chickens – Page 2 – This Old House 2

Daily Grind

Through my life’s journey my daily grind has varied greatly – the early years consisted of giving pony and cart rides at the zoo, waitressing at a jewish synagogue catering hall , scrapping soap at a factory and loading customers trucks with feed sacks, shavings bags and bales of hay while attending college locally. Then I sat at a desk managing real estate papers in a law firm, and for a while I had a windowless office in the export division of a large company that shall not be named. The windowless thing was torturous for this outdoors loving girl. When my kids were older I had an artisan shop with a partner for a few years and that was a big learning experience as well as a lot of fun and creativity. All those jobs had some good qualities and I learned valuable skills, worked with good people. Nothing was more fulfilling than my stay-at-home-mom years, though, and with this empty nest we now live in, I’ve pondered going back to work in some capacity full time. With a hearing impairment, my options are limited.

Truth be told, I’m finding this mostly home part time editorial position nudged in among my farm/home/garden chores suits me just fine. I’m not longing to go back to a daily grind that is not my manure hauling gator ride to the back field after mucking stalls. I’m liking my morning commute , sometimes in my Pajama pants, from the porch to the chicken coop to the barn to the garden and back in to clean up and get on with the rest of the day. For a while I toyed with the notion that I might be missing out big time by not pursuing -the next big thing-. I felt guilty that I had the option to not pursue it. I believe I’ve decided.. the next big thing is the very thing I’m in the middle of, enjoying at this very moment… and there’s not a darn thing wrong with that. You know that song by The Eagles, Don Henley – Learn to be Still -? I’ve always felt a connection to it, like it was explaining something I needed to figure out.

And you know? I think I’ve finally figured it out – where I belong is where I am right now, doing what I’m doing, with the people I love most. What a glorious feeling, to be grounded and satisfied in the here and now. I hope you are in that same place wherever your life path has taken you, or are on your way there.

My GOT Flock (Arya, Sansa, Summer, Snow, Daeynerys, Cersei, Melisandra) have all been set free into the older flock and all is well. Amazing how fast they grow, isn’t it? You can tell the new from the old, as the GOT girls are slightly smaller. The coop yard has gotten a new layer of fresh clean sand, too.

We’ve begun haying the fields – allergies be damned! And Damn – they’re awful. Is it me or is this a bad year for allergy sufferers?

After coop and barn chores were done this morning I ran errands around town and then drove down to Stella to mow her lawn. That’s where the pollen caught up to me and I’ve felt like a slug ever since.

Every rose has it’s thorn, right? Small price to pay for a daily grind I love.

Completely different subject to leave you with – have you given a listen to Pete Buttigieg yet? I am really encouraged by what he has to say. Gives me hope for this country.

Till soon –

Scategories

So much to cover here! But first, an observation. I love having my own blog, meaning I truly own it, and it can’t disappear someday when Google decides to get rid of blogger. The downside is, it appears many friends who used to stop in regularly either haven’t found the space or are no longer interested in reading it. While it’s never been my goal to accumulate a large number of readers, more a journal for me to keep, I have truly enjoyed getting to know the folks who stop in here. It sort of feels like some good neighbors have moved away and didn’t keep in touch.

So, we’ve been busy around here! And… I haven’t paid much attention to the goings on in Washington, it’s been blissful! Although oddly, it also feels irresponsible, which of course it isn’t.

My daughter K and I were at a horse show for a few days, and she and Miss Leah had a great show! She grabbed her first Blue Ribbon in Western Pleasure with Leah and two 2nd’s. At the risk of embarassing her here, I’m so proud of K for her courage and determination. She shows me every day what it means to tackle and overcome some of the hard things life can throw at you, and these pictures are the proof.

I think they should bring back the Tired Grooms class, just sayin. That morning I was truly running on Dunkin.

The farm this show was held on is beautiful – looks like it goes on for miles.

We spent Sunday and Monday at the cottage, had a cookout with family and the weather was glorious! I got my first paddle in around the cove, even brought my co-pilot.

