A hen with an agenda

Okay, so I have a hen who is pretty determined to get what she wants. You see Miss Moulon is kind of mean to the new babies....she takes out thier tail feathers and leaves them scattered across the yard, just her presence makes them all run, roosters included. It all started when I decided to start merging the older hens with the almost 16 week old younger chicks and deliberately left Moulon out of the event. In order to voice her displeasure she came to find me to let me know how unhappy she was with her circumstances. She came through my back living room, where the door is, through my kitchen and dining room and walked right up to my husband who was sitting at my desk. She was not happy. She was fluffing and bock bocking all over the place. This was our conversation.

Moulon: "I was going to be good!"

Me: "you are never nice to the babies, they run from you"

Moulon: "well, they get the better food!"

Me: "you are a hen, and need more substance in your food"

Moulon: "that's not fair!"

Me: "Fine, I'll put you in, but if there are any feathers laying around, you are going to be grounded to the inside coop."

Moulon: "I'm not the only one doing it."

Me: "Yes you are"

I put her in the coop and she behaved herself. I guess we both got what we wanted!

My job today

     Hey, I'm doing good! It hasn't been a month since my last post! I figured I'd post something short and sweet. Today, apparently, I have one job. That job is to pick a ball up, and throw it. Gracie has decided that this is a fun game, for her. I have to stop and take a moment to appreciate what she is actually doing for me. She is making me take a break from everything else but her and her ball. There are so many other things I should be doing but she has deemed this small moment in time as "ball time". Good dog Gracie, good dog.

I'm ready....can you see me? I'm ready...stop typing now.
Seriously, I'm ready!

Look Mom! I found two balls!

 

Yes, it's been this long

     My last post addressed my inability to take a moment and sit down and just type something...anything. This post took even longer than the last. A lot has happend in this past month and I feel like I don't have a moment to come up for air sometimes. I feel sad, yet determined to make the best of what my life is right now. I always try to live in the moment and remember how fortunate I am. And I am indeed very fortunate.
     BUT, things are tough right now. Money is tight, stress is high and I feel like I'm a walking zombie sometimes. I find solice in eating outside while my chickens peck at the grass, and when I'm spending time with my boys. Just yesterday I took my two youngest to watch B-25 Bombers fly over the Air Force Museum in honor of the Doolittle Raid over Japan. It was amazing to see! I don't like war but I think that we can learn a lot from our past and my two boys just love airplanes!
     Have you ever looked around and just felt alone? My kids are flying the nest, with the expection of my youngest son, and I find myself reevaluating my life and what it is now. I would love to have a small farm but possess few skills outside of animal care. I am growing a garden this year, which I'm hoping will be successful. I'm wondering if a small farm is too much for just me. I feel like my childhood dreams are coming to a close....what do I replace them with? So many things are becoming much clearer to me that they were before, and it's almost scary that I know now that I need to make changes to my life. I want a peaceful and quiet existance. I have lived 41 of my years for someone else, and very few moments were for me alone. I'm trying to get the guts up to stand up for myself and claim the life I deserve to live. But it's hard when you love everyone else more than you love yourself.

Wow, has it really been that long?

     I enjoy blogging, I really do. But why does it take me so long to put a quick post up? I spend lots of time during the day thinking about what I can blog about, but can't seem to make it to my computer to type it in. It's not like it's difficult to do or anything. I think it all amounts to the fact that I spend as much time censoring my thoughts that I put on here. I read a lot of blogs, some happy and bouncy and some that are true life and make me think. I have been an war inside myself trying to figure out what direction that I want to take in my blog. I want to show my happiness, but I also want to show my life....the real one that isn't always rosey. I've been reading a book lately "Life is a Verb" by Patti Digh. This Patti lady is a talented writer. I love her wit and observations about life. I feel like I know her in a way and I have learned some tremendous lessons from this book. I wish I could write with as much clarity as she does. But I guess I'm taking the first step, I'm writing.
     So, with that, I plan on using this blog as a journey. A journey of learning, a journey of remembering, and a journey of documenting my life. One day my children might take a moment to read my private thoughts and have a better understanding of what kind of mother and person I really was. I fear that in my real life that I am too stoic. When in fact I'm a very warm and fuzzy kind of person. I take everything to heart, EVERYTHING. I have learned to keep a tough exterior and I can stay this with strong conviction, very few people "really know" me. Very few. I'm really trying to find a way to get a voice in my own life, to step out from behind the people that I am behind so that I can life the life I am meant to live. It's not a glamorous life I'm after, I want simiplier and happier times. I want to travel but not in comfort, I want to exist among the people I see. My whole life I have read about what my life looks like from the pages of the lives of others. I want to live mine now. I just cannot figure out how to merge my current life with that life. I guess we all struggle with that. How many of us are living the life that we truly want to live?
     With this blog, I plan on documenting books I'm reading and what thoughts they provoke, classes I'm taking and the interests I'm pursuing. I will also document my life changes as I move from a mother of six growing children to a mother of one growing child. My oldest five kids have either made or are making that leap from High School to College and then into Life. Those of you who know that transition know the new set of challenges that come with that! I'm hoping that I can be my own best friend and that I will be kind to myself if I don't live up to my own expectations. I hope you will all be forgiving as well. For now, I will promise myself to blog more and to let more thoughts see the light of day. Maybe then I will make those changes that I need to make!

sad news...

     I've got sad news to report. We lost a chick this week. I think she got piled on by her sibs and probably suffocated. This is the first chick I've lost, she was black and one of the Americauna/Buffs. That brings my chick total to twelve now. I do better now that I did in the past when I lost a bird, I am learning that it happens sometimes and I try not to take it too personal. I know that while my hens are with me that they are living the good life with lots of attention and special treats. That makes me feel better. The others are doing great and are beginning to feather in. One chick in particular is starting to stand out from the others. He/She isn't the largest chick, isn't the prettiest colored chick and is actually rather plain looking. But everytime I put my hand into the brooder it always approaches me. I'm thinking this little chick could be an up and coming rooster....it's the only one who approaches me with curiosity. I'm hoping that it's a hen instead. I adore friendly hens! As for my three girls outside, they are doing great with all of the cold weather that we have had lately. I added fresh bedding today since they have been kicking so much against the door. I took them hot eggs and corn for breakfast this morning when it was only 17 degrees outside and they had already laid thier eggs for the day. They are good girls!
     I have also been working on a craft project this week. I saw this idea on the Nate Berkus Show. Instead of having a pigeon type of bird I decided on (what else?) Chickens! These pictures sit above my desk and I love looking up and seeing them everyday. I've never been all that crafty, but I like getting in touch with that side of me again!

oh I love these chickies!

Dinner is done, the freshly painted living room is getting a new curtain, and wall decor and now I can sit down with a little quiet for a minute. I just had to go check on the chicks. I don't normally wear hoodies, but it just so happens that today I am. I now have a pocket full of chicks making little adorable chick noises. We are bonding and they are content and sleeping with thier little heads peeping out from the sides of my sweat shirt pockets. Sometimes simple things can be so soothing!

hardworking girls



Miss Pancake posing by the rake

Miss Roxy digging through last years garden soil, I'm not
sure what she's going to find in there. Nothing grew in it!

 I thought I'd add a few recent pcitures from our recent warm winter day. The girls and kitties had a good time getting out and basking in the sun. They needed this day as much as me!









My girls looking for a snack