The Problem With Free-Ranging Chickens

 Chickens are fun.

It's interesting to see how they relate to each other and watching them grow from baby chicks to full-grown, egg-laying hens. Roosters are another story. Seeing their battles to determine who gets to be head rooster is something to behold. I sure am glad I'm not a chicken.

I built a coop from pallets, then two years later, I finally put up a fence around the coop to keep chickens out of the garden during the summertime. After the harvest is over, I open the gate and they're free to roam. They seem like happy chickens-- they forage in the yard and the garden, they come to the back door looking for handouts, they lay eggs.

Chickens in the yard please me.  No more bare feet, but that's alright, I think it's a fair trade-off.

The problem with free-ranging chickens is that to find the eggs, it's a full-on Easter egg hunt, but without the bright colors to tip you off! Ever try to look for brown eggs nestled among brown dirt and leaves? Not easy.

The girls hit pay-dirt while out playing in the snow today. Ten eggs hidden by the woodpile! A good cleaning and they're good to go. The temperatures outdoors where we are have been a steady 40, so I'm not worried about these eggs being rotten, but nevertheless, I will inspect each egg as I crack them into a separate bowl before using them in any meals. 

I'm sure there are more piles of eggs hidden somewhere, but haven't found them yet. Sure am looking forward to gardening season and I'll have a reason to pen the chickens in again.

Cooped up Coop!

After a lot of slow-poking, putting it offing, getting around to it latering..I finally fenced in the chickens! Nothing fancy, just wire fencing, 1x2 mesh; 4x4 posts, for the gateway; then t-bars and trees, for tacking up the fence.

The gateway. 4x4s set into concrete.

The view to the right, two hundred feet of fencing all the way around. The yellow ties on the fencing was put on after we put up the first panel. The chickens were running into the fencing trying to get into the coop. After I added the bows, cut from a plastic bag that once held dirt, the chickens could see the fence better and found their way around it, and into the coop.

Andrew's friend Jim brush-hogged this area for us last Spring, when I first starting doing this project. Yes, last Spring! Bought all the materials then let it sit on the back burner until finally completing this project last week!  Andrew has been burning, burning, burning away at all the weeds that grew back and made it really nice back there.

Truthfully, I think it took so long to finish the fencing because I didn't really want to fence them in. I like having the chickens out, watching them scratch in the yard, or in the front driveway. Their chicken ways fascinated me and I hated the idea of locking them away. But they were getting into things-- my rhubarb patch, the garden. And they pooped all over the sidewalk and patio area. Killed all the flowers planted around the house by digging into the dirt for their baths. And besides, after the harvesting of the fruit and vegetables, they can be let out again and enjoy freedom. They won't be cooped up all the time, I told myself, when I finally made the gate to shut the chickens in.

All they need now is a tin cup!

The gate is a simple frame made from PVC pipes, then covered with chicken wire. Held shut with a chewed through nylon leash, but still useful with the latch on the end.

Since they've been on lock-down? It's pretty nice. I still feel kind of bad about it, but it's great not having kids that were scared of the rooster, therefore scared to go out the door without a chaperone to guide them through the chicken gauntlet hanging out by the back door. Even after clearing a path, there was hesitation to run through and after 10 seconds too long, the chickens regroup and.. "Attackkkkk!!" Sure got tiring escorting multiple kids multiple times every day. Rescuing a kid too scared to move, panic in their eyes is something I don't miss one bit. I still plan to let them out come Fall, after harvest, but by then, there should only be one rooster left and he'll be too busy playin' with his ladies to worry about the kids.

Another project checked off my list!

Crazy Busy

It's been crazy busy around here lately. But it's also been kind of boring. One day it's all outside work, tilling the garden, working in a truck load of composted manure, playing in the dirt. The next it's indoors and the kids are whining "there's nothing to do!" Boy that sounds familiar! I used to drive my mom up the wall when I said that! Then Dad would pipe up and say, "I'll give you something to do!" Which usually meant chores so I'd scoot outside and go find me something to do that didn't involve cleaning the litter box, or doing dishes, or vacuuming.

Spring is in the air and I've got all my seeds and potatoes and strawberries on stand-by, waiting to be planted. We tilled the garden twice and it looks so good! I love freshly-tilled soil, when it's soft and you just want to take off your shoes and sink your toes in there, but wait, we just tilled in cow poo-- eww! The kids ball up the dirt and throw dirt balls at each other and when I catch 'em, I holler, "cow poop!" which makes them drop whatever they got quick. But I guess soft soil is just irresistible and they soon start their dirt ball fights again. Bath night!

I lost a Buff Orpington hen the other day. She was acting funny the evening before and I carried her into the coop. She seemed alright, shook her feathers and hopped into a nesting box.  In the morning, when I opened the coop, she was dead on the floor. She was one of the original 12 chickens I got 3 years ago. Out of 12, I still have 4 left.

I had to play Doctor to Peter last night.  He was jumping from bed to bed and I guess he slipped and landed on the floor on his chin. Split his chin open, but it wasn't obvious at first when he came to me crying. I thought maybe he hurt his chest or something, so I held him and consoled him, scolded him a little bit for jumping on the beds and "see what happens when you do what you're not supposed to do?"  When he pulled away, there was blood on my shirt. Wha..??   So I looked him over and when he lifted his chin up, the cut was wide open and I could see bone. If I didn't have to be doctor I would have played the fainting patient. Cleaned it, used those special bandages that hold wounds shut, swabbed ointment on it, then slapped a big, honking bandage on top of everything to keep him from picking at it. Gave the boy some pain meds and typical kid, he was back to jumping from bed to bed again.

Trying to take it easy today, keeping him occupied with little projects. I changed bandages this morning and it's closed up and healing nicely. I'm surprised he isn't picking at the bandages yet, but I'm glad he's not. I probably jinxed it by saying that and the next time I see him, the bandage is going to be hanging off his chin or something.

We've been doing the Spring Cleaning thing. It's so true, after being cooped up all winter, that as soon as you can open windows and freshen everything up, you get bit by the cleaning bug. Trying to de-clutter and toss out old stuff. I got the kitchen counter cleared and my side of the closet is organized. Papers sorted and put where they belong. Made new curtains for the living room. The yard is picked up of little bits and pieces. Andrew has been burning away old leaves and overgrowth. It's feeling pretty good around here!

