The Pyryt Nest

Happy First Birthday Puppies!

2009-12-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

I have been a bad blogger and not posted for quite a while, but now I have something fun that has to be shared. The puppies turned one on Dec 4th. To celebrate, we invited all the pups and their families to join us at the North Clackamas dog park for a puppy playdate today. Sunny and all five of her boys had a wonderful time playing, chasing and acting like a pack of wild animals. We have been in contact with all of the pups' new families except for the little girl (we called her Gracie, don't know what they named her). If her new family reads this, we would love to see pictures of her and have you join us at the next playdate.

Unfortunately, I didn't check the camera batteries before we left and they were low so the pictures turned out a bit blurry. You can still see how big all the pups have gotten and how much fun they had together.

That's Sammy in the front, Sunny in the middle and Sprocket (Butter) back by Tori and me. Even though he was the first to arrive, this is the only decent picture I got of Sprocket. The pups were so excited to see each other, they didn't stop for pictures.

Neo (Junior)

Wyld (Lil Buddy)

Jack running with the pack.

I think John missed Wyld (Lil Buddy) most.

Sunny was very happy to see him also.

Sammy trying to bully his big brother.

We are so proud of all the pups and grateful to their new families for taking such good care of them. We hope to see you all again in the summer!

Mother's Day

2009-05-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! It's been way too long since I've posted on here. I guess I'm not finding our lives very interesting lately. Of course, once it hits me, I come up with several things to post all at once.

I got the ultimate Mother's Day gift, a weekend alone with my mom and brothers in Sunriver. None of us could remember the last time we all got to hang out together. It was a very nice weekend. We set out for a bike ride on Sunday morning that turned into a three hour trip. We made a couple pit stops along the river to rest and let Sunshine swim. The poor girl got so tired at the last pit stop she just laid down and couldn't go on. Ryan rode back to the house and got his truck to pick her up like a princess. I'm surprised she didn't join us in the hot tub to soak her aching bones too.

Brandon, Mom, Steph, Ryan and Sunny

Brandon, Heather, Steph, Ryan

Mom and Ryan

Catching my breath while Sunny swims

Brandon and Heather up a tree

Sleepy Pups

2009-04-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

My Boys

2009-03-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

Since the boys greatly outnumber the girls in this house (we make up for it in the henhouse), I figured they should get their share of blogage.

These are the human boys of the house.

This is as dressed up as they'll ever be. It's nice to see once in a while.

I asked them to give me a GQ pose.

The puppy boys

I loved how this series of shots of Ty and Woody turned out.

I can't leave out my girl! Here she is with her "baby" Sammy.

See How They Grow

2009-03-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

We are down to just three boys now, Woodrow, Sammy and Junior. Yes, we decided to let Tori keep her Samster! We now have a live in babysitter for life. We are still trying to find Junior's new family. The longer it takes, the more we become attached.

Don't you just want to get in there with them?

They're not always so adorable. Sometimes they do horrible, horrible things like kill my best hen. I tried to be mad, but they looked so cute with their bloody little noses. She didn't learn to stay on her side of the fence after the first two times they got her, so it's kind of her own fault.

On to happier times. I took Woodrow out for his first hike last week with Tiffany, Oliver and Sunshine. We did the loop around LaCamas Lake in Washington. Woodrow had never been on a leash before and didn't get it, so we just let him follow. He was very well behaved. He even did fine when I put him on the leash towards the end of the hike.

Here he is testing out the water. He didn't go for a swim like mom, but he had fun playing on the shore.

The Bacon Experiment

2009-02-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: The bacon is all done and I thought I'd share the results. We discovered that by hanging the bacon in the smoker instead of laying it flat on the racks, we could get much more in there. That left us with only two more batches to smoke. That wasn't the part that ruined it though. I didn't take into account that the seven days of curing was for a slab of pork. The sliced pieces soaked it up much faster and the bacon is overly salty/sweet. We found that if we cut it up into little bits and used it in dishes like scalloped potatoes, it was fine. It is too strong to eat on it's own though. Next up is the ham. If that turns out well, I'll consider trying again next year.

