Finally Fall, garden woes, garden plans, oh my aching back and the good news

The year is coming into my favorite season.  i love the fall; probably because i dislike the heat of summer so much.  i don't mean to sound complaining, i'm not, but i prefer the cooler temperatures of spring and fall.  The hot of summer is necessary for my garden to grow so i don't complain especially after this summer.

Spring rains came late and were heavy.  None of my plants had good starts and everything is about a month behind.  i am glad i don't have to rely on my garden to eat.

Next year.... i am excited about next year.  i will have a whole new garden plot to use.  i will be spending some time this winter planning and plotting it.  my remaining garden box will become the sunflower and pumpkin patch.  i have a small greenhouse to use for starting seeds so i may go back to starting my plants from seeds.  We shall see...

When the weather finally dried out my son and i built a new coop inside my shed.  It turned out brilliantly.  i can heat it this winter when the temps drop and i can light it to better regulate the number of hours of light.  i learned that some chickenkeepers use light to keep the chickens laying eggs during the short days of winter.  So i am going to  try that.

i reached into my fridge for an ear of corn, my back went ZOING and i was bent over for days.  i missed a few days of work and i had spasms that you would not believe. At one point, i was stuck down on the floor for about an hour.  i had been trying to do my back exercises but the spasms started in and there i was, unable to move.  All good now!  But i have chores to catch up on.

There is some really good news... my son got his old job back!  It is so great.  i have been carrying the load for almost two years now.

And, my grandson starts school in just a couple weeks.  i hope he loves it.  It is so important to love school but for him it is also a chance make friends and have playmates.  He spends way too much time with adults.

One last note.  In my quest to find ways to be environmentally sound and ways to save money i have learned to make a bunch of different cleaning products.  i will post about that next... with recipes.  i'm talking laundry detergent, shampoo, hair conditioner etc. This is stuff you use everyday and you will save soooo much money.

Before my battery goes, i better sign off.  Love to all you chickies and roos.  i'm off to pick raspberries (finally ripe, about a month late).

C

Check out the new coop

28 Photos

Click on the link and see photos of the new coop before and after.  Paul actually got it done in early July but i am just now getting pictures posted.

i decided to take out the garden box that used to be on the left to make the pen bigger.  i still let the girls out everyday (out into the bigger fenced yard).
The duck and ducklings are plastic garden ornaments which i would normally not put in my yard but they belonged to my ex-boyfriend's grandmother. i was with her when she died, just me and her and i honor that with my kichy ducks.
My Japanese maple tree (not pictured) is from that same boyfriend's father, William, whom i was also with when he passed (i think William and i have a past life connection, btw).

An update on the chickens: i lost Carmen last month and adopted Ruby Berlin a few days ago, making our flock five now, and will probably remain that way for awhile.  Best laid plans, mi amigos, best laid plans... just saying.

There are three other flocks in my neighborhood and one more in the works (they are building a coop and pen so i assume). i have an idea that i would like to go to each home and ask to take pictures of their flocks and coops.  Then i would create a blog for all of us 'Fairview Chickenkeepers'.  Stay tuned.

Back to my girls; they are Budda (white leghorn), Precious (Barred Plymouth Rock - named after Mmr Romotswe, No. 1 Ladie's Detective Agency), Blessings (Golden Laced Wyandotte), Licorice (Black Sex Link but similar to Blessings in coloring), and Ruby Berlin (i don't know her breed but she looks like Budda except she is black).

i brooded one other chick this spring but she turned out to be a he.  Aggie had to be sent to a farm (Hi! Shawn -  what did you name our rooster? i heard you got him a hen to bother and boss.).

With the new coop, the area of yard that was the old coop is now vacant. But i have plans.  i will have a huge garden plot next year and believe me when i say, i am very excited about it.  i want to start planning now but i am holding back, saving the plotting for January or February, when i will need to indulge my gardening urges.

i am a blessed woman and want all you chickies and roos to know i love you.

