The adventures of Grammie. Part forty eleven.

Another day in the life glimpse of what goes on around here.  For background, Grammie is my 90 year old mother. She lives about three hours from me in an Assisted Living facility. I take care of her paperwork and bills, take her to get groceries, shopping, doctors, etc. once per week. She has a mind of her own and is quite the character. This happened about five minutes ago.

Grammie just called. 

Her opening line:  I just called the COPS. 

Me: (chest has an immediate spasm) “You called the COPS?!!!” 

Grammie: Yes, but not on PURPOSE.  But they helped me. 

Me: HELPED YOU WITH WHAT? 

Grammie: Getting my scootie fixed. 

Me:  Getting your scootie fixed??!!!  The COPS helped you get your scootie fixed?

Grammie:  Yes!  They called the right number for me and got the scootie chair place on the line and stayed on the line until I had an appointment. 

Me: Oh, so you ACCIDENTALLY called the cops and they helped you get the right number.

Grammie: NO! I called the right number. 

Me: You called the cops on purpose?

Grammie: NO! I called the right number but the cops answered.

The conversation continued but you get the gist.  Kudos to her local police department - or whatever police department she connected with.

Life

The roller coaster ride continues with Rebekah and her pain levels.  She had seemed to improve somewhat last week, but since Sunday the levels are back up again.  She sees a specialist today - after waiting five weeks for an appointment. We are all hoping he will provide some solutions.

Please pray for healing and pain relief. Please pray for wisdom for her doctors.

Meanwhile, life goes on around here.  The attempt to keep things normal is failing miserably, but we try.  There is a Christmas parade coming up this weekend that Rebekah's special needs group is participating in. Our goal for the week is that she be well enough to participate.  It would be such a blow to her heart for her to miss it.  

As for the animals, we have suspended all sales until Rebekah is feeling better.  Helen's chicks are beautiful and about to begin laying.  The turkey's remain in our pasture.  We really do need to sell some. Possibly before Christmas.  However, Peanut, Adelaide, and Grumpy will never be sold.

I am attempting to get ready for Christmas, but the going is slow.  I would love to put out another video soon, but it's all about TIME and how well Rebekah feels.

Meanwhile my elderly mother remains in assisted living in another state.  I go down once per week to help her and take care of things.  She refuses to move to a facility closer to me as she has lived her life in the same area and does not want to leave it.  Ideally, she would live with me.  But her care levels are such I would end up in the hospital in short order attempting to take care of her. Which has already happened on more than one occasion.  And so, she is in Assisted Living.  It's an awful situation. It is hard to be old.  

How Our Pet Turkeys spent Thanksgiving

Yeah. We bought a nameless frozen turkey at Wal-Mart for our Thanksgiving meal.  Who am I kidding?  These turkeys are going to die of old age in my back yard.

Hey! I’m still here! Here's an update on what is going on, and also FTC's COPPA

Hello, All!

It's been a while!  Unfortunately, our special needs daughter has been exceedingly ill again for the past five weeks, so I’ve done little besides take care of her. In between I make trips out of state to take care of my elderly mother.  So. Been sorrrrta busy.

The good news is Rebekah appears to have turned the corner and I believe is beginning to come out of this.  We have been through it before. It was awful then – and is awful now.  Many have been praying and we have two wonderful doctors working hard to help her. 

In the meantime - as for my YouTube videos.  Who knows WHAT is going on? The FTC COPPA ruling has put so many in tailspins trying to determine what on earth qualifies as ‘made for children.’ Their terms are so broad and vague, it seems few if any clearly know. Me included.  The threat of Forty-Some THOUSAND dollar fines PER VIDEO would absolutely ruin most creators, certainly myself included.  Somehow, we must read through all the legalese and try not to make a mistake in labeling our content. 

My videos are made for a general audience, not for children. Looking at my analytics provided to me by YouTube, it shows over the lifetime of my channel 95% of my audience fall under the 18 and over category, with 5% falling in the 13 to 17 age group. That is over the lifetime of my channel. And I most certainly do not collect personal data on anyone.  I wouldn’t even know how.  So I BELIEVE all is well.  My videos are not and were not created for children, and my audience analytics provided by YouTube reflect that.

