#24 - Where's my Magic Wand?

Everywhere I go, I take pictures. Strange things may strike my attention. Often, I am looking at ideas for landscaping on our land and for farm ideas. Other times, I am just enjoying the scenery.

A while back, I took photos at a cousin's wedding near Austin, Texas. This property was majestically landscaped. Their outdoor wedding had guest chairs facing a fenced lush pasture with grazing cattle. Pure Texas. I loved it.

I don't think there is any other beauty that can compete with the beauty we find in nature. I love it when man respects nature and builds to enhance it for further enjoyment instead of furiously trying to cover it up.

This little creek is so much like the one we have on our land, but ours is larger. We have crystal clear spring fed water running through our property and it mesmerizes me. We will need to construct some bridges on our land, but we won't have the luxury of building one that is as low to the ground as this one.

This little foot-bridge going across the creek is simple and elegant.

The winding graveled paths through the property were nicely maintained and they made you want to keep walking.

My husband and I liked the covered area that could be used not only for cars, but for multiple purposes.

Deputy Dave shares the country living dream with me. Very soon, we'll be packing our boxes, building a cabin, and we'll be waking up every morning to see our land and our animals; and we'll stand under wide open skies; and we'll be able to go fishing on the lake at the back of our property whenever we want; and we'll be able to take walks through our own forest and, and, and...


This is beautiful, but it sure would take a lot of hard work.

My grandmother would always say, "It doesn't matter where you live, you can make any place nice and neat." She was right, but it sure is easier to start with good bones. I'd say the property above definitely had the bones needed to produce a beautiful place for gatherings, even a wedding for hire! But, I am just as happy with my acreage and its sticker burrs and blackberry thorns and the hundreds of pine cones everywhere.

Even so, I can't help but look at this perfectly manicured property and wish that our place would look like this before we renew our wedding vows on our acreage this coming September, but I don't think that's going to happen because I lost my magic wand last year. Darn.

#23 - EGGCITEMENT

We bought our chickens on March 17th from Tractor Supply. I believe the chicks were about one week old when we purchased them. The store had a policy that required you to purchase a minimum of six chickens, so we bought seven. We are rebels like that.

There was no way of knowing if the chicks were definitely of the "sugar and spice and everything nice" variety, so we hoped for the best. Within a few weeks, we discovered that two in the batch were made of "frogs and snails and puppy dogs' tails."

Since the chickens are getting older, they're just about three months old now, I am wondering WHEN WILL THE EGGS START COMING? WHEN?????

Just so everyone knows, I go outside daily to search for a rogue egg. I look in the coop for an egg tucked in the hay. I search the garden for an egg hidden beneath a tomato plant. I look in between the sweet basil and rosemary. I scan the yard. I'm on official egg-look-out duty.

However, when the moment comes that I do find an egg, I believe that I will be hysterical with happiness and that I will break into a solitary celebration, there on the egg discovery spot. I might be in my backyard, all by myself, but when I find that egg, I'll be jumping up and down, running in circles and shouting as if I've won the Texas lottery.

Have I mentioned that I have always been easy to please? It's kind of a joke in our house...that it takes so little to make me thrilled. Oh well. That's how it goes in my world.


Me and my oldest, such beauties!

The hitch for this egg-finding-day is...I happen to have a very rare disease. I do not have adrenal glands, therefore, I do not produce ANY adrenaline. That "fight or flight" scenario for me is only "flight" since my body cannot get the miracle mixture  to help it get through the big and small moments in life that require adrenaline to get through. Does this cause trouble? Absolutely. I've been given so many second chances that I quit counting long ago.

I do have synthetic replacement, but it's imperfect, especially since adrenaline replacement is something that fluctuates so wildly, depending on your circumstance at the moment. Treatment means that I take medication several times per day to prevent my body from going into cardio-pulmonary shock, and I also have an injection on hand for times I might suffer an injury, a cut, or for when I have a good or bad stressful moment that would normally send a surge of adrenaline through my body.

