Saturday eve, Nov. 8th… Tina lays her first turkey egg!!!!! WOW

Today is a banner day for us, because Tina, our female turkey has laid her first egg in a shallow earthen nest she wallowed out in the corner of the barn. The nice thing is that, we didn’t leave any of the 129 chickens out today because of the rain, so we know that Tina was the only female bird loose in the barn today. It HAS to be her egg! We are going to place it into the incubator tonight and if she has another egg tomorrow and every day thereafter……… if so, we will keep placing them into the incubator and raise them to a juvenile age and then set them free in the barn with Timmy & Tina. How cool! Another new exciting thing to watch unfold, here on the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm journal. I think I might even add some of the “goings on” here to the regular web site at http://www.cluckinacritterfarm.com for all to see.

This Is Tina's 1st Egg!!

Oh, By the way... we finally figured out the Playlist.com add-on player and added a song that has a very good message for most people. It's by Billy Joel and is about the way most people stick their head in the sand, and due to fear, miss out on all the things life has to offer. Make sure you turn your volume up a little and listen to his message. We fully endorse this song........

Saturday, Nov. 8th… Working on the Hospice House Design……

Today started out overcast and dreary, so I immediately pulled up the weather channel desktop and it said by 12:00 noon, it would be raining and to expect constant showers until 6:00 pm when it would turn to occasional showers up till 8:00 this evening when it will stop and remain cloudy through Sunday, with partial sun. Based on this and the chickens ability to become sick in a heart beat after being out in the rain all day long, We decided to not turn any of the animals loose today. Tomorrow, I will kick the door open and allow them to fly the coop…… but not today… Nope!
Since the rain showers did start when they said, I was finished feeding and watering before it started and then decided this would be a good time to complete the needed plans and material list for the Hospice house, which needs to be submitted to the town hall so they can issue a building permit. Once they approve the design and plot map, we can start gathering the lumber throughout the winter. We will not buy anything until they approve the plans and issue a permit, because we could do it all in vain if it doesn’t pass their scrutiny. Yeah… with the amount of pig pen properties we’ve seen here and around Greene County, I can understand why they need to see if our building will be pretty enough for the pig pen land owners to look at……… Jeeze! Anyway, I have a program to design and build houses that I bought several years ago called, Professional Home Design Suite, Platinum, and am trying to use it to it’s full potential, which I never did before. Once completed, it will tell me what the needed lumber list will be, what the cost will be and so on. It’s a neat program. Vicki’s brother, Rich, did the plans for the barn which were very important, but this little dinky 15 by 20 building, with a porch, isn’t important enough to bother him with when he is busy doing multi-million dollar projects for investors on the mountain, so we didn’t bother him with this little stinker.

Friday eve, Nov. 7th… memories in the winds of Autumn………

We are now entering the home stretch of another approaching Thanksgiving holiday season, which is the traditional beginning of the holidays.
How I long for parts of my life that have passed into memory. The feelings of joy at holiday times when my mother and father readied everything for the Thanksgiving or Christmas day meal. It was then that I, as a child, knew it would only be a short time, before both families of grandparents would be in attendance at the table and a good time would be shared by all. How I would love to have them all back here with us this year, along with all Vicki’s present and departed family members. How I long to go back to those kinds of exciting feelings that you were a direct part of, as you sat back and relished the moment and seeing it all unfold. I remember playing outside, with neighbor kids, the night before Christmas…… seeing our breath drifting in the cool night air……usually freezing, but running and laughing in the dark as we rode our sleds across my grandparents back yard in the dim blue light of winter, under a full moon……… killing time, before it got too late to stay any longer. It was then we would all dissipate to our homes and own families, to await bedtime, where we would fidget and roll in bed, trying to get to sleep, but couldn’t…… not with the thought of Christmas day and all the excitement of relatives, presents, eating a huge meal and the laughter in and of the holiday spirit. We still have memory making moments…… don’t get me wrong…… and young children are doing the exact same type of things we did in our time, but for us, it is now different, as we are now the grandparents, aunts and uncles of yesteryear. Even during hunting season, of which I haven’t participated in since I could afford to buy food for my table, I still get a funny feeling and remember the good times of tradition, when all the family met on the morning of deer season, to hunt together. It was never for the thrill of shooting something, which I would find extremely hard to do now, but for the memory of the camaraderie shared by family and friends alike, as we amassed with great hopes of withstanding the freezing temperatures, all day long without moving from our stands. I remember everyone gathering at our house the day before, laughing, yakking and re-living seasons past, with memories that created the very happenings of today that would transform into the memories we would reclaim next year at this very time. How those old memories bring a smile to my face and a warm feeling inside. I can close my eyes and spend time again with departed family members, remembering their words and smiles as they told their stories, of memories favored by them, but still wanting to share them with all present.
Such golden memories are the bank accounts of our lives……… the very staples we need when old age creeps into our bones and we have to slow down and life starts to pass us by. That is when we withdraw those golden memories a little at a time, to see us through. It was always said that memories are forever and for that we are thankful…… but remember to enjoy them everyday along the way too…… for I know too many bank accounts lost to the thief called Alzheimer’s long before the other thieves rob you of actual life itself.
Today we did exactly what we should have………… nothing…………… and I liked it!

