The Mystery May Be Solved

I asked on BackYard Chickens forum, and the concensus seems to be that the leghorn is getting to much calcium, thus making her eggs to hard and not abling the CO2 to be released. If you've ever had a fresh egg... really fresh, not bought at a market... it should be cloudy and milky because the CO2 hasn't been released yet.

I still think it looks gross...

What is wrong with this chicken? Before you ask, this egg was laid yesterday by our leghorn. I cracked one of her older eggs, from like two days ago, and got pretty much the same thing.

Please, if you have any ideas, enlighten me...

Anyone want some eggs?

Does anyone want some eggs? LOL With the jump in our egg production I can't keep up with all the eggs we are getting! We went from 1 or 2 a day to 4 a day. I'm a little scared about how many eggs we'll be getting come spring! Of course then we'll be hatching them out and I'll be asking if anyone wants some baby chicks!

So FarmerGeek had to go and point out our leghorn had only laid one egg (How do we know? Because it's the only white egg layer we have...) and that she might be the cause of the pecking problem. He suggested he cull her. Don't you know that stupid chicken has laid an egg everyday since!

Coming soon: Recipes that use eggs...

Frosted Windowpanes...

Well the big news, besides the weather, is that we have acquired two roosters and two ducks. The two roosters came with the names Dandylion and Ray Ray. Since their previous family didn't seem to attached to the name Ray-Ray we decided to rename him. His name is now "Peggy's Dad". Either you get it or you don't. If you don't, go to the next Brigid's Cross show. (Although, even though Dandylion has a name and we intend to keep it, we've secretly nicknamed him "Ritchie's Grandpa".) Anyways, the two ducks also came with names. We were supposed to actually get three, but alas, the one duck passed last night before we could get her. Her mate, our new drake, is named Clyde, she naturally was Bonnie. Our other duck is named Duckster. It appears that everything is going well out in the coop tonight. Although, if you've never seen a Wyandotte take on a duck, it's really funny and worth seeing once in your life. But they seemed to settle down and now all is right in Poultry world.

The even bigger news is the weather. It was OK this afternoon, windy and cold, but we decided to run out to get a few things. By the time we got home tonight, it was bitterly cold and so windy. Not to mention the fact that it started snowing to beat the band. And it's so cold that I had to turn the heat up all the way to 70! Considering we keep it at 60, that's a big deal.

So we crawled home in the wind and snow and ice. The problem is that evidentally ODOT (Ohio department of transportation-duh!) decided that Ohioans have been spoiled with roads that are too good, and have cut back on salting and plowing. According to the Matt Patrick show, ODOT's stopped salting between midnight and 5AM.

But we don't need to go out anywhere, we are snug in warm in our little house in the little city. (Sorry I've been reading to much Laura Ingalls Wilder.) There's frost on our windowpanes, a fire in the fireplace, It's a Wonderful Life on DVD, FarmerGeek, our dog and me. The cold can't get in.

It is a wonderful life indeed...

My Birthday, aka, "The Diva Lives"

If all went right, that's a video of the band that was playing at the Shannon, or it's a video of FarmerGeek playing guitar, in which case, I'll have to delete it quick or face certain divorce. But they played this for me, followed by the words, "Speaking of nuns..." (Thanks Dave.)

The name of the band is Kindred and they are based out of the snow belt of Buffalo, NY and you can find them here (http://www.4kindred.com/). We reminesced about how when I first started going to their shows I wasn't old enough to drink.

Damn I'm old.

Anyways, my birthday was at the Shannon Pub in Western New York. When I was little, the Shannon Pub used to be by the airport, then it moved within walking (stumbling) distance from my folks house, and now it's on the Boulevard. (If you just asked what Boulevard, you are obviously not from Buffalo and can find the Shannon Here.) Now there is one thing that makes the Shannon special. The have awesome craic. Of course, some do say it's because we bring our own craic with us. Now my little chickadees, do not get all aflutter thinking you can score some illicit drugs there, to my knowledge you cannot. Craic, VERY loosley translated, basically means good times, noodle salad. Which brings me to food...

