Chicks – week 2

They may have started out all cute and helpless, but now they are quickly changing. The chicks are quickly feeling out the limits of their world. The new activities include bickering with each other, playing chick of the mountain by jumping up on the mason jar feeders, and jumping up and banging their heads on the wire top to their habitat. In addition, if you give them a scrap of bread or fruit they get really excited. I gave them six small bits of bread. Now you would think that there are six chicks and six pieces of bread, everyone’s happy. Nope. First they all stand to the side waiting for a bomb to go off or something. Then one tip toes over and grabs a piece. At that point, pandemonium ensues. The five other chicks chase the first chick until one steals it. This goes on and on until another chick picks up a new piece of bread. Then you have two races going on simultaneously. I just sit and wait for the head konking that brings everything to a halt.

They are pretty funny, but we are only at week two…you are supossed to keep them contained with a heat lamp for TEN WEEKS or so. How long till they are busting out and it is me that is chasing them as they run around in glee. I’ve seen how fast they can run now. Please let it not be me that gets her head konked.

Next thing happening – our timber harvest is moving along…at Oregon pace, but moving along. At this point, the trees have been marked and the sub-contractor is going to walk the property with the timber manager in two weeks or so. After that, the trees will start coming down. I have to say I am a bit sad about the trees having to come down, but our forest needs help. It was not cared for properly. Trees are not all thriving and the blackberry is. Not all the trees are going, fear not. We have several large ones staying and there are already many small and medium sized trees that won’t be touched. By next year, more baby trees will have been replanted and the brush will have been cleaned up so they can grow. We will also end up with nature trails to make more of our land accessable. It is a good thing, but I will appreciate it more in about ten years when the medium trees are big ones and all the baby trees are taller than I am.

Here’s something that you don’t see every day. I am not sure you want to either..jury is out. I walk into K’s homesteading class as they are wrapping up for the day. In front of the teacher are several arm bones from elk and deer. I hear the teacher explaining what the plan is for the next class. Basically, the plan is for the kids to work the bones to make fillet knives (the sample was a bit wicked looking) and the knives would be used while they go fishing to gut and fillet their fish. I guess I can’t complain too much because they will probably cook and eat the fish at the same time. I am just not sure I will enjoy the ride home with a fishy K and all the smells and funk that goes with that.

Lastly – I am thinking that we have some fun planned for this weekend. AG-FEST! Our area’s agricultural festival. I know. I know. You are so jealous! I can’t help that we get all the adventures. It is just the way it is. We were planning on working on our chicken coop and we probably will get started, but I think we will be going to Ag-Fest to get some additional ideas and maybe some specialty chicken supplies. We are also going to check out the Re-build center to see what building materials we can get out hands on for the coops construction.

The clock is ticking, the chicks are plotting their escape, and we need a coop very soon. Hopefully, it will all work out without konked heads.

There’s always one..

Started writing this on Thursday….

Cheep cheep chortle squawk peep peep! That’s what the chicks wanted to relate. I have no idea what it all means, but they seem happy enough. For those of you who don’t know, we did get our last two chicks. We actually got them on Sunday because we remembered that they had chicks at another farm store nearby. So our newest buff orpington chicks – Buffy and Roy are only a couple days younger. It works out though because their breed is a little bigger looking, so they are all the same size. Here’s a picture of them:

You might be thinking I am crazy for pointing out that a few days could make a difference – at this point it totally does. We check on the chicks and get them all settled before going to bed. Then in the morning we check on them again and our eyes bug out – In the darkness of night they grow new feathers and put on the ounces. The other night we put them down and in the morning tail feathers had appeared! It is weird stuff.

They are still completely adorable and developing individual personalities. The distinctly different one, the one with the sense of humor – albeit chicken humor – is Pepper. The first thing that we caught on to was that they all like to sleep in a row – wing to wing. They obviously like their chicken “cheeks” to be the warmest, so they sleep facing away from the warming lamp….all except Pepper. She sleeps with her face lined up with the butt end of things.

