Date with fate day

 

Today was the day I have been counting down to.  The day that we could send our broilers off to be processed.  Not that they are difficult to take care of, but they just get to a point where they are consuming so much feed, and so much water, that you literally can’t  get anything else done. They also get pretty messy, and no matter how many times you clean the pen, no matter how much new bedding you put in there, they are just sticky, and poopy and gross.  We reached that point a couple weeks ago, however I was worried they were not big enough, so I pushed their date back.  I am glad that I did, as these are nice size birds, and we will only need one to make a meal for all of us, 

When we moved to the country a few years back, I decided to raise my own meat chickens.  As a child, my mom, aunt and grandma always got chicks during spring break. We always butchered them the first week of summer break.  We would go from one house to the next, processing around 100 birds at each place. It took an entire week.  As an adult, I realize this was normal for my family, but maybe not normal for society as a whole.  As a child, I honestly thought “butchering chicken days” was a holiday.  I know it was a chore and a lot of work, but my grandparents, and parents, and aunts and uncles and cousins would all be there, we would all work and visit and it seemed fun to me.   We all had jobs. The smallest children can still carry chickens from the barn where they were dispatched and defeathered, to the house.  The older children had to singe hair and pluck pinfeathers.  My aunts, mom and grandma would cut them up and put them on ice.  Someone would bag them and put them in the freezer.  It took days.  We generally processed around 300 birds. Side note - we were never allowed to throw away a bread wrapper when I was growing up.  We saved them all year long in a  box in the cabinet.   Why?  Because they made perfect wrappers to freeze chickens in- put in the chicken, get out the air, tie a knot, and then fold it over- and then add a second bag for good measure.   

The first broilers we raised after we moved, got big and I announced to Jim that we would be processing them in a few days.  I wish I could describe the look of horror on my husband’s face.  What did I mean we would be processing them?  Who is we?  It was humorous.  I had a plan for how to do it, and it included him doing the dispatching.

A couple of hours went by after he went back from lunch break. I got a call.  Our neighbor, Joellen told him that for under $2 a bird; there was a very nice woman in Garnett who would process them for you.  All you did was drop them off, and come back later to retrieve them. Jim kindly explained that he thought this was a much better option. That he would happily pay for it, and that he would even help me load them up.   It felt sort of like cheating, but one trip down there, and I decided Jim was right (hey it occasionally happens).  That having someone else clean them is the only way to go!  

And then the woman in Garnett went commercial.  If you go to her, you have to make an appointment for at least 100 birds. But…..she had this friend in Chetopa….

Chetopa is little bit under three hours from here.  Still, we like having the service.  We have been going there for around 5-6 years now.  Anna and her family have a small farm and they process birds as a way to help make ends meet.  They are professional, fast and very kind people.  I instantly liked them, and I truly don’t mind the drive to get such good service.  Last year, I had a meeting on the date they had to go.  Jim had vacation to burn, so he took them down. I figured he would come back exhausted and maybe say we needed to find a closer place.  But he came back elated because he figured out that Anna and her family live not too far from the Bourbon County fishing lake.  He had caught some sort of spotted (striped??) bass, and he was on cloud 9 about it.  

Enter this year, Jim is retired.  He happily packed his truck with our birds, our neighbors turkeys (and one duck) and his fishing poles, a cooler of water, and took off well before dawn (4 am to be exact).  I helped him load the truck, tie everything down, and as his tail lights were still visible in the driveway, I crawled my butt back into bed!  He came home tired but happy from a day of fishing.  I know that loading and unloading and keeping everything iced down is a lot of work, but he caught fish. Hard to have a bad day fishing I guess.   

He did take the neighbors stuff - and I did laugh at the turkeys who were not pleased with their accommodations and kept stomping their feet at me.  Turkeys are funny birds.  

While Jim was gone, I had a work meeting at a dam. Our dams are all vegetated dams (floodwater retarding dams whose slopes are supposed to be protected from eroding by thick, lush, vegetated cover). 

Does this look like vegetated cover to you?  Yeaaa me neither. We met with the Corps of Engineers, hoping to get some advice on how to rectify.  It was not a very fun meeting - goodbye budget - you will be missed.   

 

To make myself feel better, i came home and set up  our new tank (finally).  My new filtration system showed up in the mail. Flooded with excitement, I set that thing right up.  And it didn’t work.  I tried everything I know to do, and I even watched you tube videos.  I have a couple of ideas I will try tomorrow.  Yea I know the water is brown. I got new gravel. I washed the new gravel.  I must have missed a spot.  The filter will take care of it - if -IF I can get it running.  

Having a day where nothing much was going my way, I decided I better “clean the pool” which I literally do get in to clean it every day, and I did some cleaning today, but mostly I just floated and  tried to work out the kink in my neck and the twitch in my eye from the day I was having.  

Madison and her family are on vacation this week.  These girls are big.  And when did Wrenley become so blonde?  Geez you look away for 1 second.  

It does look like they are having a fun trip!  

 Tonight, I happened to notice that the days are getting noticeably shorter. Whyyyyy - I need just a couple months of more summer, then we do fall, then skip winter and head straight for spring.  Emphasis on the skip winter portion. 

Reality is now calling. I must sleep or I will be unable to control my attitude tomorrow!   

