There, with the grace of God, went I: Part II of III

November 21, 2010November 22, 20109 Comments

My-Oh-My! Before I begin part two in earnest I must share a vignette and a couple of photos with you!

On my first morning I awoke and looked up to see a lady bug nonchalantly walking on the ceiling. Suddenly (s)he found another lady bug hunkered down in one of the spaces between the tiles and the chase was on! The one chasing the other for a full 30 seconds which must have seemed a very long time to be pursued, for a lady bug at any rate! The race came to an abrupt end when the bug being chased suddenly fell from the sky and landed somewhere within the folds of my covers. Well at least her fall was padded!

I am one of those people who are prone to belly laughing. I mean, after all, if it is worthy of laughter then go for the gusto I say! Well, I began to laugh out loud at the ladybug race and then remembered where I was and the early state of the morning… So I got up, donned my robe and slippers and quietly walked to the kitchen door to have a look at the day… when…

WHAPPA!!!

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This kitty just flat-footed it to face height and attached herself to the screen door!

Needless to say, I was a bit startled!

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Later in the day before Jayme, Peggy and I went shopping I took a little stroll down to the back forty of the property. From there I found some delicious photos to take…

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Milkweed pods in the sunlight.

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The backside of the one hundred forty year old home where Jayme and Glenco reside.

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Now Jayme may go apoplectic when she sees I have posted this photo because the gardens have gone to seed. But think of this! All those seeds are feeding birds who stay for the winter and those just passing through on their way to see me in my gardens! You know as well as I do that those smart birds have all the best winter seed stores marked out.

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Old friends sharing conversation.

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I imagine them either discussing the house’s eyebrows over the windows, or wondering what could be keeping me so long down here in the back forty. Telephoto lenses get you great closeups, but do not teleport the conversations to go with… guess we’ll have to wonder.

Now where was I? Oh yes, part two. Wherein two friends partake of a little…

“:<> !CHICKEN MADNESS! <>:”

Now if you have read Jayme’s blog entry you will have seen the videos that let you in on just how NOISY it all was! But if not, then you just have to go take a look, and a listen –> HERE <–

Crazy but fun, yes? No? Well, we had a ball!

We met the Chicken Whisperer himself.

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Jayme and CW

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Saw so many chickens it was a blur,

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Oh wait, that was my camera malfunctioning. But here are a few that did turn out…

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Ever wondered what would happen if you crossed a Chicken with a Chip Monk?

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and geese and turkeys,

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And hey, isn’t he a beaut? And I hate turkeys, but could make an exception for him!

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and big-mouthed… er, billed ducks too!

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Darling, Just DARLING!

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So, Jayme fell in love with the Modern Bantams, and I fell in love with the little old style Bantams, and all that chickeness was just a bit overwhelming. And wouldn’t you know that Jayme convinced one of the vendors to let her hold an itty-bitty-bantam girl and suddenly I had to have her…

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It was love at first sight...

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I heard this voice that sounded like me, but from a dream saying, “Jayme, I want her will you help me pick out a little Roo to go with her?” And bless her she just jumped at the chance, and the money exchanged hands, and I had two little bitty Bantams who would now need a box to ride home in!

Snapping into reality now, I realized that I needed a roomy cage that I could afford and ta-da! There were two gentlemen, who being entrepreneurs with foresight, were building bantam cages right there on the spot, and they built one just for me! Imagine that!

And so it was that I came back to Coop Keeper’s home with the “Duke” and “The Little Woman.”

It was an arranged marriage and they got to spend their honeymoon in Jayme and Glenco’s bedroom. They are so thoughtful don’t you agree?

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Around the Farm

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The following are impressions from Jayme and Glen’s Home. They are in no specific order, but I wanted to share with you the loveliness I found there even as the gardens prepared themselves for winter.

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Welcome

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The Friendly Kitty

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She gives tours daily!

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Old Eggs

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Jayme’s broody little hen was not going to give up! So, Jayme removed her to bring her in to keep company with her other little hen while in hospital quarters.

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The Chicken Gang

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A One hundred year old (+ or –) Chicken Coop

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A tired scarecrow

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She sleeps for now but will be refurbished in spring to watch over all the loveliness that lies dormant till then.

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And finally…

A *Squirrel in hibernation

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End Part II

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*Squirrel, for those who do not know, is what Jayme calls the little trailer above.

It’s the little things in life

October 19, 2010November 27, 201014 Comments

Today I had a friend over, a new friend actually! She is one of my egg customers. Usually, I bring her eggs to her where she works, but this week she asked if she couldn’t come get them from me here and “…save me the trouble.”

My first reaction was to say no. This is principally because I’m just not a good housekeeper. Now my friend Jayme is an absolutely immaculate housekeeper. She stresses about it and admits it freely! Me? Not so much. It is not for lack of wanting a clean house, but it just seems that no matter how I try I just never get it all done. That is of course unless company is coming! Then I race about cleaning everything till it sparkles and make sure all is tidy and put away. My guests arrive and always say how lovely everything is and I smile, and I’m stressed, wondering what horrid thing I may have forgotten to take care of… I think I would actually die of mortification should someone find out what a slob I can really be. Generally speaking I do not have a good time when friends come over because I stress too much.