The next thing is that, if you walk away for awhile, one of the chicks starts squawkin’ like she’s been maimed or on fire or like some other horrific accident has befallen her. The dog and the kid can’t stand it and rush over to come to the rescue only to find all six chicks sittin’ there with looks on their faces sayin’ “what?”. The perpetrator seems to be….Pepper.

The last thing she does is funny and more of an issue for the other five chicks. She walks around their pen and will suddenly start pecking a spot with great enthusiasm. The other chicks rush over and start pecking the spot like crazy. What’s there? Nothin’. Absolutely nothin’. As soon as they all start pecking, Pepper slips away…could that be a little chicken smirk?…maybe. It is funny because they all dash over and peck away in a big panic. She is such an instigator!

It is funny around here because people both in the city and on farmland have chickens. Portland LOVES its chickens. K brought pictures of her chicks to her Creative Club to represent the theme “spring”. The kids all looked but really were wanting to get to the project that was planned. It was a project that involved sugar, so they were focused on that. The mamas, however, were all over the pictures wanting to talk to K about the chicks. “Ooh, is that a buff orpington?”; “I loved barred rocks!”, “The welsummers are so cute!”. I can tell you that very few of the people I know in California could have nailed down the breeds based on looking at chick photos nor could most even name “a” breed…. it is a whole new world!

Someone did ask me why we got them. The question actually implied whether they were for meat or eggs (yes, even the city folk are into processing their own meat – new world…). While we got them for the eggs, I was actually thinking it was because they are my “goldfish”. You know when you are a kid and you ask your parents for a cat or a dog and they give you fish instead? Well they are my goldfish. They are cool and cute and will be useful for eggs. K totally loves them and Mark is taking charge of planning out the coop and all, but they are a little like my goldfish. What I really want is a miniature Jersey Cow or maybe, if I get even more nerve, a regular sized one. I just haven’t figured out how to manage it yet. One day…. Until then, I will enjoy my chickies!

Having the chick around as spring is really hitting is just cool. I look out and the flowers are blooming, the sun is out, the clouds around the mountains are dissipating, and my chickies are peeping. I am also noticing a change in the people. I have said it before, but seriously – the people are so nice. Add a little sunshine and they get even nicer – only they drive slower. When it rains, they are like speed demons…okay – not California speed, but fast for Oregon, but when the sun comes out, lordy they drive slow while they are taking in the sights. It is like they are seeing the world for the first time. I could walk faster. I didn’t mind it too much today though because they slowed down right where a field of cows and there were about twenty baby cows. Talk about cute!

On the Oregon nice front, I have to say I had another great experience. Today, I had my tire light come on, yet again. I have a very slow leak and it was getting annoying. Last week I went to Costco to try to get it fixed, but I didn’t buy the tires there and they wouldn’t touch them. Today, I groused when I saw the light figuring this was going to be an on-going epic saga of frustration. I decided to bite the bullet and go in for round two. I went to a tire store I knew about and was almost on the way home. I walked in and saw that there were quite a few people waiting and figured that there would be more to chalk up to the “epic-ness” of the saga. Well, I was wrong – happily.

These people could not have been nicer. They helped me right away, chatted it up with me Oregon style, but without wasting my time, and told me that the charge would be…..drum roll please…zero. They fixed my tire for free. Bonus – they were all bustin’ their hinies to get everyone’s car done in a reasonable amount of time – no one was walking slow or looked like they hated their job. It was actually a great experience. Even the pessimist in me had to down grade from “Epic Saga” to “minor challenge” and only because of the stuff that happened before.

AAAAHHHH! Love it when things go right. Now if I could get the dog to quit calling me over to check on the chicks because Pepper is squawkin’ about some emergency, it would be great. Labradors make nervous chickie mamas!

And then there’s Maude

What could possibly make a labrador forget to ask for dinner? The answer: Baby chicks!

We’ve been eyeing baby chicks since last spring, but hesitated because we don’t want to feel like our house is a prison – we like a vacation every now and then. After pondering how to make it all work, we finally felt like we had worked out the kinks in leaving chickens while we are out having adventures.

