Little Fishes Swim in the Water

Hey Fans, Get Up!

I took Grace to her first cheerleading class last Friday night. Her gymnastics school is offering a mini cheerleading class for ages 4-7 years old and Grace is forever going around making up little cheers so I knew she'd like it. I'm not sure where she's come up with that particular obsession other than the fact that Bryon was pumping her little fist and yelling "Go Big Red" from the moment she emerged from the womb.

I, obviously, was NOT a cheerleader. I did have a brief moment of peer pressure weakness in my quest for popularity in the 8th grade when Susan Mumford and I tried out for the Junior High Cheerleading Squad. Neither of us really had much hope. I, at least, was horrible and awkwardly uncoordinated and certainly NOT cheerleader cute. We didn't' make it. It was not the life crushing blow you would think though, in fact, it was sort of a relief. I don't think I could have maintained the required level of peppiness.

Grace watches a lot of Max and Ruby and I did see one episode where they were Bunny Cheerleaders. Grace gets her red and white Huskers pom poms and goes around the house shaking them low and then high saying "Gooooooo team!"

Of course she has also mentioned several times she wants to be a football player.

I'm hoping the cheerleading sticks. I'd rather defend her choice to be a cheerleader as opposed to a female on the football team. Of course she's her own little person already so we'll see what develops.

The class was crazy. There were about 6 little girls and it was like herding cats. They each have the attention span of gnats and it's in the GYMNASTICS gym full of trampolines and fun stuff so of course they wanted to do EVERYTHING. It stayed out there to watch and listen (I usually go upstairs and watch through the windows because Grace comes out to kiss me, get a drink, greet me eight thousand times if I stay within site). This time though I wanted to see if it was going to be a worthwhile class. Rachel (the adult teacher) had three junior high cheerleaders helping her so there was almost one teacher per child but it was still pretty funny. Grace has my skills at group activities so far (ie four steps behind the aerobics instructor and the rest of the class) but she was doing pretty well considering all the distractions.

Their cheer was "Hey Fans, Get up, Get up! Hey Fans, Get Up!" She won't let me help her because I "don't do it right".

Alas, I'm still not a cheerleader. Oh well, guess I can be the Mom of a cheerleader now :)

I Almost 16

Yesterday morning as I was driving Grace to school she said,

"Mama someday when I'm big I'm going to sit there, (points to my driver's seat) and you can sit there (points to the passenger seat)"
"Yes, someday when you get big you can drive," I said "But you have to be 16 years old first and grow big and tall so you can reach the pedals and see out the windows"
"So I can watch the road." she said.
"That's right" I said.
"I almost 16" she said.
"You are almost 4" I said.
"Yes, but I getting closer" she said.
"Yes you are" I said.

Oh Honey!

I robbed the bees Saturday afternoon. I really didn't expect much. I had checked on them in the spring and there didn't seem to be all that many bees. I had worried that the queen was probably dead and even made a call to see if I could get one shipped asap. They wouldn't ship one until May 5. By that time, the bees would either be going strong or dead so I decided to just wait it out. I checked on them in June and expected they would be out of room if they were still alive. I had driven by them several times in the field and saw bees flying around but it's impossible to know what's going on INSIDE there without looking. The more I look, the worse they do so I just moved along and let them be.

In June, I did go out to put another super on just in case they needed it. They didn't. They hadn't even drawn out the comb on the first super I had put on in the spring. What the heck were they doing all day? I figured they were probably done for but Saturday when I finally went out to make another check they had one whole super full of honey for me and another super with a few frames filled up and there were A LOT of BEES! Oh my gosh were there a lot of bees. I get pretty anxious when there are THAT MANY BEES flying around me and angry. I was very, very thankful for my suit and my smoker. I set the super full of honey aside and took frame after frame out brushing off the bees with my bee brush. I finally got most of them off and there were probably a thousand bees flying around and they were NOT happy. I can't believe I didn't get stung. I thought once I might have gotten stung in the back but it was just a brief pinch so maybe it was a glancing blow but nothing lasting.

I plopped the heavy super on the tailgate and drove back to the house. A few lingering bees crawled up out of the frames and I took it into the house dripping all the way. Pooh could have easily found his way to my kitchen Saturday.

