My baby chicks are all growed up

I have learned I am very bad at taking pictures of chickens. Some of my chicken pictures turned out like this

Mob scene

And some turned out like this

awkward chicken foot

Only a few turned out like this

Pretty Black Australorp

We finally moved our birds out and can sell the surplus, I was hoping to have more Easter Eggers to sell but Joe loves them all. I got an ad posted and I guess we will see what happens. Had a hawk swoop down and snatch a hen, decapitated it and left it there, I am not happy about that, I dressed it out but there is hardly anything there so will probably let Sadie have it.

Took Miss Joy for a trail ride yesterday, she was a good girl but very forward and happy to be out. Her canter has improved so much this year, with all the trail riding up hills and jumping, I really feel like she is much more balanced now. But about halfway through I got really dizzy and was likely pushing it but I went home and took a nap so it balances out right? Still feeling not great and have been sick for over a week. Also got out to the feedstore yesterday and got to chat with a friend so that was nice.

Lots more to do today but seriously feeling the need to rest more now, so nap time happens.

Goals

I have been so lazy today and really should be doing things instead of surfing the web and eating a whole pint of blueberries. But we are having people move in with us for a bit and this is my last chance to be lazy in my jammies with no one around to watch. I do need to clean the carpets and some more baby proofing soon though.

After having a couple days to reflect on the show, I feel really good about where we are, we have a lot to learn but already have a good foundation to work with. Joy is such a fun horse.

So here are my goals

1- to do pilates or run everyday, I need to be stronger and more flexible.
2- to get a couple lessons in before the next show.
3- get to another horse trial, hopefully in August
4- improve Joy's dressage, at the show we got mostly 5s (acceptable) and 6s, I'm aiming for 6s and 7s
5- continue conditioning Joy on the trails
6- get out on fun rides with friends
7- Cut sugar out of my diet, I have no turn off switch with the white stuff and eat way to much of it. Not healthy!
8- Continue getting comfortable with jumping again
9- fix up trailer
10- Have fun!

Okay, now I am off to buy chicken food and rent a carpet cleaner, oh my exciting life!

Do I keep my critters or do they keep me?

I went to bed last night with both dogs and the cat cuddled up and woke up to both dogs and the cat cuddled up :)

I have always been an animal person, as far back as I could remember I have been fascinated by four leggers (and two and no leggers sometimes as well), I think I probably relate to them better then I do most people.

The incomparable Miss Sadie and I

When I was really little I either wanted to be a marine biologist, a ballerina or a horse rider. In a misguided attempt to make me more enthusiastic about my math work, my Mom told me how marine biologist have to know lots and lots of math. So I discarded that dream and lost interest in Ballet (due to my complete lack of skillz), so really there is only one course of action for me. I also have an innate understanding of horses, I just get what they are doing and why.

Little Ruth and lamb

 We currently have two dogs and a cat inside, often a couple bunnies as well. I got asked once why I had indoor pets since they are always shedding and made messes. Some people just don't get it. Animals really enrich your life in so many ways and if I have to vacuum a little more often and put up with dog hair it is so worth it.

I finished painting the bedroom, it is now a soft lilac colour with light gold curtains, I am very pleased with how bright it is now even if I can't lift my arms above my head any more. I spent some time today shopping here for pictures to put up. I am thinking this one above the bed, the artist is Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, she has such beautiful work, After getting the Shadowscape tarot deck I have been longing to get some of prints to hang up, really having trouble figuring out which ones to get.

The bathroom looks sweet, the green has grown on me, especially after lightening up the ceiling slightly and adding some gold accents. I painted the metal fixtures and handles gold and made a window dressing type thing out of some fabric left over from my Green Fairy Costume. I will take pictures after my camera comes home.

Green Fairy costume at Melissa's Halloween wedding.

I am so ready for Joe to be home, I have been keeping busy but I miss him.

Going to trail ride this evening, it is finally less hot out and not miserable to ride in. I also need to change the chicken bedding again, smelly blighters. There is one chick that isn't growing, I call him midgy chick, he looks normal but is just tinytinytiny, it is very odd.

I have a Popsicle addiction

and I can weed whack like no one else.

And now pictures.

Sadie loves to help feed chicks!

obsessed with her babies.

Still cute!

hmm, branch.