So far the great bacon experiment is not going well. What's the great bacon experiment, you ask? Each year we purchase a cow and a pig from a local farmer. This year, we decided to keep all of our pork fresh (uncured) so that we could cure it ourselves. I found this blog that made it look real easy, so without much planning, we began. Our first mistake was having our "bacon" (technically not bacon until it has been cured and smoked, but that's what I'm calling it) sliced by the butcher. It would have been much easier if we had left it in a slab, but what's done is done, so we move on. Our second mistake was curing nearly ten pounds of meat, then discovering that we could only fit about one pound at a time in the smoker. That means that a lot of it is drying out in the refrigerator and probably won't be as juicy as it should be. Maybe I'm wrong and that part won't hurt it at all. That would be a welcome surprise. Our third mistake was using a smoker without any instructions. Neither of us has smoked anything before (foodwise that is) so we just followed the instructions on the blog. Apparently, there is more than one kind of smoker and ours was not the same as the one on the blog. We left the bacon in there all night and it never reached anything near 150 degrees like the instructions said. It did, however, turn into jerky. I tried frying it to see if it was any good. Because it was so dry, it burned very easily.Once I finally got some cooked without blackening it, it was ok. Terribly smoky, but edible. On a positive note, mistake two probably saved the rest of the bacon from suffering the same fate. We have a second chance (or ten)! BUT, we won't know the fate of the rest of the bacon right away due to mistake four (is that right? I've lost count!). I'm not taking the blame for this one though. This was the fault of some very nosy puppies who were trying to get to the yummy meat smell that was just out of reach. They didn't get the meat, but they did get the full bag of hickory chips. And they were so proud of themselves too.
P.S. I just realized that the picture of the bacon in the fridge gives a rather disturbing sample of our diet. Despite what it looks like, we do not live on bacon and alcohol (tempting as that may be!).

So You Think You Can Dance?

2009-02-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

Our youngest child sure can! He gets his sweet moves from his father. Here's just a sample of Jack's fancy footwork.

Hard Headed Woman

2009-02-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Here are the rules:
1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? Dareh Meyod - O.A.R.
2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Lilacs - Matt Costa
3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Here We Go - Dispatch
4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? No Turning Back - G. Love
5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? Imagine - Avril Lavigne (cover of John Lennon)
6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? When We Meet Again - G. Love and Special Sauce
7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti & Spearhead
8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? The Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes
9) WHAT IS 2+2? Spitting Venom - Modest Mouse
10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Hope - Jack Johnson
11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Liver Splash - The Meters
12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Heaven/Where True Love Goes - Yusaf Islam
13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Rainbow Country - Bob Marley and the Wailers. (that's pretty close!)
14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Symbol in My Driveway - Jack Johnson (Yeah, John's just a trophy husband)
15) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Give it Up - Amos Lee (that would make a great wedding song)
16) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Run - Indigo Girls (not even close! for the record, I would prefer Pleasure and Pain by Ben Harper)
17) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? New Thrash - Sublime
18) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? These 3 Sins - Gomez (oh, that is great!)
19) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Bang Bang - Dispatch (there's so many ways that is so wrong!)
20) WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Invisible - Modest Mouse
21) HOW WILL YOU DIE? O Maria - Beck (If I meet a Maria, I'm running!)
22) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? Nutshell - Alice in Chains
23) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? Mayday - Dispatch (not at all funny)
24) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? Body Movin' - Beastie Boys
25) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? Ran Away to the Top of the World Today - O.A.R. (I guess that's a no?)
26) WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST? Come in the Harvest - Piers Faccini (I'm not touching that one!)
27) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? Crowing - Toad the Wet Sprocket (my roosters love me)
28) IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Ganges a Go-Go - Bombay the Hard Way
29) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Camilo - State Radio (that song hurts my heart)
30) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS NOTE AS? Hard Headed Woman - Cat Stevens (well, everyone will know who it's from!)

I Hate Goodbye

2009-02-02T14:28:00.000-08:00

The pups are eight weeks old already. It's time for them to move on to their new homes. It will be bittersweet because they have been a lot of work, but also a tremendous joy in our lives. To make it even harder, the kids named them all several weeks ago. I tried to go on just calling them all "puppy", but the names eventually stuck in my brain.

This is "Junior" aka "Thud". He was the first born. He's a typical oldest child, very serious and in charge. He's a leader, for sure.

You all know "Lil Buddy". He is quite a tank. Despite his reputation, I think he is going to be a very good dog. He is the first to come running when I call them inside. He really pays attention to what I'm doing at all times and makes eye contact. I think he will be an easy one to train.

Another one you already know, "Woodrow". He is Mr. Mellow. You can usually find him snoring on his back while the other pups are playing. I think he knows he's staying.

This is the little girl, "Gracie". She is very smart and independent. She's the last one to come in when I call them, if she comes at all. Whenever we talk to her she does the head tilt thing back and forth. She reminds me alot of Sunny.

This one is going to be hard. His name is "Sammy" aka "Samster the Hamster". He is Tori's favorite and it's going to break her heart when he leaves. I can't even think about it without crying. Look at those droopy eyes, who wouldn't love him?

Last, but not least (actually he is the smallest) is "Butter". He is a sweet, gentle soul. I hope he gets to be the top dog at his new home.

Puppy Videos

2009-01-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

The puppies are spending a lot more time outside. Sunny really enjoys playing with them now. They got to play in snow for the first time this morning, but weren't too fond of it. They played for a few minutes then they were all at the door whining to come back in.