Looking forward to Easter. We've invited Andrew's parents to come down, so I'll make dinner and we'll hide eggs for the kids. I don't dye eggs usually, but I think I'll do that this year as part of a science project with the kids-- using food for dyes.  Red cabbage for pink colors, Tea for brown, curry powder for yellow... It'll be fun. Peter got into the plastic eggs a couple weeks ago, and there were colorful eggs all over the house! Waited until after the kids went to bed to pick them up and put them away (read: HIDING THEM!) and the next morning, Peter pitched a fit when he couldn't find the eggs.  He went from room to room, crying "Eggs! My eggs!" over and over before he got distracted with something else.

The Easter Bunny is well-stocked with candy and goodies thanks to couponing. The girls used to ask why I saved the plastic eggs, didn't the Easter Bunny bring new ones every year??  I told them the Bunny couldn't afford to buy new ones every year, so we leave out the basket and the empty eggs at night and while we sleep, he fills them and leaves a little surprise in the baskets.

Evelyn asked me this year if I believed in the Easter Bunny. "Absolutely!" I told her. I remember making little paper baskets and filling them with candy and eggs, leaving them at the door, ringing the doorbell then hiding in the bushes waiting, watching for my friend Mark to discover the basket! I signed the note, 'To Mark, From the Easter Bunny'.   I asked if she thought the Easter Bunny was real and she thought for awhile and replied, "I think so."  I told her if she didn't believe in the Easter Bunny, he wouldn't leave anything for her. Her eyes got wide and she said she did believe! Made me smile.

I can expect another crazy busy week.. Lots going on this weekend and next. I'll try for pictures next post! Til then.. Happy Spring!

Dropping In...

When I said I was going to take a bloggy break, I thought I would need all the way 'til Labor weekend. Turns out I am already itching to come back and I'm trying to decide if I should hold fast to my time-line or say the hell with it and start posting again. Maybe just writing this one post will be the release I need and I can hold off until Labor weekend.

A lot has happened around here-- some good, some bad. Nothing like a death in the family or a major illness, thank God, but definitely something that forces us to change and swallow our pride and to count our blessings even more. I know that things happen for a reason and what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I also know you don't judge a man before you walk a mile in his shoes and don't count your chickens before they hatch. The point is, life happens, and not always the way you want it to. It's the journey, not the destination.

Andrew was let go from his job not too long ago. It's been a blow for us, but we're honestly doing ok. We're already used to living on less and we don't live the high life and keep up with the Joneses. It just means we have to tighten the belt up another notch. Shopping with coupons like I do is a major bonus, our pantry and closets are well-stocked with food and supplies and the only thing we really need to shop for would be milk, meat and diapers (though diapers will soon be dropped from the list!). He's been looking and applying for work and hopefully something will come along soon. We're happy to have him home, though, and we've been enjoying the extra family time together.

We've been blessed with good friends that are passing on their children's clothes to us, so I won't need to worry about that. One family has 2 children, a girl a year ahead of Evelyn and a boy 2 years ahead of Peter. Another has 2 girls, both a year or two ahead of Gretchen and Sylvia. I'm lucky that ever since the kids were born, I've always shopped second-hand clothing for the kids, so they absolutely don't mind getting hand-me-downs and actually, they think it's normal procedure. Pretty much the only things they get brand-new would be shoes and underclothes, but even then, it's clearance prices and sales from the year before. I just bought clearanced flip-flops for the kids for next summer.

What really hurts with not having Andrew's paycheck is the gas money. Living in the country, we have to drive so far to get places, so we do a lot of consolidating with our errands and shop at stores that give us gas discounts. We recently filled up the van on gas that cost us $2.97/gallon thanks to gas points at the food store. That same food store also doubles coupons so it gives me more incentive to shop there.

New friends we've made that live nearby do a lot of volunteer work (they're retirees) and recently let us know that they dropped our name into a hat at the ruritan club that sponsors a few families and pays their way into the county fair. We hadn't planned on going to the county fair this year, because we cannot afford both the entrance fee and the rides for the kids, so it's really nice to know that we'll be able to do both and for once, we don't have to tell the kids "no" when they ask to go on the rides. They are even paying for our meal at the fair which always smells so good, but again, too pricey for a family of six. The kids are really excited about going to the fair and they all want to make something and enter it at the fair. Evelyn and Sylvia both embroidered their own designs and Gretchen wants to bake a cake. I embroidered something as well, and I plan to enter a few jams. Fingers crossed the girls all get blue ribbons for their efforts!

Total neglect of the garden and yet we are drowning in tomatoes!!  I feel so lucky! The kids love walking up and down the rows filling arms and buckets with tomatoes and bringing them into the house. I love that the girls eat tomatoes out of hand and sometimes they make a feast out of tomatoes for a snack. Peter doesn't quite understand just what is so great about tomatoes just yet, but hopefully, in time, he'll grow to love eating them, too. I don't hold much hope for the onions and the peppers-- the weeds have choked them out. I may be able to dig up a few taters, but I'm just not too sure about them.  I'm already imagining next years garden and I'm thinking this is the year I try for a fall planting for a winter garden.  I'd really like to try cold-weather gardening and see what that's like.

I recently lost a Speckled Sussex hen. She was one of the first 15 and I had only 2 left of the 6 Speckled Sussex I started out with. She wasn't looking so good for a day and I had a bad feeling when I shut the coop that night. Sure enough, the next morning, she was dead. Before Andrew was let go, I was thinking about ordering a batch of chicks. I'm tired of the Red hens and roosters and wanted to have some more colors in my flock, but that'll have to wait now. The Reds are not as friendly as the yellow Buffs and the Speckled Sussexs. They run and scatter when I come near and pretty much the only time I can handle them is when they're settled for the night in the coop. The Buffs and the Speckleds are super friendly and the girls love to hold them and enjoy their feathered company. I'll definitely order more of those two breeds next time.

I still have a bit of corn left from last summer's canning sessions. I hoped to plant corn this year, but that never happened. I hoped to score corn cheap from the food store like I did a few times last year, but it's been pretty pricey all summer long. I still have hope, though! Andrew's friend has a neighbor that recently complained he had too much corn-- eek!! Too much corn?!? How can that be??  I'm trying to get Andrew to talk to the nice man and convince him to sell his surplus of corn to us! After we've eaten our fill, I'll can the rest to enjoy during the cold winter months. Oh.. I hope so! I do love corn!

I think I'm done unloading the brain now. My shoulders feel lighter and my head doesn't hurt so much now. I'll stick to my original time-line and be back after Labor weekend.

