Welcome Welsummers!

My Welsummers are hatching!!!
And my youngest son had a birthday-but I'll write about that in another post when I have time to actually do some reflecting.
Right now I am giddy about this hatch. I started out with 14 eggs shipped from a backyard breeder on BYC (www.backyardchickens.com). C. dropped an egg immediately, so we put 13 into the incubator. After 8 days I candled the eggs and found that 6 of them were not viable. We were left with just 7 eggs.

On Day 21 we had our first Welsummer chick. It took him over 12 hours to hatch. Today is Day 22 and we have 3 more chicks, and one egg that is pipping. The remaining 3 eggs don't show signs of life yet.

This has been a very slow hatch. Last year when I hatched my own eggs they pipped and hatched so quickly, in under 12 hours. They also were all hatched out by Day 22. I believe the shipped eggs may take a little longer just becuase they have suffered some stress from the shipping, plus my room temperature is a little lower than it really should be. I think it is recommended that room temp be at least 65, and we are closer to 62-63 on most days. If I only get 4 chicks out of these eggs I will be disappointed. I was hoping to have at least 3 pullets and 1 rooster for myself and share some of the extra birds with friends of mine. That may not be happening this time though-with my luck they will all turn out to be roosters!





In order to deal with the staggered hatch, I decided to leave the egg turner with the Buckeye eggs in the incubator during the Welsummer hatch. I removed 3 of the turner flats and bulit cardboard walls around this gap. I put the Welsummer eggs inside of this wall with the hope that it would keep the hatching chicks out of the turner. It worked well on Day 21 when I just had one chick, but now that chick managed to hop over the wall and is sitting on the turner! Luckily he is not on the side that has the Buckeye eggs, so those cannot be harmed, but I am worried about the chick getting stuck in the turner. I may have to open the bator and push him back over the wall, though I will have to be careful as opening the bator could potentially kill any chicks that are pipping or zipping at the time.

More hatching eggs....

I put 14 Buckeye eggs in the incubator today. Last week I candled the Welsummer eggs, and 6 of them were not viable, so I have 7 of them left due to hatch late next week. When they hatch the Buckeye eggs will still have about 10 days left or so, so I am going to have to figure out a way to have a very "non-messy" Welsummer hatch so the Buckeyes won't be hatching into an old mess. It's tricky, I am going to have to do a little research and try to figure out the best way to go about this. I originally meant to have them hatch at the same time, but since I did not receive the eggs at the same time I really couldn't work it out.

Both of these eggs are from backyard breeders, reputable folks from www.backyardchickens.com Buckeye Dave's eggs came packed in a box with the best care labels EVER! Take a look:

Oh my poor little neglected blog. I'm sorry I haven't written for so long! My friends introduced me to Facebook and I just haven't seen the need to take the time to write a few paragraphs here when I can write a sentence on FB and feel complete. Plus, poeple actually respond and write comments on FB, and nobody reads you. But since I'm here anyway....

I put 13 Welsummer eggs in the incubator Wednesday. The Buckeye eggs didn't make it here in time to hatch the two breeds together, so I'll have to do two seperate hatches. That's okay with me I guess, it means I'll just have a dozen chicks in my kitchen at one time, instead of twice that. I can't believe that I considered not hatching chicks this year. It would be a lonely spring without any little fluffy butts to play with, I think I would actually cry over that.

Running is going well. The longer days mean that I can get my runs in AFTER I get home from the kids evening activities, so I'm slowly upping my mileage. I'm getting 15-16 miles a week now up from a pathetic 6-10 in January and 8-11 in February. I have had some really nice, warm runs in shorts and T-shirts this week, and I'm loving spring. I have a 10k race on April 19th.

Things are good at home. I am no longer stressed about B's job situation, just content to let the chips fall where they may. We'll know the outcome mid-May.

Time to find something to make for dinner, and get on my running clothes~

Well, I sure feel like a big idiot. I was mistaken about daylight savings. In spring we "spring ahead", so getting up at 5:30 am would be like getting up at 4:40am. Total darkness. How depressing. I guess evening running in the forecast for me, at least until May or so. Crap.

