December

Well, today is Saturday, the 18th of December. Hard to believe this month is almost gone and the year with it. Worked at Mcd today and have the next 2 days off.
We get mystery shops once a month or so and if you get a good enough score you get a bonus. Well, lucky me, I got shopped Thursday and we got the bonus!! Just what you need at Christmas.

So I got me a gas smoker off Craigs list yesterday. It is used, but they took really good care of it, doesn't look too old and they said they upgraded. So I'll be having smoked turkey for Christmas.
Got on here to look and see if I had written down when I put the turkey eggs in the incubator, but obviously didn't. So I'm expectignthem to hatch between now and Christmas. Think I have most of them sold when they hatch.
There are some pen things I want to get to use for turkey houses, but can't get around to them yet. I have 2 assignments left to complete for my degree, and then put it all together in a Teacher Work Sample (TWS) and I'll be done with my school. Plan to go to Utah in early February and graduate. From college. Imagine that!!

Sunday 5 December 2010

Last day of hunting season. Got up about 530am, got dressed and went out into the brisk 22 degree weather and the wind and went looking for deer. Lasted a few hours and saw nothing, so I came back in and got warm. Maybe next year. Yeah, maybe next year I’ll have better clothes to wear out there. And maybe next year I’ll have a better idea of where they are and when. And maybe next year I can put in some kind of ground feed to help attract them and keep them on the property. Or at least bring them here long enough to shoot one. Sad I know.

Monday 6 December 2010 Worked on school work, and had a managers meeting at McD. Not much has really changed there. Not sure if it is good to be back or not, and still way too much drama for me.

Jeanne and I decided we are going to get married in early February and then take a trip down to San Antonio for our honey moon. We will take the kids with us, guess that is only right. We were going to go to Corpus Christi and the beach, but the Spurs play the Dallas Mavericks then so we will go to that. And the Zoo and maybe some other stuff. We’ll take about 2 days there, then come back. We may take the next day and drive to the beach anyway. Non one here has ever been to the beach, so that will be great. But it could be cold, so we’ll see how it turns out. Jeanne said something about her van making noises. Maybe her alternator going out. Watched the movie “Pearl Harbor”

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Got up this morning and she said something about that was the noise her van was making. Oh and we got up late because I turned the alarm off yesterday. As in “Turned it off.” Not just disabled it for today. So she started about 15 minutes late. Then she called me and said the van died. Actually, the alternator belt broke and she was going to try to get to mom’s. So I went in and looked at it, and replaced the belt. Turned out to be the AC compressor froze. And that costs about $225 or so. But the have a by-pass pulley for $35 that you put on in place of the compressor to hold tension on the belt and then keep running. So she took the rest of the day off, and followed me home in my van. The water pump runs off the belts also, so the temp stayed rather high. Coasting down hills helped. And the power steering doesn’t work. Just outside of Springfield a Coyote came running across the highway and I couldn’t miss him. Got him with the passenger tire. She was following me and almost hit him, too.

So I’m off to work tonight (close) then off again tomorrow and she’ll bring the part home and I’ll try to replace it. I think my van is doing alright, and hers isn’t too bad. They just both need some TLC and maintenance and they should do alright for a while longer. We need to get something that gets better mileage and is more reliable for her to drive back and forth to Springfield. Who knows, next year we both might be driving someplace, or I could get a job here in Buffalo and she might look for something closer. So we’ll see that happens.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Took the AC compressor off the van. Not the easiest thing to do. Then put the bypass pulley on, only to find out that the belt is just an inch too short to fit over all the pulleys. And not sure where I would have put the compressor anyway. So did some checking And it sure looks like the electric clutch froze up but the compressor is still good. The clutch costs $120. So she got that and brought it home.

Friday 10 December

Put the new clutch on clutch on, and it doesn’t seem to work right, like it is binding. And making it hot. Fear it will seize up also. But it got me out to the farm to check eggs and feed the birds. Got 4 more turkey eggs. Then went in to work from 1-9pm. When I got off we candled the eggs in the incubator. There are 6 that are definitely developing, 4 that haven’t been in long enough to tell and 4 that I just put in.

If I get all my paper work done in time to get my graduation notice by 7 January 2011, then in February we’ll drive to Utah and attend the graduation ceremonies. If not, the next ones are in July. Not sure why, but it would be nice to actually participate in a graduation ceremony.

Saturday

Went out and covered my cabbage plants with a plastic tent. Supposed to get really cold tonight and want to see how this helps them. They are starting to get small heads on them, but nowhere near enough to eat yet.

More Pictures of Birds

These are some of the pens we went and looked at last weekend. Well, we went to take the Black Tom and to look at the guys pens so I could get ideas for building new ones for myself.

He had a lot of birds, and a lot of different kinds of birds, too. Funny thing was, a few days later he had my Tom listed for sale. Not sure what the deal is. He only wants what he paid for it, claims his wife is getting him a tom for Christmas or some such thing. Who knows. Not my bird any more. And he was the one came looking specifically for a Black Tom, because we were going to eat it for Thanksgiving, but he wanted it. So why not sell it?

Back home.

