Chickies are Hatched and the Calf is Bald!

 Captain's Log:  25 March, 2016.

Incubator #1 - 28 live chicks 16 no-hatch
Incubator #2 - 36 live chicks 8 no-hatch

Conclusion:  We now have a bazillion cheeping chickies!  Good grief, whose idea was this?

Oh.  That's right. 

 I get overwhelmed in the Spring.  I want to do everything.  I start everything.  I have Lyme Disease, a chronic illness.  I get tired.  And then I laugh at myself and after awhile, things slow down and I'm not quite so overwhelmed and I drink more coffee and I think I'll survive.

AND THEN THE SUN COMES OUT!!!!  And I must go outside and do MORE THINGS!!!!!

And so it goes!

 This is the calf we started that has done well from the beginning.

 This little bald guy is the one that was very very sick.  I gave him everything in my 'sick calf' arsenal and he has rallied!  He is now drinking his full bottles of goat milk and eating grain each day.  I am sure his hair will grow back eventually.  I think it's a side effect of too many meds, but he was dying and now he's getting well, so DO NOT LAUGH AT HIS BALDNESS and he will probably forgive me, lol!

 This is not a selfie.  How would I take a picture of myself while I am milking?  WHY would I take a picture of myself while milking and WHY would I be smiling like that while milking?

Actually, I don't mind milking at all.  It hurts the hands (arthritis), but honestly, the milk is worth the effort.  No chemicals, it's fresh every single day and it NEVER tastes like goats.  Honest.

 For a couple of weeks I have been overwhelmed with orders for primitives.  Large orders.  I started to wonder if I could actually accomplish it all in the time required by Ebay and Etsy, but I have prevailed!  (It helped that it's been raining endlessly here and the sunshine & birds were not calling me to the great outdoors!).

 I sewed, I painted, I grunged and I tied.  I finished, I mailed!  I heaved a great sigh of relief and now I'm in the process of cleaning my sewing/craft room up once again.

My daughter bumped a vat of oil off the shelf in my pantry and so I cleaned my pantry, too.  Do you know how hard it is to clean up (cooking) oil when it has splattered/pooled/soaked into many items in your pantry?  It's very clean in there now.

 Ok, this is officially a selfie.  I drew this back in the olden days when I was young.  The year was 1977....the year I graduated from high school.

I do a lot of craft work and sewing nowadays, but I haven't actually tried any drawing in years.  It's on my list of things to do before I die....but the list is long and I don't have time yet. 

My husband and I are dreaming of a solarium off of our dining room onto the porch.  We can't afford it, but that doesn't actually mean that we won't figure out a way to do it anyhow!  He's a builder, so the labor is free ;-)  We do have a greenhouse, but it would be so much more fun to have a warmer, heated solarium attached right to the house..right?  Probably we wet Washingtonians think of these things more than other people.

He's been milking one of the goats every morning, too.   That was our deal - We could raise two calves this year if he helped with the milking since my hands just won't tolerate all that effort.  He likes this ole E-Goat and he loves his little calf buddies, too.

This guy is a keeper.  We've been married for over 36 years and I still like him.  He's down the hill at his bee house right now.  He had a dentist appointment earlier, sold some honey in town, came home and got right on the tractor and headed down the hill to work on expanding the bee house.  There are six hives full of a gazillion stinging insects down there.  I personally could not be convinced for any reason under the sun to BUILD SOMETHING NEXT TO THOSE BEES!!!!!  But he is a braver man than I.  Especially since I am not a man!

That's a bit of what's going on at the farm.  We're keeping close to home most of the time.  When my mom was so sick, we spent many hours in doctor offices and cancer clinics and passing the time of her treatments in town.  We're catching up on things we let go around here and just trying to get our bearings & strength back.  This is the first Spring without her and I miss her with every bloom and every ray of sunshine.  We used to play this little game every Spring to see who could spot the first trillium (wild flower in our woods).    Dave & I went for a walk in the woods the other day and I spotted that first trillium of the season and it makes me cry every time I think about it.  She was my biggest fan and I miss her so very much. 
Ok, now that I've cried all over my keyboard, I'll buck up and think about something else! 
A friend came over today to talk about Lyme Disease.  We shared, we laughed, we even cried a bit.  I think we encouraged each other on this difficult road of life and agreed that it draws us closer to the Lord and more fit for His Kingdom! 
May each of us be drawn ever closer to Him as we travel this road with its joys and sorrows!   Off to live more life on the farm until I sit down to blog again!