Hawk

2009-01-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

John was watching his beloved Eagles lose their chance at the Superbowl on Sunday when he noticed some feathers flying out on the deck. Thinking that our young roosters were fighting, he got up to shoo them and found this instead:

A hawk, probably the one that came to visit our meaties this fall, had caught a robin and was preparing to feast on it just five feet from our back door! No, it is not chained up. The puppies were dragging that chain around earlier and the hawk just happened to land on it. John started to open the door and the hawk flew off with the robin. Sadly, this was not an omen for the football game. He had hoped it represented the birds of prey(Eagles) killing the helpless little songbirds(Cardinals). If he hadn't taken the pictures, I would have thought this was all a beer-induced dream.

Little Buddy

2009-01-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

In an effort to convince Big Buddy's parents to let Little Buddy come live with them, John has been taking many pictures of him and asked me to post them. He also wanted me to tell them that Little Buddy wants to go live with his daddy and learn to be a good dog just like him. I do not condone puppy pushing. Ok, maybe I do but only if someone really wants said puppy and just doesn't know it yet. ; )

Don't you love me, Lesley?

Woodrow Contest Winner

2009-01-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

Ok. That didn't go as planned. I guess it was a harder question than I thought. YoMama (my mama) was correct. He was named after Captain Woodrow Call from Lonesome Dove. I can't say it's undoubtedly my favorite book (it's in the top three), but it does have my favorite character ever, Augustus McCrae, who is Call's business partner and lifelong friend. That's where our Cocker Spaniel got his name. Hopefully our Gus and Woodrow will be lifelong friends too.

Puppies' Outdoor Adventure

2009-01-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

The puppies got to spend some time out in the backyard this week. Do you see a pattern?

Sunshine chose to monitor the situation from the washtub flower bed, where the pups couldn't reach her. She loves to play with them, but she is done feeding them.They had been out for over half an hour and not even noticed the giant birds across the yard. They suddenly realized they weren't alone when one of the girls laid an egg and made the usual noisy fuss about it. They stood perfectly still like this for about ten seconds then went running for the back door to escape the monster that made that big noise!Then they did this all night!

What's Your Favorite Book? (Contest too!)

2009-01-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Just because he's so darn cute, here are a few more shots of our Woodrow. Shana wanted to know what book I got his name from. I was just going to answer her, but then I thought it might be fun to make you guess! To make it worth your time, I'll pick a name from the correct answers and send the winner a box of Girl Scout Cookies! Ok, it's a shameless plug to help Tori sell the darn cookies, but it will be fun and tasty! While you're at it, tell me your favorite book/books/series too. You can enter through January 19th.

The Puppy Palace

2009-01-11T19:56:00.000-08:00

This is the puppies' new home. They have plenty of room to run around and wrestle now without destroying the house. They are even getting the house training down pretty well. They have all figured out that the fenced off area with the newspapers is the bathroom and the other side is for sleeping, eating and playing. If we could just get them to stop tearing the newspapers apart, I'd be happy.

We have already added a second story to the perimeter because they've gotten big enough to do this:

Sunny is really done with puppies, but still indulges them occassionally. Six is a fairly small litter for a lab. I can't imagine how she could feed more!

This is the one we've chosen to keep. His name is Woodrow, named after a character in one of my favorite books. He had just had a bath and was shivering, so I put him on the blanket on top of the stove and he went right to sleep. (This is a pellet stove, not a wood stove. The
top is warm, but not hot enough to burn you.)

Last Post for a While

2008-12-29T16:40:00.001-08:00

Due to a nasty virus, our computer will be out of commission for a while. Here are a few shots of the pups to hold you over until we are back online.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...

Yep, we all know who the trouble maker is.

John's aunt made these little purses for Tori and me. Tori thought they made great puppy bonnets.

Two cuties

Feeding time.

She's So Crafty

2008-12-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

As I had hoped, Tiff did her magic with the sledding picture of the kids. Not only did she make a cool picture, she also turned it into a cool scrapbook page.

Fun in the Snow

2008-12-21T21:15:00.001-08:00

In case you haven't heard, Oregon is having some crazy weather. We don't normally see snow in the valley. You can imagine how exciting it is for us to receive nearly a foot of it in two days! To make it even more exciting (scary), we had some freezing rain last night which left a good inch of ice on top of it.

The kids found a great use for the sheets of ice that formed on top of the snow last night. They lined them up into fences and forts. I was at work while this was happening and only got to see the pictures. I probably would have spoiled the fun by telling them how dangerous it is to play with large, sharp pieces of ice! Thankfully, no one was hurt and I just got to tell them how proud I was that they were being so creative.

This is one of Broody's babies slipping around on the ice. Today was the first day that the big girls wouldn't leave the coop, but the five young ones spent all day outside.

There is something so magical about these roses that grow on our front fence. They are beautiful year round.

I'm sure "someone" could do some cool stuff with their fancy color-capture option on this picture. I'm just happy to see my three babies playing happily together. I'm glad John caught the moment.