No Gina, I didn't order chicken fingers, plain, with barbeque and ranch on the side. I know, it's a shocker isn't it? I ordered the poutine (all Canadians jump for joy) which is french fries covered in gravy and melted cheese. And I got pizza logs, just like the Mount used to make, with barbeque sauce. Yum-O. FarmerGeek got the wings. Now look, I've been to the Anchor bar and all. Just go the Shannon, the wings are better and the craic is spelled with an "ic" there. SuperLibraryChick was there as well (with many thanks to her husband for making her go) and she ordered the Shannon's WORLD FAMOUS POTATO CHOWDER. Which deserves caps, you have no idea. (When Al Gore invented the internet, he should have included smell.)

Pretty much it was a table full of cholesterol, but I'm 30 now and it's all downhill from here, so who cares right?

Now we've covered the ceol, the craic, and the cooking, now for the cast of characters. Well, of course FarmerGeek was there, and my parents, and the Blower Girl (she plays the pipes dear, don't be dirty... unless you're single and her type in which case...), The ExHusband (who wasn't really my husband but could be yours if you are single and his type...lol), and SuperLibraryChick of course (aka "Schmellie's Mommy") Unfortunately for you, I don't post pics of peoples faces on here, but just know I got an awesome shot of "Husbands: Past and Present".

I don't think they found it funny.

I did.

Anyways, Kindred sang Happy Birthday to me and Felicia said, "The Diva Lives". And it's true, even though I spend most days in ratty work clothes with my hair up in a Farm Girl twist with no makeup on and outwardly about as far away from a rock star that I can get, inside I'm still a Diva.

I'm just glad someone else still remembers it.

The Queen of Quite-A-Lot

Soon, very soon, you'll get an awesome blog about my birthday, complete with pictures and maybe even a video (IF I can figure out how to open the file...) Instead, today, you'll be getting a disjointed ramble about my ultra-boring life that people find fascinating for some reason.

I've been on a cooking kick this past week. Especially since the hens are laying like mad and I have too many eggs! (Taking orders for eggs...) I've made egg bread and egg noodles with them. I also did some very interesting things with extras from Thanksgiving. Oh and I made an insane amount of turkey broth. But it's been decided that I can't do anymore cooking until I do some more dishes. So I decided to work on my book...

MY BOOK! Yes that's right, I brushed off the English degree and the 64 pack of crayola (that's only funny if you went to my college) and set to work writing a non-fiction book about becoming the Diva Hick. Hopefully it'll serve as a how-to-guide for modern women as they increasing head out on the path to self-sufficiency. I was inspired to see Jenna's book hit the shelves and go out of stock on Amazon within days of its release. (Look for it Here) Now if I could just find the chick in the boat to serve as my muse. She's probably still at my folks...

So I go out this AM to let the girls out, and took a moment to walk part of our land and just let the sight freeze in my mind. Which I mean literally because it's really cold out there and the wind just sucks! So there I am in my Wellies, my hubby's big brown Carhart(ish?) jacket, work gloves, and Farm-diva hair twist, surveying the land when I realize something. I am the the Queen of Quite-A-Lot. There's the back 40 which is my kingdom, and my dog and chickens who are my subjects, and the wind and snow who are currently playing the jesters.

It's good to be Queen.

Road Trip From Hell.

So instead of having Thanksgiving last Thursday like the rest of the country, we went out to my grandma's apartment to clear out her things and bring them back to my folks house. We then took the stuff my folks set aside for us and loaded it up and brought it back out here. Now the trip took about 8 hours each way. Somewhere around hour six, we pulled off at a rest area (again!) and as we backed up, we heard a bang! Then the truck refused to go back any further. Somehow, SOMEHOW, FarmerGeek managed to force it backwards. We figured that as long as it would go forward, we could make the next 2 hours and we could find a mechanic. Yeah, about that. Not ten minutes down the Thruway we hear BANG, whoop whoop whoop, BANG, whoop whoop whoop, BANG... well you get the idea... Now we have to pull off at exit 46. Which really sucked because we have friends at exit 45 and 44. SO we stop at Pep Boys (God bless whoever invented the Garmin!) and FarmerGeek takes the tire off and looks around at it. It seems one of the bolts that goes into the caliper and holds it to the mount is just gone- vanished! (For those of you who, like me, have no clue about such things- that has to do with the brakes.) Since we are at Pep Boys already, FarmerGeek goes in to buy the elusive bolt. They, surprise surprise, don't have it! They do instruct us to go to this other place, so we do. Inevitably, the parking lot is tiny, and every space is one that you have to back out of. But, we figure we don't have to worry about it, we'll replace the part and no problem. (Meanwhile I notice that the gas station next door has a camera crew at it, the news was broadcasting because of how low the gas price was. Of course, it was still forty cents more than at home.) Anyways, the second place doesn't have it and now we had to back up out of the spot. This is when I heard the words every wife wants to hear from her husband, "You're going to have to get behind the wheel and back up, I'm going to have to stick my hand in there and move it while you're backing up."

