She'll take yer head off man!!!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Is you is or is you ain't my baby??
Some much needed R&R for t'wife and I this weekend - CAMPING!! Oh how we both love camping...
We decided to try a new place t'wife had heard about called Sutton Lake (Forest Service) just north of Florence... we found the campground no problem, just in two days (and even went driving around looking) never saw no lake... Oh well, still a nice place I thought...
We knew heading over there that there was a good chance for a bit of rain, but it was terrific weather Friday night... set up camp, ceremonial Busch Light (inside joke), set up camp and enjoying a campfire.... ahhhhh...
One thing we like to do is try and tune in less than mainstream radio stations, typically AM dial, that we don't think to listen to otherwise... found one this weekend that came in pretty well who's theme was "Music of Your Life" and played some really old stuff and from time to time something as modern as (older) Billy Joel... fun stuff hence the lyrics in the blog title...
BUT, we woke up to some pitter-patter on the tent and despite a heavy tree canopy, the ground started to get a bit wet... and even though the radio gal was saying the forecast was something like 20% chance of rain with a few showers, the rain never stopped until right when we started packing up Sunday morning to head home....
Bloodies before 8am are goooooooooood....
Oh well - that's what the popup canopy is for...
Still a great time!
Tried to do stuffed peppers in the dutch oven using charcoal rather than coals from the fire... I was winging it and screwed up bad - instead of them gently roasting for an hour or so in there, they were burnt to pieces and a mushy mess in about 15 minutes... luckily Nic had headed into town for some more beverages and grabbed some good viddles as a replacement... split a steak, some bacon wrapped scallops, and yes the stuffed peppers... not bad, all things considered...
Looking around the campsite, I bet we coulda gotten away with bringing the chickens.... ;)
We decided to try a new place t'wife had heard about called Sutton Lake (Forest Service) just north of Florence... we found the campground no problem, just in two days (and even went driving around looking) never saw no lake... Oh well, still a nice place I thought...
We knew heading over there that there was a good chance for a bit of rain, but it was terrific weather Friday night... set up camp, ceremonial Busch Light (inside joke), set up camp and enjoying a campfire.... ahhhhh...
One thing we like to do is try and tune in less than mainstream radio stations, typically AM dial, that we don't think to listen to otherwise... found one this weekend that came in pretty well who's theme was "Music of Your Life" and played some really old stuff and from time to time something as modern as (older) Billy Joel... fun stuff hence the lyrics in the blog title...
BUT, we woke up to some pitter-patter on the tent and despite a heavy tree canopy, the ground started to get a bit wet... and even though the radio gal was saying the forecast was something like 20% chance of rain with a few showers, the rain never stopped until right when we started packing up Sunday morning to head home....
Bloodies before 8am are goooooooooood....
Oh well - that's what the popup canopy is for...
Still a great time!
Tried to do stuffed peppers in the dutch oven using charcoal rather than coals from the fire... I was winging it and screwed up bad - instead of them gently roasting for an hour or so in there, they were burnt to pieces and a mushy mess in about 15 minutes... luckily Nic had headed into town for some more beverages and grabbed some good viddles as a replacement... split a steak, some bacon wrapped scallops, and yes the stuffed peppers... not bad, all things considered...
Looking around the campsite, I bet we coulda gotten away with bringing the chickens.... ;)
Friday, June 17, 2011
We need a vacation....
Without going into the gory details, last weekend we hosted a multi family high school grad party at our place... I can't even begin to count the hours and effort we put in to making that happen... Really glad it's over...
One highlight was we had 4 beers on tap - adults only!! - (Honey Orange Wheat, Red, Golden) that I made, and a keg swap of Golden w/ Brandt W for one of his Cowboy Alt brews... also Clo's request for pulled pork sandwiches resulted in my smoking/cooking nearly 20 pounds of pork shoulder - yowsa!! Them's a couple big hunks o' meat!! Came right down to the wire getting it done, but WE DID IT!!
Buffy mugging for the camera:
Polka Dot about ready to break wind or something...
Pile o' chickens w/ Mae West posing:
One highlight was we had 4 beers on tap - adults only!! - (Honey Orange Wheat, Red, Golden) that I made, and a keg swap of Golden w/ Brandt W for one of his Cowboy Alt brews... also Clo's request for pulled pork sandwiches resulted in my smoking/cooking nearly 20 pounds of pork shoulder - yowsa!! Them's a couple big hunks o' meat!! Came right down to the wire getting it done, but WE DID IT!!
Buffy mugging for the camera:
Polka Dot about ready to break wind or something...
Pile o' chickens w/ Mae West posing:
Monday, June 6, 2011
Killing Chickens - almost....
