Crazy Chicken Lady...

 I didn't used to be a crazy chicken lady. Well, I mean, before I bought chickens. But the whole thing of taking that leap and purchasing chickens in the first place led me down a dangerous path. We just randomly bought all sorts of birds that first year. That was during the covid shut down. We got bantams, silkies (which are bantams), and some layers. We went back the next week and got ducks. We would have kept on buying if we had more room. 

Then we moved to the country and learned about the Yoder Poultry Auction. Held on the last Friday of the month. Except the March and April auctions have grown so large that they are now held on Saturday. But if you go to auctions, you know they are kind of addictive. Not sure if that's the right word. But they pull you in. It's hard to stop bidding on something. We have acquired birds at auction. You also have to pay attention at auction to know what you're buying. Because sometimes they auctioneer will say, "choice," and sometimes they say, "selling the pair," or they might say something about "_____ x's the money...." Maybe there's a cage of 6 of a kind of bird, and they might say, "6 times the money." A lot of times, chicks will be grouped, by 3 or 4 or 6 or more. One year I got duped into 18 times the money. Whoops. But this type of chicken math counts against me. 

I hatched out some chickens last fall with the hope of adding to my flock. My flock never seems to produce to capacity. I currently have 10 hens and I NEVER get 10 eggs in a day. But I've gotten 8 a few times recently. Which is pretty good for my flock. However, of the eggs I hatched, I think it was 12 or 13 hatched. Almost all of them are roosters! I think 4 or possibly 5 are hens. The roos will go to auction in April. They are getting pretty. But I'm also on a quest for filling out my rainbow egg colors. I need a white egg layer. We will need to find a chicken that isn't white, but that lays white eggs. A few years ago, I got some white leghorns, and a California White maybe(?), that laid white eggs. But our white hens seem to get picked off by something.... fox or hawk maybe? They got gone during daytime when they were out free ranging. They simply didn't come home. So now we have no chickens that lay white eggs. And we don't have any blue egg layers now. We have a really pretty light green that is so light it's almost white. And we have some green eggers that lay kind of a sage green color and sometimes they are speckled. The speckled eggs are really pretty. And same with brown egg layers. Of my brown eggers, I have some pretty variations. One lays a light, light brown that is almost a pinkish color or peach-colored. And we have one Welsummer hen and she lays a light brown egg with speckles. And then we have a couple blue copper marans that lay a darker brown egg. I really want a black copper maran, which are supposed to lay the super-rich, super-dark brown eggs. If I had a blue egger, a white egger, and a dark chocolate brown egger, my rainbow would be pretty complete. 

My current egg colors. 

We decided about 3 years ago we wanted to raise silkies. They are pretty little bantams. Very interesting little birds. Sweet and docile. We are in the process of thinning our flock to the higher quality birds. As a general rule, our silkies are pet quality. But last fall we bought some show quality roosters. And a couple of our hens have a higher quality presentation, especially the poof. I think those poofs might be called the crown or crest. Dang, now I am going to have to look it up. Crest. I looked and what I found referred to that poof as the crested head. So anyway, we have been loading the incubator and hatching these little babies. Our last hatch was a little bit of a dud. There were two. Well, I helped one out, so three. But the one that I had to help hatch did not make it. Then last night, I forgot to plug their heatlamp back in. It was too warm in the back room where their brooder cage is, and I unplugged their lamp while it was hot yesterday. But I forgot to plug it back in. So they were cold this morning. I plugged their heat lamp back in. I was super worried about one of them, he couldn't stop shaking. Later today, he passed. This is when I'm reminded that Silkies are a little fragile. I'm hoping we'll find some gorgeous silkie hens this year to add to our flock. This will help us maintain a high quality of hatching silkies. 

