April 13, 2011--I've been posting on various yahoo lists my latest adventures with baby birds. Those stories reminded me of this blast from the past one from 2004.
July 28, 2004
First of all let me say to those of you that don't know me personally that despite my towering height of 5'0" I am not a petite person, I am quite round, so scurrying quickly is not a thing I do. Nor is bending over, crawling around easily or any other such aerobic activity.
Today, so far, has had a series of valuable lessons that I thought I would share for those of you who may or may not be new to homesteading:
1. While leaning a board inside the coop for guineas to nest behind may sound like a good idea consider how you will retrieve eggs from behind said boards if they extend well behind the roosts for the birds. We didn't and today I had to. On hands and knees with my Gopher Grabber reaching tool and basket I crawled under the roosts it was not pleasant. The Muscovy duck, Lady Rachel, who had decided she liked the guinea accommodations better than her own small coop and thus had gone broody next to the nest of guinea eggs I was robbing was not amused at being disturbed. I became very thankful for the Gopher Grabber which kept my arms away from her hissing bill.
2. When you have a guinea hen broody in the coop on 66 eggs REMIND your dh that when he puts the birds up at night he should MAKE SURE Mama hen is on her nest and not locked out of the pen for the night. The eggs are in the 'bator now, but it was a very cool night for OK, we'll see. They were near their hatch date.
3. Day old baby Muscovy ducklings can march right through chick wire. This lesson was learned when I was preparing my lunch and heard baby ducks in distress. Running outside I saw 4 ducklings marching straight out to guinea hens who thought they were pecking material.
4. Day old baby ducklings are EXTREMELY fast!
5. All larger duck backsides look the same to baby ducklings.
6. Older sibling ducklings DO NOT want their younger brothers and sisters under their backsides and will peck the newly hatched ones HARD!
7. All older ducks will flog you if they think you are going to hurt a duckling.
8. Even the best trained dog will get excited when Mom is chasing a small tasty morsel and the bigger ducks are chasing Mom. While they didn't eat one they barked and snickered at it all a lot not great for Mom's ego or ears.
9. When blocking all the bottom wire one should remember the chick wire that runs BEHIND the feeder and ramps.
10. Once baby ducklings get under a coop that is surrounded with chick wire on all 4 sides you better figure out a way that you can get Mama duck out of the coop and away from the other 10 to call those other two. Because they are faster than you and you aren't going to get them out on your own.
11. The only way to put additional boards behind the feeder and ramps once the other two are back to Mama Duck is to do it from inside the very messy duck coop. ON HANDS AND KNEES. YECH!
12. Once you are certain you have blocked all exits for the baby birds one will climb a corner and go out above the boards just to prove it can, it too is extremely fast.
13. Once you are certain AGAIN you have all exits covered and you are now ready for a scrub down and have lunch another will escape just as you take your first long swallow of Pepsi.
14. The third time you are certain you have them all blocked safely in you thank God that it is a cool day and you can keep the windows open to listen for more escapee sounds.
15. You contemplate bird netting on the outside of the run wired up tight to the chick wire, all the way around and very high up.
16. You cancel a much needed shower until reenforcements arrive to help you untangle the bird netting and get it up for fear they will escape again.
17. You now know you MUST enlarge the duck housing facilities immediately . Those older siblings might hurt the younger ones when it comes time to settle down for the night in the too small coop.
18. You develop a headache when you realize that you have a broody duck in the guinea coop and you get to play this game all over in three weeks when she hatches her dozen out.
19. Cedar needles in the hair and under clothing hurt.
20. You better learn to laugh at yourself because everyone else is.
These are valuable lessons learned today, hope they save someone else my scurrying around trying to nab little and yellow and black ducks as they flee under the low lying cedar trees. Jan who is most certainly glad no one had a video camera going today in OK
Showing posts with label daily farm life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daily farm life. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Monday, July 26, 2010
THIS YEAR’S TRIO OF GOSLINGS
A few years ago we were incubating and hatching hundreds of goose eggs. We’ve closed that business and since then have been letting the geese hatch and raise their own goslings, letting nature take its course as they free range. Unfortunately the last two years they’ve hatched out several , but none have made it to adulthood.
This year only four were hatched due to the strange weather we had and snake problems, not to mention a tree falling on one of our beautiful Sebastopols instantly killing her and the large clutch of eggs she was sitting on.
While we were gone Sean managed to get two of the family groups penned separately. He decided to protect the goslings instead of letting their parents raise them on the loose. He penned their entire family with them to help create bonding with the gaggle. The third group he didn’t get penned in time and we lost the gosling almost immediately.
This weekend we released the other three with their parents to explore the world. The three are nearly adult size now and have gotten their names. Hopefully they will be the subject of many stories to come. They are already older than any of the “free range” babies were when we lost them. They are fully feathered, and nearly grown.
Because the birds free range they practice free will. So who hatches and raises the gosling is not always necessarily the biological parent, as you will see from the descriptions below.
The first family group is Fairy(White Chinese/Sebastopol mix), Freckles, Spot, Pebbles and Popcorn (all of which are White Tufted Roman/Brown Chinese mix). You met them in the Elf story that is one of the first blogs I wrote.
Their baby looks to be a White Chinese/Brown Chinese mix. We are pretty certain he’s a gander but we could be wrong. This little darling is a little brat. It is bossy, noisy and a bit of a bully. He is always stirring up a storm of trouble. He is white with varying shades of gray and black splotches on him. The ones on his wing shoulders look much like storm clouds. His personality and markings have earned him the name Partly Cloudy or PC.
The second family is Magellan—you’ve heard lots about him over the years, he is a large white Embden gander, and Mama Sarah a Brown Chinese goose. They are raising two darling babies.
When I asked Mama Sarah what we should call her little gander she answered “Alllllllllfred!” So that’s what we named this grey and white baby. He's a good gosling and never gives us any trouble, unlike PC.
The third is our “special” child. That’s Miss Pugsley. As you can see from her photo at the left Miss Pugsley has a birth defect. . Her eyes are different from most goose eyes and her body shape is slightly different as well. She is a gentle loving soul, who just wants to be friends with everyone. She doesn’t run from us like the other two goslings do and trusts us to make sure she’s properly fed. She looks to be a Toulouse/Sebastopol cross . Pugsie’s name of course comes from her pug nose/bill. We think she’s cute.
Unfortunately geese are like most wild animals and tend to shun those who are different. PC in particular is always yammering at Pugsie and being ugly to her. Magellan and Mama Sarah are good parents and have been keeping all bullies away from her. I’m afraid it will take Magellan establishing Alpha with the Knot Heads (five Tufted Romans) before they will accept little Pugsie into the main flock. The Knot heads are snobs and we’ve had trouble with them before. They would not accept Hairlip Harry (the gosling with the broken bill) last year and we lost Harry as a result. Harry didn’t have a dominate male to protect him. Pugsie does, Magellan is VERY protective of her. Magellan and his brother Frodo are the biggest and oldest of the birds we have. If Fro will stand by his brother there won’t be a problem. Some of the other ganders have already started siding with Gel-Gel so hopefully it will work out.
I know little Pugsie has already won all our hearts. But then Sean has always called this place Rock ‘n Tree Ranch, home of the misfit birds. We’ve had birds in the past live to old age that ranged from Kreb, a runner duck with a badly formed spine to Blind Annie, a completely blind Pekin duck who had a seeing eye banty chicken hen. Then of course there have been the tongueless guinea hen, and Sloth, a one toed guinea hen who is still to this day hopping around the ranch on her single enormous one toe on one of her feet.
We’ll make sure that Pugsie always has food she can get in her deformed bill okay and plenty of water to drink. We’ve been observing and have noticed Magellan and Sarah are teaching her how to preen, and pull grass despite only having half a bill. She does a pretty good job of it too.
Pugsley may turn out to be a real beauty in the long run. Her adult feathers are starting to come in and have a curl on the end. If they should curl and go long like a true Sebastopol’s does that might shut Fairy’s crew up real fast. After all, that would mean she’s from their family geneticly.
So that's our newest family members, we've lost a few of the birds this year, so these babies are extra special to us.
Jan who hopes to write hundreds of stories about Pugsley and the other new additions in OK
This year only four were hatched due to the strange weather we had and snake problems, not to mention a tree falling on one of our beautiful Sebastopols instantly killing her and the large clutch of eggs she was sitting on.
While we were gone Sean managed to get two of the family groups penned separately. He decided to protect the goslings instead of letting their parents raise them on the loose. He penned their entire family with them to help create bonding with the gaggle. The third group he didn’t get penned in time and we lost the gosling almost immediately.
This weekend we released the other three with their parents to explore the world. The three are nearly adult size now and have gotten their names. Hopefully they will be the subject of many stories to come. They are already older than any of the “free range” babies were when we lost them. They are fully feathered, and nearly grown.
Because the birds free range they practice free will. So who hatches and raises the gosling is not always necessarily the biological parent, as you will see from the descriptions below.
The first family group is Fairy(White Chinese/Sebastopol mix), Freckles, Spot, Pebbles and Popcorn (all of which are White Tufted Roman/Brown Chinese mix). You met them in the Elf story that is one of the first blogs I wrote.
Their baby looks to be a White Chinese/Brown Chinese mix. We are pretty certain he’s a gander but we could be wrong. This little darling is a little brat. It is bossy, noisy and a bit of a bully. He is always stirring up a storm of trouble. He is white with varying shades of gray and black splotches on him. The ones on his wing shoulders look much like storm clouds. His personality and markings have earned him the name Partly Cloudy or PC.
The second family is Magellan—you’ve heard lots about him over the years, he is a large white Embden gander, and Mama Sarah a Brown Chinese goose. They are raising two darling babies.
When I asked Mama Sarah what we should call her little gander she answered “Alllllllllfred!” So that’s what we named this grey and white baby. He's a good gosling and never gives us any trouble, unlike PC.
The third is our “special” child. That’s Miss Pugsley. As you can see from her photo at the left Miss Pugsley has a birth defect. . Her eyes are different from most goose eyes and her body shape is slightly different as well. She is a gentle loving soul, who just wants to be friends with everyone. She doesn’t run from us like the other two goslings do and trusts us to make sure she’s properly fed. She looks to be a Toulouse/Sebastopol cross . Pugsie’s name of course comes from her pug nose/bill. We think she’s cute.
