Tough chickens and wussy me

i am thinking that i should enter a new post.  It's been a week or so.  i have a lot of catch-up at work and come home exhausted.  Everyone at work are worn out as well.  We lost several days work and need to get it all done before tomorrow day-end.  Oy...

Being from Montana originally, i always think we Oregonians are a little wussy about snow BUT our mindset is all about the rain.  We are rain worshippers here; we understand rain.  We harness it for energy and use it to grow crops.  Montana has long winters and Oregon has long springs. We are 6 or 7 weeks away from the first spring flowers.  February is the month to prune your roses for the coming year.  My rose bush may have been killed by the cold and snow.  On the other hand the lilac bush i have been nursing for several years may actually bloom this year because of the cold and snow.

My girls (the chickens) have had a rough time of it as well.  Their coop and yard is in chaos.  i took the canvas canopy down this weekend but left the framework in place.  i don't know if it can be fixed.  i am going to have to get creative in order to reconstruct another canopy.  

Carmen came up to me for a scratch this morning instead of running for the breakfast plate. She seemed to want a moment with Mom so i gave her an extra special scratch.  Her tail wiggled like the dog's when i give her a good scratch.  So cute!

Oh, i almost forgot.  i bought a really great chicken calendar today.  Actually, i got two calendars.  The chicken calendar is really beautiful and i got it for 1/2 price so i didn't feel bad about buying a Llewellyn calendar for 1/2 price as well.  Two for the price of one.  i had decided not to get a Llewellyn this year (the first time in twenty years) to save money but...

i love Llewellyn calendars.  It has all kinds of good astrological information as well as Wiccan lore.  It was the last one the shop had so i took it as a sign.  

Hey did you know Reese Witherspoon and Harry Connick Jr have chickens?  i happen to catch some of David Letterman last night and Harry told the story of how he got his chickens and how his kids relate to them.  I didn't see the Reese Witherspoon segment but her and Dave must have talked about chickens because Dave said her and Harry had that in common.

Well, mi amigos, i'm done for now.  Peace, love and light to you and yours.

The canopy over my chicken coop collapsed under the weight of the snow.  Knock wood; if this is the worst of the damage from this storm, i will consider myself lucky and grateful.  It collapsed directly on top of the coop roof, thus supporting it from total destruction.  It may actually help keep the coop warmer.  There is a foot of snow everywhere and it is still coming down.  Oy!

But... i am grateful.  These are challenging days.  i pray we keep getting stronger and we learn from our challenges cause we are in for more of them.

If i had a camera i would take some pictures.  i will get a camera in a month or three.  My company gives you one for your 10th anniversary.  i think i will enjoy downloading pictures to this blog.  As long as i can continue to pay for the cable internet.  Cross fingers!

Later chickies.

BFFs... NOT!

Here i am crying again.  i cried at work; i couldn't help it.  My friend got fired.  i don't know why and i had a whole meltdown about it.  i felt betrayed by my co-workers, whom i thought were my friends, because no one told me until i asked if the weather had kept him from coming to work.  

After i heard, i felt embarrassed and then betrayed, i guess.  i was going about doing my job, chatting with people about the awful commute and so on.  No one said a word.

i asked someone to tell me what happened and my boss shut down the conversation.  She can't legally tell me why he was fired; so i guess i get that, but why hadn't she at least told me?

All the damn drama!  All the damn whispers and all the damn legalities wrapping it up in a bow. 

He was my friend; a real friend. Not a "work" friend, a real friend.  We go to movies together and talk politics.  We share news stories and he always makes me laugh.

i'm going to miss him.  Damn these tears!

Haiku or two

Let's hear it for Burns Feed Store!  Woohoo!  i love this store and recommend it to you, mi amigos.  Since my post this morning, i have driven to Burns and back... safely.  

i feel the need to write a haiku. 

Wait for it...

Straw smells good... wholesome.

The good gents spread paperboard.

Subaru heaven.

Maybe one more...

Tank heaters R Us,

coop heaters on the shelf,

little glass chickens!

my mood is no longer so sour.  

i braved the roads and traffic and ice to get to Burns.   My Subaru holds two, count'em, two bales of straw.  They had a great coop heating light and wonderful little glass chickens.  i was in and out of the store in minutes but the dock guys had my car loaded already and even laid paperboard under the bales.