We all know that feeling of having either a small or a large adrenaline dump. When I am having one of those moments, I have to race to get extra medicine in me right away to prevent my blood pressure from plummeting to non-existent levels as my heart rate soars. If I don't take charge, then the end is not good. I had a Code Blue for the first time at age 33.

I know how serious this disease is, but I don't let it rule my world. I don't hide from life. Instead, I live it up as carefully as possible and every moment is sacred and savored. Going through a serious illness or catastrophic event in your life will teach you these things - it's as if life is magnified and you are given a new set of eyes after the trauma.

Now you know part of my daily hurdle (we all have them). I happen to live with this rare disease as an uninvited guest in my body, but I'm still ME! This weird disease is so hard to explain...my life is odd, yet amazing, even without adrenaline. Poo-Poo on you Adrenaline!

So, now that you have a brief summary about part of my weird body without adrenaline, you can imagine how I must feel about finding that first egg. Since I have a good bit of humor about me, I can picture finding that egg, becoming so excited that I have a huge surge of adrenaline that drains me of my synthetic allotment and I end up crawling for the back door with the egg in hand and that's how I depart - Egg Drama.

Can you picture this soap opera..."These are the Days of our Eggs!" Needless to say, no one is hiding around corners in our house and jumping out to say, "BOO!" Not good for mama's health! This one took quite a while to adapt to...our family was too accustomed to torturing each other, until I got Addison's. Oh well. We found new ways to torture each other, so all is well within the odd household.

Actually, it would take a lot more than finding an egg in the backyard to take me out, but a bit of egg drama might make me stumble and have a little blackout, until I get more meds. I think only chicken lovers can understand this kind of heart-pumping response at the thought of getting your very first egg from your first laying chickens. The others are saying, "Go buy the dang eggs!"

For me to go into an "Addisonian Crisis" is kind of like a diabetic that immediately needs their insulin, but not quite the same. My condition can cause shock, brain damage, coma and death. I've been in a coma-state multiple times, have been in shock more times than I can count and close to death more than I want. With Addison's disease, there's no way to monitor our levels, so you hopefully pay VERY close attention to your body. This way, it is more unlikely that you'll go downhill before you can take that extra dose.

The hard part is...most medical professionals don't even know what this disease is, other than a quick text-book/internet update briefing and most don't want to admit that they aren't familiar with this disease - which is usually bad for my health.

I respect the medical professional who is honest about never seeing a patient with this disease. At least they are AWARE and admit that it is impossible to know everything. I just don't like the Doc who is full of arrogant baloney. So, honesty is a good thing. There's just not enough people with this disease for it to be readily understood, so being pro-active is imperative. This is why I think about the day that I will find that egg. It will definitely be a day of adrenaline dumps and happy dancing.

My solution is to be prepared...if I find an egg, I'll need to rush back inside to take an extra "stress" dose of my medication because I will not be living a "normal" kind of day once I find a fresh egg in my little corner of the world. An egg!

While rushing inside for stress meds, I better not trip and break that egg. I am NOT graceful.

In just a little while, I will make another search around the yard. I cannot wait to find an egg! I'm not sure when these chickens will be laying eggs, but I thought it was supposed to take about 16 weeks. We're almost there!

Yes, we are getting super duper close to having eggcitement!!!!! And I am ready.

#22 - Rooster on Guard in the Backyard AND Bookstop

During the day, we often let the chickens and two roosters out of their chicken tractor so they can wander around in our backyard. My blog friends have been telling me about the value of a rooster and I've been blessed to see this in action. Even though we won't be able to keep these roosters, it has been an awesome education to see the roosters in action as they protect their flock.

Leaving a gap in the coop for them to explore and to eat goodies in the backyard.

But, this protection surprised me today when the large rooster saw me heading out the back door - he could see me through the panes of glass and he was very alert to my appearance. In fact, Big Rooster ran for the back door and began yelling warning calls at me, "Cock-A-Doodle-Do!" He'd step a bit closer while shifting his head from side to side to get a good side-glance at me and he'd issue another loud warning.

Howdy is now having to help protect ME from the roosters, especially while I am picking tomatoes.