Unfortunately geese are like most wild animals and tend to shun those who are different. PC in particular is always yammering at Pugsie and being ugly to her. Magellan and Mama Sarah are good parents and have been keeping all bullies away from her. I’m afraid it will take Magellan establishing Alpha with the Knot Heads (five Tufted Romans) before they will accept little Pugsie into the main flock. The Knot heads are snobs and we’ve had trouble with them before. They would not accept Hairlip Harry (the gosling with the broken bill) last year and we lost Harry as a result. Harry didn’t have a dominate male to protect him. Pugsie does, Magellan is VERY protective of her. Magellan and his brother Frodo are the biggest and oldest of the birds we have. If Fro will stand by his brother there won’t be a problem. Some of the other ganders have already started siding with Gel-Gel so hopefully it will work out.
I know little Pugsie has already won all our hearts. But then Sean has always called this place Rock ‘n Tree Ranch, home of the misfit birds. We’ve had birds in the past live to old age that ranged from Kreb, a runner duck with a badly formed spine to Blind Annie, a completely blind Pekin duck who had a seeing eye banty chicken hen. Then of course there have been the tongueless guinea hen, and Sloth, a one toed guinea hen who is still to this day hopping around the ranch on her single enormous one toe on one of her feet.
We’ll make sure that Pugsie always has food she can get in her deformed bill okay and plenty of water to drink. We’ve been observing and have noticed Magellan and Sarah are teaching her how to preen, and pull grass despite only having half a bill. She does a pretty good job of it too.
Pugsley may turn out to be a real beauty in the long run. Her adult feathers are starting to come in and have a curl on the end. If they should curl and go long like a true Sebastopol’s does that might shut Fairy’s crew up real fast. After all, that would mean she’s from their family geneticly.
So that's our newest family members, we've lost a few of the birds this year, so these babies are extra special to us.
Jan who hopes to write hundreds of stories about Pugsley and the other new additions in OK
Thursday, March 18, 2010
A PEACEABLE KINGDOM?
As some of you already know my ds got laid off yesterday due to budget cutbacks. We were all pretty blue yesterday, but in our world you don’t have time to throw pity parties for long. So last night ds filed for unemployment then went to bed at his normal work day time.
He has been a very busy fellow today. He went back by the office and picked up his stuff he forgot to get after receiving the stunning news, then on to run some minor errands. Once home he gathered up big logs he and dh had cut up before we left town—since there is suppose to be a cold front coming through this weekend he thought he might want to be warm. LOL!
He spent the rest of the afternoon splitting firewood. He called during one of his breaks with the following happeninga on the ranch.
He had gone in for a drink of water and left the front door open to allow the cats to come and go as they wished, this is something new for the cats. They’ve always been totally house kitties, but the kitties have been fighting a lot so we decided to see how letting them get some fresh air would work. He said he might have been napping a bit when all the sudden he felt movement on the love seat next to him. Opening his eyes he looked right into the brown eyes of Misty Georgia, our middle child dog. Now to some of you this might not seem strange, but in the 7 years Georgie has been a family member she has never been in the main house. She shares the sunroom with her two sibling Jolie Marie and Drifter Moon. She politely laid her head down in Sean’s lap and sighed as if she’d been waiting to do this for a long time.
Since Georgie is our dog that absolutely loves to roll in anything stinky Sean decided that it might be best if the two of them moved to the porch. So he coaxed her outside with him and they sat in a sunbeam enjoying a light breeze. After a bit he heard whining where Georgia had been. Only it didn’t sound like Georgie. Opening his eyes again he looked around to see Drifter Moon, the big black mutt that is the youngest of the three dogs, looking VERY DISTRESSED. Sean said so much white of Moonie’s eyes was showing you could barely see the brown of the iris. He said Drifter would whine and then cut his eyes to the side and then whine again.
Looking around to see what the problem was Sean said he had to burst out laughing. Amy Jo, our fat grey and white tabby cat was giving Drifter Kitty Hugs, rubbing her head against him and purring to beat the band. Since this was Drifter’s first contact ever with Amy he was freaking out. Amy apparently thought Drifter was her new best friend. Drifter on the other paw wasn’t sure what was happening. Remember Drifter is not our brightest animal on the farm, so any change in his world is distressing to him.
A short while later Sean had Murray, his Tuxedo cat following him around as he pumped water out of the pool we now collect rainwater in. He watched as the big black and white cat moved confidently through the large flock of milling birds. For the most part the birds ignored him. Three guineas charged at him, but Murcat stood his ground and the goofy birds grew tired of the game quickly. He moved all around sniffing everything—this outdoor stuff was great! That was until, he got to close to Melanie, a dainty brown Chinese goose. Sean said Mel-Mel didn’t hiss or anything, but her mate-Magellan, a big white Embden gander, did. Gel-gel grabbed Murcat’s handsome tail and yanked it as only a goose can.
Sean said Murray went 16 directions at once! He went looking for him since the cat hit the ground running after such a rude maneuver on the goose’s part. Sean finally found him in the house frantically clawing at their bedroom door trying to get in with the kitten—who is not being let out until she’s spayed (MY ORDERS).
So it sounds like life is going back to normal at the Rock ‘n Tree Ranch.
Jan who says aren’t spring days and farm animals enough to bring a smile to your face?
He has been a very busy fellow today. He went back by the office and picked up his stuff he forgot to get after receiving the stunning news, then on to run some minor errands. Once home he gathered up big logs he and dh had cut up before we left town—since there is suppose to be a cold front coming through this weekend he thought he might want to be warm. LOL!
He spent the rest of the afternoon splitting firewood. He called during one of his breaks with the following happeninga on the ranch.
He had gone in for a drink of water and left the front door open to allow the cats to come and go as they wished, this is something new for the cats. They’ve always been totally house kitties, but the kitties have been fighting a lot so we decided to see how letting them get some fresh air would work. He said he might have been napping a bit when all the sudden he felt movement on the love seat next to him. Opening his eyes he looked right into the brown eyes of Misty Georgia, our middle child dog. Now to some of you this might not seem strange, but in the 7 years Georgie has been a family member she has never been in the main house. She shares the sunroom with her two sibling Jolie Marie and Drifter Moon. She politely laid her head down in Sean’s lap and sighed as if she’d been waiting to do this for a long time.
Since Georgie is our dog that absolutely loves to roll in anything stinky Sean decided that it might be best if the two of them moved to the porch. So he coaxed her outside with him and they sat in a sunbeam enjoying a light breeze. After a bit he heard whining where Georgia had been. Only it didn’t sound like Georgie. Opening his eyes again he looked around to see Drifter Moon, the big black mutt that is the youngest of the three dogs, looking VERY DISTRESSED. Sean said so much white of Moonie’s eyes was showing you could barely see the brown of the iris. He said Drifter would whine and then cut his eyes to the side and then whine again.
Looking around to see what the problem was Sean said he had to burst out laughing. Amy Jo, our fat grey and white tabby cat was giving Drifter Kitty Hugs, rubbing her head against him and purring to beat the band. Since this was Drifter’s first contact ever with Amy he was freaking out. Amy apparently thought Drifter was her new best friend. Drifter on the other paw wasn’t sure what was happening. Remember Drifter is not our brightest animal on the farm, so any change in his world is distressing to him.
A short while later Sean had Murray, his Tuxedo cat following him around as he pumped water out of the pool we now collect rainwater in. He watched as the big black and white cat moved confidently through the large flock of milling birds. For the most part the birds ignored him. Three guineas charged at him, but Murcat stood his ground and the goofy birds grew tired of the game quickly. He moved all around sniffing everything—this outdoor stuff was great! That was until, he got to close to Melanie, a dainty brown Chinese goose. Sean said Mel-Mel didn’t hiss or anything, but her mate-Magellan, a big white Embden gander, did. Gel-gel grabbed Murcat’s handsome tail and yanked it as only a goose can.
Sean said Murray went 16 directions at once! He went looking for him since the cat hit the ground running after such a rude maneuver on the goose’s part. Sean finally found him in the house frantically clawing at their bedroom door trying to get in with the kitten—who is not being let out until she’s spayed (MY ORDERS).
So it sounds like life is going back to normal at the Rock ‘n Tree Ranch.
Jan who says aren’t spring days and farm animals enough to bring a smile to your face?
Friday, December 25, 2009
CHRISTMAS 12 YEARS LATER
CHRISTMAS 12 YEARS LATER
December 24, 2009, Christmas Eve
Twelve years have passed since that first Christmas here. Much has changed, we have suffered the loss of many of the characters, both human and animal, since then. As the sleet falls heavily outside I think of them.
Gone are Aunt Evelyn, Grandma Felicia, my father in law Alvin, and both the beloved granddoggers Katie and Mr. Erik they are all sorely missed. My mother in law now lives with my sister in law and the bad roads will keep us from seeing her for a few days. Her gift is purchased, but I have yet to wrap it. I’ll do that tonight when I am wrapping the homemade gifts for my husband and son.
On that Christmas 12 years ago the house was heavily decorated both inside and out. We’ve not done that this year, none of us had the time or the mind set to do it. The lack of decoration is not a new thing, slowly as time has progressed over this dozen years we’ve put less and less into our decorating. Often not returning home from a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida until just before Christmas, so it was just a rush partial put up of the tree. We had discussed doing it tonight, but the idea of chancing the icy walk to and from the garage to get it seems too dangerous. We do not need a tree to celebrate Christmas, all we need is each other.
This Christmas things are even more different, we agreed back in November that all gifts had to be homemade from things we already had on hand, the only exception to the rule were two gifts I had purchased earlier in the year, that totaled less than $15. Finances are tight, but our faith and family are strong.
I set a budget for Christmas to total less than $50 including the meal and the two gifts already purchased. I have came in under budget because of a very good deal on both the turkey and the ham. The two of them total less than $15 and I already had all the makings for the rest of the meal in my food storage. I’m pretty proud of how well we’ve been doing up to this point with Gary’s early “retirement”. So far we are still current on all the bills, that has been a true blessing, something to celebrate at Christmas.
