I typed this post on March 1st...I neglected to publish the post....ooopss. Now it's a week later and I'm just getting around to posting again, but while I type...today's post...I hope you enjoy this one from a week ago.
This morning I ordered Cornish Cross chicks for my daughters to show at our spring fair in Mid-May. We have two fairs here. One happens in mid-May and the other in September. Market chickens are about the easiest market animal that you can take to the fair. They only sell the top 6 pens (of two birds per pen) at the livestock auction, but if you sell at the auction...you make a HUGE profit on your birds and if you don't...well then you can put them in your own freezer. I ordered them from Murray McMurray Hatchery which you can order all cockerals from. I ordered 25 birds which is the minimum. The girls will each choose two birds to show at the fair and the rest will be butchered and put in our freezer. Those chicks will be here by the middle of next week which is perfect timing as the Buffy's will be ready to move outside by then.
Chief continues to recover from his surgery and is doing great. I haven't caught him licking the incision site once! Which means that he's been allowed more time without the cone of shame which I am certain makes him happy. Kid's abscess looks disgusting still, but it continues to drain and he seems to feel better since it ruptured.
Still no goat kids....uggg. Hopefully it will be soon!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Should have named him "Doug"
This morning Jessie and I were off to the vet at 6:45 to pick up Chief from his surgery and my day will be filled with hanging out with the big lug making sure that he remains calm and clean. If you have seen the movie "Up" you will remember the silly dog named Doug who wore the "Cone of Shame". Today Chief should be called Doug. Not only because he is wearing the cone of shame due to his surgery, but because if he could talk...I am certain that he would sound just like him! Can someone please invent one of those collars?? I would buy one...or four!
Chief weighs 96 pounds and is one of the biggest labs that I have ever seen. He is also one of the sweetest. Chief has a problem though. He was born with tiny eyes. He doesn't see very well because of it. It doesn't usually affect his day to day life exploring our two and a half acre place and playing with the other dogs, but he gets a little afraid of dark spaces. The worst problem is when he is really excited to see us....mostly Jessie...cause she is HIS girl. Those two adore each other. Jessie is just over 5' tall and only weighs about 110 pounds...so when her lovable but half blind dog comes running at her to say hello and can't judge depth very well it can be a little scary. Chief is somewhat like a freight train with a five inch slobbery tongue...headed towards you at full speed...he hits the brakes, but it's never in time and poor Jessie has taken many a tumble because of it. It doesn't phase her a bit...she just gets back up and dusts herself off, while he waits for her and looks at her like he doesn't know why she is flat on her back. On the rare occasion when she will let him, he holds her hand, it's the cutest thing. She will be taking him for a walk and he will gently grab her hand in his mouth and just walk along that way. I have never seen a dog who loves a person more then he loves her. Thankfully he doesn't like to lick anyone else, but if she's bending down he plants a big wet one right up the side of her face. She groans and tells him how gross it is while she wipes off the slobber but I know she can just imagine him saying..."I only do it because I love you!"...in that "Doug" voice.
Chief weighs 96 pounds and is one of the biggest labs that I have ever seen. He is also one of the sweetest. Chief has a problem though. He was born with tiny eyes. He doesn't see very well because of it. It doesn't usually affect his day to day life exploring our two and a half acre place and playing with the other dogs, but he gets a little afraid of dark spaces. The worst problem is when he is really excited to see us....mostly Jessie...cause she is HIS girl. Those two adore each other. Jessie is just over 5' tall and only weighs about 110 pounds...so when her lovable but half blind dog comes running at her to say hello and can't judge depth very well it can be a little scary. Chief is somewhat like a freight train with a five inch slobbery tongue...headed towards you at full speed...he hits the brakes, but it's never in time and poor Jessie has taken many a tumble because of it. It doesn't phase her a bit...she just gets back up and dusts herself off, while he waits for her and looks at her like he doesn't know why she is flat on her back. On the rare occasion when she will let him, he holds her hand, it's the cutest thing. She will be taking him for a walk and he will gently grab her hand in his mouth and just walk along that way. I have never seen a dog who loves a person more then he loves her. Thankfully he doesn't like to lick anyone else, but if she's bending down he plants a big wet one right up the side of her face. She groans and tells him how gross it is while she wipes off the slobber but I know she can just imagine him saying..."I only do it because I love you!"...in that "Doug" voice.
An average day
I called this a day in the life of a country wife for a reason...I am going to share my days with you. Some will be more detailed then others...some more exciting, some better suited to photos, some might bore you and others make you laugh until you cry....but this is how my day went yesterday...it was an average day.
Up and at 'em at 5:30am, let in Bear who wanted breakfast after a night prowling for who knows what.
Con Jessie into feeding the animals so that I can have a cup of much needed coffee and some breakfast.
