Mellow Friday

Fairly quiet day at work.  I was able to leave early and visit with my MIL for a bit before picking my son up from daycamp.

When I got into the Y I found out that the camp bus broke down and everyone was still out at the camp. Off I went to pick up my son. At the camp I was was thanked for being calm about the situation. I guess not all parents were as understanding as I was.

Tonite some more work was done on the chicken shack.  Once again the turkeys came over to check out the work. 

 "Yup, you are doing good work here."

 The framing for the floor is all done.

 Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. How fresh the air smelled tonite.

2. Blackberries are ready for picking.

3. Going for an ATV ride with my sweetie.

4. Visiting with my MIL today. 

5. How all the birds come running when they have treats.

Progress on the chicken shack continues ...

Today after work we had to run over to a friend's house and pick up the door for the new coop.  We also were able to pick up a few used windows for a good price.  It pays to know people.

When we got back to the homestead and ate supper my DH went out and worked a bit on the new coop.

Once again the turkeys came over to inspect our work.

"What are you up to? Do you have a permit for that? "

They once again deemed the work acceptable to their standards and let my DH continue.

 While my DH was busy I set the babies up in the dog crate we have.  The poor things have outgrown their previous home.  Once they were set up in the their new digs they were VERY happy. They were running around and scratching in the pine shavings.  This also let me give them a good once over. It's amazing how much they have grown and changed in their short lives.

They are a feisty bunch.

 After my guy worked on the "chicken shack" he lowered one of the roosts in the turkey's coop.  The bronze turkey walked right in and hopped up on the roost like it's been like that always.  The white turkey fretted a bit because it was used to sleeping on the floor.

Here they are with one of their Americauna buddies.

Here I am in front of the chicken shack. The coop's finished size will be 12 foot by 16 foot and seven and a half foot ceiling height.

 Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. Finally made it to the new doughnut place in town. 

2. Getting windows for the coop at a great price.

3. Homemade chicken soup for supper.

4. Broccoli from the garden.

5. How happy the baby chicks are in their new "home."

Step one for the new chicken coop

Tonite after work we started the new chicken coop. Lumber was laid out, spots were marked and holes were dug.  I dug one hole to my DH's five. 

First side done. Everything all in a row. 

Look at how perfectly aligned those posts are. 

We mixed up 720 pounds of concrete for the posts.  I'm not as good mixing up concrete as I'd like to be.

Making sure the posts are straight and level.

Last post ... done!

 Now to let the concrete cure for a bit.

While the first holes for the coop were being dug I did some chicken chores, including mucking out the main chicken coop. One of the girls wanted to lay an egg but wasn't too happy I was in there cleaning and disturbing her zen.  She kept walking in and out of the coop, shrewing the whole time. She even popped outside and went into the wheelbarrow and checked it out. 

I could see her in there scratching up a storm, deciding if it was a safe place to lay her egg. 

She started shrewing again and caused Brewster to have "concerns." A few seconds later she decided it was too out in the open and she hopped out. 

 Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. It was a seven egg day.

2. Posts for the new coop are set.

3. Having the windows open ALL day.

4. Baked chicken in my cast iron pot.

5. Bug spray.  It saves the day again. 

Busy start to the week

Monday after work we decided to run to Menard*s and get the rest of the needed lumbar for the new chicken coop.  My son was NOT happy.  I guess he had made plans to meet a buddy on a minecraft server.  Oh well. Getting supplies trumps video games.

Turns out the kid wasn't able to get on the computer so it all worked out.

So it was a "quick" trip to town. 

When we got home and started unloading the lumber the turkeys wandered over and chattered at us for a bit. (Sorry for the blur, taken with a camera phone)

This is the longer lumber.

This is the rest of the materials.  It doesn't look like much, all compact and tidy.  The shingles are over in another section of the yard. Because my guy loves me so much we got vinyl for the floor because it makes mucking out SO much easier.  The vinyl is in a place that is safe from the elements.

The youngest babies are getting big which means a coop swap may be in the near future.   They are more than a month old now and looks like they have all their feathers.  No more broody lamp for them.  They are tearing through the chicken feed however.