~jenny

Fits and Starts

The pool is up!! It's just the right size for all of the kids this year. The water comes up to Peter's neck when he stands, so one less child to fret over in the pool. The kids have all improved since last year and they are swimming like fish. Sylvia is still the ever cautious one, though, and she rarely dunks her head underwater.

A cute picture of Lucy the cat. She likes to sleep in this little wooden crate. No idea where it came from, but the kids brought it out one day, didn't bring it back in, and Lucy has claimed it for her own. She caught a small woodpecker the other day. She's the huntress of the outdoor cats. Always voles, mice, chipmunks and, sometimes, birds, left around the food table for us to find. Turned the dead woodpecker into a biology lesson for the kids. It's tongue was hanging out and you could see little "thorns" on the tip of it. Makes it perfect for sticking in holes to skewer a bug and pull out. It was a pretty little bird, don't mind when Lucy catches mice or voles, but I always feel bad when it's a chipmunk or a bird.

This is the garden. ~sigh~ I'm so behind on my weeding! This is my potato patch. I checked and all the potatoes are growing strong, many are over a foot high and thick, just need to weed and hill them.

My solitary row of cabbage and broccoli. Heads are forming nicely, if I hurry and weed, this may be my first year at harvesting some cabbage and broccoli.

This is going to be the tough weeding job-- my onions are buried in there somewhere. I haven't weeded since hurting my back and hip, and then the poison ivy attack that left me in itchy fits. I haven't wanted to go outside much since all that happened. Slowly catching up, now, the tomatoes have been weeded and tied, lots of small green ones, hoping to have some ripe ones by July. Peppers are mostly weeded and I see lots of buds and a few tiny peppers growing. All out of frozen peppers in the freezer, so I'll be keeping an eye out for peppers at the farm stand. Last year, they could be found $1 for 4, if I can score them again for that price this year, I'll be stocking up.

Just about missed most of the mulberries this year. Still some left and I've picked, juiced, and froze 8 cups of mulberry juice so far. I'd like to double that if I can. Wild blackberries are coming in now and I've picked a nice bucketful. A few more bucketfuls would be nice.

Finally started on the chicken fence project. I got the two gate posts in and cemented. Going to work on the gate door next. Hopefully the fencing goes up this week. I'll be sure to wear long pants and long sleeves and then shower with poison ivy oil remover right after to prevent another outbreak of itchy rash. Still on meds, another few days and it's all gone. The rashes are fading, but they're still itchy. Just left with numerous healing little sores from all my scratching fits when I broke skin and where the blisters burst.

Kids are pestering me about going in the pool now. It's a blessing and a curse, keeps the kids amused, but forces me to hang about and supervise when I'd rather be elsewhere doing some other project. At least the blackberries are nearby, I guess now's the time to pick some more.

~Later..

Brush Hogging

Our friend came over with his brush cutter to help us clear away brambles and brush around our property. Priority was the space behind the chicken coop where we plan to fence the chickens in.

It's amazing how powerful that cutter is and how quickly it mowed everything down. Andrew pulled out fallen logs and big branches on the ground and also pulled down vines creeping up tree trunks while Jim brush hogged away.

Here it is, all cleared. They continued to brush hog around the corner to the right of this photo, until the engine back-fired and then sputtered to a stop. Oh dear. They got a good section cleared, but still much to do. He'll come back after the holiday after he looks at the engine and gets it up and running again.

Haven't done any fencing yet. My back has been bothering me for some time now, then Tuesday evening I was in excruciating pain. My hip quivered in pain at every step and by the time I put the kids to bed, it was screaming. I went downstairs to put a load in the wash and couldn't make it back up the steps. Lucky for me, Andrew arrived home and heard me on the stairs and helped me up the last few steps.

Looking up back/hip pain leaves too many possibilities, but I suspect a pinched nerve. I rested as much as I could on Wednesday and felt somewhat better on Thursday, so I ran errands-- grocery store and picked up Percy at the Vet's. Big mistake, the position of my leg in the car did not help and by the time I returned home, my hip was quivering in pain again. Another day tied to the heating pad and resting as much as four children allow me to has helped immensely. I find it helps to keep moderately mobile, as keeping still only stiffens the joint and I need to warm up all over again. Warming up hurts. Getting out of the bed in the morning is almost comical and then hobbling over to the toilet and back is something else entirely.

As of now, I am operating on 50% power. I want so much to DO stuff, but I know I'll pay the price if I do. The garden needs weeding, the fence needs fencing, the house needs housing and the kids need parenting. I don't know what I'd do without Andrew, he's such a big help. I'm hoping tomorrow brings me another lift in power. I'd like to at least get some weeding done. I'll take it slowly and see how it goes.

Enjoy the long weekend!

~

Always Something To Do Around Here

The desk top computer has been giving us trouble lately. I'm no computer expert, but I know enough to get by. The router/DSL modem crapped out last month, so I got a new one. The problem with the new router though, was we had to turn off the security to get on the internet! That ain't right. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the security system to view the new router as a non-threatening program. Then the power went out once and we lost internet connection. I finally figured out it was the new router. After much fiddling around with it, I re-installed the program disc and it worked, but we still had to turn off security to use it. Yesterday, the power went off and once again, the router/DSL modem no longer worked. This time, however, I couldn't get it to work again. Time for a new router. And a new security system.

Amazing how a day without internet services can sort of put a damper on things. We aren't online all day, but there are quite a lot of things we do on the computer and not having internet service really stunts us. We're too far from anywhere with wi-fi access and more than 20 miles to the nearest Library, so packing up the laptop is not ideal for us. Making a trip into the big town was necessary.

The other day, the riding mower sputtered and back-fired, then shut off on Andrew just as he finished the majority of the mowing. Lucky for us, he knows enough about engines that he knew what it needed and a trip to the hardware store for parts should do the trick. The hardest part about that was finding a hardware store that carried what he needed! At one store, the filters were all bent. At another, nothing matched what he needed. Third time was the charm indeed when he found all he needed at store number three.

While at the hardware store, we picked up fencing. We're going to fence in the chickens! After much talk, we've decided it would be best to build a pen around the chickens. I love the idea of free-range chickens, but in the case of my chickens, that means free-ranging all over the back stoop! Nothing like stepping on cold, mushy chicken poop in bare feet! I used to be Miss Barefoot until the chickens came along, then I became best friends with my flip-flops.