The gals at the counter weren't busy but said it had been busy earlier, people buying a lot of tank heaters.  We're not used to freezing temperatures around here.

The hens now have a 250 watt heat lamp and the graphite cylinder is heating up.  Now i have to go out and check that it's not too hot.  First i worry the coop is too cold now i worry it's too hot.

Their water is partly frozen.  It needs to heat up some in there but i worry about fire.  I will be checking on them several times before i go to bed myself tonight.  

OK.  Enough for now.  i need to check on the girls.

The best laid plans...

i'm stuck at home.  i'm worried about my chickens.  i waited for the bus at a stop that no longer exists (temporarily).  it really is a good thing i like being at home but right now my mood is sour.

To work half a day, i need two hours commute time each way.  If i want to be home before dark i need to leave by...  (let me calculate)... 8 am.  Hey, i can do that.  i need to feed the chickens before i leave and that gives me about 1/2 hour of daylight.

This is my first winter with chickens and i feel so blessed so far.  The girls are healthy and seem happy but it is COLD out and will remain so for a week solid.  Now, i know chickens live in cold climates but i just don't have the experience that years of raising them brings.  For the next week i need to take care of my girls and get to work as efficiently as possible.

i've re-checked the bus schedule and and made a new plan (Stan).  i like having a plan.  i feel better when i have a plan.  i don't like it when things interfere with my plan.  i was sick with a headache last week; that f**ked with my plans.  Just when i am recovering the weather starts in, i had to figure out a way to heat the coop for more than a night or two.

i'm actually proud of the heater my son and i came up with and since i'm home for the day, i'm going to tweak it again.  And i am going to go get a higher wattage bulb (if i have the nerve to drive my car), that and some straw.  i need more straw.  i thought i had enough but...

Need to run.  Back later.

Hen Interrupted

i'm finding it hard to blog because i don't know who i'm blogging to and i'm a bit of a loner.  i don't really understand people; hell, most of the time, i don't understand myself.

i accept my losses as best i can and i expect to experience failure cause life is mostly learning from failure.

i wish i was a faster learner and had more stick-to-it-tiveness, but my go-it-alone attitude and ability to teach myself just about anything i decide to learn are strengths.

If this blog was a private journal i would probably still have trouble writing my thoughts out.  i have the reader in the back of my head...ALWAYS.  i never kept a diary for that reason.  

i like writing and i always have.  i wrote for my college newspaper and even spent a term as editor. i fantasize about writing but don't do it enough.  The fiction i write is usually a kind of magical realism, love it!  But the fiction i read is so much better that i can't help but compare mine to it.

So, i don't want to write about my private matters and i don't feel up to exposing my fiction to the one or two readers that drop by; what the hell am i doing here?

i guess cause i'm a loner but not a hermit and my soul likes to write despite the fears and feelings of inadequacy.

So, what do i want to say and who am i saying it to?  Before the election i could rage about the state of our country.  i was speaking my rage, not caring who was listening.  i know the election means our work has just begun.  But were working toward something now, not watching the destruction of our way of life.  

OMG!  i have nothing to bitch about!  hehehe

For sure, i no longer feel that tightness in my chest.  i was in pain for a week after the election from joy.  Joy hurts... not that i'm complaining.  Letting myself relax and allowing myself to believe that we really had stepped back from the edge was hard on my body and mind. 

An now i have nothing to say.

Talk to ya next time chickies.  

Love

Headache haiku and my gratitudes

It's Saturday and i haven't written since election night.  Maybe a haiku will explain.

Drama fatigue ruled

after joy's exhausting rush

of crying headaches.

Being a political junkie, i can't help but comment on our president-elect.  He exudes steadiness.  i am so impressed with his demeanor and feel calmed by it.  Thank you BHO.  Thank you.

i made a list of comedians to thank, a day or two after the election, because i felt so strongly about how i would not have gotten through the last eight years without them.  D.L. Hughley described comedy as therapy when Larry King asked him if comedy influenced the election.

Firstly, there is Bill Maher.  He said, "I'm a cynic 'caus I love."  That's me, always questioning authority.  It's a bit of a curse, really, but i'm proud of it.  i like that about me and i love that about Bill Maher.

