Surprise!!

For months now, I've been trying to get my broody buff hen to hatch eggs. She'll sit on the eggs, move when another hen needs to lay an egg, then sit back on them until, at night, she joins the rest of her fellow chickens and roosts, leaving the eggs to chill and get cold. I've meant to "box" her in so she'll have no choice but to sit, but just haven't gotten around to it.

Meanwhile, the younger set of hens are laying eggs; one by the oil tank we never use anymore, another in the pole barn and another location in the woods I only just discovered today. When I close the coop door at night, there is always one hen missing. She never goes in the coop at night, though I see her during the day. I don't know where she goes at night, I'm so busy I never get to just sit and watch where she goes, so as long as I see her the next day, she must be roosting somewhere safely.

Imagine my surprise this morning when Gretchen yells, "Baby chicks! Baby chicks! Look! Baby chicks!" Looking out the dining room window, there's my missing hen with 9 little babies!

They were obviously born recently, some of them were still wobbly and all still have their egg "tooth".

Mama Hen was doing good, teaching them to scratch and peck for food.


I was surprised she let me get so close, I even held one and she just watched me. I'd like to think it's because she trusts me.


This is the rooster I'm keeping.

I'm sure he's papa to at least one of them!


Hard to believe these little babies will grow into such big chickens!
They're so cute!

Mama Hen was pretty good at guarding her babies, but when we followed her to the coop, we found 2 dead chicks. Their eyes were pecked and bloody. Poor babies.
Then while we were nearby, one of the roosters pecked one of the chicks. Didn't seem hurt it, but it flipped in the air and I knew I would have to quarantine Mama Hen and her babies if I wanted all nine of them to survive.

Who really knows what goes on in a chicken's head, but there is a pecking order and these babies are on the very bottom of it right now. Mom and the kids helped keep the other chickens away while I caught Mama Hen and her babies and put them in a cage. I spent the morning building a fenced-off area and then had to run down to the farm store and pick up a new waterer and chick feed. They are safe in their pen, using the cage as a nesting box that I'll lock up at night and open during the day.

If I had known she was setting on eggs, I would have taken them away, for it's a little late in the season for new chicks. Nights are getting cool now, averaging in the 50's and 60's, but the days are still warm-- today it was in the high 70's. If it get's real cold and the chicks are still young, I'll break out the heat lamp.

I have every intention of butchering the 5 extra roosters, so no harm comes to the babies. I have extra incentive now, the instinct to protect the babies over-ruling my hesitation to kill a rooster. That extra motivation should help me get the job done and keep from putting it off.
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Blah, Blah, Blah

Non-stop go, go, go these days. Part of me enjoys the action, getting out of the house and doing something different; another part of me is ready for staying home and doing nothing-- well, as much nothing as 2, 4, 6 and 8-year olds will let me.

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We had to head into Northern Virginia on Saturday for a family get together and it was nice. Always good to see family and it had been too long between visits, really. The kids got their grandma and granddaddy 'fix' and we're all caught up on family end-of-the-summer activities. We also stopped by to see friends for a quick little visit and wished we could have stayed longer, but we had another stop to make before going home. It was great seeing them, too! :o)

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Our original plan was to stay overnight and then hit the Renaissance Festival the next day, but it turned out that Andrew had to work that day, so we nixed those plans. I'm a little disappointed we didn't go, but it runs all the way through to the end of October, so there's still another chance we can make it. I already made a costume for Peter to wear, and got the materials to make dresses for the girls, but have yet to sew them up. If we end up not going, they can use them for Halloween at least.

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I have a birthday coming up, so I received some gift cards to Walmart. First thing I thought of was getting one of those Bissell green machines so I can finally clean the poor couch. We picked one up today and paid the difference. Since Peter poured the milk all over the couch, it's sort of been shoved aside, the cushions being used on the floor by the kids (milk was poured on the base of the couch, not the cushions). Then the dog vomited on it last night-- ew. Then today, apparently, there was poop on the couch which Peter then stepped in and smeared onto the couch and tracked little poopy footprints all over the living room floor before I caught a whiff of it and grabbed him so I could clean him up. Meanwhile, the girls are sprawled on the chairs seeing all this go down and not one thought to come and tell me about the poo or Peter tracking it everywhere.

So the Bissell came in handy tonight. I fired it up and cleaned the base of the couch, the arm rests and one of the cushions. Man, that water was dirty! It's still damp, so I'll have to wait until it dries to see how much better it looks, but I'm sure it's an improvement from what it was. I'll probably have to go over it a couple of times but it's a start, and I got the poo and vomit all cleaned up anyway.

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My tomatoes are trickling down now. I haven't canned any in a week. Every time I go out there, there's hardly enough to fill a quart jar, even after a couple days of no picking. The potatoes seem to be doing alright. I can see a few exposed here and there and the tops are starting to wilt and wither. I'll wait a little longer before I dig a few up and see what I find.