Goodbye sunset, hello sunrise

I received the best news this week. This Sunday is daylight savings, which means that it will be light at 6am and I can go running in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I should have had this date circled in red on my calender! It is the end of the mandatory evening running, which I struggle with all winter long. I absolutely love getting up at 5:30am, heading out the door and drinking in the dawn. I love going to bed at 9:30pm, even in the summer when it is still light out. I have always been an early to bed, early to rise type, and my life is best when I live that way. I have been catching up on my sleep all winter, sleeping in until 7am or *gasp* sometimes even 7:30. So I'm refresed and ready to go~

Since the job lay-off announcement I have been trying really hard to focus on the positive parts of my life, and now I have taken this one step further. I have decided that focusing on the postive is not enough. I am still allowing negative feelings and stressors to bother me and affect my overall well-being. I have truely decided that I need to focus really hard not just on the positive things in my life, but I need to act on them and purposefully bring joy into my life through my actions. I really need some extra joy-medicine right now!

Here are some of the positive things I have been grateful for this past week:
-a break in the bone chilling cold and some very nice runs
-longer days leading to many eggs in the nest boxes
-a good book
-my orthotics (always grateful for those)
-chicken soup
-a gift from a friend
-my warm bed filled with cuddly children
-finding my lost slipper
-sushi with friends
-flowers from B.

And in my desire to actively bring joy into my life:
-ordering hatching eggs. I'll have 24 eggs in the incubator this spring! And some gorgeous Welsummer and Buckeye chicks in my kitchen
-taking the time to really listen to B. I don't do that often enough and I miss a lot.
-rubbing C's back and getting a neck rub in return
-giving to others and getting a little bit of their joy back for myself.

Nothing new, no news...

So, we are still waiting over here for news on B's job situation. This week was supposed to be the week when we finally got some news, but no, the state of Ohio seems intent to prolong our suffering. Basically we are waiting to see if B has more seniority than the social studies teacher at another juvenile correctional facility. If he does than he can "bump" this teacher out of the position, and B will become the new teacher there. If he doesn't than he is out of luck and needs to find another job, fast!
B is maddeningly cool as a cucumber, saying things like, "everything will turn out the way it is supposed to", and "life is full of change and that is a good thing". Meanwhile I am biting my fingernails and pulling my hair out in worry. B is one of those people who seems to rise above normal human worries. Nothing ever bothers him, you can't say or do anything that will stress him out or upset him. Sometimes I wonder if he is really present in this world at all, as he seems to float right through things and events that cause me severe distress.
I am really, really trying to relax and think positively, and not get bogged down with worry or negative feelings. I think I am doing a pretty good job, but every few days it seems to creep up on me, and I am finding myself going to bed earlier and earlier just to avoid worrying in the evening when it is quiet. Also, I have had some lingering headaches that I really can't attribute to illness or anything else.
I am so anxious to just find out one way or the other whether or not he has a job! I need to be able to plan our future and just get moving. I do not like this uncertainty.

Winter compost

Aaahhhhh.....winter thaw.

It is one of those days where I can close my eyes and imagine that it is March. Yesterday and today were in the high 40's, the snow is melting, there is the drip, drip, dripping of water rolling off of the roof and I can crack the windows and let the cool air blow out some of the winter stuffiness.

On days like this there is work to be done in the chicken coop. During the warm months it is a snap to keep the coop clean, I just shovel under the roosts every couple of weeks or so. In the winter I have to wait until we thaw out. It is impossible to shovel frozen manure, so in December and January the droppings under the roosts just keep accumulating and freezing over and over again. When we get a break in the weather it is a chance to get things shoveled out(especially when you know that you have visitors coming and they will want to see the chickens and the last thing you want to show them is a stinky, smelly coop).

I only shovel under the roosts where it is mostly pure manure with a little straw mixed in. The rest of the coop really stays amazingly clean. The chickens spend the majority of their time outside, and even when the snow is too deep for them to go out they still seem to make the majority of their messes on the roosts and not in the straw on the floor of the coop. I only completely clean out the coop twice a year, and really that is all it needs.



I got a wheelbarrow full today, and lugged it outside where it will sit until tomorrow or the day after when hopefully the snow will melt enough for me to be able to see my garden again. I will dump this mess in a nice pile in my garden. Manure piles make the best garden patches. I grew the most delicious, juicy pickling cucumbers in a nice manure patch last year. I don't have enough manure to cover my entire garden, but it does help. In the summer I dump the manure into my compost pile, but in the winter it goes directly into garden. It has time to break down before anything gets planted and the straw helps with weed control when my garden explodes with weeds in early spring.