This little “island” community of approximately 140 cottages sits on a 360-ish acre shorefront farm owned by the same family since the 1600’s. They still farm a portion of that property, and often we are greeted by the cows as we drive down the narrow lane to the waterfront. These cows also have lush fields not visible in the picture, but they often wander down into the marsh to cool off.

Lilacs here on the farm and on island are just about done, Iris are in full bloom and the poppies are gorgeous – I need to plant more of those, they are so cheery, uplifting , a real splash of bold color. My vegetable gardens are planted, too – a tiny one at Stella and two raised beds of a good size in the backyard. My seedlings looked anemic this year, I’m hoping now that they’re in the ground they’ll flourish. The Phlox are gorgeous!

My Spring Chicks are almost as big as the grown girls – notice the mesh that separates them from the adults – soon they’ll be big enough to incorporate into the flock and I can take down this make-shift nursery, which they are indeed outgrowing rapidly.

I mentioned my blog neighbors above, well the best news of all is we’re getting new neighbors right next door. When we bought this old house and farm and resurrected her, we also had the idea in our heads that if the children chose to live in this area once they graduated and started their adult lives, they could have a lot on the farm and build a house for themselves if it worked for them. I’m very very happy to report that both have decided to do just that, and have been saving their hard earned money while living in apartments with their significant others (who we also love.) Yesterday we poured the footings for K’s house foundation – So… once again here on this blog you can follow along on a house build. She’s chosen a charming cape style house that will blend with the old homes in this neighborhood as if it’s been here for 200 years, just like our “Grace”. The upstairs will remain unfinished to keep the mortgage down, until they have a need for the two bedrooms and bath that will eventually go upstairs. The master will be on the first floor. Stay tuned!

Last night we took Mom out for a Birthday celebration Lobster dinner, the food was divine and the laughter around the table priceless. Happy Birthday, Mom – we all love you very much. May we celebrate many more birthdays together, and may the laughter and love continue to flow around the table as easily as it did last night.

Till soon, friends – thank you for stopping by –

When there’s no sun, find some light

New England is still wearing her dingy grey cloak, refusing to take it off in order to properly herald Spring. So what’s a Yankee to do? … head to the garden center to purchase some cheer! Mom joined the Mr. and I on a jaunt across the CT river , where we bought some bright red geraniums which I’ll plant in the big pots down at Stella-by-the-Sea in the coming days.

On the way we stopped for lunch across from the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam…

So many charming centuries old homes in this part of town… tulips and flowering trees everywhere!

On to Balleks, a family owned farm/garden center/greenhouse that’s been in the Ballek family since the 1660’s – how’s that for history. Some of the Ballek family in their 90’s still roam the isles helping customers, it’s a lovely thing to see.

They have SO many unique plants inside the large greenhouse and two big old silos that have some tales to tell, I’m sure.

The “pods” below are large – you could put your reading glasses in there.

Meanwhile.. back on the farm – I’ve moved the chicks to the big coop, creating a temporary nursery out there inside the covered enclosed chicken yard, complete with their heat lamp. They got too big for the chick condo on the porch and it was beginning to look like a pig pen out there with shavings and hay and chick food and chick dander littering every surface from ground to ceiling. Bleh. I did scrub the porch once everything was out – we’ll actually be able to sit out there again once it dries.

The new girls in their temporary coop nursery

Which is basically a sectioned off area in the big covered coop “yard” separated with bird mesh and a tarp, wrapped on the outside with a plastic drop cloth to keep the wind off them.

The big girls on the other side of the tarp.

So much work to integrate five little chicks into the fold! But the reward of fresh eggs and a flock of chickens in the yard is well worth the effort.

More rain for tomorrow – I’ll most likely be at my desk catching up on the editorial stuff that earns me a paycheck. I suppose the upside to all the rain and a steady string of grey days is all the inside work I get done when the sun isn’t calling to me.

I hope all is well in your world – may we all have many sunny days ahead.