Our thinned out Silkie flock

Currently I have two incubators on my counter that can hatch 41 birds. I don't load them full. I load every other egg holder. There's usually a better hatch rate this way. But sometimes I have bad hatches. The first couple times I loaded the incubator, I had a great hatch! Like a 90% hatch. But the "norm" or average hatch rate is about 50%. Sometimes I make that, or a little higher, and sometimes they are just duds. So my last hatch was a bit of dud. 

I'm getting ready to load the other incubator and try again and see what happens. 

This crazy chicken lady is going to something called "Chick Chat" this weekend. It is supposed to have free samples of feeds and stuff. But it's dangerous letting me loose in a farm store this time of year. 

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Random Stuff on day 3 of Spring Break

 Man I tried so hard to bang out a blog post before it was too late last night. I kept nodding off. But the last time wasn't a nod off, it was a full on sleep. I jerked awake at 1 something. It was time to call it a draw and just go on to bed. 

So I am determined not to give in today. I WILL complete this post! lol. 

My favorite way to write is randomly. Random ramblings about my day/week/situation. This kind of writing is cathartic for me. But that being said, I hope you can follow. I write like I talk, and I talk like I think, and that's a whole lot of ADHD. 

Today I met with a friend for coffee. We haven't met for coffee for 5 years! It was so good to be together today! This girl brings sunshine to every room and I love her. I'm so lucky/blessed to have her as a friend. My friend heart is happy tonight. 

When I returned home, I decided to just start this sour dough journey, right or wrong. So I mixed up a gluten free starter and a not gluten free starter and put them in the oven with the light on. We'll see what happens. I'm equal parts terrified and excited about this project. What do I do with the discard? I think you start discarding at day 3. That discard won't be bubbly and fermented. So is it worthless? I don't know yet. I'll pursue it further before then. But I'm super excited to try and make crackers sometime. 

Then my daughter asked me if I wanted to do her nails. Of course! My daughter is a nail tech. She's taught me a little bit. I love being creative. So this was a fun adventure for me.

I was outside talking on the phone. I have a phone call every week at this time, and on this day with my friend Sally. While I was on the phone, I'm walking around outside. We hear the goats bleating. Because that's what goats do. They are noisy little critters. But I look at them and laugh and keep walking. As I come around the other side of the goat pen, onoe of my girls is getting humped by another goat. I'm still on the phone and trying to figure out what is happening. Is this one of those goat-in-heat things where there's a little girl-on-girl action? Wait. What? NOooooo! It's the same goat I was laughing at when it was bleating around the corner back there, in his own pen! How is he in here with the does?! I end my call. I call inside and tell my daughter to get outside and help me. So she comes out. I have the little buck off of the doe (his MOTHER) when she gets there. We get the buck back to the other pen and start investigating where he got out. As we're walking to the corner of the pen to see if there's a gap in the fence, Dobby, our little escape-artist buck, sticks he head under the fence in the corner where we noticed it was bent back a little. He sticks his head under the fencing and starts to shimmie through that gap. So we now know where he's getting through the fence. So we go back and strengthen and repair the fence. Boys in their pen. Girls in their pen. 

I don't know if I've mentioned this recently, but I love collecting eggs. I collected eggs this morning when I let the chickens and ducks out. I have 5 ducks and collected 5 eggs. And three chicken eggs. My chickens lay brown and green eggs. I'm still chasing the rainbow. I need a white egg layer and a blue egg layer. And maybe a deeper brown, or a red. That deep, deep brown that looks red. 

Dinner tonight was smoked sausages on the grill, fried potatoes, and cream corn. Not to brag, but.... I make some damn good cream corn. It was even canned corn. It was good though! Worthy of seconds. Yes I did have me some seconds. 

Now I sit here attempting to type and nodding off. So while I know this may not be the most interesting post I've ever typed, I can't afford to go back to spice it up. I'm just too tired. Today was a good day. 

Spring Break: day one

 I want to know.... Are you addicted to comments on your posts? 

