heylucy

progress

We're still a couple weeks away from a completed bathroom, but the most important things are finally done!

The cats have been supervising the progress quite closely. Lucy says, "The toilet is solidly in place. I approve." We've taken a few baths now (ahh! to be able to get clean in my own home, rather than using the showers at work), but I think I'm going to have to put a door on there for the shower. My big showerhead sprays kind of wide, and I don't think a curtain will work.

I haven't taken pictures of the chickens for awhile, and I know you are all missing them, so here are a couple from this morning:

 
Unlike Edwin, who has become increasingly cranky with the wind, the chickens are just as sweet-natured as ever. They've been hunkered down under the porch and in the coop, but come running every time I come outside, hoping for something good to eat. I've made sure they had some good treats this week, lots of apples and a bit of brown rice, which are some of their favorites. The General is looking particularly regal these days, don't you think? He struts around like the supreme leader, but he's really such a sweetheart. When he is the first one there when I come out with a treat, he makes a particular clucking sound, as if to say, "Ladies, there is something fine for you to feast on, come at once!" And he waits until the majority of the hens are there before he takes any for himself. What a smart man!

And because stress levels are still quite high around here, I started another mini quilt:

I'm almost done quilting. I love making these little guys. They're just as satisfying as completing a big quilt, but so much quicker.

accomplishment

I have no idea where the last week went. There were no big events, just a lot of little regular-life busy-ness. I've so been wanting to make something, but haven't been able to find the time and the energy both at once. Last night I decided that I had to just make something, anything, so I made a batch of cookies. I tried a new-to-me recipe from a book I checked out of the library. Yummy! They're Oatmeal Cranberry Butterscotch Chip cookies. What a good idea! The dried cranberries are a nice little twist on the usual raisens, and who doesn't like butterscotch chips? I'll be making these regularly. Another secret to these, I think, is that they use more brown sugar than white. I like brown sugar.

I had big plans to take an artistic egg picture for Easter, but every shot I ended up with was blurry or silly looking. I blame the slight bug that seems to have landed at our house this weekend. We were both feeling pretty rundown, although I've managed to escape the worst of it, the husband is all sniffly and miserable. We napped a lot this weekend. I tried again this morning, but this was about the best I could do. I think the eggs themselves are so pretty. We're getting a nice variety now, and they've been getting bigger. We're up to about 10 a day. I think I'm going to have to open an egg stand this weekend.

It's such a feeling of accomplishment, looking at this big pile of eggs. I raised 26 chickens from the time they were two days old, 8 have gone on to good homes, and I have 17 happy little hens, and a handsome, nice rooster. Not too bad for a girl from the suburbs! I sort of feel like I can do just about anything now!

The broody hen has finally been broken. It took a few days in the pen by herself, and a few nights of sitting on a bag of ice, but she's out and about like nothing happened. What a relief! Maybe I could become a chicken whisperer.

the very stubborn chicken

Well, the ice didn't work. I went out this morning, and that darn broody hen was sitting on a ziploc bag full of very warm water. So today she is spending the day in out in the pen. I put some food and water out there, sprinkled some scratch, tossed in a few grapes, and left instructions for the husband to take her some more treats this afternoon. I know she's not been eating enough, everytime I lift her out of the box I feel her crop and it's completely empty. She's also missing a few chest feathers, and I want to put a stop to that right now. Apparently, when hens are setting, they pluck out the feathers to control the humidity because the eggs need a certain amount of moisture to hatch. I'll keep you all updated :o)

I think we are on the last wave of daffodil blooms. One of my favorites appeared this week. These tiny little woodland daffodils belong in a fairy garden, don't you think? I love the snowdrops too.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and words of concern for my silly chicken, I know she's just a chicken, but I've managed to keep them all alive and healthy, and I'm not going to let one of them fail me now, darnit!

how to survive a birthday

So, Saturday was my birthday, and I decided that I would just do whatever I felt like the entire weekend. So there were spurts of fun and busy-ness and spurts of lazing around. A friend gave me some little wooden egg ornaments, so I made an Easter Tree. I picked up some branches from the yard and gave them a little coat of Spring green paint, and glued silk blossoms all over. I added a few other Easter-y things that I had and I think it's a pretty little tree. I may try to add a few more ornaments. I just love that little feather chick.

I got my geek on for a few hours, playing on the computer with the husband. Then we went and got the best sandwiches at the deli and had ourselves a little picnic at one of my favorite places.

I spent a couple peaceful hours on the porch, watching a favorite movie on my laptop while eating an ice cream sandwich. I really need to get a daybed to put out there, for the ultimate in laziness.

We paid a visit to the feed store, where the husband looked at goslings and contemplated putting in an order for three. I'm not too sure about this addition to the farm, but he really wants some. Oh dear.

