Chicken Shaming and Odd Problem

I raised a ruckus to wake the dead because I wanted the nest box Harriet was in - not one of the 8 others! 

You can't see clearly in the photo above - but there are two hens in the box - jostling for position. Harriet won...and was indignant when I proceeded to take the eggs from under her. 

It started with the weasel attack. Then one of the hens attacked Lucille.  Shortly  they all had missing feathers....tail feathers at first. They had cabin fever. We put "no more peck" on the spots.  The bare spots grew. Their tush's are completely plucked. We gave them plenty of things to do instead of pecking. We isolated Lucille. Each time Lucille goes in she is TERRIBLY injured. She now free ranges during the day and sleeps in the garage.  The girls continue to lose feathers. Around their tails, their bums....Maybe you can blow up the photo and see. Any ideas? Could it be lice or mites? What have you found to help best if it is mites? They have dust baths. I have DE, but haven't used it on them. 

They all look like this.....

This year's group is happy on their side of the fence. There hasn't been much interest from the big girls at this point. 

Full Friday

My marching orders for the day came from an unexpected quarter. Benny said his first sentence. 

"Go find Yay ya."*

I got a picture of his first sentence 

The poor thing has been a bit at a loss with 3 of his people gone from the house.

 Dad, Nolan and I left the house shortly after this conversation. We stopped at Sportsman's Warehouse for a return.  Then we drove out to camp. Everyone was right on time and we were able to pick up Yayya and Ax. *

Beautiful camp

 Our first stop after camp was Walmart. While everyone picked out a sandwich from the deli for lunch, Nolan and I went to pick up a few fans.  We were unsuccessful.

Not ONE in sight. 

 Our next stop was the oral surgeon. Nolan is our 7th to have wisdom teeth extracted. I have never had this experience. No pre-consult. No ice packs, meds and such when we left the office. I expected to be given that stuff and had to run back to town after I got him settled at home.  I'll know what to expect with Alex. Nolan's jaw had started hurting and they got him in and took all 4 impacted teeth out. They had to drill, slice, dice and stitch.  I posted this photo on FB when we got home....

Then, I ran to FM to see if THEY had a fan, to buy some cold, soft food for Nolan and pick up meds for him. Everything cold is missing from the shelves. LOL I bought juice and made popsicles.   Brenda called me as I got home and said she had something which would be useful.  She insisted on bringing it to me, rather than me running to pick it up. Look at this - a jaw bra. I think I'll buy one.  This has made it much easier to ice around the clock.  

Somewhere in here I got dinner for everyone - though I couldn't tell you what it was.  I also connected with both  Alex and Stacia and heard about their camp experience. Their story to share or not to share.

10:30 p.m. is my favorite time of night around here. Here's a shot of the mountain. I love the light.  There is still a tiny bit of snow on the mountain - but it's in a crevice I didn't catch.

I was watering and heard a noise...we've not had moose since they tangled with the electric fence. 

 This one was very interested in our home....greenhouse and garden in particular. She wasn't too impressed with Phoenix's crowing. 

I took photos of the flowers in case she ate them. Can you believe this was about 11 p.m.? 

 I have been watering late at night....leaving the house open as long as possible so it can cool off....I will buy fans the next time they are in stock....even if it's 30*.

*Yayya is how Benny says Stacia (Stay Shu); Ax is Alex

Thursday Tidbits

The plants seem to grow INCHES every day....Cory suggested much more watering and they are loving the water, warm weather, and sunlight. 

I thought it about time to take down the Easter flags. 😏 

It is proving DIFFICULT to get any strawberries around here...the moose, Lucille the free range hen, Blondie the free range bunny, and some rodent all like the strawberries. BUT I got a handful this evening. 

CoRielle will be moving within a couple of months. It's been a blast to have them nearby to catch moments like this.....

And this - Benny practices to run marathons with Uncle Jamin

Krista has journeyed from Florida to Colorado and met up with Michael.  We miss these two. 

I think that ties up all the loose ends of the day. It's been a full day.