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The wild grapes have been picked and juiced. I got 2 quart jars full of juice that needs to be sweetened and thinned with water. Wild grapes are pretty sour, but that doesn't stop Peter from gobbling them up! Each of the girls tried them, made faces and spit them out, but Peter just eats one after the other, asking for more after he finishes the bunch I gave him. I had to play keep-away so he wouldn't eat up all the grapes! There aren't very many wild grapes this year, lack of rain, I suppose, so every bit I could find, I needed.

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We are in drought conditions here, and there is a burn ban imposed on county residents. Many of the orchards here had to send away truckloads of apples and peaches to be juiced because they weren't good for much else. When there is no rain, the tree steals the sap from the fruits, so the fruits don't get any bigger and end up getting sunburned. Lots of fruits, but they aren't big and juicy as years with plentiful rain. I suspect the price of a bushel of apples will be much higher this year. Guess I should be happy I have plenty of applesauce left from last year and won't need to buy so many apples this year.

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I have unhappy hens. They keep getting sexually assaulted by the 6 roosters every time they step out of the coop, so they have taken to staying in the coop. They are protesting their living and work conditions and have stopped laying eggs for me. 11 hens and if I'm lucky, I get 2 eggs, but usually just one per day. I had every intention of butchering a rooster last week, but then I chickened out and let him go. Lucky feller. I need to kick myself and get it over with. I'm alright with the butchering part, it's the taking of a life part that gets me. I fudged it the last time and the rooster suffered a little bit and I feel so bad for that. I need better killing tools so I don't make that same mistake.

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I signed up for Elsie Marley's Kid Clothes Week. That's that little picture at the top in the right-hand corner. It's a fun little thing, commit to sewing at least an hour every day for a week to sew clothes for your kids. She did it last Spring and seeing some of the outfits people made for their kids was really inspiring. I decided to try and participate this year and make at least a dress for each of the girls, or maybe night gowns for their Christmas gifts. I have some nice corduroy that would make a cute jumper for one of the girls. When I made Peter's costume for the Renaissance Festival, I didn't use a pattern and I was pretty pleased with how well it came out, plus, it fits him nicely. Maybe a simple shirt for him, dresses for the girls and jammies for all of them. A bit ambitious, maybe, but no one said I had to stop at the end of the week!

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Percy is looking so cute, all curled up into a ball, asleep by my feet. I think I'll follow his lead and curl up in my own bed. No more go, go, go for the week, but there's still things to do around here.

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Maybe We Should Have Named Him Kryptonite

Stopping at a yard sale last Friday, the goodies were lined all the way down the driveway towards the back basement of the house. My mom got to the bottom before I did and when I passed her on the way down, she told me, "don't go back there." "Why not?" I asked. "Free kittens", she said. Uh-oh. My weakness. My kryptonite. I had to peek and see what they had.

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A cute female calico and a black male sat in the cage. Ohhhhhhhhhhh, and I proceeded to melt on the spot. Then worse, the lady let me hold one. That's it, I was a goner. Who can resist fluffy little kittens that lick the tips of your fingers and purr in your ears. Not I. But I thought of all the times Andrew and I said no more cats or dogs until the current ones are gone and I knew I wouldn't be able to bring these kittens home with me. I told the lady I'd love to have one, but I need to talk with my husband first.

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Off we went to other yard sales and I was forcing the image of the kittens into the mental trash bin. I told myself if I was still thinking about them by the time I got home, I'd bring it up, otherwise, no more kittens. I was doing pretty good at resisting the kitten charms and just about closed the lid on the mental trash bin, until we got home and the minute my mom saw Andrew, she opened her mouth and blurted, "free kittens!" I ended up telling Andrew about the kittens and mentioned there was a black kitten-- his kryptonite.

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Well, to make a long story short, Andrew surprised me by letting me get a kitten. Here's the newest member of the family:

Percy

He is a most spoiled kitten, with the kids constantly fighting for their turn to hold Percy. He has made himself quite at home, already learning where to find his food and his litter; already figured out which kid to RUN from and which one will lovingly cradle him in her arms; already claiming a spot on our bed at night. He's a good kitty and has made friends with Maisie the dog and seems to know BC the cat is not quite ready to be best buds just yet.

Percy is meant to be my cat, and I'm happy to share him with the family.

Thanks, honey, for letting me get him. You're the best! xoxo

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Shocker

For the first time ever, since I've taken up canning 10 years ago, I am running out of jars! I never imagined I would run out of jars to fill!

