Life has many thorns......& I seem to have a bunch of them!

Good afternoon everyone!

Ok so maybe that's not really true but sometimes it just seems life hits you on the has one too many times & I hate the headaches.

This week has been one of those lets just hid under the covers kind of week.....My beautiful 15 year old Chow Chow had to be put down on Wednesday, I had been delaying it because I just didn't want to see her go but it was the right thing to do for her. 

We got her when she was 8 weeks old & a big ball of black fur down in Georgia when Thomas was stationed at Fort Benning.  She was born at the end of Oct so I made her a Halloween baby for a Birthday...Even as a small pup she had this idea that everything thing that came into the house had to be mothered by her, even if it towered over her. Every new kitten got Hayley licks when they came in & even the ones the most scared seemed to realize she was there to help them. 

She did not seem to mind if it had fur or not.... she let my snake curl up under her.....She didn't mind baby rabbits jumping on her & rutting around in her fur.....nor did she mind baby chicks or hens laying on top of her to sleep.  At about 7 1/2 years old she started losing her sight which was sad in a way, but she never really let it bother her...her nose & ears were great so she had no problems getting around...coming down stairs though she would end up either falling or sliding down them.  I invested in a metal child's gate to keep her safe & we would carry her up & down stairs if she wanted to be upstairs with us.

I always thought it was so funny how she bonded with other animals but never really had a close tie to us....oh she was a good girl & minded & listened to you when you called her but she never came up to anyone to be petted or get attention like a lot of dogs do.  She spent 15 years doing her own thing & as long as she had food,water & a soft bed she was content.

I have never been one who has to have a dog in her life, if I have them that's great if not that's alright also.  Now that I am older I think I have come to the stage where I don't need to have a dog anymore, with 3 cats & coops of chickens i am content with the way my life is.  I will miss Hayley since she was special & the right dog for me.

The broody hen 'Mother' is doing well, she now has 7 eggs under her & is doing a good job of keeping them warm with the cold weather we are still having.  I give her a small bowl of warm feed when I take out the other hens breakfast since I know by the time she gets up to eat it will all be gone.  she has quit pecking me now when I check her eggs, I think its cause she knows she will get a treat after momma is done messing with her butt.

This military stuff is getting sooooo old, I never know from one day to another what is going on & I am about to start pulling my hair out.  Now its not the Military per say its a husband who refused to tell me what is going on so that I am in a consent state of confusion & nerves.  Trying to get him to tell me is not working, I get one word answers of yes,no & most of the time my favorite' I don;t know"....which is his way of saying I don't want to answer you, I am watching TV. 

You would think after 21 years together he could at least put my mind to ease over some of it....like when will I get medical insurance???? I am not a young hen & I need that insurance while he is gone for the year...not that I am going to fall down the stairs again, but it could happen....last time it was busted discs, before that it was a broken collarbone.....Cats & stairs don't mix well specially when you are half asleep & haven't had your coffee yet.

Anyway I hate being this edgy all the time & after a month of it I am tired of it.  I can't plan anything cause I never have the car or if I think I have the car I don't so even grocery shopping has become a big event....At least I don't need eggs!

We have been getting some sun the last 3 days which has been wonderful, the snow is finally melted off the roofs of the house & shop....no cave-ins this year!  I have been going through the seed catalogs I get in the mail day dreaming about the gardens that are still buried under 5 feet of snow.  Somethings I know I won't plant but the catalogs are so much fun to look at...for me they are like the old Sears wish catalogs of days gone past. Plus being this far up north some of the things you can never grow unless you have a greenhouse, heat/grow lights & so on.  I keep my house cool so even some of the fun things like mini lemon trees won't make it through the winter in my house...but they are so cute.

My old computer that I normally write is blog on fried last week...the mother board went south so I had a guy here in town try to fix it, well that wasn't going to happen so he gave me a rebuilt one for a total of  $140 & that included all his labor on the old one....so now I have a computer I can use without it crashing, but haven't gotten my pictures downloaded as of yet, so sorry there is no chicken picture to greet you.

Until next time have a great chicken day....M'