I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Animal Antics
The weather continues to be rather weird. Today the temperature was in the 40s. It felt very warm outside. This afternoon it began to….I’m not sure if it’s rainy snow or snowy rain. The forecast calls for the possibility of rain/snow for the next few days. I think the rain is a sign that Spring is not too far away. There is a sort of excited hopefulness that occurs in February and March even though there could still be weeks of Winter left. February/March is when we begin to dream of planting gardens even if there are several feet of snow on the ground.
Our animals have been a bit goofy too.
When Hannah Joy sees me going through my before-bed routine, she goes into the bedroom and settles down in the bed. If EJ is home, Hannah first goes over to say good night to him, and then he says, “Go to bed, Hannah” and off she goes. It’s really quite sweet. Hannah and I always go to bed well before EJ because he tries to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to keep to his work-week routine. Sometimes Hannah goes to bed before I do, which is what I thought she was doing last night. But when I finally went into the bedroom, I saw a roll of toilet paper on the floor. I can’t remember exactly how much there had been, but it was considerably smaller so I suspect she ate about half a mega-roll of toilet paper. Today she frequently wanted me to take her outside so she could poop it out. Sigh. At least it all came out. Sometimes she has Kleenex sticking from her behind and I have to wait until it all comes out before I take her back into the house. She always looks so pathetically ashamed when that happens.
EJ told me today that while I was out doing business with my new egg customer yesterday, Hannah Joy was in the house trying to steal Kleenex out of my sweater pocket. We try to keep Kleenex, toilet paper, washcloths, and towels out of her reach, but she is a clever “pit-pocket.” Most people have to child-proof their homes, we have to Hannah-proof ours.
I am expecting one of my egg customers to stop by tonight to pick up seven dozen, some of which she said she is giving to her mother. I’m glad she is buying so many because my chickens are laying eggs like crazy. This afternoon when I went out to the coop, I found ten eggs. There was a hen in their favorite nesting box so I left her alone. I went out a couple of hours later to check the box and I saw eyes looking out at me. I thought, “Oops, another hen is in there laying an egg.” The hens don’t lay more than one a day, but they use the same nesting places. Anyway, something looked “off” so I looked closer and saw that there wasn’t a hen in there. There was a CAT! It was Millie. I got her out of the box and discovered that she had been sitting on five eggs. LOL.
I try to keep my camera in my pocket for moments like these, but I had forgotten so I had no photos. However, when I went out in the evening to shut everyone up in the coop, I found Millie in the nesting box again. This time I had my camera with me so I took a picture. The nesting box is actually a litter box, which the cats do NOT use as a litter box.
Our chickens and barn cats co-exist peacefully. Every now and then a cat will swat a chicken or a chicken will peck a cat in order to set a boundary but, otherwise, they get along. I’ve even seen a cat and chicken sleeping next to each other. Animals seem to figure out who “belongs” in their family.
My animals make me laugh and bring me joy. I don’t know what I’d do without them. 🙂
Millie and the Deer
Today is mostly sunny and warm–in the 40s! (That’s Fahrenheit, not Celsius.) We still have plenty of snow on the ground, but there are actually a few bare spots in the driveway.
I’m dreaming of an early Spring. I like Winter, but I can’t wait to plant our garden. 🙂 Also, about this time each year, the county conservation districts have their annual tree sales. Up until this year, we haven’t been able to buy trees because this is also the time of year when we have to do taxes, pay for our vehicle registration, and take Hannah Joy to her yearly vet visit. But this year we splurged just a little and ordered one bundle each of Norway Spruces and elderberry bushes. Each bundle includes five trees. The Norway Spruce trees are supposed to be insect resistant and will replace our dying evergreens, which we believe were killed by insects. We wanted elderberries because they have a lot of health benefits. The Norway Spruces were $8.25 each bundle and the elderberries were $16.50 for a bundle–an awesome price for so many trees! We would have loved to order a couple bundles of each as well as hazelnut trees, serviceberry bushes, maybe some mulberry trees…but, baby steps. The trees will be ready to be picked up at the end of April.
Today a new customer came to buy three dozen eggs. Hopefully, he will become a regular customer because my chickens are laying about 6-10 eggs each day! I’m trying to balance the eggs we need for ourselves with the eggs my customers need so that it comes out even–with neither too many or too few for us. I mean, I don’t want to have so many customers that we don’t have any for us and we have to buy our eggs at the grocery store. That would be silly. But I don’t want to have dozens of dozens filling my fridge either. Balance. Everything is about balance.
Today I saw a drama outside my window that made me laugh. Our cat Millie is sweet so I’m assuming she wasn’t trying to be a jerk–but she was being kind of a jerk. A group of three deer came up to eat the birdseed, but Millie stayed near the feeders, not at all concerned that they were far bigger than she. She made the deer nervous so they didn’t want to come closer. Finally, they walked away, one deer stomping her foot in irritation as she left. I took a series of photos of the encounter.
What’s worse is that Millie did the same thing with another group of deer who came by a couple of hours later. None of the deer coming to eat the birdseed today have been successful because of Millie. LOL.
Savoir Faire
We sure have had some crazy weather this winter. Wednesday and Thursday we were under a Winter Storm Warming. It snowed steadily for those two days with strong winds that blew the slow around and caused whiteout conditions. But yesterday the temperatures began to rise and today it reached almost 50 degrees! Of course, the snow began to melt. This has been the pattern all winter long: days of cold/snow/wind followed by days of warmth/melting snow. This is a video I took of the snow on Thursday.
