Never A Dull Moment - El Pollo Loco

My chickens have been driving me crazy lately.  CrAzY i say!  This is a whole new flock of chickens that we got last spring, we gave away all our older ones.  These new ones were so good for so long.  And then it's like they just all of a sudden completely lost it and are wreaking havoc all over the place.  They were so good for so long to stay in the yard like all good chickens do.  Then one day they found the front porch.  Then it was the back patio.  Now they head straight for both places first thing every morning.  I am constantly hosing down my driveway and porch and patio but they still are always covered with poop.  It's disgusting.  I seriously can stand it no longer.  Like I am about to put chicken on the Thanksgiving menu I am so frustrated.  They have their own yard with a fence but they will not stay in it.  I clipped my last chickens wings and I didn't really want to have to do it to this batch, but I think they are leaving me with no choice.  Anyway.  The poop is just one of the problems I am having with these ladies.  Remember that picture above?  That was the day I was home alone and came out of my bedroom to find a chicken in my hall.

Well the other day I looked out front and saw something I had never seen before.  A chicken on top of my luggage carrier.  On top of my van.

We started off with 12 chickens but we have lost a few.  Still, once they started laying eggs, I felt like we were not getting the amount of eggs we should be getting to make feeding and cleaning up the poop worth it. Then one of my girls found this little stash in the wood pile.

OK, I actually felt sorry for whoever laid this whopper that we found.  Those two eggs flanking it are large size eggs.  The one in the middle is giant jumbo sized.  Like I really really felt sorry for the girl that had to push that sucker out!

 Just to give you and idea of how big it was, this is how it fit in the egg carton.

That same chicken that was in my house before.  I really think she thinks she is a human.  Every time someone goes in or out of the house, she is there, waiting for her chance to come in the house.  She actually runs for the door.  And I know I took a picture of her trying to get in the van one time when we were going somewhere, but I can't find it now.  She is always trying to get in the van with us.  And she also runs for the garage door.  We were leaving to go somewhere and we were only going to be gone a few minutes.  So I left the garage door open. As we were pulling out of the driveway, I saw her come around the side of the house.  I hit the button to close the garage door so she couldn't go in and she took off.  She ran for the door and tried to squeeze under it, but she was just a tad too slow.  Also.  There was this one time a few months ago, when I was outside filling up the chickens water, when this same chicken (OK, I really don't know if it was this same chicken- we have  3 that look just like this- or if all the red chickens are exceptionally naughty) anyway I was crouched on the ground giving the chickens liquid refreshment when this chicken jumped up on top of my head.  That really, really...did not go over well with me.  Do you know what it feels like to have a chickens talons digging into your skull?  It's not pleasant.

After we removed the stash of eggs from the woodpile, our daily egg production started to increase.  I still thought we were not getting the proper amount.  That is when Zac and his friend Ethan, who have appointed themselves chicken wardens, found this stash in our old chicken coop, which I thought the chickens had no access to.  I thought wrong.  Since the wardens boarded this up, our egg production has increased even more.

Anyway.  I really don't know what the point of this post is.  Other than to tell you that we have some mighty crazy chickens around here and they are starting to make me mighty crazy as well.

High On A Mountain Top

The kids had a 4 day weekend from school in the middle of October.  On Thursday the 18th of October we enjoyed sleeping in and just laying around the house doing nothing.  By the time Friday came around, we were ready to venture out of the house.  One of the local ski resorts was having a special where you could bring in a canned food donation for a free tram ride.  Since it would normally cost us over $100 for such an event, we felt that a bag of food that would go to help someone was well worth the price.  The picture above is of the girls waiting to board the tram.  Below, at the top of the mountain.

 Emily saw this sign that said 'High Baldy' and said, "Hey dad, LOOK!  The sign is saying hi to you!"

We went for a walk and happened upon a patch of snow.  

The boys couldn't resist and a snowball fight erupted.  

An incoming snowball just as the tram passed by overhead.

Emily got tired of all the fighting so she found a seat just out of snowballs reach.

The view from up top.

 On our way back down.

After our mountain top adventure, we were starving.  So we went to an all you can eat pizza, pasta and salad bar.  Steve enjoyed our table which was right next to the TV that was playing some type of sporting event.

And we found this lovely little quote hanging right above our table.

A Nature Walk That Ends Up With Me Begging For Money, So Make Sure To Read All The Way To The End

Last Monday the kids were out of school.  Not last Monday like yesterday.  No, yesterday they had early out day.  As they do this entire week.  The Monday before yesterday's Monday they just flat out had no school.  Yeah.  I know.  Anyhoo, the weather was beautiful.  We needed to get out of the house.  Zac needed to take some measurements at the bird refuge for his Eagle Scout Project.  So we called up some friends and went for a walk.

There are 2 of these observation blinds where people can sit and watch birds.  Ideally they would sit unobserved by the fowl so that the birds wouldn't mind getting up close and personal.  But as you can see, the camo netting is quite dilapidated and is completely missing on the second blind.  Hence the Eagle Scout Project: Acquiring and hanging new netting.

Emily helping Zac take measurements.  I tried to help but, well, I am just his mom and I have no idea how to even begin to take measurements or anything else for that matter.

Addy and Naomi

This is what April did.  Right at the beginning of our walk, she showed the girls how to strip the floaty feathery stuff off of the cattails and so throughout the entire walk the girls were, well, stripping off the floaty feathery stuff from the cattails.  It was a pretty big choking nasal assaulting hair sticking to mess.