The birds have taken to hanging out under a brush pile just beyond the back yard near the hay barn. Not sure what draws them out there. I can still see them from the back yard. Maybe it is that there is more grass and less mud and such like there is in the yard. I've been letting them run in the yard trying to save their run area for when it gets worse, but looks like they may have already trashed it. So they go out there and sit in the grass and soak up the sun. I think.

And so far nothing has bothered them. Not sure how much of an actual fight the geese or the tom would put up, but they surely wouldn't just roll over. And there would be lots of noise.

OK, the first pic is of some of my hens in the brush.

The second is actually one of my roosters. He has a small comb, but rooster still the same.

This is the brush pile and if you look close you can see them all back under the brush.

This is pretty much all the turkeys I have left. You can see the red tom and one red hen, the black and white tom, the 3 black hens and 2 of the slates. The little one right in front of the red tom is a chicken that has been adopted or something and hangs out with him all the time.

This is 4 of the 5 geese. They usually run with every one else. You can see a few chickens in the back ground. They are separate, but in the same area as the others. And they always go as a group. The fifth one was just to the right and didn't get in the picture.

Well it is the second of December already. Hardly seems like it so far. It was cold the other day and should get cold again, but today and tomorrow are supposed to be in the fifties. Nice out compared to other days. But then it is supposed to get colder, with highs in the low 30s and lows in the low 20s or teens.

Went out “hunting” a few times. That means dressing up and taking the gun out in the woods to freeze. There are tracks but I haven’t seen any deer. And this weekend is the end of the season. Last year I got my deer, my FIRST deer on the morning of the last day of the season. So who knows? I just want to make jerky out of it anyway. Sure made some good stuff.

Don’t have as many birds left. Which is nice because now my feed lasts a little longer. Took the camera out and took pictures of them. The first one here is the old red tom and the new red hen that I will pen up with the 2nd red hen. You can see the slate hen in the picture, too. In the second picture is the red tom with the other red hen, the one I had last year. In that picture you can also see the new black and white tom.

The next picture is the black and white tom by himself. I'll pen him up in another pen with 2 or 3 hens with him.

I have 2 slate hens and 2 black hens. And I wonder what the poults from the black hen and the tom would look like. The reds will be for breeders. I’ll try to raise several pairs to sell. They are pure breed, and they should do well on the market. The others are going to be for dinners. And so who really cares what they look like? But I’m going to try to see what kind I get and maybe something will come out of it. If nothing else a great looking bird. More than anything, the looks is what I’d be going for. I’d like to get big birds too, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Sunday we drove a hundred miles to sell one of the turkeys. It was the big old mean Black Tom, and I probably spent every penny I got for him on gas, but I really wanted to go look at this guys set up. He has turkeys, peacocks, some pheasants and chickens. And a lot full of smaller pens.

I'm planning on building something to house my breeders in and the little ones I plan to hatch next spring, so I need some ideas.

So we put the turkey in a large box from McD and I put two sticks through the top to hold him in, but still let him see out and get some fresh air. Put the box behind the back seat in the van, and then went through the drive through at McD. Was neat. And he would poke his head up and could look out the windows. He did great until we pulled into the guys yard and I turned the van off, then he jumped out of the box.

Another sunny and warm day today with a strong wind. Highs were about 50 degrees, and guess it has been getting into the mid 20s at night. Not the worst, but winter is here for sure.

Finally got a quote of the week.

Gavin has decided that everything is a head ache.

So the other day he said his tummy had a head ache. Think he meant he was hungry.

And the other one is:

Not today, maybe tomorrow. He would say that a lot when ever he was told to do something. Time to take a nap. No, not today, maybe tomorrow!!

And then we realized it was because Jeanne says it to him a lot when he wants something. Like to go to Granny's or can he have this or that. We both laugh everytime one of them says it.

Turkey Time

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Got a phone call from the automated substitute system and for once got to say “Yes” I want to sub. Only then did I realize that I didn’t know what my pin was to accept a job. So had to go out to the farm and look it up in my stuff. Then on Thursday I got called again but it was for only a half day, and at the elementary school, and I needed to work on my papers so I turned it down.

Friday 19 November 2010

Friday morning I was laying in bed thinking I should get up when I got called to teach again. Middle school, for Mrs. Smith. The best part was that I got called at 0735 and had to be there at 0805. So pushed that and didn’t get to go by McD and get my Latte. I was thinking that Mrs. Smith did English or something. Wrong. She just got married and changed her name. So I spent they day as the girls PE coach. Fun. Not like I hadn’t done it before. There is a male coach and the classes are together, so it was pretty easy. And I have always enjoyed doing PE there.

Then after school I went out to the farm to work some more on my papers and put the chickens and turkeys to bed. It gets dark about 1715 now. One of the guys I had been talking with showed up to buy 2 turkeys. I’ve gotten rid of most of the bigger ones, so I only charged him $35 for the two that he got.

So I was reading my email and Jeanne had sent me an ad from Craigs list about a riding lawn mower, so I made a call and when she got home, we all piled in my van and headed out to get a mower. Was quite the road trip! When we got there, the lawn mower wouldn’t start. But he had several of them, and we ended up getting a bigger one. Then we had to figure out how to get it home. It was a trip of about 70 miles, so this is what we did. I have one seat that I took out of the van long ago and it is in my room at the farm, so there is only the back bench in the van. We took the bench out and were able to get the mower in through the back hatch. Then we folded the seat down and it fit at the end of the mower and we shut the gate on it. Jeanne and Taylor sat on each side of it, and we put Gavin’s car seat in the front passenger seat. Then I drove home carefully. He even threw in a small gas weed eater because he felt bad about it not starting. Oh, he eventually got both started, but we got the bigger one. It was also newer. And yes, we cracked the back window just in case there were any fumes from the mower. My turkeys bought it for me!!

