Changes

So, I turned in my notice at work last Friday. I'll work until this Friday and then I retire for good from construction. I'm not entirely sure if anyone believes I'm actually quitting but I guess they'll believe it when I don't show up the following Monday.

I'm having a real problem posting here for some reason. I mean, feeling like I want to post, not a problem with Blogger or my computer. I guess I'm not feeling like anyone is listening right now. Or that I have much to say. I'm not sure why...

I think I've just had a real anti-social twinge going lately. This is a really crappy, rambling post and I'm not even drunk. ha!

And Now For Something Really Good....

Okay, somebody tell me if some of ya'll are having trouble commenting or is it just nobody has anything to say? I suspect the latter but ever since I took the word verification thingy off I have been having trouble with Blogger and getting tons of spam. One comment on an old post seemed to indicate something wrong? or maybe it's just more spam? If something is wrong somebody email me, please.

Wishin' And Hopin'

Ol' Chigger is always wishin' I'd quit playing with this dirt and hopin' that I'd come out and play with her. I try to make an effort to toss her frisbee several times a day and go for at least 2 walks. Seems like it's never enough though.

I know how she feels. I'm sitting here 100 miles from home wishin' I was there and hopin' I will be soon, for good. I know ya'll get sick of me whining about work; I'm sorry. Things have gotten a bit easier the past couple of days though. Of course, it about had to. Any harder and I think I would be dead. So, not really any news to tell ya'll about. I've got lots of stuff waiting for me at home to plant, fire, make, grow, etc.

Sorry it took me so long to get rid of that word verification thing. Maybe it will make commenting easier. I had switched over to the new Blogger interface, which sucks btw, and nowhere on it could I find the option for word verification. I looked and looked and looked. Finally it occurred to me that I might have to switch back to the old because I knew I had seen it there. And that's what I did. I hope Blogger gets these issues they've been having straightened out soon. They are becoming a pain in the butt and I've already got several of those.

Sal, I'm glad you got your mugs and that you really like them! Sorry it took me so long to reply; I've been more scatterbrained than normal lately.

So, I'll try to have something of interest next time I post. I do have several things to show at home. I'm adding to the garden and landscaping quite a bit. Well, I should say Jack is. He's actually been doing most of the hard work while I'm away. He helps me so much in so many ways. It's kind of a funny thing for me to be the one to put on the hardhat and boots and go away for work but he has adapted to the 'househusband'** role just fine. He always has the house spruced up when I come home and clean sheets on the bed. Even if they are on sideways. lol! It still sleeps fine!

**Edit: In case anyone is wondering, Jack took early retirement after getting laid off about 1 1/2 years ago from his job when the jobs of many were going down the crapper. He had worked in television for many, many years and had tired of the extreme stress and continual travel required of that job. So, no, he is not sluffing off on me, I'm not supporting a deadbeat that won't work and we are not actually married at this point. Jack has put much hard labor and his own money into this land and relationship. As Lilith said once on Frasier, "he has been a dutiful suitor and I am convinced, within an acceptable margin or error, that he loves me."

5 Star Chicken

I am very, very, very tired tonight but I wanted to put up a little something of what's been going on around the house.  I loaded these pics last night but just didn't have the energy to finish.
I can honestly say my construction career is drawing to a close.  After a 10 hour day of welding I-beams, crammed up on scaffolding with only 3 feet of clearance to the slab above, I am beat.  I feel like I have been beat.  I should be beaten for coming back to this.

My attempt at starting some cabbage, brussel sprouts, etc.  I'm not sure why they got so leggy.  Ended up finding a bunch of starts at the local co-op and bough them.  If any of these turn out okay I'll plant them too.

Looky!!!  Goober has starting laying!!  She even made her own little nest in the garden under the fig tree.  I never thought about providing her a nesting box because I didn't know if she would ever lay due to her breed.  She lays a nice size egg and seems quite pleased with herself. Jack started giving her a little laying ration and I think that combined with walking around on dirt has strengthened her legs.  She still has some trouble and sits a lot but is walking better.

Well enough, in fact, to jump her big butt up in my cold frame and start chowing down!  Good thing I saw her when she did it or I wouldn't have a scrap of anything left in there.  We had to build her a little corral in a corner of the garden because she became too aware of all the good food around her and too mobile!  She has a good size space for roaming still though.

Quiet Times

Hey Everybody!  well, I'm still hanging in but for some reason, I just have had no idea or information to post about.  I've rolled things over in my head for some time and am just not really sure why I've been so quiet lately.  I have felt much better this past week and went back to work but that in itself is an act of pure frustration.  The job has become depressing and futile.  The only nice thing is that I get to see my fellers some, and that only at lunch.  I think I mentioned that my old company was bought out and then the company that bought us was bought by a company from California.  Well, I suppose as a sign o' the times, we now have to sign our life away to work for these people, so I can no longer blog about work, the people I work with, what we do at work or how I feel about work.  Even if done anonymously, as I always have done.  So, that takes out subject matter for a number of posts.  And general how-to info that a lot of people could probably use.  Going back to my old job has certainly made me think about a lot of things lately and most of it ain't good.  I feel so badly for a lot of the guys I work with that bought into that consumer lifestyle and are now indebted to these corporations with no end in sight.  They say peonism was outlawed years ago but I believe it is still alive and well, flourishing even.  The only difference now, is that instead of false arrest, they use shiny new vehicles and $300 cell phones to lure people into servitude.  I thank God every day that something showed me long ago not to enslave myself like that. 