In the kitchen the dishwasher is humming, on a half load of dishes. Murphy has visited yet again and for some reason anything put on the top shelf of the dishwasher does not come clean. So we don’t even bother to load that part right now. Gary and Sean will tear the dishwasher apart soon to see what the problem is and hopefully fix it.
Gary has the house warm and toasty with the last of the firewood he cut before Murphy took the big chainsaw away. Hopefully this sleet/snow storm will not knock the power out because any firewood cutting we have to do must be done with the tiny limb cutting chain saw until the big one is repaired. Gary thinks it’s a fuel line that will need replaced and the roads are bad, so that will have to wait. Thanks Murphy, you've been so generous this last few months.
Outside the new sump pump is working, after Murphy pulled another trick earlier this week and killed the old one. This seems to be a recurring Christmas theme. The water only got to 1” this time before it was discovered and the pump replaced.
Murphy, the old Grinch, has been trying hard to steal our Christmas this year, but we Patterson’s are not quitters.
We’ve kept the computers and printers humming to create one of a kind Christmas gifts for each other. As I type Gary is finishing up a super-imposed collage photo for Sean. It is an 8 X 10 photo of his cat Murray Mugillacuty “dreaming” about the other pets on the ranch. I’ll add a copy to the blog when I post this. It will probably be hard for you to see because there is so much on it, but I’ll tell you who is who anyway.
Of course the center figure is my grandkitty, Murray. Starting at the top left and moving clockwise is Lizzie, Magellan Goose with Mama Amy Kitty under him, grandkitty Gypsy Skeeter, Drifter Moon, Jolie Marie, Greystoke Goose, Jellybean and last but not least Misty Georgia. Gary is framing it for Sean’s desk at work. Sean is very fond of all the critters so I think he’ll like it. He’s been mentioning he needed to take photos of the critters to work for his desk.
With the help of a “must purchase” full reimbursement mystery shop I spent no cash to purchase Sean a battery for his X box controller. It was kind of a cheat, but the deal was we could spend no cash and technically I didn’t. He has not been able to use that controller for more than a few minutes for at a time because its battery is worn out. He’s been grumbling about that, so it should bring him some enjoyment.
Sean and I are working together on a gift for Gary, who is trying to teach himself to play bluegrass music on his acoustic guitar. I located free sheet music and companion mp3 files on the internet as well as how to instructions and downloaded those at the library. I’ve printed all the sheet music and will bind it in a decorated 3 ring notebook from my stash of scrounged notebooks. The cover is “scraps” of torn sheet music done in a random way with the words “BLUE GRASS” cut out of card stock on it.
Sean is burning the mp3s and lessons to cds and dvds for me. He’s designing the cover for the the jewel cases and printing those as well. He found some how to videos on line that he is putting into format for Gary’s Ipod from him. He is also giving him his hand exerciser and music stand to have as his. It’s a re-gift of sorts, but a good gift. Before finances got tight Gary had talked about purchasing these items for himself.
Along with these gifts we’ll be giving Gary the $10 guitar stand I caught on a great sale in the late fall. That was one of the two things I had caught on sale.
The two men will share the long cuffed fireplace gloves I caught on another sale before the agreement. They are both always getting soot on their clothes or worse yet burned because their work gloves are too short cuffed for the job.
We’ll see what their imaginations have came up with for me, tomorrow. Both have been working very secretly today.
These are all simple gifts, but they are gifts from the heart, which is what we all wanted this year.
For the dogs I have pigs feet from a butchering thawing for them for a Christmas gift. A couple of minutes with fabric scraps at the sewing machine and there will be five new catnip toys for the cats.
Tonight’s supper will be our traditional Christmas Eve We started this a few years before my father in law passed. Alvin always said that by Christmas he was tired of traditional holiday meals of turkey and ham, that he’d much rather have Mexican food. So we had started having him and my mother in law over for an enchilada dinner on Christmas Eve each year so they could visit on Christmas day with some of the other kids.
Tonight’s supper menu is: (recipes to follow)
Cheese and Onion/Dairy-free Chicken and “Sour Cream” Enchiladas
Refried Beans
Mexican Rice
Tossed Salad
Iced Tea
Sopapillas and Honey
Please note that I do use canned enchilada sauce because I simply have not developed a good homemade one that can be made as cheaply as purchasing a can YET. If you have a good enchilada sauce recipe please post it in the comments section below.
I am sorry but this is a meal I basically cook by feel, so all measurements are sort of guess work.
CHEESE AND ONION ENCHILADAS
Corn tortillas
Cheddar Cheese, grated (you can use dairy free cheese for these if desired
Onion, finely chopped
1 can Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
Cooking Spray
Cooking oil, optional.
Before you start have all your ingredients ready. I set them up in the order I will be using them.
1. A plate to nuke the tortilla on
2. A shallow flat dish (I use a pie plate) in which I have poured the can of enchilada sauce. This needs to be big enough you can put the tortilla in flat and then turn it over to coat the tortilla
3. A plate to lay the tortilla on to fill it and roll it up with the cheese and onion sitting next to it.
4. The baking dish.
Spray the baking dish on both bottom and sides. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
To soften the corn tortillas you have two choices. You can either heat the optional cooking oil in a skillet and then dip the tortilla in quickly to soften it to continue to the next step. OR you can simply microwave the corn tortillas approximately 15 seconds to soften it. Either way you need the corn tortilla to be pliable. It is best to do the tortillas one at a time.
Cook the tortillas by the method of your choice (I nuke ours to help cut the calories).
Place the soft tortilla in the enchilada sauce then turn it over quickly to coat both sides of the tortilla.
Place the tortilla on the next plate and place the desired amount of cheese slightly off center (remember you are going to roll these up and you want to capture the filling inside) sprinkle a little of the chopped onion on top of the cheese. Then roll the tortilla up to where the cheese and onion are captured inside the tortilla. Place seam side down in the baking dish.
Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the pan of enchilada, top with more grated cheese and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted.
DAIRY FREE CHICKEN AND SOUR CREAM ENCHILADAS
Using the same method to do the tortillas as above I fill them with a combination of the onion, dairy-free sour cream (I use Tofutti brand), shredded cooked chicken and onions, sometimes with a little chopped black olive) then continue as with the cheese/onion ones either omitting the grated cheese on top or using dairy-free cheddar or pepper jack cheese.
JP NOTE: ds does not care for onions so I leave those out of his and mark his by sticking a tooth pick in the no onion ones for him to eat.
REFRIED BEANS
4 C cooked pinto beans, mashed with a small amount of the bean soup liquid
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot (375 F) place all the bean mixture in the skillet at once and “fry”, stirring constantly stirring the oil into the bean mixture. Cook until the desired consistency.
MEXICAN RICE
4 C cooked cold rice (I usually have cooked “leftover” rice in my freezer just for this purpose—well and for fried rice meals too)
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Corn if desired
Chopped bell pepper if desired
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” (375 F) in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot place all the rice mixture in the skillet and stir fry until hot.
SOPAPILLAS—MASTER MIX
7 C all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
8 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons salt
¼ c shortening.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. I use a wire whisk for this job. Cut in the shortening until it is well mixed in. Store in a labeled and dated airtight container in a cool dry place. Best if used within 10-12 weeks.
Uses
BUTTER STICK SNACK
¼ c butter
2 c sopapilla mix
1 ½ tsp baking powder
Approximately 2/3 c milk
Coarse salt
Preheat oven to 450 F Melt butter in an 8 inch square baking pan while preheating the oven. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn, remove from oven as soon as the butter melts.
In a medium bowl mix the mix and baking powder together well. Stir in just enough milk to form a soft ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knewad 8-10 times. Roll out dough to an 8 inch square, which should make it about ½ inch thick.
Cut in half. Cut each half into 4” x 1” strips. Dip each strip into the melted butter. Place in the pan with strips slightly touching. Sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
FRY BREAD TOSTADAS/TACOS
2 c sopapilla mix
2/3 c water
Oil for frying
In a medium bowl combine the mix and water to form a ball. Adjust water or mix as needed to make the dough ball easy to work with. On a lightly floured surface knead the dough 8-10 times. Divide into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece to a 6 inch circle. Set aside. Cover with a cloth to keep from drying out to much. If using for a taco you may want to form the dough to a slight bowl shape before frying. You could to this by forming it over an upside down bowl.
Heat frying oil to 375. Fry the totada/taco bowl until golden brown on both sides.
For tostada top with heated refried beans, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, black olives or topping of choice.
For tacos use your favorite taco fillings, we use the Moo-Gurgle filling I’ve previously posted.
SOPAPILLAS
2 c sopapilla mix
About 2/3 c water
Oil for frying
Powdered sugar for garnish
Honey if desired.
In a medium bowl, combine mix and water. Mix until dough clings together, adjust water mix ratio if needed. Knead dough 8-10 times on a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough out very thin then cut into 3 -4 inch squares. Heat 2-3 inch deep oil in a frying pan or use a deep fat fryer to 375 F. Fry until golden brown on one side, then using tongs turn over the sopapilla and continue frying until golden brown on that side as well. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve hot with honey if desired. Makes about 20.
Christmas Day:
We slept in, with no little ones in the house and over a foot of snow outside we all decided this was the thing we wanted to do. We slept quite late. Then exchanged our gifts. The guys did quite well by me.
Dh remembered I had a large collage frame that I purchased a couple of years ago that I had been wanting to fill with various photos and hang over the tv. He found all the photos, printed and mounted them for me. It was a big job. He promises to hang it this next week. I’m thrilled with it!!
Ds gathered how to videos and sheet music to match up for me to learn to play the Dulcimer that I traded for many years ago but never learned how to play. He would like for us to start a new family tradition of the three of us playing music together on the holiday. So I have 1 year to learn at least some basic Christmas tunes. LOL! He says he’ll tune it for me. I think it will be fun to learn.