Friday, Nov. 7th… Rain, rain, go away… take the clouds with you!!

I awoke this morning to darkness beyond the usual 6:15 AM, due to the overcast, rainy conditions left over from the night. Today is to be cloudy all day long, but it isn’t supposed to rain all day long. I wonder if I should release the critters to run, because we have an event at the school this evening, which our niece Katie is involved with. Perhaps I should just leave all the critters to their fenced in runs today so we don’t have problems trying to get them in before we leave. They will not go in if there is any remaining daylight. They just run the other way.
Update:
After consulting with Vick, I guess we will leave the animals out this morning to run…. Vicki says the program is around 7:00 or 7:30 this evening…..long after darkness will place them back in their homes, unlike the summer when it didn’t get dark until 9:00.
I see already we are in for a mess within the world every time someone says something about Obama, as did Italy's famously impolitic Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi when he described U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday as "young, handsome and even tanned." Seems the entire world is up in arms over his statement. Even though Berlusconi is known for making candid statements which get him into trouble with his own people in Italy, it pales in nature to the commotion generated in our own country. Just go to aol.com and read the article, then read the comments left by so many ranging from racist to stupid and back.
Any of us who were not for Obama, should now be over the loss and pulling together as Americans to heal our country. We may never like Obama….but we may too. Perhaps we will see we were wrong about all the negative things we saw…… and if so and the man is good to his word and campaign promises, I’ll jump behind him and support him wholeheartedly. But just let me wait and watch for a little while. I won’t however, cause him trouble as I wait and watch and I will keep a positive attitude. I suggest others do the same, because we now face one of the darkest moments in the history of the world… possibly darker than the Holocaust years. Our lives are all at stake this time… in every age group, from all ethnic origins and from every walk of life .

Thurs. eve, Nov. 6th… Say hello to the Dum-dum boy!!!!

The Dum-dum is me!!! We ran out of lumber to complete the fence and after checking……… it was quite clear indeed, that I need a little course in my times tables. There were 19 openings of one size and 19 openings of another length, so I multiplied 19 x 3 boards and got 27 boards. (lost the little carried 2, that little stinker…) That makes you 20 boards short……… and if you are so sure of yourself, with another 19 openings needing boards of another length, you naturally use the 27 again. Now you’re 40 boards short! So yes… I had to tell Vicki I screwed up and I’m not too bright! She didn’t care…… the fact remained…we we’re 40 boards short. Well, all I can do is tell you I put em’ in place and nailed them while Vicki cut them to length, so her arms hurt tonight too. These were rough cut to a full 6” wide by 5/4 thick and some were 10 feet long..... Heavy.... heavy, green, wet, boards… But pretty! We’ll both sleep good tonight. We just ran out of boards as the rain started to fall with conviction……… so we quit!

Wednesday, Nov. 5th… All’s well that ends well….well sometimes!