Secondly (or maybe firstly, it's hard to say), John Stewart's courage in the face of news media's coward position after the election of 2000 until Katrina in 2005, kept me going.  i would watch his show and know i was not alone in seeing the absurdity all around us.  

Next on the list is Stephen Colbert.  That press dinner where with comedy he lambasted the Bushies and the press and was a moment of clarification and cleansing for me.  Stephen Colbert spoke truth to power and power didn't see it coming.  

David Letterman came through for the country when we seemed to need him the most. There was the first show after 911 with Dan Rather and  the many days screed about the planet in hopeless peril.  When John McCain dissed him, David let him have it.  He didn't do it because he thought he was so special, David blasted him because John McCain had lost all regard for the truth.

Lastly, there is Michael Moore who is not technically a comedian.  But his documentaries use comedy to soften the blow of the hard realities his films portray.  Farenheit 911 and Sicko are great pieces of work but his best film is Bowling for Columbine.  He became a punching bag for conservatives and he took it over and over and over again.  He took the blows so many of us wouldn't have to.  i believe that with all my heart.  Haters need someone or something to direct their hatred toward.  When they are expending their energy on people like Michael Moore, they are NOT directing it at people like me who feel the same way but are more vulnerable to their poison.  Thank you Michael.  i know there has been a cost to you and you have my undying gratitude.

i'm getting another joy headache.  i am so grateful.

Now that's what i'm talking about! Read this short, short Naomi Klein post.

44

Mom, Dad, did you cry? Maybe get a little choked up?  Or was it just me?  Was i the only gooner in this family who cried?

Wynd was here last night with her son Thor.  We had a blast.  i drank a couple glasses of champaign, Thor had hot chocolate and Wynd redecorated my tiny dining room.  

This is how real Americans celebrate the taking back of their country.

Well that... and doing a happy dance with Thor (recorded on Wynd's cell phone for posterity)

Being the gooner i am, i was watching the electoral vote count and adding 77 to the latest numbers.  77 represented the number of electoral votes on the west coast.  i knew California, Oregon and Washington were going to go for Obama so i knew somewhere in the six o'clock hour that he had won.

But, we restrained ourselves.  We held off doing the happy dance until 8pm when the networks called it. 

John McCain, the 2000 version, gave a very gracious concession speech last night and i am happy for him.  His PTSD was brought out in this campaign, in my opinion.  Since i'm a gooner and eat up all this political stuff, i caught a short video clip of John McCain driving his car out of his own garage today.  Back to normal life for John (the secret service left his side at 6am this morning - that's how they do it, i guess... weird).  He gets to drive his own car and go where he wants. Nice!  Gods bless you John. 

And 44?  He got to have breakfast with his daughters this morning.  Nice.  i wonder if they talked about the puppy?

Love you all,

C 

LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!!

Change has come to America, my brothers and sisters!  Celebrate today because work begins tomorrow.  Barack is not taking the day off or basking in the glow as they say.  He is putting together his cabinet and marching forward.

More later.  

Dia de los Muertos

Last night was my grandson's first Halloween trick or treat experience. He was a Star Wars, Darth Vader type goon.  Since it was suppose to rain i suggested he wear his winter boots.  Oh yeah, they made him feel even more powerful.  He pounced around my kitchen pointing his gun at bad guys.  So cute!  He's a warrior at heart and he makes me very proud.

But i really got a laugh today.  He came with his dad to say 'good morning' and i asked him about going trick or treating.  His eyes lit up and he started to tell me all about it.  When i asked him if i could have some of his candy he said yes and went to his house to get me some.  Paul and i continued talking and a few minutes later, here comes Lincoln with one of those tiny Dum Dum suckers.  

"Here you go Grandma."  I, of course, said 'thank you' and he bounded off after the dog or something, leaving me standing there with my tiny sucker.  Paul just looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said Lincoln was being very 'protective' of his candy.  

Every time i look at that little sucker sitting on my kitchen counter, i laugh again.