After a very late traditional breakfast of biscuits and gravy we realized that by the time I cooked the turkey that was not quite thawed it would be very, very late in the evening. So a vote was taken and we all decided we wanted to be total bums for at least one day. The turkey went back in the refrigerator to cook tomorrow.
We’ve had a very relaxing day of the guys playing video games together, me cheering them on while working on my garden plans for next year. A very unique Christmas I know, but it was so nice to just relax and not stress.
Outside over a foot of snow lays on top of 2 inches of ice, inside the fireplace is warm and cozy and we are all content. Snacking and relaxing as Christmas movies play on the tv in the evening hours.
It’s been a very good holiday.
Jan who thinks this non-commercial Christmas was a very good idea in OK
December 24, 2009, Christmas Eve
Twelve years have passed since that first Christmas here. Much has changed, we have suffered the loss of many of the characters, both human and animal, since then. As the sleet falls heavily outside I think of them.
Gone are Aunt Evelyn, Grandma Felicia, my father in law Alvin, and both the beloved granddoggers Katie and Mr. Erik they are all sorely missed. My mother in law now lives with my sister in law and the bad roads will keep us from seeing her for a few days. Her gift is purchased, but I have yet to wrap it. I’ll do that tonight when I am wrapping the homemade gifts for my husband and son.
On that Christmas 12 years ago the house was heavily decorated both inside and out. We’ve not done that this year, none of us had the time or the mind set to do it. The lack of decoration is not a new thing, slowly as time has progressed over this dozen years we’ve put less and less into our decorating. Often not returning home from a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida until just before Christmas, so it was just a rush partial put up of the tree. We had discussed doing it tonight, but the idea of chancing the icy walk to and from the garage to get it seems too dangerous. We do not need a tree to celebrate Christmas, all we need is each other.
This Christmas things are even more different, we agreed back in November that all gifts had to be homemade from things we already had on hand, the only exception to the rule were two gifts I had purchased earlier in the year, that totaled less than $15. Finances are tight, but our faith and family are strong.
I set a budget for Christmas to total less than $50 including the meal and the two gifts already purchased. I have came in under budget because of a very good deal on both the turkey and the ham. The two of them total less than $15 and I already had all the makings for the rest of the meal in my food storage. I’m pretty proud of how well we’ve been doing up to this point with Gary’s early “retirement”. So far we are still current on all the bills, that has been a true blessing, something to celebrate at Christmas.
In the kitchen the dishwasher is humming, on a half load of dishes. Murphy has visited yet again and for some reason anything put on the top shelf of the dishwasher does not come clean. So we don’t even bother to load that part right now. Gary and Sean will tear the dishwasher apart soon to see what the problem is and hopefully fix it.
Gary has the house warm and toasty with the last of the firewood he cut before Murphy took the big chainsaw away. Hopefully this sleet/snow storm will not knock the power out because any firewood cutting we have to do must be done with the tiny limb cutting chain saw until the big one is repaired. Gary thinks it’s a fuel line that will need replaced and the roads are bad, so that will have to wait. Thanks Murphy, you've been so generous this last few months.
Outside the new sump pump is working, after Murphy pulled another trick earlier this week and killed the old one. This seems to be a recurring Christmas theme. The water only got to 1” this time before it was discovered and the pump replaced.
Murphy, the old Grinch, has been trying hard to steal our Christmas this year, but we Patterson’s are not quitters.
We’ve kept the computers and printers humming to create one of a kind Christmas gifts for each other. As I type Gary is finishing up a super-imposed collage photo for Sean. It is an 8 X 10 photo of his cat Murray Mugillacuty “dreaming” about the other pets on the ranch. I’ll add a copy to the blog when I post this. It will probably be hard for you to see because there is so much on it, but I’ll tell you who is who anyway.
Of course the center figure is my grandkitty, Murray. Starting at the top left and moving clockwise is Lizzie, Magellan Goose with Mama Amy Kitty under him, grandkitty Gypsy Skeeter, Drifter Moon, Jolie Marie, Greystoke Goose, Jellybean and last but not least Misty Georgia. Gary is framing it for Sean’s desk at work. Sean is very fond of all the critters so I think he’ll like it. He’s been mentioning he needed to take photos of the critters to work for his desk.
With the help of a “must purchase” full reimbursement mystery shop I spent no cash to purchase Sean a battery for his X box controller. It was kind of a cheat, but the deal was we could spend no cash and technically I didn’t. He has not been able to use that controller for more than a few minutes for at a time because its battery is worn out. He’s been grumbling about that, so it should bring him some enjoyment.
Sean and I are working together on a gift for Gary, who is trying to teach himself to play bluegrass music on his acoustic guitar. I located free sheet music and companion mp3 files on the internet as well as how to instructions and downloaded those at the library. I’ve printed all the sheet music and will bind it in a decorated 3 ring notebook from my stash of scrounged notebooks. The cover is “scraps” of torn sheet music done in a random way with the words “BLUE GRASS” cut out of card stock on it.
Sean is burning the mp3s and lessons to cds and dvds for me. He’s designing the cover for the the jewel cases and printing those as well. He found some how to videos on line that he is putting into format for Gary’s Ipod from him. He is also giving him his hand exerciser and music stand to have as his. It’s a re-gift of sorts, but a good gift. Before finances got tight Gary had talked about purchasing these items for himself.
Along with these gifts we’ll be giving Gary the $10 guitar stand I caught on a great sale in the late fall. That was one of the two things I had caught on sale.
The two men will share the long cuffed fireplace gloves I caught on another sale before the agreement. They are both always getting soot on their clothes or worse yet burned because their work gloves are too short cuffed for the job.
We’ll see what their imaginations have came up with for me, tomorrow. Both have been working very secretly today.
These are all simple gifts, but they are gifts from the heart, which is what we all wanted this year.
For the dogs I have pigs feet from a butchering thawing for them for a Christmas gift. A couple of minutes with fabric scraps at the sewing machine and there will be five new catnip toys for the cats.
Tonight’s supper will be our traditional Christmas Eve We started this a few years before my father in law passed. Alvin always said that by Christmas he was tired of traditional holiday meals of turkey and ham, that he’d much rather have Mexican food. So we had started having him and my mother in law over for an enchilada dinner on Christmas Eve each year so they could visit on Christmas day with some of the other kids.
Tonight’s supper menu is: (recipes to follow)
Cheese and Onion/Dairy-free Chicken and “Sour Cream” Enchiladas
Refried Beans
Mexican Rice
Tossed Salad
Iced Tea
Sopapillas and Honey
Please note that I do use canned enchilada sauce because I simply have not developed a good homemade one that can be made as cheaply as purchasing a can YET. If you have a good enchilada sauce recipe please post it in the comments section below.
I am sorry but this is a meal I basically cook by feel, so all measurements are sort of guess work.
CHEESE AND ONION ENCHILADAS
Corn tortillas
Cheddar Cheese, grated (you can use dairy free cheese for these if desired
Onion, finely chopped
1 can Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
Cooking Spray
Cooking oil, optional.
Before you start have all your ingredients ready. I set them up in the order I will be using them.
1. A plate to nuke the tortilla on
2. A shallow flat dish (I use a pie plate) in which I have poured the can of enchilada sauce. This needs to be big enough you can put the tortilla in flat and then turn it over to coat the tortilla
3. A plate to lay the tortilla on to fill it and roll it up with the cheese and onion sitting next to it.
4. The baking dish.
Spray the baking dish on both bottom and sides. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
To soften the corn tortillas you have two choices. You can either heat the optional cooking oil in a skillet and then dip the tortilla in quickly to soften it to continue to the next step. OR you can simply microwave the corn tortillas approximately 15 seconds to soften it. Either way you need the corn tortilla to be pliable. It is best to do the tortillas one at a time.
Cook the tortillas by the method of your choice (I nuke ours to help cut the calories).
Place the soft tortilla in the enchilada sauce then turn it over quickly to coat both sides of the tortilla.
Place the tortilla on the next plate and place the desired amount of cheese slightly off center (remember you are going to roll these up and you want to capture the filling inside) sprinkle a little of the chopped onion on top of the cheese. Then roll the tortilla up to where the cheese and onion are captured inside the tortilla. Place seam side down in the baking dish.
Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the pan of enchilada, top with more grated cheese and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted.
DAIRY FREE CHICKEN AND SOUR CREAM ENCHILADAS
Using the same method to do the tortillas as above I fill them with a combination of the onion, dairy-free sour cream (I use Tofutti brand), shredded cooked chicken and onions, sometimes with a little chopped black olive) then continue as with the cheese/onion ones either omitting the grated cheese on top or using dairy-free cheddar or pepper jack cheese.
JP NOTE: ds does not care for onions so I leave those out of his and mark his by sticking a tooth pick in the no onion ones for him to eat.
REFRIED BEANS
4 C cooked pinto beans, mashed with a small amount of the bean soup liquid
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot (375 F) place all the bean mixture in the skillet at once and “fry”, stirring constantly stirring the oil into the bean mixture. Cook until the desired consistency.
MEXICAN RICE
4 C cooked cold rice (I usually have cooked “leftover” rice in my freezer just for this purpose—well and for fried rice meals too)
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Corn if desired
Chopped bell pepper if desired
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” (375 F) in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot place all the rice mixture in the skillet and stir fry until hot.
SOPAPILLAS—MASTER MIX
7 C all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
8 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons salt
¼ c shortening.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. I use a wire whisk for this job. Cut in the shortening until it is well mixed in. Store in a labeled and dated airtight container in a cool dry place. Best if used within 10-12 weeks.
Uses
BUTTER STICK SNACK
¼ c butter
2 c sopapilla mix
1 ½ tsp baking powder
Approximately 2/3 c milk
Coarse salt
Preheat oven to 450 F Melt butter in an 8 inch square baking pan while preheating the oven. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn, remove from oven as soon as the butter melts.
In a medium bowl mix the mix and baking powder together well. Stir in just enough milk to form a soft ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knewad 8-10 times. Roll out dough to an 8 inch square, which should make it about ½ inch thick.
