We've been so busy that I haven't blogged, and didn't even check e-mails until just tonight. Very busy weekend.
Finished the baby-chick coop for the garage, and got all 10 of the 3-week old chicks in it late last night. At first, they just sat there all confused, then ran around in circles in one little spot, some of them poking their heads out of the poultry netting (thereby scaring me silly). By this morning, they had slept in complete darkness (I checked on them at 4 a.m., and spied them all spread out on the ground). Today they discovered the roost, the holes in the concrete block, the little house we built, and so forth. I added lots of hay and grass clippings to the coop during the day, which are all mashed down now.
Pecka, the girl quail, got very scared yesterday. We thought she was going to die. Kept flying up and hitting her head on the top of the cage. Didn't put out an egg yesterday. For that matter, neither did Henny Penny. Hmmm.
Shoot, just remembered I didn't turn the quail eggs today (in the incubator). Ok.. In a minute.
Tried to finish the goat pen, and nearly did. Still need a better way to fasten the gate. Got the water bucket over there and filled. Added 2 bays of hay in the back of the goat house. Then, just 5 minutes before we planned to move the babies to their new home, the new next door neighbors' dog came up and scared them. Terrified them, actually. Moved them anyway, but they started panting and panting. We showed them around, where their water was, etc. Didn't stop panting until we gave up and moved them back to their indoor pen. We'll try again in a day or two.
It got quite warm today. So warm that when I walked into the workshop to check on the critters, the poor angora rabbit was laying down. Gonna have to move her back in the garage.
Ok, the big news. The 13 yo Kid had ingrown toenail procedure on Friday. Didn't go well. The doc didn't do it right, and didn't catch the infection. Once the numbing agent wore off, the Kid was in the most intense pain I've ever seen with him. Not since he had major surgery when he was 9 months old. It got so bad.... not even a half of one of my percocet or anything else I tried, helped. Ended up making the hour trip to the closest hospital (one of the downsides of living in the country). The doc had said the Kid didn't have an infection, but the ER pediatrician said he did, and a few other things. Put him on antibiotics, and stronger pain meds. Finally feels better today, Sunday.
A neighbor 2 houses down, who we hadn't met before, drove his tractor up our driveway. We greeted him. He was just grading his driveway and wanted to know if we'd like him to do ours. Just a neighborly thing. We chatted. He graded. I gave him 6 of Henny Penny's green eggs. We made tentative plans for cocktails some time during the Summer.
And the house next to us closed last week, with the new owners moving in. This is a very tiny house, so small that the neighbors call it "the doll house". Owner Don and wife, plus their 5 children. In that tiny house. But they seem nice. Plan to have a mini donkey and chickens. The 12 year old wants a bmx track but the father poo-pooed that right away.
The neighbor behind us ... with the turkeys, chickens, goats and ducks ... the turkey had babies a few weeks ago. Three of them. And one by one, they got eaten by the neighborhood fox. Now the turkey is going around, depressed, looking for her chicks (is that what they're called)? She came over several times today, visiting, looking around. Wanted to be petted and picked up. First time I've ever touched a turkey. So sweet. We introduced her to our baby chicks because the garage was open, but she wasn't interested. Poor thing.
We planned to cut the grass this weekend, but every time we got ready to, the wind kicked up. Fun fun. Finally did tho cut the weeds that surrounded the front door area. Poor UPS guys trying to find a foot-hold to leave packages there on Friday did it. (BTW: the chicken and baby chicks loved the clippings!)
I'm burnt. Sore. Hands cramped up and can barely type. My left arm is so messed up that I really need a sling. Did WAY too much. Didn't cook at all this weekend. Didn't clean this weekend. Finally took a bath but .. feels like, although I got a LOT done this weekend, I guess, I actually didn't. I hate that.
Gonna go take some meds and go to bed.
= = = =
Please plant a nut or fruit tree today. Thanks.
Showing posts with label Kid Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kid Health. Show all posts
Surgery and Chickens
The Kid is scheduled for yet another ingrown toenail surgery this afternoon. On one hand, don't know why it's so hard to clip toenails properly but on the other hand, I had horrible toenails as a child so it's definitely inherited. Poor Kid. He's really scared because needles in the toes are NOT fun. Hey! At least he gets out of mowing the property this weekend.