So. MOVING on.

We have just finished Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and are now full into the Christmas season.  No Christmas letter this year.  When Rebekah is ill, my life pretty much upends and stops until she is better.

On another note, needless to say ALL of my 14 beautiful heritage bronze turkeys are still out there wandering about my yard and pasture.  For Thanksgiving dinner we instead bought a nameless frozen turkey of questionable heritage from Wal-Mart. Let’s face it. There is never going to come a day, unless my family is STARVING, that we are going to eat anyone out there.  ~sigh~   We’d be as likely to eat the family cat.

Hopefully I will SELL some soon – and I’m not going to ask what they want with them. I’m sure they will all go to a lovely farm somewhere to live out their days in early retirement.  In any event, as of right now I’ve stopped all sales until Rebekah is better.  Once she is doing well again, I will have Helen’s chicks – now at point of lay – available, as well as my turkey lurkeys.  Helen’s chicks, btw, are absolutely stunning. I will try to get one last video before I actually do sell them.

Lost Marbles

So this afternoon I go in my bedroom to put away laundry and hear everything in my back yard going bonkers. I check for Rebekah. She’s in the house. 

I run out on the deck and the guineas are alarming like nobody’s business, the chickens have all taken cover, Sweet Pea the duck is screaming bloody murder.  The goat is up against the gate with her head in the air looking down the pasture. The turkeys have taken to the trees or are milling about, and Holly the Horse has turned on the gas (in every sense of the word) and is churning up the pasture like she’s auditioning for the next Secretariat movie. 

I don’t know what is going on, but it’s bad.  I’m trying to do a head count as I grab my tobacco stick (because old habits die hard) and head down the pasture. Holly, gaining bravery, now comes charging up behind me and I think, "Oh great. I'm about to have 1200 pounds in my lap."  I wave her off.  She is snorting and blowing like a whale coming up for air, head so high in the air she’s practically standing on tip toes.  Her ears frozen forward, eyes bulging, she's staring at something somewhere down below the pasture I have yet to see.  She’s also likely wondering why the food woman isn't GRASPING the idea of DANGER WILL ROBINSON!  Run. Away.  

Meanwhile, I’m still trying to see what the giant threat is, and now realize even crows in the trees are carrying on.  Okay… Coyotes? Dogs? A bear? WOLVES/MOUTAINLIONS/MUTANTGROUNDHOGS??  I have now begun to rethink the tobacco stick - and that maybe Holly had a good point. Run. Away. And then I see them.

You know. Really. Is there ANYTHING around here that has a marble left?  Anything?

Everyone’s best guess what exactly I found below my pasture.

And Thank You, God, for William

So old William had his last day today. It was time.  He was receiving handfuls of pain meds, just to keep him comfortable. They were destroying his kidneys. 

William was given to us unasked for, and remained for 14 years.  He never liked me until the last few months of his life.  Perhaps finally figuring out who fed him.  Or maybe the pain meds made him not care.  I don’t know.  He loved Gregg and was truly his pet.  His shenanigans entertaining to them both I suppose.  A boy and his goat. They were a pair.  He was nothing but love to Gregg. If Gregg was in the pasture working, William was in his back pocket, six inches from what he was doing. Often picking up and carrying off his tools.

We tried for a time to let the children show William in 4-H.  His crowning achievement being referred to by a judge as ‘a fine example of a dairy goat.’  But then he bit the judge.  And a kid. And was unceremoniously forevermore banned from the fair.  Go figure.

For a long time, Rebekah could only go in the pasture if she carried a lunge whip. He would give her a hairy eyeball, but leave her alone. WHAT ANIMAL DOESN’T LOVE REBEKAH?  Even so, she’s been in bed half the day from upset over his loss.

