June 11, 2014 The Chickens Came Before the Eggs

Inside the hen house

Tuesday's eggs

Monday 6/9. The girls love the nesting boxes and we got three large, brown eggs!  Woo Hoo!  It was a day during which everything just seemed to go right with little projects that offered instant gratification.  JB got the lawn mower started and we got a lot of the two-foot tall grass around the house mowed.  Did dishes, laundry, weeding, vacuuming and defrosted the fridge.  Catching up with everything that got left behind last week.

After the initial morning discovery of the girls, Jessie seems to just ignore them.  However, Dinga loves to lunge towards the fence just to startle them.  She got yelled at all day, and by late afternoon two of the girls didn't flinch.  In fact, it looked as though they were daring her to come closer so they could peck her nose!

And they all now have names: Blondie, Betty and Belinda.  They have to be the Three B's - as in b**ches.  And they have established a pecking order (I never realized that that term is very literal) with Belinda at the top, then Betty and then poor Blondie who is the smallest.  But they don't seem to be really picking on each other, just when there is food involved.

With them Up Here, we seem to be almost complete.  As if there was a big empty hole before they arrived.  I am a little concerned about  the "almost" though.  Not sure what else we will end up with. . .

In talking with Larry on the radio this evening, he said they only got three eggs today also!  Ooops!  Hope they didn't end up giving us their best layers.  We'll compare numbers again tomorrow night.

Tuesday 6/10.  A bit chilly this morning with 48 and a light overcast.  With the girls here, I have a new morning schedule: feed the girls, feed the dogs, sit on the porch with my coffee, feed myself.

It has been very windy for the past several days, with more wind in the forecast.  Our high today was 69, but the wind was very chilly.  

The girls gave us two eggs today.  They were inside the hen house most of the day as they discovered sod with grass growing just under the straw.  They love the grass, so after dinner I cut some and gave it to them.  We have so much "green" growing Up Here that I just have to learn what they like.  Don't know if they will ever be able to get out of their pen and forage with Dinga around.

JB did some more mowing but hit a hidden rock and wasn't able to get the mower started again after that.  Then we had more problems with the kitchen electrical plug, so tomorrow he is going to replace them all with regular ones.  Didn't get to talk on the radio with Larry, so don't know how many eggs they got today.

I have been reading one of the books JB gave to me for my birthday, Living With A Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich.  Didn't really know what to expect.  Took me a while to get into it but in some ways it is very entertaining.  Unfortunately, we have quite opposite views about life.  She is obviously very intelligent and clever, but intelligence can only take you so far and clever doesn't always cut it.  I am amazed and perplexed at how she arrives at some of her conclusions about God.

I will be going Down There on Thursday for groceries.  Aunt Nene and her two friends will be here next Tuesday already!  And this weekend our Westy neighbors just down our driveway will be up with friends from Austria.  I guess their friends are really into the "wild west", so they will be up to see our place and help us put up the tipi.  I may just wear my buckskin dress from my rendezvousing days. . .

The temperature dropped into the 40's this evening making it cool enough in the house for a fire in the wood stove.  I do miss them during the warm weather.

Wednesday 6/11.  It is 47 and clear this morning, with thunder storms in the forecast for the weekend.

Thought for the day: The sign of intelligence is that you are always wondering.  Idiots are always dead sure about every damn thing they are doing in their life.  Vasudev