We bought 150 feet worth of fencing, which I think will give the chickens plenty of room to roam. I'm still thinking on a way to make a gate without resorting to buying one. I have plenty of scrap wood, so I'm leaning to making a frame then stapling chicken wire to it and voila! a door. I get lots of ideas in my head, just a matter of translating to paper to actual materials.

The kids are pretty happy about fencing in the chickens. The big rooster chases them and I constantly have to provide distraction to the rooster so the kids can make their escape to the swing set. It's getting irritating. Warmer weather equals kids playing outside equals mama dropping everything and distracting the rooster 10-plus times a day.

Anyway, after we got home from the computer store and the hardware store, I tried to get the new router working. I had quite the time trying to get it all to obey me. I get frustrated to tears when it comes to the computer because visions of it freezing and floating bits of money flying out the window do not a pleasant picture make. After about 4 hours of installing, un-installing, deleting, more installing, updating, down-loading, re-starting and one final updating, the desk top works! It works, it works, it works! Happy dance!

I worked right through dinner and sweet Evelyn made dinner without any prompting. She came to me and asked me to check and see if the macaroni was tender. "Macaroni?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm making dinner because I can see you are too stressed out from the computer, so I wanted to help you." Evelyn replied.

Well, melt my heart! We ate a mighty fine dinner of macaroni and cheese last night, paired with a glass of juice. It makes me proud when one of the kids can step up to the plate and pitch in when Andrew and I are both busy doing something.

Andrew's friend is supposed to come over tomorrow and let Andrew use his brush hog. I'm so excited! All the weeds and brambles and small brush are slowly overtaking the yard and I cannot put up the new fencing for the chickens until we clear away the brush. Using the brush hog will make the job go so much faster and easier, then we can just maintain afterwards. Fingers crossed it all goes well!

Percy the cat is quite the TOM cat. He is getting rambunctious and jumps BC, the older cat, a lot. He's starting to pee on clothing or towels that get left on the floor and I try to keep after the kids to pick up their clothes, but I don't catch every one. We could smell pee somewhere and sniffed around for it, but couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Andrew says here, I say there. Finally I moved a bed over and there was a pair of pants, soaked with cat pee.

Peter let Charlie the cat in the house a couple days ago, and he made a beeline to the bowl of cat food on the floor. I let him chow down when this happens, then put him back outside when he's done. This time, however, I got distracted and forgot about Charlie being in the house. I got a quick reminder when Percy spotted Charlie and a swirling, angry, hissing and yowling ball of black rolled around the kitchen floor, tufts of black fur flying! I'm not stupid enough to stick my hand in there and separate them, but something needed to be done! It all happened so fast, I somehow got them apart, swatting at them with a towel or something, then just as I was about to pick up Charlie, Percy came charging again, and the crazy ball of two black cats fighting rolled into the sun room, leaving a trail of fur. Andrew came in and managed to pull Percy off Charlie, then Charlie hid under the table in the sun room. After I finally coaxed him out and let him back outdoors, we knew something had to be done about Percy.

No way are we letting him out, free to impregnate every fertile female cat within spitting distance. He has an appointment on Thursday to get neutered. After he comes back, if he continues to pee in the house, he'll go outside with the other cats. Hopefully he stops that, cause I really like having him in the house. All the other outdoor cats are there because they peed in the house at one time or another.

Andrew works from 1-9 today, so I'm hoping for an uneventful day. At this rate, I'll be happy to distract the rooster to let the kids outside than face another computer issue.

Bad Chicken!

We have some naughty chickens! A few days after transplanting all the broccoli and cabbage plants, we had to run into town one evening. When we came back and I checked on the garden, this is what I found:

A few tentative nibbles on the cabbage plants.

But a full-on feast on the poor broccoli plants!

Look at this poor little guy.

We really gotta put up some better fencing. The fencing that is there now is rusted through in some spots and not very high. I've seen the chickens take flying leaps over the fence or they go through the holes and gaps. I have an idea to take down the old fencing and the rotted posts, purchase some t-bars and new fencing and then move the fence closer to the garden area. It'll open up space behind the pole barn and shed area and make it easier to cut the grass back there with the mower. Now to stop talking and start doing!

The kids have been playing with sidewalk chalk lately. After my discovery of chickens eating the poor broccoli pants, I drew this. Made me laugh anyway.

Chicken Feed

I've had a custom chicken feed recipe borrowed from a fellow blogger friend for awhile now and I've been wanting to check around local mills to see if anyone could/would make it. There's a mill not too far from us that has been in business for 100 years. They were the first place we called and after reading off the ingredients, they could have it ready that afternoon! Talk about service!I wish I could have gone with Andrew to pick up the feed, but all 6 of us don't fit in the pick-up and it's silly to take 2 vehicles. Lucky for me, Andrew took his camera along! It's the original building and sits right on the corner of the main road. There's a 2nd building across the street where they sell garden supplies.

Inside the mill, still using all the original mill equipment.

Love the look of the gears on this. I'll definitely try and get there myself to see it in person.

Someone else's bulk order, waiting to be picked up. Such nice people there, they already entered our recipe into the computer, with our permission, so if we order from them again, and we will, the recipe will already be in the system. While there, Andrew looked around in the garden center and they had onion sets for sale. He called and asked if I wanted some and I said to get both red and white onion sets. Silly me, I said 5 lbs of each; silly him, he didn't correct me. When he got home and I looked in the bags, I nearly fainted! That's a lot of onions!! We are now itching to get the garden tilled so we can get those onions in the ground!

Feed on the left is commercial feed from the co-op. Feed on the right is the custom recipe from the Mill. We have 900 lbs of feed stored away that, hopefully, will last us a while. I already marked my calendar so I can figure out how long it goes for. Price-wise, it's cheaper for us to buy in bulk like this, so it's a good fit for us. I don't expect to go back to commercial feed and with Spring coming on, pretty soon there'll be plenty of fresh greens and bugs for the chickens to nosh on.

~~

In other Chicken News:

A Buff died yesterday. She hadn't been looking well lately and the past couple of days she confined herself to the coop. I had a feeling she might die. When I opened up the coop yesterday morning, there she was, face down on the floor, dead. Poor girl, she was 2 years old. After we buried her, I cleaned out the coop and laid down fresh wood shavings. Old chicken manure and bedding went to the garden where it will get tilled over with the dirt.

Makes me extra hopeful that I'll get a hen or two from the 3 chicks we have. Fingers crossed!

~

The Battle for Spring Begins

We had some lovely days, which can easily lull one into thinking winter is over.

