Month: February 2010

Just popping in to say we’re going away for the weekend so I may or may not be around for the next few days. We’re taking the laptop so we’ll see if I use it much. In an effort to sleep better and quit stressing out so much I’ve left the computer in the kitchen the last few days instead of taking it to bed with me. I’ve been enjoying a few good books and trying to give myself a couple hours each evening where I say enough is enough and just sit down. I’m trying really hard to get 8-9 good hours of sleep in. So far, so good. A few quick updates: -Of the 12 eggs that went into lockdown 10 hatched so we have some fuzzy new additions! 🙂 -I left work on Monday and took 3 dead lambs down to Michigan State University for necropsies. I don’t know if I mentioned it here but we’ve had 3 ewes lamb so far and out of 7 babies 1 is alive and flourishing. So far we don’t have any lab results back yet. The gross exam didn’t show much except a possibility of toxoplasmosis. That is passed by

I put together a rough schedule based on last spring’s weather and what I plan to grow. To start indoors: Tomatoes start 4/1 plant out by 6/1 Eggplant start 4/1 out by 6/1 (or dc 6/1) Cukes start 5/1 out by 6/1 (or dc 6/1) Pumpkins start 5/8 out by 6/1 (or direct seed 6/1) To direct seed outdoors: Peas try as early as 4/1, then succession plant Onion sets 4/8 Corn 5/25 or a little earlier Beans 6/1 Sunflowers 6/1 Carrots 6/1 or earlier I’m sticking with 6/1 as my tentative finally-no-more-frosts date since that’s about what it was last year.  Who knows what will happen with this funky weather!

I made a list of things I need to accomplish this month.  I think I’m going to make a habit of setting goals every month instead of making one big list for the entire year. Here’s what’s on the list this month: Finish the newsletter and sent it to the printer Order broiler chicks Order shrink bags for chickens Make seed starting schedule Build seedling shelves Research turkeys and try to order eggs or chicks From where I stand our winter reprieve is over.  I’m feeling the pressure to get things organized and planned before spring comes and the physical work begins.  I HAVE to get this newsletter and order form put together this month.  The holdup there is that I can’t very well take orders unless I know what we’re offering and when.  That means figuring out the broilers, whether or not we’re offering turkeys, and the changes in packaging (if any). I called JM Hatchery yesterday and placed my order for chicks.  I put in for 3 batches of 100 birds each.  We’ll get the first chicks around the end of March and have the last ones processed in early September.  The plan right now is to rotate

For those who blog, do you find yourself thinking “oh, I could blog about this…and this…and this” throughout the day?  I do that a lot.  Especially, for some reason, when I have a bad day.  I think it’s because bad days around the farm are usually so ridiculous they’re almost funny.  I’d like to think I have a knack for weaving together stories of woe that make you laugh (like the one about the midnight chicken rescue) but those stories are probably only funny if you have the same sense of humor that I do.  I must be a little bit twisted. So here’s a few highlights from today: 10:17 PM (last night): dog whining, likely has diarrhea, I just got to sleep! 2:00 AM: dog again, I said a prayer thanking God for preparing me for children and wrote Brian a note saying do NOT feed Bear, then spent 1/2 hour trying to fall back asleep 4:15 PM: Home from work, found a repeat of the other day’s lamb delivery, aka one stillborn one live, this time they’re very big lambs and the live one has a bent over front ankle that keeps him from getting up on his

Molly was the first one to deliver!  I found her already finished with labor on Monday morning.  She had twins but unfortunately the boy was stillborn.  I found him cold with the membranes still covering his nose so I’m sure he never took a breath.  The little girl was all cleaned off and curled up in the straw.  Mama and baby are settled in to their own little pen now so they can bond during the first few days.  So far, so good, baby is nursing and Molly is doing pretty good for a first time Mom.

For those of you looking for a sunrise panorama or something else stunning, you’re going to be disappointed… This, my friends, is truly a beautiful sight to me.  Why, you might ask.  Because… don’t you see that nice new outlet that both the toaster AND the coffee pot are plugged in to?  I used to have the coffee pot on one end of the counter and the toaster on the other.  The TV that sits on top of the fridge had to plug in there by the coffee pot which meant the toaster had to move.  Now the TV has isn’t own outlet, conveniently placed right up behind the fridge.  My counter looks so much tidier and nice!   Having the house rewired was definitely a safety issue but it sure came with some nice perks. To make your visit worth it I’ll throw in some cute pics. 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend!

This is something I’ve been considering for a few days so I thought I’d throw it out there and see what you guys think.  I’m thinking about starting another blog about my relationship with God and my quest to become a better Christian.  Normally, I’m not a big fan of having multiple blogs.  I don’t like having to jump around to follow along.  I definitely don’t need anything else to suck up my time.  Between this blog, many forums, and now Facebook I really feel like the internet already takes up enough of my time. I really want to write about it though.  And I don’t think I want to do it here.  Let’s get one thing straight, I’m not ashamed to put it out there that I’m a Christian.  The thing is, I wasn’t always.  I know what it’s like to be an atheist and I know how I felt about religious mumbo jumbo back then.  And I know that the way to be a good witness is not to scare people away.  I want my normal readers to be able to enjoy the content here without feeling at all uncomfortable. I want to be completely comfortable too.  For

I’m not sure I can handle five… …if you say I can I’ll try but I’m really not sure.

You should check your credit report.  It is now free to view your credit report one time each year.  There are three different credit bureaus that report on everyone.  You’ll want to view all three reports, or you should.  Since we can only view the reports one time per year I print ours’ and keep them on file.  That’s probably not necessary but it makes me feel better.  Brian pointed out that it was probably a waste of a lot of paper since each report is 10-20 pages. The official site to check all 3 reports is www.annualcreditreport.com. The main thing you’re looking for is any activity that is not accurate.  Everything on ours’ looked good.  I did catch a JCPenney card that Brian opened to get a deal on clothes before we were together.  I remembered exactly what he bought with it because on one of our first dates he told me he went shopping and bought some new clothes.  I even remember the shirt he was wearing that day and that I thought it was so cute that he wore something new to take me out.  Of course he didn’t know what I was talking about.  I guess

Dave Ramsey fans are familiar with the saying, “The borrower is slave to the lender”.  To me that paints a picture of a man hunched over pulling on chains and heavy weights.  I don’t often feel like that. I’m not lying when I say I love my life.  Sure, a lot of days I’m frazzled or frustrated about the latest bout of dog nausea or unexpected bills.  Still, the fact that I have a comfortable home and a loving husband is not lost on me.  I’m the first to say I love where we live and treasure the memories we’re making. If I whine about one thing very often it’s having to go to work.  Now, let me put up a disclaimer here, and not just because my co-workers might stop in: my job is pretty darn good.  I work with girls that are my friends and we actually have quite a bit of fun together.  I only have a 10-15 minutes drive and I only work about 35 hours each week.  For the most part our clients are great to work with.  I get to educate people, most of whom actually want to hear what I have to say