Brace & Bits, Doctoring Calves and Dodging Raindrops!

 I wonder how many people today would recognize this amazing set of tools?  My husband had these in his shop and I have stolen them.  A nice brace & set of lovely auger bits are just what I need in my sewing/craft room!  Actually, I stole them a long time ago. I've used them to drill holes in fence posts for gate hinges and I've also used them in the house for craft projects.  Sadly, the smallest bit is missing from this antique set.

 Shhh.  Don't remind him that he used to own this....After all, HE'S got power tools.

 Today I drilled the knob holes in this old thread cabinet just a little bit bigger so I could put new knobs on it.  If it had been in better condition, I'd have done my best to restore it properly, but it's seen better days and now it's going to serve as storage for my primitives patterns as I make them.

 It rained on Monday, so I made foxes.

 It rained today, so I made Cinnamon Bunns and blue Steller's Jays.

 Come to think of it, it's been raining forever, it seems.  Tonight it's raining hard and the wind is blowing pretty good.  The weatherman was suggesting gusts of 40mph and I notice the lights have flickered a few times.  I really hope they don't go out...I'd hate to lost the chickies I've got half-incubated!  I've been turning them three times a day.

 These little coffee cup bags have snap-shut tops and in the picture above I'm showing you the secret to making them snap!  Two sections of an old tape measure (I didn't steal it, I asked for it very nicely!), one on each side - makes it snap closed nicely!  I'm adding them to the things we'll take to sell at the Country Chicks Spring Festival in April.

 My newest addition to the sewing machine collection is a child-sized treadle!  This one is called an Eldredgette and stands about 24" tall.  It looks bigger than it is in this picture because it's in the foreground.  It's actually amusingly small.

Remember the quilt show I mentioned in my last post?  Well, here we are....I asked my husband that morning if I looked ok.  He said I looked like a hippie.  I was just a kid during the hippie era, but I guess I'm a late bloomer ;-)

The farm is still hopping.  We've got another calf, but this one is struggling for life.  He's got scours and probably pneumonia, but we're giving him everything I've got in the barn medicine chest and we've got him tucked in a cozy, hay-filled stall with a heat lamp to protect him from the wind & rain.  It's a big job to take care of animals.  Normally we feed calves a bottle (goat milk) twice a day after we milk.  While this little guy is sick, he gets his normal bottle (with many added meds) and then a bottle of Re-Sorb (gatorade for calves) midday and just before WE go to bed.  We give him Penicillin shots, too.  We're hoping and praying he turns the corner and gets over it. 
My new chickies came in the mail today, too.  I've got 6 baby pullets (girls) and two baby roosters - an old English breed called Speckled Sussex.  I've made more trips to the barns and up and down the driveway in the last couple of days than I can count!  Did I mention it's raining?  Can you say....drowned rat?  That's what I've spent most of my time looking like, lol!
Well, time to call it a day.  There'll be more chores tomorrow and I think I need to make bread again, too.  Pleasant dreams until next time!

Busy Farming, Hatching Eggs & Fried Rice for Breakfast!

 I just did a couple of things and POOF! weeks have gone by and I haven't blogged!  It always seems to get away from me.  Oh, well, it's my blog and most definitely reflects ME, so there you have it.  Sniff.

This is a litter of Velveteen Lops.  The rabbit house is (wait for it...) hopping right now, with litters expected all Spring!  These little guys are born almost hairless with eyes closed and very helpless.

 They grow pretty fast and in 3 days you'll see their coat colors clearly as their fur grows, in 10 days their eyes will open, and in 3 weeks they'll be hopping out of the nest to explore mama's cage, food & water.  By 6 or 7 weeks they'll be totally weaned.

This song is posted over my sewing machine.  It's one of my favorite hymns and helps me focus on the Lord during the times I feel overwhelmed by the darker days of life.