We spent hours outdoors, playing and working.

Quite enjoying the break from the cold.

We knew better, we knew winter wasn't done with us yet.

It began as rain then turned into snow.

We woke up to a lovely winter wonderland.

Three inches of snow covered everything.

So, so pretty to look at.

Even the fences were made beautiful.

Then as quickly as it came, it went just as fast.

Within a few hours after taking these photos, most of the snow has melted.

The mud has returned.

*
Meanwhile, back at the coop...

Mama Buff is still sitting on her eggs/chicks. I checked and she now has 3 chicks.

I suspect there's 4-- I counted only 5 eggs, but I think #4 is hiding.

I like this picture, taken yesterday, with papa Roo peeking in up there in the corner.

Taken this morning, chick #3 and #4(?) are still hiding.

*

No more progress made on the add-on for mama hen and her babies.

I've been hampered first by the rain, and then the snow.

Mama is still quite comfortable in the cage I have her in and I can see that both her and the chicks are eating and drinking. Hopefully, I can finish the add-on this week, but I won't be able to let the chicks roam free until it sufficiently warms up first. They'll be fine in the cage for another week or so.

*

Thank goodness Spring is on her way in!

:o)

I'm a Grandma!!

Ok, not really, but I am proud of my Buff Orpington hen for sitting on her eggs all the way to hatching time! She had plenty of starts but poor follow-through last year, usually abandoning her eggs after a couple of days. But this year, she sat and sat and I was hopeful!

I check her eggs daily, since other hens squeeze in with her and lay eggs and she collects them underneath her. So I marked her original eggs and pull out the unmarked ones. Yesterday, one of the marked eggs I pulled out had cracked and upon closer inspection-- a beak came out!

I ran for the camera and you can see there's a baby in there! I checked the other eggs but no movement on them. By nightfall, still no baby out of the shell.

Early this morning, this is what greeted me!! I checked underneath mama hen and there's another one just hatched, the feathers still wet! By the end of today, 2 baby chicks. Even though mama hen is a yellow Buff, papa is a Rhode Island Red, so the coloring seems to favor the papa.

-

I separated mama and her eggs and chicks into a large animal carrier. I don't want a repeat of last fall, when some of the babies were attacked by the bigger roosters and died. If I could re-do the chicken coop, I would make it twice as large, with a section dedicated to the 'nursery'. A safe place for hens to nest and sit and babies to hatch and roam without interference from the other chickens. I don't have the materials to double the coop, but I do have enough scrap lumber to build an in-law suite of sorts.

-

I've been busy most of the day working on it. A little apartment attached to the outside of the coop with a slanted roof that will be hinged for me to lift and inspect/clean; a fenced-in area to separate chicks from other chickens; a door that opens the full length of the box to make cleaning easier and stays shut with a latch. After initial frustrations with the wrong type of wood screws, I went out to get chick feed and proper screws. The project went along much more smoothly with the right screws and I have the floor and sides completed. I need to measure and cut the roof and door, then attach hinges and latches. Once that is done, I'll set up the fencing and transfer mama and her chicks to their new digs.

-

There were 9 eggs minus 2 hatched equals 7 eggs to go. I wonder how many more chicks we'll get?? I'm so proud! :o)

-

Humpy the Rooster

Here's a picture of that humped-back rooster I have. He wasn't born this way, I have no idea how he came to be like this, but he functions well and I've caught him chasing after a hen and successfully mounting her. So other than being picked on by the other chickens, he seems to be alright.Here's a top view to see how his head is almost where his shoulder should be. He can't straighten out his neck, and when I move my hand to his right, he can't see me and gets startled when he realizes I'm so close.

He usually hangs out on the fringes of the group, or I catch him alone by the house, watching the other chickens. I feel bad for him sometimes, but what can I do? He's destined for the cook pot one of these days. 5 roosters are too many and I only plan to keep my top rooster, so 4 have to go.

Check out the teeny, tiny chicken egg! If I didn't pick it up out of the chicken coop myself, I would have sworn it was some other bird's egg. Be interesting to crack it and see how small the yolk is!

My Buff chicken is still sitting on her eggs. I candled one of her eggs and I saw a dark mass, larger than a yolk. I hope that wasn't my imagination. Kind of hard to candle brown eggs, the shell is dark and some shells are thicker than white ones. I expect baby chicks in less than 2 weeks, so I need to set up a temporary pen for mama and her babies. May have to set up a more permanent one, since it's still cold here and I don't want the babies to die of exposure. It's something I've been meaning to do anyway, but I hoped to do it later when it was warmer. Well, it's March next week, so Spring can't be too far off.

-

Rambling Thoughts

• As expected, we have a blanket of snow covering the ground. Good-bye pretty Spring-like temperatures, welcome back cold weather!




• The chickens aren't happy about that. Makes it harder for the girls to avoid the horny roosters. Time to sharpen the axe next time it warms up again.




• The house is nice and warm, thanks to the recent splitting of wood by Andrew.




• Funny how when one is down to the last of the wood, the cold becomes acceptable, but when one knows there is wood to be burned, the shivering becomes unbearable.




• A Buff hen has been sitting on eggs for about 10 days now. I've numbered 6 eggs, made sure they were all rounded and not pointy and check her frequently to make sure she is still setting on them. I read somewhere that rounded eggs are more likely to be female and the pointy ones tend to be male. I'm testing that theory and hoping for more hens not roosters.




• I've discovered my yeast has gone bad. I made roast beef tonight and was going to pair it with french bread- yum! While letting it rest for an hour to rise, I noticed there was hardly any air in the dough. I kneaded it again and shaped it, hoped for the best and let it rest again, but no go. I baked it anyway, figuring I can at least chop it up for the chickens if it's too dense. It rose a little bit in the oven, but yeah, it's going to the chickens in the morning. No more bulk purchases of yeast for me-- I don't bake bread often enough to use it up fast enough.



• I've recently discovered Lindt chocolate truffles. What have I been missing?!? I snagged a bunch of them on clearance after Valentine's day and each one is a bite of heaven! Even the dark chocolate ones are yummy, but my favorite is the white chocolate with bits of cocoa studded in the shell.



• Has anyone seen the A-Team movie? How amazing is it that Liam Neeson looks like George Peppard?? I never would have picked Liam to play George, but he pulled it off! I used to watch the TV show with my Dad back in the 80s. Might have to get the series on DVD...