Puppy Fix

2008-12-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

We've been taking so many pictures of the pups, it's hard to choose which ones to share. I have some really cute videos too, but blogger is being a pain and won't upload them. I'll try again tomorrow.

You can't tell in the picture, but all their little tails are wagging while they are gulping away.

Lil' Buddy practicing his howls.

Puppies Stink!

2008-12-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

The puppies are just over two weeks old now. The have their eyes open. They are starting to walk on their paws instead of doing the belly crawl. They are sitting up like big doggies (so cute). They are even beginning to catch on to house training. As you can see by my walls in the picture above, it will be a long smelly process. Why didn't anyone tell me puppies are so messy?

Sunny has done a pretty good job of keeping them clean, but between that and this:

She is pooped out!

Snow!

2008-12-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Pile o' Puppies

2008-12-11T08:53:00.001-08:00

Grateful for Geese

2008-12-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

I had one of those eye-opening moments a few weeks ago while talking to my grandpa. I made some comment about the geese that graze in the field across from our house everyday. I don't remember what it was specifically, just some observation. He asked, sounding shocked, if I really had geese in my front yard everyday. I realized that I get to enjoy this natural beauty that others will never get to see in their neighborhood. How silly of me to take this for granted. This morning, I happened to have the camera ready when they all came in (sorry about the construction stuff in the way). I am fascinated with the way they spiral down in groups. It's like a goose tornado. Enjoy!

Puppy Pics

2008-12-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

All six are fat and happy. Sunny is happy, definitely not fat. Before the puppies she normally ate one pound of meat a day. She's going through at least three pounds a day just to produce milk for the little guys. It doesn't look like any of it is being added to her frame. The poor girl looks like she's starved. She seems pretty content though.

I finally remembered to add the pictures of Buddy, the puppies' dad. Isn't he handsome? Sunny thinks so.

Cute Puppy Pic of the Day

2008-12-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

If you don't like adorable puppies, you better just quit reading this blog for the next couple of months. I will not be able to control the urge to post pictures of all the cute things they do. Take this for instance:They are killing me! I can't stand the cuteness!

Puppies are Here!

2008-12-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

Sunshine surprised us this morning and started having puppies early. The first, a yellow male, arrived at 9am with a black male following close behind at 9:20. Another yellow male arrived at 10:48. Finally, a girl! A little yellow one at 11:25. I don't think she's done yet. I'll update if we have any more.

UPDATE: While I was posting the pictures, she had another yellow male at 12:15 and appears to be getting ready to have another.

UPDATE #2: Another yellow male at 1:40. I think we're done.

Happy Birthday, Ty!

2008-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

Ty turned 10 today. He got to celebrate with friends Noah, Ollie, Noah and Kathryn. We started at our house with cake and ice cream then the boys all headed over to the nickel arcade for hours of fun (or torture depending on who you ask). Once they were zombied out on games, they came back home for pizza and more cake. Sounds like a great day for a ten year old.

We're Not Just for the Birds

2008-12-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

After posting the pregnant picture of Sunny, I realized that I had never posted a picture of her (or any of our non-chicken pets) on the blog. How rude of me not to introduce the whole clan! First we have our oldest pet, Gus. Gus is a nearly eleven year old Cocker Spaniel who has the most horrible breath ever, but he's cute. He has made it his purpose in life to protect my boys. He sleeps with them every night and barks at the window when they are playing outside without him. He is lost when they stay the night somewhere else. He's a good dog.

Our soon-to-be mama, Sunshine, is a three year old yellow lab. She is my pet soul mate. We were not even thinking about getting another dog.

Yet, here she is and we couldn't imagine life without her.

Finally, our cats,

Rosie

and Blackie

We're Expecting!

2008-12-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Only six more days til we get to meet the new little ones in our life! In case you haven't heard, our dog Sunshine is having puppies. We are all so excited! I wanted to post a picture of the dad, Buddy. But, the only one I have is of "the act". Don't ask why I have a picture of that! I'm sure the other proud grandparents, Dave and Lesley, will provide a blog-friendly picture in the near future. For now, here is our very pregnant puppy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

We have so very much to be thankful for today and everyday. We wish you all a relaxing day filled with family, friends and good food.

Butcher Day

2008-11-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

Our second butcher day has come and gone. We are in the final stages of sealing them up for the freezer. We don't have a proper scale, so we don't know the exact weights, but figure they are averaging four pounds. With so many more birds this time, we were too busy to take many pictures. Not to mention it was nearly freezing out and we just wanted to get it done. Once we finished the chickens, we had the opportunity to help a couple (Jen and Leaf, nice to meet you!) from an online chicken group butcher their two turkeys. I'm glad I had a chance to meet the birds, because I've never met a nice turkey and these two were very calm and friendly. Hmmm, maybe next year we'll add a turkey to the mix.

So, I just have this one picture to share. It is really distasteful, so if you don't have a sense of humor, don't look, just go on over to Tiff's blog and look at some good pictures there. If you dare, enjoy my mullet chicken!