The shortest route to the coop is through our attached garage and through the back door into the garden. This morning as I headed out to the coop to care for the chickens and cats, I heard a noise in the southeast corner of the garage. It sounded as if there was something there, probably an animal of some sort: raccoon? mouse? rat? stray cat? I started to go over to check it out, but then I remembered that in every scary movie, a victim(s) always hears a noise and goes over to check it out and gets killed by the monster, alien, or serial killer. I don’t normally watch scary movies, but I have seen a few, and I always want to cry out a warning: “Duh. Do NOT go check out the strange noise!” So this time I took my own advice and continued out to the coop. I’m my way back into the house, I paused in the garage to listen, but I didn’t hear anything, so I think the “whatever-it-was” left. I did go outside the garage and look for footprints in the snow, but I didn’t see any. I was going to tell EJ about the “thing” in the garage as soon as he woke, but I forgot until tonight.
My chickens are laying so many eggs now that I posted them for sale at FB Marketplace and area buy/sell groups. I’ve gotten a few interested nibbles. But I also got a couple people wanting to buy my chickens. I replied politely but I was thinking that, uh, my posting clearly stated that I was selling the EGGS, not the CHICKENS. One guy, besides wanting to buy my chickens asked if I’d sell him the eggs for $5 total (instead of $9) if he bought three dozen. I was thinking that takes a bit of audacity to expect me to sell them for almost half price. I don’t really make money on my eggs–I am just selling the excess eggs and the money merely helps with the cost of the feed. I answered him politely but I let him know that (1) I’m not selling my chickens and (2) No, I’m not giving their eggs away. Sheesh. If he wants cheaper eggs he should go buy them at Wal-mart.
We are still trying to get rid of the mice that get into our kitchen cupboard. EJ’s trap under the sink caught a mouse the first night he set it, but after that the other mouse kept springing the trap and eating the bait without getting caught. The mouse (or mice) is so clever that we named it Savoir Faire, after the cartoon mouse from our childhood. The cartoon involved a battle of wits between Savoir Faire and Klondike Kat. Of course, the mouse usually outwitted the cat and so far our mouse is outwitting us. But like Klondike Kat, we aren’t giving up.
This afternoon EJ, Hannah Joy, and I drove to Goodwill so EJ could buy some new pants for work. He didn’t find any pants, but he did get a sweatshirt for work. I bought a couple washcloths, dishcloths, dish towels, and hand towels to replace the ones Hannah has chewed up. On the way home, we made a quick stop at Meijers to get a few grocery items. I had found a coupon for “buy one, get one free” cups of coffee at Biggby’s on the Internet, but we decided not to save our money. We are moving in to “No Spend March,” in which we are frugally buying as little as we possibly can. “No Spend March” is following No Spend November, December, January, and February. It’s become something of a challenge.
Crikey!
EJ and I had a good weekend together…well, once we got through our appointment at H&R Block to get our taxes done. I always really dread it, expecting the worst, anxious that we are going to have to end up paying a gazillion dollars. I used to not really expect the worst, but then we went through a few situations–such as JJ’s cancer–when I expected the best and the worst happened instead. So now I know that the worst can sometimes happen, and I find myself bracing for it. And then there was that time a couple years ago when our tax preparer initially told us we had to pay $2,000, and I almost had heart failure, but by the time she got through her calculations, I think we got a refund. Whew. So I hate getting our taxes done. But this time, we learned that we are getting a pretty good refund, which means we can pay off some of our bills. Yay!
The rest of the weekend was enjoyable. After our taxes, we ran a couple other errands. Saturday we relaxed. Sunday we went to the hardware store to buy a kitchen faucet because ours was leaking. While there, the clerk mentioned that we were forecasted to get about 12-18 inches of snow! Yikes! I don’t know what weather website he had gotten the information from but, obviously, those particular meteorologists were exaggerating. According to the National Weather Service, the storm system is staying well south of us with not anything near that much snow. We are only going to get a couple inches of lake effect snow in our area toward the end of the week. I’m really enjoying our milder winter this year.
In addition to fixing the faucet, EJ worked on our mouse problem, including setting a trap under the sink and blocking access to the cupboard next to it. Sunday night we heard the trap spring as it caught a mouse. Last night Hannah and I heard the trap spring again. Hannah ran out to the cupboard and sniffed around it, then barked at me to let her in the cupboard. I wouldn’t do it and she was quite vocal about her displeasure. When EJ checked it this morning, the trap was empty–so the mouse had gotten away.
Late this afternoon I was sitting in my chair crocheting as I watched the deer eating the birdseed outside the window. Suddenly, they all looked off to their right, very focused. Usually, they do that when more deer are approaching so I figured that was probably the case this time as well. But then their tails all went up in alarm and they leaped off into the forest to the left. I’ve never seen them signal an alarm like that when other deer come in, so I got up and looked out the window to try to see what had alarmed them.
I saw an animal walking through the forest. It was difficult to get a good look at it because it was a bit far away and the trees often blocked my view. But it didn’t move like a deer. I suspected it was a coyote, and when I saw it go to the deer carcass and start eating from it, I knew I was correct. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a coyote in the wild. I thought it was interesting. I watched it for at least an hour until it grew too dark to see it.
