Too freakin busy

I am finally admitting to myself that I've got too much going on right now. Summer is finally here, and passing all too fast. We're desperately trying to get outside projects done before the returning rains put us in lockdown. We finally got the house mostly painted yesterday (finishing the second coat today, thank god for our paint sprayer). We gave up on the garden, the weeds got out of control, and then the garden finally kicked into gear... So, there's a massive amount of weeding to do. The pigs need to go to butcher. Always a new goat pen for which we need to cut a fence line. The old house needs a bunch of work that has to be done while the weather's nice. I need to get the trim on the coop. And on and on. Busy busy! So, I'm taking a month or so break from blogging. Not like I post all that often anyway, but I do spend a lot of time reading all my favorite blogs. It also doesn't help that I can't find the camera. :) When our plate is a little less full, and the camera has shown itself again, I'll post the huckleberry recipe, the meat chicken processing, and maybe by then some info on sending the pigs off to butcher!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Our egg journal

Ok, posting this again, as apparently first one flubbed and wouldn't show up. Grrr... Blogger.

So, a couple days after the girls started laying I decided to keep an egg journal. I was at the gas station, talking to my mom about our first eggs, and remembered how my friend would keep track of his hotrod's mileage/gas usage in a little notebook so he could see the effects of changes he made to the car's engine, etc. I thought, why not keep one for the girls!

We keep a little 3x5 spiral notebook with our egg basket. Every day, we note down how many we collected, as well as anything unusual that we'd like to record. For example, odd egg sizes, shapes, shell condition, location, etc. Inside the cover of the notebook, I listed all our chickens (11 buffs, 1 barred rock, 4 ameraucanas, etc) and their approximate hatch dates.

Hopefully, this little notebook will be useful in tracking egg production, as well as problems. For example, if we're both collecting eggs, we may not be mentioning to each other that we're seeing the occasional weak shell. If we don't see a pattern (seeing them more often, for example), we wouldn't necessarily know that there was a problem to be treated. We'll see if this helps at all. For the moment, it's just fun to look at the slowly climbing numbers as more girls start laying! And, we'll be able to see how many eggs they produce vs feed costs, which would be interesting to see (we're not doing this yet. Perhaps after the first of the year).

Do you keep track of the eggs you collect?

Egg journal, 7/20 - today

7/20 1st egg, found on ground
7/21 2, 1 had weak shell and was broken
7/22 0
7/23 1
7/24 1
7/25 3
7/26 2, 1 cracked but thick shell, added shavings
7/27 3
7/28 4, 1 double yolk lg as store xl(2.3oz)
7/29 3
7/30 3
7/31 2
8/1 3, 1 sm (1.5oz), 2 xl(2.3,2.4)
8/2 5
8/3 6
8/4 6
8/5 5
8/6 10, 1 thin shell and broken
8/7 7, 5 before 11a, 1 very sm,dark,speckled
8/8 8
8/9 11
8/10 8
8/11 11, 1 was GREEN! (1st green egg!)

Mud bath!

I'm hoping to get the jelly recipe up this week, but I'm having trouble finding time to make a batch (and take pics) as LJ is working a bit of overtime this week, which means more chore time for me after work. Sooo, here's a pic of a happy pig instead. :)

Wild red huckleberries

Been picking huckleberries this weekend. We made jelly for the first time from berries we had picked over several days last week. Delicious, and we're really happy with our first ever jelly experience. It's a pain to pick a decent quantity, but these tart little jewels are sooo worth it. We found a huge bush today, and got 5 cups of berries off it (took us an hour to do so). I'm making another batch of jelly tomorrow, and will actually post a recipe for once, for anyone with the patience to pick these things. :) 8 cups of berries should give us 4 8-oz jars. Did I mention this stuff is extra yummy? I did? Ok. Just checking.

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Thought new layers laid small eggs...

Holy crap! Lookie what I pulled out of the nest box today! This egg is HUGE! This is it next to a grocery store extra large.

The girls gave us 4 eggs today. Looks like another girl started laying, as the most before this was 3. :)

*** So, having bought a digital scale today, we weighed the monster egg. It weighed in at 2.3oz, exact same weight as an extra large we plucked at random from the store egg carton. :)

Evening stroll, and a big surprise!

So, I got home from work last Friday afternoon, soooo very glad it was the weekend. I relaxed for a few with LJ on the back lawn, enjoying the sunshine and a beer. It was such a lovely evening, LJ suggested we take Henry for a walk on one of the old logging roads. So we headed out, happy pup tugging us along.

We came around a corner, and LJ pointed up at one of the hills. Standing there, nearly invisible against the brush and grass, stood twin fawns. They watched us as we walked around the hill. Henry was oblivious, more interested in scenting the trail. Unfortunately, the deer were too far away to snap a pic. Very neat sight, though.

Such a pretty walk!

We continued into the hills, and I started to get a bit tired. Lots of uphill! LJ pushed me on, telling me that we only had a little farther to go to get to the top of the hill. Henry seemed to agree, and dragged us ever higher.

We finally reached the top and walked out on an old log landing to view the lovely sunset. I saw LJ reach into his pocket, and didn't think much of it, until he turned to me, told me how much he loved me, and got down on one knee...

5 years and nine months to the day from our first date, I got engaged to the best man ever! :)

Perfect man, perfect ring, perfect setting, perfect evening! Now, to plan the wedding... Woooooohooooo!

My dog killed a skunk... Warning... Dead skunk pic.

Yep. Henry got his first skunk last night, about 100' from the turkey pen. He was just protecting the livestock, right? Riiiiight... He bounded off into the bushes, leaping around like a fox hunting in the snow. Next thing I know, he's wiping his face in the grass. Yuck. It was a young skunk, and Henry appeared to have killed it with little to no resistance. Luckily, he hadn't gotten bitten, and is up to date on his rabies shots. Skunk appeared healthy (other than the whole being dead part).

So, I got to stay up late, washing skunk stank off my dog. The miracle mixture? A bottle of peroxide, a heaping 1/4 cup of baking soda, and a good squirt of dish soap. Mixed it all together, lathered him up, and let it sit for 10 minutes. Took the stink away like magic! Luckily, it didn't really get his face, just his neck. I think he hated the bath more than the spray. Lol. Poor kid. No... Poor me. After washing the stinky pup, I got to go out and cut the head off the skunk with a shovel. See, when I was a kid, rabies was a terrifying thing. More than once, one of the dogs got a skunk. We would have to quarantine the dog while the vermin was tested. I cut the head off so the brain could be tested if necessary. Quadruple bagged it and popped it in the shop freezer, as the brain apparently decomposes pretty fast. I was up until nearly midnight... Ugh. Turns out not necessary. I called our vet this morning, and they said don't worry about it, since Henry is up to date on shots and wasn't bitten. Just need to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't react badly to the spray. I guess some dogs have severe reactions. So much for my paranoia. Anyhow, at least that little skunk won't be developing a taste for poultry, eh?

The cherry on top? Henry went and rolled in the spray this afternoon, and I got to wash him again... Oh joy! :)

(This post gets a LOT of hits. Leave a comment if you have a moment! :) I would love to hear if the peroxide mixture worked for you, or hear your dog vs skunk story.)