Here's my winter compost pile.



No manure in there yet, mostly fruits and veggie scraps, but I throw in eggshells, coffe grounds and tea as well. In the summer manure goes in. I am a lazy, lazy composter. I rarely turn the pile and I don't think about ratios of green to brown or anything like that. I just throw in our scraps and then a couple times in the summer I'll stir it up and come fall the stuff on the bottom is ready to spread.

My chickens have been a money pit in many ways, but that is becuase I am not a farmer and egg production isn't my top priority. The beauty and diversity they give to our yard, the rich compost they provide our garden, the delicious eggs and nutritious meat that nourish my family, that is where the real value lies.

Icy roads and screwy shoes

I've already written quite a few posts on how challenging January has been for my running, but I am feeling a little more positive about February. I frequent a small online running forum and one of the women there gave me a big tip (thank you Jo!!!) that has me smiling. She has been doing some of her winter running in shoes that she has drilled screws into to prevent slipping on the ice, and shared the instructional link with me. I know you all can't wait to open this link:

http://www.skyrunner.com/screwshoe.htm

I wasn't sure how much screws in my shoes would help me out, but I had B. dig around in the basement for some appropriate screws and he found enough so I could at least test out the concept on my older running shoes.



I was excited to test them out. As soon as I started down the road I felt a few "bumps" under the balls of my feet so I turned around and went home to see what was up. After taking my shoes off and my orthotics out I discovered that the middle two screws on each shoe were poking through sole on the inside. I took them out and added them to the sides of the bottom front of the shoe, and I will have to get some shorter ones for the middle.

My shoes aren't perfectly screwed, but let me tell you, my first run in them was fantastic! A lot of it was mental. I told myself that I was was NOT going to look down at the ice under my feet, I was going to look ahead and focus on keeping as normal of a stride as possible. Usually I am hopping around trying to figure out which patch of ice looks the least slippery and I am slow and my stride is choppy. This time I put my faith in those shoes, told myself that I was NOT going to slip, and whattdya know, I didn't. It wasn't as if I was running on a clear, dry road, but I could almost fool myself that there wasn't ice under my feet.

The downside is that on the bare pavement you can hear me coming a mile away. "Clack, clack, clack, clack", on my road (which is usually pretty clear because it is a county road and actually gets a few cars and a snowplow once in awhile). My neighbor down the road must have heard me coming and yelled at me to put a scarf over my mouth! It was 15 degrees and she probably hadn't noticed me before but now I sound like some kind of oncoming army so I guess the jig is up.

No problem keeping my secret on the rest of my route. The roads look like this:



Fun, huh?
I'm hoping we thaw out in February.

Another January day, another snowfall

Here we are again, another frigid day, another snowfall. I don't HATE winter, but I do get tired of it, and this winter has been tough on me. I cannot remember a January that has been this cold and this snowy since I have had children, and it is definitely worse since we moved further north.
Last night B. parked the car as far down the driveway and as close to the street as possible so that he wouldn't have to spend hours shoveling out before work. Still, this morning when I peeked out the window at 6:30 he was shoveling, so I knew we must have had another big snow during the night.
It fell all morning. I went out to feed the chickens and open the coop and it was about 8" high on my walk to the barn. That's 2/3 of the way up my boots. At 1pm I went out again to gather eggs and the snow was over the top of my boots, and the drifts were much higher. At least the snow had finished falling.
I went into the barn and saw this:

In a matter of a few hours snow had blown in the door of the coop, and divided my chickens in half. Some of them were on the left third of the coop by the food, and the rest were on the right (the part you can't see in the photo) side up on their roosts. They didn't seem to happy about having to cross that snow line!
Sometimes a little snow will blow in the coop, but the door is over a foot off of the ground so the snow has to be at least a foot high to blow in.
So I shoveled all of it out and lay new straw, and then I shut the door so those poor chickens will not see the sun today. Though they would never go out in this deep snow anyway!
In a couple of hours I will head out to shovel the end of the driveway so B. can pull the car in when he gets home.
And no, I don't think I will be running tonight!