We also had a delicious dinner of seared ahi tuna with wasabi cream sauce and a tiramisu cake for dessert.

I made a little more headway on my list, and cleared up the last of the scrap wood pile. There is still the fallen down fence to contend with, but I'll just have to tackle that a little bit at a time. We moved some railroad ties over to where the wood pile was, to create an edging for a little planting bed on the edge of the future patio. The chickens hung out with me while I gardened, which was great, at first, as they scratched and pecked and turned the dirt and grow mulch for me, so I didn't have to do it. I rewarded them with all the worms I found as I dug holes to plant a dozen creeping rosemary plants. It wasn't so great later, after I finished planting and laid down some wood chip mulch, when they went back and scratched it all up looking for more worms, and nibbling on the rosemary.

Speaking of chickens, one of the Ruby's has gone broody. For the non-chicken people out there, that means she wants to hatch some eggs, and has planted herself in a nesting box, hoping for some baby chicks. Ifirst noticed that she was sleeping in the box one night last week when I closed the coop. I thought it was odd, but figured she just wanted to get away from everyone else on the roost. But she planted herself in there all weekend and wouldn't budge. I kept taking her out and carrying her to different places, giving her little treats to eat, but she keeps going back. I'm starting to get a little worried. I collect all the eggs, every day, and even moved the golf balls (we put them in the nesting boxes so the girls will know to go in there and lay rather than outside the coop. They just think they're other eggs.) out of that particular box. She's still sitting in there, even though she's not actually sitting on any thing. I think the next thing I try is to put an ice cube underneath her. It doesn't sound too nice, but if she doesn't stop, she could get really weak and sick. Broody hens only leave their nest once a day to eat and drink and poop. Silly girl! I must have taken her out of the box about a dozen times this weekend. She's in the favorite box, too, so the other hens put up a fuss when they go in to lay. Any chicken experts out there have any suggestions?

We finished off birthday weekend last night with ribs and corn on the cob for dinner while watching a recorded episode of Battlestar Galactica, followed by a couple Advil for the aching muscles from the woodpile clearing, and a good night's sleep :o)

signs of spring

It was so beautiful this weekend. I spent as much time as possible outside.

I don't know how many varieties of daffodils we have planted in our yard, but there are a lot. These were opening in full force on Saturday and Sunday. Everything else is brown, but the daffodils are bright and cheery!

I've added pictures of the extra first prize treats for the contest, so don't forget to leave a comment and answer my easy blog quiz questions! I made a little bag with my new fabric stash enhancement purchases to hold the book and cards for the grand prize winner:

And that is the promised knitted rose corsage on there. I may need to add a leaf, I think it needs one. Sadly, I didn't get a good picture of the book I made, but it's a little 5"x5" square book with Japanese-style paper covers, brown paper pages, and an open-spine Japanese 4-needle binding. You'll just have to trust me, I guess.

Last night I had a chicken panic attack. I went to put the chickens to bed (that just means that I go out the the coop, count the chickens to make sure they are all there, and close and lock the door). Meanwhile, Bear was scratching around a pile of old wooden fencing that had blown down a couple years ago. We replaced the fence, but have various piles of the old fence in the corner of the yard. I figured he saw a lizard go in there at some point, since he obsesses over lizards. I counted my chickens, and there were only 17. I counted over and over, and still, only 17. I figured out that one of the Ruby's was missing, which was odd, since they are always in the coop at night. Bluebeard insisted on sleeping under our shed a few weeks ago for a couple days, but I managed to convince her to go back with the rest of the flock, but the Barred Rocks have always gone into the coop. So I got out my headlamp and a flashlight, and wandered around and around the entire property, the whole acre. She was nowhere to be found. I checked the pile where Bear had been sniffing, but there didn't seem to be any room for a chicken to have crawled into. The thing with chickens is, once they turn in for the night, they are out. I can reach into the coop at night and pick up any of them, and they'll just sleep in my arms. They just don't want to move after dark. I checked under the shed, under the porch, in all the trees, over the fence on all four sides, and...nothing. After nearly an hour of searching I finally had to give up. I imagined every possible scenario, did she go out through the gate when I had it open to take out the trash? Did she fly over the fence and then not find her way back? Did a hawk or an owl get her? I didn't sleep well all night, and as soon as it started to get light, I was straining my ears to see if I could hear her. I went out as usual this morning to let the chickens out, looking around again for her. Once again, Bear ran right over to the pile of fencing, scratching and sniffing. This time a picked up the topmost layer, and out popped a chicken! And down rolled her egg! Silly girl! She had crawled under the wood to lay an egg, and gotten herself wedged in. She walked away a little drunkenly, but after a little food and water, she was walking around just fine, and I couldn't tell which one of the four had spent the night in the woodpile. Oh, and Bear got lots of treats and pets for being my hero!

four unrelated paragraphs

I can’t post a blog entry without a picture, but I’ve got no pictures. I did get a few new Photoshop brushes, however, and have been playing around with them a little bit. I made a new banner, but I may need to work on it a little more. It seems just a little off to me somehow. At least the colors are bright and cheerful on this dreary day. It’s been snowing this morning, but by the time I get home from work tonight it should be clear and cloudless and the snow will probably be all gone.

