Tansy is a Mama

Tuesday morning four of the blue/green eggs I had placed under Tansy hatched. I was doing my chores and while feeding the girls I checked on Miss Tansy sitting on her clutch of eggs. She was in an awkward position with her back end up a little higher than her front end. She also had an odd facial expression. Yes, chickens do have expressions and her's showed puzzlement. After the food was spread around she jumped out of the nest box and I saw three little peeps bopping about and a fourth one still working on hatching.

The chicks are marked like typical Ameraucana chicks although we have no idea who their fathers might be. The girl I got the eggs from has several roosters including a black Silkie, his mixed breed sons, bantams, and other mixed breeds.

Wednesday morning she moved her little brood to the pet taxi I had readied for her nursery. Tansy has explained to the other girls that while she may now be a mama she is still Queen of the Coop! When the chicks and Tansy are at one end of the pen all four of the girls go to the opposite end. Nobody messes with the babies!

These four little one are the first animals to be born/hatched on my little homestead. Living in town I cannot keep roosters so keep your fingers crossed they are all girls!!

~ Penny ~

Happenings ... good and bad

Much has happened these last few weeks.

I am out of the boot ... Yay!
I'm now wearing a close fitting stretchy sock that will be my friend for the next few months. After wearing that hot, and heavy, boot for the summer I'm so grateful to be able to wear the stretchy sock that I will wear it happily until the end of the year if need be!

After my third MRI of the summer I learned I not only have bulging discs in my lower lumbar but I also have them in my neck. The pinched nerves in my neck from those boogered discs, and bone spurs, have been causing tingling with numbing/pain down my left arm. It's crazy! Crocheting and knitting were nearly impossible until my Nurse Practitioner gave me a cortisone shot and a few days of prednisone pills. For now things are better but I know pain injections are in my future. My NP has already made the referral for the shots. My Mom has the same thing but I seem to be coming into it a little earlier than she did.

Because of the foot/neck/back thing going on Nicholas, my 15 yo neighbor, dug holes for me so the Figs and Pink Reliance Seedless grape vines are finally in the ground. Hip Hip Hooray! There are still three Blueberry bushes, two Blackberry bushes and several herbs waiting to be planted. They will find their homes asap.

Chicken News:
Frack is now living with the other hens. She had taken to following me around the back yard like a feathery dog. It was actually pretty neat. She followed so closely that if I made a sudden stop she ran into me. If I sat in the chair, by the bunnies, she would come over to me and sit a spell and "talk" to me. I love that murmuring cluck talk hens do among themselves. One evening I heard her distress call and hurried over to find her being stalked by a large feral cat. I called her to me, chased off the cat, then clipped Frack's wings.

Clipping wings does not hurt the chicken but watching her being picked on, and pecked at, was too traumatic. I truly thought they would peck her to death. =( Even Frick, who has always been with Frack took a turn at tormenting the poor girl! It has now been over a week and the bullying is somewhat better. Frack doesn't cower in a corner now but is very light on her feet and keeps moving away from the bullies.

Family News :
Please keep my Daddy and Angela in your prayers. Daddy has to have another procedure done this week regarding the bladder cancer. Angela is now off chemo treatments but has had a blood transfusion this week and will be getting another next week. My family are fighters but help from above is always welcomed!

Remember this, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well", from Julian of Norwich.

~ Penny ~

Frick & Frack are home ... well sort of.

Frick and Frack were returned home Sunday evening. They were received fairly well by the home team. I had sweet corn waiting as their "Welcome Home Banquet", I thought the corn would take some of the attention away from the new faces. After sitting outside for a hour watching to see there would not be any blood shed I went into the house. At bedtime I walked down to check if they were all in their little coop. John had told me F & F might not go to roost. That they sometimes had slept outside so I wanted to make certain they did not become prey for hungry raccoon.

I shined the flashlight into the coop and counted chicky bottoms. Yep there were five fluffy bottoms sitting on the roost bar. Excellent. I went to bed with a happy heart.

The next morning I hear Tansy throwing a hissy fit slap my glasses on my face and look out the window to see what all the fuss is about and count chickens. One, two three, four. Oops that isn't right so I count again. One, two, three, four. Dang! I toss on my robe and slip into my Birks and trot down to look inside the coop. Maybe one of them is an early layer. Nope. Frack has flown the coop!

She is no where to be found. With all the feral cats in the neighborhood it didn't look good. Finally it was time to go to work and she still wasn't home. Sigh. John had offered to clip their wings but I have never had to do this and thought they would be okay. Hind sight IS twenty-twenty.