I took a video of it so I could show EJ tomorrow. I had to zoom way in so the video is a little grainy. Also, the more I zoom in, the more little movements are exaggerated, but I think that I did relatively well at holding the camera still. Crikey! I felt like Steve Irwin, may he rest in peace.
Hannah Joy and I just heard the mousetrap spring again. Hannah ran to the kitchen to sniff at the cupboard. Once again, she is annoyed that I’m not checking it out too. She is so funny!
Instant Cooking
We’ve had a few cold, windy, snowy days that made my face and fingers ache. Today is mostly sunny. When the sun comes out from behind a cloud, it makes my eyes squint from its brilliance. My northern eyes aren’t used to sunshine. LOL. I read an article that said Michigan may have an early Spring this year, which would be quite nice–especially since last year Spring took forever to get here.
Last weekend I saw a bird sitting in the top branches of a tree on the hill. I’m used to crows sitting there, but this bird looked larger than a crow. I urged EJ to come look. I was going to get the binoculars to try to get a closer look, but before I could, the bird took off. It flew into the air and then went into a very fast sharp dive. Both EJ or I were thrilled–we’ve never actually seen such a dive before. Of course, the bird was some sort of predator but we couldn’t tell what kind–only that it wasn’t an eagle. The eagle we saw a week or two ago stayed around for three days to eat from the deer carcass.
I’ve been busy working on a crochet project for a customer/friend. I’m made an Adorable Bunny for her and I’m working on two pairs of slippers. I ran out of yarn for the slippers so I’m on a break until we can get to the store on Friday. We are also getting our taxes done on Friday. Yuck Yuck, and Double Yuck. It’s much more fun buying yarn than getting the taxes done.
My friend paid me via money order, and when I opened the envelope last Saturday, I saw that she had very generously sent more than the price I had quoted. I felt very blessed. It was like a hug from heaven. ❤
My dear friend, whom I’ve “adopted” as my sister, and her husband bought us an Instant Pot for Christmas. It’s an awesome gift that has been a real life-changer for us. It’s so easy to make even complicated recipes. The meat turns out so incredibly tender and yummy. I’m having a wonderful time experimenting with different types of food that I never dreamed of making–like cheesecake and yogurt. In the last week or so, I’ve been making Asian recipes–such as Korean Bulgogi and General Tso’s Chicken–that are as good as any we had at Chinese restaurants if I do say so myself. EJ and I are constantly exclaiming, “Oh, yum! Yum!” Furthermore, cleanup is incredibly easy. There are few dirty dishes and no baked-on sauces to scrub off. We use our Instant Pot pretty much every day.
Hannah Joy has been her loveable, irrepressible self. I think she gets separation anxiety because she gets into mischief when I’m outside for too long. “Too long” seems to be about ten minutes. She has chewed up several washcloths, a hand towel, and a dishtowel in the last month or two. I put them in a drawer in the nightstand to keep them from her, but then she began to eat the towels. The other day I discovered that while I was out caring for the chickens, she had gotten a towel off the shelf, carried it onto our bed, and eaten a hole in the center. When I say “hole,” I don’t mean a tiny little hole. It was large enough that I could easily put it over her head and she could wear the towel as a poncho. EJ says he will cut the towel up and use the pieces for shop rags. If Hannah keeps this up, I won’t have a washcloth or towel in the house. I only hope she doesn’t go after the blankets.
No Spend February
Sometimes I feel as if I blink and then find that the calendar has jumped ahead several days. I mean, it was February 5th and then *** Blink *** it’s suddenly February 14th. Valentines Day. I hope each of you has the type of Valentine’s Day that is most special to you.
We are spending Valentine’s Day the way we always spend Fridays. There’s a quote that I often come across that says, “Create a life you don’t need a vacation from,” which is what we began to seriously do when we moved north to our beloved little home in our beautiful Enchanted Forest. We show our love to each other through everyday activities and I really don’t feel the need for romantic dinners or getaways. Of course, it’s fun to do those things sometimes, but it’s because we enjoy each other’s company. I love spending time with EJ whether we eat at a restaurant, go on a rock-hounding (or other type of) adventure, run errands, or simply spend time at home together.
Besides, after committing to a “No Spend November, December, and January,” we are now into a “No Spend February.” We are trying to pay off some bills so we are pinching pennies so hard that they are passing out from the pain. When possible, we are making items instead of buying them. For example, we ran out of suet for the wild birds so last weekend I learned how to make homemade suet from ingredients I already had at home. I make homemade granola and EJ makes homemade bread every week so we don’t have to buy it. We post a grocery list of items we need to the kitchen door but then we ask ourselves, “What items on this list are absolutely essential and which can we put off buying?” We buy items when they are on sale and shop at Goodwill for clothes. When possible, EJ stops at a store on his way to or from work so we don’t have to make extra trips. Yesterday he went to Blains Farm & Fleet on his way to work to buy cat food, which we were almost out of. The cat food was on sale and we bought it with money we made selling my chickens’ eggs. On his way home from work in the wee hours of the morning, EJ stopped at Meijers to buy oatmeal and carrots, spending only $8. We give kitchen scraps to the chickens or put them in our compost pile so we don’t have much trash. Every week or two we take our trash right to the waste company rather than pay extra for curbside service. It saves us a ton of money.