• Any Coca-Cola drinkers out there? Did you know if you register with Coke, you can collect points from inside the caps and boxes and then get things with those points? I've been cashing in points for free magazine subscriptions! I picked up Popular Mechanics, Country Living, and Better Homes & Gardens so far. We take the magazines to waiting rooms when we're done with them.

• One of the nice things about canning your own food is seeing the empty jars pile up on the counter. I like washing them and then setting them aside to be taken downstairs and sorted by size in different boxes. It makes me feel good inside. I look forward to canning season and filling up those empty jars again.

• I recently went to one of those warehouse-type stores with a friend who is a member. We used to shop there often, then stopped when money got tight and we couldn't afford the membership or buying in bulk and paying bulk prices. I checked and compared prices and I found it very hard to find anything that I couldn't get cheaper with coupons-- with the exception of spices. I ended up getting only spices and spent much less than I expected to. No more wishing I could shop there again and would be content with getting invited to go along once in awhile just for getting spices.

• I have a hankering for pumpkin pie. I think I'll make pumpkin pie tomorrow.

No Weather to Talk About-- So Let's Talk Chicken!

The big, bad winter storm completely missed us and all we got was a little bit of sleet. Nothing to write about.

The temps inched up today and hit the mid-forties which means much of the snow and ice we already had is melting and turning everything into slush and mud. I dread walking to the chicken coop-- the path is so muddy, so I walk on slippery, slushy snow, which is no fun, but at least if I fall, and I haven't, yet, I won't fall in the mud.

Of the six young chickens I have left, it's looking like only 2 are hens. Foo! The young roosters are starting to get cocky and I have caught them trying to mount one of the older hens who promptly give chase, clucking all the while, as if to say: "How dare you get fresh with me! I'll give you a piece of my mind! Don't you ever try that again with me, you pitiful excuse for a rooster!" Because of the snow and mud, they roost on the back stoop, which makes it fun to watch their antics, but leaves me with a poopy stoop. I get an earful from Andrew about that, a lot.

Friends of ours told me I needed to crack the whip and make my hens lay an even dozen. That'd be nice, but at the moment, I have only 11 laying hens. Adding in the two young ones, and they'll be ready to lay eggs soon, will make it 13. Chances will be good, then, I'll have a dozen eggs from time to time, until the older ones start molting in the Spring.

I doubt I'll buy any new chicks this year.. I'm happy with the flock I have now, and they easily go through a 50 lb bag of feed in 10 days. I can only imagine how much more feed I'd have to buy with more chickens. I'm looking forward to Spring and the chickens feasting on bugs and fresh grass again! I give them kitchen scraps and leftovers when we have them to supplement their diet.

Maybe this will be the year of getting a pig? I need to figure out where to put a pen and build some sort of shelter first before I can even think about that. But I am hopeful, so wait and see. I worry about getting attached to the pig and then having to take it to the butcher when it's time, but that's something I'll have to work on. I already know that it will be hard for me to butcher any of the older hens, having had them for almost 2 years and it's likely I'll just let them live out their days here. How long is the average life span for a chicken anyway? I'll have to look that up.

One of the young chickens is a hunchback. He's a roo. I have no idea how that happened-- he wasn't born that way. I wonder if it's possible to be pecked in the just the right spot and suddenly be hunched? He definitely cannot see me coming from his right and what he lacks in form, he makes up for in meanness. He's overly paranoid, but I don't blame him, he can't see what's coming at him until it's too late and I think he's on the bottom of the pecking order. Come Spring, he'll get butchered along with the other 3 roos. I'll be taking extra care when I butcher him to study his spine and see if there's any reason why he's hunchbacked.

10 eggs today, and two were really small ones, so perhaps the young hens are already starting to lay eggs? I can't imagine any of the older hens popping out little ones like that, so it's possible. I need to check my calendar to figure out exactly how old the young chickens are, but if I recall correctly, they should start laying around this time.

Chickens are just about the only colorful things to look at outside-- everything is either white, gray or brown. So I've got chicken on the brain. I enjoy watching them, they are fun to watch and it relaxes me. You can often catch me standing at the window, nose pressed to the glass, watching them. With all the chaos of 4 children, the chickens outside my window sure have a calming effect on me!

Stay warm and if you were one of those people hit by bad weather, I'll send good thoughts your way. :o)
-

Hen Output

The hens have been doing a fantastic job of laying eggs lately. They have been laying between 8 to 11 daily!! That's a lot of eggs, even for this family of 7! I have been giving away eggs by the dozen to family and friends because we just don't eat that many eggs, and certainly not on a daily basis. I'd like to sell some, but have yet to take that step to advertise. In the meantime, I don't mind sharing the bounty.

Eggs will be on the menu for breakfast tomorrow. I still have to eat soft foods while my mouth heals from a pulled tooth, and eggs will be perfect! Happy Weekend!
-

Hawking

All this week, after finding an opossum in the chicken coop on the 31st, I have been diligent in going out at dusk and counting chickens before closing up the coop for the night. Wednesday evening was no different, the sun was still shining through the trees, though the light was thin and darkness was quickly closing in. My count always goes like this: 4 buffs, 2 speckled, 1 rooster, 5 reds, 7 babies. This night, though, I came up with 6 babies. I counted again. I physically moved the chickens because sometimes they huddle close and can easily be overlooked, but I still came up one short. I walked around the coop, maybe the last one was just caught late and huddled outside the coop-- the babies do that sometimes, but no chicken.

Crap.

I flashed the beam of my light further around the coop and saw nothing. I closed up the coop and walked around the house, checking the usual chicken hangouts. The babies don't tend to stray far from the house like the older chickens do, but I saw no chicken. It was cold, my fingers and my toes in my flip-flops were freezing. I went in to make dinner, then I'd go back out later to check again.

One more search before bedtime around midnight. I walked by the rhubarb patch by the side of the house and then I planned to walk into the woods and see if maybe I would flush out the chicken, but as I walked, something told me to stop and look down. I did, and there was my chicken, dead, partly eaten, feathers scattered all around.

Sigh.

I looked over the body, it was a young roo. It had the same marks as the one that the opossum was eating last week, so I am thinking the opossum got smart this time and took the chicken out of the coop instead of staying in there. It was freezing, late and nights in the country are very, very dark. I didn't want to carry the chicken all the way across the yard and into the garden to put it in the compost. I left it, planning to get to it in the morning.


I woke early in the morning and looked out my window, checking to see if the dead chicken was still there and what did I see? A Cooper's Hawk! What a surprise that was to see! I had no idea they would scavenge, but a freshly-killed chicken must be too good to pass up for a hungry juvenile hawk.

