"Homestead" Happenings

Well, a lot has been happening around here lately, and I haven't had much time to post. Here's a little of what's been going on: We were without power from Wednesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. It was mighty hot in this trailer! Thankfully, my generator worked very well and kept my computer running so that I could work, my fridge running so that I didn't lose all my meat/cheese that I had just bought for the next two weeks on Tuesday, a light, and a fan so that I didn't completely die. LOL It also provided power for Mom and Dad's fridge, light, and fans. The generator is between our homes, so we run cords to each place. I'm always squawking about how I want to be off-grid...until my power goes out. ;-)

We've had rain after rain after rain. Then the rain stopped, and it's been in the 90s ever since. It is so hot and humid. The cicadas are screeching their heads off or rubbing their legs together or whatever they do to make that maddening sound. There must be millions of them. It's all enough to drive a gal bonkers! My chickens think they're quite a delicacy, though. We gather a bowl full for them to eat every now and then. One will grab one and take off running with several others chasing it. Then they all try to take it away, so the chicken has to keep ducking and running. LOL The rain has made my garden grow but also the weeds. It's been too wet to get in there to hoe, though. My soil is clay, so I can't walk in there until it dries out. Hopefully I can hoe all the weeds out Monday evening, or at least start on it.

Yesterday evening, I was a chicken chaser extraordinaire. Here's a note I sent to my friend telling him all about my adventure: I just got in from the chicken roundup for the night. About a third of them were out of the run again. After I got them all back into the run, it took me forever to get them up to the chicken house. I finally bent over and started snapping my fingers and half of them ran after me. LOL Yup, snap your fingers, and the chickens will come. Have you ever seen chickens run? They are hilarious. They kind of bounce from side to side. I got them distracted next to the door by putting out some chicken feed. Then I had to round up the others. They were a little more difficult, but they were finally persuaded. I think the fact that Timothy was running up to them on the other side of the fence may have helped. Those cats want a taste of fresh chicken so bad they can't stand it. LOL Then, I had to pick them up one by one (while they were distracted by eating) and throw them into the house. Some wanted to come back out, so I had to smack them. Yep, I'm a chicken smacker. LOL You wouldn't believe how I'm sweating now! Sweat was pouring into my eyes. I must have spent at least a half hour getting the chickens put up for the night. As you can tell, I'm still having trouble figuring out how to herd chickens. LOL I'm tired of chickens getting out, though, so we started building a tractor for them this evening. I'll post pictures Monday or sometime when we get it finished. Here's another snippet of an e-mail I sent to my friend telling about the chicken adventures earlier in the week: Did I tell you about the chicken fiasco? Hissy-Fit (a cat) was inside the chicken run yesterday evening, so Chad went out there and ran her out. I was looking around and noticed that we only had 13 chickens! I didn't see any feathers or carcasses, but we couldn't find them anywhere. I was wondering if we had a bunch of hawks come in for some chicken tenders or something. I finally decided to walk up to the road....and half of my chickens had escaped, crossed the road, and were climbing the hill! The nerve! So, the got herded back down (herding chickens is great fun, let me tell you! LOL) to the yard and thrown into their run. We're going to be building a much sturdier, covered run tomorrow. (Note: That didn't happen. We're doing a tractor instead.) They've got the biggest chicken run that any chickens have ever had (that's probably a slight exaggeration LOL), and they can't stay in it. The grass is always greener on the other side. Here are a couple of pictures of The Boy with the chickens (Buff Orpingtons):



Also, I have four blueberries! I can't believe it! The bushes had almost died by the time I got them in the ground. One still doesn't have leaves, but the other two have quite a bit of new growth....and four blueberries! They are supposed to get about six feet tall and six feet wide. The kind I bought are supposed to be hardy and fast growing (can't remember the kind right now). I planted them between my front deck and the telephone pole. I put the really bad one in the middle so that if it doesn't make it, I can plant something else there without having to "match" it. My $1.98 clearance rosebushes are also leaving out rather well. They're doing much better than I expected!

I also did a bunch of laundry and hung it out on the line today. I was thankful to be able to wash clothes and hang then out to dry again. :-)