I cracked up. Big Rooster did not intend to let me come into the backyard. At the least, he wasn't going to let me come into the backyard without him letting me know that he was on guard and aware of my presence. He was positioning himself directly in my way at the patio near the back door so I couldn't exit. His girls were about thirty feet away in the garden.

Howdy and Big Rooster are on guard in the backyard for the lady birds.

Frankly, I never could imagine that a BIRD could be this confrontational and this brave. My blog friends have shared their knowledge about a rooster's behavior, but to see it in person is pretty awesome. It impressed me. As Big Rooster prowled the yard, separate from the girls, it was clear that he was on official duty. I found it chivalrous. Such a gentleman beneath that Rooster exterior.

Howdy the Chicken Herding dog prefers to keep the chickens herded into the raised garden beds.

Another Farm Life Lesson I learned as a backyard farmer this week is that I should stay clear of Big Rooster because he can charge full speed ahead like a raging bull. This was a shocker...another surprise. Roosters are slick and quick. Beware.

Howdy, my Black-Tri-Color Australian Shepherd working to herd
the chickens, but Big Rooster is not as "herdable."

This makes me more sad to have to give our roosters another home because I can certainly see the huge value in having a rooster in the hen house. They are protectors. They are intimidating and they don't seem to have much fear of anything. They simply charge into the direction of danger for their ladies. My heart has warmed to these beautiful creatures in a way I could not imagined that it would. I have always wanted chickens, but they have endeared me toward them more than I thought possible, and I'm just getting started!

Always watching, watching, watching...

So, this week I've learned that Big Rooster is definitely a threat to be reckoned with and I won't step into the backyard without my bamboo stick in hand to shoo him away. But, I'm not so sure this will work much longer because he's learning to flex his Big Rooster muscles. Forget the bamboo stick, I might need a bat.

*****************************************

THE BOOK STOP

DROWNING RUTH

I've just finished reading an old book I had shelved at the house.

I found the it to be interesting, but the jumping around

in the time-frame of everyone's lives during the story made

it a chaotic read. But, the storyline was one that made

you think about several points in life and about

family relationships. It's kept my mind busy on nights with insomnia.

Drowning Ruth seemed to be an easy read, but

the shifting time-frame could get a little wearisome.

The storyline moved along and I first thought it

was going to be about a family with mental

illness, and I think it ended with the main idea being more

about the lengths that family and people will go to so they

can hold the family and the farm together. It's also about

learning to appreciate what you have in life. It is fascinating to 

consider whether the relationships in the book are present because of

love, obligation, duty, secrets, guilt or as a blessing.

If you've read this book or will read this book, shoot me a comment on what you think

about it as well. I read a broad expanse of books, no set genre.

I'd like to know what your thoughts are, good and bad, about this book.

#21 - I'm a 43 Year-Old Kid Moving to the Country!

For over ten years now I've been learning the importance of farming. A farmer is one who is most likely to be self-sufficient. Many farmers grow produce and raise their own table meat and eggs. In today's economic and political environment, it is not so strange to want a piece of this independent, self-controlled delicious farmer pie.

Shaye helping to put fresh hay into the coop.

Teaching our children the importance of farming...even on a small scale is important. As our daughters were growing up, we usually had a vegetable garden and our own patch of herbs. I always wanted chickens.

Frequently, as we raised our daughters, we'd take them on trips to the country and they'd flourish. My daughters would find large branches and put them together in pyramid fashion, my husband would tie off the top to hold the tip of the pyramid together and the girls would wrap the entire contraption with sheets. Presto! They had their own Tee Pee. Summer after summer, in the woods, on their land, wherever we found ourselves in nature, they'd build a tee pee. Soon, they kept their best tee pee sticks with us at all times and we'd travel with them in tow. Such good times in a home-made tee pee.

My girls visiting a REAL Tee pee.

Our girls knew how to tend to a garden...from sowing seeds to pulling weeds. They would help water the garden when it needed it and they helped wash the freshly harvested vegetables. Then, they'd want to eat a bowl of cereal.

My daughters on one of our many, many camping trips.

