Let The Moulting Begin

Look at this pathetic girl.  It's that time of year and Lucy, my white leghorn, is always the first to start moulting, then the others girls follow suit. 

Lucy is one of the first chickens I got about 4 years ago, and although she's at the top of the pecking order, you'd never know it to look at her since she's so skinny and scrawny now.

I can tell that during her moult she loses her confidence, too.  Normally she marches around the yard with an attitude like a rooster.  She's always in charge with a very determined look on her face that says "Stay out of my way! I'm on official business and have NO time to talk!"

But I notice that in this condition she's needier and wants to hang around me more - not like her at all. She's always been very stand-offish and refuses to ever let me hold her. 

Twinkie, my Buff  Ameraucana, is also starting to moult, but doesn't look quite as bad yet. 

This is Twinkie's first moult so I have no idea if she'll lose as many feathers as Lucy has. 

 

Along with their regular food this morning, I also made them a treat of cooked oatmeal and threw in some raisins, diced strawberries, and a  crumbled up waffle, too.  They went NUTS for it!

 

 

Two moulting girls in search of bugs.

 

Happy Sunday Everyone :-)!

Thankful Thursday

This is my first Thankful Thursday  post (thank you, Kim, at My Field of Dreams), so last night I started to write down all the things I felt so blessed for in my own life, but after watching the TV coverage and reading all the news stories about the miraculous rescue of the 33 Chilean miners, it seemed like a no-brainer to dedicate today's post to these men, as well as  their families.  I am SO  thankful that these men made it out alive and safely into the loving arms of their families.

I have no relatives, friends or any connection to Chile whatsoever, but as a human being, when I think of how I'd feel if my husband or any family member were in this situation for the last 69 days, I can't help but cry (and cry, and cry...).  It's such a wonderful/inspiring/thrilling story and a bright light of hope in this dark world. I truly believe that this happy ending would not have been possible without God's intervention.  There are NO limits to his power! Praise God for another job well done! 

Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me;
       O LORD, be my help."

  You turned my wailing into dancing;
       you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

  that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
       O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Psalm 30: 10-12

Walk For Farm Animals

 In case you think I spent the whole weekend decorating my yard and building scarecrows as mentioned in my previous post, allow me to set the record straight.  Last Saturday I did my part for the animals when I participated in the "Walk for Farm Animals" sponsored by Farm Sanctuary http://www.farmsanctuary.org/ whose mission is to "protect farm animals from cruelty, inspire change in the way society views and treats farm animals, and promote compassionate vegan living." Although there were organized walks all across the country for this purpose, I walked in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where our group walked up and down the boardwalk, holding up our signs and distributing pamphlets and literature to educate and raise awareness about factory farming and Farm Sanctuary.    







Battery Hens: NO way to live!



Until about a year ago, I'd never heard of Farm Sanctuary until I got a piece of literature in the mail. Considering all the mail I get on a daily basis from all kinds of charities requesting my financial support, it's a wonder this didn't end up in my recycle bin, as much of it does in my house. Don't get me wrong; there are many, many worthy animal and environmental charities out there, and I contribute to a lot of them, but I simply cannot afford to give to everyone that asks. Believe me, I'd love to, but I can't. In any event, I clearly remember opening up Farm Sanctuary's mailing at the kitchen table and it not broke my heart, but it opened my eyes to the horrors of factory farming, which is where the majority of the meat, eggs and dairy in our grocery stores come from. When I read and saw the horrendous conditions these animals are forced to live in for the sole purpose of human consumption, it made me sick. It also made me question my own eating habits. I've never been a huge carnivore to begin with, but I have to be honest; I did enjoy the occasional cheeseburger or a couple of strips of bacon with my eggs and loved smothering my Thanksgiving turkey with big helpings of gravy and mashed potatoes. Never again. Please don't misunderstand me; I'm not sitting in judgment of ANYONE who does eat meat (my husband, for example, will never go meatless and I wouldn't even attempt to win that battle) but it's something that I choose not to do anymore. And I don't miss it or crave it at all. That is, I guess you could say that I don't eat mammals (beef, pork or chicken), but I still eat seafood (fish, shrimp and crabs). I don't think I can ever completely go the vegan route, which would also mean giving up dairy and eggs. I think if animals are treated humanely and live in environments where they can thrive as God intended them to (case in point; my chickens!) and are not shoved up against each other in tiny cages and shot up with growth hormones and antibiotics, as they are in factory farms, then drinking organic milk from a happy cow who is allowed to field graze, not a confined, stressed out one, doesn't make me feel like I'm contributing to what I consider a crime against animals. In fact, I'm now drinking more soy and rice milk than I am cow's milk, which is truly not as bad as it sounds. Really. As for eggs, I only have to walk as far as my backyard for those and if you've seen some of my earlier posts,  I don't think I have to convince you as to what spoiled queens those ladies are! Maybe this logic sounds completely looney to you, but so be it. I feel better - or should I say that my conscience feels better about living my life this way. Remember the "just say no" campaign started by First Lady Nancy Reagan back in the 1980s to discourage kids from engaging in recreational drug use? I guess this is my own personal campaign where I will "just say no" to animal cruelty in factory farms.