We are blessed around here.  We have good friends.  We take care of each other.  As stressed as i am about finances right now, i am also feeling happy and blessed.  Travis bought Lincoln his costume and then came by to take him out trick or treating.  Then Danny came by to do the same thing but, of course, Travis had beat him to it.  Such good friends.

i wish i had a camera.  i will have one in a couple months though.  i've been at my job ten years now and they are giving me a camera at the ceremony in January.  Watch out world!  Pictures of Lincoln and the chickens and the garden.  i wish i could post one of my yard right now.  Mom and Dad would be so surprised.  It's all cleaned up and winterized.  

i am still getting raspberries; can you believe it?  i keep thinking i've picked the last one and a week later i get another handful.  Raspberries make me happy. 

November 1st is The Day of the Dead in Mexico.  So, today is the day i honor my ancestors and think about my family and friends who have passed. my ancestors were strong, they struggled, they persevered and here i am trying to be half as strong as they were.  i am so grateful to them and i honor them.  

Peace and love to all.

C

Happy Halloween Mi Amigos!

i just read this funny article on Slate magazine.  It is about how hard it is for wiccans to organize ritual on Halloween (or any other wiccan holiday).  It made me laugh because it is so true.  

Right Wynd?    heehee... oy..

i love doing ritual but the logistics are donting.  i always feel lighter afterward though.

If you go read the article you might be interested in the related articles.  They are at the top where the article begins.  One i read was about the economics of witch killing and another about facing the realities of the wiccan past.  Let me know what you think.

i discovered a new blog by another woman who raises chickens.  Check the list of blogs i follow.  It's called My First Ladies.  She named all her chickens after first ladies.   I grabbed this picture there.

This is sooo fabulous

i was blown away watching this.  A woman playing a bag pipe, Yo Yo Ma with his cello, a viola, two hand drums and an accordion!  Feel the joy!  

A brisk October wind

It's been a week since i lost Nathaniel and i don't feel much like writing but think i should anyway.  i've gotten my yard, garden boxes and chicken coop all ready for winter.  Wish i had a camera to post pictures with; my tiny farm in the city is looking very tidy and bedded down for winter.

Don't get me wrong, there is always something to do around here.  i never get to the end of my to-do list but it somehow makes me feel content.  i will clean up Nathaniel's grave sometime soon enough, i know the right time will come.

Danny come over bright and early this morning with his trailer hitched to his rig.  He took Paul and i to Burns Feed Store for bales of straw.  i had been thinking about stalling the purchase with money so tight but with Danny all cheerful and early what could i do but go with the flow.  

Thank you Danny!

So, the bales of straw are stacked around the chicken coop for warmth.  i might need one or two more.  i'll sit on it for awhile.  Paul and the neighbor Oscar helped me put the canvas canopy over the coop last weekend.  The chickens are living large.  Their little world is looking spiffy, if i must say so myself.  The canopy will keep most of their yard dry.  Plus, Oscar built a little shelter for them.  It will give them a break from the winter east winds.

Speaking of winds, today was bright, warm, beautiful and blustery.  Nice!  One problem, leaves.  In one day's time my yard is covered in leaves.  There has been gentle droppings of leaves lately but today that changed.  And it's suppose to rain before next weekend.  Oy.  See, i told you the to-do list is never complete.  i barely get home from work before dark so it will be November 1st before i rake.  

Wow, November 1st.  Three days before the election.  Busy work for a jittery heart.  Sounds good.  Larry David posted a column on Huffington Post that i really related to.   As jittery as i feel, i am at the same time, somewhat, dare i say, just a little bit... teeny tiny, wait for it... hopeful.  Ahhhhh, the sweet taste of hope.  i almost hate to hope.  The agony of crushed hopes is a very powerful deterrent to too much hoping around.  Teeny tiny pun there, teeny tiny... little pun.

Well, well, what do you know?  i didn't feel like writing but i did it anyway.  Good.  Feels good, like a brisk October wind.

Peace and love, 

C

Sweet Nathaniel

My sweet Nathaniel died last night.  i've had dogs and cats all my life and it doesn't get any easier to lose them.  

i thought i'd write about this but i can't find words.  i wish i had a picture of him.

Love to all,

Cynthia

Women's health in air quotes

It took me awhile to find video of John McCain's startling attitude toward any woman in the position of having to decide between her own life and that of her unborn child.  Not only does he think he has the medical knowledge to make that decision for her but he thinks he has the right. He thinks he has the "right" to play God over her.

You arrogant @#$%$#@....   I didn't get the memo; did God die leaving you in charge?  