Sorry, no pictures this time...
Since Nic and I are learning all this as we go, as time goes by I am seeing the error of my ways.... yes, hindsight is always 20-20...
Need to cool it with the affection and the chickens - almost got one of them killed last Friday night. They are so used to flocking to my feet that as I was on the porch moving toward a box, one (Stella) got under my foot... I managed to shoo her away before I stepped on her, but she jumped right back under just as my foot came down... I landed right on her foot and you've never heard such a blood curdling scream from something that small... of course as I'm panicking trying to get off her (was in a tight space) I damn near stepped on her HEAD in the process...
She kinda hung out by herself the rest of the night and for most of the next day... never saw her limping and as far as I can tell she's fine... but man, that horrible scream haunts me...
Some good chicken TV fun this weekend w/ the girls roaming around... they sure love to hang out underneath a Japanese Maple we have at one end of the planter boxes. I *think* that's a good thing, in hopes that this is where the slug/snail life cycle starts - and hopefully thanks to the chickens - ENDS...
Funny how the girls will walk by something dozens of times, peck at it then continue to ignore it - then all of a sudden can't get enough of it... take my wife's pepper and tomato plants for example... she's not exactly thrilled with the girls sudden interest in gardening... ;) I had to put up some more temp fencing - the peppers are now safe but we still gotta keep an eye on the tomatoes...
Planted a couple purple potato rhizomes that our friend Sandy gave me... no real clue, just turned up some soil, amended it w/ some potting soil, put in the plant, buried it under something of a mound... since I was by then out of potting soil one of them got a shovel full of chicken compost... probably too hot for the plant but we shall see...
Weekend included (yes, more) touch ups to the chicken run... spread out some more of the gravel, stained the backstop for the door, and hung a small bungy cord to use to hold the door closed w/o (hopefully!!) latching the door lock...
Since Nic and I are learning all this as we go, as time goes by I am seeing the error of my ways.... yes, hindsight is always 20-20...
Need to cool it with the affection and the chickens - almost got one of them killed last Friday night. They are so used to flocking to my feet that as I was on the porch moving toward a box, one (Stella) got under my foot... I managed to shoo her away before I stepped on her, but she jumped right back under just as my foot came down... I landed right on her foot and you've never heard such a blood curdling scream from something that small... of course as I'm panicking trying to get off her (was in a tight space) I damn near stepped on her HEAD in the process...
She kinda hung out by herself the rest of the night and for most of the next day... never saw her limping and as far as I can tell she's fine... but man, that horrible scream haunts me...
Some good chicken TV fun this weekend w/ the girls roaming around... they sure love to hang out underneath a Japanese Maple we have at one end of the planter boxes. I *think* that's a good thing, in hopes that this is where the slug/snail life cycle starts - and hopefully thanks to the chickens - ENDS...
Funny how the girls will walk by something dozens of times, peck at it then continue to ignore it - then all of a sudden can't get enough of it... take my wife's pepper and tomato plants for example... she's not exactly thrilled with the girls sudden interest in gardening... ;) I had to put up some more temp fencing - the peppers are now safe but we still gotta keep an eye on the tomatoes...
Planted a couple purple potato rhizomes that our friend Sandy gave me... no real clue, just turned up some soil, amended it w/ some potting soil, put in the plant, buried it under something of a mound... since I was by then out of potting soil one of them got a shovel full of chicken compost... probably too hot for the plant but we shall see...
Weekend included (yes, more) touch ups to the chicken run... spread out some more of the gravel, stained the backstop for the door, and hung a small bungy cord to use to hold the door closed w/o (hopefully!!) latching the door lock...
Friday, June 3, 2011
Free Range Follies!!
Now that the girls are free ranging, this is where the fun really begins...
I gotta admit that I'm getting a bit cocky with the free range thing... last Saturday morning I just said the heck with it and opened the door, without having the temp fencing actually fully blocking off the back yard... it took them a couple hours to wander over to that side and by then I had my mickey mouse fencing in place... No problems so far (crossing fingers)...
One of my fears in all this was that the chickens would scatter whenever I approached them... at this point - I almost wish they would!! ;)
I've been spoiling them w/ treats (grain and whole wheat bread, etc.)... At first I scattered it near them on the ground, then tossed it in places I wanted them to go... I used it to lure them back into the coop, or to come near me when I wanted to get a closer look at them and/or take some pictures...
Then I got bolder and tried hand feeding them and it took a day or two for them to get the hang of things... then it was hand feeding them on my foot, then getting them walking on my leg, then into my lap...
Now I can't go outside without being swarmed and if I sit down I instantly have three chickens in my lap... the other night Stella (Chicken Butt) roosted on my arm for 45 minutes while I was reading a book...
