Monday, July 06, 2015

Father's Day 2015

Dad requested biscuits and gravy after church and then he and Dr. Mo fixed one of the chicks splayed legs. Mo has been watching you tube videos on how to fix all the problems of these newly hatched chicks. We have three now, uno, dos, and tres. Uno is the strongest and most healthy. 
Then there is dos, who has a pretty large hernia from his umbilical cord which we are treating with preparation h. Tres  is the one we put ban aid splints on this morning. He just can't seem to straighten out his toes. YouTube to the rescue. Hope it works. 
After we rested a bit, dad wanted to take the boat out for a run so we did.
Storms are predicted tonight so we came home and made sure to button down the hatches. Then I heated up dome leftovers and found this.
She has been learning her times tables. She is so excited for second grade. I hope they are ready for her:)

Operation save the chicks

I am not sure if you have been following the chicken saga at our farm. Here, I'll catch you up. Dad and number one watched YouTube videos about incubating chickens. It really is true, you can learn just about a thing from you tube. 
Then they created a homemade incubator out of a cooler.17 days later we watched Uno hatch. 
He was ugly. 
 He had two brothers or sisters hatch. They had medical issues. We tried to fix them.
We experienced a storm and we lost power for six hours which meant no heat lamp. We lost everyone but Uno. 
Then, a big surprise. A friend had eight chicks that neede a home! 
Uno was one happy chick again. We spent time trying to get them used to outside. 
They slept, a lot! Usually on top of each other.
So yesterday it was so hot, like it has been for days and they are growing feathers so they have started trying to jumpfly (totally my word) out of their tote. Operation chicken freedom to the rescue. We already had the tiny coop so we made a few quick repairs and viola, a new home for Uno and his Ocho friends!

Then we came inside for some respite from the heat and turned on the t.v. Huge storms and wind was predicted for the night. Yikes. We went about the day and in the back of my mind I wondered would they know to go into the house out of the rain? At about midnight I couldn't sleep I was worrying thought the storm so operation chicken storm was instituted. Dad and number one were not as enthused as I was. The took the tiny tote out and rescued the chicks. The poor cold babies spent the rest of the night under the lamp in the garage. The found them hiding under the ramp trying to stay dry, but they hadn't braved the elements to climb up to the shelter. So I am not sure if we would have lost them or not, but I will say they were anxious to return to the big house this morning. And the first thing they did?
Climb the ramp, those smart chicks!!! 
Very, happy, smart chicks. We started a new incubation so I am sure there will be more chicken stories to come:)

Thursday, July 02, 2015

Yep, definately a farm girl



Last night I returned from a nostalgic trip to Chicago with my mom and sister. The city was fascinating, big, shiny, beautiful, and busy. We had choices of every kind of food imaginable. Anything you could ever want was within walking distance. I was in awe of the architecture, the art and the culture of the city. It was very crowded. The streets were full of people in business wear. Mom and my sister and I stuck out like nerdy tourists in our brightly colored clothing. At first I was self conscious coming off the train and trying to blend in with suits, skirts and sharp shoes. But the closer we got to the water the more color we saw. The people were beautiful. I have never seen so much beauty in one place before. The faces, never really looking at me, were light, dark, pink, yellow. The hair was long, curly, straight, slicked back, curly, swept up. I was so intensely distracted from the people watching, I nearly walked into the street. At each corner there were 20-30 people waiting to cross, thankfully, or I could have wandered right out into the sea of vehicles. I thought I would see more on their phones, but there was a lot of conversations going on. I caught phrases of each as they passed by me. A few homeless were screaming loudly or singing, but mostly the conversations were simple and lovely. People discuss the holiday weekend plans of traveling or camping, lots of business talk, sometimes to their ear piece as they were walking alone along the crowded sidewalk. As the lunch hour ended the street thinned out and we grabbed a train to a different part of the city where the streets were perfectly manicured and the shops all had summer patios with tables and chairs and the smell of coffee and pastries and French and Italian cuisine tempted our noses. I could have walked those streets for days and never gotten bored. The green vines growing up the buildings, the styles of all the homes with their teeny tiny front flower gardens were so pretty to gaze at. On the train, you could see into the apartments and office spaces of the upper levels of the buildings and I found myself curiously jealous of the modern furniture and beautiful interiors of those gorgeous, tiny, spaces.

Yesterday as we drove home through the the winding, tree laden roads of Wisconsin and Minnesota I found myself longing for the flat, wide, open spaces of my home state. The closer we got the more at peace I felt. Shortly after arriving home I took a little walkabout around the acres of garden, grass and yard that we are so blessed with. 

And so I will remember the city with fond thoughts and beautiful photos. But, my heart is here. The farm is where my home is and you know what they say...there is no place like it.