Yesterday my son called me into his room to look at yet another Lego creation. Usually he wants me to ooh and aah over some kind of supernatural robot or a building filled with booby traps. This time was a little different though. He said,

"Look Mom, my minifigures are having sex!"

I didn't know whether to laugh or be kind of creeped out. I mean, I thought positioning dolls in sexual positions was just something girls did with their barbies.
I never thought my son would even think to do this with his Legos.
I guess it makes sense.
He thinks of his minifigures as little real people, and he has been rather curious about sex lately.

But still, ugh.

To his credit he chose the tribal minifigs from the Indiana Jones set, the ones that have very little clothing. Their gender was a bit ambiguous. But I guess that discussion will come later.

Winter running hits its low point

So my January running has been a little less than ideal. My goal for the winter running was to clear 15 miles a week, but, uh, that has not been happening. December was close, but I am embarassed to admit how little running I have done so far this month. Let's just say that I am way, way under par.

It doesn't help that this month has been absolutely frigid, so my motivation to go out has been very low. Today it was 15 degrees when I went out for my 4 miles, but with the sun out it was bearable. We had a couple of days where the high was 8, 10, 12 degrees and I didn't even consider those days at all.

I guess I am a big baby. I never said I was tough. In fact, I rather enjoy snuggling under a blanket on the sofa and looking at the icy roads, knowing that I won't be running on them that day.

But then I look at my meager mileage on RA(www.runnersadvantage.com)and I feel my base slipping away.

I'm still pretty indifferent. I'm not training for anything. Winter running to me is simply there to maintain my base and keep my sanity. Come late February the tides will begin to turn and I am going to have to grit my teeth and get out there. In the meantime I am enjoying the respite and praying for a heat wave.

Inaguration Day 2009

Snow Day

So I promised the kids we would go sledding today. But then we got this:



And I won't drive in that.

So we had a brownie party instead! I finally figured out how to bake good brownies. It has taken me years. I would get so frustrated because it seemed as if every time I tried to bake brownies the inside would be underdone, the outside would be overdone, and I would feel like a huge failure because can't everyone bake brownies???
I finally figured out that a combination of following the Betty Crocker recipe EXACTLY (yes, I do beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla for 5 minutes, not just 1 minute), setting my oven temp to 365 and cooking for an hour, covering with foil and cooking 15 minutes longer will get me soft, cake-like brownies, with no hard crust and no underdone mess in the middle.



That is fresh whipped cream. As in fresh from the cow. I am lucky, lucky to have a good farmer friend who gifts us with fresh milk and cream. It is just as yummy as it looks.

We ate brownies and drank hot chocolate with whipped cream and played some games. Sledding was forgotten and Mom once again took her rightful reign as queen of the universe, aka BEST MOM EVER!!!

Well, it's been a few days since my last post, and I have to say that after the initial shock I am feeling much better about things. My family has a lot of blessings, and I have come to feel that things usually do settle in the right places, and work out for the best in the long run. Even though we are in a period of change I can shrug off the stress and continue to enjoy my family and the present, and I do.

I was a little down for a few days, I will admit, but not down and out. I used those days to clean up my sewing area and now my machines are sparkling clean, oiled and run like butter. I made a dress for my daughter out of some fabric that has been sitting in my stash for YEARS-I'll post a pic in a bit when I can get her to model. I also majorly decluttered. I have a ton of fabric, notions and patterns that I am ready to move out! Hopefully I can sell them quick and get excited about working on some new projects.

For Christmas this year I bought the kids a sewing machine. I have a Singer 221 Featherweight that I had been letting F sew on, but it is in need of a tune-up and because it has sentimental value to me (it was my Grandmother's) and it is also a rather sought after machine, I decided to retire that for my own use. I settled on this Hello Kitty machine by Janome. I didn't try it out in person, but the reviews were good and the price was right, and I have to admit that the cuteness factor won me over. Well, let me tell you, this machine is a GEM! I am very, very pleased with it. In fact, I would be happy to use this machine as my own. I honestly thought that it would be like one of those low end Singers that you can buy at Target or Walmart. But this is a sturdy machine! With metal parts! And an awesome stitch!
C is working on her skills-sewing pretty with Hello Kitty!







Hopefully F will come around and the girliness of this machine won't deter him. He is a pretty good (um, what's the male word for seamstress? Taylor? That doesn't sound right) sewer, and I really did buy it for both of them.