After work I stopped to talk to Angela and she said the Animal Control Officer had spent a lot of time driving around our neighborhood. Hmmm wonder if someone reported a loose chicken.

The next morning I'm rushing through my farm work before going to P.T. and see Frack in the tree by the chicken run. She has returned to her roots and like the jungle chickens is roosting in the tree! Her new routine is to fly down into the run for breakfast, a drink and a dust bath. She visits with Frick then when Tansy notices her flies up into the tree for the rest of the day. Crazy!

Hopefully they will all be reconciled soon ...

Frick n' Frack are Rejoining the Flock

When I purchased chicks more than a year ago I bought two extra Red Star chicks for "just in case". Stuff does happen and those lil bits of fluff appear so fragile I felt I needed spares. Oddly enough everyone survived and I was left with the dilemma of what to do with those extras.

John, the Library maintenance man, had chickens so I talked him into taking the two I was referring to as Frick n' Frack. I didn't want to get attached to them so I didn't give the pair real names. Now that Marguerite has crossed over the Rainbow Bridge I have room in the chicken hutch for another large hen or two smaller hens.

John's hens are getting some age on them so he wants out of the chicken business and has offered Frick n' Frack back to me. So yay they are coming home. They will not be as tame as my hens but that is okay. They still lay lovely jumbo eggs and are easy keepers.

We are waiting for the temperature to cool down before they reenter the flock and I'm hoping it will be an easy transition for all concerned.

Stay cool and have a blessed rest of the week!

~ Penny ~

The Bitter and the Sweet

There are always ups and downs to farming ... recently I experienced one of the downs.

I came home from work three weeks ago to find Marguerite had apparently died from heat exhaustion. She was one of my Buff Orpingtons and a such a goofball. My chickens have been pets from the beginning and I frequently refer them as cats with feathers. They will rub against my legs when I am caring for them. I am constantly shooing them out from underfoot to avoid stepping on them. Rest in Peace my Golden Marguerite.

On the up side I was able to pick up several plants for my orchard at Saturday's Market. Espri from Brambleberry Farm brought me two figs, two Reliance seedless grape vines, two thornless Blackberries, and a Blueberry bush. Brambleberry Farm is currently running a sale on a selection of plants and I saved quite a bit on my purchase.

Please continue to keep Angela in your prayers. She will have her third treatment on Tuesday. She is experiencing wicked headaches and bad nose bleeds. The doctors do not know if the brain tumors are hemorrhaging (bleeding out), if they are caused by her constant high blood pressure or if it is a reaction to the chemo. =( After four treatment she will take a two week hiatus then there is suppose to be four more treatments. She is tough but the tough people still need to be lifted up in prayer.

Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. I go for my first physical therapy appointment for the inflamed tendon in my ankle. I hate PT but I hate the "boot" I'm wearing even more! It has been three months since I injured my ankle and I am so over wearing the "boot"!

I'm off to meet my niece Heather to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I saw it a week ago with the "Library Ladies" but told Sis I wanted to see it again so we made a date. =)

Have a Blessed week and stay cool!
~ Penny ~

Happy Independence Day!

I'm thankful for my Freedom!

Have a safe holiday!

Take joy,
Penny

A Little Update

It surprised me to see I hadn't posted in three weeks. The month of June seems to have flown by until poof it's now July. Daddy told me as I got older time would become a fleeting thing and he was right!

One Friday evening in the middle of June Angela, Mom and Daddy did the Survivor's Walk at the Relay for Life event in Bedford. It was pretty special watching them walk arm in arm around that track knowing what they have gone through and what Daddy and Angela still face. Heather and Angela did the Caregivers lap. Because of the "boot" I wasn't able to make that lap, but halfway around the track Jaidy joined them so that was fun. Debbie and I sat in the bleachers for the most part but Deb did get a few photos.

Market has continued to be profitable for Angela and I. Her hats and felted bags are popular and my yarn is getting a good response. So yay!

This morning Jack, a fellow who sells beautiful wooden bowls at Market, gave me a bag of Osage Orange shavings. Before he tries a new-to-him wood Jack does a little research. He found that Osage Orange was a safe wood for his bowls and was once used by Native Americans to make a yellow dye. He thought I might be able to use it and brought it along this morning. The next time he uses Red Cedar he will save me another batch of shavings.

Natural dyes is something I want to explore this summer. Last year I dyed with Indigo but I really want to expand into things like native woods, plants and wild blooms. I'm looking for a Coleman type camp stove so I can continue to dye outdoors. Keeping my mess, and the heat, outside is always a good thing.

Please Angela in your prayers. She will begin chemo again a week from Independence Day.

Take joy,
Penny