I think I am. When I look and see, yes, I had more people click on my blog than any day before but no one commented, my heart feels broken. And it's kind of like I don't get it. I keep going back to check to see if there's a comment now. or maybe now. Not yet? Well, maybe now? 

First day of Spring Break. We went to town and each of us had appointments. Then I had a meeting that lasted an hour, and it was time to pick up Kiddo from your treatment. Then we headed home. But I do feel like I've accomplished exactly nothing yet today. And it's time to go take care of animals... *sigh* what will I have time to accomplish? 

Oh, wait, one thing I accomplished. Someone is asking me about kittens. So I sexed them and took pics. This lady only wants females. So I sent pictures of the sweet little girls. 

Next will be caring for animals. and it's my night off for making dinner. I hope to get garden seeds planted this evening yet. And I hope to get the potato planting ready. We are planting in feed bags this year. 

I also want to make my sour dough starter tonight. I hope we get that going. Along with more reading, about the sourdough, because there's so much I don't know. 

I leave you with pics of the girl kittens. They look a lot alike in the pics but seriously they are three different kittens. 

Home

 It was great weekend get away, but I'm so glad to be home. 

Home

where they miss you when you're gone. 

I missed them.

The children of mine

I'm so grateful 

they keep things running 

in my absence.

I missed 

laughing with my girls,

puppy dog snuggles, 

kitten kisses, 

cats on my lap.

Home holds those routines

that bring order to my life.

Feeding the animals,

gathering eggs, 

taking out the trash, 

and making dinner.

Home is where 

it all hangs out.

The good, the bad, the mundane. 

Home is where it's "safe"

to feel my feelings, 

to laugh and cry,

to process, 

to do the work.

Home, 

a great place to leave in dust 

every once in a while. 

Home, 

a great place to come back too. 

Selfishly Speaking

 They say that self care isn't selfish. But boy it sure does feel like it. Sometimes in a guilt-laden way, and sometimes in a luxurious day. Today is the luxurious kind. I have retreated to a women's sleepover with people who are like me. And it feels absolutely luxurious. I know the animals are taken care of and so far, the kids are taking care of each other. So that is a great relief. And I've been running around with friends. I found out that I forgot a lot of things. A camp chair, a pillow, a towel, shampoo, body wash. Normally, I wouldn't mess with it. The towel, shampoo, body wash part. But since I got in a hurry and left without showering I needed these things. So last night included closing down Walmart to shop. I only gave in to one bargain that I "needed." A pair of kids slippers. That fit me. For $3. It's been all about me. What do I want. And maybe that isn't the definition of self care. I am not sure. But whatever. At this moment, with these people, I am happy. 

Today we are going thrifting. I have a little cash to spend so it should be fun. Let's be honest, time with these girls, its' always fun. Maybe a little inappropriate at times, but always fun. 

I came down to the coffee shop to blog because the building we are in doesn't have wifi. And when I got here the line was long, and when I finally made it to the counter, they said, "Give us a few minutes to catch up." I said I'd sit down for a minute and come back up when there wasn't a line. But this little place is full to capacity and it hasn't slowed down yet at all. I might finish this post without ever getting my luxurious cup of coffee. 

Today the ADHD is strong. I got to the car to come here, realized that although I remembered my bag with my computer, I forgot my purse with $$ and the keys. Insert hand smacking face emoji here.  

Just so happens that this sleepover is in my old town, where I lived for 15 years. Raised my kids. Got my teaching degree. There's a familiarity. And gratitude. Both for the things this place taught me, and that I live where I live now. 

My body is a little angry and telling me that sleeping on the cold cement in a not-so-great air mattress, breaking in a new pillow, and sleeping amidst conversation of those who believe in the theme of sleepovers... staying up all night... But the stiff and sore muscles, and fuzzy brained sleep deprived mind are worth it today. 

Life is good today. I will remember this all day. And remember that whatever I focus on increases. When I focus on the good, the good increases... 

Fri-Yay!