He opened EVERY gate.  EVERY gate.  We had to put chains and hooks on everything.  He escaped many times, and once rang our door bell.  Seriously.  He rang our door bell.  We opened the door, he stared at us, and then took off.  He ate my dogwood tree. He ate my flowers.  He knocked me down.  He ran over me. He broke my glasses. He required a VET to trim his hooves as we didn’t want to die from exhaustion – or injury.  It took THREE of us to do it. So we paid the vet instead.  He attacked the vet – but that didn’t go as planned.  One moment he was in the air, standing on two hind legs, and the next he was snubbed to the fence with one foot already trimmed. Afterwards, they had an ‘understanding.’  Our vet always claimed to like him. I dunno.

Will I miss him?  I have to say, “Yes.”  Stupid Pill William made me love him after all.  I’m sad to see him gone.  Sad for Gregg he has lost his pet.  In the end, he was a good boy.  I think he had a good life.  

Oh, and Gregg – you know that patch of white on his head?  I’m told that’s his hair. <3

Bob the Quail

This quail showed up and has been hanging out with Helen's chicks for the past week. He is not mine, but either wild, or raised by someone else and he found his way here.  I hope he stays.  We have named him BOB.

If it don't fits, I makes it fits!

Our cat Toastie, has a thing for boxes.  And if she doesn't fit? It doesn't matter. 

So Hornets apparently have hit lists. And I'm on it.

Well, I just finished leaping around the house, running from another stupid HORNET!  ~sigh~  And as I type this, I can STILL hear them hitting the door trying to get in.

Two days ago Gregg was pulling weeds and ended up disturbing a ground nest of yellow jackets and got stung. The day before that, I got nailed by hornets.  We were able to find the ground hole for the yellow jackets and after dark, Gregg filled it with Die Bug Die.  Hopefully that is the end of the Yellow Jackets!

He also sprayed the Lilac (again) where we'd seen several hornets this evening. Probably the ones that got me the other day. :( The buzzards.

Unfortunately, spraying them (again) did nothing other than tick them off.    About 30 minutes ago I opened the deck door (well after dark) and one immediately zoomed in. I think they were waiting for me.  I slammed the door shut just as another one hit the glass.  But ONE got in.  I took off, and told Rebekah to get in her room.  She shrieked, ran down the hallway, and slammed the door.  (That child doesn't need to be told twice!) Meanwhile, I ran and got Gregg. The hornet's flying around, we're running and dodging. Finally we turned off all but one light in the house. It flew there and immediately began trying to sting the light shade! Gregg knocked it down and stomped it. Three times.  Ohhhh how I despise these nasty critters.  

And now I just read Hornets have some sort of attack pheromone.  Apparently when a hornet is killed it releases pheromones. These pheromones can get on your clothes or skin and can be detected by other hornets, causing them to attack. Apparently, they’re not happy you killed their cousin.  Well isn’t that just great?  And what about the dead body of Harry house hornet, currently lying in state in my kitchen trash can? I'm sure he filled half my kitchen with his pheromones. Oy.  (I wonder if hornets can pick locks?)

In any event, tomorrow, after I have burned my clothes and scrubbed my skin off,  I'll take the LONG way around to turn out the critters.  No way I'm passing the Lilac House O' Hornets again until winter. 

Hawaiian Chicken? Okie dokie then!

My son and soon to be daughter-in-law had their wedding shower today. My contribution was to make Hawaiian Chicken - which I've never made in my life. Oh good.  

I looked at several different recipes and zeroed in on this one.  Here is the link to the actual recipe:  
https://www.spendwithpennies.com/hawaiian-chicken/

In order to have enough, I quintupled this recipe - which turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated.  For one, cutting up ten pounds of chicken breast into small chunks was no small task.  