 In case you haven't noticed, I'm going to ramble all over the place in this blog, so hold on to your horses while we zip through the last few weeks!

One of the desks in my sewing room - where I stamp & craft.  I have another with my computer on it (and more junk) and, of course, sewing machine tables, too.  And notes.  And lists.  Lists of ideas.  Lists of things to remember.  Lists are my favorite.  Paper and pen, so much more down to earth than electronics.

 I bought these little claw cactus starts on Ebay.  They're growing nicely and each one is a different variety.  I used to have several large ones, but a packrat got into my greenhouse (outdoors) and ATE THEM.  Beast.

 Sniff your screen now.  Do you smell this fresh bread?  OH MAN.  Nothing smells quite as wonderful, warm & homey as fresh baked bread.  You can have the crust and I"m going to have the first big soft slice....with plenty of butter.  Real butter, of course.  Why would you use anything else?

 In April, my daughters and I will have a vendor space at a big craft extravaganza (Country Chicks Sping Fair) at our fairgrounds.  We're all working like crazy and one of the things I'll be selling are these little woolly owls.

I'll be taking lots of my handmade primitives, but we'll also sell other vintage items and probably a few sewing machines.

 Here's another item that will be heading to the Fair with us - a pair of primitive pillows that I just finished!

I love crows & ravens, homespun fabrics and squishy pillows!  You can hug one of them, but don't get it dirty!  (You did wash your hands after eating that buttery bread, right?)

 Today we tromped down our hillside, below the goat pasture and into the woods to see a spring on the hillside.  You'd think that with all the precipitation we get (almost 60" a year, on average) that watering our garden in the summer wouldn't be an issue, but unfortunately it is.  So, today we walked the hillside to imagine developing an irrigation well at the site we believe to be the original hand dug well back in the early days of our place, early 1900s.  The water was flowing nicely out of the hillside and the skunk cabbages were blooming - a sure sign of water.  Now, all we have to do is rob a bank and we'll be all set!

 Here they are again (the bunny kids)  a few days later.  Now you can see their pretty coat colors!  See those two tri-colors and that harlequin?  Nice! 

 The trees are still pretty dormant, though the wild plum blossoms are just starting to open, to the delight of the honeybees,  and the daffodils are blooming.  Soon the camelia will burst forth in color and leaves will start to appear on the deciduous and fruit trees.  Of course, it's always somewhat green here in Western Washington, even in the winter.  All those fir trees, doncha know!

 A bright spot on the porch.

 This lone machine had been left out in the rabbit house/greenhouse because I figured it was only good for parts.  Well, once I got it in the house, I didn't have the heart to part it out and now it's all cleaned & oiled and I scavenged up all the pieces for it, put it in a spare base I had, added a hand crank and she sews like a champ.  Made to last, those old Singers.  Nothing like a little tri-flow and elbow grease!

 Dave wants to gradually increase his bee 'herd' until he's got up to 25 hives.  Right now he's got 5 or 6 and really enjoys all the work that goes into keeping them and selling his (their?) honey.  He's got his compressor going on the porch with the hose coming in the open window of his 'office' and he's been building frames for his boxes.  In the office.  Yes, he has a shop, but I guess he figures it's warmer and more enjoyable to work up here at the house ;-)
I added these votive candle molds to the last bee supply order for a little crafting fun.  Sshh.  Don't tell Dave!

 Here's a few of the machines that my older daughter and I took to the Quilt Show in Centralia over the weekend.  They have a huge show and asked if we would loan 10 or 12 machines, covering 100 years of sewing for their extravaganza.  They also wanted us to be available to chat about them/answer questions.  It was a lot of work to haul them, unload them, talk about them for 2 days and then haul them all home again but we had a lot of fun and many people loved seeing all the sewing history.


Is your warming oven filled with sticks?  Mine is and they are not for kindling.  They are for crafting.  I found out that if I don't dry them before crafting with them.....they sprout!  They came from a big ole pussy willow tree in my yard.  Younger daughter and I wanted the pussy willows for our craft show and decided that we could also use the sticks.