Saturday 20 November 2010

Got up and had to work at McD’s today from 9-5. Running lunch. Not like I know much of what I’m doing anyway, I’ve been gone so much and now I get to run lunch on the busiest day of the week. But we did alright. Jeanne went through her stuff and started decorating the apartment for Christmas. We’ll wait till after Thanksgiving to put the tree up or to turn the lights and stuff on, but they are up now and that will make it easier later to do the rest.

Sunday 21 November 2010

Been taking some allergy medicine and it makes me groggy and sleepy. Hate the feeling, but need to put up with it for a while and see if the meds help me get over this sniffle I seem to be unable to kick. Man, what did I do today? Oh, came out to the farm and did some school work and got things organized. I have about 8 assignments left to do, and they are all complex ones and build one upon the other. Most of them are involve, “Write an essay, suggested length 5-7 pages…” One is about learning goals, another about learning objectives, and another is create 3 lesson plans I used during my student teaching. All of them are about my student teaching. And then 2 others are about the results of my teaching. Compare the pre-assessment results with the post assessment results for the whole class, but learning objectives. Then pick a group, like boys or girls or high or low achievers, and compare them. Then from that group, break it into subgroups and compare their results. Finally, pick two students with different abilities and compare them pre- and post, and also some of their formative assessments. Explain why I chose the groups, subgroups and individuals. Also submit examples of student work. Didn’t’ keep as much work as I maybe should have, so I kind of have to reverse engineer things. Figure out who I have papers for, and then 2 of them will be my individuals. And somewhere along I will pick a groups and then decide how to sub-group it. And the learning goals and lesson plans need to match the material I have and will talk about in my essays. So it could be complicated. But I think I have it figured out, or at least have enough material together to be able to decide what I am using where. Then just get it all together.

Tomorrow night I plan to butcher several turkeys. Someone might come over to help, not sure. But I need to butcher at least 3. Getting to where I don’t have that many anymore. I plan to keep a Red tom and two Red hens, and the black and white speckled tom I hatched this year. With him I will put the Slate hen from last year, and maybe one other hen. Still not sure. So I will have either 3 or 4 hens. Only had 2 last year and hatched about 50 eggs, and of them about 30 poults survived to adulthood. And I had them free-ranging. This spring I’m planning to build a new coop to house them in and have room for some brooders so I don’t have them in the living room or my bedroom any more. And I also plan to enclose them and that should cut down on the number that drown in the goose pond and that the owls take for dinner. But even at a conservative estimate I’m looking at $400 to build something big enough for them. On the other hand, I should have more turkey poults and I’ll try to sell the babies also. Someone told me a friend was selling them for $9 each. That is what they cost at the hatchery. So even if I sell mine for $6 or $7 each, if I can sell some of them I can recoup some of my investment, plus I won’t have to feed them all summer. And if I do good, then maybe I’ll keep a few more hens the next year and see how that goes.

And before I butcher them all, I’ll try to take some pictures and post on here. This spring I had the Bourbon Red hen and tom, the Spanish Black tom and a Blue Slate hen. And I just pretty much let them breed however they wanted to. Toward the end I tried to pen the black up with the slate, but thought he was going to kill himself trying to get out of the pen. So I’m hoping to pen them earlier this year and hope that the confinement won’t be such an issue. They started laying in April and ended in August sometime, maybe July and the last patch hatched early August. I’d have to go back and see what kind of records I have, but I think I put about 60-70 eggs in the incubator and about 50 hatched. The numbers could be a little higher for both. So with 4 hens I’m anticipating about 100 eggs, and with them being confined I should get every egg and not have to search the yard for them, so I could get a few more. And I’d say an 80% hatch rate, so if I can hatch 80 chicks next year I’ll be more than happy. That would be 40 for each bird. I think they layed for about 3 months, and even if I only get 20 eggs each month from each bird…

Holy cow!!! When you look at the numbers that way, with 4 hens I’d have 80 eggs each month, times 3 months, or a grand total of 240 eggs!! And at 80% that comes out to between 200 and 220 poults!! A whole lot of turkey!! So I’ll see what happens. May end up eating a lot of turkey during the summer!!

I'm Back

Monday 15 November 2010

Finished up my student teaching last week so I’m trying to get my life back. Well, I finished the classroom portion of it, now all I have to do is complete all the paper work and other little things that go with it to get the degree. And then after I get the degree need to apply for the actual teaching certification. And even that is going to be fun. Missouri won’t accept my transcripts directly from the college, so I have to apply to North Carolina to get my certification. Then I can take that paper work and give it to Missouri and they will give me a Missouri Teaching certification. And while they are at it, I’ll get certification in both middle school science and high school biology. When this all gets figured out and everything, I’ll try to add middle school math to it. Hopefully with those I’ll be able to get a decent job somewhere close.