We’ve had a lot of financial setbacks in recent years–JJ’s medical bills, moving, EJ losing his job last year. Just when we think we can breathe a bit, our medical insurance costs went up a bit and EJ’s company said “No more overtime.” Not having extra money forces us to be creative, and that’s not such a bad thing. Although we have to forego some things, it’s kind of a challenge to try to be as frugal as we possibly can, and we both have a good attitude about it. So…no romantic dinners at a restaurant, but it’s really fun cooking together in the kitchen. And we’ve seen God’s provision, such as our neighbor, whom we had never met before, deciding to regularly snowblow our driveway for us and refusing to be paid for his gas and time. This is the second year he’s cleared our driveway for us. Or having my chickens begin laying eggs earlier than expected this year, which brings in a little extra money. Or selling one of my crocheted items. I’m thankful that even though we don’t often have extra, but we’ve always had enough. We’ve never been hungry or unable to pay a bill.
My chickens are regularly laying eggs now, so I contacted my regular egg customers to let them know. I had wondered if they would have found other sources for eggs over the winter. Chickens can be sort of forced to keep laying eggs during the winter by keeping lights on in the coop, but we’ve read that they actually live longer if allowed a hiatus so there’s no eggs until the chickens are laying. My customers were eager to get back to buying our eggs, and both told me how much tastier our chickens’ eggs are than the ones from the store. One of my very compassionate customers told me that she had bought eggs once at another place this winter, but she wasn’t impressed by their setup so she didn’t buy from them again. She loves how we care for our chickens, which is important to her.
I’m still trying to figure out how to keep the outdoor cats’ food from being eaten by the chickens. I’ve been putting on top of one of the raised beds for them, hoping the chickens won’t find it, but also putting a bowl of food on the front porch in case they do. So far the chickens haven’t found the bowl in the garden, but a few days ago I saw a cat eating from it. The cat isn’t ours. I also occasionally see a Blue Jay eating from the front porch bowl. So apparently we feed cats, chickens, wild birds, and strange cats our cat food. I think that trying to keep the cat food for the cats might be a hopeless endeavor. I’m not giving up yet, though. I’m still thinking.
Usually the deer run off if I go outside, even if I’m in the back yard and they are in the front yard. However, yesterday afternoon when I came inside from stealing our chickens’ eggs, I saw SEVEN deer in the front yard. They were a bit nervous, but they settle right down when they saw me sit in my chair by the window. Our cat Millie often hangs out on the front porch–to eat and to get lovings. Most of the deer ignore her, but one deer keeps trying to warn her off by stomping its foot. Even if I can’t see Millie, I can always tell where she is because the deer is looking at her as he warns her. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. I actually got it on video yesterday:
Morning Delight
Hannah Joy woke me up earlier than usual this morning. She jumped off the bed then came over to the side of the bed and started grunting at me. I figured she needed to go out so I got my coat, hat, gloves, and boots on and then told her to go out in the hallway to put her harness on. She remained sitting, indicating that she didn’t really want to go outside, but since I was all ready, I made her go anyway. When we came back inside, I feed her, which is apparently what she wanted in the first place.
Then I settled my chair with a cup of coffee and watched the sun rise while Hannah dozed on my lap. When it was light enough, I went out to tend to the animals in the coop, feeding them, giving them fresh water, and opening their little door in case they want to go outside later.
Next, I put seed out for the wild birds. I came back inside and poured myself a cup of hot coffee to warm my soul and hands. I have very warm work gloves but it’s easier to do many tasks without them and on mornings like this one my hands begin to ache from the cold.
I settled in my chair again and Hannah cuddled on my lap again. When it grew lighter, I saw a doe and her young’un emerge from the forest and come up to eat the birdseed. The morning was cold enough that I could see their breath as a fog when they breathed. They moved off and then a little deer came by. He was alone so I wondered if it was his Mama who was killed in our little valley. Poor thing…although he is old enough now to make it on his own.
After the deer all left, a squirrel ran up to check the feeder. A blue jay also checked it out. They were unimpressed. There was nothing there because the deer ate it all. I might put a little more seed out for them so the birds can have something rather than nothing. I am still trying to re-think how to construct my feeders so the deer can’t access it all.
Yesterday I glanced out of the window and saw a large bird gliding in the sky. I assumed it was a turkey vulture, which I often see overhead. The bird flew toward the house, closer and lower, and I suddenly realized it was a bald eagle! I explained in delight and EJ hurried to the window, but by the time he got the cat off his lap and out of his chair, the bird was gone. However, a few seconds later it flew back into sight–so EJ saw it too–and it landed in a tree in our forest. It stayed there for quite a while. I kept an eye on it because I wanted to watch it soar again, but my attention was diverted by a task and when I looked again it had disappeared. It is always such a thrill to see bald eagles. I’ve occasionally seen them high overheard but never this close. EJ said it was probably attracted by the dead deer in our valley. I really hate seeing dead animals, but it was awesome seeing the eagle.
Murder in Deer Valley
I re-organized the chest freezer and the kitchen cupboards on Friday but didn’t stop there. I sorted through my closet yesterday, getting rid of clothes that I no longer wear. I’ve also been working on organizing the library, even sorting through our file cabinet. I still have more straightening up to do in the library. I suspect I might have a touch of Spring fever?
With such a mild winter it’s not surprising that we are thinking of Spring–but it’s only just February and really much too early for Spring. EJ and I both agreed that there are still weeks left for Winter to hammer us. But sometimes it’s difficult not to let hope for Spring’s arrive rise. Although I actually like winter too.
