Saturday Eve, Oct. 25th… Yuck…Yuck… Yuck… My Lousy Feeling Day!!

We got nothing accomplished today except feeling lousy. My sinus, along with Vick’s kicked up and We felt miserable all day long. In fact, I sat on the couch in the living room in front of the stove and sucked up the blasting heat as it flowed across my body all afternoon, even sleeping for a couple of hours. Upon arising this evening, we went to the basement and fed the chick’s, checked the other eggs and then went to Frank’s for dinner. The barn entry must be flooded, because there is a puddle of water touching the underside of the front sliding door. I would therefore say that there is standing water inside, so the turkey’s probably found dry ground by the bunny corner where the hay is. We haven’t ventured out yet, because we need our raincoats, muck boots and more get up and go than I currently possess. It is to pour cat’s & dog’s until midnight, and then taper off, along with the wind. The wind here was the worst about 7:00 o’clock or so. All five of the chicks are doing great, but the other eggs may be goners!! There doesn’t seem to be a chirp or wiggle about any of them. We’ll give them a few more days and if theres no change till then, I'll dispose of them and be happy with the five we got.
I guess we can do the floor strips and measure for fence boards tomorrow when it isn’t raining constantly.

Does anybody know of a good knitting machine available anywhere for purchase over the Internet? The cost isn’t really an issue as long as it works well. We’ve already sent one back that you crank, calling it junk and a bad investment. If you know of one that you can use heavy, fancy yarn in… please let us know. We’re looking for one that will do panels mostly, but if you know of one that does panels and tubes consistently well let us know….. PLEASE!

Saturday, Oct. 25th… Rainy, Damp and Miserable will be the order of the day!

I got up this morning to a dreary, rainy, day where the modest temperature of 45 degrees still cuts through you like a knife. I immediately started the pellet stove and waited for the blower to kick on to send that warmth barreling out at me. I had just returned from the feed route between the chicken & duck house and the barn, had fed and watered everyone, gave Timmy another shot (he developed another cold and was rattling when he breathed yesterday) and installed a heat lamp so Timmy could huddle under it for warmth if need be. I was chilly from the outing, so when the blower kicked on and smothered me with warmth, I was appreciative.
The chicks are doing well…… feisty as ever and had eaten all the chick starter since last night, so I refilled that and checked their water, which was fine. There were no new egg developments, in either the three remaining eggs from the incubator, nor in the dozen in the Styrofoam ice chest. After something happens with the three in the incubator, we will transfer the dozen from the ice chest to the incubator and hope for the best. Who knows…… maybe they will hatch with a constant heat!
Today we measure for fencing boards, if we get a break in the rain for a little bit…… and then close off the floor strip opening in the loft area. Maybe I can do a little work with loft lights and stable lights. Possibly we can add an outside motion light so we can see to get to or from the barn after dark. I still need to contact our friend and see if he is ever coming to help us out with the Tyvek and the board & batten.

Friday Eve, Oct. 24th… I’ll bet you were a beautiful baby……

CAUSE BABY LOOK AT YOU NOW!!!! Below are some pictures of the chicks we have been welcoming since yesterday. The little yellow one, I’ve named Donald Trump…. Because of the blond locks that looked like the Donald’s hairdo. There are three more eggs in the incubator and 12 in the Styrofoam ice chest under a heat lamp. These were the eggs from under the sitting hens out in the barn. We decided to get them into the house to place them under constant heat, because they should have been hatched already, but the chickens allowed them to chill at times, which is supposed to make the hatching ordeal take longer each time they chill down. We therefore, wanted to remove them and get them on constant heat to stop the delay in getting this hatching stuff over with. It’s too late in the season for little chicks, but we had no choice, other than to do it or throw the eggs away. Once big enough, the chicks can stay in the barn with the Bantams under a heat lamp.

This is the Donald! His hairdo is just like Donald Trump's!!!!!

The new addition this morning.....

These guys are now on their way.....

Now here is the group.... they just keep coming and coming.....

Three more eggs in the incubator.....

This batch is under constant heat now and will be transfered to the incubator when the tree in there are hatched.....

We just got back from Vicks brother’s and parent’s house where we spent the evening dining, laughing and talking. Had a good roasted chicken dinner and pumpkin pie and brownies for dessert…… with coffee of course!

Tomorrow, we will measure for the fence planks and call Ed Pooter’s, Jr. from Middle Field Lumber and get a quote on the price of the lumber for the pasture fence. This should look pretty good once it is done and white washed.