My reading cycle has slowed a bit, but I always must have something to read, so I’m quite interested in this new website, Revish. You can go sign up now and possibly become a tester, and share book reviews and recommendations with others. I’m still finding my way around, but it’s sort of like Flickr for book lovers. Come and try it out!

I have a little bad news on the chicken front. It seems that the co-worker with the three chickens, one of which was General Tso, has yet another rooster. So tomorrow we’re going to switch out his Rhode Island Red rooster for another of my hens. I know it’s silly, but I just feel so bad disrupting our little flocks like this. They’ve got brains the size of peas, and so they have a day of big changes and re-adjusting their chicken hierarchy, and then they’re fine. I’m sure they don’t actually remember the trauma of it all, and just go back to scratching and pecking and pooping and sleeping, but I still feel bad about the whole thing. Luckily, their third hen has started laying eggs, so we shouldn’t have to go through this again. What are the chances, eh? I’m just hoping that the two roosters will be okay together. They were once before, obviously, so I’m hoping they’ll be able to live in peace and harmony again.

I mentioned in my anniversary post that I wanted to have a little Heylucy blog reader appreciation giveaway, and I’ve been getting a few things together, so come back this weekend, and all will be revealed!

Edit: It appears that Typepad doesn't like paragraphs today. Does anyone have any idea why?

material girl

I have been on a self-imposed fabric diet for a very long time. I don't think I've bought hardly any fabric in the past year, as a matter of fact. So when I got a little gift card to Joann's for Valentine's Day, I had to go spend it right away:

Actually, the fabric diet ended a couple weeks ago, when I went to the dentist, which happens to be next to a quilt shop. I was such a brave patient that I thought I deserved a little treat, so I got the tape measure fabric and the red floral underneath it in the top picture. It really helped with the pain in my jaw. Really, I recommend fabric buying for toothache pain. And then I also need to try out Superbuzzy, so see if they really were as great as everyone is saying. I ordered the green fabric with the words and the orange dot fabric, and I'll have to agree that yes, Superbuzzy is all that. The rest is what a $40 gift card gets you at Joann's when their quilting fabric goes on sale, 30% off. I had to get the chicken fabric after seeing it over at Alicia's, and I love the apple and pear print, the colors are so pretty!

I love, love, love this quilt from the Tokyo Quilt Show, and I'd like to do something similar, so that's what I was thinking while picking out a lot of the fabrics. I love how it's a traditional pattern, but the colors and fabrics make it seem so modern and fresh.

I haven't taken pictures of the chickens for a few weeks, so I attempted to get a few yesterday morning. They're getting a little harder to photograph, because, like Pavlov's dog, when they hear the screen door slam, they all come running, hoping that I'm bringing them a treat. So they get very very close to me, and it's not so easy to get pictures that way. I managed a few decent shots, however:

They're trying to get closer to me, hoping that the shiny silver thing in my hands is actually some food.

I don't think there is much of anything cuter than a chicken butt:

A few more of the chickens have names now. The four Barred Rocks are named Ruby. I can't tell them apart, other than the one is always the first to run to me when she sees me. When I don't give her something to eat, she clucks indignantly and trys to stare me down.

This is Curly:

I can tell her from the other Buff Orpingtons, because her comb and wattle are much bigger and redder.

And of course, here is what Fuzzy Penelope Caramella looks like these days:

I have to try and get a shot of Bluebeard, so you'll be able to tell where that name came from, and then there is the Free! Exotic chick, who is either Snow White or Snowball, I haven't decided yet.

We've been getting one little egg just about every day. I found one of the Ruby's in the nesting boxes twice, so I'm pretty sure one or two of them is the layer. They may be tiny eggs, but they are delicious! And, like Amy suggested in the comments, I blew out the first two eggs so the shells are still intact, and it turns out I had the perfect spot for them:

It's hard to get a good picture in my dark living room, but you get the idea.

big day

Finally, the big day is here:

I was closing up the chicken coop last night, and looked over into the newly installed nesting boxes, and there was this tiny little egg, sitting all by itself in one. Isn't it pretty? I was so excited I nearly cried. I wanted to hug all the chickens, or give the layer of the egg a high five, or something, but they were all on their roosts like nothing out of the ordinary had happened that day.

I have a couple egg cartons saved, so I promptly put it in one and placed it ever so carefully in the refrigerator. I keep taking it out and looking at it. Since it's the first egg, and I didn't see who was in the nesting box, I have no idea who laid it. I loved the February 5th post on the hen blog (you have to scroll to it, there aren't permalinks to the entries) about how different all the eggs look. Finally, the girls are earning their keep!

