I'm a city girl, and one of the things I had to learn about living the Rural Life is that nature prevails and we're in their backyard... although technically they're in mine... but I'm in theirs... still, I don't much like raising chickens only to feed the local wildlife.
Because these are too cute for anyone to eat, much less the critters running around the woods. Hubby tells me it's the price we pay for living "in the wild." Well, the wildlife got one of them... of all things, the one that was growing up to be a nice looking rooster... not sure who did it, but suddenly I'm having to learn to protect my own... just one more skill to add to the growing list.
Wow, after a feverish month of blogging daily, I have gotten lazy, haven't I...?
Let's wrap up:
On the 30th we had, what's becoming, our annual Wine and Mushroom party.
It was wet, sloppy weather and the chanterelles were a bit waterlogged,
but I made a fantastic sangria, plus opened several other special bottles I had
laying around the house, and we had a lot more people show up than last year.
All in all, a LOT of fun, and it really highlighted my lack of seating
since everyone chose to sit around the kitchen table and eat appetizers
instead of milling around.
That weekend I started my decorating for the holidays.
Here's the trim for the fence at the end of the driveway.
I love those big ornaments, but somehow 2 have disappeared,
and I can't account for how that happened.
I have a thing for silver reindeer, and I added a couple more to the collection.
The slender deer in the middle of the picture is one of the new ones.
He's looking very handsome and is a nice addition to the herd.
We have green eggs!
This means that at least one of our latest 2 hens are starting to lay.
As you can see, there are 4 different colored eggs, so at least 4 of the 13
(well actually 10 since 3 are roosters) chickens are laying now.
This will be great and I won't have to buy as many eggs when I start
my massive holiday baking projects.
I tried my hand at Southern Fried Pie. Here are two attempts next to my final
all American apple pie. My husband performed the taste test.
Not quite like his aunt used to make, but still deemed yummy.
Having done this, now I know what I need to do for the next trial.
But, first we've got to dry some more apples...
Our county is one of the "pilot" counties in the state for the California Medical Foundation "Walk With a Doc" program. I led last weekend's walk in my town, and despite the rain and 38 degree weather, almost a dozen people showed up to walk the almost 2 mile route I had planned. I brought the dogs which helped keep us at a brisk pace. All in all pretty successful, and if anything it got me out of the house to exercise.... and, so should you!
Speaking of the dogs, they really do travel well. We went on a 12 hour car ride to pick up my mother for the holidays. The dogs slept most of the time. They behaved well during our pit stops. And, they didn't get annoying during those "drive thru" meal stops.
Then twelve hours back on the road, which leads us to the present.
Momma's here to spend the holidays with us, and Dillon just loves his Gramma.
Cheers to you and hoping you're able to spend time with loved ones
We had another death at the farm. So let's review the body count shall we...? A bit morbid I know, but seriously, this has been the worst weekend/week ever...
Arrived on the property almost a year ago. July 31st I officially was able to take possession of my new home. Toward the end of August, I was allowed by my husband to get three chickens, and I added 6 guinea fowl.
Then we moved up here officially around the end of November. But, it was in the beginning of November that we started to have a bear problem. Then about a week or two later, having been informed that we needed to "take care of our own problems," DH did shoot at the bear one night, and we hadn't seen it since.
So, officially as of December 1st, we had 3 bantams, 6 guineas, 3 cats and 2 humans living up on the property.
Then, in mid-April, the rooster and a bantam hen disappeared, and while I was out of town my DH took care of the "problem" when it went after the guineas.
Then, one by one, the bantams started to disappear. DH missed the new "problem" when it came stalking around, but not before it killed one of the female guineas. So, new count:
Then this Massacre Week happened... and last night while I was at work a new "problem" came around and killed the final female guinea. DH was surprised by the noise in the barn and didn't carry his firearm with him (which, by the way he's been keeping close given recent events) and the feline predator escaped, but not before we'd had another loss.
We're not sure if we'll get goats again, but I think perhaps during the next several months we'll reinforce and redo all of the fences, bring Boots back along with a new companion, maybe having one or both bred and start over. Maybe a llama?
Hopefully Benny will do his part and add to the population. We may need to reconsider what to do with the guineas since there's two males and at least the female one laid eggs.
And, I think I mentioned that we were looking at a new canine member to the family... now if we can only decide which one...