 Since I don't have enough other work to do (waiting for laughter to die down...) I decided to hatch chickies, too!  The incubator on the left has about 40 eggs in it - mostly Buff Orpingtons with just a few Americaunas.  The one on the right is now heating up and I'm going to put eggs in it tomorrow.  I'm hoping for a good hatch rate, but I must say that trying to remember to turn them twice a day is surprisingly difficult! 

 The green eggs are the Americaunas.  Yes, we sometimes have Green Eggs and Ham, doesn't everyone?

By the way - this is the spare bathroom.  We still have a tub we can use for the next 21 days while we wait for chickies to arrive....Aren't we blessed to live in such a wonderful place??

Ok, now you see just a smidge of what's keeping me busy and I can heave a sigh of relief that I'm caught up, at least on my blogging ;-)

 For my big finale, I'm going to show you how to make delicious FRIED RICE out of leftover rice.

First, throw a few chopped peppers and onions into a little oil in your pan.  Beat a few eggs in a separate bowl and then scramble them into your peppers & onions.

 This is leftover Basmati rice, but you can use whatever kind you've got.

 This is actually just lunch meat ham.  You can toss in leftover chopped chicken, pork chop, steak, whatever you've got.

 Toss it all in, stir while it's heating up nicely.

 This picture is sideways or your head isn't on straight.

Add soy sauce to taste (I use Dr. Braggs Liquid Aminos, as you can see....)

Stir and EAT IT UP.  I promise, it is succulent and tasty.  Makes a marvelous breakfast.

That's it from me for this post.  God is good, all the time.  I have healed from my bout of diverticulitis and am learning new lessons daily in my life on this earth.  My prayer for you is that you grow ever closer to the Savior until your work on this earth is done.

See you next time!

Bottle Calf, Promise of Spring and a Lovely C.S. Lewis Quote

 This is the newest addition to the hilltop.....Yes, it's a bull calf.  Yes, he's adorable.  Yes, we're going to raise him and eat him.

More and more, people don't seem to understand the purpose of animals.  Farm animals are not meant to be pets, like this bull calf for instance, but to serve their purpose in putting food on the table.  I often wonder if those who think killing animals for food is cruel ever stop to wonder what on earth we'd do with them all otherwise??  You just can't have millions of cows taking over the planet!

This little fellow is a bottle baby now, just 2-3 weeks old.  I'm going to try to get two calves raised on the extra goat milk.  Right now we're still milking the three goats, feeding the three kids and the rest of the milk had been going to the house.  There's been enough left over that we can raise one calf at a time and this is the first one.

In another week or so we'll castrate and disbud (dehorn) him and he'll be good to grow for a couple of years. 

We disbudded the three goat kids a few days ago.  We keep a completely hornless herd for their safety and ours.  

 It's hard to imagine all the snow they're getting on the east coast when my daffodils are about 3-4" tall already.

The frogs have been croaking and today I saw a few honeybees flying around.  Of course today was one of our rare sunny days....No doubt the rains will return tomorrow.

 My litter of orange dwarf rabbits is now weaned and I'm enjoying these little sweeties a whole bunch!  I'm anxious to see how they turn out.  They are a litter of three boys and three girls and I named them Dietz, Torch, Beacon, Lumen, Glow and.....and.....oh crumb, I can't remember the other one right now.  Hmmm.  Anyhow, this is one of the little boys     --------------------->
No, we're not going to eat him ;-)



It's a long time until actual Spring, but we even have a few dandelions blooming already.  Wildflowers, doncha know, lol!

Not much else happening on the ole hilltop at the moment.  I FINALLY got the Christmas tree down today and gathered up the decor, but I confess that it's all sitting at the foot of the stairs waiting to get up to the storage room and then put away.  I've pretty much done nothing more that keep up with laundry and basic chores as I have once again succumbed to a nasty bout of diverticulitis, much to my disgust.  Can you say......chicken broth??   My best friend is currently a heating pad and  I've been on antibiotics and basically a liquid diet for over a week and was getting a bit impatient and disgruntled......

Then I read this by C. S. Lewis.....


 29 April 1938
I have been in considerable trouble over the present danger of war. Twice in one life—and then to find how little I have grown in fortitude despite my conversion. It has done me a lot of good by making me realise how much of my happiness secretly depended on the tacit assumption of at least tolerable conditions for the body: and I see more clearly, I think, the necessity (if one may so put it) which God is under of allowing us to be afflicted—so few of us will really rest all on Him if He leaves us any other support.