Broilers at 10 weeks

2008-11-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

This is the broilers last week with us, unless you want to get literal and count "in our bellies" as "with us". I will miss them greeting me at the back door every time I go out. I will miss the cock fights. I will miss the cute little honking noise they make. I will miss the running waddle when they try to fly. I will not miss filling the food and water three times a day, the chicken crap all over my deck or worrying about whether or not I need to put an injured meat chicken out of it's misery. Not to worry, though! It will all begin again in the spring. Here's a recap of the last ten weeks. I'm still amazed at how quickly they grow.

Broilers at 9 weeks

2008-11-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

No crowing yet, sorry! I did take some videos this week, though. It's hard to explain the sounds they make, so I had to let you hear for yourself. You can still hear a few peeps from some of them, but the rest sound like ducks to me. This just happened to be the stormiest day we've had so far this season. The poor things were soaked, but they choose to stay out in the rain and wind. I guess they truly are free-range chickens.

Real Milk

2008-11-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

It baffles my mind that people think they can improve upon Mother Nature. Go ahead and try, but do you really need to make her gifts illegal?! Oregon, along with many other states, has outlawed the sale of raw milk. They think we are safer drinking milk that has been processed to a state that our bodies don't recognize and can't digest. I'm not saying I think everyone should be forced to drink raw milk, just given the choice. Oh, but the scary e coli might get us! Sure, anything handled improperly might make you sick. If it's such a risk, why haven't we outlawed spinach, tomatoes or feedlot beef? For more info on the virtues of real milk, visit real milk or here.
Now that I've had my rant for the day, I'll get to the point. If you, like us, prefer your milk the way nature made it, we can help you out. We are part of a co-op of raw milk buyers who place a weekly order with a dairy in Washington (where raw milk is legal with gov't. inspections). There are members from all over the portland metro area who travel to Washington to pick up the weekly orders for other members to pick up at their home. If you don't live near us, but in the Portland area, there is surely a drop site near you. Let me know if you would like to find one. Until that blessed day when we get our own cow, this is the next best thing.

Broilers at 8 weeks

2008-11-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

The broilers are big enough now that we let them out to range the backyard all day. They have stopped making the peeping noise and now sound like ducks. The roosters will start practicing their crowing soon. I'll be sure to get a video of that because it is funny. We have two layers that insist on flying out of their yard to hang with the broilers. I keep telling them that's not in their best interest, but they don't listen. Yesterday I gave up and just opened all the gates/pens and let them go where they wanted. The hens spent a few minutes letting the broilers know they were in charge, but after that everyone got along. Even Broody and the babies got to get out and stretch for a bit. With the whole yard to share, the others hardly noticed they were out.

Everyone sharing the garden

Cleaning out the corn patch

Broody and the not-so-little-anymore babies

The furry chicken, Butterscotch

Totally off topic, but had to share the monster egg one of my mom's hen laid this week. Not sure if it's the goldens or the orps laying these huge eggs, but I feel sorry for whoever it is. As big as it was, it only weighed 4 ounces. I've seen goose eggs smaller than this! The one on the left is the giant egg, the middle is a standard large egg from one of my hens, the one on the right is a baby egg from one of our young hens.

Broilers at 7 weeks

2008-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture I got of the broilers this week. I don't spend much time with them besides feeding/watering several times a day. The closer we get to d-day, the more I need to keep my distance and not get attached.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

We had pumpkin pancakes this morning and I couldn't resist carving jack-o-lantern faces in them.

Broilers at 6 weeks

2008-10-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

So, this is what happens when your drop shipment of chicken feed doesn't arrive as expected and you've run out of food. I was hardly able to walk without tripping over them. When I stopped, they pecked at my feet and pant legs in search of something edible. I'm certain that if I had fallen, I would have been eaten alive. Just kidding, I think!

When I didn't fill their feeder as expected, they followed me right into the house. They will not be ignored!

Don't worry, no chickens were harmed! They were given plenty of treats and some of the hens' food. They just don't recognize food that's not in crumble form.

Busy week

2008-10-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

We have done many fun/interesting things this past week. I considered doing a seperate blog post for each thing, but decided to just hit you with it all at once.

#1: Tori's first concert- I had the pleasure of taking Tori to her first concert this week. We were surprised with an email from the Aladdin Theater that offered free tickets to the Yael Naim show for members of their email list. What a treat during a financially difficult time! It was a great show, but Tori was especially taken with the opening act, Grey Anne. She wore angel wings and had a giant stuffed giraffe on stage with her. She was quite entertaining.