Before we leave for his surgery, we plan to quickly build a bigger brooder coop for the chicks. They are growing so big and almost flying out of the box we have them in. Getting pretty cramped in there. Have a pallet. Gonna build a little structure for it and string poultry fencing around it, line it with cardboard boxes, and so forth. Get them out of the house!
Hoping to finish the outdoor chicken coop this weekend. It's finally warmed up so we should be able to not only finish the one we started, but also do the second one, finish the fencing, and get the goaties in their new outdoor pen, and the adult chicken in hers.
So... busy weekend coming. Gonna be nice, in the 80's. Finally nice and warm. Ok, probably too warm (I really hate hot weather so why don't I live in Alaska? Oh yeah, I like to grow my own food!).
Did get some writing done yesterday. Felt good. The Kid is working on a book of Haiku Poetry ... hope to have it online by the end of the weekend.
Nauseous today. Think I'm gonna take a nap before the Kid gets up and we start going going going. Have a great day, all! And please, plant a nut or fruit tree today.
Before we leave for his surgery, we plan to quickly build a bigger brooder coop for the chicks. They are growing so big and almost flying out of the box we have them in. Getting pretty cramped in there. Have a pallet. Gonna build a little structure for it and string poultry fencing around it, line it with cardboard boxes, and so forth. Get them out of the house!
Hoping to finish the outdoor chicken coop this weekend. It's finally warmed up so we should be able to not only finish the one we started, but also do the second one, finish the fencing, and get the goaties in their new outdoor pen, and the adult chicken in hers.
So... busy weekend coming. Gonna be nice, in the 80's. Finally nice and warm. Ok, probably too warm (I really hate hot weather so why don't I live in Alaska? Oh yeah, I like to grow my own food!).
Did get some writing done yesterday. Felt good. The Kid is working on a book of Haiku Poetry ... hope to have it online by the end of the weekend.
Nauseous today. Think I'm gonna take a nap before the Kid gets up and we start going going going. Have a great day, all! And please, plant a nut or fruit tree today.
Goat Pen Figured Out
Our back neighbors came over around 11:00 a.m. yesterday to look around our property and help me figure out where to house the goats. We have two good areas that really hadn't occurred to me:
(1) The workshop. It's a really big building (30x45) and we can easily house the goats along the side or back of the workshop inside. It's got a couple of opaque skylights, and electricity available for heat lamps and video-cams for when we kid later on. They could go in there at night, and in the morning we'd walk them outside and around to the "dog run" that's fenced in. We could put one of those big heavy pallets in their workshop-pen, stack hay around and scatter more across the pallet and dirt floor. That would make a nice warm place to milk them later, too. Very safe from predators and the elements.
(2) There's space under our back deck that the former people used to store firewood. We'd have to do some repairs because the former dogs dug holes all around it and through it. We'd also have to replace the aluminum door with something more like a barn door that would still offer protection but also sunlight when the snow is deep.
Maybe we'll fix up the workshop first, and if it works out, we'll either cut a hole in the back for a door and make a fenced area right behind.
And maybe we'll fix up the under-the-deck area for the billy goat(s) when it comes time.
Yeah, I'm thinking we'll prepare an area for the goats in the workshop. There should be room in there for the chickens too. Maybe we'll even move the rabbits and quail out there too!
= = = =
After we finished our taxes yesterday (we paid through the nose ... ouch!), we popped on next door to eat our annivesary dinner at a steak restaurant. The Kid too. After all, he was part of the wedding ceremony too. Can't believe it's been 4 years. Anyway, we got home just before dark, time to get doggy-bags refrigerated, teeth brushed, and things ready for today.
Hubby left this morning with the check for taxes to mail. Now I need to move money around. Basically, the gov gets our fence money. Oh well. Better luck next year! We'll do the fence when we can and just hope that critters don't eat up all our corn, beans, pumpkins and so on.
Meanwhile, I have a doc appointment this morning (for the migraines that have increased in frequency). Hope I can get the Kid in too because he's had a cough for a couple of months and he's also got another ingrown toenail. After the doc, we'll head on over to Home Depot where I'll pick up a few things to "fence-off" the goat pen in the workshop. Hoping that one of Hubby's friends will come by on Saturday to help us build the pen so that we can pick up the goaties on Sunday.