Now, my daughters are grown. Heather is my oldest and she is 23 years old, a graduate in Biology and she works in a lab, loving every minute of it.

My oldest, the Biologist!

My youngest, Stefie, is almost 21 and she is beginning her third year and has decided to study to be a Child Life Specialist.

My youngest daughter and I having a fun time. It's been suggested that the white floater is my mother "visiting."
Not so sure about that, but we do seem to have a lot of odd floaters in certain photos.

Am I a proud Mama? You betcha.

With our two daughters...our oldest had attended Texas A&M and this picture was for Ring Day!

However, these days I've been cherishing each moment with my niece. She is four years old and a ball of fun. Deputy Dave and I have purposefully decided to help her learn about nature, first hand, as much as possible.

Shaye fishing with Deputy Dave and yes, she caught plenty, all by herself!

Since we are such outdoors people and we love fishing, hiking, camping, gardening, etc., we have made a real effort to expose her to all of these wonderful things, just as we did for our own girls.

Here is Shaye at only 3 years old, Miss Thinker. She took my book, wrote in the blank
back pages and she'd pause to consider weighty issues of her 3-year old world.

I get to have my niece stay at our house frequently. My sister and I are closer than close --- my daughters are like her own daughters and my sissy's daughter is like a daughter to me. Such is our relationship of sisterhood.

My naturally blond sister and me having fun at a friend's wedding. I am several years older than she.

Shaye is my niece. She is named after my mother. Shaye is short for Shelley Faye. When my sister was five months pregnant with Shaye, her first child at 30 years of age, our mother died after a short battle with breast cancer. My brave sister lost her mother and became a mother within a few short months.

Shaye was born a short time later and she gave us a bit of our mother back.

My mom holding my little sister. You cannot tell that my mom has a left paralyzed arm and right paralyzed leg.

Shaye is a shining light in my life.

Baby Shaye with my oldest daughter, Heather, taking a nap.

On the weekends that Shaye spends time with us, we may take her fishing or we might go to a park and let her swing almost to the sky's edge as she screams with laughter.

One of many great times we've had with Shaye at the park.

Here at the house, lately we have been letting her help with the gardening and the chickens.

She loves every bit of it. I watch her fascination with all things in nature and see her delight while outdoors and I feel light and happy and carefree. Her joy is contagious.

I can't wait to develop our acreage and to one day see our future grandkids enjoy the farm with MATOES, CHICKIES, TWACTORS and more little Howdy doggies. But, we'll also have goats and a few cattle.

I keep praying that God will helps us to continually move forward to the day when we will be able to sell this house and make our big move. Sometimes it hits me hard...our move to our acreage is actually right around the corner. The fuzzy initial dream has become more sharp as the years have passed.

Now, it's easier to focus in on how drastically our lives will be changing as we move to the land; it's becoming our new reality. I'm excited, scared, anxious, eager and in disbelief. I feel like a kid who is moving to the farm!

#20 - Saving My Sanity

A blog friend recently made a comment on one of my latest writings that she hoped I would be able to move to the country very soon so I could keep my sanity. She (B) is right.

Something has happened to me during the past few years, I've made some kind of mysterious shift from being happy and entranced with city life to experiencing eye-opening and soul-awakening life trips that have altered my direction. Now, I am comfortable with the thought of living in a rural area. More than that, I crave to live full-time at our country acreage. I won't fib, I actually get depressed when too much time passes from the last trip to our land.

Over the past ten years of owning our land, I have learned that being surrounded by masses of people in a city does not mean that you aren't still alone. Conversely, I've also learned that being alone with fewer people nearby in the country doesn't mean that you aren't a social butterfly.

I can either have the conveniences of living in the city and pay the price which means congestion, higher crime rates, less physical space, more interruptions and always having the sense of being in a rush...either you are in a rush or you are next to someone who is clearly in a rush and you are probably in their way.

Another drive into downtown Houston.

When I'm on our land, I feel peaceful. There is no one watching me or judging my attire to make sure it is cutting edge or appropriate for the moment. On our land, I can sit in a lawn chair while wearing my Walmart knit dress and flip flops, yet feel completely put together.