#2: Ruby's Spa- My mom and I have had gift certificates for Ruby's Spa at Edgefield for nearly a year. My stepdad, Keith got them for us when he completed the remodel for the opening of the spa. We finally found time that we could both get away for a night. My friend Tiffany joined us for dinner and a dip in the soaking pool Thursday night. Mom and I spent most of Friday in the spa. We started with massages (my first time!), then facials, finally pedicures. It was a good thing we'd enjoyed the soaking pool the night before because we didn't have time between the facials and pedicures like we had planned. After all the pampering and relaxation, we didn't even bat an eye when Mom locked her keys in the car when she ran out to get something before the pedicures. Not just the keys, but her cell phone, purse with money/debit card, and all of our luggage. Her husband wasn't answering his phone and mine had already made the drive out that morning to bring the gift card I'd left at home ( I know! It's hereditary) and refused to come out again. So, here we were, with no way to pay and no way to get home. No sweat, everything worked out. They had taken mom's credit card number to hold the appt and were able to charge that, Keith finally answered his phone and agreed to bring us a key, we found $14 in our clothes to get some lunch while we waited for him to bring the key. We really, really tested the effectiveness of the spa treatments and they were truly effective!

#3: PIL Hall of Fame Induction- NO, not me! My grandpa was inducted into the PIL Hall of Fame at a banquet last night. He received a Merit Award, which is pretty special because they've only given a total of five of them. This has been a good year for him. He was honored at a celebration at Montavilla community center in June with the gym being named after him. Yeah, he's pretty special. But we already knew that.

#4: Broilers at 5 weeks- We let them out of the pen for the first time this week. It is hysterical to watch them try to fly across the lawn! I wish I would have taken a video of it. The yard pays the price when we let them out. Anything they can reach is doomed to be eaten or flattened. As I type this, rain has started pouring from the sky. I hope they have enough sense to get under cover.

#5: Baby chicks- We moved Broody and her babies out to the tractor in the chicken yard where they can be with the other hens without being in danger. We ended up with just the five chicks. All but one of the remaining eggs had fully formed chicks that just didn't make it out of the eggs. It was very sad to open each one and find a dead chick. It sure wasn't Broody's fault. She stuck to that nest like glue and took great care of her eggs. She seems perfectly content with her little family. We enjoy watching them grow and learn.

The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

The boys and I joined the Johnsons at the pumpkin patch today. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

We took a hayride out to the field to find the perfect pumpkin. Jack chose this one.
And Ty chose a large one that he found a very creative way to carry. It's zipped up in his sweatshirt and he's carrying it by the arms. That boy's gonna be an engineer!
Sadly, this was the best shot of the three of us. The pumpkin I sat on sunk into the mud a little and I panicked for a second, thinking I had sat on a rotten pumpkin.
Joel took Ty, Noah and Ollie through the corn maize while Tiff, Jack and I browsed the produce shop and waited in a long, long line to get a caramel apple.
It was definitely worth it, though.

Broilers at 4 weeks

2008-10-11T18:32:00.001-07:00

With all the excitement of new babies this week, I forgot to take pics of the broilers. I was pleasantly surprised when I got home from work today to learn that John had taken a couple. They are almost fully feathered now, but still sleeping under the heat lamp. I'm starting to comprehend how different it is to raise fifty as opposed to sixteen. We are refilling their two gallon waterer twice a day. They are going through one hundred pounds of feed every week. And the tractor really needs to be moved more than once a week, which is no easy feat. Note to self: redesign tractor with wheels and automatic waterers.

No, she's not dead, just sunbathing.

Broody's Babies Part 2

2008-10-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

We'd like to introduce to you the newest members of our flock. So far we've had four (whoops! make that five. I missed one this morning) hatch and six still pending.
The first is a Brahma (can you see the feathers on it's feet?)

This one I'm hoping is a Speckled Sussex, but could be a Rhode Island Red.

The third to hatch is a Barred Rock, which will look like Broody.

The fourth is a Black Star.

The fifth is another barred rock.

And the proud mama.

This morning I got to watch as she taught them to eat. It's about the cutest thing ever.

Broody's Babies

2008-10-06T09:19:00.001-07:00

Broody's first egg hatched this morning!!! I am driving her crazy checking on her every 10 minutes to see if any more have hatched. She's a very patient mama though and doesn't get too upset with me. I should probably add Part 1 to the title because I'm sure there will be many more pictures to come.

Here's the first little chick still wet from the egg.

This is the egg it came out of. Pretty cool, huh?

Apple Picking

2008-10-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

I went apple picking this weekend with Mom, Tiffany and Oliver. We found a lovely organic farm in McMinville with many different varieties of apples.

Here's mom offering a taste of an apple. We were free to sample as much as we liked. I don't think any of us will eat another apple for at least a week.

Oliver was a great help in making sure the apples were tasty.

This picture wouldn't turn for me, but I love it so I'm posting it anyway. The left (top)basket is full of Macintoshes for applesauce. The right (lower) basket is full of Jonathons and Winesaps for storing.

I just thought this scale was cool. It may be small, but it can weigh up to 300 lbs.

