Ok, I am not one who really ever likes having her picture taken but I do love this picture of my sweet little sister so thought since you all have been reading me for a bit now I should bit the bullet & put in a picture of me that shows my face....Now do not think this will happen often..lol....
I am so sorry not to have been keeping up on this Blog, seems everything & nothing has been happening since Thomas got home from Afghanistan. We made it through all the holidays quite nice, no big hoopla, just quiet & peaceful. January Thomas had to deal with all the out processing from being in Afghanistan, get papers together for a new security clearance for the Military...which means I had to go through boxes of paperwork since I am the keeper of all the bills, ect.
Since he has been back I have been dealing with one cold after another. I think since this has been such a mild winter up here with very little snow it has sent my system into a weird cycle. Some days its sunny, bitter cold with heavy winds, other days its sunny, no winds & warmer then we get a light dusting of snow like this morning, cloudy but not really that cold...so one day is a sweater next is a tee shirt. I have also noticed that we normally go through a 200 gallon tank of oil in 6 months time, not this year since October I have been using the heat more so soon I will have to call the company to bring more oil.
I hate that this year I never got to show you all how I make old fashioned lye soap, but the pigs butchered were either low on fat of the people were keeping the fat so I didn't get to make any like I wanted. But I did get a hold of some beef fat & made some special chicken suet. I have decided with all the research I have done on my 'kids' (chickens) that I would develop a suet cake just for chickens that will be of a benefit to them. I am even thinking of marketing them through my local feed store & through my Co-op if possible.
Each season the suet cakes would have different things in them for the needs of that season. With the colder winter months I know the chickens don't get all the fresh bugs & greens they need so that's what I worked on. Plus I will also add powdered calcium to each batch as a extra little boost. I so worry about whether my 'kids' are getting all that they need so its been a good cold day thing for me to work on.
Cagney & Lacey, the 2 hens I got from a guy this fall are doing very well & have started to lay. Both create a small light green egg that is so cute. I think they are quite happy to be with other hens & to have a nice safe place to hang out. I have noticed they do not leave the coop/shop area to go outside as often as the others do. they are quite content to hang out on the porches near the food.
Lauria, the crooked neck broiler is also doing wonderful, we gave her a bath to deal with the mites/lice, trimmed all the tail feathers plus wing feathers, dusted her & have been keeping her in the bathroom where she seems the happiest. Right now she is out running between the living room & into the office to talk to me. Everyone said she would not live past 4-5 months but here she is & still going strong.
Monk kitty is growing like a weed & has so much energy he wears me out just watching him.
I am sending Thomas out to Vegas to see his folks for 2 weeks this month, then in March I get to go see Tamara in Prescott, Arizona for a week. then in May I am taking my best friend to Hawaii for 10 days. It has taken me 12 years to be able to save the money to do this for her but I have always wanted to be able to fulfill this dream of hers. So that should be a lot of fun...two old gray haired ladies hanging out on the beach!
So it will be a busy few months but should be enjoyable for me...but i will sure miss my kids while I am away...thank goodness Thomas will be here to tend to them...they will get overfed since he is always afraid they will be hungry so I have to stock up on feed for when I am gone. I have to put them on a diet each time I come back from a trip...lol.....
I may be getting another, not so right chicken from a monastery soon...its not growing like it should but its a small one so not sure if its a Roo or hen but I don't care it needs my help so I will gladly take it. Hopefully someday I will have more land so I can take in all 'not quite right' chickens. I still do that now but the Roo'ssince I have too many of them for the small amount of hens...but it sure would be nice to have a separate area just for all the Roo's so they can have nice long spoiled lives.
well I best be closing for now....have a wonderful chicken day...M'
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