Walking through our wooded acreage gives me some kind of mysterious fuel. I take a deep cleansing breath of the fresh forest air and feel refreshed. I take steps upon natural earth covered in dirt, composting leaves, pine needles and I am glad to leave my concrete and metal world behind. All the birds chirping and flying around remind me of the freedom that we have in the country and I bask in their fluttering sounds as it calms my spirit that has felt too caged in the city.

While enjoying a moment together outside before going into our tent, we sit on our land and gaze up into the starlit sky with amazement, as if it is a new wonder for us to behold. The twinkling lights we get to enjoy in the city come from street lights, towering buildings and billboards. The city has blanketed the earth as much as possible with its artificial materials while city lights have managed to smother the twinkling of the night sky.

The moon peaking through the forest over our shoulder.

Do I love the city? Yes, a part of me does. After all, mankind has created this concentrated place of untold businesses and medical care facilities and worldwide goods for our pleasure and the wondrous ability of man is demonstrated by a cityscape.

However, I'm not so flattered by the wondrous ability of man any longer; maybe I never really had been as flattered as I had convinced myself to be. I'm deeply drawn to all things in nature and toward a life as free from city congestion and city interruptions as possible.

And then, I am interrupted...

As I've sat here writing, I've already had to go to my front door to turn away a solicitor. I had been peacefully sitting here as Deputy Dave takes a nap and I hear the loud door bell, DING DONG."

I jump up to close the master bedroom door to keep sleeping man from waking and I go to the door, with caution. However, you and I both know that I'd rather be sitting in peace writing about wanting to move out to the country.

Who is at my door? A solicitor. It's almost as if he knew what I was writing about so he decided to come solidify my stance about moving to the country. One thing is for sure, the city has plenty of solicitors, even if you have a sign that says, "No Solicitors" at your front door.

This little man was slick. I stood behind my unopened door and he had his back turned toward me, as if it is me who is required to get HIS attention at MY front door. My dogs were alert and ready to start their judgement, and I yelled through the door, "Can I help you?" The man turned, obviously disappointed that I've not opened my door fully in this 90+ degree Texas heat, so he quickly held up a card and pressed it against my front door glass. The card said, "Front Door Restoration."

I wanted to laugh out loud. My door IS horrendous. It needs to be sanded, re-stained and sealed, plus the stained glass needs to be replaced for the third time, but I laughed at the ironic moment. Here I am, standing at my front door in the city that seems to invite every interruption imaginable and this solicitor is using my ugly front door as the very excuse to stand there intruding upon my life.

"Not interested, I like my ugly door."

One day soon...one day very soon I'll be able to better hold onto my sanity and prereserve my peace behind the country ugly front door.

#19 - Chicken Lesson with Rodent and Panic

Recently, I read an article about chickens and problems with the feed attracting mice and rats. Before I go further, you must understand that I have a phobia of these little critters. I don't panic around snakes, coyotes or even a skunk passing by within two feet of me, but I do go into a jumble of crazed thoughts when I see a mouse or rat. I've had bad experiences with rodents. Rats are the worse.

Last night my husband went outside to let the dogs have a final potty break and to check on the chickens. We were exhausted after a long, fun evening of playing cards with Deputy Dave's parents - until near midnight, way past our 9pm bedtime. Deputy Dave is standing in the backyard and the next thing I know, he pokes his head inside the open back door and yells, "Hey...hand me my flashlight."

Uh oh...

Now, as I am heading for the flashlight on the kitchen counter the first thing I am thinking is that one of the chickens is laying in bits and pieces on the ground from an attack by a neighbor's cat. I hesitantly bring him the flashlight because I'm a little scared to see what the problem in the dark might be. Deputy Dave hurriedly grabs the flashlight and closes the back door, but I can't stop myself, I look through the glass panes of the back door to half-heartedly see what the commotion is about.

Right at this moment, I see the bright beam of the flashlight shine on top of the hatch door for the chicken coop and it highlights, like a Broadway dancer, a MOUSE frozen by stage fright. Immediately, my brain starts to send out jumbled signals that ping and pong off each other, and none of it makes any sense, so I simply turn in frantic circles inside the house by myself as I try to decide what direction my feet should be going.

