Chicken update

Overnight we had a couple more chicks hatch. K moved them to the brooder in our basement this morning. We have seven blackish chicks from our barred rock hens (the brown eggs), and two chipmunkish chicks from the green eggs. The hens that laid the green eggs were half Easter-egg chicken. These chicks are 3/4 Easter egg chicken. Unfortunately, their dad and granddad are the same rooster, an Easter-egg rooster. He's a nice, friendy rooster, though. We've never hatched eggs ourselves before, but some of our hens have had a couple successes. Those successes were the mothers of the green eggs we put in the incubator. I must admit, I've had that country song, "I'm My Own Grandpaw" running through my head.

Moon-Spinner, the green eggs aren't sterile. They are from a type of chicken called "Easter Egg." I guess it's pretty much an Aracuna chicken. They are a breed that doesn't go broody (sit on eggs), though. The people we bought our chickens from use an incubator to hatch them. We've never had any green eggs hatch before by being sat on by our own chickens. We've had a few brown eggs hatch. Their dad was our Easter-egg rooster, and their moms were either a buff orpington, a black australorp, or a rhode island red.

K thought one of our white hens wasn't laying. I suggested she had a hidden nest. He assured me he's looked for one. I asked if he'd checked our bamboo brush piles because I've seen one of our white hens in the pile. He hadn't. We checked it this morning and couldn't find a nest. Then in the afternoon, when I was getting a stick of bamboo to attach to a plastic cup to dip for tadpoles, I disturbed a chicken who was in the other bamboo brush pile.

After dipping for tadpoles without success, my son and I searched the second brush pile for a nest and found one, about two feet of the ground in the pile. We got my husband to empty it. I'm too afraid of stuff that might lurk in brush piles (we've seen black widows on our property, and my husband has seen a couple copperheads). K removed the eggs on the surface and then found some that had fallen through the bottom a bit. In all, he found 15 eggs. Easily there could have been more that he couldn't see or reach. We dumped the eggs since we don't know how long they had been there. It was sad because this hen is our only hen who lays big, bluish eggs. K replaced the eggs with a plastic, fake egg, hoping the hen won't move to a different hidden nest. As long as she doesn't, we'll have to check this brush-pile nest every day to look for eggs.

Our neighbor had the news on, and he told my husband that there was a murder-suicide (or at least attempted murder--not sure if the shooting victim survived) on our street early this morning. I've looked into the local news web pages, and I think it was about half a mile from here. We'll have our faces pressed to the TV local news this evening. When we returned from grabbing a McDonald's lunch, K noticed the TV crew at one of the houses on our street.

J and I collected worms this morning. We hoped to go fishing today, but it looks like it may rain before K has time to come with us. He's building a pen to put the new chicks in when they first go outside (in about five weeks). I can't carry the pole and J (she's three and there's a lot of traffic on our road), and N will want to come, too, and I can't manage to keep two kids safe at the creek.

I'll end here. I think I've gone on long enough.

We have new chicks!

Yesterday evening, the first of our chicks hatched. We had a second one hatch this morning. Then during the day a couple more came out. K helped a couple get out later in the afternoon (something he said we shouldn't do for fear of hatching weak chicks). The last to K assisted are getting trampled by the ones that came out by themselves earlier. Hopefully once they'll be fine tomorrow.

Tomorrow K will move the chicks from the incubator to the brooder. I'll get to open the eggs that didn't hatch. I'm curious about whether or not the chickens developed at all or if something went wrong with them as they developed. Keith thinks the ones that died after pecking to get out and failing may have failed because the humidity was too low in the incubator which made the shell membrane too hard for them to get out. Oddly enough, the only eggs that have hatched so far are our brown eggs. None of the green eggs produced a chick.

The kids have been invited to a birthday party Sunday afternoon. I need to get their friend a present and card. Hopefully K will watch the kids while I do this so I can just grab what I need and run. I don't want to have the kids with me and have to put up with their begging for toys and getting into everything.

N started itching at the site of yesterday's shots. I tried Lanacane. It only worked for about ten minutes. I called the health department, and was lucky enought that the person who answered was one of the people at the school giving the shots, and she remembered my son (probably because he tried to run away when he found out he was getting a shot). They had me give him some Benadryl. It seems to have worked, but of course it's left him drowsy.

Right now he's out in the yard with his dad. We didn't get much rain, but it kept the day damp. I don't think it did much for my plants. The sun seems to be trying to come out.

J has just awakened from her nap and she's yelling for me so I need to stop here.