Not only do you NOT have a degree in law, business or economics, you do not have a degree in medicine.  IT IS NOT YOUR CALL!  Do you hear me?  Keep your hands off my body you bleeping, bleep, bleep!

You are NOT the pope, a priest, a rabbi or a minister so you have no standing to even advise a woman on her possible offenses against God.  IT IS NOT YOUR CALL!

A few minutes with your "plan" for healthcare, or your "plan" for education, or your "plan" to end the obscenity in Iraq and I can see how important that infant's life is to you.... NOT!

Just as rape in not about sex, this is not about the "rights of the unborn".  This is about controlling women, keeping them dependent and poor, about controlling their opportunities and about keeping power in the hands of the few.

Be forewarned, men, the very first thing to happen after you take women's "rights" away will be the loss of your own, ala, the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Tell you what; if you have such a desire to control women and their reproduction why don't you move to Afghanistan. 

Please imagine air quotes around what I am about to say.  Here's to your health, John.

A little gem to give your heart a lift

Sorry for the bad word, Mom and Dad.  

i don't know what you think of the image above.  I hope it's true.  i do feel like he's already in charge.  What really pi##es me off is that the Bushies and the corporate money changers are looting our coffers on their way out.  Barack can't do anything about that until January.

October cucumbers, winterization and how Neo-cons make their caves comfy and warm

i can see cucumbers from my kitchen window.  i'll have to pick them later.  i am officially on vacation so first order of business... blog?

my fingers are cold; kind of hard to type but here goes.  i see Kim Antieau is having some luck in her computer wars.  Fall harvest, sister, fall harvest.  My friend Wynd is schlepping a cast on her broken foot.  my girls, the chickens, are laying great right now.  They really are spoiled rotten... love them!

So it's October and i'm picking cucumbers, amazing.  The cucks go to the chickens, diced up along with a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese and clover sprouts.  i hope i am not making them fat.  i have lots of stuff around here for them to eat.  i have some eggplant and cantaloupe grown in my yard that i cut open for them.  my cantaloupes are really small, baseball size, good though.  A half of one will disappear by the end of the day in their gallinero (coop).  Of course, they always have their layers feed.  Life is good for my girls but it is getting cold and i need to winterize their house and yard.  

That's what vacations are for, don'tcha know.  Ya.

So, the goals for this week are to winterize my garden boxes, the gallinero and my house.  The garden boxes need to have the compost put into them so they can stew through the rainy months to come.  Pick the last of the raspberries, the pumpkins and of course, the cucumbers.  Build a rain shelter for the gallinas (chickens), and wrap the hen house in bails of straw for warmth.

How's that for a list?  i also want to fall-clean my house and get out my winter bedding.  And then there is the whole sewing/craft corner of my living room that is begging for attention.  Always more to do than can be done.  Welcome to my life.  Your's too?  Ya sister/brother... fist bump!

OK, here comes the political portions of tonight's program.  The Neo-cons have just about cleaned out the vault of our treasury and are showing signs of willingness to hand power back to us, the American people.  Now that they have laid our country in ruin, the Bushies are gesturing toward the McCain and Obama campaigns with transition team coordination.  The Bushies seem almost happy to hand the reins over to either candidate.  Even seemingly, to be willing to expedite the process.  They are sooo ready to get out of town.  No doubt they have holes (caves?) to run back to where they have stowed away all their ill-gotten gain.

Reluctant shifter

i don't talk about my anger so it probably gets it's due in other ways.  i don't mind being political here in this blog but expressing my anger is a tricky wick. 

i don't want to pass it on, i want to exorcise it.  

But i don't know how to keep it from passing on and i don't know how to exorcise it.  All i seem to be able to do is exercise it, which passes it along and does not exorcise it.

i'm thinking about doing some kind of shamanic ritual.  i would like to get in touch with a part of me that i have locked away.  

Here is the beginning of a story i wrote a couple years ago.  

Reluctant Shifter

She was a fox.  She lived in the world and was rarely seen.  She was careful and deliberate in her movements and avoided other creatures.  

This isolation became habit and the woman almost forgot how to shift back to being a woman. She mostly forgot she ever was a woman.  

What she loved most in her world was smell.  It was like color to the woman she had been.  If the wind could blow a rainbow around and color could float on the air in whiffs and gusts and in iridescent clouds, that would come close to describing the scents and odors she experienced.