I was responding to the mouse like a chicken with its head cut off.

Since we are currently not living on our acreage full-time, we are enjoying the life of being a backyard farmer in the city. But, I do NOT want to unnecessarily attract disgusting little creatures so close to our house! I always remembered people saying that if you see one rat or mouse, then there is probably 100 more you aren't seeing. One rodent can give birth to 50 more in a year's time. That is horrifying.

I'm not getting rid of my chickens. I love having chickens more than I could have imagined, but these issues are Farm Life Issues that come with the territory. We can't have a feral cat in our backyard, so that's not an option. I've spoken with my husband about us not leaving the chicken feed out 24 hours per day, every day. I will GLADLY hand-sprinkle feed a few times per day to reduce spillage and to not have convenient rat food left out all night long.

Just one of the wonderful times we've had with our chickens.

I have been getting such wonderful advice and feedback on comments and for those I am truly grateful. I have seven chickens, as of today. It looks like we'll be finding a new home this week for two of them that turned out to be roosters, so I need to know if it is realistic and healthy to spread chicken feed out by hand a couple of times per day for the five chickens that will remain in the backyard?

My husband suggested that we sprinkle some chicken feed on the back patio every day as it seems that this would help the feed to be easily spotted and eaten so grains would not be left over by accident in the backyard grass. But, I was concerned that the back patio concrete surface might be bad for their beaks as they are pecking the grains. Then again, maybe it will help to dull a sharp beak?

I know that living on a farm will mean that I am confronting wildlife, but any time I can reduce the likelihood of rats and mice, I'd be on top of it. I've lived a life that has been heavily involved with wilderness and confronting many different creatures, however, I get mush-brain when I see a rodent. This will be a main hurdle for me to keep jumping.

My husband taking a photo of me painting the chicken tractor
as he stands inside the house. It's so hot outside that I am taking a break.

The comparison that I have with country mice and rats is that the city sure does have their fair share of those disease ridden creepies. Actually, I believe that our acreage in the country has enough wildlife that will naturally assist us in taking care of any rodent problem. Just as we have significantly less mosquitoes in the country than in the Houston area, I hope the rodents will be controlled as well by country equalizers.

In over 90 degree heat, full sun in Texas, painting the chicken coop.

However, for the moment, we are city backyard farmers, so we have to find appropriate solutions.

For chicken bedding in the coop, we are currently using hay. We switched from pine bark mulch to hay because of cost.

We discussed the possibility of setting rat traps on the outer sides of the coop at night-time, while the chickens are enclosed in their chicken tractor, to see if this helps reduce rodent traffic, then remove them every morning before they are let out to roam around the yard.

Chicken tractor during construction by Deputy Dave.

Since our house is within a few feet of the chicken coop, this is a serious issue for us. I knew there were already rodents running around because I saw them (infrequently) prior to the chickens, and I think the rodents are partially living off bird seed that our neighbors put out so heavily and the other neighbor's dog food, but now we're adding to the problem with chicken feed left out all night. I just don't want these critters moving into our homes or into our walls so that they can enjoy chewing our wiring along with the rest of the house.

Suggestions are certainly welcomed. We are learning and I am concerned that I will starve my chickens to death by accident. I am a Mama at heart and the chickens look so healthy and sturdy, so I want to make sure that spreading the feed by hand every day is done in adequate amounts for continued health and to promote good laying hens. The coop is directly on the grass and we move it to a new spot once weekly, plus they get to roam free in the vegetable garden most days for a few hours. Still, I don't want to starve the little things.

I am going to be pro-active and try to think clearly about handling these yucky rodents being so close to my home.

My husband joked with me and told me that rats LOVE bright red toe-nails. He is not always so funny.

After exploring unique ideas that my weird brain conjures,
I decided upon my Masculine Bird to decorate the coop door.
I free-hand sketched, then painted this beefed up version
of Tweety - mine has muscles and chest hair.