I dug out my home made extractor that I found the plans for on the internet years ago and cleaned it up in preparation for the job ahead.

It took a while to cut out all the frames and stuff them into the top bucket. I usually use a paint strainer bag and had to make a trip into town to Wal-Mart for one. Of course they didn't have one so I figured I could make due with cheese cloth. The cheese cloth was not a very good substitute. I had to strain it twice to get it really clear. I let it set until today and I spent about three hours straining it and bottling it up. I got just over 2 gallons of honey off that one super. I took the rest of the comb and put it all back together with MORE cheesecloth layers this time so I think I'll get a few more jars if I let it sit and drain a few more days. Hopefully I won't have to strain it twice this time. This method tears up my comb but since I only want one bee hive I figure it's okay.

The bees still have two more supers of honey to get through the winter so we'll see what next year brings.

Sweet success!

Consumed

I have been completely consumed with the Twilight Series of books. My friend Dawn and her Mom and daughter all read it and passed it along to me last week. I read the first one Twilight in about 13 hours, 9 hours were solid reading. It was addictive. I'm glad I found it now and not when the first book came out. I hate waiting on authors to publish books! It's a vampire/werewolf series, a genre I haven't read in a long time. It was easy to fall back into love with the topic. I can barely wait for lunch or bedtime so I can read more! I'm a serial reader so I love a good series, that way it's almost like the book never ends.

I've discovered that renting television series' by the season is equally as satisfying. No commercials, instant gratification. It's all good baby. Lost was the BEST that way. I've been renting Saving Grace too and it's a great series as well. A little dark, but lots of possibilities for redemption.

Awww mindless entertainment. You gotta love that.

Eggsplosion!

Just as I was plotting to prevent my chickens from laying eggs in the woods, four more chickens started laying eggs this weekend. We got 9 eggs over the weekend. Five one day and four more the next. Of course, all that excitement wasn't without tragedy, one of the Rhode Island Reds has vanished. It happened either Thursday or Friday. Bryon noticed it looked like there were only eleven (they are hard to count!) and then we finally confirmed it when they roosted. Definately eleven now. I was out of town all weekend with my friend Dawn when he called to tell me he thought the skinny Aracauna had laid a light pink egg and to tell me at least one and maybe two chickens were missing. Thankfully it was only one.

I had decided I was going to keep them cooped up a few days this week before I left to try to find out if more of them were infact laying eggs around the woods somewhere. Turns out they may have been because our friend Aaron stepped on an egg out by the camper. They did decide the hen house was a better place though because that was the only one we have found outside so far. Today, I kept them cooped up until I got home at 5 pm. They were NOT happy about that and were complaining loudly this morning. They sure were happy to get out and chase those grasshoppers tonight and when I looked in the hen house I had FIVE more eggs.

We had so many eggs I took out the little basket to carry them in. Yes, I had all my eggs in one basket. I see that folly in that now, but it does make them easier to carry.

It boggles me WHY they won't lay in the nesting boxes. I even had fake eggs in there already so they'd get the hint. I took them out finally last night trying some reverse chicken psychology. It didn't work. Now all five of them are laying on the hen house floor UNDER the boxes. I can't figure them out.

We mowed tonight (things were getting pretty whooly out here) and Bryon killed a copperhead going into the barn right where Grace had just been playing with her sidewalk chalk while we mowed. Yuck. Bryon showed her the snake so she would know what to avoid. I hope it works. We've only killed about one a year out here which is pretty amazing really I suppose. I just don't like them at all.

While I was mowing I came across what was left of my vanished chicken. A couple of piles of feathers right out in the open in the back yard. Now I don't know what got her. We have seen a bobcat out there once, sneaking out of the edge of the woods AND we've seen a big hawk swoop down and eat a bird from our feeder so there are several possibilities. A dog could have gotten her too. It makes me hesitant to let them out while I'm gone. Once they are out there's no herding them back into the coop until they roost at night.

I don't know what do do about them. I suppose I'll just keep letting them out and if another one gets picked off that will make it easier to justify leaving them cooped up until I get home at night. I have to say with just one less chicken in the hen house, they DO have more room to roost. Maybe it was meant to be.