In other areas, Thanksgiving will be here next week, and that means it is time to start butchering the turkeys. I lost count of how many I successfully hatched this summer, but it was a lot. I figure it was right at 50. Of them, I think I have about 30 left. Lost some to the owl that lives out back, and wouldn’t be surprised if a few other animals made meals of my birds. I also lost about 6-8 of them to drowning in the goose pond. Not sure how that happened because they should have been able to get out. Figure either they got knocked in and suffered from hypothermia or the geese actually knocked them down. Or maybe they just panicked and freaked when they couldn’t get out easily. Not sure, but either way, at one point I was taking one a day out, and one day I took 2 out of it. They pond was also a major source of water for all the animals, but it was bigger than the others. So at one point I stopped using it and just used the 2 other little ones. Never found any drowned in them.

So today I sold 12 birds to a 12 year old boy that does it as a hobby. Was originally going to charge $20 each, and meant to give him one for free, and ended up giving him 12 for $200. Still, since I hatched them all, and now I don’t have to feed them any more, not a bad deal. Think I have the mean Black Tom sold, and a few others. That should just about take me down to the breeders I plan to keep for next spring.

Some of you may know may know by now that I met someone new, and we are planning on getting married next spring. She went with me for Veterans Day, and I realized that is the first picture that has been taken of us together. So I have decided to share it. Her name is Jeanne, she is younger than me, and shorter, has 2 wonderful kids and we make each other very happy. And yes, this is the EXACT uniform I wore 15 years ago!

So now that all my time isn’t taken up with school and school work, I’m hoping to have a life again and be able to write on here about all the things that happen. And be able to include all the people in my life, too.

Teaching

Seems it has been a while since I wrote on here. Life is crazy. I’m student teaching now full time during the week, and then work all day on Saturday at McDonalds. I love the school. Some times it is still scary and I have a ways to go before it comes naturally, but I think I can do this.

The teacher was absent on Thursday so I got to be the Sub, and I’ll get paid for that.

It is a real challenge because they have what are called Grade Level Expectations, or GLEs. And that is what we have to teach. Nothing more, because there really isn’t time, and nothing less because that is what they will be tested on, or should be tested on in the big exams like the MAP exam. We just finished taking the Terra Nova exams. Hadn’t heard of them, but they are another big one that is used to measure student performance and school progress. And the teachers all work pretty hard to make sure the kids know the material too.

So for me, the greatest challenge is going to be taking the GLEs and breaking them down into small steps that can be taught in class. An d I am learning what materials she has and has used and such, and then fitting them into my lessons or building my lessons around them. And constantly referring back to the GLE to make sure I’m teaching what I’m supposed to be teaching.

I also have to write a journal, so I’m thinking about posting that on here. It has most of the things for school and then I wouldn’t have to write it again. All I would have to do is add things about the farm.

The turkeys are getting so big. And they are eating so much! Just got 200 pounds of feed or 4 bags. Each bag lasts about 3 days. So yeah, that is right at $20 a week. Hope these birds are all big! Lol. And it would seem that they are all toms. I may have to just keep the two hens I had last year, because I don’t have any other hens to keep!

School

Tomorrow is the first day of School. We had open house and it was really neat having her introduce me as her student teacher.
Right now I am having computer problems. The power cord went out in my computer so it is down. Take a week or so to get a new cord. And I'm still learning how to use mom's and it doesn't have some of the programs I need on it. And besides, it is Vista. Yuck.
But I think I have it figured out so I can start creating files on a thumb drive and it shouldn't matter which computer I use, and I can take them to school with me too.

The Yard

Well, we had planned to go out and burn the tree stump and such this weekend. It has been a while and we have had really hot, dry weather for a few weeks and figured it should burn well.
Then it rained a few nights ago, and Saturday night it rained again. One of those big thunderstorms that comes and dumps lots of rain. So when we went out to burn, everything was wet. We were able to get things going on the stump easily enough, but the brush pile just wouldn't burn. Guess I'll have to let it set for a few more days to dry out again and then burn it in some unceremonial way.

Cars.
Realized that Drew and I each have 3 vehicles and none of them are working well. He has the Mazda RX-7 in the shed and I have the Pontiac LeMans. At least it runs, just has a water leak in the pump or some where.
He has the Chevy Lumina that has a blown gasket. He has started taking it apart to fix. It is either the lower intake manifold gasket, or the head gaskets. Then I have my trusty old Ford pickup. It still runs great, if 8mpg is great. Has a leak in the brake lines some where and the exhaust pipe is broken off at the muffler. Not street legal but good enough for around the farm. Planning on making it a farm truck and probably wont register it any more for the road.
Then there are the vehicles we are driving. He has his new Ford F-150. The right rear leaf spring is broke, worked out last week and rubbed his tire till it popped. It also has a transmission fluid leak that he is trying to locate.
My trusty Caravan is starting to give me problems. Am probably going to need a new transmission. It is giving me a code for the thing saying it has worn pieces floating in it that have stopped up some valves a few times. I'm hoping to get to this weekend and then pop the cover off the transmission, drain and clean it out some and refill it. Will do two things: 1, clean out any loose pieces that have worn off. And 2, give me a better idea of what is in there. If it looks pretty clean and not much on the magnets, I'm hoping it will last a while longer. If not, then I should probably start working on fixing the LeMans.
The turkeys are getting bigger. I'll try to get some pictures on here soon. For all that I hatched this year, I don't have very many left. I think I have 5 Grey ones, 5 red ones and 5 black ones. Plus I have about 11 more babies in the cage. I'm trying to take better care of them and keep the coons out of them. But bringing them back in the house each night and taking them back out each morning is a real hassle. One of the things I have to fix for next year. Get a better system and some place secure out side to keep them; A second coop probably.