A lot of running around

I woke up around 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. K keeps the incubator in our bedroom because the room remains at a constant temperature, and the kids don't have much access to it. In the night, the eggs began to "Peep!" So far none have hatched, and K is afraid he didn't keep the humidity high enough at the end of the incubation period so the shells may be too hard for the chicks to get out. If so, he will try again to incubate more eggs later. This batch will just die. We have never done this before so we really don't know what we are doing. In any event, he's agreed to move the incubator out of our bedroom tonight so we aren't kept awake by peeping.

I took N to the elementary school he will attend in the fall and got him registered. The county health department was there, providing free immunizations. N had been ill at his physical and didn't get his shots. Since I had the paperwork from our doctor's office with me (just by chance), I was able to take advantage of the free immunization. N was scared, but the county bribed him with a package of fun stuff including crayons and glue. I offered to take him out for ice cream afterwards, which we did.

I think it will rain tomorrow so perhaps my plan to look for tadpoles will have to wait. Hopefully I'll have some chicks by tomorrow and they won't all die.

Long day

Today seemed very long. I had no free time without my kids until now (almost bedtime). I'm exhausted. My kids were extra fussy and clingy today. I think they are either coming down with a cold or they have seasonal allergies. My husband worked later than normal, and he brought extra paperwork home for me to do this evening because he forgot to bring any yesterday.

I found we have at least three frogs living in the water that now fills the hole formed when one of our trees was knocked over by Hurricane Isabel in September 2003. We've been dumping yard waste (weeds, excess day lilies, rocks) in the hole to fill it enough not to be a danger to the kids. When I approach the hole after leaving it alone for a while, I can hear frogs jumping into the water. I've been trying to sneak up on them, and I've seen as many as three before my presence scares them into the water.

N is studying frogs and tadpoles in preschool. I'm tempted to pull some of the weed debris out of the hole to see if we have any tadpoles in the hole. I hate to disturb the frog so much that they leave, though. Perhaps I can rig up something to dip into the standing water in the hole, reaching around all the debris. I bet the water is full of mosquito larvae, unless frogs eat it.

Somewhere in the yard N has an old strainer to play with. That's no good, though. I'm really not interested in catching frogs in the strainer (like Bobby Belden). I'd rather dip something that will hold water so if there are any tadpoles, I don't have them out in the air. If I had a tadpole in a strainer, I'd have to put it immediately in water anyway, and I imagine our tap water would be very bad for a tadpole. Perhaps I can duct tape a clear plastic cup firmly onto a stick. It would be far less invasive to just grab a sample of the water and hope for a tadpole. If we are lucky, we'll get one. We can look at it and then return it and the water to the hole.

This is probably a bad idea, but it could be so fun if it worked out. I'll probably get ticks messing around on the ground. There's also a chance I'll get chicken poop on my clothes. Oh, and my yard is full of spiders. I hate spiders. Maybe I'll think about looking for tadpoles Friday when N doesn't go to preschool if the weather is good. I could just load up with bugspray and hope for the best.

All is well

N is at preschool. He has "Lunch Bunch" today so he will be there an extra 1 1/2 hours. J and I might go out to lunch by ourselves. Last week when N was at Lunch Bunch, we went to Applebees with a friend with whom I used to work. This week we have no specific plans.

After dropping N off at preschool, we went to the nursery and admired the tropical houseplants. Then we went outside to see if they had any green peppers in stock, which they didn't this past weekend. No, they still didn't. That didn't stop me from getting four perennials. I got two painted daisies and two baby's breath. I'm afraid I have an addiction to plants. I'd much rather go to the nursery than to the mall.

Dinner will be easy today. We'll have leftover honey mustard chicken from last night. I even have some leftover dinner rolls. I have some beets with which I need to do something. I just don't know what yet. Yesterday we decided to have corn-on-the-cob with the chicken because it doesn't improve with storage in the refrigerator.

J is wearing her "ballerina suit," a pink, skirted leotard. She's wearing underwear and not a diaper or pull up. Hopefully she won't poop. The chances are good that she'll pee. Hopefully she'll use the toilet, but one never knows. I need to keep an eye on her to make sure she stays off the carpet in my room or my new (last fall) love seat. She has quite a reputation for piddling on the Pergo. Once she did it right in front of her dad, and boy was he mad.

I think I might vaccuum this morning. We got N to pick up his Thomas-the-Tank-Engine track stuff last night so I can actually see the dirty floor. I should run the vaccuum while the floor is still accessible.