I tried to take pictures that were clear, but it was very hard to take decent pictures through the screen. I was so tempted to cut a hole just to get a better picture, but I knew that was just plain silly. The kids came to see what I was looking at and we all spent the next hour watching the hawk make a meal out of the chicken.

Archie and Lucy the cats came and chased the hawk away, but he just hung out in the tree until Lucy and then Archie got bored and went away.

He was a beautiful bird to look at. I've always admired hawks and it was a treat to see one right outside my bedroom window. After the cats left, he flew back down and ate some more. It was fascinating to watch it pull feathers out with it's beak then rip into the chicken and eat some more.

The kids and I all watched for over an hour until the hawk seemed to have it's fill and flew away. What a sight to see it's wingspan and watch it fly away. Afterwards, we talked about what we saw, looked up our animal encyclopedia and bird books for identification, but finally came up with a positive ID on the internet.

-

I felt bad last night for losing another chicken, but on the bright side, at least it was a rooster and not a hen, and we got such a great nature show out of it. One less rooster to butcher in the Spring, but also one less rooster in the freezer. Counted chickens tonight: 4 buffs, 2 speckled, 1 rooster, 5 reds, 6 babies. All safe.

New Year's Eve

I got invited to a fancy New Year's Eve party in D.C., but at $40 per person, I'd rather stay in my warm and cozy home with my family. I certainly don't want to drive 3 hours to D.C. and then deal with traffic and potential drunk drivers and get home all red-eyed and exhausted from driving in the wee hours of the morning.

My plan for spending New Year's eve is to just be home, maybe watch a movie with Andrew, kiss each other one last time for 2010 and then another kiss welcoming 2011. Sounds good to me! Unfortunately, Mr. Opossum had his own ideas for celebrating the New Year::


He killed and feasted on a chicken, right there in the nest box at the bottom of the coop! Andrew went out to shut the coop up for the night and came in to report to me that 2 chickens were out; one under the van and another heading into the woods. So I grab my sweater and flashlight and go out to check, thinking it's just a matter of herding 2 chickens caught in the dark back into the coop. Imagine my surprise when I shine the light inside and catch two reflecting eyes shining back at me!

I run back into the house to fetch Andrew and he fetches his .22, but I was afraid the bang would scare the chickens out of the coop, which is the last thing I wanted. I suggested the nearest tool handy, which was the rake, and Andrew hit the opossum a few times, but he wouldn't budge and give up his meal. All it did was turn around and huddle itself in the corner. Andrew went back in and got his BB handgun and shot it a few times, but it still wouldn't budge. Banged on the outside corner where the opossum was, and other than jumping with every bang, it remained there.

I ended up getting the hammer and pulling out the board that covers that corner and Andrew took the rake and poked it and it shot out the hole I made and went under the coop. Not exactly where I wanted it to go, but the coop is closed up and there's no way for the opossum to get back in now. I removed the dead hen and examined it, and he must have been in there awhile, a good part of the breast meat was eaten and its' stomach was exposed with all the ingested food spilled out. Poor hen, I feel bad and hope her death was quick.

I still have 2 chickens on the loose, but it's a mild night, thankfully (the temps got into the 60s today!!) and I'll find out in the morning if they are still alive. They ran into the woods and from past experience, it's damn near impossible to find a brown chicken amongst brown leaves and trees and branches. The warm weather melted what little snow we had, so I feel their chances of surviving the night are good. If they hunker down and keep quiet, they'll do alright.

In the morning, I'll inspect under the coop and if it's all clear, I'll cover up that hole. What a way to start the new year. I think it's time for Andrew to teach me to use the .22, so if I ever needed to, I can do it myself. I got a little squeamish thinking about killing that opossum, but now that he's had a taste of fresh chicken, I have no doubt it'll come back. I'll have to get over that squeamishness and kill it the next time it comes around.

I think I'll have to make that into my New Year's Resolution: Learn to shoot a rifle and learn to shoot it well.
-

Missing!

It's a fact of life that hungry things target chickens, including humans. Last year, before I had finished the coop, some animal killed a few of my chickens, which hurried along the finishing of the coop. Ever since, I've tried to be diligent about shutting the coop door when it gets dark to keep my chickens safe. I hate the daylight savings time change, as it gets dark so early now and usually I am in the kitchen cooking right when it gets dark, so the coop door is open for a little while before I get out there.

Last week, all of the little ones weren't in the coop. There are 9 little ones and only 4 were in the coop! Sometimes, they huddle on the outside of the coop, but none were there. Oh dear. It was one of those nights where I didn't get to the coop right when it got dark and it was around 8 at night by the time I checked on them. That means it had been dark a little more than 2 hours by then.

I searched in all the usual places the little chickens hang out, but I couldn't find any of them. I searched further, walked all around the house and finally spotted one huddled by the stoop at the far end of the apartment. Where were the other 4? After more hunting, I found another one squeezed in between an overturned trashcan and the house. Another one on top of the window air conditioner unit, where I never would have looked if I wasn't looking into the office window "spying" on Andrew. I found another one with the help of Maisie sniffing around the back of the coop. There was a chicken trying to squeeze under the coop. I was still missing one more and I looked high and low for it before I finally gave up. I hoped I would see it outside of the coop in the morning, but there was none there.

As far as I can figure, something must have gone in the coop and spooked the chickens. The older ones hang out in the nest boxes up high, forcing the young hens to the low roost bar and the lower nest boxes. That's the only explanation for why they were scattered like they were, one here, one there, when they are almost always huddled together in a tight group. It's been a week now since #9 has been gone, and I assume it's been eaten.

I'm making sure I am out there right at dusk now, when the chickens start heading into the coop for the night. It's getting dark before dinner, so it's a little easier for me to be out there. I hope it was a young rooster that got taken. I hope whatever got it has a nice full belly, but it better not come back. Might be time for me to take Andrew up on those shooting lessons.
-

Rocky and The Girls

I must admit, I never imagined I would enjoy chickens as much as I do. Except in books and on TV, I've never seen a chicken and my only encounter with real chickens has been on my plate. After reading multiple accounts of fellow bloggers having chickens, I started having chicken envy. I had the land and the space, I live in the country and in an area with no restrictions on chickens, so why not? Andrew has made it clear that the chickens are strictly my "project", but he does help me out with them and shuts the coop door at night when he is home.