A Compassionate World Begins With You.





























How I Spent My Sunday

I've kicked the bug that rendered me almost helpless for a couple of days and I'd like to send a big THANK  YOU(!) to all my blogging pals for your kind words and well wishes for a speedy recovery. So now that I'm back to my ornery old self, it seemed like a good day to start my Fall/Halloween decorating.  I had a general idea of what I wanted to do, something cute but simple, so I ran around the last couple of weekends and got 2 bales of straw, mums, pumpkins and gourds.  







I also had the idea that I'd like to build a scarecrow, which I've never done before, so I was just flying blind about how to put it together.  I used a big branch that I got from our woods in the back and nailed a board across it in a "T" shape so his arms would be up in typical scarecrow fashion.  Not as easy as it sounds - at least for me, anyway. I had to use my husband's handsaw to cut the branch to the right height and the electric jigsaw as well for trimming the little branches that were attached to the big branch (another first for me today).  All this took a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was a beautiful sunny Fall day, so I took my time and tried not to get frustrated when it didn't all didn't come together instantly.  I stuffed a pillowcase with straw for his face and body, and covered his head with my favorite gardening hat.  In fact, his whole outfit is from my closet; overalls, flannel, bandanna and hat.  After I put him together, keeping him upright was another challenge, but I stuck with it and finally got him to stand on his own. Once he was upright and we no longer looked like we were slow dancing together in the front yard, I stood back to look at the whole thing and decided that his face was too blah with just the pillowcase, so to give him a little more of the Halloween spirit, I ran up to the Dollar Store and came up with this skeleton mask, as well as the crow, which I think adds a nice touch.

Believe or not, the whole process took me around 2 hours. I bet you're thinking "WHAT?! Wow, you must really be inept." Okay, guilty as charged.  I know it would have taken less than half the time if my husband was around to lend a hand (i.e., do 95% of the work), but I had already given him a day pass to go fishing with 2 of his buddies, so this was a solo effort by yours truly at my first ever scarecrow. Besides, I was in the mood to do this today so I didn't want to wait until he got home - or until next weekend.

 

In other news today, around dusk after all the scarecrow building and decorating was finished, I decided to wind down in the backyard and enjoy my favorite form of therapy, better known as  "watching chickens" when I noticed a movement in the corner of my eye.  When I looked over and focused on it, I saw it was a lone wild turkey spying in the fence on all of us.  He was a huge rascal, too! I slowly walked up to the fence to get a better look, wishing I had my camera with me, but when I got about 4 feet away he took off.  I don't think wild turkeys are all that common around here, although I know they do exist, even if in small numbers, since I remember seeing a group of them a couple of years ago coming out of the woods across the street, so I was pretty excited about another appearance.  

The only other thing I enjoyed watching today was Lilly run herself ragged up and down the yard when she'd see various squirrels perform their  acrobatics, jumping from one tree branch to the other. I personally found it very impressive, but she literally loses her mind when she sees those squirrels! Must be the terrier in her.   You'd think she'd be used to them by now, but oh, how she hates them with a passion!  Age has not mellowed her at all in that respect. 