In still pondering it, we attended a chicken workshop a few weeks ago at our local farm store. I have had chickens before, but Mark and K had not. I was also a kid, so a basic primer couldn’t hurt. Well it was what I remembered – easy peasy. We still were not sure, so we walked away without chicks.

Then, we let Mark out of the house by himself. He went by the farm store to get a pair of muck boots and just happened to go visit the chicks. Well, he found a type of chicken that he liked and thought was cute. When I came home he told me about them and it seemed like the decision was finally made.

Our farm store gets different breeds a couple of times a week, so we started researching breeds and the store calendar. We wanted to chose breeds that would be there about the same time, so we wouldn’t have issues with having older chicks picking on the younger chicks.
We settled on three breeds and were able to pick up two of them today.

We are now the proud parents of four baby chicks. We have plans for two more that are coming in on Wednesday as well. The first two are Barred Rock which is a black and white speckled coloring. Their names are Pepper and Fraggle (as in Fraggle Rock..Barred Rock. Fraggle Rock – get it?).

The next two are Welsummer. They sort of look like a chipmunk version of a chick. They will eventually be a reddish color and they lay speckled brown eggs. The first one is named Orson – Orson Wells..Welsummer..see how it sounds similar? She doesn’t care that it isn’t a femine name.

“And then there’s Maude” – 😉

Which just makes us laugh saying. Yeah, it never gets old. K had a teacher off and on this past year that has red hair and is named Maude. Every time she talks about her, we chime in with the theme song to Maude….yep, dating us a bit. Anyway, the chicken is going to be reddish and it is just a great name.

Here is a picture of all four:

The other two chicks we are planning on are going to be Buff Orpingtons. They already have names too. One will probably be Buffy and the other is going to be Roy….Orpinton makes me think Orbison…Roy Orbison. Yep, we hope she isn’t bothered by the masculine name. Yep, a chicken named Roy…hmmmm…..not sure what that says about us.

No comment from the peanut gallery!!

Flying Squirrel!

This morning the dog came to an abrupt attention. She’s a lab, but in the moment she was all pointer. Just looking at her told me exactly where to look – the bird feeder. That silly squirrel was not only up on it, but ON TOP of it swinging away and looking directly at the dog. It was a challenge.

The dog was just itchin’ to get at it, so K went over to the door and opened it. Like pulling a trigger, the dog shot out the door. The squirrel leaped for the railing and then, with dog in tow, ran down the railing. At the top of the stairs it leaped over the walkway and onto the next railing. Finally, without hesitation, it leaped out and arched slightly upwards as it dove to the ground – from the second story to ground level.

The dog stood at the top looking out through the rail supports. She opened her mouth and breathing out she made a noise that almost sounded like a cross between a breathy bark and the word “how?”.

Yet again, the squirrel lives. It seems to have decided after that first leap that flying off the deck is great fun. Now it has taken its new found talent to the next level. He no longer climbs down the poles, he baits the dog and takes a literal flying leap. Really, it is scary to watch.

Now I am really fearful that the squirrel is going to miss time his escape and the dog will be there to catch it. As it is, the dog is getting really close.

I hope the squirrel knows what it is doing!

Stinky Border Crossing

Today, shhhhhh! We crossed the border!!!! AAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! We left the comfort of Oregon and went to ……Washington. EEK!

It is pretty strange living so close to the border of another state. Having come from S. California, we are used to taking half a day or more to get to another state. Here, we can be in Washington in a half hour easily. I also have the unusual connection of knowing a home-school mom from Washington that sets up field trips for home-school families. Today’s field trip was to the Lelooska Foundation – a Native American family’s educational center in Ariel, Washington. Where’s Ariel you ask? Well, head north from Portland, put your car on cruise control, take a nap, eat a snack, and then you’re there. Actually it isn’t that far, but I guess I did not know that it would take me nearly an hour to get there before I said, “Uh, sure we would like to go on that field trip.”

Now let’s back up.

