Here a chick...there a chick... Archives - Desperately Seeking Sanity

What I Learned This Week: the Chicken Edition

September 24, 2012 1 Comment

I love this Bloggy Carnival. No, really. It truly is my favorite because you learn alot. My problem is, I don’t stop to write down what I learn throughout the week, so it makes writing a bit difficult at times, but I digress…

So, in no particular order, here are a few things I learned this week….

When chickens pluck their feathers out, all you see is meat. As in, this looks like is just came from the store and is wrapped in cellophane meat. I’m not sure what I thought it would look like under the feathers, but it does, in fact, look like what I buy at the store.
It is possible to make a breakfast casserole that your dog won’t eat.
Once you make said casserole, then you’re upset that you wasted all those fresh eggs that people are willing to pay money for.
People are willing to pay money for the eggs that we have laying around. (But I don’t charge. I give them as gifts…for now.)
If you pick up a hen who is in the process of laying an egg (why would you do this????) and the egg breaks as it’s coming down the chute (I know there’s a term, it escapes me at the moment) it could kill her.
It doesn’t matter how many nesting boxes you have, they will all use the same one. (We have six chickens and there are always 5 eggs on the right and one egg on the left.)
It’s hard to crack beautiful eggs.
If you don’t wash the eggs you don’t have to refrigerate them. They have what’s called a bloom on them. I know. It’s hard to get used to. But one of my most favoritest decorations in my house is the basket of eggs on the island. I never let it get empty.

The above picture is about one of twenty that I have in my photos. I like to take pictures of the eggs. This particular picture was an attempt to illustrate how big that egg was. It was a double yolk. I know that one hurt.
When chickens lay an egg, they sing a song. Those are the moments I’m most glad we don’t have close neighbors.
It ranks just above when it’s time to clean the coop.
There are ways that you can care for chickens so they don’t smell bad and it doesn’t take a lot of work. Leave it to me to figure this out.
It doesn’t matter how long you have chickens, going down to the coop and peeking in the box to see how many eggs are in the nest NEVER gets old. It’s like Christmas every single day and we fight over who gets to do it.

Of course, I didn’t learn all of this in one week. I was really just trying to come up with a post.

Because there’s a post I need to write and I don’t want to write. So this would be procrastination.

And I’ve not talked about my chickens much. I should talk about them more. We love our gals.

But there you have it… the chicken edition.

Questions?

What did you learn this week? Link up at From Inmates to Playdates.

Until next time…

Filed Under: Here a chick...there a chick..., What I Learned This Week

From the Depths of My Brain… and My iPhone…

August 7, 2012 2 Comments

I have lots of thoughts that go through my brain on a daily basis… some of them pretty darn good and some of them really should stay there…but as I sit here and watch night whatever it is of the Olympics, I thought I would just dump not only from my brain, but a few pictures as well…

because I am notorious for taking pictures that will go beautifully with a blog post (because the experts say that you should have a picture with a blog post) and then I never blog… and I forget I have them so I don’t even put them on Facebook.

I have a few of those… fun ones that I’ve found…

of course… technology doesn’t cooperate. Supposedly all of the photos on my phone are supposed to sync wirelessly to my laptop when connected via Wi-Fi, but I can’t seem to make that happen. It really only happens when I don’t want it to.

And as smart as I am with technology, half the time I can’t figure this blasted phone and computer out…

Although I would NEVER give either of them up!

So let’s see what I meant to tell you about and never got around to it…

The hubs and I went to the Bahamas in February. We had a blast. We had such a good time that we’re going again. Except we’re not going to the Bahamas.. we’re going to Key West and Cozumel. But check out the Love Like You Mean It Cruise. If you’re interested AND you want to save some money, let me know… we can hook you up. :)

Seriously.

Of course, we got back from the cruise and that’s when I worked the Mandisa Concert and I met these really AWESOME women….

You would’ve never known that we just met one another that night… and we’ve gotten together since and we have a blast! I’m pretty excited about October when they all come crash at my house… we’re all volunteering for eWomen… And it’s REALLY cool because we’re from all different stages in our lives.. yet we mesh. (In fact, I’m messaging E — the one on the far left — right now… and she’s on a missions trip in Costa Rica… and she’s only there because of C — the one to the right of Mandisa…

And that baffles me, because had it not been for Mandisa and this concert… E would never have met C or me and she wouldn’t be in Costa Rica! (God never ceases to BLOW.MY.MIND.) and I won’t forget K — the young blonde. She just celebrated her 21st birthday and she, hubby and son just moved into a new house. I’ll be attending her open house next month.

When you give my husband a toy, he will play with it. Much like me. He’s playing with his toy (the tractor) and I’m playing with mine (the camera.)