Where does time go?

I'm not sure what the heck we did this past week but it sure went by fast. So much for my idea that I might have two chickens laying. I took the waterer out of the chicken house and set it outside in the chicken yard because the chickens seem to prefer to drink outside every chance they get. I thought maybe that would help keep their waterer cleaner too. My layer boycotted and didn't lay an egg  for two days. She had been nesting behind the waterer. Here I thought I was being all thoughful and obviously she didn't appreciate it. I put the waterer back in the appointed spot. Saturday morning I went out and she was sitting on the nest working up an egg so I left her alone to tend to the rabbits. Next thing I know she's strutting around the chicken house cackling up a storm and announcing her egg. Yep, a nice brown one. She's layed every day since I moved the waterer back into the house. Go figure.

I still don't know what's up with the other chickens. I hope they aren't just laying eggs all around the farm somewhere. That's going to make me REALLY mad! I guess the only way to know would be to coop them up for a few days, but I hate to do that. I guess I'll give them another week or so then the detective work is going to have to get more serious. I want those eggs!

Saturday afternoon we tried to go out and work on the goat fence but it was hot and we were all cranky (okay, mostly I was cranky) so we gave up pretty quickly. Basically all I was doing anyway was trying to avoid poison ivy (hence the need for goats) and keep Grace from touching anything green. I don't know if she's going to be as prone to breaking out from poison ivy as I am. Bryon really doesn't have any sensitivity to it at all, but I don't want to find out the hard way.

You can imagine how easy it was to keep her from touching anything green.

Sunday we slept in (bad Christians) and went to town for a birthday party for our friend Savannah. She turned 9 and I had to rush into Target for Hannah Montana paraphenellia for her gift. Grace doesn't even know who Hannah Montana is except for the now TWO HM birthday parties she's been to this month. Grace tells me she wants a COW birthday party. I'm not sure what that is going to be. I kept thinking she'd change her mind but so far she's pretty fixated on the whole COW theme. I don't think Wilton makes a cake pan for that. Someone suggested we could do chocolate milk. Good idea. Of course ice cream is a given. I was thinking I could get out REALLY easy and just buy a whole bunch of those Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and stick candles in them. After last year's school bus cake, I'm thinking that would be a breeze.

We had to make a real hit and run for the birthday party because we had tickets to the Springfield Cardinals Baseball game. Grace was really excited to go. Of course she had no idea what it was going to be but she was excited all the same. It was our CBCO sponsored event for the year. The Hugglers went with us. That stadium was really awesome. I have no idea what happened during the game because Grace was bouncing around like pinball screaming...LOOOOuuuiiiieeee....Feeetttcchhhh. Louie and Fetch were the two team mascots and Grace was intent on giving them both high fives. She did thanks to a helpful Daddy schleping her around the stadium hot on their heels.

We finally left during the eighth inning because her little dirty black toes HAD to have a bath before bed. The flip flops didn't stay on very much all night. We did all wear our red to support the home team.I t was a fun night. When we left they were way behind but apparently the next inning they got five runs! Holy cow, they were probably better off without us. They ended up winning in the 10th inning while we were all already home and tucked into bed. Some fans we are.

A Baker's Dozen

I finally accumulated my first dozen eggs today...plus one. I don't know if I missed one yesterday (didn't see it) or if I got two today and another girl has started laying. The second egg was sort of hidden between the studs of the house, so I could have just missed it yesterday, but I'm hopeful it was new today because it was really speckled like the first egg I got. Why they won't use those nesting boxes is beyond me, but at least they are in the house.

Those chickens have really gotten bolder. They have pretty much covered every inch of the yard now and have started to venture up on our back deck. I can barely keep them out of the garage now either. All the world's a playground for them. And a toliet. Chickens poop a lot. This one was on our back deck yesterday nosing around. I'm pretty sure this is the Sexlink that's been laying.

I guess I'll probably know in the next day or so if another one has started to lay. The eggs will be piling up when they all kick in. Bring 'em on!

The humming birds are really wearing me slick now. They are eating a lot! I'm on my third 10 lb bag of sugar this summer. Of course, I did use some of it for canning, but most of it has gone to the birds. I noticed on my conservation calendar that they start migrating this time of the year and that feeder activity may pick up. Well they must have the same calendar, because there have been significantly more out there this week.