As if that wasn't enough fun already, we got to feed the farm animals apples too. There were these two horses (yes, that one is missing an eye), two little piggies and some chickens in a really cool henhouse.

Broilers at 3 weeks

2008-10-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Look at how big those legs are getting!

This little guy in the middle has me a bit worried. He doesn't seem to be growing at the same rate as the other chicks. So far, he's not being picked on or excluded from eating, so hopefully he'll catch up.

Caught this guy sunbathing under the lamp while taking some nighttime pics.

Another night pic. It didn't show up as well on here, but it was spooky with all those little eyeballs glowing in the flash.

Didn't get a picture, but had quite a scare this week. I looked out the back door to see a hawk perched on the chicken tractor! I don't know how long he'd been there, but the babies were sure scared. Two of them got themselves stuck trying to escape. I guess they didn't know they were already safe thanks to the netting covering the top.

Volleyball

2008-09-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Tori decided to take up volleyball this year and she loves it. As usual, our children decide to take up a sport we have never played and know nothing about. Luckily, our good friends, Joel and Tiffany, are rabid volleyball fans and are taking her under their wing (wings?, whatever!). Tori even got the same number that Tiffany had when she played.

We are slowly catching on to all the rules of the game. It's nice to have someone sitting next to me that can answer all my stupid questions during the games. Tori is catching on much quicker than we are. She is getting quite good at serving. If you want to come see one of her games, leave a comment and I'll send you the info.

Broilers at 2 weeks

2008-09-25T13:45:00.001-07:00

They are starting to get their feathers in.

The young roosters are working out the pecking order with chest bumping and stare downs.
And this is what they spend most of their time doing.

Yummiest Birthday Present Ever!

2008-09-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

My friend, Tiffany, made me this beautiful and delicious cake for my birthday yesterday. She said I could have it all to myself, but I thought it might be best for everyone if I shared. It is banana cake with fresh bananas, whipped cream frosting and crushed pecans. Doesn't that make you hungry? Not me, I had another piece for breakfast!
Note: These pictures were taken after half the cake was eaten and it was in the fridge overnight. It was completely flawless when she delivered it.

Broody Mama

2008-09-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I told you about one of my young hens coming into the house to lay eggs. Turns out, she was looking for more than that. She was looking for a place to raise a family. If you aren't familiar with broody hens, I'll explain. The hen goes looking for a nice cozy place to lay some eggs. She'll lay an egg each day until she's accumulated what she thinks is an appropriate number of eggs. Then she sets. She will not leave the nest willingly for food, water, anything. Even when you take the eggs away, she continues to set. There are other changes also. She starts acting weird, fluffing herself up like a turkey and making strange noises.
This would all be great if we had a rooster, which we don't. So, this is pointless. Not to her, though. She'll sit here on her empty nest for much longer than the 21 days it would take for eggs to hatch. Meanwhile, she won't lay any more eggs as long as she sits here so we're missing out on her prime egg laying time. My solution is to give her some fertile eggs to hatch and be done with this broody business much quicker. I had some eggs shipped in the mail and snuck them into her nest while she was on a forced food and water break in the henhouse.She came back to her nest and was obviously happy with the surprise. She cooed and clucked to the eggs as she tucked them all in. We are all anxiously waiting for October 7th. If she hatches all thirteen eggs, that will bring our chicken count to 73! Obviously we will be selling (and butchering) some chickens soon.

Broilers at 1 week

2008-09-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

They are now out of the kiddie pool and free to run around the whole pen. As I suspected, they are still small enough to squeeze through the chicken wire, but then they run around the pen trying to get back in. They are still using the heat lamp at night and all day on chilly days like today. We lost one on the second day (failure to thrive), but the rest are all healthy and growing like weeds.

Here We Go Again

2008-09-12T09:26:00.001-07:00

Can you guess what's in the box?

Here's a hint.

More chicks! 52 to be exact. The first batch of broilers went so well that we decided to do a bigger batch this time. This way our freezer will be full and we'll only have to do this once or twice a year.

They were hatched in Pennsylvania on Wednesday and arrived at our post office early this morning. We got a call around 7:30am to go pick them up. Tiffany and I set up the brooder yesterday, so it was all ready for them. It may be the most redneck chicken pen ever. An old trampoline frame covered in chicken wire with deer netting and a tarp for the roof. Oh and don't forget the garden claw to hold the tarp up in the middle! They will spend the first couple of days in the kiddie pool brooder to keep them near the heat lamp. As we unload them, we dip their beaks into the water to have their first drink ever. Amazing little things can survive for three days on the egg sack they ingested. We are so impressed with the quality of chicks that come from this hatchery. They throw in a couple extra to cover for any losses, but we have had 100% survive both shipments. I've included a video so you can hear what 52 chicks sound like.