Student Teaching

Today I start my student teaching. The kids aren't in school yet, but we have teacher training to attend all day. I'm really excited about it, but also a little nervous. I know most of the teachers there and they will accept me and be happy and excited for me too. It will also be a real challenge, to learn all the new skills and things I will need to be a real teacher.

Chain Saw

While we were cutting down the trees, had a problem with the chain saw. Bent the bar tensioning nut. Went to the store to try to get a new one, and ordered the screw thinking it came as a set. Wrong. Got just the screw. The part I needed wasn't listed. So the called tech and they said they thought ti came as a unit. Duh! They didn't have a listing either, and seems the company that made this one, about 3-4 years ago, was bought out last year, and like good business people, they don't have any anything from before that. Way to go guys!
So I brought in the chain saw, and she said, OH I've got one like that. So we took a part from another chain saw type and it fit. $1.37 and I was good to go, no thanks to the manufacturer.
Now all I need to do is fix the extension cord I chewed up with the saw!!!

Wild turkeys.

Came home from working over nights the other day and was wandering around the yard when all of a sudden several turkeys flew up. One went one way and the others went the other way. My birds don't fly quite like that, so right off I'm thinking wild turkeys. Turned out there were about 5 of them. Young juveniles. Saw them out in the chicken yard clucking at the lost one. Then again this morning while I was out int the tomatoes, I heard turkey noises and looked over and sure enough, there were the wild ones again, trying to figure out how to get through the fence. Fly over is how, pretty sure that is how they got in.

More Babies!!!

Had 7 turkeys hatch on 23 July, 4 reddish ones and 3 blacks ones. Chickens are due to hatch today, and so far 5 have hatched.
Fred and company, the peafowl and 5 turkeys, have been going outside each day and back inside to the box each night. Trying to get the acclimated to the rest of the birds so I can out them in the coop at night. With the new babies here, I need to push them to the next level and getting them out of the house is that step. The big birds love to pick on Fred though, so not sure what to do about that until he gets bigger. And it could be 2 years before we know for sure if it is a he or she. Still better than Yaco, Had her for 16 years and still not sure. Not sure I want or need to know either at this point.
The garden is starting to do good. Getting tomatoes, and the beans are starting to come in. The pole beans are so much better than the bush beans. Need to remember that.
Also, was at Walmart the other day and they had a nice Rosemary plant for $10 so I got it. It is in a 2 gallon container it seems and turns out there are actually 3 plants in it, so I'll be dividing that soon. Plus I have several large leaf basil plants in the garden and sage that survived the winter. Was actually surprised it grew back. And Saturday I got me a German Oregano plant. I also put some more seeds out to sprout to start more plants for basil, oregano and rosemary. Need to start some cilantro also. Guess cilantro is more a cool weather crop, my tends to bolt and go to seed before I can use any of it, and then I end up buying some from the store. The whole point here is that a friend just opened a new pasts joint, and he likes my fresh herbs for cooking with. So in addition to the stuff I have been drying for my own use, I'm thinking of growing more of everything and seeing if I can't start a small scale fresh herb business. They are pretty easy to grow so far, and every one seems to love the fresh herbs in the cooking. Just an opportunity and want to see what happens with it. Not sure about pricing or any of that. Will have to research some of it.
Realized one of my chicken hens had swollen feet, and did some research and think they have some kind of leg mites. Did some checking and found some body mites also. So I need to get some kind of program going to control and eliminate them. The first step is cleaning the coop out. So last night and this morning, I did some of that. A Lot of stuff in the coop. Some of it is pretty good and spread it around int he garden. The rest of it I need to let sit and compost before I use it.
The chickens got into the garden this morning and had a feast on the tomatoes. Got almost all of the ripe ones. Think I got rid of the ground hog that was living in the garden. Time will tell.

Student Teaching

Today I got materials for student teaching in the mail. Packets that I need to give to the Host Teacher and the principal. 12 weeks of student teaching. Had a rough schedule listed for each week, telling me when my observations and reviews would happen. I’m actually excited about doing this. Yes, it is going to be a challenge and a lot of hard work. But it will also be a lot of fun and I will learn so much. I enjoy being in the school and the classroom with students. I know a lot of things about it, but being able to put it all together and do it myself will be great. The capstone event, if you will, will be that between weeks 8 and 11 some where, I will teach the entire thing for 2 weeks. I’m sure that during significant portions of that time she won’t even be in the classroom. And not just teach, but I have to some up with the lesson plans for each day. The good news is that if the schedule is the way she thought it would be, we will have 7th grade science all day, and not little of this and some of that. What that means is that there are 8 periods in each day, and one of them is planning period. So for the 7 periods I have to teach each day, I only need one lesson plan, because each class will be the same subject and get to follow the same schedule. And even if one get ahead or one falls behind some, they will still be the same plans, just on different days. But will work hard to make sure that they all are doing the same thing each day.
Secretaries come back the first of August, so that is when I’ll call and make an appointment to go see the principal, Mr. Nimmo and talk to him about plans and schedules. And try to get in touch with Mrs. Jackson and determine what she wants me to do and what she is willing to allow me to do. Part of me wants to jump right in and see if I can make a go of it. The more rational part of me wants to just watch and learn what I can first. But either way, at some point I’m going to have to swim on my own, right?