Cut in half. Cut each half into 4” x 1” strips. Dip each strip into the melted butter. Place in the pan with strips slightly touching. Sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
FRY BREAD TOSTADAS/TACOS
2 c sopapilla mix
2/3 c water
Oil for frying
In a medium bowl combine the mix and water to form a ball. Adjust water or mix as needed to make the dough ball easy to work with. On a lightly floured surface knead the dough 8-10 times. Divide into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece to a 6 inch circle. Set aside. Cover with a cloth to keep from drying out to much. If using for a taco you may want to form the dough to a slight bowl shape before frying. You could to this by forming it over an upside down bowl.
Heat frying oil to 375. Fry the totada/taco bowl until golden brown on both sides.
For tostada top with heated refried beans, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, black olives or topping of choice.
For tacos use your favorite taco fillings, we use the Moo-Gurgle filling I’ve previously posted.
SOPAPILLAS
2 c sopapilla mix
About 2/3 c water
Oil for frying
Powdered sugar for garnish
Honey if desired.
In a medium bowl, combine mix and water. Mix until dough clings together, adjust water mix ratio if needed. Knead dough 8-10 times on a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough out very thin then cut into 3 -4 inch squares. Heat 2-3 inch deep oil in a frying pan or use a deep fat fryer to 375 F. Fry until golden brown on one side, then using tongs turn over the sopapilla and continue frying until golden brown on that side as well. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve hot with honey if desired. Makes about 20.
Christmas Day:
We slept in, with no little ones in the house and over a foot of snow outside we all decided this was the thing we wanted to do. We slept quite late. Then exchanged our gifts. The guys did quite well by me.
Dh remembered I had a large collage frame that I purchased a couple of years ago that I had been wanting to fill with various photos and hang over the tv. He found all the photos, printed and mounted them for me. It was a big job. He promises to hang it this next week. I’m thrilled with it!!
Ds gathered how to videos and sheet music to match up for me to learn to play the Dulcimer that I traded for many years ago but never learned how to play. He would like for us to start a new family tradition of the three of us playing music together on the holiday. So I have 1 year to learn at least some basic Christmas tunes. LOL! He says he’ll tune it for me. I think it will be fun to learn.
After a very late traditional breakfast of biscuits and gravy we realized that by the time I cooked the turkey that was not quite thawed it would be very, very late in the evening. So a vote was taken and we all decided we wanted to be total bums for at least one day. The turkey went back in the refrigerator to cook tomorrow.
We’ve had a very relaxing day of the guys playing video games together, me cheering them on while working on my garden plans for next year. A very unique Christmas I know, but it was so nice to just relax and not stress.
Outside over a foot of snow lays on top of 2 inches of ice, inside the fireplace is warm and cozy and we are all content. Snacking and relaxing as Christmas movies play on the tv in the evening hours.
It’s been a very good holiday.
Jan who thinks this non-commercial Christmas was a very good idea in OK
FIRST CHRISTMAS ON THE HOMESTEAD
FIRST CHRISTMAS ON THE HOMESTEAD
A blast from the past story.
If you have been on yahoo lists with me for a long time chances are you have read this story before. I’ve posted it more than once. If not here is the background on it. We moved to the ranch mid November 1997, by Christmas the main unpacking was done, but there were still much to be done. Yet we were determined to have a big country Christmas in our new home. Of course nothing went exactly as planned.
December 25, 1997
Let me tell you about the adventures of Christmas at the Patterson Rock and Tree Ranch.
On the day before Christmas Eve, Ma Patterson (that being me) spent the day baking, spit shining and doing all her little Suzy homemaker things. Pa Patterson (my hairy other half) came in and worked like a Trojan unpacking and wrapping for all those evening hours into the wee small hours of the morning.
On Christmas Eve, Ma and Pa loaded up and headed toward the big town of Norman to fetch their young'n Sean, and the granddoggers Katie and Erik. They arrived at Sean's homestead about 20 minutes ahead of his return from the wilds of the battle zone known as Toys R Us'n.
Bedraggled, looking rode hard and put up wet he quickly gathered his gear, whistled for his team of fine sled dogs and away we headed for the wilds of Wellston, aka: Grandpa and Grandma Patterson's. Arriving after the dinner hour for the rest of the clan our hearty trio wolfed down a good Christmas repast, then scurried to see what Santa had deposited under the tree for them.
All was good, Ma received a beautiful new home for her snow village and a good Rubbermaid barn bird feeder. Pa a gift certificate for do-dads for his favorite toy, the computer, and the young'n got a nice sweater and baseball cap. We were all down right pleased.
Shortly afterwards we scurried back to the ranch. After all, there were stockings to be hung, and critters to feed.
We tumbled to bed shortly after midnight and had a good night’s rest. A good thing for the next day had much in store for us.
Santa gifted us greatly and we were again, much pleased. But the Grinch had made a visit or two as well. At first it was considered minor problems. Ma spilled a little ham juice on the kitchen carpet. No problem, it was quickly cleaned and we moved on. Pa readied the fire in the Ashley, to keep all guests comfy cozy in the sun room if they should desire to get away from the hub bub of the main house.
Ma's grandmother and sibling arrived early, and were quickly underfoot in the kitchen, progress slowed to nearly a screeching stop. Finally, brother Jerry Earl was put to polishing silver on one end of the kitchen, Grandmother Felicia was put in the dining room filling relish plates and a rhythm of cooking and good spirits set in. On a break from the cooking a tour was given of the new homestead. Felicia was impressed, but noticed a slight line of water in the basement. Ma took a peek, “Uhhh, Pa, the water is rising, it is no longer a mere dampness around the edge” she said.
Pa replied he would check it in a minute.
Back in the kitchen the potatoes were peeled and the peelings fed to the goat under the sink. The goat didn't like them and brown murky water proceeded to back up in the next sink. Okay, we can handle this, Pa will plunger it when he takes a break from moving boxes in the sun room.
A voice was heard saying "I thought you said it was just a little water! It's an inch deep down here". Out to the back deck he flew. The sump pump was trying, but not working. Maybe the line is blocked? Out to the field with the granddoggers following along. No water could be found coming out of the line.
Grandma and Grandpa Patterson, with Aunt Evelyn arrived just then. Grandpa checks the basement, we are now up to three inches of water and it's rising quickly! Luckily, most of the
things are up off the floor, but even those are starting to get soggy around the edges.
Ma calls the previous owners and says “ HELP!!! The back up sump pump is not the same and the water is gaining.” Pa takes over phone, Ma rushes back to kitchen where more water
is now backed up in the sink.
Pa comes in and says "Katie is limping" Sean goes to check. A little blood and a limp,
barbed wire? We decide to keep an eye on her. Pa and Grandpa work feverishly trading out pumps and adapting the new one for the old set up.
Miss Dale calls to say she has a few minor problems and says she'll be late for lunch. That's okay, lunch was late for lunch. Finally at 1:30 we set down for the noon meal. As we are all on our second plateful someone asks where the stuffing is? IN THE OVEN!!!!! A quick scurry to the kitchen rescues the stuffing in the nick of time. Miss Dale arrives just in time for fresh from the oven stuffing.
Another check of Miss Katie, the limp is worse and she's definitely showing pain. Ma checks the granddogger and fears a break. A call to the local vet (7 miles away) arranges a meeting on this Christmas Day. $74 later Ma and Sean with a gift wrapped, splinted, drugged up Katie return to the
ranch. No break, just a badly bruised leg muscle from her new found freedom of running free in the country. The vet agrees that she's overweight and sent lower fat dog food home with us. Our peg legged Kate follows everyone who ventures out doors, looking extremely pitiful and in massive pain. Begging for treats to ease her pain.
Back at ranch, Grandma Felicia and Jerry have left, taking only part of their gifts with them (fleeing for their lives I do believe). Miss Dale and Grandma Pauline have made a valiant effort to clean the kitchen, but the sink and goat are still rebellious. So all they could do was fill the dishwasher and make massive stacks of the remaining dishes. Ma's had it, plunger in hand she attacks the belligerent goat. It surrenders, and all backed up water quickly vanishes.
The new sump pump working, Grandpa Alvin decides it's time to form a bucket brigade for the close to 4 inches of water in the basement. Soon all hands, dressed in their Christmas finery, are using 5 gallon buckets passed from person to person to the shower to remove the lower level of the indoor pool. This is continued until all backs have given out. We are down to less than an
inch. It is decided to rest awhile.
Evelyn, Pauline and Alvin leave. Aunt Faye and Uncle Tom arrive, offering all sorts of good intentioned advice on everything from water removal to weight loss. Clean up from the havoc of the day progresses slowly, no return to the basement while they are here can occur, the sump pump is humming. At 7:00 we lean gratefully against the door as the last guest leaves the drive. It has been a long hard day. A peek into the basement shows no increase in the water level. Pa wearily climbs the stairs to spend a wee bit of time with the young'n and Ma tries clearing the kitchen a bit more.
The bed beckoned us early, and we stayed there late the next morn. A quick peek into the basement revealed that the sump pump had pulled nearly all of the water back out of the basement, a cheer was heard. Much fabric will need to be laundered and dried, and we had to cancel our order for trout to stock the new cement pond, but a sewing room is much more needed than a 7th pond on the ranch.
Outside, pain pill in hand Ma ventured, whistling and searching, no granddoggers to be seen. Finally here they come from the back 40. Erik in the lead, a graceful Katie running full speed ahead, with NO SPLINT. No sign of pain, (the vet said it would take 2 weeks to heal) and no limp.
Back in the kitchen Pa peers into the over-stuffed refrigerator, and announces there's nothing in there to eat. Ma threatens his life. A vote was taken, we were both still too tired to deal with the day. Back to bed! Where we hid out most of the day, having snoring competitions.
Sean, who had spent the night on the computer, took advantage of the quiet to sleep until the late afternoon hours as well.
Once all were awake, a vote was taken and a journey to the local burger joint was made. So here it is late in the evening, the basement is dry, Kate is miraculously healed and all is well.
Hope your Christmas was a bit calmer than ours. Jan who just knows she’s going to love living in the country in OK
A blast from the past story.
If you have been on yahoo lists with me for a long time chances are you have read this story before. I’ve posted it more than once. If not here is the background on it. We moved to the ranch mid November 1997, by Christmas the main unpacking was done, but there were still much to be done. Yet we were determined to have a big country Christmas in our new home. Of course nothing went exactly as planned.