Park Day with Bre & Kiddos

We don't get to see these dolls nearly as often as we did when they lived here at Wibbly Wobbly Acres.😄😏😃 I miss them AND their Mama and Daddy. We SEE them on Sunday and at family dinners - but it has been a while since we saw JUST THEM. I called Bre and asked if they could come play.

Everything worked out for us to meet at a local school to play.  

Isn't this an endearing smile? Gideon at 2. 

 Gideon LOVES to climb. Today he climbed to his heart's content. 

This is a wonderful play structure! What child wouldn't create hours of fun on a fire truck? 

A word about Bella....she has been in a "don't take my picture" phase. That's o.k. I've learned, having parented nine children, most phases can be waited out. 😍 She USED to say "No, Bubbie. NO Pictures!" when I tried to take photos of Gideon. She is now happy to have me take Annie and Gideon's photos. She doesn't even mind when I take her photos - but I have to be quick, she has far too much to do to site and pose for Grandma. 

Three years old - it hardly seems possible.

I wasn't quite quick enough for the photo I imagined - but I love her smile and the action in this shot. 

Today was hot! It got up to 84*. I KNOW that is not CA hot, or TX hot, or Philippines or Liberia hot - but it IS Alaska hot. 🌞🔥🌞 I am loving it.  That is - until today on the playground with no shade. I envied Annie in the stroller with shade. LOL

Annie - 5 months

Sweet moment - Bella is telling me to come sit with her. I took the photo and then joined them. We live at the foot of the mountains, below the white clouds on the right.

I LIKE this design better than the old jaw-rattling kind we had when I was kid.

GG on the Buddy Bench - Is a buddy bench a time out bench? So if you break a rule you get a buddy? Or is it a place to go when you need a buddy to come sit with you a spell? I like that idea....maybe I'll put a buddy bench out here. 

"Gemma! It's REAL gold. It's a treasure." She gave it to me. I saved it. It IS a treasure. I'm not sure it's REAL gold. 😉

These big xylophones are FANTASTIC. I want one in my yard....they have a great sound too. I see no way to make my own (or have Michael make one), but I saved the company's name.

Beautiful music

 Mommy made the best music. 

Thank you, Bre for coming out to play with us. I know it's hard to get 3 little ones ready and out the door. We treasure the time we spend with you and your family.

Chicken Shaming

Mom gives me kale to eat....but I discovered a whole garden of kale and lettuce instead. *

We raise a racket just to watch Mom run out at 10:30 p.m. to check on us. **

*Lucille is the one the others attack each time she goes into the yard/coop. She free ranges.

**10:30 PM is my favorite time of day. The light and shadows on the mountains and trees are beautiful...but it's not my favorite time to check on chickens.  It DOES seem to be a favorite time for moose to visit the back yard. 

Dr. Report/ Day's Summary

I discovered, when we lived in the RV, that I liked blogging outside around a campfire. The days aren't terribly quiet around here with everyone traveling...but the evenings ARE. Nolan and Dad both go to bed around 8 p.m.  I've been reading outside...while the chickens get ready for bed and the garden gets watered....but tonight, I discovered something even better.

Blogging from our own deck....

Dad planted these flowers - I love the peak; can't see as much of it in the
summer....but the green is nice. 

On either side of the deck are these lovely lilacs. They smell wonderful! 

And I'm sipping on a mug of home-grown spearmint tea...If I weren't daydreaming I'd be inspired to blog. ::snort:: 

My favorite little pot from a Japanese thrift store

This morning I was up early spending time with Jesus, working out, watering, weeding corn, . I even pulled two watermelon plants. It hurt my heart to do so...but I chose the healthiest two to give the space to. I think my cantaloupe needs more room. I don't think it gets warm enough in the garden for it to grow. I may have to choose between the cucumbers and cantaloupe. 

I left the house to visit with my nurse practitioner before Dad was up.  It was a great appointment. After nine years of being a vegan, she had suggested I switch to a Mediterranean diet. I was introduced to the Blue Zone Lifestyle . This helped me see how to make it all work together.  She felt my cholesterol would  be managed, and I'd benefit from more food choices, as I worked to limit complex carbs and eliminate sugar. My A1C was high, I didn't want to go on Metformin (it had been high for a year). I had been trying to "limit" sugar, and it kept rising. I needed to eliminate it.  If I agreed to only have sugar "occasionally," and  make sure my heart is in target range at least 150 min a week, I could re-check in 3 months. I was willing to make the changes.  