All in all, it was a very good day.  The only regret I guess is that since I spent the majority of my day outside, I didn't get the kind of housework done that I was planning on today. Rats! Of course I justify this by telling myself that there aren't going to be many more days like today in the coming months, so I might as well enjoy the great outdoors while I can.  When the temperatures drop below 50, there will be plenty of time to stay inside to vacuum, dust, wax, etc. Yuk. I can't wait.  

No Rest For the Weary

Out of nowhere I seem to have caught some sort of stomach bug/flu/yucky thing that started last night after I got home from work and caused me to be up just about every hour on the hour until the next morning. No fun whatsoever.  Normally, I would just call in sick the following day, but wouldn't you know it, today of all days  I had a project to finish that required me to be there at least until noon. Luckily, before my husband left for work he found some upset stomach medicine in the cabinet and thankfully, the "good until" date had not expired, so after downing that and waiting for it to kick in, I went about my normal morning routine of feeding the animals, then  rallied enough energy to shower, get dressed and then head to the office. 

When I got there I told my boss I was feeling a little under the weather, got no sleep the night before, and as soon as I finished what I had to do, would be out of there to go home to let this thing run its course, as well as catch up on the sleep I missed and needed.  As planned, I was able to leave by 12:30 and when I walked outside, it was an absolutely spectacular day, with temps in the mid-70s and sunny with a light breeze. As perfect as you could ask for. On the way home I daydreamed about falling asleep on the chaise lounge in the backyard with the sun on my face, and the girls and dogs close by keeping me company.  Before I got home though, I thought I should make a quick stop at the grocery store to get some chicken broth and crackers since my stomach was completely empty and it would probably be best to ease back into eating with some bland food. 

After wolfing down the broth and 6 crackers (I hadn't eaten since the day before!), I headed for the chaise lounge all ready for an afternoon of rest and recooperation. I was feeling a little better, just really tired, and thought this is great; I'll just lay here and listen to the birds sing while the sun and the breeze lull me to sleep.  I wasn't there long before Scarlett and Peggy wandered over and decided that my lap was a good place for their afternoon nap, too. It was all very cozy with the 3 of us, but being the fickle young ladies they are, that only lasted about 10 minutes and

then they were off for bigger and better things in the yard.  Kids. So I closed my eyes again waiting for sleep to overcome me when a thought came to me: "Now would really be a good time to clean out that hen house." The (logical) part of my brain  said, "Forget it! Stay where you are, RELAX and don't move. No more working or thinking about work today!" But I couldn't help myself.  My guilty conscience (which curiously always sounds like my mother's voice) won out when it said, "How can you just lay there being unproductive when there's a million and one things to be done around here?" Get up! You're not dying!" So after retrieving the shovel and wheelbarrow, I cleaned out the girl's house, followed by ...

Filling up the bird feeder...

Changing the house flag... 

Then tearing down the tomato vines and giving a few rogue tomatoes I found to the girls.

I really need to get over this guilt trip I put myself through about laying around "too long" - especially when I actually DO need the rest!  

I should learn to be more like Lilly, who watches the world go by until she dozes off, completely unconcerned about what did or didn't get done today...

Or even Loretta, who slips away from the rest of the girls for her "me time" dust bath without a care in the world or a trace of guilt to be found on her.

          

Marriage Takes Three

I was going to post this on my anniversary, which isn't until November, but then I thought, why wait?  I don't know if everyone (or anyone, for that matter)  is already familiar with this poem, but I really like it and have a funny story about discovering it for the first time, too.  A couple of years ago I was boiling mad at my husband for some reason which now totally escapes me (must have been really important, right?).  He probably "forgot" (his favorite word) to put his socks in the hamper again or something equally as heinous. After reading him the riot act and getting myself all worked up about "not being the maid around here" or some such (by the way, he never gets worked up, which aggravates me even more), I thought I'm going to get out of this house for a few hours to cool off and bring my blood pressure down a few hundred notches.  So I headed to my favorite thrift store in search of some little nick-nacky trinket to soothe my nerves.  After looking around a bit, I wandered over to the section with the pictures and came across this beautifully embroidered plaque, which was enclosed in glass in a gold frame and read as follows:

Marriage Takes Three

I once thought marriage took

Just two to make a go,

But now I am convinced

It takes the Lord also.

