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