2 New turkeys

Had 3 eggs that were due to hatch the 18th. 2 slate turkey eggs and 1 goose egg. Looks like the Spanish Black was the dad. Both hatched with no problems and are looking pretty good. Put them in a box in the living room this morning. When I got home from work tonight, decided to crack open the goose egg and see what was going on there. Had a few eggs that got all the way there and then died before they could hatch. Wasn’t sure what I would find, but knew enough to know how to go about it and have an understanding of what I was looking at. Still wasn’t prepared for what I got. Looked like it had started to develop and that is why it candled and I kept it. But some where along the line it died and what was in it was a green soupy crap that stunk REALLY BAD!!! Gagged and thought I was gonna hurl! Had to light the incense to cover it up.
I have some more that are due to hatch next week. Each week until 2 August I have some due. There are 9 more turkey eggs and about 10 chickens all together. So we’ll see what happens.

Face Book

Started a face book account the other day. Put this blog as a reference on it, so welcome to all those who have been directed to here from there. This is where I put things about my life and what goes on. Don't plan to put very much on the face book site or spend a lot of time keeping it up. So...

That said. I am trying to get in the habit of writing on here. Life has been pretty busy lately. It has been really hot. Mid 90's today with the heat index at 106.

Went out to put he chickens away the other night and found gimp dead. Think he got beat up by one of the adult turkeys. We had bound up his leg and he was learning to get around better on it. Was eating and seemed to be doing great. SO I was a little disappointed to find him dead.
Also found a few more of the babies in the bigger goose pool. Two days in a row I went out to check and found a baby red drowned in it. So I drained the pool. It was the larger of the pools, and I think what would happen is the little ones would get on the edge to drink and get knocked or scared into the pool by the geese or other big birds. Then they couldn't get out and probably suffered hypothermia before they drowned. I had a concrete block in it so they could get in and out easier, but doubt they could find it or they panicked or something. So now they have the two smaller pools, one inside their yard and one outside.
Today I opened the big door and the small door so they could all get out, but moistly so there was more air flow in the coop. With all this heat it gets way too hot in there. Need to figure out how to put a window in to for ventilation, but still be able to keep it secured so the coons can't get in it.
Speaking of which, Frances went to check last night and watched a coon walk across the yard and walk up on the deck out back. I put the grill up there over the weekend, so that could be it, or they smelled the babies that had been there or something. Didn't like her being there. Took the gun and shot at her, doubt I hit her, but scared her for sure. Hate killing them, but stay out of my yard!! And away from my birds.
Worked on the big pen I've been building since forever. Tomorrow I plan to take the peacock (Fred) and the 4 turkeys from the living room out side. It will be good for them to have the extra room and freedom, and good for us to get them out of the house. Trying to figure out how to introduce Fred to the flock. They all pick on him because he is different. He is yellow and makes a funny noise compared to them.

Well, this weekend we went and did another red-neck thing. We are planning to place the two trailers at the end of the house and make that into Drew's place. But before we could do that there was a tree at the end of the house that needed to come down. Called a tree place and they were going to charge $175 just to cut it down, $225 if we wanted him to do more. But wasn't sure he had insurance and the place we really wanted to come cut it down doesn't come this far north.


And I had the weekend off, so Drew brought a ladder home from work and we figured how to do it. Not sure which one of us did the most work, I did all the cutting, but it was pretty fun, no one got hurt and we didn't hit the house. Lol!!

We had gone out the week before and cut down some of the smaller trees and started clearing things out. Then on Friday we had quite the circus trying to tie a rope around the tree to use as leverage. Started by tying a stick to it, and then throwing it up in the tree. Didn't work well. So we got on the roof and tried throwing it from there. Drew threw and then I tried. Looks a lot easier than it is. Takes a lot of force to throw the stick very far. So we decided a brick might be better, and got a small brick and tied it instead of the stick. Eventually, Drew got it around a good enough place and we left it for the night and came back Saturday Morning to cut the tree.

Now this tree we estimated at about 70 years old, 3 feet in diameter and about 6 feet up it branched in two, and then a few feet above that one of them forked again. So there were three separate pieces we needed to cut down.

Last we moved all the vehicles and cut the last piece down. It fell next to the pile of wood chips and didn't hit any trees or any thing. Then we limbed them and dragged the trunks out to use as landscape timbers. Used a tow rope and chain to drag them and ripped the toe strap several times before we were done.


As you can see, some of the logs are pretty good sized.

We started with the one we had the rope tied around. I climbed the ladder and Drew pulled on the rope. Came down with no problems and even missed the house by a mere foot or so. That was by far the closest to the house and the one we were most worried about.

This is the tree as it looked to begin with. There are two main trunks that twist and you can see the third branch pointing almost at the camera.