Then came the yellow, red, and orange peppers. ~sigh~  I went to the store and actually bought only six of these, thinking it would be enough. I don't know.  I have no idea what I could have been thinking.  So, yeah. Nope!  Diced, they only added up to four cups.  I needed TEN. And the grocery store is 25 minutes away. Argh. So! Light bulb moment - I considered supplementing them with green peppers from my garden. My Voice O' Reason, aka Gregg, pointed out since OTHER people were going to be eating this, me monkeying with the recipe (again) was not such a great idea. So.  Back to the store I went and bought 9 more peppers. 🙄

As for the pineapple, the quintupled recipe called for five fresh pineapples, diced. I know less than nothing about fresh pineapples.  So.  I did what I usually do - and altered the recipe (don't tell Gregg).  I bought ten cans of pineapple chunks in pineapple juice (no sugar), figuring two cans would equal about one pineapple.  I had nothing to base this on.  LOL!  I opened the cans, drained the juice, and that was that.  It actually turned out fine.  Woot!  

Next came the sauce. It included soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar (had to go to two stores to find), ground ginger, barbecue sauce, pineapple juice (saved from the cans), and minced garlic. For the minced garlic I used this garlic paste that came in a tube. I have no idea if minced and paste measure the same, so, once again.  I guessed. (Is Gregg reading this?)  I did have a fleeting thought of "Those poor people..." Meaning the ones that would be eating this, as by now the changes to the recipe were beginning to add up.  Anyway, I was supposed to use five tablespoons of minced garlic. I ended up using four tablespoons of garlic paste.  I don't know.  It seemed to work.  

After running back and forth to the store, chopping up mounds of peppers, and mixing the hopefully will work sauce,  it was now taking a long time to cook all this chicken! Chicken, by the way, that was supposed to have some sort of golden brown crust to it.  Nnnope!  But I digress.  In any event, I was beginning to panic. Shocker.   3 p.m. was looming, and I had to leave by 4. The chicken had no golden crust and - oh well.

I still had to put all the baby poultry in their pens (oh, did I mention THAT?), finish cooking everything, get dressed, and fix my hair.  I took a break and got the babies in, then got back to cooking.  

At this point, the no golden crust chicken was cooked but the recipe was still un-assembled, as I couldn't figure out what I was going to use to combine it all in.  I was surrounded by big bowls filled with large amounts and thought - how?  I finally decided to use my giant stock pot (the one I burn everything on the bottom of) to combine it all.  I simmered it as long as I could (it didn't burn! Yay!) then pulled out my crock pot and transferred all that would fit into it. I put the rest in a lidded two quart glass container.  Done!

Gregg and Rebekah thankfully packed everything up for me while I got cleaned up, changed, and fixed my hair.  We all made it with time to spare to the shower, and I have to say the Hawaiian Chicken was truly a hit.  Someone else brought a huge thing of coconut rice which was delicious with it.  I'll have to get their recipe!

The shower went well and was oh so very sweet.  We got home long after dark at which point I went hunting for my turkeys - which I found relatively quickly.  Shew!  Likewise my layers had put themselves to bed, though their door was of course still open.  Thankfully the multitude of chicken (and turkey) loving varmints that reside here had not beaten me to it. 

ALL PHOTOS ON THIS BLOG WERE TAKEN BY ME AND ARE COPYRIGHTED. THEY ARE NOT TO BE COPIED OR SHARED.  PLEASE INSTEAD USE A LINK TO THIS BLOG PAGE. THANK YOU!

The Infamous Baby Goat video

I posted a video of baby goats yesterday on YouTube and they held it for review lest it was offensive???

Yeah.  My baby goat videos sure can be worrisome! ;)

Anyway, they actually did approve it this morning.  Here it is in all it's glory.

Turkey Poults and Hornet Dodging

I finally decided to go ahead and sell my 5 remaining turkey poults, so went out this morning to take a video and pictures for sale.  

Instead I ended up wind sprinting once again from the hornets that have chased me all stinking summer. This time they caught up. Let me tell you, I was picking them up and putting them down, but the old fat lady can only go so fast.  🤣 Thankfully Rebekah heard me when I said, "Run!" and took off.  (Proving once again you don't have to be fast, just faster than the last.  LOL!)  

Anyway, it's been hours and my hand and arm are still throbbing. Stinking hornets.  Bleh.  They are in my lilac bush and we have thus far been unable to get rid of them.  I had accidentally brushed up against the leaves and at least ten of them zoomed out after me.  The buzzards. We can not find their actual nest.  

