TanksHill...Roll on!!

[TanksHill]

Ok so where does today's story start. Caution Graphic Story!!!

I have a chicken. It was a natural hatch from last year some time. It was and Easter egger and ended up having a criss crossed beak. I felt sorry for her. She has always done ok though. Eats well and lays good size eggs.

But... The dog always focuses on her. He never chases any of the other hens, just her. So today I noticed she was all fluffed up in the run. Moving kinda slow. One of the other hens walked by and pecked her on the head. I was chatting with my neighbor and mentioned I needed to cull her. Tobias, the carrot thief, was their as well. Sniffing her through the fence.

So about an hour later I went looking for my dog.... He was under the trampoline with said hen. Licking her. He had weaseled through the fence and got her. Now I assumed she was dead. So I locked him in his run and went for my gloves. A couple minutes late my 4 year old is yelling "shes still alive". Well I wouldn't have used that term. She was not walking and just lifting her head up and looking around. She was right next to my garden and the first thing I thought was shovel.

So today I culled my first chicken. I grabbed her by the feet and swung her around. Something my dh has said to do. Something about the blood rushing to their head. Anyways then I pretty much decapitated her on the ground with the shovel.

Lovey story huh??? Well the dog got a talking to and stayed locked up for most of the day. Chicken was disposed of and the day went on.

I guess I have officially take one more step towards my goal off being SS. Only if I could have dressed the chicken that would have been even better.

So anybody want a dog?

 

[hwillm1977]

I hope if he tries it again he gets a jalapeno.

That doesn't help... I gave my pit bull one once because he wouldn't stop begging and I was making jalapeno's stuffed with chicken... so I fed him one of the peppers... now he's obsessed with spicy food. (and trust me, you don't want to sleep with a pit bull who ate a jalapeno at supper time ) He LOVES peppers...

 

[TanksHill]

Now that's funny!! Thanks I needed that!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

oh gollly.. sorry about the hen. you did just fine, honey.

 

[lorihadams]

Oh honey, that sounded rough....

 

[TanksHill]

Thanks you guys. But really I am over it. I have moved on.

After reading all of the things Free gets done in one day I am feeling like a total underachiever. I usually try to balance inside with outside, kids with me time, laundry with kitchen stuff..... Looks like I need to figure out a better schedule so I am not traveling in circles but more of a straight line.

Literally and figuratively!!

I want to start the canning and pantry storage journal so I can keep track of what I spend on food. Perhaps it will be annual but start in June, because that's really when canning season kicks in.

This will also help keep track of the cost of food. Which I believe is going up.

I have started rolling around the idea of a Labor Day party. Ds will be 10 mid August and Dd will be 5 the first week of Sept. I think by combining the 2 into a family and friends BBQ it will not only save time but money. If I go forward with this there are some projects that need to be finished around the house and I will need to start saving some money. I know the holiday is kind of the last summer hoorah for lots of folks. But most I know are taking stay cations because of the economy. I kinda have a country theme idea, red checked table clothes. Straw bales and mason jars with lemonade. We all know I have a ton of those. I just need to get moving on it. My sil's both have children who's birthdays are in August. It causes issues with scheduling.

Busy weekend coming up. They have a Mother & Son Bingo night at the school this Fri. and dd has been invited to a birthday party on Sat. There goes my garden time. Hopefully Sunday will be productive.

Have a great day!!!

gina

 

[TanksHill]

Wednesday June 9th,

Well I gave in and bought a freezer today. I have a large chest freezer in my garage. It has not been doing very well. It is about 9 years old. I knew it would have to be emptied cleaned and have the seal replaced. Dh wanted me to store the stuff in an ice chest. I did not think that was a good idea because if the freezer was not fixable... You get my drift.

So I priced new ones, and then saw some used ones. We have a place up the road that sells used with a limited warranty. So I ended up running over there today an buying one I saw last week. It is an upright, I think about 13 cu ft. Not cheap but no where near a new one.

So I just spent the last hour unloading the deep freezer. I really like the upright and how easy it is to see everything. I know they are suppose to be less efficient but we'll see. I put all the chicken on one shelf beef on another and so on. Then there is a big basket on the bottom I filled with frozen veggies and misc stuff.

The sad part is everything I had to throw away. I did save some of the veggies and such for my hens but.... There were a few ziplocks of meat that you could tell had thawed and semi re froze. Who knows how many times. Most of the stuff from the very bottom was really old so I am not feeling all that bad.

Just another unexpected expense. What is that 3 already this month.

 

[@thefunnyfarm]

Mine went out too I am was not sure when though it was empty. I got adeal at the store 2 loaves of wheat bread for 1$ so I bought 16 loaves to freeze and well when I opened it I knew. Luckly I have an old refrig. on the back porch so just plugged it in and used its freezer. Well you should be good now they always come in threes

 

[TanksHill]

Well I decided to try a new recipe out today. It is the pie in a jar that Ldychef posted. I am thinking of using these as a supplemental desert for my Labor Day/ Birthday party in Sept.

So I made a whole wheat crust and used canned filling but that's what I had on hand. My son really wants to try the cobbler topping. Geesh I guess I will need to make them again.

So there in the oven. I think I may have overfilled the jars a bit but sloppy is ok for the first trial run.

g

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

ohmigosh, Gina! they are beautiful! how did they turn out?!?!