Well, that was then, and this is now. Now I live in the sticks, more or less, and I have this constant dust that seems to creep into every nook and cranny no matter how hard I try to keep it out. My poor couch after traveling nearly three thousand miles cross-country has a rather large smudge on one arm that would not come out, not completely anyway. Adding insult to injury it has been rather over loved by my then kitten Clause, who bared the corners by using it as a scratching post when no one was looking… I cannot afford a new couch at the moment, so I am currently looking for something to cover it with, to make do, until it can be replaced.

And so it was that today I dusted and vacuumed the living room, made sure the guest bath (which is vintage early 60’s in decor and looks it) was clean and sanitized for visitors. The rust stains in the sink remain, the two tiles I replaced with the mysterious, ever dirty looking caulking were cleaned and will return over the next few days to their ugly and dirty looking patina, but hey, I made the effort!

And then Marie arrived bearing unexpected gifts!

She brought lovely flowers and a pumpkin spice loaf, and I was surprised that she would go to the trouble to do this, for me. We talked quite awhile over coffee about everything, and then we went out so she could meet the menagerie of the Farmlet. I introduced her to my geese, pointed out my hennies in the field and then showed her the inner world of my beehive (via the safety of the window on the side, because she’s afraid of bees!) and then we went to see the little broody hen and looked into her nest …

And there was a broken egg, and just for a moment I was upset, but then I realized we’d arrived at a birth! The egg was hatching! That was a special gift for me and her. I can’t tell you who was the more excited to see such a thing. Peeking through the little hole we could see the baby chick moving and struggling to free itself, to be out and into the world at large.

Later, after Marie left, I went out with my camera to take pictures and found my new baby had made its arrival. It was still wet under Momma Hen!

Isn’t it darling?

So, over the next few days I’ll watch and wait to see how many more will hatch!

Now just a moment ago I read a comment from Cindy, a long distance friend who commented on my blog today. She shared:

“I think you live in a dreamworld. Thank you for sharing it.”

And I tell you all that I share the little things in my life with you because I must. Somehow, I feel that not sharing would make my life a parallel to this age old philosophical question:

“If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Thus similarly…

If all the wonder and beauty that surrounds me is kept to myself and never shared… does it exist?

It’s the little things in the life I lead, the lessons learned, these daily gifts from God that are affirmations of his love for me, and I must share. And along the way I learn to accept me, to make peace with dust and holey couch corners, and through the process of acceptance of my foibles…

I make new friends.

A Bit of Chicken Humor: or the truth about eggs

October 16, 2010October 17, 20105 Comments

Chickens the world over have one thing in common. They all lay eggs. The process of ‘puberty,’ if you will, begins at about age 4 to 6 months on average. The event is always spectacular to hear. She lays her egg in the nest and then begins a litany of clucking that could raise the dead and will begin the other hens to clucking as well. Every day and every time.

All of them.

Nineteen of them.

Now you might begin to suspect this would be annoying to hear every day, but it isn’t. Well, not to me anyway. I hear the cackling begin and think it is all for fun to them. Seriously. Why just the other day I heard them all laughing at a something Tippy The Buff Polish was clucking…

Gaaaak! KAK, Kak, kak…! and Cuck, cuk, cuc, and cackle-cackle currrrrr, etc.

Translation?

Tippy the BP:

“Ahhh, ha-ha-ha! Girls listen to this!

Today I snapped up five brown beetles,two juicy green worms, and a couple of spiders hiding out back. Mmmmm… and for dessert I had this giant Palmetto bug! (whispered) Then I found this…

Oh! Hey girls… Shhh! SHHHHHH! Here comes the Lady of the Farmlet with her basket to steal my hard work!”

All the Girls:

*“Caaaaak, Cac-Cac-cac-cack!”

Well, I actually could be grossed out by all, but the truth of it is this:

If my chickens were not left out to pasture each day my eggs would be bland and boring! This is because it is the grasses, weeds, seeds, and well, bugs that make the lovely orange color in the yolks. You just won’t find it in store-bought eggs. My girls are also wonderful, organic pest control and garden fertilizers as well.

Now eggs come in many sizes and colors.

( http://www.dreamthymefarm.com/farmproducts.html )

The first eggs are usually small, an inch in diameter or so measured through the middle, and as time goes by the hen matures and they get much larger.

However, sometimes the younger hen will produce this…

It is called a “Double Yolker” and it is produced by an immature hen. When two yolks come into the egg chamber they are encapsulated into the shell as one.

Poor little hens!

Rest assured, this is not a lifelong condition! Thankfully, it is intermittent lasting only about a month at the beginning of laying.

So, while I may appreciate all my Girls do for me and love to eat their eggs, I am nevertheless glad I am not a chicken!

“:< >

*The sound a chicken makes when it’s laughing at you.

This Misty Morning

October 13, 2010October 16, 20107 Comments

I wake up to see Bob off to work with a sleepy hug, and then with a kiss he’s off. Looking out the window I watch him drive into the darkness…

Lingering I gaze through the glass as morning comes. Slow and sleepy it creeps only to be met with mist and fog. Turning from the window I throw on a jacket to break the chill and go out to do morning chores. As I open chicken hutches, throw scratch, and greet the geese, the haze begins to burn off and reveal my surroundings.

What awaits me is a dreamy visage of this pastoral life.

Out behind us we have new neighbors who’ve been moved in just this week.