Get Mac off to school with a friend so that Jessie and I can have Chief to the vet to be neutered by 8am.
Laugh when the vet tech says Chief is overweight...nope he's just a 96 pound HUGE bundle of lab love bug....I'll share his photo tomorrow. Just know that his personality reminds us of Doug from the movie "Up".
The vet agrees Chief's weight is fine and sends us on our merry way at 9am.
Meet Steve at the Freeway because he forgot his work parking pass in my truck that he drove Friday, take Jess to school and arrive back home at a little after 10am.
Start a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher and refill it with the pile of dishes that were in the sink.
Pick up random items left around the house this weekend...including furniture polish, 3 pairs of shoes (all mine), a deck of cards and one sock....not mine...wonder how teenage girls manage to leave one sock in the living room and where the other one disappeared to.
Get a wild hair and decide to start this blog....because really I needed another thing to do!! :-)
Start making chicken stock from the leftover roast chicken I had over the weekend. Chop celery, onion, carrots and toss it all in a pot while I think about starting this blog.
Wonder if it's going to rain and start blogging while the stock boils, turn the stock down to a simmer and finish my first post. Oh my goodness...it's noon....where did the morning go???
Straighten up the living room and question my sanity for having 7 throw pillow and 4 throw blankets on the sofa then realize that we use all of them which is why I am having to straighten them up every day which means that we are really using all of them.
Realize I have the jitters from two cups of coffee this morning and rummage through the fridge to see if there are any good leftovers for lunch....darn I already used the roast chicken for the stock....whip up my childhood favorite...PB&J with a few classic lays chips....am I the only one who still absolutely loves a PB&J at almost 40? Of course the home made white plum jelly was not something that I had as a kid...but it's umm, ummm good.
Rinse my lunch dishes and start the dishwasher. Grab the camera to take some photos for the blog...only to discover that the batteries are dead...put the battery on the charger and head outside.
Check on Joan Jett (aka JJ) Jessie's doe goat who is due to have her kid(s)....should be any day now. This is JJ...she's not very friendly, but she loves when I give her fresh grass.
Check on the rest of the does to see if there are any signs that they are close to ready to kidding...no changes since yesterday...at least another week before any of them are ready.
Open the doors to the shed where our Buffies are in their nursery so they can have some fresh air....one more week and they'll be ready to move to the chick run outside. They are 3 weeks old today and are getting their feathers in. I can hardly wait until they are laying fresh eggs for us!
I cleaned the abscess on Kid's jaw (he is losing his baby teeth and a shape top tooth caused an issue where he had already lost his bottom baby tooth and the adult one hadn't grown yet. The vet was here Friday and took care of the shape points...he'll heal, but it looks really ugly right now. This is the Kid....he's my baby boy at only two and a half. He'll get started with his training this summer when he turns 3. I'll spare you a photo of the abscess at least for today.
Throw the laundry in the dryer then fold two loads of laundry that didn't get folded over the weekend ...while watching food network for new recipe ideas....saw some yummy updated grilled cheese ideas on the Barefoot Contessa.
Decided to make spaghetti with red sauce and sausage for dinner and took the sausage out of the freezer....it's only 1:30....what else can I get done today????
I decided to clean JJ's kidding pen for Jessie since I had a little extra time and I moved Mr. T, Benni (a 9 month old boer doe), Cherry (a two year old red boar doe) and Kiki (a yearling boar doe) out to a bigger pasture. We've been hay feeding everyone due to the drought here and we moved all the goats into smaller pens a while back to allow the pasture grass to grow a little. There's still not much grass, but since the two older does won't be kidding soon, I thought they should go get some exercise and graze for a bit. Once the other does have kidded and their kids are 2-3 weeks old, they will be turned out on pasture as well.
At 3pm the chicken stock was complete so I strained the liquid and tossed the bones in the trash and the meat into a separate bag to freeze for later. It makes a huge amount of stock (10-12 cups) so there is always plenty in the freezer for whatever I need it for!
Then I grabbed the camera and shot the above photos to share. I downloaded the photos and typed most of this post and then the family got home just before 5pm.
I sliced the sausage, started the sauce simmering and got the pot of water ready for the pasta, then took advantage of Jessie being home to help me hot compress Kid's abscess again. It ruptured, which is good for the healing process...but pretty gross to look at. Large amounts of yellow puss is just nasty, but if you own livestock of any kind...eventually you will have to deal with an abscess. Thankfully I ALWAYS keep a box of latex gloves in the tack room for doctoring so I don't have to touch the stuff. I'm a wimpy that way.
I then headed the 15 miles to the high school to pick up Mikayla from her FFA Parlimentary Procedure contest practice. She's the President of her novice team and doing great! We got home and I spent the next half an hour getting dinner on the table and after dinner the girls cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes. I fell sound asleep on the couch before they were even done. Steve woke me up at 10:30 and said it was time for bed....ummm...ooops...meant to post this blog before falling asleep!