Last night when I went to tuck in the the girls I was able to snag a photo of the turkeys and a few of their buddies.  They hang out on top of the chicken run every night now.  I go up to them, give the turkeys hugs and they mildly freak out because I'm invading their bubble.  Then I shoo them off the run and they usually will walk right into their coop.  The chickens usually wait for the turkeys to go in first. 

The last few days I've been hearing one of the young roos crowing in the morning.  I forgot how adorable those first squeaky crows are. I imagine my neighbors don't necessarily agree with me but oh well.  In a few months they will be ready for the freezer.  Circle of life and all that good stuff.

Tonite after work we took the boat out again.  There was hardly anyone on the water.  It was really nice. The lake had a different personality. I liked being pretty much the only speed boat out there.  A few people had their pontoons out and there was one gal paddling around.

They boys went swimming a few times.  I didn't have a swimming suit on otherwise I might have attempted. A ladder has been purchased so now it's really easy to get back on the boat.

I had to laugh when we went around the island.  There are a few houses on it. One of the houses had a satellite dish prominently on the edge of the island. 


Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. Watermelon for breakfast

2. I have a sock on the needles.  Almost done with the cuff.

3. Super yummy burgers for supper.

4. I've upped my water intake.

5. Sleeping with the windows open. 

The perfect weekend

This weekend was one of those rare weekends where in everything fell into place and was so smooth that you want to mark it down on the calendar,

On Friday I worked a half day so I could go hang out with my son at his day camp. On Fridays parents are welcomed to come out for lunch and stay the afternoon.

My son was super pumped that I could attend. He has wanted me to come out since camp started.

I have two favorite photos of him jumping into the water.

I love how I caught him right after launch. 

I also got a little video of him jumping in. It's about 3 seconds.

After hanging out at the camp we drove to down and got school supplies, picked up a pizza and headed back home.

Saturday the alarm went off at 5 a.m. (I really need to change my alarm time). A few minutes later I got to hear one of the hens do her "I got to lay an egg song" which woke up Brewster so he felt the need to crow for a while.

After coffee the boys and I headed to a town about 30 minutes away and bought a boat!

It's my first boat and my guy's second time owning a boat. We were all so stoked and couldn't wait to run it through it's paces.

After lunch we took it to a nearby boat landing and away we went.

My son thinks it's the greatest thing ever.  I don't think he ever stopped smiling.

 It's been many years since I've been on the water. Almost 20 years, actually.  I stepped in and immediately said "Oh boy, I hope I don't have motion sickness." I quickly found my sea legs. I'm not going to lie, I was still a bit apprehensive since it had been so long since I was last on a boat.

My DH, he was thrilled with how the boat handled and how the motor ran. 

After a little bit he turned controls over to me. ... Well, let's just say I could have been better.  I panicked once or twice.  The lake was busy and I had this "fear" I was going to do something majorly wrong.

Other than my own inexperience getting the best of me, it was a great day to be on the water. 

It was great fun going around the lake. 

We cruised around this island a few times. 

After a while my son said he wanted to go swimming.   Can you see the huge grin on his face?

The boys jumped in twice and did swimming for a bit. 

There was one section of the lake that was fairly calm and not too many boats around.  It was a perfect spot for swimming. 

We got to watch a handful of people wipe out jet skiing, waved at MANY people on pontoons and see a handful of people canoeing along the shore.

When we left the lake my son started asking when we could go again.

Today we got up and went in to town and purchased materials for the new chicken coop. After getting home, unloading the truck and eating lunch my guy hooked the boat up to the truck and we went to the lake again.  This time there was a line and while we were waiting thunder started booming.  So we went back home. It was just in time. As we left the landing the rain started.

We opted to run to Hayward because we are low on chicken feed and we wanted to see what water-related stuff was available.

Now we are all a bit sad the weekend is over already.

Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. The boat, this whole thing worked out so well for us.

2. Seeing both the turkeys running this afternoon.  I SO wish I had a video.  It was hysterical.  Then to see the Americauna's go running after them like "Hey guys! Wait up!"

