Katie's Glasses

There is an old chorus we use to sing in church, Count Your Blessings.  The song goes like this:

Count your blessings name them 1 by 1.
Count your blessings, see what God has done.
(Repeat and sing slower for the second verse.)

When I start off counting my blessings, they are "big" ones, like salvation, a good husband, wonderful children, and things like that. I do not make light of those gifts, but there are so many more that we might not realize. There is the blessing of hearing the birds sing in the morning, of snuggling under your covers cold night. There are many blessings that might be called "small" blessings.  Thank you God for all the wonderful small blessings you have given me. Help me to give someone else a small blessing, Lord.

Chicken Talk

Guess my picture did not post. Let's try it again.

Chicken Talk

I have a neighbor.  In the past, he has taken us to court and called the police for various reasons. I was working in the chicken yard tonight, and happened to look towards his property. Right in front of his garage was his outside chair. He was not sitting in it but it was looking right into the chicken yard. Once before I have seen him watching the chickens. He has never complained about the chickens. I think he might be getting some peaceful relaxation sitting in his chair and watching my girls. At least I hope he is. They do such a wonderful job of helping you relax. 

Chicken Talk

Just had a huge thunderstorm pass over us. Went from thunder and dark clouds to instant downpour to pea sized hail in 90 seconds!  The thunder was a continuous roll for about 12 or 15 minutes. As quick as it came....it left.  The fields, roads and yard are all standing water.  Looked out the back door and didn't see any chickens so I assumed they made it into the house.  As soon as the rain quit, I walked around to make sure everything was fine.   Checked on the girls. Did not make it into their house but had plenty of places to hide. They were barely damp.  I think one of the girls might have been scared by the storm.  There was one lone egg in the middle of the chicken yard that was not there earlier.  Ahhh, the joys of a spring storm.  Here is a picture of our back yard in the storm.  Notice the hail?

Katie's Glasses

I don't want to sound like I am tooting my own horn, so please forgive me.  This is just random thoughts.  Tonight I am thinking about my children.  Most of my thoughts lean towards family.  When our children were small, Ron and I kept our children close to us as a family.  We tried to teach them good values. I see all this stuff on facebook about children and it is true.  Raise your children with respect. Teach them to give their seat when an adult enters the room.  Little things make a difference.  Ron and I were the parents, not the friends. As our children became older, friendship developed, but we were always parents.  Still am.  If there was a disagreement and argument,  I am still a parent.  I think my children respect that.  Anyway, this is a lot of random thoughts.   I raised my children with 2 expressions.  1. I love you. I will always love you no matter what you do.  I may not love your actions, but I will always love you.     2.  Family is family. They will always be there.  Have a great evening and God's blessings upon you.  Much love.

Katie's Glasses

My nephew, Michael, is visiting from Texas. He has a good friend who is getting married and we get the benefit of having Michael.  So, I am sitting in the house and our family is all around.  Some are outside playing,  some are outside searching for groundhogs to to shoot, we have xbox games, sleeping,  and hot dogs grilling.  Emily Grace made a tire swing.  It seems like an old painting in motion.  Family.  What a wonderful word.

Katie's Glasses

This is just thoughts and opinions.  Since Mother's Day is just past, I thought I might offer a few opinions.  I have 3 wonderful children by birth and many many more by osmosis (?).  I am blessed with so many memories of my sweet little cherubs.  When we get together I am still finding out things they got away with.  Whenever we get together and end up talking and remembering, Christopher, Ronnie, and Sarah LOVE telling tales on each others.  So much for bragging on my perfect children.  Oh, if you believe that, I have a beautiful mountain top for sell in lower Delaware.

Chicken Talk

Just to let you know, Buffy is fine.  It was not until yesterday that she really perked up to her old self.  Today (Friday) it is pouring down rain.  Went out to check for eggs....change that....swam out to check on eggs and looked at the girls.  They looked wet and horrible.  Gives new meaning to "mad as a wet hen".  They didn't seem mad, but sure looked like it.  My nephew is visiting from Texas.  We had dinner here last night and Emily Grace thinks he is the greatest.  She got to show him the girls, how to feed them, and where the eggs are, and her general knowledge of chickens.  Of course, Michael, being the wonderful person he is, was so impressed at her knowledge.  Yeah, she has a new favorite.

Chicken Talk

Well, today we had a bit of a chicktastrophy.  Ronnie and I rearranged the chicken yard and enlarged their area.  Now it goes over to the fence by the house.  The dogs love it. Anyway, someone did not close the gate all the way and two chickens made it into the yard.  I was not aware of this and let the dogs out. Champ and Jack went ballistic and attacked the girls. Charlotte got away but Buffy did not. Champ had her by the fence, feathers flying everywhere.   I was already pulling Champ off Buffy but he got away and more feathers flew.  Emily Grace got the dogs inside and I picked up Buffy. I saw Champ's mouth around Buffy's neck and expected the worst. Buffy was so quiet and not moving or complaining.  I inspected her and found no blood. Everything felt fine and moved.  I put her down and she appeared fine. Fortunately Sarah and Eddy, the chicken wizard, came for supper. Eddy checked Buffy out and said she seemed fine.  She might be a bit embarrassed eith so many feathers missing on her butt.  Well, that is all the news that is worth telling on the chicken farm. Have a great evening and check in later.

Chicken Talk

Oh, so much has happened. Righ about the time I quit writing, I lost my irst chicken, SnowBelle.   Went out one morning and she was in the coup, already dead.  It was a shock.  Every time I checked the rest of the girls, I was so nervous.  Nothing else happened snd I still have 6 of my girls.  Whew.  Had an extra piece of pizza the other day and decided to give it to the girls.  Yeah. Have you ever seen a chicken grab a whole piece of pizza and take of running. Let me tell you, it was a sight.  And there were 5 chickens chasing her after the pizza. It was like watching a group of small kids playing kick the can. Oh, the girls are grounded again. They do fine laying eggs for the first week of free ranging and then quit.  Bad girls, bad. I went from 3 dozen a week to 20 eggs. Not good.  That is all for tonight.  Have a great evening.

Chicken Talk

Well, said I would get everyone up to date.

Today is May 10, 2014.

Hee, hee, hee

Chicken Talk

Wow. I need to post more often.  I decided that the girls needed more room to roam.  So, I dragged the plastic wire fence from behindvthe garage to the coop area. I made (propped) a fence from the coop to the garage.  Then I made another from a small tree to the coop.  That gave the girls a lot of room to roam and scratch.   Happy girls.  After that, the egg count went from 6 or 7 a day to 2.  Not good.  After 3 days of 2 eggs, the girls were grounded.  They cannot leave the yard till I have at least 5 eggs.  Believe it or not, it is working. I am back up to 6 or 7 eggs a day.  Much better. 

This was typed on April 18. Thought I would post it and then get everyone up to date.