Girls say "hai!"

Dancer is looking nicer

Today is a sad day.

Warning, whining ahead.

 The past couple of day I have been really over emotional, depressed and somewhat neurotic.I talked about it today with Joe when he called at his lunch break and told me he loved me which promptly made me burst into tears. Not really a normal response unless I am really Pms-y, which I am not. I realized I don't feel good (I'm apparently a little slow) and I think that's why I have been depressed the past couple of days, literally you can count the number of things I have done lately on one hand and I don't even want to ride. The weather has been shite, just cold and rainy. I am crying at the drop of a hat, every joint aches, especially my hands, my head hurts and I could literally sleep all day. I keep putting off going tot the doctor because it is expensive and I don't think about it when I am feeling good but then I have a couple bad days where I feel awful and am reminded to do it, then I feel better again and put it off. Joe said he is just going to fill out the insurance paper work and take care of me.

I got into a huge disagreement with my FiL last night, who is convinced because I put down bedding that the chicks were going to eat it and all die, I have raised a lot of chicks, my mom does a couple hundred every year and we always used bedding. But my FiL's dad told him never to use bedding and just use newspaper with feed sprinkled on top because it would encourage the chicks to eat and it you put any type of foreign matter in the chicks would eat it and die. I disagree since if you put food down of course the chicks will pick at it, and they aren't so stupid to eat bedding that is to big to fit in their mouths when they have free choice food. Well last night when FiL came over he put newspaper on top of the bedding and my husband couldn't understand why I was so upset, I set the brooder up the way I wanted it, I had a reason for it and I resent being told I am wrong when my way was perfectly fine. I understand FiL was just trying to help but I didn't want help and I wasn't mean about it I just said I disagreed and then ignored him when he was trying to explain why his way was so much better and my way was going to kill all the chicks. Then Joe and I got into an argument because he thought I was being irrational and mean.

Chicks are doing fine, no losses so far despite bedding for the first part of their lives, bunnies all got nails trimmed yesterday and I'm going to put up an ad (even though I would rather not deal with it right now) because they are ready for new homes. I'm going to miss the sweet little things, although I am keeping the grey and white female...

Today is Joe's birthday so I am going to town to pickup tasty noms, and make a cake :) Probably take a bath and read, I'm so fucking exciting.

Do the baby chicken dance!

My chicks just came! I now have 87 chicks. Golden laced Wyandottes, Arucanas, and Black Australorps.  25 pullets and four roosters of each type.

Actually the hatchery got my phone number wrong (thankfully got the address right) and someone from the post office stopped by my house! I could have hugged him, I was so thankful. Babies are settling in well and seem bright and perky. Luckily we got everything set last night, I whitewashed the interior and Joe patched up the holes in the coop, Joe and his dad also got the power cord hooked up for the light. I meant to do more yesterday but was hugely depressed and sad for some reason, not entirely sure why.

For whatever reason I am super paranoid that I am going to kill them, I don't know why but it is freaking me out. I have cared for enough chicks but I guess this is my first batch entirely on my own and I am worried about it.

I just took some pictures and since I am a good blogger I share them with you, my people, People I assume read my blog since you visit it, mostly from FiSH.

 Baby chicks in all their chickness

Hai Food Lady, are you gonna give us tasty noms?

The lilac tree in the rain, dunno what the weird blur is.

There is a huge thunderstorm going on right now, really loud, My sweet black dog Sadie is hiding under the computer desk, shaking! as she hates storms and Emma is under my pink chair, storms don't bother her she just likes to den.

My friend took little grey home last night, His name is going to be Vincent and he is living in their spare room. I am happy, he is going to be a great house bunny since he is calm, sweet and curious, and he will be well loved. I am all "awwwww my babies are growed up!" I need to advertise the rest as they are all eating well and ready to be someone's pet.

Off to check chickies again.

oh, Hai?

It is sunny today but might only be nice for ten minutes, apparently I am using that ten minutes to update my bloggy. I was looking at my blog stats and I got 150 views last month, don't seem like a lot but I am pretty sure that there is more then just me reading this and that's cool, especially since I am interwebz challenged and am not entirely sure how to work this thing. Also apparently someone googled "slave duties" and found my blog, I think that is very very very funny, especially since I would make a bad slave since I chafe at authority and get bored easily.