Life ends, life begins anew...
it's all a part of this new experience which I think is only just beginning...
but for all those that have been lost, you won't be forgotten
I can't believe how much time has passed since the last time I posted... Let's get you caught up on "life on the farm" shall we...?
Why, yes, this is a baby goat... Her name is Boot Scootin' Boogie aka Bootsie. She is a bit of a surprise. When we got our goats about a month ago, the breeder said that Josie was sterile. That she'd been with a male goat for a while and hadn't gotten pregnant. So, last week Monday after the goats were put in for the night, I told my DH that something was wrong with Josie. She kept calling out from the barn and seemed very restless. He argued that she was just being annoying as always, and we went to bed.
The next morning while I was in the shower, DH went out to let out the goats and chickens for the day. He came back in and said, "Something's wrong with Josie." I asked what, and he said he didn't know but that "something's falling out of her behind." I quickly got dressed and ran outside. And, that's how Bootsie came into the world.
It's been an amazing week of watching this tiny little shaky blob slowly find her legs. She now scampers around the yard with her Momma.
I did medical control for the Tour of the Unknown Coast bike ride again. It's a fabulous 100 mile bike ride along the coastline here going from redwood forests to the coast and then up an impossibly steep series of hills before the scary downhill run home. No major traumas, just some dog bites that had to be attended to.
Dixie is a week away from being 6 months' old. It's been awesome seeing her grow up and develop. She went through an impertinent teenage stage which she is slowly getting over, and she's really turning into a wonderful dog.
As for our "mutant chickens" that I wrote about in the last post... well, 3 have disappeared. One for sure died, as we found it near the barn. The other two, we're not sure, but I hope there isn't another wild cat around. We have seen foxes around, so maybe they got eaten by one of those. Nonetheless, DH thinks we should stick with bigger breed chickens. They seem to do better. In fact, tomorrow I'm supposed to get 2 more large hens and a new rooster.
Work continues about the same, and I know we're starting to head into the trauma season, so it's going to get even more busy. I was chosen as an instructor for a new program on patient safety so that has kept me busy with training and meetings. I also am the new pre-hospital care medical director, so that is going to take up a little more of my time.
With new babies, a new puppy coming soon, and living in this wonderful place, I know I am going to have to get a better handle on my time... I don't want to miss anything...
While I was visiting my mother, a bobcat decided to visit our property and made off with two of our chickens. I was kind of sad because I'd grown attached to Mr. Waddles the rooster and our little hens, of which now I just had one left. My husband and I discussed getting new chickens, and I called the original breeder where I'd gotten the chickens from last September.
He said he didn't have any chickens, but he knew of someone who might be selling theirs. He had told me about this "someone" almost around the same time I originally got my chickens, but at that time I didn't want two roosters around. This time, though, we said "sure" to a small flock of 6 chickens. They were collected up and brought to our house about a week ago. We're not quite sure yet what to make of them.
I call them the "mutant" chickens. They belonged to an elderly gentleman who was no longer able to care for them, and they look like they haven't been taken care of for a while. Some are missing feathers, one is missing an eye, and the rooster sounds like he's got a bad case of emphysema. Our one sole bantam hen from the original group won't go near them. Five hens and they haven't laid one egg.
For some reason this got me to thinking about life and the different paths that we all follow. Both sets of chickens came from the same breeder. Our chickens got to come to our home, the Beverly Hills of chicken life; acreage, plenty of food, a large coop, etc. The other chickens went to, well, let's be honest, a trailer park. They had small living quarters, a small yard, and I am not sure how often they were given chicken feed since they don't seem to know what to do with it when we throw it to them here.
My own life could have gone in so many different directions. Any small change of circumstances and I would be in a completely different place than where I am now. I thought about that today when I had a patient come into the emergency department crying hysterically and hyperventilating. She's now homeless as a result of finally getting out of her abusive relationship. She was trying to make something of herself; getting a medical assistant's certification. She's had problems with alcohol abuse in the past, but kept herself clean enough to make it through her program.
Tonight she'd had enough of the emotional abuse from her significant other and had packed all her belongings and was trying to leave. A verbal then physical altercation led to her ending up in the E.D. She cried as she wondered where she was going to go next. No family, no money, seemingly without any support at all, and she's my age.
I tried to reassure her that things would get better. We called the sheriff who documented her wounds, took her statement, gave her information on local resources. We gave her a phone, she called her son, arranged for a ride, and we discharged her to home... well, to wherever she was going next. Hopefully not back to her significant other. Hopefully, her circumstances will change for the better, too.
