Must stay flexible....

We were supposed to have our new screen door today. Apparently it won't be in until Wednesday.... Thursday at the latest. Okay, I'm a tree, I can bend. I'm glad I'm not a chicken, when they get upset they pick at each others feathers, ouch.

We had our first BIG FIRE last week, the ones up until then, caused by the lightening... not considered BIG. Luckily we had firefighters still here from the "not big fires" and they handled the BIG FIRE quite well. My son and I were out pulling weeds as a Cal fire truck roared by. We looked up and he asked, "I wonder where they are ..." when we saw where they were ... Just over the top of our neighbors house was an enormous plume of gray and brown smoke. Then the local volunteers with their Structure Fire Engine flew by. We knew it was a house. About 6 more Cal fire engines, but we heard the distant sirens and we knew it was bad, very bad. My daughter called her friend, who's house was even closer, and left a message that she and her family and pets had a place to come if they needed. Then we got called by friends offering us the same kindness. That was when I became worried. I called my husband and said he should come home if he could.

All worked out fine. The wind changed, the humidity climbed, the water bombers dropped their precious loads and more firefighters came. They came from as far away as San Diego. We attached a sign to our mailbox that said simply " THANK YOU ! " Thank you to the firefighters, the local contractors who rushed in with their water tankers, thank you to our neighbors, to Mother Nature and mostly Thank You, God. We are safe, we are well and only the first house was lost. A firefighter was badly injured when he was hit by a fleeing resident, but is expected to recover.

So my chickens are picking, no screen door, but, I have my family, my friends, my house and my pets (including a dog who has ear mites again). What should you do in such a situation? That's right, see a movie. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". See it, not just for the wonderful actors or the colorful location, but because it is a good story told well.

And stay flexible, peace and love to you all...

THE CHICKS ARE HEEEEERE !!!

Well, I admit it, I'm into chicks now...I mean baby chickens, gosh what evil minds you all have. I got the call from the post office and hurried down like an expectant grandmother. The postal clerk said, "Oh yes they are here, but they escaped. Let me just round them up for you" Ha,ha everyone is a comedian. They were all chirping their heads off. I gave them the supplement recommended by the hatchery and they all started running around their enclosure like,...chickens without heads. My kids came out to see and pet them and both wanted the same one. Oh well, what is a family without a little disharmony? The best part is that my son is inspired to finish the coop and really wants to tackle the greenhouse conversion to hen house. And my daughter is in love...with about half of them. Sorry, hon your looking at some future dinner there. Peace and love to you all....

Chicken Coop 101...

I had the boys working on my new layers chicken coop. It isn't too fancy nor is it hi tech. I'm not looking for bells and whistles just fresh eggs. My son asked for a drawing and my husband asked for some specific needs for the chickens to be explained. Simple right? My son measured and cut and he and a friend assembled. I pointed out the advantage of measuring again, but to no avail. Luckily my husband provided engineered assembly hardware. While the errors are mathematical they are small enough to go unnoticed to the average eye...not my husband's eye, but the average eye.

"It's not plumb, it's not square...it's not right" he said with a disappointed glare.

" It is, however, a chicken coop, "I said," and therefore, perfect".

He trimmed off high edges and overlapping corners with his Skill saw,

"Don't you ever do this with a saw!" He said to the boys as he pulled back the safety guards and held the saw upright for a vertical maneuver never intended for this machine.

" He's a trained professional, "I murmured.

"Don't try this at home." The boys joined me in muttering.

The chicks should be here this week and we are all quite excited. The dog is pacing and keeping the cats away from the door 'just in case'. They will be too small for the coop to begin with, but they will grow quickly. In a way, it feels like coming home. Peace and love to you all.....

P.S. If you want to watch chickens in a backyard hen house go to:

http:// hencam.com/

WHY, OH WHY DO THINGS CHANGE ?......

I logged in to my blog to publish a post and was notified that the blog format was changing....AGAIN !

"Change is not fine, they say it is, but IT IS NOT" Sheldon Cooper

I am an old....I mean, older person and I don't deal well with change. I can't stand that the dish schedule keeps changing, so I have discontinued my dish. I refuse cell phone upgrades and I don't want a new car with sat/nav. And not just changes, but rapid changes, we just updated the blog and I had to learn everything again. And why are they calling it an update. To me, an update means an improvement of existing options. Perhaps more font colors or sizes, not a complete restructuring of the whole process....pant, pant,... I can't spend my whole life relearning what I just lernt... I mean learned. No wonder nothing ever gets done, you can't do it that way any more.

On the bright side, my garden needs refreshing (not rip-out and start over) cleaning up and improving fence posts and gate, etc. I'd like to add a few raised boxes and put weed block and gravel between the existing boxes. You know, make it more user friendly, easing the transition between current and future usage. To create a higher output without....oh fudge, I'm becoming one of them. Must keep focus...I'm going to go play in the dirt for a while.

Peace and love to you all...

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave...

So it is hot outside....it is July, what did you expect. The year I moved into my house, it was 110 f on the second week of July...and the AC failed. That's why I remember it so well. I go back and look at the weather journal I kept and wonder why today is complained about at 99 f ? Grab a sweater, this ain't hot. When did everyone become such a bunch of pansies? Before central heat and air people adapted or endured. My mother was pregnant with me in August (she says it was her 12th or 13th month) in New Jersey, in an attic apartment, with no air-conditioning. Upper 90's with ninety percent humidity, that was one tough momma. Now, it starts to rain and people grab life jackets, it gets a little warm and they are screaming "global warming". What a bunch of Drama Queens, no one knows how to cope any more. How has the human race survived ? We have had refrigeration in our homes for how long? Honestly people, get a grip. Where I live we had ice and frost until the last week of April and people were moaning about how spring would never come.

How on earth do the people of the tundra or the deserts survive? Well, they don't just stand around wringing their hands, that's for sure. Go do something, even if it is just sitting on your porch with an iced tea waving at the neighbors. You remember neighbors, right ? Those people you used to talk to before face book, yup them's the ones. I'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other until I can't pick-em up any more. Then I'm gettin' me some wheels and I'm targeting some toes,"Oops, didn't see you there. That looks painful". People need to toughen up a little. Now that it is cooler outside, I need to take my precious pup for a walk. What a wimp, "IT'S ONLY 99 DEGREES, DON'T MAKE ME DRAG YOU !!!" Peace and love to you all...

That's good....

My Mom is in the hospital...that's bad...but I went to visit her...oh, that's good...but I was stuck in traffic for 4 hours...that's bad...but I got to see her...oh, that's good...and my husband FILLED my car with errands to run for him while I was there...WTF??!! Any way my mom is getting better and all is right in my world.

We are going to raise chickens this summer for MEAT. yummy. My son wants to name the biggest one "Fat Bastard", but I warned him you really can't name something you are going to eat. Oh, no, I guess you all know what you're getting for Christmas....

The other thing is my kids and I have taken healthy measures in our lives. We no longer drink soda...well, for the summer. We are just concerned with all of the sugar in everything. I could not care less about what kind of sugar it is we are using. High fructose, sucrose, lactose what ever "tose" you use it is sugar in your body. Period. So we are cutting back and ...good news... we have all lost weight.

So, we grow our own veggies and we will have our own chicken meat, and eggs. We are thinking about rabbit meat as well and my daughter and I are researching goat cheese ....de,da,de,de ....no you will not be seeing us on the side of the drive way with banjos. I just like the idea of my kids knowing where their food comes from. Peace and love to you all....