Getting Bigger, much Bigger.

I had no idea how much baby chickens can poop.  It is amazing.  They have gotten so big that they are flying out of their pen.  So, we expanded out into the laundry room. Which makes it hard when we
have to wash clothes. And we took them out in the yard in a pen for two hours. We gave them earth
worms to play with and eat.  We bought a chicken coop. It will be delivered on Friday. I will take
photographs.  We had a late cold freeze. It would have not been so bad if it had only been one night or
one night and a few nights later another. But it was three nights of below freezing. The Iris you see in
this blog survived. But the holly bushes, crepe myrtles, maples, largely everything which had just leafed
out was burnt.  Very burnt.  Everything that had been growing all along was fine, my verbena flowers

came through it fine as they have been blooming since March. This unseasonably warm weather in March in which things started leafing out like it was late April, and then the late freeze is just totally wrong. Mother Nature is confused. The birds are confused. Our little house wren when it go so cold, she abandoned her eggs.  No one can tell me that global warming is not changing the face of the earth.  The penguin and polar bears know it.  This yard I live in has been planted with such love. The man who did all this David (passed away at age 59) I don't know what he died of. But he was an Ear Nose and Throat doctor in Atlanta, and I think he was under a lot of stress and he ate too much.  David must have loved flowers because they are blooming everywhere.  I hope all my friends who read this are well. Oh, and I now have a compost bin, complete with knats.

Baby Chicks

Well, as Ralph said.  Oh crap, we're chicken farmers.  And so four little 1 week old babies moved into the garage.  But then it got cold and they moved into the laundry room.  Eat, sleep and poop. Just like real human week old babies.  They are called golden comets.  Not what I wanted.  I think they are sex linked which means you can't breed them with another comet and get a comet. But I am not planning on showing birds or breeding them.  Ralph made them a little perch.  We will get a chicken coop when they are big enough.  Spring has been very warm for up here.  But they say you can get a frost all the way into May 1.  We live near an airport. thus the lear jet.

Ralph was mowing the left side of yard on ride on and ran over a baby bunny nest.  He was just ready to move.  So today I went out and ran a rake through the other side of the lawn and flushed out another rabbit. I didn't see any nests.  We have had a lot of rain.  So much, that Ralph could not mow.  The lawn got so high.  We had so many violets  More later.

Cherry Blossoms and Day Lilies

We have single cherry tree blossoms, now double cherry blossoms, weeping cherry tree's and dogwoods. Whoever owned this house, loved flowers.  And I can see that there are daylilies getting ready to bloom in a few months.  The farm store is supposed to get new baby chicks in on Wednesday.  I am hoping they have some orpingtons this time.  They had black and white chicks last time but sold them all.  We have a new well. But we had to put our iron filter back on because our iron is two times over the limit.  This is upsetting my husband as he wonders, if it's over the allowable limit, why did the health dept. pass the well. So he is checking with the EPA.  If we have to change the media in the filter often, it will cost too much.  I believe I need bee hives.

I think we are going to need two goats to eat the weeds on the steep hill. We just can't mow it.  Here are the spring flowers. enjoy.

I believe Spring has arrived.

We have robins galore.  Forsythia, cherry blossoms, grape hyacinth and redbud blooms.  And a lot of rain. Our new well is full of iron.  Jugs of water turn orange. We are going to have to put the water softener and filter back on.  The well water we were temporarily getting from the school next door was crystal clear.  Water is so strange and fickle in the mountains.  Move two inches over and you get an entirely different well.  I do not have my baby chicks yet.  And if I don't hurry up, they will all be gone and I will be out of luck.  Sigh.  We need so much here and have run out of money until one of our houses sells in Florida.  I miss my children.  It is so beautiful here.  I need to learn how to drive around town. I need to get orientated.  Birds know.  Just sing a song.  Don't worry if its not good enough.

Sing, sing a song
Sing out loud
Sing out strong
Sing of good things, not bad
Sing of happy, not sad.