I am horse and chicken sitting for a neighbor right now and it made me think a lot about set up, I have visited old farmsteads and historical sites and was always impressed with the amount of planning that went into where everything was. Even at more recent farms most will have an excellent and easy to use layout. That is super important especially when you have a limited amount of time and lots of things to do, you don't want to be fighting with distance and giving yourself extra work.

We have it pretty easy right now, bunnies food is next to cages and I always have a water bucket there to fill up water bottles, I store the food in big plastic bins to keep the coon out. Horses are mostly on pasture but I have their "grain" next to where I keep the supplements and buckets, so that just takes a minute, in the winter I had round bales stored in front of the barn so I could fix their "grain" and toss a section of hay into a wheelbarrow and just make one trip. Even if you are working with a less then optimum situation, you can still do things to save time such as having several buckets at proper locations so you don't have to wander around looking for one so you can fill the chicken's water or make two trips all the way across the farm with the horse's grain (can you tell what I did this morning?) as far as I can figure neighbor doesn't actually own any buckets, I think that is really weird, I have like ten of different sizes and colours.

I am setting up the chicken coop and am trying to figure out the easiest way to put it together, actually right now I am eating frozen berries, drinking coffee and fucking off on the internet but I am thinking about setting up a chicken coop, yup thats is how that works, thinking.

Any who, I bleached all the feeders yesterday and just need to set the lamp up. I also got some pelleted horse bedding which I basically use for everything because I love it's super absorbancy and happy pine scent. Equine Fresh makes a superior kitty litter (at a fraction of the cost of other pelleted litters!) a wonderful place for baby bunnies to poo and if I can figure out how to put it in the12 year old's room my house will smell even fresher!

I am kind of regretting getting chickens now that the coop is cleaned out, now it is clean I realize it would make an amazing bunny house! I don't know why I didn't realize before I ordered 87 chicks and now they are on their way I can't evict them, who would do that to innocent baby peepers? But it would have made a sweet bunny room. and I could have kept all my babies.....

babies

Yet another picture of Joy grazing, she does this a lot.

Today's exciting adventures include trimming bunny nails and painting sheds. Absolutely riding Joy, sorta want to ride to the river and I wish I could con more fun people into riding with me, I think I should try blackmail and/or paying someone to be my trail friend. I just found out that event I wanted Joy to debut at is on the same weekend as our big family and friends who are driving ten hours to see us day, I am actually really depressed about it since the next closest event is going to be like two hours away or the one I helped at last week with the monster big cross country course. I don't know what to do but maybe build a time machine or clone myself. I plan on still riding and conditioning Joy like I am going to it though because we both need the work.

Rainy rainy rain

Dear Rain,
Please go away, come again another day, I want to go outside and paint.
Love, Ruth

Eventually the weather might get nice and I can do things outside without getting drenched! It has been a weird spring, either cold and rainy or hot and humid with little in between. I have painting fantasies but I have to wait until we get some dry days. We just helped put the garden in yesterday, it was good fun playing in the dirt and I am excited to have fresh veggies again.

 Went to an event yesterday and got to be a horse show mom for a friend, it was good fun. Also helpful experience to see an event in action, honestly not much different then the shows I am used to, just more spread out and you have to keep good track of the time since there isn't one central arena. I feel Joy and I will be ready for our eventing debut soon. Baxter (Joy's boyfriend) was a good boy so I fed him lots of cookies, it was a very important part of my horse show slave girl duties. It is so nice to see the horses there loving their jobs. A horse got loose and ran around like mad before zooming off across the fields! I have never seen a loose horse behave like that and just take off away from their buddies and the people, I don't know when they caught him but he was at a dead gallop across the corn and hay fields.

 My babies are coming on Wednesday and Thursday, We have the coop fairly ready but I would like to get everything totally set well in advance in case of disaster. Going to be getting 87 chickies! Likely will love them for the first week and then get over it.

Rode Joy on Saturday, she was awesome, had a great conditioning trail ride in the rain. SO nice to feel her so forward and balanced, after I set my proper arena up I hope to work on some good solid dressage stuff. I am hoping to convince people to come ride with me,can't wait to take the horses swimming in the river again.

bad Ruth, stop looking at TBs! no more ponehs for you!

Ok, stuffs to do!