I can tell I need to dump the diaper pail. Before getting into her "ballerina suit," J soiled a diaper. Now most of my house stinks. It seems to me that a three-year-old should be using the toilet. The doctor assures me she'll be trained by four.

Just another Monday

Today has been a typical Monday. N went to preschool. J and I went to the grocery store. Then we came home and played until it was time to pick N back up.

Now the kids have spent the afternoon fighting with each other.

We've had some rain, but it hasn't ended the pollen problem. My car is still covered in yellow dust. I guess the trees aren't done producing it. I've been trying stinging nettle capsules to defeat the allergies, but it's hard to tell if they are making any difference.

Our neighbor hasn't worked on her house in months. She'll be lucky to move in by the time school starts this September. I think she bought the house a year ago next month and hasn't fixed it up enough to live in, She did get a new roof and siding so it looks good from the outside, though. It still lacks walls, plumbing, insulation, heating/cooling, and electricity though.

Even though it's only 64 °F outside, J is running around the house in a bathing suit pretending her bedroom is the beach. Our house is only slightly warmer than outdoors, so it's not warm enough for me to run around in a swimsuit.

I got some golden beets at the supermarket Saturday. Now I need to search the Internet to figure out what to do with them.

Trying to post again

Okay.

My test post appeared this time. Yesterday's post was about taking my kids fishing. It was the first time my daughter had ever gone fishing. She's three. Now she even has her own pole.

I think the post before that was about some of the gardening I've been doing.

We've been to church and the doughnut shop already. I've had a coffee and a doughnut. It's K's turn to use the washer and dryer today, but I've got tons of laundry to fold.

Last night I was trying to watch the Little House on the prairie movie while I was washing clothes. On a commercial, I dumped a load of dirty stuff on the floor in front of the washer (something I never do, but I wanted it out of the kids' room before they went to bed). I moved the stuff in the dryer into a laundry basket. Then I moved some of the wet stuff into the dryer. Before I got it all moved over, the commercial ended. I rushed back to see TV. While I was watching TV, my daughter thought she'd help me. She moved all the dirty clothes into the dryer on top of the clean, wet stuff. I discovered this when I went back to finish moving the wet stuff into the dryer and wash the dirty clothes.

I just let the whole mess sit while I finished the TV program, then I tried to sort out the clean, wet stuff from the dryish dirty stuff. I had to do laundry about 45 minutes later into the evening than I had planned.

Now everything is clean and dry and sitting in a heap in the laundry basket on top of the washer. There is a lot of extra laundry because Friday a friend gave me some old clothes from her daughter for my daughter.

Besides folding clothes, I need to work out what we'll be eating this week and make my list for Krogers. We'll all go to Krogers this afternoon.

Meanwhile, after church I was outside planting a few elephant ear bulbs.

testing

My last two posts have vanished. I don't see them even when I refresh the screen. Also, they never said "100 % published" when I pushed publish. I'm afraid they may be gone. I'm not posting anything other than tests if I don't know my material is being published.

Gone fishing!

We all walked down the road (about 1/8 mile) to the creek this morning and went fishing. It was J's first fishing trip! She's three. Fortunately, the fish were biting like crazy. All were too small to keep, but it was fun. We got mostly sunfish and bluegills, but a few bass, rock bass, and what K thinks were creek chub. Finally we ran out of worms.

I love to fish. I haven't been able to since the kids were born because I've had to stay with J, and she was too little to fish. K's been taking N down to the creek to fish for a couple years. Now he can walk along the road by himself, but until this year, K had to carry him. I couldn't manage him and fishing gear, so I was always the one to stay home with J. In a way, that's too bad since I enjoy fishing, and K doesn't really like to.

We'll probably fish a lot more as spring continues. We already have the equipment and the licenses, so all we have to do is dig up bait. As long as we fish at the creek, we don't even need to pay for gas, so it's a cheap hobby.

Of course, now I'll be looking for more exciting places to fish (where perhaps the fish are bigger) now that J has demonstrated the ability to hold the pole. She's so worn out from the excitement that she's fallen asleep on a pile of blankets on the floor. She was so excited she was dancing around when she caught a fish.

And the fighting begins

In honor of the "summer" weather that's arrived, I got the kids each a bubble gun and a pair of gardening gloves at Target this morning. I also got myself a hula hoop to replace the one they destroyed last fall.

Well, the kids are bored with the bubbles and gloves and are fighting over my hula hoop--the only item of which I purchased but one. I'm having to set a timer to give them each five minutes with it. It's helping, but perhaps two (or three) hula hoops would be better.

