Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

guineas were brave this morning and ventured down into their run...
they seem happy scratching at the grass and rolling about

today i clean up day...and boy do i need one...the place looks like a disaster zone since ive been so tired doing other stuff that i havent been doing my usual daily pick up...which means this is also going to take all day :/
i need to do a bunch of tidy up outside too, its such a mess in the back yard right now...but thats going to wait a while.

inside first, then chillaxing...im still not feelign 100% and dont want to run myself any further into the ground...

 

[pinkfox]

wow the humidity today is kicking my tuckus.
im SUPPOSED to be cleaning the house
got the majority of the dishes done and the back bedrom done...but then got dizzy

My bloodpressure skyrockets when the humidity goes up...i dont quite know why.
so now...taking a little break before tackling the livingroom.

 

[pinkfox]

finally got the house clean and smelling nice again, even scrubbed out the trash can (long overdue EWWW lol)
took all day though, just couldnt get the energy flowing.

some farm news...
1: the guineas have mastered the ramp and are enjoying going in and out of the coop YAY! next month their pen will be expanded and theyll have even more room to explore. im actually quite proud of my little coop.

2: ive put my name on the waiting list for 3 lambs in the spring. California reds, will be bring home 2 ewes and a ram lamb (ram unrelated) on the bottle at a couple of days old (want at leas 24 hours of colostrum in them) so ive got untill february/march to save up for them and build a shelter for them.

im also hoping ill have baby nubians from the girls at the end of february/beginning of march, and will also be loking for a nigerian buckling around the same time.
going to be a busy spring! lol. im planning on "co parenting" the goat babies, will pull them in the evening, milk the girls in the morning, then let the babies feed all day.

ive also got it figure out that i need to do a few projects over the rest of summer and fall/winter time.
1: build a couple of meat rabbit "grow out" pens. i want to pick up 2 30 x 36 hanging cages and get another S.Rex Doe and another Meaty doe. the meaty does will go in the hanging cages (no need to worry much about feet) and then my hutches will be full with rex.
that will give me 2 does breeding specifically for meat. im thinking 4 pens at 2ft deep by 4 ft long should give me enough room to seperate by ages and sexes for grow outs for both fur and meat.

2: work on the quail plan...i figure given building full sized coops is going to be expensive (and ill have eggs from the ducks) im going to focus on the quail before the chickens...so the plan there is hanging cages for the quail...thinking i want 4 cages, 2 breeding "colonies" and 2 grow out cages...

3: Save some money so i can buy some fruit trees in the fall to start the orchard. they are going to need a couple of years to mature so i do need to get them in soon if i want fruit in the forseable future. right now the plan is 4 apple trees, 2 pear trees, 2 asian pear trees, 4 nectarine, 1 plum, 1 apricot and 2 plum x apricot hybrids. all in dwarf to semi dwarf verieties.

(ill focus on fruit bushes and grapes then in the spring.)

4: make and fill more raised beds for veggies in the spring and relocate the veggie area out of the back yard area and over to a better spot neer the front of the property.

in the house the next few prjects are to paint the bedrooms and finnish up the kitchen (backsplash primarily) so yeah, got a busy next few months...
ill have been here 1 yr in October...some days i feel like ie made no progress...and others its like im steam rolling through things.

 

[Wannabefree]

You are making plenty of progress!! Can't wait to see the sheeps

 

[pinkfox]

im realy excited for the sheepies, as babies there RED with nubian type ears, then as they mature the ewes have red faces and legs and a soft oatmeal colored fleece, and the rames also go the same red and oatmeal but they end up with a red mane too...there realy "different" (and the wool is a handspinners dream and next to skin worthy and low lanolin aparently, which for me is huge because i love SOFT wool, but the coarse wools tend to leave me itching)

todays weather is WEIRD...
its HOTTER today....BUT it FEELS cooler. probbaly because the cloud cover and a very slight breeze is keeping the sun from beating directly down, but still, it just feels so much more comfortable today.
Got my electric bill and running the AC for a month cost me $30 yup sooo not happening, so today the AC is off the windows are open and the celing fan is on....the house is curently not cool, but its not uncomfortable either...
so i think AC is going to be reserved for BED time only (i cannot sleep if im too hot...)
the extra $30 ontop of having to buy the new fence charger has REALY stung so yeah, bills are already set aside thank goodness, BUT everythign else is on realy tight strings right now. the only things im realy worried about...Duck/goose/guinea food...im hoping i can make what ive got last, if im carefull...
cat food...(wet) willow is going through tonns and now the kittens are weaning...oh boy there all piggies lol.
shavings...i NEED 1 bale minimum as i nee to clean the buns litterboxes...2 bales would make me happier but i think i can get away with 1...

i should be ok foreverything else though so assuming i dont do anythign silly i think itll be ok.