I had no sugar/bread/meat until Easter. I had sugar on Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day. In May I had meat once. I didn't like how I felt when I ate  meat and haven't had any more since then. I made a conscious effort to "eat more fish." I ate all the fruit I wanted. I made a couple of desserts with dates and apples.

I had been trying to cut out sugar for years....having a cancer scare and a big D diagnosis in the same month motivated me to get serious.

Today was the moment of truth. We'd see how my cholesterol and blood sugar reacted to the changes.  I lost weight. My HDL was up (viva la salmon!), my LDL was down. My triglycerides were up a bit,  but she said that is genetic. I'd gone off the drugs for that and so a slight increase was better than we had thought. She said we don't need to worry about this with my lab numbers.

My A1C had been one higher than the top of the pre-diabetic range this practice uses (and I'm noting there are several scales online). It is now the very lowest of the pre-diabetic range. If it had been one point lower the diagnosis would go away....but she told me I need to eat like a diabetic if I want to keep my sugars low....I am managing it with diet and lifestyle and  if I begin to think it's "gone," I'll slide back to old habits.  She encouraged me to continue plodding away at these changes as they are a total lifestyle and it's working.  She added strength training to my workout routine...which I'll begin when I find the handout with the exercises. ::snort::

I have lost weight - even on the "doctor scale."    My Vitamin D has tanked. I'm about to get  huge doses of D for 16 weeks....and then go back to the daily 5,000 IU. Repeat of my Misawa experience. My liver and kidney functions have both improved. My electrolytes and protein et al were fine.

I'm relieved not to have to limit or give up fruit.

She didn't mention colonoscopy once today.

I came home to watch Benny so CoRielle could go out. He and Dad took a nap. This is what I got done while I watched Benny. ::wink::

I planted 150 corn starts, 24 beet starts, and 3 kinds of squash. I checked the packages and all had a 50 - 60 days to maturity range. All were seeds I had hanging around.  I'm hopeful as  we get twice the sunshine of the lower 48. Michael and Alex planted 155 corn seeds...and only 11 have germinated (yes, I soaked them).  We decided to start more corn inside - because  it worked last year. LOL  Everyone told me they NEVER start corn inside - but.....I guess you have to do what works for YOU.

I planted some forget-me-nots in my "Gather" pot, and replanted all 3 things on the shelf. I'm not sure what the first one is - a 2018 Mother's Day gift,  the second pot contains spearmint, and the 3rd pot is chocolate spearmint. I clipped it back and put it in a bigger pot. I put the  clippings in a jar to stick in here and there when they grow some roots. I saved some leaves for my evening tea. 

I tried to put together a greenhouse shelf we have. It wouldn't stay together. I'd planned to use it for some of the starts. I put them in the greenhouse....I hope it works. If not - it's all seeds I had...and the main garden is in - I just want to fill up some of the spaces. LOL

I have ALWAYS had a black thumb - I'm a bit amused at all the green 

CoRielle came home and proceeded to make fun family memories....Dad is teasing about finding a bear tape to play.  I watched Benny chase moths for a bit and then headed in to make dinner.

After dinner Nolan, Dad and I played two rounds of Farkle. It's become our habit. I won both - I'm ok if THAT becomes a habit. LOL

It's been HOT around here....Its predicted we'll hit 80's in the next day or so. Cory told me I need to be watering more. I took advantage of the watering to get some photos.

Isn't this the prettiest kale you've ever seen? 

I swear this stuff is bigger each time I go out....the heat, sun and water are working magic.

3 kinds of Kale

The potatoes are finally big enough for this novice gardener to feel comfortable telling them from the weeds. I'll weed them tomorrow.

Good grief it's 11 p.m. again. The days are long when one  has a rooster outside one's bedroom window. Phoenix hasn't learned to go to bed before the sun goes down....he is up making noise at 1:30 a.m. and crowing the sun up at 4:30 a.m.