I guess I've also been fairly frustrated at some of the trends I see in social media.  Namely, if you are a even slightly conservative or religious person you can expect to be insulted, criticized, stereotyped unfairly and have numerous hateful comments hurled your way.  I guess because I am an artist a lot of people just assume that I would be wholly liberal and without any religious convictions and so at times have been flooded with all types of hateful, bigoted crap on Facebook and other areas, designed solely to discredit Christians or any other conservative person, all the while spouting how open-minded and wonderfully non-judgmental they are.  I've even seen writers for a few public forum type homesteading blogs spew such crap.  You know, on your own blog, you can write whatever you want, but if you are a guest writer for a homesteading blog, the fact you were offended because some person had the gall to name a pet after a Christian term has no place in the public post you are writing.  But that's the thing, the sport du jour these days is to insult or criticize as many Christian people as you can.  And yes, I realize there are plenty of hypocrites in this world; I build churches fer cryin' out loud.  But I know a good many conservative, religious people that just don't deserve that kind of counter hypocrisy and hatred.  So, while I have a good rant brewing in my head, I've been trying not to explode all over the place.  Turn the other cheek and all that and ya'll long time readers know, that's a real hard one for me. 

I also feel that I just haven't given ya'll much decent information over the past few months.  And yes I know many of ya'll have commented that you don't read this blog for info, you just like to see how I'm getting along and such.  While I sincerely appreciate the sentiment, that's kinda depressing too, if you'll excuse me.  I want my readers to get something they can use out of this blog.  Something that might help your life be a little easier or a project go better or a way of doing things you hadn't thought of.  I don't want to post yet another picture of my daffodils blooming or the chickens running around the yard.
So, I guess I'm just a little discouraged by my own ineptness and things I see out in the 'real' world.  I don't know.  I'll snap out of it.  I'm getting my spring plantings in the garden and I'll show ya'll some of that.  It's definitely looking like spring around here now and I know that will brighten my mood.  So, how are ya'll getting along??

Love Sick

Hey Everybody, just a little update to let ya'll know I haven't been run over by a trackhoe or anything.  I went back to work last Tuesday and it has been a total pain in the ass.  By the time I got home Friday evening I was feeling rather bad and have been very ill with my semi-annual sinus infection ever since.  Today is the first day that I have got off the couch or out of bed much.
On a good note though, I get a much better connection online where I'm staying at work this time than before.  I'll try to be back soon with some kind of a decent post.
Happy Valentine's Day to everybody also.  If you're single, go treat yourself to a little something nice just because.  You are all sweethearts to me!

A Tail Of Two Chickens

With the addition of 5 new hens our egg production is starting to ramp up.  I say 'starting to' because they are just now beginning to lay even though they are supposed to be a year old.  I know they laid for the guy we got them from but had stopped completely come winter, where ours kept on laying.

Here are 2, well actually 3, of the new hens waiting for a nesting box to open up.  If you look carefully behind them in a nesting box, there is a 3rd hen standing over one of our old hens in the same box!  I guess they got anxious or thought they couldn't hold it or something!  I don't know.  Just in case Jack built 3 more boxes on the wall opposite these.  They say 1 box for every 5 hens should be enough but we've noticed a pile up a couple of times so thought maybe a couple more boxes wouldn't hurt.

As I was saying though, you can see these new hens are a little scruffy looking.  Most of their tail feathers are missing and their other feathers are kinda gapped up and well, they just looked scrawny.  I picked one of them up one day and it was scrawny!  Poor little things, I don't think they got fed a whole lot where they were.

Now, this one that I've named Bobbi, for obvious reasons, looks okay.  Smooth, shiny feathers and fairly plump looking.  Just absolutely no sign of any tail feathers.  I don't know what has caused this.

 Our original bunch looks quite healthy I think and they should, considering how spoiled they are!  I have discovered a lot of rural people just don't feed their chicks much or supplement their scratch any.  Now, we don't want to spend a fortune of feed but we do want them to be healthy and happy.  Oh yeah, ol' Runt feels he has to put on the "proud rooster" pose any time I come around with the camera.

We give all our chickens free choice 3-way scratch and the hens get a layer mash if they want it.  Of course, they get to range the yard for bugs and greens.  We also cook a little rice or oatmeal for them on occasion and they get leftover fruits and veggies if we have them.  Jack also goes to the discount bread store for $.50 loaves and they get a handful of bread as a treat now and again.  About twice a week they get a vitamin supplement in their water and a little apple cider vinegar in there too.  Any hen that is molting gets a few bites of cat food to help through this process.  They say the protein helps them get their feathers back sooner.  I don't give them much though.  Just a few bites.  They may occasionally get yogurt or some cottage cheese too.

Since the meat birds don't get out we try to supplement their regular grains with as much greens as I can find.  We went to my mom's the other day and brought back two big sacks of turnip greens for them.  They loved them!  They had already gobbled most of them in this picture. 

They also get the vitamin water, vinegar and cooked rice or oats. 

I have to leave tomorrow for work so I don't know when I'll get to post again.  Hopefully it won't be too long.  Those of you who ordered stuff; I fired last night, so barring any catastrophes I haven't seen yet, Jack will be mailing your orders off in the next day or two.  Thanks for being patient! 

And Peg, I received my little hat!!!  I love it!!  thanks so much!  It does get cold here, although you couldn't tell it from this winter, so I'll be wearing it often.