Today the sky was blue and the temps into the mid-40s so EJ and I walked down to the mailbox for our mail. About halfway down the driveway, EJ suddenly exclaimed, “Holy CRAP!” He had spotted a body at the bottom of the small valley we have nicknamed “Deer Valley” because we’ve often seen the grass flattened where they bed down overnight.
The body was what remained of a deer. EJ went down for a closer look but I continued on to the mailbox because I didn’t want to see more than what I had already seen. Although I did take some photos from further back.
It was rather gruesome: The body was torn apart with pieces here and there and the ribs were bare. Things like this remind me that behind the bucolic scenery and beautiful wildlife that we so enjoy, there is a brutal life and death fight for survival. I am aware of this, and I know it is the way of things, but I really do not like to be a witness to it. It makes me sad to think that one of the deer we enjoy was killed.
It made me feel a bit vulnerable to think of the vicious predator(s) attacking and devouring the deer just over the hill from the house. It makes me wonder whose eyes are watching us from the forest. If the whatever-it-was could bring down a deer, will it consider us or Hannah Joy prey as well? Creepy. Predators are why I lock up the chickens and cats safely in their coop at night. We hadn’t heard anything, although Hannah Joy had been trying to pull me down the driveway for the last day or two so I’m assuming she smelled it. EJ says it was probably coyotes, but there are other predators in the area as well. Yikes.
Here are some of the photos I took of the “crime scene.” Don’t look at them if you are squeamish.
Annie
Here we are, we’ve already made it to February. I used to dislike February. Even though it has the least number of days, it always felt like the longest month. By February, winter felt like it had last forever and that Spring would never arrive. But I don’t hate February anymore. It’s just another beautiful month in winter, one of my favorite seasons. Winter is when the landscape is dressed beautifully and peacefully in white. It’s when the wildlife come to the feeders where I can enjoy them. It’s when I enjoy the coziness of drinking hot beverages, wrapped in an afghan, cuddling with Hannah Joy. There’s a lot to enjoy about winter.
My other favorite seasons are Spring, Summer, and Autumn.
EJ did a bit of grocery shopping at the 24-hour grocery store on his way home from work Friday morning. EJ and I enjoy shopping together but if we have a short list of things we need, it saves time and gas if he just does it after work. Although he’s tired after work, he says he doesn’t mind shopping in the wee hours of the night because the store isn’t crowded–it’s usually just him and the store employees.
Friday I re-organized the chest freezer in the pantry. the freezer has dividers. I put all the poultry in one section, all the beef in another, the vegetables and fruit in separate sections. Now I can more easily see what I have and what I need to replenish.
Next, EJ and I tackled the kitchen cupboards. Over time, the cupboards get in disarray and it’s helpful to go through and re-organize them. We made sure that everything was in a mouse-proof plastic or glass jar. I’ve not seen any mice in the food cupboards, but there have been mice in the pot/pans cupboard near the sink. We have to figure out how to stop them from getting in. Hannah Joy tried to do her part–a couple weeks ago she heard a mouse in those cupboards and wanted me to help her get it. I opened the cupboard doors for her, but the mouse had already gotten behind the dishwasher. Hannah ordered me to pull out the dishwasher, but it’s built-in and I couldn’t do it. She was very upset with me.
I’m still trying to figure out how to keep the chickens from eating the outside cats’ food. I put a little dish for the cats in one of the outdoor dog houses, but if the weather is mild and the chickens go outside, they find it and eat it. So I’ve been putting an additional dish of food on the patio table on the front porch. The other day, I saw a blue jay eating the cat food. Sigh. I haven’t given up trying to figure out how to keep the food inaccessible to everyone except the cats.
Our cat, Annie, died yesterday. She’s quite old and her health was deteriorating over the winter so we knew it was only a matter of time. Still, it’s sad. Annie was a Manx (tailless) cat who didn’t simply meow–she sang her meows with melodious trills. I’ve never heard a more musical meow. Annie is one of the cats that came with us when we moved from downstate. We transported all the animals on the day we drove north to close on our new house. We brought only enough items to “camp out” in the house until our friends could help us move the next weekend. EJ had a quiet drive with our dog, Danny, but I (with JJ) drove our car the four hours with seven cats all loudly harmonizing their displeasure at being contained in cat carriers. They all sang differently so it was rather interesting–and created memories that we won’t soon forget.
I worked for a week or so designing a crocheted square that was inspired by our Hannah Joy. The squares can be used to make pillows, afghans, blankets. I’m selling the pattern, but I’m also willing to make the finished items. Here is what I ended up with:
Mucky Job
EJ’s company is banning overtime for now so he had Friday off. I did laundry and made granola while EJ made bread and our first ever attempt to make yogurt in the Instant Pot. The yogurt turned out well–it was very tasty, especially with my granola mixed in.
This afternoon I went out and cleaned the chicken coop, taking out all the dirty straw and replacing it with new. I also reconfigured the coop a bit. I’m always tweaking. Usually, I don’t do any of the cleaning or tweaking until warmer weather–because the poop freezes in cold weather and also the mat of straw on the floor helps insulate the coop. However, our winter has been milder than normal, the poop wasn’t frozen, the chickens were laying their eggs in not-so-great places, and the coop was beginning to get a stronger ammonia smell–probably from the cats. So it was time.