I am consistently in awe and amazed by the depth of  C.S. Lewis's thinking.  A very brilliant man was he and definitely more insightful than myself.

I always find it hard to be sidelined, so to speak, but no doubt it's good for a person to have time to rest and think.

Ah, well, I shall pull myself up by the proverbial bootstraps and chant to myself over and over that "this too shall pass" and endeavor to make a more interesting blog post next time!

Morning on the Farm and the Dance of Joy

 I woke up at my usual 5:45ish this morning and, since my husband is working away from home and staying for 3-4 days, decided he could use extra prayer.  I prayed for his safety while working and traveling.  I wish I could say that when I got up at 7:24 that it was because I'd prayed diligently all that time.  I didn't. 
Actually, I fell asleep and dreamed I was trying to catch three goats.  One had two collars on.  By the time we caught them all, we were so pleased that we did the 'Dance of Joy' that Balki & Larry used to do (google it).  Where did that come from, I wonder?

 I'll take you around the farm with me this morning.  First, stop in the boot room and get your chore coat and a hat on.  We're going to end up milking and feeding goats and they're stinky.  Be sure to put boots on.  After all, this is Washington...it's December....it's wet.

The wood shed is looking good - all that Douglas Fir, full of pitch, burns hot and warms the house up in a hurry.

 Rebecca is up ahead with the wagon.  She's moving some rabbit cages to the barn.  She'll help milk since my hands can't handle our three good milkers all by myself.  Can you say....arthritis?

 Merrieanne, Shiloh and E-Goat are eating their scoop of grain and ready to be washed and milked.  Shiloh is the hardest to milk, but we'll get-er-done.

After we've filtered the milk, washed up the strainer & milk buckets and then fed the kids, we'll be done.  Don't forget to feed the cats.

Don't worry, I can feed all three kids at once!  You'll understand why I change my jeans once I get back in the house after we're done with the morning chores!

 I see Laura has already been outside and let the chickens out.  They love to free-range and if we leave an opening they'll be everywhere - including under the porch and in my flower beds.

We've got 13 hens and a rooster.  A light in the chicken house keeps them laying eggs all winter, so we're in good supply.  Actually, I think there are about 8 or 9 dozen in the fridge, so be sure to take some home with you.

 I suppose your porch rocker isn't full of interesting lichens or moss?  We gathered this in the woods one day and here it stays.  Oh, well, it's too wet & cold to sit outside anyhow.

 On my way to the rabbit house I see this little mossy thing.  Western Washington definitely has moss.  And lichens.  And other things that like it damp.

I guess that must include us, right? 

Rabbit chores took a little longer this morning since the rabbit cage pans needed cleaning, water bottles filled and feeders topped off with alfalfa pellets...Then for the fun stuff....TREATS!!!

<------Scarlotti didn't want to wait until I could scoop some COB (corn, oats, barley with molasses) into her dish.

 Neither did Yetta ----------------------------->

 My litter of six new orange Netherland Dwarfs are growing nicely and I just weaned them a few days ago.   Soon I'll separate the boys & girls, then a little later each one will have their own cage.

I'm going to grow these little guys out before I decide if I'm keeping them all.  They take a while to develop fully.

 I thought a selfie was in order, so here I am ------------>

You're jealous of my barn boots, I can tell.  These are wonderful.  I am reminded of Rhymes With Plague's wife, Ellie, as she's been coloring interesting designs not unlike the ones on my boots.  Maybe I should tell her and she could start a line of fabulously colored boots:  Ellie's Wellie's.....Yes?

I love this little gate.  It opens into the garden, alongside the greenhouse/rabbit house.  Isn't it cute?

Well, you did morning chores.  Back into the house we go and I've decided not to cook anything for breakfast.  A bowl of homemade granola with a few raisins and (of course) goat milk and I'm ready for the next thing, which happens to be sewing today. 

Did a lot more things than that today,  but this was just a morning tour, remember?  

Maybe next time I'll tell you how to make Three Cheese Bacon Mac 'n Cheese because you missed out.  That's what we had for lunch!