First off, for any non-parents or parents whose kids are pre-pubescent, waking a teenager is just not fun and getting them to move it in the morning is nearly impossible. K was fortunately not too bad, but, then again, she feels some morning chores are “optional”. I am pretty sure her teeth did not come close to toothpaste and I am absolutely sure a brush didn’t touch her head. Not realizing this, I didn’t see the wad of hair until we got there. Fortunately, we were able to hide it in the collar of her coat, otherwise I would have totally freaked. Dreadlocks! Actually dreadlock – one enormous wad of tangled, snarly hair that could not have been completely brushed out for multiple days. UGH…shaking my head.

Moving on..

So I finally get her in the car and we head out. One cool thing about K is that she will listen to ANYTHING on CD. This morning we were on lecture FORTY-FIVE of The Joy of Science – a college level course in science. It is actually pretty good. K loves the series and has even begged me to go to the library to get the next set, once one was finished. I am big on multi-tasking or not letting time getting wasted (yes, she has loads of ‘down time’ – don’t worry!)….an unending loosing battle with a teenager…so I am only too happy to keep her supplied. With snacks and CD’s we were off on our day’s adventure.

Just as we were reaching the Glen Jackson Bridge (AKA – the border), something odd and foreboding happened. Right there, on the Oregon side is the major commercial airport. As we hit the beginning of the bridge, fighter jets —- FOUR fighter jets took off of one of the runways in quick succession and flew with a thunder over our heads. They headed east following the Columbia River. All I have been able to figure out is that there may be a continuation of training from last week, but it didn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling about going out in the world, let alone the “wilds of Washington”.

As I crossed the border, I checked my GPS…. miles to go. I tried to entertain myself by listening to the CD’s and looking out the window, but the sites just make me shake my head. I have four basic issues with Washington. First off, I have NO idea why they like to build their houses RIGHT on the river. I know it sounds all scenic, but I just think windy cold and potential flood zone. The Columbia is huge and generally doesn’t flood, but there is erosion and these houses are practically on the river. The wind is awful! It can literally blow you over in some places. It just sounds miserable to live with all the time. Now if that isn’t enough, I go to number two – so many of the houses are mobile homes. SO add wind AND mobile home buildings. Does that sound even close to a good idea? Okay, number three. The houses that are not on the rivers are RIGHT on the freeways or main roads. Did nobody teach Washingtonians about the three things to look for in house – Location Location Location? These houses are so close to the freeways and roads I feel guilty driving by. There are no sound barriers and I don’t even want to describe how many pets, livestock, and wild animals are on the roads because there aren’t even fences. Yikes! Number four is old news for people following my blog – the foreign language spoken and written in Washington. I would do better in Mexico – REALLY! Don’t believe me? Pronounce these town names – Washougal, South Cle Elum, Skykomish, Nespelem, Cathlamet, Proebstel, and Chelatchie. Roll off the tongue? Not unless your tongue is one messed up twisted knot. By the time I come close to pronouncing them, I have blinked and am into the next one. Now I know why Vancouver is one of the major cities —- because it is pronouncable! Who knew that the Native American’s best weapon to slow the movement of outsiders was to name the towns! Sheesh!!

After passing through several unpronounceable towns, I finally reached our destination. We were some of he first people there. All was going well except it was really cold. Now, I have gotten quite used to the weather change going from California to Oregon, but this was some sort of freaky micro-climate and I really needed my boots. My feet were freezing! It was literally in the 30’s! At home it was all bright and sun-shiny. The mountain was out, birds singing, squirrels teasing the dog in frolicky fun. Ariel, Washington? Flippin’ cold! I was not prepared at all. We did have good coats though. I got excited when they opened the museum because of the warmth I anticipated, but no. There was no heat inside because it was a “traditional building”.