My tomatoes have exceeded my expectations this year and I have canned 41 quarts so far. Not enough if we were pioneers and lived solely off our garden, but it's so much more than the previous years! I still need to tweak how many plants of what tomatoes, but I am pleased with the harvest so far. Several plants are starting to wither and fade, but at least half are still going strong.

If it wasn't for the corn, I'd still have empty jars, but I'm not complaining-- filled jars are better than empties! I have 3 cases of pint jars left and 1 case of half-pints. Zero quart jars. I have been feeding the kids applesauce more often for snacks just so I can get the quart jar back! The kids eat a whole quart in one sitting. I doubt I'll make applesauce this year, I still have plenty from last year. I think I will get a bushel or two of apples to make pies and apple chips though and to eat out of hand.

The local farm store is sold out of quart jars. I'm hoping to score a case or two when we go into town this week. I was hoping to can irish potatoes with some of the smaller ones when we harvest potatoes. Last year I shredded the smaller potatoes, blanched them, then froze them for making quick hash browns. It took up a lot of space in the freezer and a lot of my time to prepare them and besides, making fresh hash potatoes isn't that hard, so it wasn't like a huge time-saver. We do, however, love irish potatoes and now that I have the pressure canner, I thought I'd try making my own. Quart jars would be nice for this purpose.

I hope I'll always have this problem of not having enough jars. It means my harvest is going well and we'll eat good this winter! May you be as fortunate! :o)

Highs and Lows

High:

All summer long, the yardsales have either been slim pickings or we haven't been hitting them with our usual ferocity. But the last couple of weekends, when we happen to go out and spot a yard sale on the way, have more than made up for the summer's misses.


On our way to the next big town over, we spotted a yard sale at a house that has not had a yard sale in the entire 5 years we lived here. It's a round-ish style house so I always look at it as we go by. Anyway, it wasn't a whole lot of stuff, but I saw this basket with yarn and other goodies and when I asked, the lady said it was $4 for the whole thing. Good deal! A lot of the yarn is new and it had 3 sets of knitting needles, a couple of knitting pattern books, a teach yourself to knit booklet, and some crochet thread. Evelyn has been learning to knit on those knitting looms and so getting cheap yarn for her to practice with is great!

There was one skein of this wool yarn and I claimed it for myself. Evelyn asked me to show her how to knit with the needles but I only know how to do one basic stitch. I used to make those little washcloths from cotton yarn and that was quite a while back-- at least 15 years or so. I had to really struggle to remember how to do that and the little teach yourself to knit booklet wasn't too clear with the instructions, or at least, not how I remembered it. I finally figured out the basic stitching and I have been knitting a little here and there. I'm thinking gift for Christmas, if I can keep it up.

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Low:

I need to find a good, used fabric cleaner machine. I've been hoping to spot one, but no luck so far. They cost about $100 new and we don't have carpet except for in the apartment, so we'd only really use it on the couch. Either that, or we need to keep an eye out for a good, used couch. While Andrew was busy doing one thing, and I was busy doing another, Peter got into the fridge and dumped a nearly full gallon of milk on the couch. -sigh- It's still dripping milk an hour later. Even if we get a cleaning machine, it won't get into the insides of the couch, so it looks like our best bet would be to get a couch. Or else we put up with a stinky couch. -sigh- My plan was to wait until all the kids were over the age of 5 and then get a new couch, but this puts a little wrinkle into my plan. Not too sure what we are going to do about the couch. If money was no object, I'd get the couch reupholstered, but it's an issue, so what to do, what to do?

Maybe we'll get lucky again and score a couch at the thrift shop. There was a nice one there at the same time I saw the table and they were only asking $50 for it. It's gone now, but we could afford $50. Well. I guess we'll just clean up the couch as best as we can and see if it starts to smell in the next few days. It's not as hot now, so that helps. Rancid milk is not a pleasant smell.

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Andrew is busy outside and I'm busy on the computer, so I better go and make sure Peter isn't busy getting into mischief.

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Table for 7 (or 8, or 9, or 10...)

With 4 children and 3 adults gathering for meals everyday, and Peter not content to sit in the high chair anymore, it quickly became apparent that we needed a bigger table. Andrew's grandparents' red formica table comfortably seats 6 with the leaf in and with guests, we had to squeeze in a couple of chairs in the corners. It was time to find something bigger.

I'd been keeping an eye out for a new table-- watching the sales ads, checking prices at stores, looking around at the thrift shops. I even considered making one by getting new banisters from the hardware store for the legs, and then using planks from one of the many sawmills around here and creating a farm-style table. It's been a few months since we started searching; new tables are out of our price range and the ones at yard sales haven't won us over.