Any time I walk around I gots 6 damn chickens under foot...
A couple nights ago Nic left the back door open and one of them (Buffy) followed me into the house... of course she then immediately crapped on the kitchen floor which was a big hit... ;)
And sometimes, the girls just want to be fickle and can't decide WHAT they want to do... what's it gonna be girls - in or out??
Personality traits... the lap-dancers are Buffy, Mae West and Stella... from time to time Elvira gets in on the act...
Also noticed that Buffy is the most playful, in the sense of being the most aggressive about making contact with me... Polka Dot (formerly Pocahontas) is often times a loner and wanders around by herself, though when in the group everyone seems to be getting along fine...
Feed Observations: Last weekend the girls spent most of the daylight hours out and about so assuming they were munching on goodies in the yard, I'm not surprised to see that they aren't hitting their feed mash so much... but during the week we've only let them roam a couple hours each night, and once didn't let them out at all... when I check their big feeder it almost seems like they aren't even touching it, yet they all seem healthy, energetic, alert... Maybe since that big feeder is new I'm just not used to how much bigger it is than the original chick feeder (which they consumed a full load twice a day)... I'll be keeping a close eye on that...
Construction changes: reworked the 'emergency door release' thingy - turns out w/ the door latch fitting so tightly that it was nearly impossible to actually open the door with it... turns out the leverage angle was all wrong and the cable was digging into the top of the post it was mounted on... I snagged one of Nic's cold frame clamps and screwed it onto the top of the post and routed the cable over it - works like a champ now...
Also the original ramp failed in two ways: the Elmers glue idea for the steps was just a bad idea, and one of the "hinges" we put on there broke... found a rather stout piece of wood and this time screwed in some molding strips and the thing seems to be holding up rather well...
Checking the coop/run a couple times a week for signs of predators - so far nothing...
I gotta admit that I'm getting a bit cocky with the free range thing... last Saturday morning I just said the heck with it and opened the door, without having the temp fencing actually fully blocking off the back yard... it took them a couple hours to wander over to that side and by then I had my mickey mouse fencing in place... No problems so far (crossing fingers)...
One of my fears in all this was that the chickens would scatter whenever I approached them... at this point - I almost wish they would!! ;)
I've been spoiling them w/ treats (grain and whole wheat bread, etc.)... At first I scattered it near them on the ground, then tossed it in places I wanted them to go... I used it to lure them back into the coop, or to come near me when I wanted to get a closer look at them and/or take some pictures...
Then I got bolder and tried hand feeding them and it took a day or two for them to get the hang of things... then it was hand feeding them on my foot, then getting them walking on my leg, then into my lap...
Now I can't go outside without being swarmed and if I sit down I instantly have three chickens in my lap... the other night Stella (Chicken Butt) roosted on my arm for 45 minutes while I was reading a book...
Any time I walk around I gots 6 damn chickens under foot...
A couple nights ago Nic left the back door open and one of them (Buffy) followed me into the house... of course she then immediately crapped on the kitchen floor which was a big hit... ;)
And sometimes, the girls just want to be fickle and can't decide WHAT they want to do... what's it gonna be girls - in or out??
Personality traits... the lap-dancers are Buffy, Mae West and Stella... from time to time Elvira gets in on the act...
Also noticed that Buffy is the most playful, in the sense of being the most aggressive about making contact with me... Polka Dot (formerly Pocahontas) is often times a loner and wanders around by herself, though when in the group everyone seems to be getting along fine...
Feed Observations: Last weekend the girls spent most of the daylight hours out and about so assuming they were munching on goodies in the yard, I'm not surprised to see that they aren't hitting their feed mash so much... but during the week we've only let them roam a couple hours each night, and once didn't let them out at all... when I check their big feeder it almost seems like they aren't even touching it, yet they all seem healthy, energetic, alert... Maybe since that big feeder is new I'm just not used to how much bigger it is than the original chick feeder (which they consumed a full load twice a day)... I'll be keeping a close eye on that...
Construction changes: reworked the 'emergency door release' thingy - turns out w/ the door latch fitting so tightly that it was nearly impossible to actually open the door with it... turns out the leverage angle was all wrong and the cable was digging into the top of the post it was mounted on... I snagged one of Nic's cold frame clamps and screwed it onto the top of the post and routed the cable over it - works like a champ now...
Also the original ramp failed in two ways: the Elmers glue idea for the steps was just a bad idea, and one of the "hinges" we put on there broke... found a rather stout piece of wood and this time screwed in some molding strips and the thing seems to be holding up rather well...
Checking the coop/run a couple times a week for signs of predators - so far nothing...
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