Chicken Run

Posted on June 26, 2023 by TJ

It’s been very dry here this summer. Except for areas where the sprinkler hit when I watered the gardens, the grass was turning yellow like straw. When I mowed the lawn last Friday, the mower blew up clouds of sand. I made my own little dust storm. When I finished mowing, I went into the house and blew my nose, and blew out dark dirt into the Kleenex. You probably would prefer not to know that, but that illustrates how dry it was.

Yesterday it began to rain–mostly scattered showers and rumbles of thunder that came and went. Later in the day we came under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning with a possibility of hail. The sky grew very dark so EJ and I went outside–he to cover up his tender vegetable plants and me to try to get the chickens in the coop before the storm broke. It was only an hour or so before they would have gone anyway, and I didn’t want to have to run out in a huge storm with hail to shut them in.

Chickens always go into the coop themselves at twilight. It’s almost impossible to get them into the coop before they are ready. Some of them went willing into the coop, but others refused and we went round the coop several times–them running and me following after them. After EJ covered his plants, he came to help me as the sky grew darker and thunder rumbled. The coop stands three feet from the garage so there’s a sort of alley between. The little chicken door is located on that side of the coop in the alley. EJ stood block one end and me on the other with the chickens in between. We hoped we could steer them through their little door. Some went in but some refused and kept trying to get around us. Finally, finally, all of them went in except the two roosters. We got one rooster in, but the other had disappeared. When it rains, sometimes some of the chickens take refuge in the little shelters we have set around outside. The shelters are dog houses and crates that we don’t use for Hannah Joy–because she’s a pampered house dog, the queen of our home. We wondered if the last rooster had gotten into the coop without us seeing, which seemed very unlikely, but we went into the coop to see if he was there. We didn’t see him. It had begun to rain while we were trying to get the chickens in. By this time it’s a downpour. I didn’t want to leave the rooster outside so I went out and checked all the shelters again. I finally found him way in the back of one shelter. He was hidden in shadow. I used my “staff” to get him out, EJ opened the large coop door, and in he ran. Success!

We were soaked to the skin but they were all safely inside. We ran inside the house, changed into dry clothes, and settled down for the evening.

It’s raining again today. Scattered showers, now and then. Good. We need the rain.

With the rain comes cooler temperatures. Ahhh.

Today I ground some of the mint I had harvested and put in the dehydrator yesterday. I also made potato salad. Last year the chickens didn’t lay many eggs–only about 3-4 a day. This year they are laying about a dozen a day which is an over-abundance of eggs. EJ has sold/traded some of the eggs to coworkers, but with his schedule change, he has to work out how to exchange the eggs. We’ve been making recipes that require eggs. We eat eggs every morning for breakfast, and I’ve been making a lot of potato salad. I always make potato salad with Miracle Whip, which we prefer to mayonnaise. This time, however, I made homemade Miracle Whip. This is the first time I’ve ever made it. When EJ gets home from work, I will ask him what he thinks of it. I substituted a different oil than the recipe called for…so we shall see.

One thing I love about EJ is that he is always trying to figure out how to make things ourselves. Like, “We should learn how to make Miracle Whip ourselves” Or butter. Or crackers. I didn’t even realize that we could make all these things ourselves before he came into my life. He also is excellent at repurposing items for other uses so now I think in terms of “What else can I use this item for?” He has inspired me and motivated me to try new things.

When we have too, too many eggs, I put some out on the big rocks for the wildlife. The crows really like them. It’s fun watching them: An interested crow will perch on the power pole to see if there’s any danger. Then he flies over the rocks and perches on a tree on the other side of the rocks. He caws and caws. Finally, when he sees no threat, he lands on an adjacent rock and walks over to the eggs. He grabs one and flies away with it. We’ve heard that sometimes when a person makes friends with crows, the crows will leave them gifts–little treasures that they’ve found. EJ and I wonder when the crows will start leaving us gifts. Money would be nice. LOL.

I suffer from PTSD caused by emotional abuse. One of the symptoms is anxiety. Most days I do fine, and I feel contentment and joy in life. However, some days are more difficult. On one difficult day, I asked God for help and then right after an abuse website sent me an email with a link to her video with some tools–physical and mental exercises–to break the anxiety. I’m finding that it really works!

God takes care of me, always showing His love. I wrote a couple posts ago that I was anxious about how much our year’s propane would cost. EJ called them up and we had such a surplus last year that we had to pay only a little more to prepay for next year.

Several years ago we co-signed a loan to help a relative out. I know. Dumb. And we will NEVER do this again. Lesson learned. But it was a close relative that we care about. We got a notice recently that the relative wasn’t paying the loan and if it didn’t get paid, they’d do a “charge-off” which meant that a thousand terrible things would happen. We paid the installment, but we are already pinching pennies and I wondered how we’d survive if we have to continue making payments. I asked God for help. I had made several crocheted items for my sister-in-law, who wanted them to put in the shoeboxes she packs full of little gifts to send to poor children at Christmas. I charged $35, which included shipping, but she sent me a check for $90!!!! This covers the amount we need to pay to cover the loan installment.

We’ve experienced many situations like this over the years. They reassure me that God loves me, He is faithful, and He will not fail.