K and I started looking around and the museum quickly filled….with bus loads of school kids. Now I am not really “against” school kids. They can’t help their lack of homeschooling and I used to even teach in the school system, but, oh-my-goodness, I quickly had had enough. The guide took about five minutes to get the room to be quiet – I was ready to yell “shut up!”. That was tiring enough. Now add that they had no sense of personal space. I had kids glued to all sides of my body and I was only related to one of them…who was actually trying to get away from a group circling her. Then it started. One kid steps on another’s foot. A second kid shoulders a third. It is not just around me. Pretty soon the room is erupting with behavior best suited to the ice in a hockey game and not one adult supervising the little snots did or said a darn thing. When I was a teacher – a look would have quashed such behavior because my students knew what I expected and I was no militant teacher. There I was sardined in with a group of fighting fish and the door was just yards away. If it would not have drawn the guide’s attention, I would have bolted. Once she was done speaking – I did and I was in the dust of K who couldn’t take it any more either.

The next part of our trip lead us to the ceremonial house for story telling. In case you are wondering, it wasn’t heated either. The ceremonial house had a dirt floor. We were happy to sit in the back on raised seats, but way to many of the school kids sat on seats with the floor in hand’s reach. Now you would think that the warnings to the coordinators at the time of booking or the ten to fifteen times that it was stated while there would help, but no. They were not supposed to kick up the dirt or touch it with their hands. You know what happened – quickly a cloud of dirt filled the room because they just could not follow directions. UGH! It did settle down when the show started, especially in the front row. A fire was lit in the middle of the room (not big enough to actually give us any heat, mind you) and it served as a major distraction though I secretly feared one of the buggers was going to reach out and grab a burning stick.

The show was pretty cool because there was traditional story telling with stories I had not heard before as well as dances with amazing masks. I have read and seen pictures of some Pacific Northwest Cultures masks, but seeing them was so different because they had moving parts. Some of them were quite complex with removable parts and multiple layers. With pull cords and internal mechanisms they opened and exposed the layers or articulated in surprising ways. I really enjoyed it.

Overall, the stupid stuff was outweighed by the novelty of the show and we had a great time. I would definitely go again —- with better clothing and shoes. They have classes there, including mask building/carving that would be really interesting. Could be something fun to think about doing…once I finish coughing up a lung from the dirt floor.

Oh – the stinky part. You know the fire that didn’t warm us in the least? Yeah…we walked away reaking of smoked cedar. The car ride home was quite aromatic…bleh.

Squirrel-a-cide!

So we have been pretty busy around here. I totally had the best joke blog post for April Fool’s Day, but -darn it – we were busy! Next year….heh heh.

April Fools was a fun weekend. K had another gymnastics meet. It is the last one for the season (yay!…shhhh, you didn’t see me type that.). K did pretty well. She medal-ed in all four events and came in 4th in her all around scores. Our living room fireplace wall is now serving as her display area and it is thoroughly decorated with medals and a trophy. It was fun, but unfortunately, her new floor routine had not been refined enough, so she did the standard…..yes, I still hate that music!

I can’t wait for next year when she will start competing with her own routine. It may or may not be the best routine ever, but (and the angels sing..) it has unique music. It is a version of the Mission Impossible theme and is pretty jazzy. She has included lots of flips. What it needs now is a bit of filler dance moves to complete it. Now that competitions are over, her teachers can help her work that out. I am sure the next thing will be to create a new beam routine, which would be fun as well (seen that routine for many years as well, but no horrid music!)

This past week, I started something new. I finally got a class together and am back to teaching. I was supposed to teach at an alternative school starting last fall, but they lost the use of their building. I was mulling the whole thing over in my head the last couple months. Then I had a bunch of home-school moms over for a get together and someone else brought it up. After a group discussion, I was encouraged to start a class on my own. I put the word out and it filled quickly. Tuesday was our first day.

If you know me, you know I will teach anything that interests me. This time around it is art history with lots of hands on activities. The kids range in age from seven to seventeen. I really enjoyed the kids and they totally surprised me with the types of artwork that they enjoy. I can see we are going to have a blast!

K started up her history/science series classes this past week as well. She loves her teacher and the kids, so it serves many purposes for us. We were talking to the teacher after class and another opportunity has come up for K. The teacher is also the program coordinator and she is starting to groom her for a summer leadership program where K would work with younger kids in their summer camps. I don’t know what she does when I am not around, but these programs keep asking for her help in their programs. I take it as a good sign, but MAN I could use that helpful kid around my house!