Ruby Berlin

We have a new chicken. Her name is Ruby Berlin. She came from the Humane Society so i don't know exactly how old she is; i think she's young though. They said she had not laid any eggs so...

She is beautiful and this picture does her no justice. i will endeavor to get a better picture soon. She is a black version of Budda.

Check these out!

Trouble in paradise

my two flocks are not getting along. Budda and Precious are especially aggressive with the chicklettes. The old aunties do not want the chicklettes in the coop at night and actively chase them out. Actually, sweet Carmen does not seem hostile with the chicks at all; it is the other two only. Last night i set up a corner in my newly cleaned out shed and put the chicklettes in there. You can see the shed through the window in this picture. This is my kitchen window and i found the chicklettes peeking through.

Every night they come to my kitchen door and want to go to sleep but are afraid of the coop and remember coming in the house at night (up until a couple weeks ago). So they are confused and every night we go through this horrible routine of getting them into the coop. And once they are in the coop, they huddle up together in a corner, not on a roost. Chickens like to sleep on a roost and i finally decided to put a stop to the nightly drama and trauma. my son Paul and i are working on designing and building a new coop that will give each flock an entrance and each will have their own area. We are hoping that will help the two flocks feel as though they each have their own space. We also like the idea of two openings/exits in the case of a predator.

It was so easy to get the older chicks to go into the coop at night when they were little pullets. It took one try. We showed them the entrance and they went in at dusk. i used to put their food in there as well and that helped. There is plenty of room in the coop for all six chickens but obviously there are territorial issues.

So, while i was setting up the shed for the chicklettes they decided to go into the house. i bet i could train them to come into the house and into the spare room and into their old brooder with little trouble. That would be funny but not pleasant for me and my house.

The pics above are such a mess. Uploading pics to this blog is messy so i apologize for the lack of aesthetic appeal.

Chicklette update

Check out the pics at the link.

The first day out for the new chicks

We McGuyered a bigger brooder - take a look

The babies are 5 weeks old and spunky. Cross fingers, next weekend the weather should be warm enough for the girls to have a day outside. i will supply pics!

chick pics - one month old

Pictures of the brood... Licorice, Agnes and Lily

I love GLEE!!!

Lincoln and one baby chick named Licorice

Check it out. As promised, pic to Lincoln and one of our new baby chicks.

New baby chicks movie!!!

So cute and sweet.

Feeling sad but Spring tugs at me

i want to be sad. i am sad and i want to stay sad for awhile. But spring is tugging at me, demanding my time, challenging me to get busy. i thought i was busy already. . . .

So, i haven't been to Facebook for a couple weeks or more. Work is exhausting and stressful and we have spring about a month early this year. i can't believe it. Hello, climate change. i keep worrying about this summer. i am not so good with the heat. Cross that bridge, cynthia, cross that bridge.

OK, i have a story about my resurrection lilac bush, about my grandson's request to return to the park "that doesn't have swings" and a third topic that gets to my sadness.

RESURRECTION LILAC BUSH

i have a lilac bush i bought when i first moved into my previous house. i love lilacs. The smell of lilacs in the spring takes me back to my girlhood home of Miles City, Montana. Lilacs bloomed in April in Miles City but i noticed later that the lilacs bloomed in May in Bozeman, having moved there as a teenager. Mmm, the smell; and you treasured it more because you could not bottle it to save it for later. You had to enjoy it in the moment.

i have had this bush for ten or more years and it has only produced one small flower cluster in that time. i moved it here, to my new home, four years ago. i was forced to make a decision about it's location a couple weeks ago. i had 4 yards of 1/4 minus gravel delivered and my son (and grandson, sooo cute) wheelbarrowed it from the front yard to the back, creating a really nice ground cover under my new veranda. The lilac was right in the middle of the natural pathway to the new veranda. It had to be moved. Damn, i didn't want to do it. Oh, and sure enough i could tell it was going to bloom. Finally!!!!