And not one marriage fails

Where Christ is asked to enter,

As lovers come together

With Jesus at the center.

But marriage seldom thrives,

And homes are incomplete,

Till He is welcomed there

To help avoid defeat.

In homes where Christ is first,

It's obvious to see,

Those unions really work,

For marriage still takes three.

Author Unknown

Well, let me tell you, I read that and promptly put it right back down because I could see exactly what God was up to here.  He wanted me to go home and forgive that man I was married to, with all his messy habits, and I wasn't going to do it.  No! I'm mad and I'm going to STAY mad until I'm good and ready to feel otherwise. I'll show him what mad looks like, yes I will. Hell hath no fury like a stubborn Irish redhead, either.  But for some reason, I couldn't get out of that aisle!  Then I glanced over to it again and noticed it had a purple sticker on it, which meant it was marked down 70% (!) so I did a quick calculation of the math in my head.  But why?! I was NOT getting that plaque and I was NOT going to give in that easily.  God had set me up! He probably even put that 70% off sticker on it himself before I walked in the door because he knows what a sucker yours truly is for a bargain! I picked it up again. Wait! I could buy it but still be mad at him, right? Sure, I could do that.  So I walked out of there with my new purchase and when I got home, Mr. messy socks was out on the riding mower cutting the grass.  He smiled and waved at me as if he'd never even been yelled at (how dare he!), but I just tossed my head in the other direction and stormed into the house (yes, just like a 16 year old girl).  When he came in a few minutes later, I handed him the plaque and said in my iciest tone, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you please hang this up in the hallway above our wedding pictures?" He smiled at me (stop that!) and said "you mean you haven't taken them down yet?" (he thinks he's so funny)  Then he read it and said, "Pretty good advice, don't you think?" 

Needless to say, I didn't stay mad forever and here we are, still Mr. and Mrs. 12 years later.  Of course, he still sometimes "forgets" to put his things in the hamper and ruffles my feathers to no end at times, but overall he's a good guy. I do think God set me up that day though - but I'm glad he did.  I could never be married to someone just like me.

Happy, Happy Sunday Everybody :-) !!!!!

Flooding in Maryland

By now you may have heard about all the rain we've gotten on the East Coast.  I'm not sure how much rain fell in Maryland over the last two days but it was plenty, and more than we've seen in a while. I took some pictures this morning after letting the girls out to give you an idea of how much we got in my "neck 'o the woods," Maryland's Eastern Shore.  

As you can see, parts of the road that I live on got pretty water logged, bordering on dangerously high.  I was planning to start my day with an early swim at the indoor pool I belong to, but when my husband called me on his way to work at 4:00 AM to say that parts of our road were flooded and it might be a good idea to wait until it had subsided a bit or got lighter before venturing out, that was all I needed to hear to jump back into bed! 

After I got up (again!) around 6:30 and fed everybody, I wandered around the whole yard to assess the flooding. The best part though was that it had finally stopped raining (yay!) and there was a nice Fall chill in the air.  Had to put on my  barn coat and while I was out, decided to use my pruners to cut the last of the zinnias. I trimmed them up and made a cheery little bouquet that I thought would look great either on the kitchen or coffee table, but as I was pruning and fussing over them, a little voice said to me "give those flowers to Fordonia."  Fordonia is my next door neighbor who is 85 years young, lives alone (and happily so, by her own admission) and just the best neighbor you could ask for. So I put the flowers in a milk bottle  vase and took them over to her. She was so tickled. I stayed and we chatted about 30 minutes after which time I  realized how hungry I was.  First thing that came to mind; french toast and scrambled eggs with cheese! Comfort food on a chilly morning seemed like the best thing in the world at that moment.  Mind you, not the best nutritionally or calorie-wise, but I thought, so what.  I'll swim it off later.  And after adding too much butter (is there such a thing?) and syrup, it was delicious. I was totally content.  Sort of weighed me down though so I thought it was a good time for reading on the couch, followed by a little nap to let everything settle before heading to the pool.  

Finally did make it there around 2:00 and swam for 45 minutes.  Felt great, too.  Of course my husband joked that there was no need to go there when we've got a lake right in our backyard!