I did finally get some video of the poults. Too bad no video of me (unsuccessfully) dodging hornets! Anyway, the poults are for sale if you are in my area.  $15 each. I have five available.

Here's the video:  

And the 'let's give Rebekah my old phone' adventure continues!

Whelp.  Even though I can't seem to make and follow links to direct people to my own youtube channel, it worked JUST FINE for Rebekah, who with her phone got on and started making improvements!!! Oh. My. Goodness. Seven years of work nearly down the drain. YIKES! Was able to change things back and thankfully she didn't delete anything. At least noting too important. YIKES!

After a couple of hours, I was able to mostly change things back, but her picture continues to show up whenever I respond to a comment.  Oy. Hopefully it will change soon.  If any of you would be so kind to let me know what you are seeing, I would appreciate it.  You can find my channel here:    

https://m.youtube.com/user/Chickens4Lu

You should see a picture of an egg basket on my home page, and a picture of a chicken with a daisy flower hat wherever I have left a response to a comment. Thank you!

Honestly, next time I need to do something on my computer, I'm just going to ask Rebekah for help.

Tomato Feasts, Flying Chicks, and Don't Mess With Mama! Helen and her chicks are now 8 weeks old!

On 21 August 2019, Helen's chicks turned 8 weeks old.  The next video will be a Compilation/Watch me grow video of Helen and her chicks from hatch to present.  It will take me a while, but I'll get it done.  In the mean time, this is Hen and her brood at 8 weeks.  She is still MAMA. LOL! 

You Who, YouTube

One of my friends mentioned on Facebook that I have nearly 7,000 subscribers on YouTube. Yup. I do. So I thought I’d post this for my other friends so they might know what in the world with the videos - and perhaps you could throw in a like or share now and then. 😉

7,000 subscribers is  n-o-t-h-i-n-g  by YouTube standards. Nothing. A drop in the bucket. My goal is 10,000 subscribers by the end of NEXT year. And that is highly unlikely, but I’m trying. Subscribers are hard won, and it goes up and down. And then I have the folks that literally steal my videos and put their own names on them. I just reported nearly 40 to YouTube and had them removed. People who copy my entire video or parts of them and post them under their own name. Argh.

Anyway, Gregg encourages me to keep trying – after the initial eye roll when I started. 😁 I plug along and do my best. I don’t make much money from them, but the more subscribers, the more pennies. And literally – it is pennies. A good month will bring me $50. Usually it is around $30. So. Two bags of feed. Half of a riding lesson for Rebekah. Gas money. That’s why I’m always begging to like, share, subscribe and RING the bell! Sharing nearly always brings me new subscribers. Liking and commenting puts my videos higher in likelihood of them popping up for people to watch. So. If you guys watch the videos, please, please, please hit LIKE. Leave a comment – even if it’s a smiley face or anything. Everything. EVERYTHING helps. I've a lot of videos out there. Mostly animals. All are family friendly of course. And, no, not all chickens! Go here and, well, LIKE! COMMENT! SHARE! and SUBSCRIBE! (and ring that BELL!  LOL!)  Thank you so much!😊 ❤️

The Guinea Saga Begins

Today was the first turn out day for Rebekah's beloved Guinea Keets.  They are two months old and need to begin free ranging.  The problem being, I was unable to get them under a hen to be raised.  This means they have not been taught, well, ANYTHING.  It is sooo much better to have a Mama hen raise keets.  This goes for all poultry (and a whole lot o' other things).  Being raised by a mother or foster mother makes all the difference as far as life skills - i.e. Staying Alive.  Hey, that might be a catchy tune someday...  

As for Mama Guineas - they make awesome setters but horrendous mothers.  They will set on a nest faithfully through anything.  Then the first keets hatch.  UP she gets and takes off.  If the keets keep up, great. If not, nice knowing you AS EGGS, children!  So, whenever an adult free range guinea slips away and actually succeeds in hatching a clutch of eggs, the first thing we do is go on a keet hunt. Generally they are everywhere, spread out, waiting for crows and a cornucopia of other varmints to pick them off.  Mama Guinea is done. The opposite is true if you have managed to pen the Mama while she is on the nest.  Then the keets hatch and, since Mama is confined, she will care for them wonderfully.  So that's the lesson in guinea motherhood for today.  

