Here a Chick, There a Chick...

On August 29th a broody hen that we allowed to set 

hatched out 14 chicks..

(Maybe we should have counted the eggs...)

For about a week, we didn't allow them to leave the coop

to protect them from harm...

Then one got killed accidentally while in the barn...

After that we let them out of the barn.

And then one got swooped up by a hawk,

and another just died...

Don't know why, but it did...

So we were left with 11...

While the chicks were in the coop,

the other hens didn't have anywhere to lay,

so they found places around the yard in the woods...

Then we found this hen...

She had hidden her eggs at the edge of the woods under 

a piece of metal sheeting...

So we left her alone...

Yesterday we heard peeping...

Another 11 chicks!!

We pulled them out from the nest and put them in the coop...

Time to build a chicken run...

Or give Frederico a vasectomy....

Commuter Blues

As you might remember, I've been doing some traveling to Sacramento once a month to work at several ED's there.  It was part of my company's Ambassador program to help new programs get started.  This was my last month of working with the program.

It's been quite an interesting experience.  I get to see a lot of more complex patients than I do in my small town, rural hospital, and the hospital system is so different in terms of available services and admissions.  Also, I get to work close to a Trader Joe's and what can beat that?

As much as I like working in the city, I always look forward to leaving traffic, people and everything far behind as I head back north.  It's amazing to me how in a few short hours I can have the road to myself.  Where I can drive for almost an hour and not see another car on the road.  Where I can leave the "concrete jungle" and enter the forest of redwoods that is now part of my home.

I cross this bridge and find peace as I make the last 5 mile drive home...