Eggs

I know, kind of a weird name for the post. We have around 10 chickens left about half of them roosters, I didn't think the hens were laying at all. Yesterday I found a cache of 11 eggs hidden in the blue machine shed so I gathered our first fresh eggs in several months. It has been cold enough that they should be ok, but just the same I can do the float test on them. So the hens actually are laying after all. I plan to get new chicks started in a week or two for the next round of laying hens. With groceries going sky high, the eggs have increased value and yes chicken feed is also expensive but we pretty much recycle ALL food scraps from our meals or any food that is past usable goes outside for the chickens, peacocks, etc to pick through so that helps offset any costs of feeding.

We allow our chickens to free range as well so they gobble up bugs of all kinds as well. The chicken house is due for a major clean out, pressure washing so that will be done soon too. Today it is supposed to hit about 76 degrees so that should help a lot with drying with those major clean up projects.

Meanwhile, on to mowing, cleaning up weeds, wood, various trash and odds and ends proceeds. Classic is due to foal within the next couple of weeks so also working to get the barn all ready for that big event as well.

Study or work outside

Its not that warm out yet this morning but predicted to go into the mid 50's and there is no wind so far. I have a test Friday and should get at least one more done in another class that I'm on a "self guided study" system but with so much to do outside it was tempting to just go outside awhile even though it was a bit bitter out.

I did get the rest of the old icky wire off the fence line and stood and looked over that pen a few minutes contemplating the next step. Its a long way from having permanent wood horse fence installed but Its not too far from shoring up with some good temporary panels and such to get it usable until I get back around to that area to work on putting in the permanent fence line, I really need to get it ready so I can move the Buddy, Ronnie and Summer there and perhaps Sugar can go in that area as well, its fairly roomy, has trees and overall a nice lot. That will get me down to Tuffy and Classic together in the barn and I can get him in a separate pen so he can loose weight and then Classic will have the barn and that lot to her self for foaling in about 2 to 3 weeks.

There are no dogs in the kennel now, save for Ebony who still has to spend most of her time confined but we had a great crossroads last night as this morning I found Clyde the peacock roosting in the rafters!!! This was the first time he has done this since the incident January 1st which caused him to be missing for 3 days and get severe frost bite on both feet, and eventually cost us one of the two hens who also was injured some day and never came around. But the fact that Clyde finally was able to go to roost at night up high like he should was really encouraging that all the extra time and care and taking water to him and food to make sure he was eating and drinking through the balance of winter may pay off with saving him and getting him back to some semi normal behavior.

I could go into the kennel area now though and remove most of the chain link panels/gates and move them into temporary pens for horses, a project for later on today or tomorrow afternoon when I don't work at the clinic. Time to think about gardening too. Now I just have to force myself to sit and study and get this semester wrapped up.

Rising Prices

This morning I drove through town and noted diesel fuel had gone up 5 cents per gallon overnight to $3.99. Two hours later I drove by again on my way home and it had gone up again..to $4.09. Then another two hours went by and this time it was $4.11. Unleaded holds at $3.28 for now. The rich continue raking in obscene profits while the rest of us continue to suffer in the mess this country has become in the last 7 to 8 years. They say to expect $4.00 or more gas this summer. Yet the oil companies are making all time record profits...what is wrong with this picture?

The weather continues to gyrate wildly. High winds and heavy rain today, snow forecast tomorrow. Are we past the tipping point for climate change already where there is no return? There seem to be endless piles of money for killing people in wars but never money for education or health care in our own country. 47 million people have no insurance and no access to health care (and don't give me the "go to an emergency room" line, no money, no treatment there either, unless you are in immediate danger they don't have to accept people without money and DON'T, I've seen people turned away.) 18,000 people die in our country each year because of inadequate access to health care. Each year that is 6 times the number of people that died in 9/11. Since 2001 then about 126,000 deaths have occurred because of lack of health access...think about it.....

A little sun at last

Today certainly started out cranky for me. I looked out the window when I got up, it was snowing to beat the band again, the ground covered with a blanket of white. Yuck. Cloudy, dreary. So I drudged through another wintery morning of chores, then headed out for the 30 mile drive to my 8am class, and of course found the temp was sitting right at 31 degrees, enough to make the road with "scattered slippery spots". Made it through class, then two hours at the student success center, then at 11 am I decided I needed to head back home and get a few things done and as I stepped out the door I found the snow had already melted, and the sun was trying to peek out.

What started out as a rather awful day, turned into a semi nice one this afternoon. Sunshine, mid 40's so I actually got some clean out done in the garage, before I had to go to work at 3pm. And in the evening after work I was able to spend a few minutes working in the yard starting to clean up some areas of leaves, tree suckers and overgrown weeds from last summer.

And the forecast is looking up to so finally will be able to get to that fencing, urgently needed is some fence repair so Tuffy and Sugar can move out of the barn and leave Classic alone as she is hopefully due to foal the first part of May!

Is Spring on the horizon finally?

The long winter we have had just seems to drag on and on. You get a nice day, then its cold again. But at least today they predict highs in the low 50's perhaps so more of the snow will go, at least we hope so! There is so much spring cleanup work to do, plus the eager feeling of wanting to start a garden and just simply have warm weather.

We still have baby rabbits on the front porch so the new layer hen project continues to be delayed, but as soon as it is warm enough for the bunnies to get out to the barn then the chicks can come. We have only a handful of old chickens left after winter so we are eager to get new layers started.

At least the hoses, buckets, etc that were caught in the abrupt arrival of ice shortly after thanksgiving are once again free so we can start taking those up and putting them away again.

More updates on projects as they move along.