Sing, sing a song
Make it simple
To last your whole life long
Don't worry that it's not good enough
for anyone else to hear
Just sing, sing a song.

and stop letting my husband take me everywhere.  I feel like a prisoner in my home.  I have yet to drive in to town. They have a beautiful senior community center and I haven't even investigated.  My husband does a bit of outdoor work, then sits on his computer playing games all day.  Retirement has not been good for him. I have been working out on my treadmill 30 minutes a day. And I feel so much better.  Also lifting weights and exercise.  Walking on these country roads is out.  Too narrow.  I could get killed.  Must get a humidifier for next winter.  Too dry in the house with heat.  Enjoy.

Rain Rain Go Away

I never thought I would say that because I usually love rain.  But everything in moderation mother nature. Let's let things dry out for a bit.  huh?   Instead of winter storms we are just getting a lot of rain.  No snow. Which really makes me sad. I move to the mountains for snow. And found out, the snow level is at 3,000 feet.  I am at 2,000 feet.  Someone should have told me this.  Tractor supply is having their chick event week in two weeks. Baby chicks, and starter kits.  I was all set to get some of their chicks and then my farmer/PSTD disabled Vet neighbor told me,  "Don't buy anything from Tractor supply.  You don't know where they come from.  I buy mine at a small place downtown.  I found out Tractor supply's Pedigree Chicken feed is not the same as what the company puts out under their own name. It has less stuff in it. He also buys his meat at the slaughter house.  Not a grocery store.  He goes to a slaughter house.  He said store bought meat has stuff in it that ruins his stomach.  Well, he could be right.  And his original chickens were eaten by a bobcat. Which he then tracked and killed with his shotgun. He owns a lot of guns.  PTSD Did I mention that.  Big gun owner.  Think I will distance myself a bit from this neighbor.  He is a bit of a recluse anyway. And never has anything positive to say about anything.  I find the older I get, the less I want negative energy around me.  So, anyhoo.  Have a few pictures I took in the rain this week.  Not too bad considering there was no light at all, and a grey day. But the birds loved it.  That last one of the sparrow I shot through my kitchen window, thus the fogginess.

Snow Today

Well, we got our second snow fall today.  Tonight the temperatures are going down to 12 degrees.  Winter is back.   The snow was very dry and mixed with ice pellets.  It did not stick. Sun came out, it melted. Then started snowing again this afternoon.  I took a video of the snow.  Then I noticed late today that my daffodils were wilting.  I cut all the flowers I could and raked leaves over the ones that have not bloomed yet. I doubt if I can save them. We are having a cold blast for days with temps below freezing.  Even so they say this has been a mild winter.  Tiny liked this snow much better. He actually ran around in it.  He did not like our first snow which was very wet.

We have Daffodils blooming

This week we seem to be having spring weather. And my daffodils are opening up.  But Sunday it is going
to go back down to 20 degree's at night.  No snow. But very cold.  Crazy winter.  Must be global warming. I am very disappointed that Obama is supporting Fracking.  I will not be voting for him.  For anybody else who runs against him.  Fracking is drilling into shale under great pressure, using toxic chemicals to get the
gas out of the shale. It is harmful to the environment.  And time will show that.  But all they care about is money and jobs.

This morning I had a pack of hunting beagles running through my yard.  They came up from the woods behind me and slipped through a hole in my wire fence in the back.  Then they came up to the front of the house and got a scent and pushed under my chain link fence and bent it back.  Next time this happens I am keeping one of his dogs.  I need another dog and I like beagles.  We are finally going to get a new well. We have been living off the new schools well next door. But they are finally done with their Geo Thermal well drilling so they can come over and dig us a new well (for free) Since they not only owe us for the well they blew up, but also for the thousand dollars we put into the well before they blew it up.  I was reading about chickens.  I want chickens soooo much.  I would like Orphingtons.  They are white and gentle.  Well, they are cream colored with bright red heads.  But then I got to reading about lice, and mites and avian flu. And I got a bit scared. And it said to have a disinfectant foot bath in front of the chicken yard or house.  I guess to keep from tracking any asian flu germs.  I don't know. But I still want chickens so much.   Spring is coming I can feel it.  Have a daffodil.