December 25, 1997
Let me tell you about the adventures of Christmas at the Patterson Rock and Tree Ranch.
On the day before Christmas Eve, Ma Patterson (that being me) spent the day baking, spit shining and doing all her little Suzy homemaker things. Pa Patterson (my hairy other half) came in and worked like a Trojan unpacking and wrapping for all those evening hours into the wee small hours of the morning.
On Christmas Eve, Ma and Pa loaded up and headed toward the big town of Norman to fetch their young'n Sean, and the granddoggers Katie and Erik. They arrived at Sean's homestead about 20 minutes ahead of his return from the wilds of the battle zone known as Toys R Us'n.
Bedraggled, looking rode hard and put up wet he quickly gathered his gear, whistled for his team of fine sled dogs and away we headed for the wilds of Wellston, aka: Grandpa and Grandma Patterson's. Arriving after the dinner hour for the rest of the clan our hearty trio wolfed down a good Christmas repast, then scurried to see what Santa had deposited under the tree for them.
All was good, Ma received a beautiful new home for her snow village and a good Rubbermaid barn bird feeder. Pa a gift certificate for do-dads for his favorite toy, the computer, and the young'n got a nice sweater and baseball cap. We were all down right pleased.
Shortly afterwards we scurried back to the ranch. After all, there were stockings to be hung, and critters to feed.
We tumbled to bed shortly after midnight and had a good night’s rest. A good thing for the next day had much in store for us.
Santa gifted us greatly and we were again, much pleased. But the Grinch had made a visit or two as well. At first it was considered minor problems. Ma spilled a little ham juice on the kitchen carpet. No problem, it was quickly cleaned and we moved on. Pa readied the fire in the Ashley, to keep all guests comfy cozy in the sun room if they should desire to get away from the hub bub of the main house.
Ma's grandmother and sibling arrived early, and were quickly underfoot in the kitchen, progress slowed to nearly a screeching stop. Finally, brother Jerry Earl was put to polishing silver on one end of the kitchen, Grandmother Felicia was put in the dining room filling relish plates and a rhythm of cooking and good spirits set in. On a break from the cooking a tour was given of the new homestead. Felicia was impressed, but noticed a slight line of water in the basement. Ma took a peek, “Uhhh, Pa, the water is rising, it is no longer a mere dampness around the edge” she said.
Pa replied he would check it in a minute.
Back in the kitchen the potatoes were peeled and the peelings fed to the goat under the sink. The goat didn't like them and brown murky water proceeded to back up in the next sink. Okay, we can handle this, Pa will plunger it when he takes a break from moving boxes in the sun room.
A voice was heard saying "I thought you said it was just a little water! It's an inch deep down here". Out to the back deck he flew. The sump pump was trying, but not working. Maybe the line is blocked? Out to the field with the granddoggers following along. No water could be found coming out of the line.
Grandma and Grandpa Patterson, with Aunt Evelyn arrived just then. Grandpa checks the basement, we are now up to three inches of water and it's rising quickly! Luckily, most of the
things are up off the floor, but even those are starting to get soggy around the edges.
Ma calls the previous owners and says “ HELP!!! The back up sump pump is not the same and the water is gaining.” Pa takes over phone, Ma rushes back to kitchen where more water
is now backed up in the sink.
Pa comes in and says "Katie is limping" Sean goes to check. A little blood and a limp,
barbed wire? We decide to keep an eye on her. Pa and Grandpa work feverishly trading out pumps and adapting the new one for the old set up.
Miss Dale calls to say she has a few minor problems and says she'll be late for lunch. That's okay, lunch was late for lunch. Finally at 1:30 we set down for the noon meal. As we are all on our second plateful someone asks where the stuffing is? IN THE OVEN!!!!! A quick scurry to the kitchen rescues the stuffing in the nick of time. Miss Dale arrives just in time for fresh from the oven stuffing.
Another check of Miss Katie, the limp is worse and she's definitely showing pain. Ma checks the granddogger and fears a break. A call to the local vet (7 miles away) arranges a meeting on this Christmas Day. $74 later Ma and Sean with a gift wrapped, splinted, drugged up Katie return to the
ranch. No break, just a badly bruised leg muscle from her new found freedom of running free in the country. The vet agrees that she's overweight and sent lower fat dog food home with us. Our peg legged Kate follows everyone who ventures out doors, looking extremely pitiful and in massive pain. Begging for treats to ease her pain.
Back at ranch, Grandma Felicia and Jerry have left, taking only part of their gifts with them (fleeing for their lives I do believe). Miss Dale and Grandma Pauline have made a valiant effort to clean the kitchen, but the sink and goat are still rebellious. So all they could do was fill the dishwasher and make massive stacks of the remaining dishes. Ma's had it, plunger in hand she attacks the belligerent goat. It surrenders, and all backed up water quickly vanishes.
The new sump pump working, Grandpa Alvin decides it's time to form a bucket brigade for the close to 4 inches of water in the basement. Soon all hands, dressed in their Christmas finery, are using 5 gallon buckets passed from person to person to the shower to remove the lower level of the indoor pool. This is continued until all backs have given out. We are down to less than an
inch. It is decided to rest awhile.
Evelyn, Pauline and Alvin leave. Aunt Faye and Uncle Tom arrive, offering all sorts of good intentioned advice on everything from water removal to weight loss. Clean up from the havoc of the day progresses slowly, no return to the basement while they are here can occur, the sump pump is humming. At 7:00 we lean gratefully against the door as the last guest leaves the drive. It has been a long hard day. A peek into the basement shows no increase in the water level. Pa wearily climbs the stairs to spend a wee bit of time with the young'n and Ma tries clearing the kitchen a bit more.
The bed beckoned us early, and we stayed there late the next morn. A quick peek into the basement revealed that the sump pump had pulled nearly all of the water back out of the basement, a cheer was heard. Much fabric will need to be laundered and dried, and we had to cancel our order for trout to stock the new cement pond, but a sewing room is much more needed than a 7th pond on the ranch.
Outside, pain pill in hand Ma ventured, whistling and searching, no granddoggers to be seen. Finally here they come from the back 40. Erik in the lead, a graceful Katie running full speed ahead, with NO SPLINT. No sign of pain, (the vet said it would take 2 weeks to heal) and no limp.
Back in the kitchen Pa peers into the over-stuffed refrigerator, and announces there's nothing in there to eat. Ma threatens his life. A vote was taken, we were both still too tired to deal with the day. Back to bed! Where we hid out most of the day, having snoring competitions.
Sean, who had spent the night on the computer, took advantage of the quiet to sleep until the late afternoon hours as well.
Once all were awake, a vote was taken and a journey to the local burger joint was made. So here it is late in the evening, the basement is dry, Kate is miraculously healed and all is well.
Hope your Christmas was a bit calmer than ours. Jan who just knows she’s going to love living in the country in OK
Sunday, November 8, 2009
LIKE FALLING DOMINOES, MURPHY KEEPS ON KEEPING ON
Part 2 of the hot water tank saga.
November 8, 2009
It’s now 8 days later and visits from Murphy keep popping up, bless his little pea pickin’ heart.
Prior to the discovery of the wet carpet I had been working my way back into my Princess Plan. For those of you who aren’t on de-cluttering lists with me I’ll give you a quick explanation of the Princes Plan.
It’s a system I’m developing to help people come from being paupers enslaved by clutter and debt in their all aspects of their life to being the royalty they truly are. I plan on finally being the princess my Papa always called me.
I had started the plan on January 1, 2009 and was doing pretty good on it with the help of Dave Ramsey and with working out a system that was greatly improving the look and feel of my home and ranch.
Then the surprise unemployment hit and I hit the road, things not only backslid as far as the clutter department went they had worsened. Only our basic finances had continued to improve, albeit slowly and not the gazelle intense like I had planned, but we were current on all our bills and had even paid off four small ones in the last eight months.
Then this series of Murphy’s visits started hitting and things went from bad to worse real quick.
When last I left you it was Halloween and the day after. We were starting to empty the utility room. Now what comes out of a room in any home has to go into another one somewhere in the house.
Remember the “Uninvited Guest” story, well we still have all the dining room stuff in the living room. Now the utility room items needed a place to park. Some went to the overstuffed sunroom, more went to the living room and some went to my bedroom. The clutter was deepening. Small paths were starting to form through the lower level.
My kitchen cabinets are now covered in small appliances, which in turn makes it FUN to try and cook in there.
So let’s flash back to last Saturday.
As soon as he could Gary turned off the hot water tank because the leaking was pretty bad. Not only was it making a mess it was the hot water that was leaking so the electric meter was doing a boogie dance on the back porch while the water meter readers were rubbing their hands together with glee as the meter spun gallon by gallon.
This meant no hot water in the house until the floor dried. You know the one that was absolutely sodden. As Gary labored to get the tank drained I continued to fold the laundry I had done earlier that day.
Sean has a lot of allergies, dust and mold being two biggies so pulling up wet starting to mildew carpet was something he could not do without risking a severe asthma attack, so he took over farm chores when it came to that job and Gary pulled the carpet up by himself Sean helped drag the dripping carpet and pad to the “non-burn” area for things that will go to the dump on the next run there. He of course started wheezing.
While they did this I cooked dinner.
This brought up a slight problem. Dishes, no hot water—oops! Gary cheerfully loaded the dishes in the dishwasher and assured me by the next afternoon the hot water would be back on and we’d be fine. Does that man live here? Has anything ever gone as planned on this ranch?
The next morning I went to the camper and brought in a large supply of paper plates, plastic cups and silverware. I am the more realistic of the two of us on things like this. I KNOW how things happen around here. It’s called life and it happens to everyone.
We seldom use paper and plastic when camping so this was an unusual thing for the guys and I so we periodically forgot and still grabbed dishes out of the cupboards and drawers out of habit. So we added a Murphy expense by using paper and plastic instead of the usual wash and reuse.
All day Sunday Gary and Sean worked on getting the floor dried out, while I ran and did a single mystery shop and picked up more supplies for the project.