We set the ladder, then I climbed up and tied it to the tree with a tow strap. They came in a package of 5 and sure come in handy for stuff like this, lol.

Then, I took the electric chain saw up with me and started making cuts.

Can't really tell in this picture, but this is the branch falling.

Me, after the cut, on my way down.

Yep, it came pretty close to the house. Closer than we had planned, but far enough away that it didn't touch anything. I mean, we hit the house several times trying to throw the brick up into it. So this was nothing!

I think we rolled it toward the house, but you get the idea here of how close it was. And this was the smallest of the branches we cut that day.

Then we cut off the piece that was toward the back of the house. It too fell with no problems and landed right about where we wanted it to.

Here you can see it starting to fall as I move away from it. Face it, they were big enough they deserved some respect, right?

You can see it laid out neatly here, away from the house and in the cleared spot we had created the week before. A lot of tree there. Then get ready for the final cut.

These last two cuts caused special problems because I needed to cut them so far above the ground, but really no way to climb up to it. So I stood on this ladder and used some wood pallets.

Here is a beautiful picture of the last one free-falling. What a bang it made! It made a near perfect fall also, missed the wood chip pile and went between it and the tree next to it. Could have gotten way with not moving any cars, but why push your luck.

No more shade, it was getting hot and there were lots of limbs on the ground. You can see how big the pile was getting.

King of the hill? Or drama King? Lastly, we cut this trunk a few inches from the ground. Couldn't quite get it free, so brought the truck around and pushed it over. Can you say RED NECK?? Now all we have to do it re-stack all the branches on the stump so we can burn them soon.

More Eggs

Saturday, 26 June the slate turkey didn't come home. Figured she had a nest some where so on Sunday, Frances went out to look. Found it. Out by the barn with 7 eggs in it.
I was prepared to go take her off the nest tonight and carry her to the coop, but she was already in the coop when I got home. So went and collected the eggs. Put them in the incubator. Hatch date 25 July. One week after the geese eggs.

Took all of the babies from the house outside except the red with the gimp hip and the peacock. Decided Drew is right, peacock crap smells worse than turkey or chicken crap, especially when it is in your living room. So the peacock has to go out side. Soon. Then I could be bird free in the house for a while, except Yaco. Lol.

Took the lawn mower to the chicken yard so they will have more room. It is more difficult for me, but starting tomorrow the birds are back in their yard. At least the ones I can make stay in there.

Still need to do a good count of what I actually have. Need to find the real numbers of what I have had and what I've lost this year so I can make some calculations for next year. Mostly need to figure out 3 things.
1. How many turkeys I have.
2. If I increase the number of hens I have, then how many eggs can I expect next year?

3. How many eggs does that work out to for each hen I keep? I'm thinking average of 5 eggs per week, per hen, and so far they have been laying, at least one of them has, for about 12 weeks. Could be a lot of eggs. Or not. And not really a separate item, but what am I going to do with all them birds?

I'll let you know.

When I figure it out.

Summer is here

We had a pair of wild birds decide they were going to build a nest in the rafters on the deck out back. And they decided to build in on the near side instead of the far side. Everytime some one went out on the deck, they would take off and wait for us to leave before they came back. Was afraid the eggs would never hatch. But they did hatch. Never really looked in the nest, just kind of left it alone. Then one day I noticed there were baby chicks in it. I saw at least two. So I stuck my phone up there and took a picture. Went out this morning, watered the plants and figured I'd check again. All the babies are dead. Not sure what happened, if they got abandoned or got tooo hot or what. Looked like there were 4 of them. Need to get rid of them later.

Now that I think about it, even when I discovered them, they didn't look really good. And I never thought about helping them or anything. Oops.

26 June 2010

Not been able to keep up on the blog really well. Not as well as I would like to. I’m hoping in the future at some point I’ll get a steady job with a steady schedule and it will allow me to have more time to do things as routine.

Got sick a few days ago, went to the Doc yesterday and took today off sick. Feeling better now. Been getting hot here, up in the low 90's every day with the heat index over 100. Started having the summer thunderstorms. Funny because one place will get drenched and the other won't. And I can't seem to get any rain in my garden.

Back to the birds. The youngest set of my birds are outside in the little pen during the day and then I put them all in the coop at night. Too many losses to coons if I don’t. And I had too many birds to keep them all in the house for as long as they probably should have been. Next year I’m hoping to be a little more prepared and have a better system designed. I still have another set of birds in the living room, they are a week and a half old or so. The peacock, and some chickens I think. Not even sure if there are any turkeys in it.

Remember the nest the Red was sitting on? Went to check on her the other morning and she wasn’t on her nest, there were only two eggs there, instead of the 6 I left. So I look them and put them in the incubator with the other 6. She was really good about it, never went back to her nest or anything. Spent that night, and every night since in the coop. The eggs were still warm when I took them, so I have every hope they will hatch. Really disappointed as I wanted her to have her own poults to take care of. Just some thing got 4 of those eggs, and with only 2 left, it wasn’t’ worth the risk of loosing her over. Shocked that she made it that long and no one really bothered her. And the coons didn’t get her.

So I looked at the dates I collected the eggs from her, and if that were day 1, they should hatch 2 July. So some time between now and then, should have 8 reds hatch. Then I took 2 slate eggs I got, the last 2 it would seem for this year, and put them in with about 6 geese eggs and they should hatch 18 July. That will be it for hatching eggs I think this year.

