

Baby bunnies.

(Green had EIGHT on Sunday!)

And baby chicks.

Monday brought us 21 Jumbo Cornish Cross

12 female Easter Eggers (they lay colored eggs)

and 1 "mystery" rare exotic.

(Probably some weird rooster.)

The jumbos are for eating.

So they are called "meaties".

Those are the little yellow ones.

They won't be little for very long...

Cute, eh?