When I got back home I discovered the two of them had used every single towel in the house trying to soak up water so the floor would dry quicker. EVERY single one, including my cream colored ones!!! I was not amused, but hollering would not have solved anything. They were trying to fix the problem. They had drug the dripping towels across the carpet that was still down in the bathroom and placed them in the shower stall. Gary promised he’d put them on the line the next day while I was gone so they’d at least dry and not sour.
They had made some progress, there was no longer standing water from the hot water tank, and the mildewed sheet rock no longer existed. A large hole in the wall, with a small one a now nearly 10 week old kitten could have easily gone down under the house through had taken its place. Thankfully Gypsy was locked securely in my bedroom.
I pointed out that Lizzie B was only slightly bigger and she might just take a trip (or an opossum come in) through that gaping wound so they blocked it temporarily at night with heavy plywood to prevent this. During the day there was always someone in there working so the board was removed to aid in the drying out of the lower wall studs and insulation. Yep all my interior walls are insulated, luckily the mildew had been limited to the outside of the sheet rock, there was none on the interior of the walls. .
I suggested fans and a small heater to speed up the drying process as Sunday passed into Monday, still no hot water.
Gary had already winterized the camper since we knew we’d be home for a month or two and now he had to un-winterize it because for some strange reason Sean and I thought we might need showers before going to work on Monday. Luckily they had forgot the towels in the camper when they were mopping water up. So we were all blessed with nice hot showers and the world was a safer place for it.
Dishes were starting to be more than the dishwasher would hold. Enter the boiling teapot into the daily scenario. I’ve done many a dish by heating water on a campfire at rendezvous (pre-1840 Fur Trade Era re-enactments), so this was no biggie.
Monday I mystery shopped, picked up more materials, did a few returns while Gary stayed home and took things down off the wall to prepare to paint the room. Sean went to work of course.
While I was out I picked up paint chips for both the utility room walls and the dining room wall that would need painted when we got back to it
Tuesday, still no hot water, but the wall studs were finally dry so Gary put up the new piece of sheet rock, and then had to take it back down because he forgot to put the mouse/rat poison down the conveniently open wall and under the house. Luckily I reminded him before he taped and mudded the wall or Murphy would have gotten a giggle I’m certain.
When you live in the country you take all the precautions you can to head off rodents. I cannot tell you how much money we’ve spent due to rodents over the years everything from fifth wheel and vehicle repairs to a whole new re-wiring of the landlines in our home, so we are very cautious about them. We have mousers inside and out of the house. We put Just One Bite (a vet recommended mouse and rat poison) any where we can that we know for CERTAIN our animals can’t get to it and if we notice a mouse dropping we set traps. Again where the pets can’t get to them.
That evening the guys thankfully slid the new hot water tank into its place. Only the connectors and plumbing didn’t match! Murphy snickered.
While I was out the next day doing mystery I picked up the right parts. That night we all did a jig, and then the water line started leaking!! Dang it Murphy I needed to do dishes!
While I was doing the mystery shops I checked the discounted returns and mis-mixed paints at all the stores. At the very last one I found the exact colors I wanted at half price!!! That’s one for the good guys, finally.
Jan who will post this and move on to part three of the saga in OK
November 8, 2009
It’s now 8 days later and visits from Murphy keep popping up, bless his little pea pickin’ heart.
Prior to the discovery of the wet carpet I had been working my way back into my Princess Plan. For those of you who aren’t on de-cluttering lists with me I’ll give you a quick explanation of the Princes Plan.
It’s a system I’m developing to help people come from being paupers enslaved by clutter and debt in their all aspects of their life to being the royalty they truly are. I plan on finally being the princess my Papa always called me.
I had started the plan on January 1, 2009 and was doing pretty good on it with the help of Dave Ramsey and with working out a system that was greatly improving the look and feel of my home and ranch.
Then the surprise unemployment hit and I hit the road, things not only backslid as far as the clutter department went they had worsened. Only our basic finances had continued to improve, albeit slowly and not the gazelle intense like I had planned, but we were current on all our bills and had even paid off four small ones in the last eight months.
Then this series of Murphy’s visits started hitting and things went from bad to worse real quick.
When last I left you it was Halloween and the day after. We were starting to empty the utility room. Now what comes out of a room in any home has to go into another one somewhere in the house.
Remember the “Uninvited Guest” story, well we still have all the dining room stuff in the living room. Now the utility room items needed a place to park. Some went to the overstuffed sunroom, more went to the living room and some went to my bedroom. The clutter was deepening. Small paths were starting to form through the lower level.
My kitchen cabinets are now covered in small appliances, which in turn makes it FUN to try and cook in there.
So let’s flash back to last Saturday.
As soon as he could Gary turned off the hot water tank because the leaking was pretty bad. Not only was it making a mess it was the hot water that was leaking so the electric meter was doing a boogie dance on the back porch while the water meter readers were rubbing their hands together with glee as the meter spun gallon by gallon.
This meant no hot water in the house until the floor dried. You know the one that was absolutely sodden. As Gary labored to get the tank drained I continued to fold the laundry I had done earlier that day.
Sean has a lot of allergies, dust and mold being two biggies so pulling up wet starting to mildew carpet was something he could not do without risking a severe asthma attack, so he took over farm chores when it came to that job and Gary pulled the carpet up by himself Sean helped drag the dripping carpet and pad to the “non-burn” area for things that will go to the dump on the next run there. He of course started wheezing.
While they did this I cooked dinner.
This brought up a slight problem. Dishes, no hot water—oops! Gary cheerfully loaded the dishes in the dishwasher and assured me by the next afternoon the hot water would be back on and we’d be fine. Does that man live here? Has anything ever gone as planned on this ranch?
The next morning I went to the camper and brought in a large supply of paper plates, plastic cups and silverware. I am the more realistic of the two of us on things like this. I KNOW how things happen around here. It’s called life and it happens to everyone.
We seldom use paper and plastic when camping so this was an unusual thing for the guys and I so we periodically forgot and still grabbed dishes out of the cupboards and drawers out of habit. So we added a Murphy expense by using paper and plastic instead of the usual wash and reuse.
All day Sunday Gary and Sean worked on getting the floor dried out, while I ran and did a single mystery shop and picked up more supplies for the project.
When I got back home I discovered the two of them had used every single towel in the house trying to soak up water so the floor would dry quicker. EVERY single one, including my cream colored ones!!! I was not amused, but hollering would not have solved anything. They were trying to fix the problem. They had drug the dripping towels across the carpet that was still down in the bathroom and placed them in the shower stall. Gary promised he’d put them on the line the next day while I was gone so they’d at least dry and not sour.
They had made some progress, there was no longer standing water from the hot water tank, and the mildewed sheet rock no longer existed. A large hole in the wall, with a small one a now nearly 10 week old kitten could have easily gone down under the house through had taken its place. Thankfully Gypsy was locked securely in my bedroom.
I pointed out that Lizzie B was only slightly bigger and she might just take a trip (or an opossum come in) through that gaping wound so they blocked it temporarily at night with heavy plywood to prevent this. During the day there was always someone in there working so the board was removed to aid in the drying out of the lower wall studs and insulation. Yep all my interior walls are insulated, luckily the mildew had been limited to the outside of the sheet rock, there was none on the interior of the walls. .
I suggested fans and a small heater to speed up the drying process as Sunday passed into Monday, still no hot water.
Gary had already winterized the camper since we knew we’d be home for a month or two and now he had to un-winterize it because for some strange reason Sean and I thought we might need showers before going to work on Monday. Luckily they had forgot the towels in the camper when they were mopping water up. So we were all blessed with nice hot showers and the world was a safer place for it.
Dishes were starting to be more than the dishwasher would hold. Enter the boiling teapot into the daily scenario. I’ve done many a dish by heating water on a campfire at rendezvous (pre-1840 Fur Trade Era re-enactments), so this was no biggie.
Monday I mystery shopped, picked up more materials, did a few returns while Gary stayed home and took things down off the wall to prepare to paint the room. Sean went to work of course.
While I was out I picked up paint chips for both the utility room walls and the dining room wall that would need painted when we got back to it
Tuesday, still no hot water, but the wall studs were finally dry so Gary put up the new piece of sheet rock, and then had to take it back down because he forgot to put the mouse/rat poison down the conveniently open wall and under the house. Luckily I reminded him before he taped and mudded the wall or Murphy would have gotten a giggle I’m certain.
When you live in the country you take all the precautions you can to head off rodents. I cannot tell you how much money we’ve spent due to rodents over the years everything from fifth wheel and vehicle repairs to a whole new re-wiring of the landlines in our home, so we are very cautious about them. We have mousers inside and out of the house. We put Just One Bite (a vet recommended mouse and rat poison) any where we can that we know for CERTAIN our animals can’t get to it and if we notice a mouse dropping we set traps. Again where the pets can’t get to them.
That evening the guys thankfully slid the new hot water tank into its place. Only the connectors and plumbing didn’t match! Murphy snickered.
While I was out the next day doing mystery I picked up the right parts. That night we all did a jig, and then the water line started leaking!! Dang it Murphy I needed to do dishes!
While I was doing the mystery shops I checked the discounted returns and mis-mixed paints at all the stores. At the very last one I found the exact colors I wanted at half price!!! That’s one for the good guys, finally.
Jan who will post this and move on to part three of the saga in OK
Thursday, November 5, 2009
BANDANA COVERED FACES
This is a repeat of a story I wrote years ago about activity here on the Rock 'n Tree Ranch. I hope you enjoy it.
BANDANA COVERED FACES
She rose early, the deed had to be done if they were to protect part of their livelihood. Neither of them cared for what needed to be done. There was no getting around it. She knew that they would need strength and stamina for what lay before them.
Quickly she prepared a simple, but filling breakfast of biscuits and gravy, while he tended to the wood burning stove. Adding sufficient wood to keep it burning while they were away from the house.
Once breakfast dishes were cleared they discussed their avenue of attack. Stalling she put the beans that would be part of today's soup on the wood burning stove to cook. She truly dreaded what they were about to do.