 Today is Friday and the first day of Spring Break for me. That is part of the joy of being a substitute, I control my hours. My district has school today and LOTS of postings for subs, but I'm going out of town today to spend the weekend with recovery friends. But that's another post! I'm going to use an old favorite from the beginning days of teaching. Five for Friday. Five things about my week. Here we go.... 

1. Hatching chicks. We've been dry hatching for awhile now and its the same chaotic results as trying to control humidity! My hatch before this one I had 11 out of 17 hatch, that's a pretty good hatch. We lost one, but still have 10. This hatch, I had 3 hatch. Out of 21. And to be honest, really only 2 hatched. I helped the third one. And we could still lose that one. It is not strong and doesn't walk well, it's small too. I take it to the waterer a couple times a day and dunk it's head in the water so it can drink. The other 2 are doing great. When I first starting incubating I had really high hatch rates and I thought I was a genius becasue they say that a 50% hatch rate is a good hatch. Now I've had terrible results and not so terrible results but I do longer get 15 out of 18 or other really high rates. Research could possibly help me. But so far I've read so many wildly different reasons as to what's wrong that I cannot possibly figure it out. But this was the start to the week.

2. Subbing in Kinder. Tuesday was my Monday for subbing. I subbed in Kindergarten, some of my favorite people. It's an unruly and wild class. Lil violence, lil bit of lots of talking, lots and lots of minding each other's business. Wow. But after I'm done, I see them in the halls, they all love me and give me hugs. Young people are loving and forgiving. I love that. 

3. March 10, 2020. My Dad's death date. Rough day. Not in such an obvious way. At first, I didn't remember. I kept wondering why my brain was so befuddled. Why I was clumsy and awkward. Why my world was a little bit off. Then I remembered. We group text about it, my Mom, my sister and I. And I wrote about it. Cathartic.

4. Mom's birthday. Yesterday was Mom's birthday. We won't be all together to celebrate until next weekend. That is a little maddening. But it is what it is. She deserves to be celebrated. 

5. Anticipating the weekend! I'm spending this weekend at a recovery sleepover. It's a little less structured than some and just a time to fellowship, recharge, and get to know people. I think I'll pack some craft supplies to share with the group. 

That is my week! Of course, so much more happened but this is the short list! I hope you had a week full of things to remember and reflect on! 

Mom's Birthday

 Today is my mother's birthday. I was subbing today, so we (the class I was in and I) called and left Mom a happy birthday message. It was fun. We will celebrate her next Friday evening. And dang.... that's a long ways away still. But schedules be busy. 

Once upon a time ago, when I was a teenager, I ran away from home on my Mom's birthday. I didn't really run away so much as I just didn't go home. But I was young, maybe 15, and doing all the teenage angst/rebellion stuff, messing with the wrong crowd, and the chemicals that go with it. My thinking just wasn't that clear. But that is a lousy pile of excuses. Because guess what? The guilt doesn't go away. I've asked forgiveness and it's been given. I've talked to God and I'm pretty sure He said to move on already. But the guilt is still there. I still hang my head in shame. 

Today I think of my Mom, on her birthday, all alone at home. The 10th of March was the anniversary of my Dad's passing. Just two days before Mom's birthday. Mom's birthday will never be the same. And today, Mom has a boyfriend, but he's not dad. We all know that. Us kids know it. My mom knows it. Warren (the bf) knows it. Dad (in the heavenly realms) knows it. What I was going for when I started this paragraph was that in some ways, it's more lonely now. There's a lonley quality to Mom's birthday because my Dad, for all the ways and days that he fell short, was the love of her life. And in some ways, it doesn't matter how we fill the day and celebrate her and who might be involved. The loneliness is alive and well. 

It's important for us to celebrate mom. Even if it takes until next Friday to make all our schedules collide in a positive way. She's turning 83 and deserves all the love. There's so many times I haven't honored her, and it's time. 

Happy Birthday to my mother. Mom, I love you.