So, this summer, K may have two jobs going – the survivalist/homesteading program and this community summer camp program. It is all good experience that will possibly lead to future jobs. She would LOVE to be a regular staff member of her homesteading program and it would be a great job to have while going to college.

Looking out my window here – It just started hailing! Dime size hail balls are quickly covering my back deck! The dog – not so bright – is dying to go out and play in it. She doesn’t have the brains to spare, so I am keeping her in so they don’t ding her on the head causing more damage. LOL!

Back to K’s job – she is really having a great time helping the younger kids out and the program is really loving her help. The side benefit is that she is sleeping really well. Actually, too well. We picked her up on Thursday after having taken the little ones fishing on a river and she passed out in the back seat. I know it is not the physical activity because she is the Energizer bunny, but the mental focus she must be exerting is just wearing her out. She is so happy with it though and comes home totally dirty with a smile on her face. Wish all jobs in the word could give that kind of satisfaction.

In her regular homesteading class today, they went foraging for food. Not my thing, but it isn’t my class. They ended up making pesto with garlic (okay), Parmesan (okay), dock (okay people – this is a weed! Hello? Actually I tried dock chips they made a couple weeks ago and it wasn’t bad.), and dandelion (hello??? Weed!). They also made some homemade cracker dough and baked it in a clay oven outside. Then they made ricotta with fresh goat’s milk (yep, you all know about how I feel about “the goat” around here!). Oh and surprise.. happy.. joy.. (not) they had leftovers which the kids all took home. So, yes, I have had my fill of dandelion for the day. K hasn’t broken out the cheese yet, so I have a temporary reprieve from that….but I am guessing not for long.

I really wish some one would have warned me before I moved that ingesting goaty dairy products was going to be a regular thing around here…It might have given me pause. It is like they are goat pushers – they know it is bad, but they want to feel good about themselves so they get everyone else to do it!

More excitement around here….it looks like the deer are getting chubby again. I can’t wait for more deer babies! I have put out some deer chow and other goodies near my bedroom window so we can get a closer look. I can’t wait!

Finally, Journey almost caught a squirrel. Our friendly neighborhood squirrel has been pushing it quite a bit lately and now has started leaping onto our bird feeder.  It looks like this:

This is just intolerable to the dog. First of all, it is on “her” deck. Second of all, it is a squirrel and there is a vendetta to be paid. You can read back to my posts last year, but it boils down to a squirrel beamed her on the head and now they must all die.

Now, each time she sees the squirrel on the feeder or on the deck, she insists, cries, moos (don’t ask me why), stomps her feet, and rams her head into the door to be let out. The other day, K and I saw the squirrel as Journey did, so we let her out. Normally, the squirrel sees us and is already making its escape down the deck post and out into the field. That day. I thought that was what was happening.

But then something new and astonishing happened. Instead of running towards the squirrel, the dog had a spark of …not probably an accurate word here, but.. genius. She instead ran the opposite direction towards the stairs hoping to cut it off at the pass….and she did! Next thing I know the dog and the squirrel are running back up the stairs. The squirrel is on the rail and the dog on the deck. They run the whole length and then the squirrel in a panic does an about face and goes back the other way. It reaches the corner and the dog is practically on top of it. In a desperate move the squirrel hits the corner and leaps an entire story down landing outside of Journey’s yard and to safety.

Honestly, the air was sucked out of me. I didn’t look. I could see the trajectory, but it was like a squirrel suicide. It was on the rail and then it had hang time in the air! Down it went launching to certain doom. It must have worked out because I didn’t see a chalk outline and there were no remains, but even the dog’s face screwed up into an “Oh-My-Gosh!” look. Has that stopped the squirrel you might ask…heck no, the eats are good on that bird feeder, so he has been back since.

Just in case it could happen again, I have been walking a little slower to let the dog out when he’s out there.