She felt drawn or was pulled back to the woman.  Others depended on her, needed her. 

Goddess called and the fox knew she had a mission to complete.  Reluctantly she became visible, everything smelled grey and she stood up to greet the morning. 

Something in that storyline is resonating with me today.  i understand fox.  She likes her fox world.  She wants to be there.  It's heaven.   

But Goddess calls and she has her mission.  Oy....

i get that.  That's what a soldier does, and i am a guerrero de la luz (a story for another time).  That is what a nun does.  She surrenders herself to devotion.  Even though the fox is reluctant she doesn't give in to her own desires.  

i imagine that fox is a much better woman than i am.  i resent my mission, so to speak.  And i'm angry.  i just want to shift back to that peaceful, nurturing place.  Selfish, selfish, cynthia.  Bad girl!

There is a lot of metaphore in my post today; a lot of imaginings that probably only make sense to me, but i feel a little better.  Did i pass any anger along?  i hope not.

Wow... Steady as she goes

Barack Obama really is a calming force... Steady as she goes.  i believe this is where i pat myself on the back for predicting his debate performance (see my previous post).  i believe i said he would be steady, confident, diligent and respectful.  i would now add knowledgeable and prepared.  We got a winner here, folks!

New Rule: it's not hero worship to like Obama.  (ala Bill Maher)  

Check out this great column:  Tina Fey, please save us!  Tina Fey is a goddess.  Congrats Tina!  And thank you, sister.

Bitch Alert! 

Bill Clinton, shut your fracking mouth!  Check this out: he's slightly nicer than me.  Man oh man, the taste of power must be sweet.  Actually, it's probably more like a drug.  Not as sweet and you crave it more... destructively more.  How do the good guys/gals do it?  How do some politicians manage to avoid the pitfalls of power?  i don't know.... topic for another day.

And it's NOT just the taste of power, Clinton has such an ego.  The man has an amazing ability to compartmentalize.  i assume he has put his humility in a box somewhere in his brain and thrown away the key.  Just like i can't listen to George Bush or Darth Cheney, i can no longer stand listening to Bill Clinton.  He's now on my "pests" list.  My list of pests is long; people who are like flies in the fall; you swat them away. The list includes Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Imus, Michael Savage, the cast of Entourage, etc. etc. etc.  I wonder how Maddow's show did up against Larry King when Clinton was on last week?  It would be cool if Rachel's numbers beat Larry's that night.

Obama stays steady, as i get pre-debate jitters

i want to write about Mexico but politics is keeping me too busy.  "This doesn't pass the smell test".  David Letteman said something of the sort about McCain.  Oy...

i'm not sure where to begin.  We need to stay strong.  We need to remember that Obama is a very steady man.  He does not move quickly.  He assesses a situation first; he tries to see it from above the forest, not from down in the trees.   When he sees the way forward he points it out, makes a statement about it, and moves the party in that direction.

Roosevelt talked to my grandparents on the radio.  Obama buys TV time for 2-minute long issue ads.  Truman got on a train and toured the country and beat Dewey to everyone's surprise.  Obama stays out on the campaign trail, going from event to event, preparing the way ahead with his organizational skills, taking on the fire everyday... steady, steady, steady.

i admit to being on pins and needles.  But i am trying my best (not very well most days) to follow the example of the person i want to lead me and my family steadily into the future.

Letterman has steadied my shaking soul for a second time.  The first was after 9/11 with Dan Rather and the second time was the other night.  He understands the power of words and comedy.  Like John Stewert and Stephen Cobert, Letterman uses his skills to temper the blows we are feeling in the current political climate.  i am so grateful for them and others like Chris Rock, Bill Maher, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.  Thank God/dess for the comedians.

The debate starts in about 4 hours so these are some of my pre-debate thoughts.  I expect Obama to be steady tonight.  Steady, confident, diligent and respectful.

More after the debate.

Law of the coop and law of the land

OK, so i really screwed up today.  i took the girls their morning veges and cottage cheese and instead of opening their little door i opened the big one.  Not really a problem except i forgot to open the little door.  i closed the big door and went off to work.  

