Where have I been??

   It's been 3 weeks since I've posted, but you gotta make hay when the sun shines, right?  Or, in my case recently, you gotta pick up an awesome deal on kitchen cabinets at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in the next county, 'cause you are so ready to put real cabinets in your kitchen and not have open shelves anymore.  So my dining room is full of kitchen cabinets while I figure this whole kitchen redo.  Let's just say it involves a new floor and 2 new windows to frame out and install, so it's a bit of a project.  I did get the uppers in, and am super pleased with that progress.

   It's also planting season, and I started seeds WAY too late.  I did get in beans, peas, rutabaga, cantaloupes, watermelons, squashes, and corn in the garden.  I am going to buy some tomatoes, potatoes, and maybe a few others to get growing while I wait for my seedlings.  I am working with old seeds just to stop hanging on to them - yes, I am one of those who keeps seed packs for multiple years.  But I am clearing out my stock this year and whatever grows, grows, and whatever doesn't, doesn't.  They weren't growing to grow in my seed packet bin, that's for sure, and if they don't germinate, and least they're out of the house, I gave them a chance, and I will have only fresh seed next year.  Suprisingly, I had some from MyPatriotSupply (I'm not an affliate) dated 2011, and they sprouted fine!

   Let's see, what else? Meat chickens went to the processor (awesome lady) and we finished the construction portion of the old A-frame chicken coop, so the egg-layers are living outside.  One got her foot smashed yesterday when the door prop fell and the door landed on her foot.  She's separated from the others for now, and it's a waiting game to see how she does.  It's a bit swollen and she's not putting any weight on it, but she is hopping around and eating, so I take that as a good sign.  But I've never dealt with an injured chicken, so it's research time, aka call my friends the chicken whisperers!

   So with all that going on, this is only the third time I've sat down at the computer since my last post.  Last week I tried to get a kitchen program to lay out the cabinet design, which didn't work anyway; I ended up getting graph paper and cutting squares, and using it as math reinforcement and life skills with my son.  And yesterday he and I ordered some homeschool goodies for next year from the Build Your Own Bundle sale at Build Your Bundle (last day, by the way, and also not an affiliate).  I got some reading in (mostly audiobooks), got some visiting done, and with that, the month has just seemed to fly by.

   Now that I'm back on the keyboard, I will finish getting the meat coop pictures up, and some of the refurbed A-frame coop.  But first I have a seasonal question for all of you.

How do you deal with your children's school papers?

   Whether your kids are public, private, or homeschooled, they have created so many papers by the end of the school year.  What do you do with them all?

Joyfully yours,
K

Chicken count: 56 + 5

   Well, we lost another meat chicken.  She was the smallest.  For the last three days she was really slow, and when she would sit, the others would literally walk on her instead of around.  Poor girl.  She was eating and drinking, though, so we let her be, but in the morning she was gone.  I don't like losing animals, even when I know they're going to end up in my freezer.  She didn't have any obvious injuries, and no discharge or any other sign of illness.  Just sort of slowed down and died.  I suppose I should have cut her open to see what I could find, something like Justin Rhodes did with his fat chicken.  A chicken autopsy.  Okay, that just sounds funny, and it's sad to lose a chicken.  Moving on.

   So, my meat chicken count is down to 56.  On the other hand.... I got my egg layer chicks! Five blackie mixes.  I don't know what - I think Black Austrolorp?  The fertilized eggs went to a friend who incubated them (in her machine, not herself, of course, that would be really funny) and gave me 5 chicks.  They are so cute. 

   Yesterday I spent the rainy morning sewing up some blankets, and the somewhat sunny afternoon finishing my tree cutting adventure from the other day.  Now I have four limbs to make posts and some cross pieces to attempt a "rustic" arbor by the road to grow my clematis on, and a bunch of Y branches for a shelf project.  I don't do well with cold, so having something to do inside and outside is almost a necessity for me in the spring and fall.  Not that I don't have plenty to do already, but these are things that have been floating around in my head, and as long as I have to cut trees down, I better get my materials while the gettin's good!

   I've got two recipes to share from last week, and all the pictures of the meat broiler coop.  Speaking of which, I hope the sun comes out sometime today.  I have to fix the roof since the wind blew it off the hinges. It's currently tied down in the front, like normal, and permanently screwed in at the back.  And it is super windy right now.  That is going to bear trying to hold it and get the food in, let alone hold it up to fix it.  Fixing it might be a wait till Hubby gets home so I have 4 hands project.  I'll have 4 and 2 half hands if I get Handsome Boy involved.  Plus it's chilly and sprinkly/rainy outside - not my kind of weather.

   Guess it's a day for more sewing, staining, and organizing my hiking pack, at least until the wind dies down.  Glad I can still get something done!

Joyfully yours,
K