So, how should I cook it? Boiled? Scrambled? An omelet? Maybe a frittatta? I think I'm going to have to wait until there are a few more, it's so tiny, it won't make much of anything by itself.

additions

This is why I haven't been around for the last week or so:

Also this:

And then there is this:
 
I wrote about losing my sweet girl Gigi last summer. I didn't write about how almost exactly a month later, Dune also died from a tumor in his lung. It was just too sad. So now, after living for seven months with no cats in our house, we brought home two new babies. Officially, they are Mr. Lucy's Birthday/Christmas presents, although, honestly, I was ready for a new kitty myself. So up there at the top is Petey, and the little calico/bengal mix is Lucy. We decided that we really ought to have someone in our house actually named Lucy. Now that I think about it, I'm going to have to come up with a new nickname for Mr. Lucy, because otherwise that would imply that he is married to our cat, which is just weird. As he is a very private person, he doesn't like his actual real name to be used on the internet. Maybe someone in my family will have a better suggestion?

So, anyway, Petey and Lucy are 8 months and 9 months old, respectively. We got them from the Helen Woodward Animal Center, which is such a nice facility. They had been there for about 6 months, and were living together in the same kennel. It's completely different having two kittens, we didn't realize how used we were to our old cats. These two are either bouncing off the walls, or doing this:

There doesn't seem to be an in-between state for them. Although this morning it was so warm we had the back door open and they discovered the chickens:

One or both of them were at the door until I left for work. As far as I know, they could still be there. It's like television for cats!

Expect to see more of this little buggers, although it's taken me all week to get any decent pictures of them, they move so fast. I still have to get a good picture of Lucy with her golden tiger eyes open.

As for the chickens, remember how I had 19 hens, and had given 4 to one co-worker and 3 to another? Well, the three hens turned out to be 2 hens and a rooster. And since that co-worker lives in a residential area, the rooster was kind of a problem. So we agreed to trade one of my hens for the rooster, and now the lucky devil gets to live here with 18 hens. Oddly enough, they had named him General Tso, before they realized she was a he. How's that for foreshadowing? Here is another picture of him:

He's quite the looker. He's an Araucana, and he crows. A lot. This morning at 4:30 our neighbor started up his Harley. This woke up the General and he started crowing. We didn't hear the Harley, but we sure did hear the General. If nothing wakes him up during the night, he starts to crow at about 6:30, which is alright during the week, because I should really be up by then myself. On Saturday? Not so much. We're getting used to the sound though, and I think it will eventually just be another background noise here on the farm.

taking care

It's always good to come home. I've been back since late Monday night, but have been busy catching up at work and at home. Next week will be all about catching up on blogs and comments, I think! I love getting comments so much, so if I haven't responded to your comment in the last couple weeks, you'll be hearing from me soon, I am definitely not ignoring you!

I went to bed last night to a light, sprinkling rain, and woke up to a few inches of snow. The picture above is my little town. Click it to see a really big version. That's pretty much the whole town right there. Sometimes it feels like stepping back in time when I come home.

This is chicken alley. You can't see it, but our shed is to the right (the bikes are leaning against it), and there is a short wall on the left, so the chickens hang out there a lot because it's sheltered from the weather. We had some pretty high winds last week, and Mr. Lucy told me that one of the Barred Rocks had ventured out of the alley onto the driveway where she was caught in a gust of wind and went feet over tail, just like a tumbleweed. And then she went back into the chicken coop. I guess she didn't like the wind too much. In this picture, several of them are running to me, hoping for a treat. Too bad I just have my camera, they already had plenty of treats today!

In another wind and animal story, there were also some very large gusts that blew a chunk of shingles and the top of our chimney off the roof. Our insurance company sent someone out the other night to tarp the roof, knowing that we had a storm coming in. The contractor put a big, black, plastic bag over the chimney pipe. Yesterday morning when I let the dogs out, Bear was looking at the roof and barking suspiciously. I think he thought the plastic bag was a person standing on the roof. It's good to know that we are safe from suspicious plastic bags.

So it's a new year, and I'm not making resolutions, exactly, but I do have plans to take better care this year. I'm going to take better care of myself and my home and of course, Mr. Lucy, who is going to be eating more vegetables this year, whether he wants to or not. Happily, I have a three day weekend, so there will be much cooking of aforementioned vegetables, as well as some serious cleaning and clearing out of the house.

Oh, and you can read more about how I rang in the new year here. There may be video of me behind the microphone, but I plan on doing every thing in my power to insure that it does not see the light of day. All in all though, it was a crazy fun time. Although why does silly string take less than 5 minutes to spray out of the can, and 5 hours to clean up?