It snowed a little this afternoon, but the temperatures weren’t terribly cold and the work kept me warm. The dirty straw is very heavy and at times I can roll it up like a carpet. I raked out a mound of straw. Once the dirty straw breaks down a bit it can be used in the garden. Once the old straw was out, I put clean straw in. I do give the chickens clean straw throughout the winter, but they have a habit of scratching it all onto the floor. I’m trying to figure out what I can do to keep more of it in their perching/nesting areas.
It took me several hours to clean out the coop. I had to work around 20 chickens, most of whom didn’t want to leave the coop, and the cats. A couple times when I bent down to pick up the dirty straw from the floor, Annie jumped on my back. Theo also likes to jump on my back when I’m working, although he didn’t do it today. When a cat jumps on my back, I have to go over to their food shelf and straighten up so they leap off me.
I was caked in muck by the time I was finished. I took my clothes off in the laundry room, put them in the washer, and then went and took a shower. I’m exhausted and my body–especially my arms– is aching from the hard work. It was a good workout and I’m counting it as exercise. I think there should be some sort of chart indicating how many calories are burned by doing chores. I’d say cleaning out the coop should burn about 10,000 calories, resulting in a loss of 20 lbs. Or something.
WalkAbout
A snowstorm was forecasted for both last weekend and this weekend. Last weekend’s storm never appeared–although I read that the middle and southern parts of the state were hit with a pretty bad ice storm. Although I think that ice storms are remarkably beautiful, they cause driving treacherous and cause a lot of damage so I’m very glad we were spared. Snow is easier to deal with than ice.
This weekend’s snowstorm did hit us. As near as I can figure it, we now have about of foot of snow on the ground, which I don’t consider all that much for a northern winter. I think we’ve had quite a mild winter this year. So far. I really enjoyed sitting in my chair yesterday watching the snow fall and the various wildlife visit the feeders. We often have titmouses (titmice?), chickadees, and woodpeckers visit our feeder, and occasionally goldfinches and cardinals. We also have a family of Blue Jays that frequently visits. I assume that they are a family because six of them always arrive in a group.
This morning I think that, maybe, I saw a bluebird checking out one of the birdhouses. That really surprised me because I didn’t think they came until Spring. Maybe the bluebird’s visit–if that’s what it was–is a harbinger that we will have an early Spring? I tried to take a photo of it, but it was rather blurry because my current camera sort of sucks. What do you think? Is it a bluebird?
Of course, we also get other wildlife visiting our feeders, such as deer. They can drain the feeders in minutes. I tried to put the tray feeder on a higher hook so the deer can’t reach it and the birds have a chance to eat since the birds are actually why we put out the feeders. Every few nights a possum comes by to eat the seeds the birds and deer spill out of the feeders. I have grown rather fond of the possums, especially since I learned that they eat ticks. I despise ticks. I don’t mind who comes to the feeders; I enjoy watching them all.
I’ve been trying to keep walking around the house every day for exercise. I call it my “WalkAbout.” I was walking 18 times around the house each day last week and even made it to 20 one day. I usually walk half the trips in the morning and half in the afternoon after EJ goes to work. However, Friday morning I didn’t walk at all because EJ and I went grocery shopping and I didn’t walk on Saturday. But I did walk three around the house this morning in the early dawn when it was still mostly dark. Not all at once, I rested between each trip with a cup of coffee because It wasn’t easy wading through the deep snow. Each time, when I had huffed and puffed halfway around the house, with the snow reaching above my boots to my knees and the cold stinging my face, I began to doubt the wisdom of my endeavor. I reminded myself that it would be just as much effort to turn back as it was to go forward, so onward I went. But I think that each around the house in deep snow should count the same as six trips around when I had trodden an easier path through the snow. I took these next photos on my third circle around the house this morning.
It probably would be easier to use some exercise equipment in the house during the winter, but we don’t really have any space for any and I don’t want to risk waking EJ by doing aerobic exercises. Besides, I find using exercise equipment or routines to be very boring. All that effort used to go nowhere at all. When I walk outside around the house, I am actually going somewhere, and I get to enjoy the changing beauty of the forest. One time as I walked last week, I watched a Blue Jay’s panicked flight as he tried to escape some sort of hawk that had him in its sights. I was glad that the Blue Jay escaped. I know hawks have to eat too, but I don’t want to watch them kill their prey. I tend to root for the underdog–or under-bird, as the case may be.
Surprisingly, the younger chickens laid a couple of eggs on New Year’s Eve, and I’m finding more and more eggs–sometimes in odd places in the coop. In fact, I didn’t realize they were laying as much as they were until I found piles of eggs, some of them frozen, cracked, and unusable so I throw them in the compost pile. If the chickens keep it up, it won’t be long before I will have enough eggs to begin selling again, although I don’t know how customers will make it up the driveway unless they have four-wheel drive. In the warmer months, I want to reconfigure the coop and have EJ build more nesting boxes.
Our snowstorm has passed. Earlier this morning the sky was cloudless. Clouds are beginning to drift in, but the sun is still peeking through and the snow glitter. I’ve always been mesmerized by the glitter in the snow that sparkles like crushed diamonds. I think I live in a magical land.
The Washcloth Thief
We’ve had some crazy weather today with wind gusts that stirred up the snow into duststorm-like clouds and twisted it into snow-nadoes. Then we had freezing rain that tapped on the windows and froze there. We are supposed to get more than 6 inches of snow over the weekend, I read.