It was so beautiful and I was trying to get my kids to let me take some pictures of them but they would not for one second be serious or stand where I was trying to get them to stand.

April was able to get Naomi to pose for a picture with her.

Zac is trying to get his Eagle Scout Project done and over with and accomplished and paperwork done and  filed and earned before the end of the year.  Because this year is the 100th year of the Eagle Scout Award and there is a special Eagle Scout patch for this year.  He is not having luck getting stores or suppliers to donate the netting so he is going to have to start asking for donations.  If anyone would like to donate any amount to his Eagle Project, it would be greatly appreciated.  Just let me know.  

Never A Dull Moment - The Bird Chronicles

There was a bird in my house today.  If you wanna find out all about it you will have to watch the above video.  But I am warning you right now.  It is long.  It is rambling.  And it is extremely nasal passagey.  But I went to the trouble to make the dang thing and I'm not gonna sit here and type it all out so you can avoid whatever unpleasantness you might encounter by watching the video.  If you wanna know how it ended, you will have to watch the below video which I promise is much shorter and shot from a different angle so there is a lot less nasal involved.  

If you, like me, are curious as to how the bird got in the house in the first place, you might find it interesting to know that after Z and E and I searched the room, we all went downstairs.  Then I realized I had left my phone upstairs on the windowsill and when I went up to fetch it, I found the door that leads out to the deck from the hall wide open.  Emily is the one who entered the room via the deck and she insists that she did not leave the door ajar.  So at this point I must assume it is the same ghost that we have living in our house who leaves all of Emily's stuff strewn about and puts her dirty dishes back on the table after she has washed them.

END OF THE DAY UPDATE- I have a new phrase for those days when you just don't get anything accomplished: "It was a bird in the house kinda' day."

PS- The guest room has been thoroughly checked and recheck and re-rechecked.  My dear husband even went up there and stood in the room with me while I held a light under the bed and looked there.  Still no bird. 

Black Hawk Downghnuts

The kids got their report cards on Friday and we braved the snow to travel all the way to Krispy Kreme to get their free "A" doughnuts.   I don't mind the snow as long as I don't have to go out in it.  But for Krispy Kreme, there is always an exception.  While waiting in line Zac and Ethan used the sticks they have there to turn themselves into helicopters.  Oh, these are special boys, aren't they?  Then there was a horrible accident and we had Black Hawk Down:

They refused to give Zac any doughnuts because his helicopter crash was causing the other guests in line to panic.  OK, so the real story is they don't give out report cards once the kids are out of elementary and I have to print them off online.  I accidentally printed off the new term for Z instead of last term so he had no grades and they wouldn't give him any doughnuts.  It's OK though because we all shared and now we can go back with Zac's proper report card and get his doughnuts and he can share with us!

Veterans Day Thank You

At the close of this Veterans Day, I would like to take a minute and thank all the Soldiers who have served our great country, especially those in my family.  Starting with my dear husband the former Sgt. Schmid.  He comes from a family who has served our country for many years and has served it well.  The picture below is of his family and was taken in July 1987. 

 

This is a picture of my Brother-in-Law Mike and my dear husband Steve with their friend Clancy in the middle.  This was taken upon their arrival home from Desert Storm.

 

Below is a picture of my Father-in-Law Roy, Sister-in-Law Lisa, and her husband Ed.

Ed has faithfully served in 2 deployments to Iraq.

My Paternal Grandfather, Albert Snow

My Maternal Grandfather, Emerson Odell Tolman

And his brother, my Great Uncle Ronald

My dear sweet Uncle Ronald passed away earlier this year and we were blessed to be able to attend his military funeral.  He was such a good, kind-hearted man.

Thank you to all Veterans who have 

sacrificed so much for us all!

A Snowy, Snuggly, Chowdery Kinda Day

 It snowed all day Friday and it has snowed all day today.  This is what we woke up to this morning.  A winter wonderland.  Can you believe I had my windows open enjoying the lovely weather on Thursday?  Aubrey and Addy spent most of the day today outside playing in the freezing cold.  Like I'm not even kidding.  Most of the day.  I love the snow as long as I don't have to go outside.  It love the quiet peaceful sound of a field of snow.  I love looking out my windows while I am snuggled under a blanket.  The last two days have called for a lot of snuggling and a lot of hot chocolate drinking and a lot of Christmas music listening.  It has been wonderful!

 I decided that it was a chowdery kind of day. Which is kinda weird because I usually never eat chowder and I have never made chowder.  And I don't know the first thing about making such a thing.  But when the day calls for it, what can you do.  So I started throwing things in the pot.  I started with some melted butter, added milk, cut up some leftover baked potatoes, diced some leftover ham, threw in a bag of frozen corn and tossed in some dehydrated onions.  I wasn't sure how the whole thing would turn out.  Best dang soup I have ever made.  I'm so not kidding, and I have made some good soup in my lifetime.

After dinner we declared it family movie night.  We got all snuggly under blankets and turned on netflix.  I had added some movies to the queue that I thought would make good family movie night movies.  However no one was interested in them and I was defeated by Thor.  5 to 1.  I was so excited since the last family movie night movie was The Avengers and I was asleep by the 20 minute mark.  That is probably about as long as I lasted in Thor.  I couldn't believe it when I woke up at the end of the movie and thought it was 10:30/11:00.  But Emily informed us that it was only 8:15.  

It has been a delightful snowy snuggly Saturday.