When i got home from work Budda was out in the yard.  That happens occasionally; she can fly over the seven foot fencing if she wants, but doesn't normally.  Carmen and Precious are too plump to make that leap even if they wanted to.  Budda doesn't go far if she does get out and when i open the gate to their pen, she goes right back in.  

Well, while i was talking to them i realized i had not opened the door to their coop so they did not have access to their food and water.  Oh, my gosh.  I felt so bad.  I opened up the big door, they hopped in and started eating like mad.  Then i found one egg on the ground.  Geez, i feel like a horrible mother.  Oy!

It is interesting to wonder what it was like for Budda.  One of my cats, Hawthorne, was hanging around the yard, as he is inclined to do, so they must have been eyeing each other.  They are used to each other but there is normally a fence between them.  Both my cats, Nathaniel and Hawthorne, are pretty much over the chickens at this point.

This blog is suppose to be about chickens and politics but i really haven't posted anything political.  Today i realized that the financial crisis we are experiencing and the so called fix that the Treasury secretary is proposing is just another attempt to use the shock doctrine.  Check out Naomi Klein's commentary on Huffington Post today for more on that.  

i don't think the shock is going to work.  I cannot believe they are trying to pass a fix that would not allow oversight or the rule of law to interfere with their decisions.  Good Goddess, that's totalitarianism!  Or fascism... something like that.  Do people who support this administration think that totalitarianism would not touch them?  Do they not understand that their own families and communities would be adversely effected by it?  

As a liberal, i have felt vulnerable for the last eight years but for conservatives to think they would be unscathed by fascism is self-deception.  Wow, i am so amazed at how deceived my countrymen have become.  

That's enough for today.  Tomorrow, less about chickens and more about politics.  

Keeping the chickens warm

Spending Friday night with PBS, per usual.  

i'm so excited!  i just figured out a way to insulate the chicken coop for the winter on the cheap. i'm going to surround the coop with bails of straw.  Then i'll wrap the bales with bird netting so the Girls won't be able to take them apart.  

i am confident this will work and it should only cost about $30.  i've already got netting but i am going to have to take several trips to the feed store.  my suburu will only hold two bales at a time, so maybe i can strap one on the roof of my car, as well.  

Now, that has to get me a mention in the Oregon hillbilly newsletter.  I mean, really...  what does a girl hafta do to get some attention?

i'm not sure what i will do with the straw next spring.  i guess i'll have to cross that bridge when i come to it.  Yeah, and i'll probably be crossing that bridge with bales of straw on my car.

till tomorrow.........

Well, it begins

The financial downfall i've been anticipating has arrived. 

i'm thinking of my grandma today.  She married and had two children during the 'Great Depression'.  She and grandpa never had much of anything but were very resourceful. They both taught me a lot about how to get by with little.  They always ate well; Grandma made bread a couple times a week and served potatoes morning and night (Grandpa was Irish and loved his potatoes).

Grandma was recycling before there was a word for it.  Tin foil and plastic bags were always reused.  Used tea bags nourished her plants and she always used her sewing machine to 'improve' the clothes she bought from the store.

i'm going to hold her in my mind these coming days.  As i watch the stock market deflate i'm going to remember her struggle and hope my preparations will hold my family together until easier days.  

I have three chickens in my backyard, Carmen, Budda and Precious (named after Precious Romatswe - #1 Ladies Detective Agency).  i don't think i can describe the happiness i feel around them.  

I am new to chickens but my Grandma wasn't.  She was way more pragmatic about them though.  She decided to leave Fort Lewis, Washington after Grandpa was shipped out to the Pacific during WWII.  She killed her chickens and canned them; packed them into the car along with her daughters and drove back to Montana.  

i love and cherish that story but i'm not sure i could kill my girls.  The coming days (the new depression?) may test my resolve to keep them as layers only. I'm confident these three girls are safe but i don't know what the future holds.

That good old pragmatic Montana upbringing will always win out in the end.  Fair warning!

My cats (Nathaniel and Hawthorne) are wanting a pet so i am calling this good for today.

Oh, and Obama supporters; don't lose faith.  Check out this column from Huffington Post.  I always get a little freaked out around 9/11 (fear of my government, not terrorists).  Add the coming election to that anxiety and you can imagine how high strung i've been this week and last.  I felt uplifted some when i read the post.

Till next time.....