It could not stay in the middle of the new pathway. i figured the thing would die if i dug it up again so i turned my head and ask my son to dig it up. i tossed it into the compost pile and said my goodbyes. i felt bad, but i guess i had just gotten to the end of my rope with it. Over the next couple week, i noticed that the leaves kept growing and the blooms were also getting bigger. The roots were exposed and all.

So, i'm standing outside admiring my new veranda and nice gravel ground cover when i have a vision of the lilac bush living in the sunflower patch. Now, i love my sunflower patch (pics at Facebook), my mammoths get top priority in the garden. Then i thought that there might still be room for sunflowers and that they might be able to grow together. You got it. i planted the thing, one last time and it seems to like it. It's still growing and, cross fingers, i think it's going to bloom.

A GRANDSON'S PROMISE

This story is shorter but if there is a theme to my post today, it is spring, resurrection and promise. my grandson asked me if i would take him back to the nature park we visited before. i promised and entered next Saturday into my BlackBerry calendar to set the date. Then he asked to watch the videos we took when we went before. So, i set him in front of my Mac and found them (on Facebook). He can't read but that babe can remember what every icon will do if you click on it. It took him all of a couple seconds to have my computer figured out.

i worry so much about what his life will be like, it really frightens me sometimes, but i felt promise in seeing him learn so quickly.

MY SADNESS

The healthcare bill passed a few hours ago and i am glad it is over but really sad about what it says about our country. We spend months on a piece of legislation that divvies up healthcare so it can profit. We didn't divvy up healthcare so everyone could get some, we divvied it for profit. We are not a we society, we are a me society.

This bill does not provide healthcare for all Americans; some people will still die.

This bill does nothing about the healthcorps anti-trust exemption.

This bill allows healthcorps to sell across state lines. i'm taking bets on which state's legislature will pass "healthcorps-friendly" bills first.

This bill did nothing about fixing the discrepancies in Medicare payments to doctors in different parts of the country.

This bill says, "Hey, healthcorps! Here is some guaranteed, tax payer supported profits. Please use them to defeat any and all Democrats and progressives in the next election cycle."

The ugliness of this fight guarantees no politician will work to improve this legislation. But since there will be no Democrats left, it's kind of a moot point.

It's midnight and i need to get to bed. i do feel the tug of spring thankfully, or i might go crazy.

Love to all mi amigos, mi chickies and roos.

Building a new shop

Check it out.  Paul's new shop is going up.  The chickens are right in the middle of everything.  They cackled so loudly about being locked in the pen that Paul let them out to quite them down.  They know when soil is being churned and won't be denied a chance to pick out the worms.
The Girls eat so much in the yard now that i have really noticed the difference in how much feed i have to buy.  Anyway, they insisted on being in the middle of the chaos this weekend.
Before Paul started the shed he built a veranda outside my kitchen door.  Nice but then immediately piled all his shop paraphernalia underneath it.  Check back for pic when i get it fancied up.
BTW, my Dad is awesome!  77 years old and working all day with my son.
Check out the pic!

i love Saturday mornings

i watch the birds interact with squirrels, interact with chickens, interact with the cats, interact with the dog.
It's Saturday morning at the Garden of Weeden All-You-Can-Eat Buffet .  The wrens, junkos and chickadees are gleefully feasting on and around the feeder, when a squirrel charges up the wrought iron shepherds hook, scattering the birds in every direction.  It resembled a whirly-gig breaking apart.  If it wasn't so natural, i wouldn't feel any hesitation to describe it as magical! The squirrel makes it up the pole using the momentum behind a running start and then hangs from the feeder by her/his feet to feed.
Things begin to settle.  Some of the braver birds venture back to the feeder but most are content to pick up fallen seeds from the ground.  Suddenly the squirrel flees down the pole and over to the safely of the old evergreen tree.  "What just happened", i think to myself just as i see, out of the corner of my eye, the chickens charging toward the feeder from across the yard.
Are the chickens charging at the squirrel?  i don't know for sure but i think not.  Carmen has charged the squirrel when it was feeding at her seed dish but they will run, one after the other, across the yard on occasion.  The squirrel is pretty smart though.  S/he must know that the chickens can't get up that shepherds hook.

i love sitting here in my diningroom/mudroom, drinking some chewable coffee and watching the Garden of Weeden.  It gives me a little peace.