Anyway, these keets were raised in a brooder box and then an outdoor pen by themselves. They have learned nothing except what instinct God gave them, and apparently the shaker was low that day.  So. They only have me and a hope they will learn enough, quick enough to reach adulthood.  Also, Guineas never become truly tame.  They are always at best very flighty. So think SPASTIC.

So today I let them out and they did fairly well, immediately going after bugs, etc. and exploring the yard a bit.  Unfortunately, Helen and Martha with their broods, and (Chick)Ken the spare rooster, did not take kindly to them, chasing them away whenever they dared get too close. Eventually they figured out to stay to themselves.  How wonderful it would have been if Helen had allowed them to integrate into her brood!  But it was far too late for that, and, frankly, Helen has enough children! HA!  I actually did try to get Martha to take them as freshly hatched chicks, but she rejected them pretty quickly.  So.  I'm the Mama.

I checked them often and they were doing well and keeping close until the last check.  They had disappeared.  Smoke. Gone.  Walked my yard and the neighbors yard and all the brambles in-between.  I was just beginning to formulate what I was going to say to Rebekah when I came across them.  Thank you, Lord!  The entire group of them were halfway up one of the evergreen trees.

With Rebekah's help and a fish net handle, we were eventually able to prod them all down, then herded them back into their grow out pen.  I'd say their first day out, all in all, was a success.  Though I could have done with out the brambles.

On of our successful Mama Guineas raising her new clutch of keets. It doesn't happen often.  Btw, they are FIERCELY protective of their babies, once they decide not to abandon them.  The reason this picture is blurred is because I was having trouble avoiding a face full of angry guinea!

Just another guinea picture from a while ago.

One of my favorites. :)

All photos copyright protected. Do not use without permission. Thank you!

She should have spelled faster... Black Widow Spider adventures.

So. I was just video taping a black widow spider (I don't know! It looked really COOL) and in my NERVOUSNESS dropped my PHONE on TOP OF IT! Gack! Gack! Gack! So there I stand. Staring at my phone, which is now on top of the spider. Man. I really LIKED that phone...

I think she was spelling out, "Don't drop the PHONE on me!"

Helen and her Chicks at 7 Weeks

Local folks have been asking, and the answer?  Not yet.  We will be offering the girls beginning 23 November as point of lay pullets.  Though this video shown below is at 7 weeks,   

Helen's crew will actually be nine weeks as of this Wednesday. I'm a bit behind in my posting!  I'll be taking their nine week video soon. 

They are still most definitely a family unit.  Yes, a flock, but more than that, as Helen continues to mother them, call them to choice spots, and warn them of danger.  I am waiting for her to let me know it's time for her to go back to the big coop. So far she is still wanting to keep them separate and with her.

The latest on Helen and a quick update on what's to come

The latest Helen video.  Her chicks are now SIX WEEKS OLD!  I am beginning to let customers know they will be ready for sale in November.  But until then, we'll continue following their adventures and watching them grow.

My next video will be a compilation of the critters around here.  Just need to make the time to do it.

Pretty soon we'll be getting our hay in for the winter and looking to get winter pens ready.   I'll also start writing my Christmas letter.  Yup.  I start it in September.  What?  🤣

My Christmas letter has been around for many, many years, beginning when my children were very small.  We would receive Christmas letters from friends talking about their Swiss Alps vacation and how 5 year old Buffy and 6 year old Nigel were already on the fast track to Harvard.  I looked around at our crazy life and decided I needed to send out a 'real' Christmas letter.   And so I did.  I've been writing them ever since.  They caught on and - well.  Here we are.  Perhaps one day I'll compile them into a book.