-
I have been a chicken owner for a year and a half now, and there's no looking back. I thoroughly enjoy the chickens. I like watching them scratch through the yard, laugh at the way they run and flap their wings, enjoy the egg hunts when there are not as many eggs as there should be in the nest boxes, and this year, I got to see one of my hens raise her own chicks! I dream of having other breeds for a rainbow of chickens, but for now, I'm happy with what I have: Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Speckled Sussex, and New Hampshire Reds (though I have a hard time telling the Reds apart).

The lucky rooster: Rocky. He's man enough to do his job with his women, but nice enough he doesn't peck the humans. He's the one that's been a favorite with me and I intend on keeping him around for a good long time.

It's been so nice to see the Buffs and the Speckled Sussexs out of the coop again. They rarely came out when there were all those roosters, as they got jumped and gang-banged almost as soon as they took a step out of the coop, poor girls. I know animal life is different, but obviously they didn't like it if they cooped themselves up in the coop! They roam freely now, boss around the younger Red hens and come running when I call. Their life has definitely improved now that my freezer is full of chicken!

The good mama and her brood. I recently gave her and her babies freedom out of the pen and watched them closely. I worried Mama might take her babies back to her nest and I had no idea where it was. I needn't have worried. She took her babies on a tour all around the house and then stayed around the pen for most of the day, before retiring back into the cage at dark. Yesterday, I saw all the chicks hanging out in the coop, Mama was nowhere to be seen. I wondered if she tucked them in there and slipped away for a Mama-break? I wondered if I could get them to return to the coop at night and dismantle the pen? I took a chance and placed the cage inside the coop while the babies were in there. Mama came back for her babies later and they roamed the yard, and at night, to my delight, they nested in one of the nest boxes in the coop! I'll wait a couple of days before I dismantle the pen, but I think it's good to go.

The babies, right before their release from the pen. They are one month old now, and just about lost all their fluff, only a little left on their heads. I'm hopeful that they'll survive the winter and when the temps drop, I'll turn on the heat lamp in the coop. Come Spring, I'll cull the young roosters so I don't get a repeat of what happened this summer-- cocky roosters, in more ways than one!
-

Since Mama is a Red, and all the roosters were Reds, the babies are all Reds, too. Don't ask me which-- Rhode Island or New Hampshire. The differences between the two reds are small, and I probably would be able to tell better if I had two hens, one of each breed. As it is, all the Red hens look exactly alike and all the roosters looked exactly alike. Since I know for a fact that Rocky is a Rhode Island Red, I assume all the roosters were Rhodes, too. As for the hens, they could all be Rhodes or all New Hampshires. I don't really care either way, they are beautiful chickens and I wanted a different breed from the Buffs and the Sussexs so I could tell the younger hens from the older ones. I'm thinking of leg bands for the babies, so I can tell them apart from the older Red hens.
-

If I order more hens next year (doubtful) or in later years, I plan to get a different breed, partly to diversify, also to be able to tell apart the older hens from the younger hens. I've seen some beautiful black hens, the name escapes me at the moment, and I'd like to try the traditional white hens, the kind my mom and dad grew up around.

***

Still No Pictures

My new camera arrived. I waited alllllll day for the UPS guy to deliver it after I checked the tracking number and figured out it would be delivered on Tuesday. Every time Maisie barked, I ran to the window, hoping to see the familiar brown van pulling into the driveway and I was disappointed every time. Dang it! After 4 pm, I gave up, knowing it was too late for the UPS to be making any deliveries in my area.

Wouldn't you know, the lazy bum put it in the mailbox?!? The mailbox?!?!? When Andrew came home around 6, he had it in his hands along with the rest of the mail. If one can be happy and pissed at the same time, that was me.

The downside to ordering online is you cannot see the actual product; hold it in your hands and decide if it's the right one for you. Looking at the online info doesn't exactly help form the image in your head and a picture just doesn't do it justice. The camera is tiny! Good grief! I'm afraid I'll crush it! I've taken a couple pictures with it and it's nice and the pictures seem alright, though I've yet to download any. It's just so... small! For the first time ever, I put the wrist strap on it just to give it more substance. I'll put it in my pocket and it'll disappear in there! The diaper bag will eat it up! It'll slip into the cracks and I'll never see it again! People will think I'm a spy except for the fact that it's ruby red! I think in the future, I'll buy cameras in person so I know exactly what I'm getting.

My uncle came down on Thursday and we butchered the last 3 roosters! He lopped the heads off for me and I was happy to let him do it. It does get easier and this time, I hardly paused when it came time to pluck feathers and cut into the bird to gut and pull out the innards. The big old mean one got his last hurrah even after he was dead-- his spur stuck me in the hand when I picked him up by the feet to pluck feathers. I'll get the last word when I eat him: "yum!"

It sure is quiet around here without the chorus of roosters crowing! For the first time in ages, some of the older hens were out in the yard, taking dust baths and drinking from the outdoor water pan. It was nice to see the yellow Buffs out of the coop and I'm sure all 4 of them will soon take over the yard. The kids are out playing more freely now, too, instead of hiding behind me or wielding sticks in terror of pecking roosters. The one rooster left is too busy keeping track of his women to pay any attention to the kids. 1 rooster, 11 hens, and 9 chicks-- much better.

We should be getting our first frost soon. We had two nights with temps as low as 32. I've harvested most of the peppers and plucked all the red tomatoes. I haven't dug up any potatoes yet, plan to do that soon. We've had some nice days lately, so I may still get some more tomatoes, but I won't be canning them. I have enough canned tomatoes for the winter and we will eat what is left.

Andrew is working this weekend at another local town festival and I just might take the kids and check it out after he gives me a report on how it looks out there. I took the kids to the apple harvest festival he worked at last week and the kids were very good-- we parked about a mile away from the event and it was nerve-wracking to walk alone with 4 kids, making sure they stayed off the road and on the shoulder. Peter likes to take off the minute you put him down, so I was almost constantly carrying him and my shoulder paid for it the next day. It was a huge event, almost like a big flea market with a band playing, different foods, and exhibits, and not a single apple in sight! I wanted to go back the next day, but it was too much for the kids and they were such good sports to do all that walking and then have to walk the last mile back to the van. I was amazed at how packed it was, since it was the kind of town where if you blink, you miss it. There's nothing there, just homes, a school and a fire station, but boy, people really came out for this event!

I have several posts planned for next week with pictures! I miss posting with pictures. Have a great weekend! :o)