While i was loading these pictures, i saw Precious chase a squirrel off the back porch, away from her seed dish.  Wish i could have gotten a picture.

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

Fox and Hare part 2/2

Watch part 1 first....... so good!

Fox and Hare part 1/2

This is so good! About 6 minutes... so worth it.

As promised

This will not happen overnight. i will be spending an hour or so tonight making a to-do list, setting reminders in my calendar and so on and so forth. But it is begun.

i picked a credit union. A very well established one. They have a great website and i already have my debit card. And i sent money to Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders as my first transaction. That made me feel like i put some good juju on my account as well.

The woman who set me up was really great. She has been doing this for awhile. She logged me onto the website and set up my password right there and then. i told her the new password trick i use. OK, OK, i'll tell you too. Use the first letter of each word in a sentence. Add a number or two at the end or beginning if you want. Example: i am a irritable old crone, would be iaaioc. Be sure to use a sentence you will remember... my car is white and my dog is brown... mciwamdib. Done.

i won't tell you her name but i have her card and plan to send a Thank You note.

i have EFT's to move to the new account BUT it is going to take a month minimum for my direct deposit to kick in. i did not talk to HR first because my experience of setting up my current direct deposit was so smooth and easy. Funny, there have been a few changes in the last ten years... hmm.

Note to self: Send Thank You note to HR guy too. So everyone, go to your HR first!

Next issue: moving my EFT's (Electronic Funds Transfer). This is what really makes me nervous. i don't have a margin of funds to work with so i need to coordinate moving my direct deposit and my mortgage payment EFT. i hate EFT's but they are a necessary evil. i have a Netflix account, a monthly contribution to a local non-profit radio station and my car insurance. All needing coordination. i think i will put Netflix and the radio station on hold for a couple months and concentrate on the car insurance and mortgage.

Well, that is boring. Enjoy... oyy. As promised, i will let you know how it is going from time to time.

Goodnight, chickies and roos. Love and kisses

Buell

Thank you Armen. Watch and be amazed.

Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres

If you can scratch a few dollars together, please consider Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres, mi amigos, mi chickies and roos.

i love you and cherish you in my life.

Move your money, mi amigos

Well mi amigos, mi chickies and roos, i am moving my money tomorrow. Er, well, i am interviewing banks and credit unions.

i must make this quick as my computer battery is getting low. i will blog here tomorrow and let you all know how it went.

Click this post's title to see a video by Bill Maher.

A lost photo that has me crying

i needed to post this picture of my precious Nathaniel. He died a little over a year ago and i found this picture that i thought was lost. Just looking at it gets me choked up. He was so loving and gentle. Oh, now i am crying and can't see to type.

Stay close by my precious, if you can. i don't feel you in the yard anymore so maybe you are on your way back. Find me if you can. i love you, Sweety.

Hawthorne looked for you for a long time. You were his little buddy and his only playmate. He watched over you for me and loved you too.

A Prince In His Forest

Lincoln and i went to another nature park together. This one is close by and not as natural as one might hope. All good tho...

i am very much taking it easy this weekend. i have been very busy for the last few months. My brother will be moving out this week, certainly by next weekend. Love my bro, but..... yeah!

When he is gone, i will reorganize my arts and crafts supplies, begin planning my garden and best of all..... plan construction of a patio cover along the back of my house (pics to follow soonly). i also want to do some writing (Thanks to Jim who made me remember how much i love doing it) and i want to create some fabric art projects.

The cool catz picture is what i want to create in fabric. It is from a video that my friend Armen shared with us on Facebook and the same video i posted here on November 16th. Scroll down and watch it. The video is fantastic!

Bye for now.