Another thing right around the corner is my son's wedding and a long, long, loooong overdue vacation!!!  Weeeee!!!!  That reminds me!  I need to hire a house/farm/critter sitter!  That's always a fun and interesting undertaking.  Five pages of notes and multiple walk throughs.  Our farm sitters definitely EARN their pay. :)  

So THIS happened today...

We picked up this bunny a few hours ago. 

Under all that matting is a Double Maned Lionhead. It is a female, approximately three to four months old.

The mats were so bad there was no hope of brushing them out, so we had to resort to scissors. It was like cutting through thick felt. The mats were so close to her skin in at least one place her skin had torn.  It took a while, but we were able to eventually carefully, carefully clip the rest of the mats away from her skin.  Thankfully she seems otherwise healthy.

Only half way done - but at least we found/freed her tail! I'm sure she already felt so much better!

The only parts of her body without thick mats were her legs, face, and belly.  

Some of the mats.  They really were like wadded up felt.  There was no "hair" just thick solid wadded mats.  

  

Rebekah brushing what is left. Likely this is the first time this bunny has ever been brushed. I think she likes it!

Starting to look like a real bunny again.  We thought about shaving the rest of her body, but I believe we will just leave it how it is and let the bald and clipped patches grow back.  I'm sure by next year it will all be evened out.  She is still beautiful.

And here she is with the other half of herself!

We still don't have a name for her.  This happened pretty quickly. Rebekah is in charge of naming her.  We are happy to take suggestions! 

Who Dares Attempt Enter the Fortress of Solitude?

Password Password. WHO remembers my PASSWORD?

My computer is fixed! Again! Perhaps I can go more than 12 minutes without doing something ELSE to it. Plus I'm fairly certain the computer repair folks want me to lose their number.

"What's your password?"

I don't know.

"We have to have your password."

I don't know it! Try this. And this. And this one and this one and this one.

"None of these work."

~sigh~

FIVE DAYS LATER I remembered the password. They fixed it in like ten minutes. I'm not EVEN going to speak about PIN numbers or how long it's going to take Gregg to collect his rolling eyeballs...

Helen had a few words with Adalaide the Turkey today.

Helen had 'words' with the Turkey Lurkey's today. You can watch in the video above.

At five weeks old, she is still mothering the chicks, and they are still staying fairly close to her.  I've never let a hen grow out so many chicks before, but she is such a good mother, and this is a fairly unusual situation, so I think I'll let her keep going until she finally says UNCLE and cuts them loose.  Eventually I will have to sell some of them as I can not increase my flock by THIRTY.  Especially since I have over a dozen more in various stages of growth.  And did I mention all the turkeys?  How about the guineas?  I have no idea where i'm going to house them all if I don't start selling before winter. :)

Adelaide, oh, Adelaide

Helen and the Hawk. Chicks are now 4 weeks old!

Today was a zucchini kind of day...

'Tis the Season!!!

For supper we had Zucchini Casserole, Buttered Zucchini, and then Zucchini “Bread” for dessert.  And I STILL have four more zucchinis on my counter - and more to pick tomorrow.  Yup.  It’s that time of year!

I served it all with Jasmine Rice and everyone loved it.

Recipes below if you want them!  The pics are mine.  We had this for supper tonight. :)

Zucchini Casserole

I received this recipe from a friend many, many years ago and am unsure where she got it. I’ve  since tweaked it to suit my families taste. They love it for supper but my son claims it’s great COLD for breakfast. Hmmm... You can let me know  about that. Ha!  

Here’s the recipe!

Zucchini Casserole

STICK TO RECIPE!!!

•       about 2# zucchini - smalls are better

•       6 eggs beaten slightly 
           (I use 5 if using duck eggs)

•       3/4 cup whole milk

•       1 1/2 pound Jack Cheese, grated

•       3 tsp. Baking Powder

•       6 slightly heaping tablespoons flour

•       Salt to taste

Combine eggs, milk, cheese, salt, baking powder and flour. Stir in zucchini.  Place in buttered two-quart casserole.  Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Notice my STICK TO RECIPE note? I copy/pasted this recipe directly from my file. That note is for me.  For reasons that defy any kind of good sense, I tend to stray from the very clear directions of perfectly good recipes.  Some of the resulting travesties have been quite spectacular.  So.  On many of my recipes I put this little REMINDER for myself.  Sometimes I listen.  Sometimes. 