The garden is doing alright this year, even though I haven’t had a lot of time to put into it. Moved the tomatoes to a new area and they are growing like crazy. Have lots of large leaf basil and the cilantro is growing good. Just have to keep them from, going to seed. Had a lot of cilantro grow up volunteer from what went to seed last year. Go figure. The Jalapeno plant is producing like crazy. My green beans are growing up the wires, the bush beans are looking good, but no beans yet. The peas are starting to succumb to the heat and not sure I’ll get any more from them. Have pumpkins and watermelon and other vines in and starting to grow. Actually, almost everything in the garden is late this year. Hoping to have a fall garden and get some of the things in that I didn’t this spring. Things like peas, carrots lettuce and such.

I’ve also decided that I am going to move the strawberries over to where the beans were last year. Was reading about them and they should be moved every 3-7 years and I just can’t keep a head of the weeds where they are. So maybe if I move them over and put down a lot of wood chips as mulch, I’ll be able to get a decent crop next year.

Went out and picked the wild black raspberries once, just haven’t gotten back out again. And the real black berries will be coming in soon, will need to pick them too.

I’m doing this from the other computer and it has more pictures on it, so I’ll try to get them all posted and set up right and labeled.

Went out to the coop the other night to check and make sure every one was there, and make sure the little ones were in there. This is what I found. Funny, really.

This is the TOP row of the roosts. Notice how the babies are integrated every othe one. Not sure if it is significant that some are turned the wrong way or not. Even the big birds turn both ways.

This is the middle row almost directly below it. If you look closely you can see the two chickens in both pics.

Then on the bottom row on the far side, there was one lone bird.

Over next to the feeder and small door that leads outside, the little chicks were all settled down for the night. Some are turkeys and some are chickens. Can you tell which are which? And there are 2 or 3 LITTLE chicks there. Same age, just not as big. Not sure what caused that.

Then right behind the door, the three baby geese were bedded down. I had disturbed them coming in and out. Came in once to check, then left to get the camera, came back and pretty much took the pics in this order. And it was pitch black in there, had to just point the camera in the general area and hope. Think they turned out pretty good. Isn't flash great?? Oh, and that is Dad's tail you can see. He showed an early interest in the baby geese, following them and all. Now they are a family of 5 that is together all the time during the day.

This is the other roost, straight ahead as you open the door. And yes, that is dad's head. THis was just a cross your fingers kind of shot, but it did rather well. You can see the black tom, he's been reduced to sleeping on either the floor or the bottom roost there. Above him you can see the red tail feathers of the red tom. The red hen sleeps on the other roost near the slate hen. In the very back you can see the mom goose and the black marking she has on her neck. If any of the babies have black on them, that is where it comes from. And finally, just above the black tom, you can see a couple of the babies that are back in the corner. I had put them back there to start, but one got trampled, so I figured I'd let them decide where to sleep. And on the other side right above dad's beak is another and one on the shelf above that.

The babies were just every where, but what surprised me the most were the ones on the top shelf. Of course, it seems that has happened before, some of the young ones just fit right in.

Pictures

This is the official sign of the town I live in. OK, I don't live in it, it is my mailing address. And yes, I live closest to it.

This is one of the easter egg chickens I hatched. Cute little white fuzz ball.

Baby chicks. I just love the way the white one in the back is looking at the camera. Not sure if this is the same chick as the one above. The 2 in front are Bourbon Red turkey poults.

One of the bourbon red turkey eggs hatching.

Goose just out of the egg. Looks dead, but really isn't. You can see the turkey eggs around it. Slates on the right, Reds on the left.

Baby Goose, You can see the pipped chicken egg in the background nest to the thermometer. The dial in front is a humidity gauge. You can see the hatch date on the end of the egg. 13 June 2010.





















The two goslings. The one on the left has been trying for almost 24 hours to get out, and the one on the right made it in just a few. Go figure. You cans till see the chick in the background. It never made it out of the shell.




























The Drake Goose taking a bath. Being watched by the two toms. The red one I will keep for next year, the black one is going to be smoked for 4th of July.

Goose making sure he gets every feather.



























Garden bounty. Was going to bring them int he house, but didn't have any thing to put them in, and didn't want to keep holding them. So I ate them. Only took a minute, but they were good!
Haven't gotten any more since. But did get a quart of wild black raspberries the other day.





















My effort at energy conservation. This is the day I put it up, and haven't used it again since. Maybe tomorrow.

One of the baby Rhode Island red chicks. NEct to the other big ones, including another Red.

These two hens just love me. Eat out of my hand and virtually crawled up in my lap. Both sat there for almost an hour. Had to chase them off when I got up.

And yes, this is like looking at a picture of my dad. Not sure if that is good or bad. Just an observation.

This is the 42 foot trailer we hauled home with my old F-250 pickup. This is also where it sat for a week, stuck in the soft dirt until it dried out some.

After it dried out, we hauled it up into the yard, blocked it up so Drew could work on it some. He has plans for it and the 46 foot Star trailer in the yard.

Came outside after doing truck one night and the Hardies mext door was on fire. They are saying it was arson. Been really good for our business, but still. Wouldn't wish it on any one.