As usual I am certain that there were many more small things that I did throughout the day that I can't seem to remember now since I have slept since then. Usually when my husband asks what I did during the day that made me so tired it seems that I can't remember doing much...HA bonus of blogging....I now know what makes me so tired at the end of the day!
Up and at 'em at 5:30am, let in Bear who wanted breakfast after a night prowling for who knows what.
Con Jessie into feeding the animals so that I can have a cup of much needed coffee and some breakfast.
Get Mac off to school with a friend so that Jessie and I can have Chief to the vet to be neutered by 8am.
Laugh when the vet tech says Chief is overweight...nope he's just a 96 pound HUGE bundle of lab love bug....I'll share his photo tomorrow. Just know that his personality reminds us of Doug from the movie "Up".
The vet agrees Chief's weight is fine and sends us on our merry way at 9am.
Meet Steve at the Freeway because he forgot his work parking pass in my truck that he drove Friday, take Jess to school and arrive back home at a little after 10am.
Start a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher and refill it with the pile of dishes that were in the sink.
Pick up random items left around the house this weekend...including furniture polish, 3 pairs of shoes (all mine), a deck of cards and one sock....not mine...wonder how teenage girls manage to leave one sock in the living room and where the other one disappeared to.
Get a wild hair and decide to start this blog....because really I needed another thing to do!! :-)
Start making chicken stock from the leftover roast chicken I had over the weekend. Chop celery, onion, carrots and toss it all in a pot while I think about starting this blog.
Wonder if it's going to rain and start blogging while the stock boils, turn the stock down to a simmer and finish my first post. Oh my goodness...it's noon....where did the morning go???
Straighten up the living room and question my sanity for having 7 throw pillow and 4 throw blankets on the sofa then realize that we use all of them which is why I am having to straighten them up every day which means that we are really using all of them.
Realize I have the jitters from two cups of coffee this morning and rummage through the fridge to see if there are any good leftovers for lunch....darn I already used the roast chicken for the stock....whip up my childhood favorite...PB&J with a few classic lays chips....am I the only one who still absolutely loves a PB&J at almost 40? Of course the home made white plum jelly was not something that I had as a kid...but it's umm, ummm good.
Rinse my lunch dishes and start the dishwasher. Grab the camera to take some photos for the blog...only to discover that the batteries are dead...put the battery on the charger and head outside.
Check on Joan Jett (aka JJ) Jessie's doe goat who is due to have her kid(s)....should be any day now. This is JJ...she's not very friendly, but she loves when I give her fresh grass.
Check on the rest of the does to see if there are any signs that they are close to ready to kidding...no changes since yesterday...at least another week before any of them are ready.
Open the doors to the shed where our Buffies are in their nursery so they can have some fresh air....one more week and they'll be ready to move to the chick run outside. They are 3 weeks old today and are getting their feathers in. I can hardly wait until they are laying fresh eggs for us!
I cleaned the abscess on Kid's jaw (he is losing his baby teeth and a shape top tooth caused an issue where he had already lost his bottom baby tooth and the adult one hadn't grown yet. The vet was here Friday and took care of the shape points...he'll heal, but it looks really ugly right now. This is the Kid....he's my baby boy at only two and a half. He'll get started with his training this summer when he turns 3. I'll spare you a photo of the abscess at least for today.
Throw the laundry in the dryer then fold two loads of laundry that didn't get folded over the weekend ...while watching food network for new recipe ideas....saw some yummy updated grilled cheese ideas on the Barefoot Contessa.
Decided to make spaghetti with red sauce and sausage for dinner and took the sausage out of the freezer....it's only 1:30....what else can I get done today????
I decided to clean JJ's kidding pen for Jessie since I had a little extra time and I moved Mr. T, Benni (a 9 month old boer doe), Cherry (a two year old red boar doe) and Kiki (a yearling boar doe) out to a bigger pasture. We've been hay feeding everyone due to the drought here and we moved all the goats into smaller pens a while back to allow the pasture grass to grow a little. There's still not much grass, but since the two older does won't be kidding soon, I thought they should go get some exercise and graze for a bit. Once the other does have kidded and their kids are 2-3 weeks old, they will be turned out on pasture as well.
At 3pm the chicken stock was complete so I strained the liquid and tossed the bones in the trash and the meat into a separate bag to freeze for later. It makes a huge amount of stock (10-12 cups) so there is always plenty in the freezer for whatever I need it for!
Then I grabbed the camera and shot the above photos to share. I downloaded the photos and typed most of this post and then the family got home just before 5pm.