This morning we saw a buck come through our yard. We don’t often see antlered bucks on our property so it was a treat. I think we’ve only seen one other one in the years we’ve lived here. That one was a six-point buck that I saw pursuing a doe last autumn during the rut. I’m not saying bucks don’t often come onto our property. Sometimes we see their large hoof prints in the sand or snow. But we have only actually SEEN two of them. Isn’t the one today a beauty?
I think I gained some weight during the holidays. Bummer. So I thought I probably should exercise more. In the summer, I sometimes walk up and down our long, steep driveway, but I don’t want to do that in the winter because I’m afraid I will slip, fall, and break a bone, which is what I did a couple of years ago so my fear is not unfounded. Yesterday it occurred to me that I could walk around the house and fenced garden and chicken pen, which is all on flat ground. Yesterday I walked around the house five times. Today I walked around it twelve times. I counted and learned that it takes around 200 steps to go once around the house. So I walked 2,400 steps today. I’m not sure how many inches a step is. Maybe I should walk in the snow and then measure it. I’d like to know how many times I have to walk around the house to equal a mile.
A couple of weeks ago we stopped in at Goodwill and I found a neat “feeder” for the chickens. It was only $3. I think it works better than the bucket I was using–mainly because it’s easier to keep filled.
I took a group photo of my chickens. I counted and I think that 19 of the 20 chickens were in the photo. There seem to be an awful lot of them when they are all in the coop. They tend to stay inside when the weather is cold and/or snowy. Three of the chickens are roosters and seventeen are hens.
Hannah Joy has been her irrepressible self. We pretty much have to “child-proof” the house but despite our best efforts, she keeps finding things to eat that she isn’t supposed to. I did laundry a couple days ago and before I could get the clean clothes folded, she got into the basket and ate two washcloths. As is her usual modus operandi, she waited until I went out to care for the chickens to steal the washcloths. She has eaten a washcloth or two before, as well as a couple dishcloths, and most of my kitchen towels are now ragged around the edges.
I snatched the ruined washcloths away from Hannah, quickly folded all the clothes, and put the baskets away. But yesterday I was sitting in my chair and I glanced into the bedroom and saw something on the bed. I went in there and found a mostly folded washcloth, not yet chewed up. I took it into the bathroom to return to the shelf. We don’t have enough storage in the bathroom so our towels are on a standalone 4-tier shelf unit. I found two more folded washcloths on the floor. Silly Hannah has begun taking the washcloths right off the shelf! I’m trying to remember to close the bathroom door before I go out to care for the chickens.
Hannah also likes to steal Kleenex out of my sweater pockets and papers out of my purse if I forget to put them out of her reach. I call her my “pit-pocket.” She also loves to get under the blankets in the bed. Some days I have to remake the bed several times because she tries to get under the blankets and ends up messing the whole bed up. But Hannah is such a loving, cuddly, protective, funny part of our family that we forgive–no, we enjoy–her quirks. She keeps us laughing.
From 19 to 20
It was back to work for EJ today. He had last weekend off, as usual, then worked two days, then had two days off, and now is working another two days before the weekend. I am now all messed up about which day it is because today feels sort of like Monday.
Two days of wintry weather had brought us several inches of snow so our neighbor came driving up in his tractor to snow blow our driveway. Ever since he saw me clearing our driveway with our little snowblower last winter, he has snowblowed it for us with his tractor. He’s been such a blessing–he can clear in a few minutes what it took us more than two hours to do. He won’t accept payment so we bought him a gift box of sausage and such as a thank you. I was going to make him homemade candy and cookies, but he mentioned to EJ that he didn’t have much of a sweet tooth.
Today the temperatures warm again into the lower 40s (F) so the snow began to melt again although we could get freezing drizzle overnight.
On New Year’s Eve, I made 21 small turkey potpies and I made 14 more yesterday for a total of 35 pies. Yesterday evening EJ and I made cheesecake together in our Instant Pot. I quickly volunteered to make the graham cracker crust because I was tired from making pies, and I left EJ to make the filling. We both made some mistakes, but it was still tasty. Yum! But, ugh, after a couple days of eating pizza, chips, and cookies, we are both feeling rather yucky. EJ said we will now have to be good until next Thanksgiving. I agree.
On the weekends, EJ often goes out with me in the evening when I lock all the animals in the coop. When we went out last weekend, we discovered that Millie and Theo had caught a chipmunk. Sometimes Millie had it and sometimes Theo did. We didn’t want them to bring the chipmunk into the coop so I hurried into the coop, shutting the big doors behind me. Before I could get the little door closed, Theo brought the chipmunk in. With a small scream, I hurriedly unfastened the big door and scurried out because I didn’t want to risk the critter getting free and climbing up me in its panic. Theo took the chipmunk outside again, and as soon as he dropped it on the ground, I picked him up and put him in the coop with the other two cats and the chickens. I think the chipmunk crawled under the coop. I suspect he didn’t live long.
This was the first rodent we’ve seen the cats catch. Millie and Theo aren’t the serial killers that Madeline was. I really liked Madeline, but I’m relieved that I don’t find dead bodies every day.
Last week I wrote about some of the Red Flag traits that I look for to help me identify an abusive person. Those traits basically include attitudes of self-centeredness, superiority, and entitlement, as well as a lack of gratitude and generosity. Today I read a couple of articles that Dr. George Simon wrote on his website that says pretty much the same thing. One was about how to recognize covert narcissists and the other was about their lack of gratitude, the latter of which I want to quote from here.