We both survived limbs intact.

Finally we go to a dealer, a nice fancy car dealer, and park in the parking lot next to their nice fancy new shiny cars. By this time it is, naturally, snowing to beat the band and we, of course, have to walk around the building to get to the parts department. We go in, and the guy behind the counter quickly pulls up a diagram on the computer of our particular wheel/brake/ front of truck and points to this stupid bolt and says, "I think this is what you need, I have it but it's not going to make your day." And I start thinking, oh crap it's going to cost us a small fortune and we're probably going to have to buy a whole new caliper. Then he says, "Normally it retails for $9.99 (I heard $999) but I'll give you a break and charge you $6.75 (I hear $675)." I nearly start to cry. FarmerGeek pulls a ten out to pay for it and it finally dawns on me that it's only going to cost six DOLLARS and seventy-five CENTS. We take our new bolt out to the truck and FarmerGeek proceeds to replace it in the parking lot with me standing guard over him so he doesn't get hit. Now somewhere in this process FarmerGeek has managed to rip his pants in a spot no man wants a draft (Love you honey!!! :D Sorry...)

But the story doesn't end here... oh no...

We make it all the way to the hotel and met up with my parents. The next morning we get up (this is, of course, Thanksgiving for the rest of the country) and the tire is flat. Yes the tire that lost the bolt the day before. So FarmerGeek changes the tire in the middle of the hotel parking lot. And manages to keep his pants intact (I really do love you sweetie!!!). We drive to the apartment, load up the moving truck and both vehicles, and are ready to go. We decide to start out for my folks house and figure to get there about eleven that night (it's a four hourish drive). For the record, my folks live about two minutes from the exit, I pull up to the toll both and I hear BANG, whoop whoop whoop, Bang, whoop whoo- well you get the picture. We get to my folks house and FarmerGeek tries out the truck (he was driving the moving van) and decides the tires need balanced and aligned and since we were planning on buying new tires anyways and Sears had a radio commercial about their Black Friday sale... We decided to take a hotel room right near the mall so that at 5 AM on Black Friday we could get... tires? Man are we boring. Thus how I ended up getting tires for my 30th birthday.

Anyways, we get to Sears, they say about two hours so we walk over to the mall. It was dead until about nine. (No one goes to Eastern Hills anyways.) So we walk back and they tell us the problem is that the OTHER FREAKING BOLT HAS DISAPPEARED!!!! And they called the dealership and they don't have it- no one in the area has it. FarmerGeek does not take no for an answer and calls the dealership to explain how we are stranded. Surprise, Surprise, they have the bolt only there it's $15 instead of $9.99.

Finally we get everything settled, checked out of the hotel, everything paid for, new tires and bolt on and get to my parents house to unload and reload the moving van. Then we come out and that front tire is flat again! BRAND SPANKING NEW TIRE IS FLAT!!! So we drive back to Sears and find out that somehow there's now a hole in the rim of the tire and we need to replace that or else the tire will keep getting flat. So we call around and the only rim in the area that is available immediately is $304. What? So we have three brand new tires and a spare on the truck.

Sorry, this was a long post to say: Our truck broke down a few times and cost us a lot of time and money to fix. I wish I had pics for you... I really do... but the camera was packed in the suitcase.

Coming Soon: My 30th Birthday and the Thanksgiving celebration!