I sliced the sausage, started the sauce simmering and got the pot of water ready for the pasta, then took advantage of Jessie being home to help me hot compress Kid's abscess again. It ruptured, which is good for the healing process...but pretty gross to look at. Large amounts of yellow puss is just nasty, but if you own livestock of any kind...eventually you will have to deal with an abscess. Thankfully I ALWAYS keep a box of latex gloves in the tack room for doctoring so I don't have to touch the stuff. I'm a wimpy that way.
I then headed the 15 miles to the high school to pick up Mikayla from her FFA Parlimentary Procedure contest practice. She's the President of her novice team and doing great! We got home and I spent the next half an hour getting dinner on the table and after dinner the girls cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes. I fell sound asleep on the couch before they were even done. Steve woke me up at 10:30 and said it was time for bed....ummm...ooops...meant to post this blog before falling asleep!
As usual I am certain that there were many more small things that I did throughout the day that I can't seem to remember now since I have slept since then. Usually when my husband asks what I did during the day that made me so tired it seems that I can't remember doing much...HA bonus of blogging....I now know what makes me so tired at the end of the day!
Monday, February 27, 2012
New Day, New Week, NEW BLOG!
It's a Monday. The beginning of yet another week, a day most dislike, but I've learned to enjoy. It's like starting all over with a clean slate every week. The same imagined newness that the New Year holds...only we get to enjoy it every week! I am a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister and country girl through and through. I decided to start this blog to share our lives, lessons and laughter with you. Often we women who live in the country and do not work outside of the home get to feeling a little disconnected from others (or at least I do!) As more and more people move into towns and cities and fewer and fewer live in the country, sometimes it feels like no one shares the joys, discomforts and craziness that it can bring. I hope that our lives bring you city girls closer to the country and the country women a place to enjoy reading about the crazy lives of others that they can relate to.
I want to give you all a brief run down on the cast of characters that you will be reading about throughout this blog. First and most importantly, my family. My husband Steve works for one of our local cities. We have two amazing teenage daughters, Jessie and Mikayla (aka Mac). Both of our girls are in high school. Jessie is a senior and Mac a Sophmore. We have three horses right now, Ruby the old lady who at 27 has been with us for more then two decades and is often referred to as the "old lady", Mike is my all around awesome 14 year old gelding, and "the Kid" who is a two year old gelding. We have four dogs Murphy, a 12 year old rat terrier mix, Rocky a 10 year old dachshund, Chief a 4 year old yellow lab and Emma Lou who is a 5 month old Corgi, Border Collie, Queensland Heeler mix. We have three cats, Mia a grey tabby female who thinks she runs the house, Bear a big black long haired boy who may just be the best cat ever and Spooky who was left here by the previous owner of the property and who keeps the mice population to a minimum and occasionally thinks he might like us enough to let us pet him a little. Jessie decided a few years ago to raise a small herd of meat goats for FFA. We currently have 10 of them. Eggie, our big stinky buck, Mr. T, a wether who was an orphan and we all fell in love with him and decided to keep him and eight does...7 of which were breed to Eggie and should be having kids within the next few months. We also have 15 Buff Orpington Pullets (young female chickens) who are 3 weeks old right now. They are all named Buffy...we can't tell them apart at this point so it just makes it easier. I will be adding lots of photos for your viewing pleasure...I hope you enjoy getting to know our family! Happy Monday!
I want to give you all a brief run down on the cast of characters that you will be reading about throughout this blog. First and most importantly, my family. My husband Steve works for one of our local cities. We have two amazing teenage daughters, Jessie and Mikayla (aka Mac). Both of our girls are in high school. Jessie is a senior and Mac a Sophmore. We have three horses right now, Ruby the old lady who at 27 has been with us for more then two decades and is often referred to as the "old lady", Mike is my all around awesome 14 year old gelding, and "the Kid" who is a two year old gelding. We have four dogs Murphy, a 12 year old rat terrier mix, Rocky a 10 year old dachshund, Chief a 4 year old yellow lab and Emma Lou who is a 5 month old Corgi, Border Collie, Queensland Heeler mix. We have three cats, Mia a grey tabby female who thinks she runs the house, Bear a big black long haired boy who may just be the best cat ever and Spooky who was left here by the previous owner of the property and who keeps the mice population to a minimum and occasionally thinks he might like us enough to let us pet him a little. Jessie decided a few years ago to raise a small herd of meat goats for FFA. We currently have 10 of them. Eggie, our big stinky buck, Mr. T, a wether who was an orphan and we all fell in love with him and decided to keep him and eight does...7 of which were breed to Eggie and should be having kids within the next few months. We also have 15 Buff Orpington Pullets (young female chickens) who are 3 weeks old right now. They are all named Buffy...we can't tell them apart at this point so it just makes it easier. I will be adding lots of photos for your viewing pleasure...I hope you enjoy getting to know our family! Happy Monday!
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