(Thanks to Jim for getting our chickens done today- it feels good to wrap up that little project).  

A (much needed) day off

With the exception of attending mass, we had nothing going on today.  Madison and her family, needed for us to do Sunday lunch rather than dinner, and I needed a couple of things, so after church, we stopped off at the store.  I ran inside with Saige.  Jim and Harper sat in the car.  Jim sent me 120 obnoxious texts while I was in there, and this picture. I told him if he was going to exhibit this behavior, 

I would be forced to exact revenge.  I am actually too tired for actual revenge, so posting it here is going to be “it.” 

I hadn’t seen the girls in a couple days. I missed them!  Evie came up out of my basement with a mustache.  What?  Where did that come from?  (Who knows!). 

I’d really like to know how come I can never find a pen, but Wrenley always has a pen.  She’s magic.  

This week the broilers are going to their end date.  I can’t wait because they are definitly to the nasty phase!  My little pullets though, they are getting to the pretty phase.  I ended up with a. Lot of white birds. They are supposed to be brown egg layers, so I guess we shall see.  They look like leghorns, but that isn’t a brown egg layer.  I love the hatchery mix bag special.  Ya just never know what you are going to get.  One thing I was not supposed to get was roosters.  I paid extra for them to sex the chicks for me.  

So why is it that I watched this little brown chicken attempting to crow?  Maybe “she” was trying to trick me?    I am not amused.  I don’t do roosters.  They always get mean. They always have attitude problems. They always annoy me with their cockiness.  If it continues to crow, it will be finding a new home. Or a soup pot.  

I moved my old hens into a different pen a couple weeks ago. They are very happy, and have done an outstanding job of laying this summer.  I have given away eggs, frozen eggs, made burritos and casseroles and not once ran low.  Additionally, they are such pretty birds.  Yea, on a day off, I absolutely did take them some kitchen scraps and then stand there watching them eat and talking to them.  And no, they didn’t talk back, so I am still technically sane.  

You know who does talk back?  Mr. Mackey!  He absolutely lives for attention.  And I’ll happily give it to him. He’s my best sweetest baby!  

I decided to keep this boy as our Billy.  He is getting big but I cannot figure out how he is still squeezing through the fences.  Notice he is not behind the fence?  He was out again tonight, and so was his twin sister.  I call him Brat.  I call his sister Armpit.  They both irritate me with their ability to be constantly out.  

No worries though, Maude helps me get them rounded up!  

And then she has to come in and take a little nap to recoup.  Being a cow hound is hard work. 

I wasn’t actually kidding about laying low today.  We did do a few things, including giving Saige back to school highlights.  She was happy about it. 

I also tried to make caramel sauce.  I tried twice. And then I had to reach out to a woman I bought some last year from.  She said it’s not a secret recipe, thankfully!  My second batch turned out better than the first, but not as good as hers was.  

Keepin it low key, keepin it random. 

Tomorrow, I have to head back to work.  I haven’t worked a full week in a month. I am starting to think getting in a schedule would be a good thing.  

 

Last day/parade day

We had to be in at the fairgrounds early today to do the fairground clean up and then take our stuff home.  There were some happy goats! 

The fairgrounds got cleaned up in record time and we were able to spend a most of the the day at home.  I was glad because I had so many things I needed to use up.  I made pasta with a home made sauce with the strangely large amount of cherry tomatoes I had.  I made jalapeno jelly - Jim’s favorite with the peppers that had accumulated. I made banana bread with the bananas that I had taken to the Airbnb last weekend.  It felt good to get some of those things off my counter!  Jim worked on the garden fence and sprayed the wasps that had made a little house on the pool slide.  I got the pool cleaned and the raised beds weeded.  I was happy we got some rain, which saved me some time today!  Also, my water bill was pretty horrendous last month, between the pool and the garden and the broilers - they are drinking a lot!  We are filling their water 3 times a day - they have 2 one gallon waters and a 5 gallon!   Needless to say, I am counting the hours down until they have their date with fate.  They are huge. And smelly. And no matter what we do, the pen is just sticky and grody.  

We enjoyed the parade this evening.  Mallory and Cameron came to watch Harper (and Clayton).  Since they were in opposite ends, I failed to get photos of.  Clayton. 

It was really hot, but the band did a great job!  Love me some marching band!  

After the parade, the fair had a hot rod tractor pull.  We don’t really enjoy those much, so we all went to dinner at the bar instead.  It was so good and a great ending/wrap up to the fair.  

In the last 3 weeks, we have gone on a vacation, had a wedding, and done the fair.  I am exhausted and ready for a little normalcy.  This summer has been fun, but I know what the end of fair means!  Time to think about switching gears.  But not tomorrow.  As you might recall, the day after last year’s fair, I fell and broke my shoulder.  Tomorrow, I shall stay indoors, walk gingerly, and be extremely gentle. I have noticed, in the last month, my shoulder is much better.  I was told a year to fully heal, and I would say that is accurate.  I am still having some trouble with the hand going to sleep, and with pulling anything (like pull starting a mower just doesn’t happen).  Overall, I am pretty well cured.  Not something I care to repeat though.  

Fair is done.  Harper,  Clayton and the rest of the band  kids did a great job. 

I love the county fair, but I also love wrapping things up,