Now I have 5 machines in this house. Is that crazy? For the amount of sewing (or maybe I should say non-sewing) that I do, yes, I think it is a little over the top!

Ohio's crappy economy hits a little too close to home

I am in shock.

We found out yesterday that B. is losing his job. The institution where he teaches is closing. It was completely unexpected and sudden.

I am not ready to completely freak out just yet, but I am in a bit of a daze. Our best hope is that he will be transferred to another institution and that with his seniority he will be able to "bump" out a teacher with less seniority there. Less than ideal, obviously, but at least he would have a job (really unfair to the other teacher, but that's the way the system works). The other institutions are scattered about Ohio so we would be looking at a move in the near future.

Our worst fear is that he will not be placed and will have to look for a "regular" teaching job in central Ohio. That is a nightmare I hope he never has to go through again, and I don't know if he would be willing to go through that again right now.

I have a knot in my stomach that I am trying to ignore. I love living here. I love our home, our neighbors, our location. I really thought we would retire here, but like the song says, "life is what happens while you are making other plans".

I am needing a real pick-me up, but it looks like we'll be snowed in for the next 2 days so I will settle for some more sewing at this point. The long runs will have to wait.

This has been one of those days that can't end soon enough.

Yesterday we went to the crazy mouse house where the kids loaded up on soda and pizza and cupcakes, and then went on a mad gaming spree to win tickets for candy. In all fairness it was for F's birthday, but now we have the day-after sugar lows and whine-fest.

The roads are icy and snowy so we didn't go to homeschool group which caused an uproar. Whining ensues. Kids fighting. M. has peed all over the house. He also dumped out every bin in the school room-very quietly I might add, so it was not noticed until it was too late. Math was done, but then begging to watch a movie becuase they are so BORED. No, no, there are thank-you notes that still must be written-have they already forgot the generosity of their loved-ones? Of course they have. More fighting over specific pen, which paper to use, and "I'm writing to Grandma first-so you CAN'T!!!!"

And then the thing that bothers me most-the begging for food. I cannot stand to cook anymore than I have to, and on days like today it is even worse. Nothing I make is good enough, they are STARVING, only certain foods will do, blah, blah, blah. These are the "eat it and like it, or starve" days. Thank God I did a little extra work in the kitchen last night so we could have chicken soup tonight with very little prep. Oh how I envy those of you who are in love with the kitchen and take great pleasure in nourishing your families. I read your blogs and want it to be me so badly.

Time for a cup of tea. I feel like crap, I haven't run in 3 days and I just ate the last of the cupcakes. I am working on cleaning up my sewing area and hopefully tonight I can sew myself out of this funk.

Honestly, is there anything more exciting to a 6 year old than losing that first tooth? Can't think of anything? Neither can she-

Logging those miles

New Year, new goals.

Running goals that is.

I have discovered www.runningahead.com which a website that takes the place of the pen and paper logs I have always kept. I am not very good about logging my miles. Even when I am in training I try to avoid writing down my mileage, which really is not practical. I think it is mostly because when the numbers are in front of me I tend to get stressed out about the details and then I get stressed out about running. Because running is so important to me I try to keep it as low-key and stress-free as possible. When I stress about it, it is no longer enjoyable. So for the past 2 years I have avoided keeping any kind of log and therefore I have avoided any kind of accountability to myself. I can just continue to classify myself as a casual runner, getting in 20 miles a week during the summer, 15 in the winter, steady, slow mileage increases, no interval workouts, just enjoying my runs. Becuase I don't vary my workouts, and usually run about the same mileage each week I have just kept kind of a mental tally of where I am mileage wise and this keeps me at a nice distance from accountablity. I am part of an online forum where I do post my daily mileage, but I don't keep a record of it myself, and it really is just a social outlet for me.

But who am I kidding - I am not being good to myself. I have lofty goals this year and I am at the point where I need to log my miles and workouts and be accountable. I desire not just to reach my running goals this year, but to do so strong and injury-free. I KNOW that I will reach a point where I will become obsessive about the numbers, and I will stress out about the work-outs, and I will not look forward to my runs. But I can't avoid it any longer. This is the natural cycle that occurs in training, and I'm ready to face it and accept the challenges that come with accountablity.

My first major event of 2009 will be a 25K in May. Accountability, here I come.