I realy need to sell these last 2 male rex...though part of me looks at the broken castor male and wonders...is ears are FLOPPING...and i want to create my own line of rex coated lops LOL.
hes only 8 weeks and those ears are just huge lol.
but i realy need them moved out, there 8 weeks now, and bluebell is starting to get alittle pushy around the food bowl with them. i realy need to get a couple of grow out pens built at some point.
it may end up being a project for next month...the biggest exense is the wire...

but yeah...still feeling kind of stuffed up today and blah...but feeling better than yesterday.
i am howver on a MAJOR carb craving fling....and chocolate...ive got no chocllate in the house and resiste it during my trip to the grocery store...but boy i ould LOVE some right now.

 

[pinkfox]

yup my body handles weather realy odly...
im much more comfortable today temperature wise (its been HOtter and about the same humidity) than yesterday...so im not too sure what the heck is going on there lol.

I also think whatevers got me feeling ick is actually a bug because a frined is also feeling none too "great" right now, headache, general ick feeling ect...

in good news, my house smells delicious, (i stuck 1lb of chicken breast into the crock pot with the enchilada sauce and have had it on all day....will "shred" the chicken and then freeze what i dont plan to use in the next couple fo days (should be 4/5 servings there so probably 2-3 servings for the freezer) and i remembered to pick up sour cream this morning so *win* (cant have enchiladas without sourcream)
the bad news is its not dinner time yet LOL!

oh and one of the kittens has a home (with DEPOSIT) lined up so yay, the little short haired cream tabby boy has a home!
got a waitinglist building for the other kittens, but without a deposit there just names...this little guy though has a deposit! *woot*

not yet sure what tomorrows bringing, the poultry group is having its meet/sale at R&J feed...
im not yet sure if i want to take the 2 rex boys up there, temps arnt supposed to be too bad, but still...i need to move them but i dont want to drive all that way and sit around for hours in the sun and then bring them home...
I Do have to go to Tractor suply to pick up a bale of shavings though...which if im going to the one in jackson, i have to pass the feed store to get there...(unfortunatly thats the cheapest place ive found for baled shavings anywhere around here...)
so its a case of, go, take the bunnies, run to TSC first (early) and stop in at the feed store and sit around na dhope the babies sell...
OR go, take dozer, go to tsc get shavings and then stop at the feed store just to say hey...
the other option would be to take the bunnies to crump market, but again its a distance for 2 bunnies and then id have to pay to sit there and they may not sell...

GAH, im horrible at desicions...

i am however hearing a very faint rumbling going on in the very far distance...
i do love a good storm, and i think the air pressure is messing with my skull (headache)


oh so much randomness in my brain right now.

 

[Wannabefree]

Bring the buns up to Crump. I'll be there

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

You know, that chicken with enchilada sauce sounds really good. I think I'll try it tomorrow. Can you tell me more about it? Pretty please with maple syrup on top?

 

[pinkfox]

lol, its nothing raly complex but it is yummy...
i use
http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2009/04/homemade-enchilada-sauce.html
recipie, but i use less green chilies and more garlic (i like garlic but i dont like spicey lol)

place chicken peices Trimmed to remove fat if using breasts and deskinned if using thighs (i PREFER thighs for any crockpot recipies because i think they have better flaovr and stay more tender, but i had breast on hand so thats what i used today lol) into the crockpot, pour enchilada sauce over the top to just cover (keep back a couple of cups for later use if your going to be making traditioanl style enchiladas ect...how much you set back will depend on what your doing with them, i generally keep about a cup of sauce back for 4 servings. (and i tend to make MORE sauce because i like mine realy saucy lol)

set the chicken on low for 6 hours or high for 4...about 1 hour befor cooking is done take out the meat place on a board and using a couple of forks pull apart like you would pulled pork (if using thighs ect this is whne youd remove the bones and any cartlidge ect...)
put meat back in crockpot with sauce and let it continue for the last hour.
at this point i often add green bell pepper finley diced if i have it on hand.

now you can serve this however you want...

i cant hav alot of carbs so a traditional 2 enchiladas would be too much bread so instead i take 1 8" flour tortilla, cut it in half and take my little single serving caserole dishes, 1/2 the tortilla goes in the bottom and up 1 side, the other half goes in the other side and sticing out the top.
Fill with a servings worth of meat and sauce (for me thats about 4oz of meat in 1 casserole dish) then i fold the tortilla half thats sticking out over the top (essentially making an enchilada pie rather than a roll lol) top with left ocver sauce and a good cheese mix (cheddar jack is YUMMY!) and bake in the convection oven at 350 for about 10-15 mins (the filling is hot so it doesnt take long, if im using one thats been set in the fridge i cover it and cook for 20 mins, then uncover and cook an additioanl 10 to finnish the cheese off)
top with a glob of cream cheese...i call it enchilada bake lol.

but the nice thing with doing the chicken and sauce this way is you dont have to do traditional enchladas with it, it goes GREAT with rice or quinoa, ect you can even use it like you would sloppy joe mix to make sandwhiches...
its also pretty good cold (drain some of the sauce off) as a salad topping, or use it like you would use ground taco beef over a salad in a taco bowl (make your own using a muffin pan ) for enchilda salad insead of taco salad...
it freezes nicely!

 

[Wannabefree]

It was great seeing you today sis!!! Diesel got a bath He's almost too big for the sink already...what have I done?!