Friday Oct. 24th… Heavy frost is on everything… crisp & COLD

These mornings make you more thankful than ever that we have heat in the house…food in the cupboard… and clothes in the closet. Take a moment as you sit there in your warm and cozy home and reflect on all those losing their homes to a lousy politically caused “near depression” event, because greedy people do greedy things for one another. Although they do these things which hurt so many innocent people, we can stop a lot of what they are trying to do by banding together for the good of all.
Look at gas prices in the wake of the wall street disaster… or look at any other commodity and see what happens to prices and values when, we as a people, collectively band together and stop buying. (whether we are scared or mad doesn’t matter… the results are still the same) We stopped spending as a result of the wall street happenings and gas prices went down… lobster in Maine went to nothing and all over the country things went to an all time low. Because we didn’t buy it! We controlled the market!!! We sent the Saudis and Venezuelans running in circles with all their oil they couldn’t sell. Hugo Chavez was sprawled over his oil barrels crying “I can’t sell my oil”. “The Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and George Bush meet at the Presidents ranch in Crawford, Texas…….” the media reported….. For what? For two bandits to stuff money in each others pockets??? We need to get out of these killer countries, close our borders to them by stationing our service men at our own borders and protecting the USA. We should then use all the war money to develop a stronger military to protect us from foreign attack and develop a replacement for gasoline which is made from a commodity we have a ton of……Corn! We can make what we need ourselves, here in our own country like we used to and turn the importers away to financially rape someone else, somewhere else. We can adopt the motto “leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone……… mess with us and we will annihilate you”!!!!!
Enough said…… it’s too nice a day to wipe another country off the face of the earth anyway! Here’s where I was going in the beginning, before I got off track… ( I have a drift factor lately) Take time to clean out your closet… drawers… the basement or storage unit. Donate extra, unused clothing…especially coats, hats and gloves to the Salvation Army so they can clothe the homeless this year… those made homeless by the Wall Street glutens who caused this “near- depression”!! Give of yourself, if you are comfy… at home and have survived what so many have succumbed to this fall season.

Today, we mess around in the barn doing whatever we can until around 5:00 when we will head to Richie’s for a nice dinner with the family……a nice glass of wine…… some laughing and talking and then we will head for the farm and a warm bed around midnight. If we don’t blog tonight about the peeps or anything else…… that is why and we will resume in the morning again.

Thurs. Eve, Oct. 23rd… Calling all bags…….Calling all bags!!

We are calling all bags for Hospice! All you good hearted farmers out there can help us……PLEASE! We are in need of woven polypropylene feed bags and seed bags with pretty pictures on them. Vicki is making “Back To Green with Hospice” shopping bags from them to be sold and 100% of the sales price donated to the Columbia-Greene county Hospice. This money is then used to supply high quality care for hospice patients during their life’s final journey. If you can or care to donate your empty feed sacks or bird feed bags ( as long as they are woven Polypropylene material) click on the link below: http://www.cluckinacritterfarm.com/ , then click on Visit our Hospice Page by clicking here and email us using the contacts button from the Hospice page for the shipping address where you can send the bags. Please package them with a return label showing where we can send a receipt, in your name, for the donated cost of the shipping. Below are a few pictures of what the finished bags look like.
Please Help if you Can! Funding is really tight for all these programs right now. Hospice needs your help!








Where to measure and cut the feed bags......






This is the bottom before sewing....

Here we have the bottom sewed in and pleated.....

And here we have the finished bag with handles, ready to use for grocery shopping, a book bag, rucksack, or just a place to keep hobby or craft materials like knitting or tools.


Today, we worked on the fencing around the back 40. (I know this usually means 40 acres, but for us it means 40 yards!) It is going to be the fenced in pasture for the donkeys or goats or whatever will be in there! It may be us if the economy gets any worse!!!!!
We have two more posts to dig in the correct position and two to pull and re-do, then we can order the planks for the fence. We’d kinda like to get it finished and white washed before winter hits.





Looking toward the Pupskill Lake Pond from the barn.....





This is how big the pasture area will be.....


ALSO……… we have another hatchling in with chick #4 who is doing quite nicely. The latest (#5) is also doing fine and was eating right out of the egg!! We keep running down and checking on them to make sure they are ok and to see if there are any more bustin’ out! Yep! There are more in the incubator that are ready to hatch. We didn’t see any cracked eggs, but they are chirping




Vicki and Snavely Mill checking the peep this afternoon....





This little guy just poped out while we were out to lunch...




Another meeting of the minds....






Here is a very nice pair of birds......






We're waiting on these little guys... no cracks, but a lot of chirping!!!