Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

WooHoo! Get out the down jackets, fire up the heater - it's 66 degrees this morning! While it may not be much of a cold front, it's the lowest temp we've had in months. I plan on being outside alllllllllll day!

Today is the last day of my last day of vacation and I've got a ton of things left to do. I really need to finish separating my chicken breeds. The Barred Hollands and Red Dorkings are starting to lay - finally! The pullet odds were NOT in my favor when I got these chicks. I ordered sexed Barred Hollands. I was 'supposed' to get 4 cockerals and 21 pullets. Nope! I got at least 8 cockerals....hope they taste good. I ordered 20 Red Dorkings, straight run. I must have at least 12 cockerals... geeze. Dorkings are supposed to be great tasting birds - one of the supposedly 'gourmet' chickens. I'll let ya'll know my thoughts on that when the time comes. I also ordered Silver Gray Dorkings from a commercial hatchery. I know they are endangered, but geeze, the quality of these birds sucks! Several of the cockerals simply refuse to grow. They've received the same care as all the others and a couple of them are only about half the size they should be. Two of the cockerals and at least 3 of the pullets have wry tails. Guess they'll go in the pot too. If the pullets start laying soon, maybe I can turn them out with the layers because I won't use them for breeding or selling hatching eggs. Ugh...what a waste! Thankfully, I've got a really nice roo that I hatched from eggs I got from a local breeder. He's got a tough job to do to improve the quality of these hatchery birds.

We picked up the last gutter hangers we needed while we were out yesterday. That will be the first project that DH will work on. I need to get behind the push mower and clean up some pens... Hopefully, the cooler weather will at least slow down some of the growth around here.

Took a good look at Spooky last night... I swear she looks pregnant already, lol. In my world - that's a sure fire clue that she ISN'T, lol.

 

[moolie]

We've had nights down in the 50s for weeks now, with freezing temps threatening most nights. But our fall comes earlier--the poplars (which are non-native) start to turn yellow in early August. Native trees start to turn in early September and all the leaves are off most trees by the end of the month.

We can get snow as early as late September, but it's only ever a wet skiff that melts by the end of the day. I like it when it stays dry longer, like till early November, because fall is my favourite time of year--warm days, cool nights, no extremes

We haven't put our furnace on yet, and probably won't till the end of the month, but we like it a bit cooler indoors than most people--we usually keep the house around 65-68F. Except in the summer, we do have an air conditioner on the furnace in this house but we try not to use it, so we keep our windows open at night to pull in as much cool air as possible, then close up tight during the heat of the day.

 

[pinkfox]

fall is definatly when i come alive
opend up all the windows i could yesterday and hoping to get away with not runing the AC anymore

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I looooove to open windows - we get about 4 days a year when we can do that. Maybe two days in spring and two days in fall... Okay, slight exaggeration, but not by much. I sure wish I could get away without running AC anymore. I try to keep the thermostat up to at least 76, and DH tries to keep it at about 70 - so we each try to pull a sneak attack on the other, lol. He turns it down and when he turns his back, I turn it up!

Our electric bill is a major part of our budget and I wish I could trim it. We have a central AC/Heater unit for the main floor of the house, but we have zoned ac/heat upstairs. Right now the two extra bedrooms upstairs are using NO electricity. Usually, when we're NOT on vacation, the AC downstairs gets turned up to 78 while we're at work. The a/c in the master b/r gets turned up to 78 while we're out also. We run a window a/c in the pantry room. Don't want the pantry foods getting too hot. The extra refrigerator is in that room too. We keep it about 76 degrees in there. The freezer in the garage doesn't get air conditioned (even though it would probably run easier if it were in a cooler place) The electric bill has been about $250 all summer long. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Our cool spell is only supposed to last a few days - we usually have major heat through the end of Sept, sometimes longer.....

Pink - I hope you can keep your AC OFF!

Moolie, I wouldn't know how to live in snow. We are just not geared up for that in this part of the country - plus - I'd freeze my patootie off, lol!!!

DH is hanging the last part of the gutters, and I went outside with every intention of starting the mowing marathon, but got side-tracked by chickens. I got started separating the 'chosen' roos into a pen of their very own. I don't want them running off their weight chasing the girls. They need to concentrate on putting on some muscle for me to eat!

Break time is over - I need to get back outside.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

What an awesome day! It's pretty amazing what you can get done when you can actually spend more than 20 minutes outside! The heat is gone! (for a few days anyway)

DH finished the gutter project for rain water catchment. I mowed, he mowed and we're still not quite finished. I don't like it when he mows. Explanation: it's okay if he's on the rider, but when he uses the push mower his blood sugar plummets. He had to come inside and snack so he wouldn't crash too hard. Thankfully, he caught it in time.

Sadder note: My nephew took my mom out to the area where they want to spread my sister's ashes. We needed to see if mom and dad, who are physically limited, could get down to the creek. Unfortunately, the water level in the creek is down so we may put off sending her ashes downstream for awhile.

I've got two hens trying to go broody....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I've got enough little chickens right now - don't want any more because I don't have my breeds segregated and I don't want no little half-breeds, lol!

Hope everyone had a great day!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

My first day back at work - ugh! Actually, it's not that bad - but the weather is bee-you-tee-ful - and I'd rather be outside. But, if you've gotta have a job - mine is great! I love my boss and co-worker, I love the students we work with, and I love the atmosphere on campus.

It was only a little bit hard getting outside to milk at 5:30 this morning....I hopped out of bed pretty easily, but now, sitting at work - I'm sleepy. Gotta get back into the routine.

Got lucky and caught a rooster this morning that had evaded me allllllllll day yesterday. I still have a few of the Red Dorking roosters to sort through. They are all pretty nice roos, so it's hard! I'll keep at least two - maybe three - of the best and butcher the rest in a month or so.

I want pigs! Hubby is all for it - the neighbor that I share land with is all for it - so it should be a go. I want to be able to free-range them, but I'm not sure if that will be enough. I need to figure out a way to give them supplemental feed if necessary - and keep the horses and goats out of it. Also, I have a small section of fence waaaaay at the back of the pasture that needs to be replaced before I try to free range any pigs on it. So, this project might have to wait until spring. OR, I could put them in the large garden area and they would probably have it all cleaned up by spring. This may have some merit.... hmmmm. There are Red Wattles listed on Craigslist in my area. Oh geeze, do I really need more mouths to feed, lol. Ya'll probably already know the answer to that one!

 

[pinkfox]

id put them on the garden,theyll clean it up, till and fertilize it ready for spring, then move them out in the spring if they still have some growing to do before butchering, your garden will thank you!

 

[Denim Deb]

WAKE UP!!!!!!! Did that help any?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

OMG! It did!

Now, you have to do it every morning for the rest of the week - I'm sure it'll take me that long to get back into the swing of things!

 

[Denim Deb]

I'll have to post it early tomorrow. I'll be leaving around 7:30, 8:00, and I'm not sure when I'll get back on.