I stopped at the local thrift shop a couple weeks ago, looking for something else when I spotted a table. Oh! I immediately fell in love with it, but there was another lady looking at it and I didn't want to rush over and push her into buying it when she sees another interested party. After she walked away (whew!) I moseyed on over and casually looked at it, pretending I wasn't really interested in it. But I couldn't resist, it was just perfect for what we needed. Damn! Andrew wasn't with me so I couldn't ask him, and I was 99.9% sure that he'd like it too, but still, I hate to buy something big without his input.

I asked the worker there if there was any way they could put it on hold for me, and she suggested putting down 25%, but it was non-refundable and if Andrew didn't like it, I'd be out that 25%. I pleaded a little bit, saying I didn't want to buy something large without my husband's approval and I'd send him right over as soon as I got home-- about an hour it'd would take him to get there: 30 minutes for me to get home and 30 minutes for him to come up. The worker called the manager over and she looked me up and down, perhaps assessing whether I was sincere or just wasting their time, but she agreed and said they'd hold it for me!! Eeeee!! I was so happy, I left in a rush, telling them that a bald-headed guy would be in soon, that his name was Andrew and thanked them several times before leaving the store.

As soon as I got home, Andrew came out to meet me in the driveway to help unload the van and I told him to get to the thrift shop as fast as he could. Bless his heart, he knows when I am serious and I would only tell him to go if there was something really worth checking out. He wasted no time, turned around, went back into the house and changed his clothes, got his wallet and keys and left.

It was still there-- they had put a 'sold' sign on it and just as I thought, he liked it too. He paid for it and brought it home and it's the perfect size for us, with a little room leftover for guests and no squeezing either! No chairs, so I am on the look-out for chairs, but for now, the old chairs we used with the formica table will do.

Not too sure what kind of wood it is, mahogany maybe? Something else? The leaf folds under for storage so no worries about where to store it if we didn't need it. It's not perfect, there's a spot where someone left a hot iron and you can tell there was a lace tablecloth on there once, since I can see a lacy pattern in the finish in some places. Someday I'll refinish the top, but for now, we are using a tablecloth to prevent any more damage to the top. Knowing my kids, there's bound to be spilled drinks and messy meals.

It has nice detailing on the corners, brings to mind the art deco style. And a neat feature is when you pull the top apart for the leaf, the legs don't move, they stay put. Much nicer than having to struggle with the whole table to pull apart or shut the top.

We put the girls all on one side and it's nice, they seem to be eating better than before. Like Gretchen sees her sisters eating something and she is more likely now to eat it rather than pick at it. We put Peter between Andrew and I and we can both encourage him to eat instead of just me, and I can actually eat my food before it gets cold because Andrew can help with his food, too.

We've already had 2 extra people eating with us for a total of 9 people, and there is still plenty of room for all of us to eat comfortably. I'm so glad we got this table and for the people at the thrift shop that made an exception and held it.

There is also a matching cabinet that goes with the table and we hated to separate them, so we got that too. It's in the living room for now, and still empty, until we decide what to do with it. I'm thinking of moving the games into the lower cupboard and then displaying some of our pretty things in the glass area. We thought about moving it into the foyer area, but the thermostat is in the way, so that's out. Just might leave it where it is, it's an unused corner anyway, so hmm... wait and see.

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Afterthoughts

Have you ever had an afterthought that turned out well? A last-minute move that you didn't plan on taking and landed you in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? I had one of those the other day!

I had to run into town-- a missed appointment that turned into a month-long phone-tag game and I finally gave up and went to the office in person to schedule a new appointment. I wasn't planning to go to the Library, they have new hours and close early on Tuesdays, but since I was so close, only a few blocks away, I might as well go. I had Peter and Sylvia with me. Sylvia is old enough, at 4, to know how to behave and not run around the children's section like a maniac. Peter, on the other hand, let's just say I got some eyeballing from the other patrons there. As I checked out the dvds, I noticed the sign for the book sale they have going on the upper level. With Peter screaming like he was, I had no intention of staying a second longer than necessary, but then, he suddenly calmed down and he was quiet. What the hell-- I'll make a quick run upstairs and see what they got.

Normally, because it's such a small Library, the book sale is not much to look at.. a few tables with books lined in rows, spine up to see the titles, and this sale was no exception. A few random squeals from Peter squirming around in my arm and I almost didn't go around to the other side of the tables, but as before, he suddenly quieted and I went ahead and checked. Lo and behold! Quite a few volumes of the Life Nature Library Series!

22 books total! I haven't researched, yet, to see how many volumes in the set there are supposed to be, maybe 24 I'm guessing, but I am so pleased that my afterthought to the Library paid off! Other than smelling a little musty, the books are in pretty good shape, and the ones I checked, dated 1978. They will be added to our little homeschooling Library. For the most part, I'm not too worried about the age of the books, there haven't been a whole lot of changes with some of the topics and they'll mostly be used for leisure reading. I'll be encouraging the kids to look through these and come to us with any questions.

Any good finds for you lately??

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