Bryon is out today clearing a path through our paintball woods with the brush hog for the electric fence to go up. Goats are next on the list! If we get the fence in we could get a couple of goats at the small animal swap meet this month. I don't know if we'll make it or not, but the swap meet goes through October so surely by then. Of course then it's winter, and that means a goat shelter too. Hmmm, animals sure are needy.

I still want to get a portable chicken pen built so I can raise some broilers. So many plans, so little daylight.

Bounty!

We have finally lost the fight with the squash bugs. We fought valiantly. We dutifully sought out eggs hidden on every squash leaf and squished them. Well, most of them, then we manically smashed, squashed (no pun intended) and obilterated them in various stages of growth. We probably killed a thousand squash bugs this summer. Bryon went out tonight and picked what was vegetables were left on the vines and then pulled them up. There were so many squash bugs we don't even want to compost the vines. He took them up into the field to the dozer pile. Hopefully this winter sometime they will get burned up!

I hate those squash bugs.

I've frozen 6 bags of yellow squash, 3 bags of shredded zucchini and we'll start eating the spaghetti squash soon. They are really yummy sliced in half, baked and then eaten (the forked out flesh mixed with parmesan cheese and bacon bits). Mmmmmm. We'll be having that some this week probably. Our tomatoes are doing well, we have lots, but they just aren't turning red fast enough to can. They are coming in dribs and drabs.

I did make some zucchini relish this weekend.  We love it on brats and burgers and we were all out.

I didn't get my green bean seeds this past weekend because it was just too dang hot to go out to Bakers. It's not fit for man or beast out there right now. Each day I think, Man this is the hottest day ever, then it just gets hotter. I checked online and the shipping is only $3.00. It would cost more than that in gas to drive over there anyway...tomorrow I'm going to order them online and just wait for USPS to deliver them to my mailbox.

Life is good in the country.

Green Beans

I hate green vegetables. Yes, I see the irony in wanting to raise a garden without any green vegetables. Bryon likes green veggies and Grace will eat anything but a green bean. For two weeks in a row we bought green beans for Bryon at the farmers market in Marshfield and I cooked them up for him along with some of our new potatoes from the garden (after Mom showed me how). I guess I should have paid more attention all those years Mom was cooking, canning and gardening as I was growing up because now I just keep learning the hard way. Of course, that is, I've realized after 40 years, my nature. Somewhere along the line, I've developed an independence that some might misconstrue as stubbornness. Either way the results are the same. Some one tells me something or shows me and I do it my own way until it's obvious that isn't working and then consult other "authorities" books, co-workers, strangers, basically anyone but my spouse or family.

Riding my wave of my carrot canning success, I decided I'd try to can some green beans for Bryon. I bought $12 of green beans at the farmers market the day I killed the chickens and took them home. That was about four Wal-Mart sacks of green beans by the way. Of course I was sick that night so the beans stayed in the crisper until the next day. I finally started getting all my stuff together on Saturday to get down to the business of canning them and Bryon started to snap them when he goes, "Hmmm". "What hmmm?" I asked. "Well these aren't the right kind of green bean" he said. "Excuse me? What do you mean they aren't the right kind of green bean? They are green and a bean, what's wrong with them?" I asked starting to get a little testy.

"Well my Mom always called these shell beans, see this string? They shouldn't have that and see these big beans inside, well those aren't going to be any good to can. They just aren't the right kind" he said.

Cricket chirping silence here.

"Fine" I said, "I'll call Mom." I called. They weren't the right kind. How the crap was I, a non-green bean eater, supposed to know there are different kinds. I told him to feed them to the pigs. He did. The pigs wouldn't eat them either. They are now slowly composting in a big pile. Maybe the chickens will eat them.

I feel like I was tricked by the nice farmer's market lady. She probably saw an easy target and an opportunity to foist off her lame old green beans on me. I had even told her I was going to can them. Fool me once...

Tomorrow I'm going to go to Bakers Seed in Mansfield and get my own seed and grow my own dang green beans. Ha!

Take that farmer market green bean lady.