First Day of School

2008-09-02T19:03:00.001-07:00

You think they look excited, you should have seen our faces! Jack is now in 3rd grade, Ty in 4th and Tori has moved up to middle school (7th grade). She starts over an hour later than the boys now, but she wanted to go with us to take them to the grade school. Yes, she does have a splint on her arm again. We went roller skating again. She hurt her arm again. She's not allowed to roller skate ever again. Not really, she'd just find another way to get hurt. I can't find last years picture, but this is two years ago. It looks like they've each grown a foot!

13 years ago today

2008-08-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

It's gone by in a flash. I still remember the day vividly.

The wedding party: Christina Foster, Heather Robson(or was it still Wells?), us, Mike Owens, Bill Owens.

This one makes me feel really old! Those three adorable kids in the front are all in college now and one has a baby of her own!

Delicious!

2008-08-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

The first chicken was roasted and eaten this evening. It was declared delicious by ALL THREE KIDS! This from the kids who said they would not eat one bite of these chickens. I guess they got over that when the aroma started pouring from the oven. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it before it was devoured. It was a beautiful sight. I'll try to remember when I cook the next one.
I do have some pictures of tonight's dessert.
I had a pleasant surprise while grocery shopping this week. Fresh Oregon Stawberries had returned! I thought I had missed out on them for this year. It's just not summer without strawberry shortcake.

The one on top was for us and the one below was a final treat for the meaties.

Our First Batch of Broilers are Finished

2008-08-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS INFORMATION AND PICTURES THAT SOME MIGHT FIND TOO GRAPHIC. PICTURES WILL BE AT THE END OF THE POST.

Yesterday was processing day for our first batch of meat birds. I haven't posted about our meat birds yet. To catch you up to speed, head over to our friends' blog (first post was june 16) where they have been posting from day one and my myspace. We raised sixteen Red Bros from one day old to ten and a half weeks. This has been quite an educational experience for us all. I was really nervous about us completing the task when it came time to butcher, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd psyched myself out for it to be. The guys did the killing, scalding and plucking. Sounds like a lot of work, but with the handy equipment we rented, it took them all of 5 minutes to do two birds. They then handed them off to the ladies to do the dirty work of cleaning. I now know the insides of a chicken better than my own!

We set up the rented scalder and plucker the night before so the water was heated and ready in the morning. We started around 7am, getting the rest of the station set up. The first bird took almost an hour from start to finish because we wanted to be sure we did it right. Once we got the hang of it, we were moving along pretty quickly. We were finished with all the birds by noon and spent less than an hour on cleanup. Not bad for our first time! (Did I mention that none of us have done this before?). True to our sustainable living, nothing was wasted. The feet and necks were made into delicious broth, the organs were made into pet food, the blood and feathers were composted for our vegetable garden. My only regret is that we didn't raise more birds. Eight chickens aren't going to stay in the freezer long. Oh, to have a few acres of our own!

Last shot of the beautiful birds

Killing cones keep the bird calm and somewhat still during killing and bleeding out

Doing the chicken dance! This is the automatic plucker that sprays water down while it rotates and the fingers clean the feathers off the bird. I wish you could see it in action. The kids (and adults) found this part amusing. The spray went further than expected, hitting us all the first time.

Tyler playing with chicken feet.

And in the spirit of the Olympics... Synchronized Cutting!

New Floors

2008-08-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

We recently had the pleasure of getting new floors put in our house while we were on vacation. My brother Ryan did a fantastic job with help from one of his friends and John's dad. While it was nice to avoid the whole mess, I don't think I would have another project done while we are gone. There are a lot of decisions to be made and questions to be answered on a project like this. Don't get me wrong, we are very happy with the finished result. It just made it harder for them that we weren't able to communicate during the process.

We replaced everything but the bedrooms with laminate from Dream Home Magic. The bathrooms are sheets of laminate that look like stone tiles. The rest of the house is single plank laminate in augusta cherry. They will look much prettier when we aren't living next to a construction zone with a constant layer of dust on everything!

Breakfast is Served!

2008-08-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Our young hens have just started laying and one of them is taking her job very seriously. Each morning for the last three days, she has flown out of the chicken yard and come to the back door to deliver her daily egg. The first morning, I had the back door open for fresh air. I heard a strange noise and turned to see her walking right in the back door, on a mission. She tried a few places in the laundry area, but they just weren't right. I finally put her back in the henhouse. A while later I noticed she was out again. That's when we discovered the tiny egg in the toy barn that sits by the back door. The next morning, I wasn't aware that she'd come in the house until I saw her in our laundry hamper. She left another tiny egg in there for us. This morning, she was kicked out as soon as she came in because I had to leave for work. I came home to find she'd left the egg in the little barn again. I'm sure this will stop once she becomes to big to fly over the fence. For now, I'm going to enjoy the daily egg delivery!

Welcome to our Blog

2008-08-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog! I don't really know where to start, so if there's anything you'd like me to blog about, please ask. It may take me a while to get the hang of this, but bear with me. It will get better!