I just realized I never took a pic of my seedlings. Maybe I'll have a chance tomorrow. Today's schedule is kinda packed.
Have a great day, all!
(1) The workshop. It's a really big building (30x45) and we can easily house the goats along the side or back of the workshop inside. It's got a couple of opaque skylights, and electricity available for heat lamps and video-cams for when we kid later on. They could go in there at night, and in the morning we'd walk them outside and around to the "dog run" that's fenced in. We could put one of those big heavy pallets in their workshop-pen, stack hay around and scatter more across the pallet and dirt floor. That would make a nice warm place to milk them later, too. Very safe from predators and the elements.
(2) There's space under our back deck that the former people used to store firewood. We'd have to do some repairs because the former dogs dug holes all around it and through it. We'd also have to replace the aluminum door with something more like a barn door that would still offer protection but also sunlight when the snow is deep.
Maybe we'll fix up the workshop first, and if it works out, we'll either cut a hole in the back for a door and make a fenced area right behind.
And maybe we'll fix up the under-the-deck area for the billy goat(s) when it comes time.
Yeah, I'm thinking we'll prepare an area for the goats in the workshop. There should be room in there for the chickens too. Maybe we'll even move the rabbits and quail out there too!
= = = =
After we finished our taxes yesterday (we paid through the nose ... ouch!), we popped on next door to eat our annivesary dinner at a steak restaurant. The Kid too. After all, he was part of the wedding ceremony too. Can't believe it's been 4 years. Anyway, we got home just before dark, time to get doggy-bags refrigerated, teeth brushed, and things ready for today.
Hubby left this morning with the check for taxes to mail. Now I need to move money around. Basically, the gov gets our fence money. Oh well. Better luck next year! We'll do the fence when we can and just hope that critters don't eat up all our corn, beans, pumpkins and so on.
Meanwhile, I have a doc appointment this morning (for the migraines that have increased in frequency). Hope I can get the Kid in too because he's had a cough for a couple of months and he's also got another ingrown toenail. After the doc, we'll head on over to Home Depot where I'll pick up a few things to "fence-off" the goat pen in the workshop. Hoping that one of Hubby's friends will come by on Saturday to help us build the pen so that we can pick up the goaties on Sunday.
I just realized I never took a pic of my seedlings. Maybe I'll have a chance tomorrow. Today's schedule is kinda packed.
Have a great day, all!
Dried Mixed Soup Veggies
For those of you who followed me from my blog at http://www.survival-cooking.com/, you know I'm a big user of dried soup vegetables. When I don't grow them, I buy all I can find at Vitamin Cottage, in their bulk herb aisle.
Contents in the purchased baggies of Soup Vegetables: carrots, onions, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, celery flakes, bell peppers, green beans, parsley. I often buy separate bulk baggies of: bell peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, spinach flakes and parsley flakes.
When I'm lucky enough to have a good tomato harvest and other veggies, I dry them all separately, place in baggies and then in canning jars, and label well. Some soups get more carrots and some get more tomatoes. I even added some to the meatloaf the other night! Wow... I love how the teeny tiny 1/2-inch dried green beans reconstitute to almost 2-inches long!
Here's a little tip I gave over at the other blog: when I'm trying to get a few more veggies into my Kid, I take some dried veggies, and crush them into a powder. Then I can add it to his pizza sauce to help him get more nutrients, and since he loves pizza sauce on his gluten-free bread with turkey pepperoni and grated cheese, he never knows.
Ssshhh!!
Contents in the purchased baggies of Soup Vegetables: carrots, onions, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, celery flakes, bell peppers, green beans, parsley. I often buy separate bulk baggies of: bell peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, spinach flakes and parsley flakes.
When I'm lucky enough to have a good tomato harvest and other veggies, I dry them all separately, place in baggies and then in canning jars, and label well. Some soups get more carrots and some get more tomatoes. I even added some to the meatloaf the other night! Wow... I love how the teeny tiny 1/2-inch dried green beans reconstitute to almost 2-inches long!
Here's a little tip I gave over at the other blog: when I'm trying to get a few more veggies into my Kid, I take some dried veggies, and crush them into a powder. Then I can add it to his pizza sauce to help him get more nutrients, and since he loves pizza sauce on his gluten-free bread with turkey pepperoni and grated cheese, he never knows.
Ssshhh!!
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