I got a hula hoop a few years ago because my sister-in-law had one when I visited, and she told me to give it a try. I could barely get it to go around. I was astounded. When I was a kid, it seemed I could keep that hoop going forever. She said the same thing had happened to her after she picked one up after years without using one.

Well, I went out and got one and practiced a little. I didn't get anywhere near as good as when I was a kid, but it wasn't so embarassing. The kids broke mine last fall. I guess this lapse in practice wasn't enough to ruin my ability. I got over 200 revolutions with the new hoop when I first used it this morning before my daughter bumped me and it was over.

In the garden

Last weekend I started to spend significant time again in the garden. It finally seems to have warmed up, and two nights ago we went down to freezing, and I expect that to be the last frost of the season.

My husband planted my two zucchini and three confection squash seedlings under floating row covers in hopes of defeating the squash boring beetle. I put in some golden beets and Swiss chard a couple days ago, and I spent a lot of yesterday removing weeds from the area I'll be putting in the main part of my garden (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant). I still have half of it left to weed.

Our azaleas are just starting to bloom, and the dogwoods have already begun to bloom. My apple trees, cherry trees, and blueberry bushes are blooming, as are the strawberry plants.

I had enough fresh herbs to make a marinade for steak on Sunday. From my yard it had green onion, parsley, and thyme. I also used garlic and olive oil from the store.

N is sick again

N is sleeping. He came home lethargic from preschool. I checked his temperature. He has a fever. I gave him some Tylenol, and he put himself to bed. Tomorrow he has a physical. Hopefully the doctor will know why he's been so achey lately.

If N has to get any shots or has any blood drawn, I'll have to take him out for ice cream. Last week, J needed some blood drawn. I took her out for ice cream afterwards, and N had quite the temper tantrum when he heard she had gone out for ice cream without him. I told him he could go out for it the next time he was stuck with a needle for a shot or blood-drawing.

One of the ladies at playgroup just told us she is 12 weeks pregant. I know she's been trying for a while. There is another lady who has been trying for even longer, and I don't think she's meeting with any success. In December, one of them moms just had a "surpise" baby. She already had four kids and thought she was done. Another pregnancy hadn't been on her agenda. It's too bad the people who want babies aren't the ones having them every time. (The lady with the "surprise" adores her new baby and is very happy to have it.)

We're supposed to go over and play with some kids tomorrow after N's physical. I called the mom and let her know N is ill. She said that if N is feeling better to come over anyway. We'll go there after ice cream if all goes well.

I got a bargain on chicken hind quarters a couple days ago (five pieces for $2). I need to go turn some of them into chicken and dumplings. We ate half of them for dinner last night.

The Weekend

It's the weekend. Specifically, it's Sunday morning. We are skipping church today because K isn't well enough to go. He's been ill since Tuesday.

I just pulled a cheese strata out of the oven. It's sort of like cheese custard soaked in bread. Hopefully I'll like it because all the work is done the night before. One only bakes it in the morning. It might be too much like soggy bread for me to tolerate it, though.

N & J are watching Bob the Builder on TV. It's on regular TV on Sunday mornings. We are one of the five or six families in the US who don't have cable or satellite TV.

Yesterday we went to the nursery. I got nearly $50 of herbs. I got them planted around the yard. Hopefully we are done having frosts because they can't all handle frosts.

Last workday of spring break

It's the last workday of spring break. I was going to take the kids to the shoe store, but I changed my mind because a) J seemed to tired, and b) Everyone will be their with his kids getting new shoes since school is still closed today.

We went next door to the vacant house this afternoon and took the toy metal detector. We found a couple dozen nails. The owner is happy to have us get the nails out of there, and N and J love to go "treasure hunting."

K was home a bit during the day yesterday so I took stuff to the post office while he watched the kids. The stuff included the last of Karen's birthday present. She should get everything by her birthday.

N is sifting Brenna's cat box. He's going to be getting an allowance for taking care of that unpleasant task for me. He'd been asking to do it anyway, and I thought it would only be fair to pay him.

We're having frozen pizza for dinner. I'm not especially fond of it, but it's easy and J loves it. Yesterday we had bacon and pancakes for dinner. I'm not especially fond of that, either, but both N and J love it.

Two days ago I talked to the owner of the vacant house next to mine, and I asked her when she thought she'd be moving in. Now she's thinking late July or early August. It's taking her a long, long time to get the house fixed enough to live in it.

I think I'll try to reach my friend Debbie on the phone. I think her parents will be moving out of their house this weekend.