…One of the pioneers studying character disturbance made an interesting observation. Folks with significant character disturbances came from all backgrounds. Some experienced early trauma. But others came from remarkably benign backgrounds. Some were impoverished in many ways. However, others were products of privilege. But one thing they all had in common was a disturbing attitude. The world owed them, they felt. And they owed nothing back. For them, life was all about taking what they could get. And sometimes it was an additional kick to take nefariously. They had no sense of obligation – to anyone or anything. And that, in a nutshell, lay at the core of their character dysfunction.
When it comes to having integrity of character, it all begins with gratitude. Appreciating the precious gift of life itself comes first, of course. Gratitude inherently inspires a sense of indebtedness. And that indebtedness inevitably inspires us to give back and not just take. So, real thanksgiving is not so much about feeling grateful. And it goes beyond expressing gratitude. It’s more about showing it by doing our part to make the whole enterprise work….
Dr. George Simon has worked with and researched manipulative people–narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths–for decades. His writings have really helped me to understand and recover from abuse. I highly recommend his website if you want to learn more.
New Year’s Eve
I hope everyone is having a wonderful New Year’s Eve!
Hannah Joy and I started our day cuddling in my chair. She likes to sleep on my lap under a blanket with only her nose sticking out. I like it because she keeps me toasty warm with her body heat!
I sipped my coffee and watched the snow fall. The last few weeks the temperature had warmed and melted almost all of our snow. However, yesterday we got several inches so our world is beautifully white again. The heavy snow stuck to the trees until a strong wind rose in the afternoon and the snow fell in avalanches from the swaying trees. A lot of people lost their power, mostly to the north of us. I feel sorry for them because it’s not fun losing power in the winter. I’m glad that we didn’t lose power because I’m not sure I would have remembered how to hook up the propane heater.
Yesterday I made a quadruple batch of turkey pot pie filling. I spent all this afternoon making small individual 5-inch pies. I got 21 made. I’ll make more tomorrow to use up the rest of the filling. I freeze them to bake later, usually when we have a busy day and/or don’t feel like cooking. Pot pie is one of my favorite meals. EJ wants us to make beef pot pies as well. I press a turkey cookie cutter into the pies so we know they are turkey pot pies. I don’t know what we will use for a beef pot pie because I don’t have any cow cookie cutters.
Because I was so busy today, EJ made a pot roast in the Instant Pot for lunch. It was very delicious. We love our Instant Pot!
Originally, EJ was supposed to work tonight and just get New Year’s Day off. EJ was a trifle bummed because he would be working at midnight when the new year arrived, and he’d be driving home in the early morning when inebriated people would be driving home from their parties. However, his boss called today to say that the employees could have both today and tomorrow off if they all worked Friday instead. Employees usually work four 10-hour days each week and working Friday is optional over-time.
Because I thought EJ would be working, I had been planning to have a quiet evening and just go to bed at my regular time. But plans have changed and we are going to stay up to greet the new year and decade. EJ went to the store this afternoon to buy a few items so we can make a cheesecake in the Instant Pot. Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. He also bought some potato chips for tonight, as well as some cashews, which he knows that I love. While he was gone, I finished the pot pies and then I made the dough and sauce for our traditional New Year’s Eve pizza. I always make it from “scratch.” I spent several years searching for a “just-right” pizza dough recipe, and finally found it about ten years ago, give or take a few years. It’s delicious. EJ came home at about the time the dough was finished rising and helped me assemble the pizza.
I’m exhausted, my body aches, and my feet are throbbing from standing on them all day, but I got a lot accomplished. However, I was glad to finally sit down and enjoy our pizza meal. 🙂
I’ve been reminiscing that it’s already been twenty years since the Y2K scare, when people were panicking because they were afraid that if computers interpreted the “00” in 2000 as 1900, it could lead to all sorts of disastrous problems, including large-scale blackouts and infrastructure damage.
Thirty years ago EJ and I met for the first time on New Year’s Eve. A young woman from our church singles’ group invited him to our church and he came that morning and then attended our New Year’s Eve party later that night. I think we started dating in April and on June 15 he asked me to marry him. I’m really glad we met and married. He’s my best friend.
I’m going to end my day the same way I began it–with Hannah Joy cuddling on my lap.
Hannah Joy’s Gift
I have friends who we’ve “adopted” as family.
My friends sent Hannah Joy a Christmas gift. Because of a snafu, it arrived after Christmas instead of before, but I reassured my friend that Hannah didn’t know any better. Hannah was so excited to get her gift. As soon as she realized it was for her, she went wild:
Hannah could hardly wait as EJ got the gift out of the box for her.
Hannah played with her ball constantly for several hours. If we came too close to her, she turned her back on us so we wouldn’t take her ball. She growled whenever a cat came near.
After a couple hours, she went out to the kitchen to check the box her ball had come in, just in case there was another gift in it. She checked the box repeatedly, even sitting under the table for a while before checking again. I think she must have checked it a dozen times.
Sadly, we had to throw away the ball when Hannah wasn’t looking because she was chewing it up. I waited until she wasn’t looking. She is a very aggressive chewer and it’s difficult to find toys for her. But, oh, she had a wonderful time while it lasted.