Birds of a Feather

Allow me to introduce you to purple finch mama and papa bird, and their three little eggs – all sitting about five feet from me on the lantern right outside my office window as I type this post. If I have the species wrong, feel free to correct me. They come back every year, a sure sign that Spring has arrived, regardless of whether the weather concurs.

Meanwhile.. out on the back porch – the chicks look more like chickens now… and will soon be moved out to a sectioned off part of the coop I’ve arranged for them until they are full grown and can be turned out with the rest of the flock. They are quickly growing out of their two-box condo.

This past weekend we also put our first Horse show of the season in the books – It was a cold and mostly wet windy rainy weekend but K and Miss Leah did very well with their trail patterns which are no easy feat to memorize, let alone complete, and although they didn’t place in their other classes, they completed them without major errors and Leah was so well behaved, I just love this good minded mare. Proud of K for learning a new discipline so quickly and enjoying the process and her horse regardless of the placing. That’s what it’s all about.

One of the four days we saw the sun and with it, smiles everywhere…

Yesterday I brought the dogs down to Stella to plant some Zinnia in the tiny cottage garden and put the trash out for pick-up. Grass cutting didn’t happen, too wet. After chores we went for a long walk exploring the “island”. Although the skies were grey, there was plenty of Spring color…

Frasier is always the first of the season to go for a swim.

Meanwhile – back at Winterfell (if you’re a GOT fan but haven’t seen it yet, turn away)…. Holy cow – Season 8 Episode 3 – Winter finally arrived! And what a murky, epic battle – what we could see of it anyway. All my favorites are still standing (Sigh of relief!) and still so many questions – and more to come. All I want to say about that.. is this…

More grey skies for the coming week – not sure we’ve ever seen so many rainy days strung together in a row. The following picture is of our senior boys, Max 1 and Max 2, out grazing in the pasture this morning. Time to go bring them back in.

I hope all is well in your world – and thank you for stopping in …

Spring Chicken and the beginning of the End

One of these is a Spring Chicken, and one is definitely not.

This is Snow – one of her buddies, Cersei, had to be humanely euthanized due to a severe scissor beak. Which brings me to thoughts on the fate of her namesake.

If you’re not a GOT fan – the following will make little sense.

After the second installment, episode 2 of the final season of Game of Thrones – any GOT fans care to share their predictions? Here’s what I think…

– Dany (Khaleesi, Daeynerys) is showing a real lust for the iron throne, and apparently will do unsavory things to get what she wants (think dragon-torching poor Sam Tarly’s dad and brother over a land dispute) Yep – she’s not as caring or kind as we once thought, now, is she. I think she dies in the end. Although if she were actually pregnant with Jon’s baby that might be a whole new something, so perhaps they’ll keep her alive. Cersei – well she’s been used and abused, but she’s ruthless and cruel, too…perhaps my chick Cersei’s death is an omen for hers? Jon Snow is one of the few who have always put others before himself and he has real heart and true bravery – who better to become the true King, (which he apparently is anyway). Tyrion – He’s the best character in the show if you ask me, and the jabs at his stature have been cruel throughout the series. I hope he lives, Perhaps it’s he who finally slays the Night King, as he is truly the most intelligent of them all. Bran seems awfully calm having just met face to face with Jaime, the man responsible for his life in a wheelchair, – has he forseen the future and the inevitable fate, as in death.. of Jaime? Jaimie teeters between despicable and redeeming, tough call. Perhaps Theon Greyjoy will redeem himself by piercing the Night King’s heart with Dragon glass as he loses his own life in a final act of bravery after so much miserable conspiring, deception and sniveling. I believe the dragon glass to the heart of the Night King will topple all the white walkers in the end, as he is their maker. The scrappy Arya and horribly abused but wisened, steady, now-strong Sansa – it could go either way for them. And the most burning question for me, anyway…… what will become of the Dragons? One already dead and flying with the white walkers, two still bound to Dany.

Whom I’d love to see survive? Oh please let the dragons live – and Jon Snow, Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, Sam Tarly and wife, Jorah be amongst the living. Alas, they’ve already told us many good people will die. I’m gonna need Xanax to watch the conclusion.