Buttered Zucchini

The buttered zucchini side is simply zucchini boiled until tender with added butter, salt, and pepper to taste.  It's yummy and a great way to use up some of those extra zucchinis!

As for the Zucchini Bread, it is from Paula Deen.  Need I say more?  Shockingly, it has no butter, but it sure has everything else.  Here is a link:  https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/zucchini-bread/  But seriously.  You can’t call this bread.  It’s CAKE, folks. Or maybe even candy it’s so moist and yummy.  But there is no calling this bread. 😉 

Combining the dry to the wet ingredients.

I use a BUNDT pan as I don't have any loaf pans! LOL!  Works just fine!

Pure YUM!  This picture just doesn't do it justice.  I'll have to take a pic of a slice.  It is sooo moist and delicious.  BTW, I don't put nuts in my recipe.  My fam does not like them.  Other than that, I stuck to the recipe!  (Actually, I'm thinking adding some RAISINS might be good! HA!)  Oh, and yes!  I know it's upside down.  Rebekah thought it looked better this way so we went with it!

As for the rest of the day, my daughter Rebekah and I headed to town and picked up chick feed, game bird feed, horse feed, and – some chairs sitting beside a dumpster! SCORE!  My son and his fiancé can use them.  They are getting married in a few months and these will come in handy until they can afford something else. 

We unloaded the chairs and the feed and did afternoon chores.  BTW, our duck has a pool. Chickens have a bowl. Anyone want to guess where the duck swims?  You would be correct!She was having a grand old time. Will have to get a picture next time.

Helen Update and a Heat Wave

I was able to get some more video of Helen and her crew of 30 on Wednesday,  just before a storm hit. You can watch the latest video here: https://youtu.be/Fa-_gyAXT6g   She is doing an incredible job taking care of them all.  I've decided to not sell these babies but let Helen raise them for as long as she'd like.  Eventually some will have to be sold. 

Martha has a brood of 12, also three weeks, that I will be selling.  They are lavender/black splits and are all black.  If bred back to a lavender they will produce all lavenders.  I will likely keep a few of these for that purpose.















Thursday I headed to Maryland to help my elderly mother, but not before I spotted the three week old guinea keet that escaped it's enclosure the day before.  We looked and looked but never found it.  Then yesterday morning we spotted it near some brush.  Again tried to catch it, but other than providing entertainment for the neighbors (again) we weren't successful.  Hopefully it will make it's way back to it's siblings and we can nab it - before the fox does.

Meanwhile, weather reports are calling for heat indexes over the next few days up to 114, so last night and early this morning we prepared as best we could.  Everyone is in shade with plenty of fresh water.  Those I could turn out are out.  So far, all is well.

My garden is surviving the heat fairly well.  I've tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers, jalepeno, and cucumbers.  Yum!

Potato

Potato our barn cat getting shade in our sweet corn patch yesterday.  She's an awesome barn cat that keeps our mice population down.  She was missing for a few hours this morning but showed up later.  I was afraid one of the many fox or coyote had gotten her last night.  I may bring her in at night time from now on.  Not exactly great, as she does most of her hunting at night.  But... too many bad guys out there that would love her for a midnight snack!

Pill William

So Pill William who would just as soon knock me down as look at me, has been limping. Mostly because he is just plain ancient.  So I give him monthly shots and daily pills to help with his pain.  Today he got his teeth fixed.  As for his limping, Margie the vet says in addition to the shots and pills I must now SOAK HIS FEET three times per week.  Oh. Yay.  You know.  It occurs to me.  I would like someone to dole ME out some pain meds and soak MY feet once in a while.  Just sayin’.

Mmmmmm....

My first, and likely last tomato sandwich of the season. They just don't agree with my tummy anymore. BUT. It was just too pretty, and looked so tasty. :)Fresh from my garden. Mmmmmm!!!