3. The yummy steak we had for supper.

4. The green beans are coming in.

5. Garden fresh beets with supper. 

The love fest

Once again it's been pretty tame around here.  Work was quiet, homestead was quiet.  No wait, I take that bit back.  My neighbors "inherited" a dog and it initiated my going over and introducing myself to them.  They seem like nice people. The dog seems nice but I don't think it will be staying with them for too much longer. 

Yesterday I was able to pick up my swap package from the post office.  I belong to a group that does monthly dishcloth swaps.  It's fun and you don't have to dish out oodles of money.  Plus the women are super nice.



The gal that sent to me spoiled me rotten.  All of that stuff I can use and abuse. In a nice way, of course. I really love the cloth that is in the shape of a hot mitt. 

I had thought of posting an update on the chicky-babies but we ended up going out to look at boats. 

Yup, boats.  It's something we've been thinking about for a bit. We are waiting for the right deal to come along.  Stay tuned.

I will share this about the birds tonite. I apologize in advance for the photos looking blown out. 

The white turkey (Sweet'ums) thought he would take a siesta in the yard.  The bronze turkey (SweetiePie) joined him.  One of the Americaunas decided to join because, hey, it's her peeps, right?



One of the other Americauna's either saw the snuggle fest and wanted to join or just felt left out.  So she joined in.



She got all snuggled in with the pack. 



Then the last Americauna saw all the snuggling and decided she wasn't going to be left out.  She ran over and started rooting around until she found just the right spot for her.

 She managed to horn herself in between the two turkeys. 

And then it was pretty much over.  The turkeys either realized I was taking their photos or it was getting too crowded.  The love fest broke up about 30 seconds after this photo.

One thing I did accomplish this evening was getting some tomatoes in the dehydrator.  I had six tomatoes that were past their prime.  This morning I was listening to a podcast and the host was talking about dehydrating and turning tomatoes into tomato powder.  Eureka!

 Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. Someone found us a door for the new chicken coop and it was so cheap it was a STEAL!

2. Being able to stand up for what I believe.

3. The turkeys saw me coming out to tuck them in for the night and they tucked themselves in without my having to guide them in.

4. My son is still reading his book series without being prompted.

5. This video.  I saw it on Facebook yesterday and it cracks me up.

The butcher's wife

On Saturday we processed the last seven of our guinea fowl.  It was my first time actually helping with the process.

We did some reading and tweaked the process of how we did the butchering a bit.  Dishsoap in the hot water does wonders!

This is the first time a closeup of the guineas could be taken. They have a face only a mother could love.  

The birds were kept in the coop so we wouldn't have to chase them around the yard.

 I held the majority of the birds as their lives ended.  To hold them as the birds went through the motions of the last moments of life was a very profound time for me and gives new respect to where my meat comes from.

My guy plucked most of the feathers, cleaned the birds and then handed them off to me.  I finished cleaning the birds and packed them up.

Sunday we had one for dinner.  My guy found a recipe for guinea and it is fantastic!

I titled this entry "the Butcher's wife" because one of the priests  I work with was asking me questions about the birds I raise.  When he asked if I ate any of them I told him yes and started to explain who did what but the priest held his hands up and didn't want to know details. He then said that I could be called the butcher's wife.  I thought about it and said "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Some mild crafting has been done.  I've been crocheting some dishcloths.  Making the dishcloth for the swap I did got me in the mood to make a few more dishcloths.

In the meantime Sweet'ums is feeling just fine.

The other big news I have?  The baby chicks are out of the house!  I decided I couldn't take it anymore and they have now been moved out to the garage.  They seem to be much more happy out there.

Today I made it home just in time before the rain started.  The clouds were looking pretty dark and ominous on the way home.

The garden is still kicking along.  The squash plants have invaded pole bean territory. I've got cuke blossoms and I'm biding my time until my tomatoes turn red.  

The power company came through yesterday and laid the underground line.  However, they had to take their heavy machinery to another worksite (they say) before "tidying" up after themselves.   The big rocks they dug up, definitely old foundation pieces.  I've been promised "They'll be back."

 Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. The brunch at work was a big success.

2. I ate lamb for the first time tonite and it wasn't completely horrid.

3.  My herbs are growing nicely.

4. I have my craftroom back

5. My guy's cold is almost completely gone.