This is the Fishy Fishy Cafe in Southport, NC. We went there while on vacation… know what was filmed there? The pilot of Revenge (I’m hooked!) among other things… AND Nichols Sparks’ “Safe Haven” was being filmed down the street. We were very touristy and took LOTS of pictures. And I shall be there when the movie debuts. Just to see what I know.

I caught this gal in the act the other day… the act of laying an egg. And I spied on her. I felt bad. Like I was invading her space, yet I watched anyway. But then I got bored waiting.

You really can’t tell but the nesting boxes can be accessed from outside of the coop. I went bounding down the hill after work last week to check for eggs. It’s a cool thing. I never tire of it. Anywho, I whipped open the box and there one sat. ”Oh! Sorry!” I said and quickly shut the lid.

Then I went around the other side where the little slidy door is and peeked. Again, I got bored waiting. Maybe one day I’ll one of the gals actually lay an egg. Or maybe they know I’m there and can see me peeking in.

So there’s a few pictures dug from the depths of the phone….

I’m watching the Olympics.

Poor Gabby fell. I hate when the announcers give the medals away before they perform. It’s like that US gal the other night that was guaranteed gold and then fell. I called that before it happened. Then after it happened I felt like I jinxed her.

Sorry McKayla.

And while I’m on the subject… I have a few issues.

Did you know that someone is picking on Gabby’s hair? Um, really? She’s a freaking GOLD MEDALIST. WHO CARES?

But apparently, people have to have something to complain about.

And Ryan Lochte… his mother told people that he has one night stands? Really? Although my mother told me that maybe she didn’t mean it like that… and that if I were famous and they interviewed her about me that she would probably say something that would come out the wrong way and people, like me, would blog about it….

She’s probably right.

I’d probably do the same thing to.

Of course, in googling the original article I found several where they are attempting to clear all that up.

I would hope so.

I don’t know that I’m sold on him just yet. But I had no idea that I like swimming so much.

Anywho, it’s late. And I should probably work. Or go to bed. Or spend time with my husband.

Or something.

Or maybe I’ll watch the track and field events. I’ve come to love those too.

Until next time….

Filed Under: blogging, Care to Share?, Dorks R Us, Here a chick...there a chick..., Pics, Thoughts..., Time wasting...

Survivalist?

July 15, 2012 3 Comments

Tonight, a friend and her hubs came over to pick up their dog.

We’re a revolving door for kids and dogs around here.

When she did, she asked to see the chickens and as we were walking around back her hubs saw the garden and said something along the lines of “wow!”

Clearly that was BEFORE we planted, but it does look impressive, no?

“They’re survivalists,” my friend commented.

Uh….

What?

I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant and so I thought I would look it up. It sounded cool enough.

Um. No.

We’re no where even close!

Wikipedia defines Survivalism as a movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or preppers) who are actively preparing for emergencies as well as possible disruptions in social or political order, on scales ranging from local to international. Survivalists often have emergency medical and self-defence training, stockpile food and water, prepare for self-sufficiency, and build structures that will help them survive or “disappear”.

We are not “actively preparing for emergencies.” This was very evident last week when the power went out. What we do have in the case of emergency are really good friends who offer us their homes and pool when we have no power in 100 degree temps. (The one night that we stayed in the house? We camped in Thing 1′s room. So maybe that’s surviving?

We have no “emergency medical and self-defense training” unless you count my husband’s EMS experience or the fact that my mother and best friend are both nurses and I have them on speed dial.

Our “stock pile of food and water?” My mom sent the hubs a case of Gibbles pretzels for his birthday…

that’s 16 bags of pretzels. That’s a stockpile…right? And we do have a plethora of zucchini from the garden.

While most would eat that, my children chose to beat each other with it. And yes, we do have chickens, which lay eggs but at this point in time, they are not many and not big. It took a week for us to get enough to make eggs for two Saturday morning.

And “build structures that will help us survive or disappear?” We only have one new built structure and that’s the chicken coop. I would love to tell you more about it, but my husband and I agreed that to remain married we are no longer allowed to talk about the coop… and since he reads this blog – o- mine, I can’t say anything more.

(Except I can tell you that the coop would withstand 80mph winds and if for some reason we decide to get rid of the chickens, the children will have one kick butt, indestructible fort.)

(Oh! and that it’s pretty safe… if you don’t want to get out… as evidenced here when Thing 1 got locked in the coop….)

So, hearing all of the above leads me to believe that we are not survivalists. Just two people who like to try new things and have a little fun. We aren’t hard core gardeners. (Please don’t look at the weeds.) And we give away more than we eat. But it’s something that the hubs loves to do. And so we do. The chickens seemed like a cool thing and so we got them.

Regardless, it gives me Facebook fodder, something for the children to get involved in… and a hobby. We have no cable around these parts… what else are we supposed to do?

Until next time…

Filed Under: Dorks R Us, Here a chick...there a chick..., the boy