Outside he was hooking the mule to the wagon as she gathered their bandanas and supplies. It would be a short trip. His shot gun was placed in it's holster on the mule, just in case.
Once they arrived he quickly threw a rope over a stout beam in the barn. He would need it's strength to lift the dead weight later. Together they removed any items that might hamper what they had come to do.
Her voice muffled by the bandana that covered one half of her face she said "Let's get this over with" His eyes above his bandana looked straight at her as he said "Guess, we'd better do this before all the stock gets sick and dies."
Outside the stock made nervous noises as they milled about. Uncomfortable with what was going on in their barn. The man and woman worked quickly. Removing the problem by the wagon load. Occasionally there would be loud sounds from the young stock trapped inside.
At one point she traveled back to the house to add the remaining ingredients to the soup pot and check the stove. He labored hard while she was gone.
Five hours after they started, both covered with a fine layer of dust. Bandanas thick with the debris of their labors they silently lowered the dead weight back to the ground and removed the rope from the beam. All looked as it should.
Terrified the young stock allowed themselves to be herded into realms they neither recognized or really wanted to see. They had no choice. Movement was essential to survive.
Back at the house the soup warmed and filled their bodies on this cold November afternoon. Tired and sore they knew that the stock would now be safe and healthy for the next 6 months. For this they rejoiced, they had not enjoyed the job at all.
It was time to relax and celebrate. The young had been moved safely. The block and tackle had worked perfectly to raise the massive roost to make the cleaning easier. It would be six months before they had to clean the guinea coop again! It was a job well done.
LORD I hate cleaning the Keet Kingdom!!! LOL
BANDANA COVERED FACES
She rose early, the deed had to be done if they were to protect part of their livelihood. Neither of them cared for what needed to be done. There was no getting around it. She knew that they would need strength and stamina for what lay before them.
Quickly she prepared a simple, but filling breakfast of biscuits and gravy, while he tended to the wood burning stove. Adding sufficient wood to keep it burning while they were away from the house.
Once breakfast dishes were cleared they discussed their avenue of attack. Stalling she put the beans that would be part of today's soup on the wood burning stove to cook. She truly dreaded what they were about to do.
Outside he was hooking the mule to the wagon as she gathered their bandanas and supplies. It would be a short trip. His shot gun was placed in it's holster on the mule, just in case.
Once they arrived he quickly threw a rope over a stout beam in the barn. He would need it's strength to lift the dead weight later. Together they removed any items that might hamper what they had come to do.
Her voice muffled by the bandana that covered one half of her face she said "Let's get this over with" His eyes above his bandana looked straight at her as he said "Guess, we'd better do this before all the stock gets sick and dies."
Outside the stock made nervous noises as they milled about. Uncomfortable with what was going on in their barn. The man and woman worked quickly. Removing the problem by the wagon load. Occasionally there would be loud sounds from the young stock trapped inside.
At one point she traveled back to the house to add the remaining ingredients to the soup pot and check the stove. He labored hard while she was gone.
Five hours after they started, both covered with a fine layer of dust. Bandanas thick with the debris of their labors they silently lowered the dead weight back to the ground and removed the rope from the beam. All looked as it should.
Terrified the young stock allowed themselves to be herded into realms they neither recognized or really wanted to see. They had no choice. Movement was essential to survive.
Back at the house the soup warmed and filled their bodies on this cold November afternoon. Tired and sore they knew that the stock would now be safe and healthy for the next 6 months. For this they rejoiced, they had not enjoyed the job at all.
It was time to relax and celebrate. The young had been moved safely. The block and tackle had worked perfectly to raise the massive roost to make the cleaning easier. It would be six months before they had to clean the guinea coop again! It was a job well done.
LORD I hate cleaning the Keet Kingdom!!! LOL
Friday, August 21, 2009
FIRE AND ASH
Just yesterday I had told Gary I had not seen Porche, our little buff and flame colored Banty hen, in a while and wondered if she had been part of the big predator slaughter while we were gone. Little did I know I’d see her flying in fright and self preservation the very next day.
Remember me saying at the end of my last post that I was going out to burn trash? Well here’s what happened.
Gary had already filled the barrel before I had got out there. We are very careful as to what we burn. We recycle as much as we can and the rest must be burnable, nothing non-burnable is allowed in the trash burner. Especially considering Sean uses a hand held inhaler and if one of those gets in a trash burner RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! I’ve had “help” from a sil, whose family burns everything, before and she put a whole bag of non-burns in one day while here. Holy Moly it sounded like a war zone and was nearly as dangerous as those things exploded.
As the first round of goodies burned I gathered up odds and ends and fed the burner. It soon was blazing a little higher than I like so I decided to let it burn down a bit before adding more.
“Goose, Goose, Goose” I called and the geese came running. They knew that meant we were going to the pasture and they were ready. We’ve had such a predator problem lately they haven’t ventured to the green grass in a while. As we marched down the driveway I sang “I love a parade, the flap of the feet the honk of the bill it gives me a thrill” as the geese honked and squealed along. This is our pasture marching song and as long as I sing they follow. If you had ever heard me sing you would wonder why they weren’t running the other way!
Suddenly I realized it had grown quiet behind me and I turned to see why. The entire goose flock was looking at the blazing trash burner. That’s when I saw Porche sail out of the spare barrel next to the burner screeching at the top of her lungs. Her screech was followed by the pleading chirps of a just hatched chick.
I ran for all my fat body was worth, yanked the spare barrel away from the flaming burn barrel, slightly burning my hands as I did. Inside were a dozen or so eggs and two barely fluffy chicks. A rotten egg exploded as I reached in to grab the first chick, a gray one. No time to be squeamish, the netting the birds were sitting on was starting to melt. Setting it down near Porche I dug for the second, one, a red brown one, that was madly screaming not only due to the building heat but was caught up in some netting Gary had put in the barrel to haul to the dump. Finally freeing it as my hands got warmer and warmer I placed it by its mother as well. I kept expecting to be flogged by Porche but she sensed I was trying to save her young. Next I scooped and examined the eggs. One chick was dead in the shell the others I carefully laid on the ground near the cedar tree Porche was now crouched under.
The geese watched all this silently, even the rowdy dogs sat mouths open and watched.
Once I had all the eggs out of the still hot barrel I watched the two chicks closely, the second one had suffered more from the heat and was panting heavily. Ignoring my stinging hands I ran for a chick waterer Gary had just filled the hour before and brought it back sitting it near the panting chick. Then stood a distance away.
After a while Porche took both chicks to the water, then started scratching for them to eat as if nothing at all had happen. The red one, Fire as it will now be called, drank a lot of water than toddled after it’s Mama. Ash, the gray one, drank only a little and was definitely more interested in eating than drinking. After a while Porche, who was named that for the three clutches of chicks she hatched under the front porch last year, inspected the eggs. When last I checked she had both chicks and ¾’s of the eggs under her as she sat in the shade of the cedar tree. I’m sad the one died, but at least I save Fire and Ash.
My hands are not blistered, just a little stingy, like a sunburn so all is well that ends well.
Jan who says, check everything around your trash burner BEFORE you burn trash in OK
Remember me saying at the end of my last post that I was going out to burn trash? Well here’s what happened.
Gary had already filled the barrel before I had got out there. We are very careful as to what we burn. We recycle as much as we can and the rest must be burnable, nothing non-burnable is allowed in the trash burner. Especially considering Sean uses a hand held inhaler and if one of those gets in a trash burner RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! I’ve had “help” from a sil, whose family burns everything, before and she put a whole bag of non-burns in one day while here. Holy Moly it sounded like a war zone and was nearly as dangerous as those things exploded.
As the first round of goodies burned I gathered up odds and ends and fed the burner. It soon was blazing a little higher than I like so I decided to let it burn down a bit before adding more.
“Goose, Goose, Goose” I called and the geese came running. They knew that meant we were going to the pasture and they were ready. We’ve had such a predator problem lately they haven’t ventured to the green grass in a while. As we marched down the driveway I sang “I love a parade, the flap of the feet the honk of the bill it gives me a thrill” as the geese honked and squealed along. This is our pasture marching song and as long as I sing they follow. If you had ever heard me sing you would wonder why they weren’t running the other way!
Suddenly I realized it had grown quiet behind me and I turned to see why. The entire goose flock was looking at the blazing trash burner. That’s when I saw Porche sail out of the spare barrel next to the burner screeching at the top of her lungs. Her screech was followed by the pleading chirps of a just hatched chick.
I ran for all my fat body was worth, yanked the spare barrel away from the flaming burn barrel, slightly burning my hands as I did. Inside were a dozen or so eggs and two barely fluffy chicks. A rotten egg exploded as I reached in to grab the first chick, a gray one. No time to be squeamish, the netting the birds were sitting on was starting to melt. Setting it down near Porche I dug for the second, one, a red brown one, that was madly screaming not only due to the building heat but was caught up in some netting Gary had put in the barrel to haul to the dump. Finally freeing it as my hands got warmer and warmer I placed it by its mother as well. I kept expecting to be flogged by Porche but she sensed I was trying to save her young. Next I scooped and examined the eggs. One chick was dead in the shell the others I carefully laid on the ground near the cedar tree Porche was now crouched under.
The geese watched all this silently, even the rowdy dogs sat mouths open and watched.
Once I had all the eggs out of the still hot barrel I watched the two chicks closely, the second one had suffered more from the heat and was panting heavily. Ignoring my stinging hands I ran for a chick waterer Gary had just filled the hour before and brought it back sitting it near the panting chick. Then stood a distance away.
After a while Porche took both chicks to the water, then started scratching for them to eat as if nothing at all had happen. The red one, Fire as it will now be called, drank a lot of water than toddled after it’s Mama. Ash, the gray one, drank only a little and was definitely more interested in eating than drinking. After a while Porche, who was named that for the three clutches of chicks she hatched under the front porch last year, inspected the eggs. When last I checked she had both chicks and ¾’s of the eggs under her as she sat in the shade of the cedar tree. I’m sad the one died, but at least I save Fire and Ash.
My hands are not blistered, just a little stingy, like a sunburn so all is well that ends well.
Jan who says, check everything around your trash burner BEFORE you burn trash in OK
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