What a day today was…… We started out going to the bank to deposit some checks and then stopped at the farmer that supplies us with hay when we need it. We asked if he had any hay available and he replied that he had just baled a wagon load yesterday that he could bring up from the field so we didn’t have to remove from the barn, what he had just put in. With that, we ran home and got the truck and trailer. We returned immediately to find a waiting farmer who sold us 40 bales of his hay, which we took home and immediately placed up in the loft, where it will remain clean and dry. This is good, second cutting hay with a little, dried, green grass showing and a low moisture content, making it premium stuff. I would like to fill the loft with this stuff if we could, but the farmer doesn’t want to sell much more and we won’t have the Alpaca’s until next spring anyway, but still, I’d like to fill the loft and have it there, the way everything is going in the economy and all.
After stowing the hay, we went to work on the fence around the pasture. That was a pleasure compared to some of the work we’ve completed in the last couple of months. Every board we put on the posts, made it look more and more like a working farm. The barn really looks like a barn with the fence on it. Like Vicki said, it needed the fence to really look like a barn.
We are going down the road about a mile to see Charlie, our friend that had the heart attack and by-pass surgery recently. We told his wife we would come by tomorrow since they had a late afternoon appointment at the doctors office today, but he just called and preferred we come this evening to visit for a bit, so at 7:30, we are going visiting. We won’t stay long so he doesn’t get over tired. When we get home, I think I will make the design drawings for the Hospice gift shop we will be building this coming spring. We need the drawings and material list so we can get started on the permits, so they are ready when we are. The town requires a plan showing the building and where it will be located on the property. TAXES you know! It’s always about taxes… Always.
Below are pictures of the days events, including two that show you how well Timmy is doing and one showing a beautiful sunset to end a pretty nice day.

Wednesday, Nov. 5th… Foggy… no rain but cloudy forever…………

Let’s hope this is not the trend in this country after last night, when all of America was duped by the promise of change. I still fear for all of us. The very sad truth is we don't really know anything about this man; no hard questions were ever asked and if a reporter tried to ask any, they were banned. All we really know is that he preached “change, change, change.” Jeremiah Wright preached about change too. I would ask that you to read your history books, for just a couple of minutes, referencing how Cuba wanted change and flocked after a youthful, charismatic speaking candidate, and guess what…… they are still living with that change; his name is Castro. Ask many of those hopeful people about being duped and the life they lived as a result of “change”.
I have seen Obama’s book and read several excerpts on the Internet about all the things he has said about white people in that book and his associates, like Reverend Wright and others who say they would rather help the Muslims than we Americans because we are all vile and corrupt. I still fail to see how his taxing of big corporations will provide incentives to keep jobs here rather than sending them out of our country…… I fear just the opposite. Just as adding one trillion dollars to our national debt will never help us recover from our financial crisis….in fact, again, I fear the opposite. I suppose congratulations are in order for Obama, but I think I will leave that to the terrorists of the world who are probably thrilled to death to think of Obama‘s planning to cut 25% of our defense budget. Today may be known as the last day in a democratic, patriotic America for which our forefathers, fathers, brothers and sons fought and died. A kind of middle east, socialism may be well on its way. Perhaps we may see the day when we no longer will we be free to earn an honest living and reap the rewards of our labors. It appears that only those not willing to work, who are looking for a "free lunch" will reap the benefits of our ingenuity and honest labor as Obama “spreads the wealth”. I will however thank John McCain for being the American he is…… and thank him for his patriotism and unfailing love of this country which he fought for, while enduring pain and suffering as a POW. He was a prisoner of war for five years in Viet Nam… was starved and tortured, yet never betrayed our trust in him or our country as one of our soldiers. I’m sorry he lost because of failed Republican policy from the past, but I will proudly state, as a Democratic patriot, I am proud that I supported him and voted for him because he is a PROVEN AMERICAN!!
No one really knows anything about Barack Obama? Before this election he wasn’t associated with anything or anyone appealing to true Americans……He abstained from Senate votes more than participated……And anything dealing with the flag or country, he voted against…… He hung out with thugs, terrorists and hate mongers of Americans. I don’t like him and all that he stands for! He will be a man of change and of different origin…… now where did I read about this before??? Those who know my reference, recognize the fears we should all have of this man. In a few short months we could all be weeping for our beloved country after the coming change! Let’s just all pray to God that I’m wrong!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, Nov. 4th… Voting?? The polls close 75 minutes here!!!!!!

Well…… It’s toe stepping time here at the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm! Like Popeye always said, “That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more!!!!”

The race is winding down and as I’ve said….in about an hour and 15 minutes the polls close here. 11:00 o’clock our time for the west coast and at 1:00 AM our time, in Alaska……the polls close and this election is officially over. If Barack Obama wins, I fear for the world as we know it!

I will now admit that I don’t care for a man that spends so much time with another, listening to his preaching’s, having his children baptized by this hate monger and continued to attend the radical teachings of hating the United States for twenty years. The man ranted and screamed that our government infected African Americans with AIDS to annihilate the black race and cursed America. He then stated that we asked for the 9-11 disaster because we dropped bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during the war. You will never convince me that you can attend church 52 times a year for twenty years, plus all the other church functions and then say you don’t follow this mans thinking and agree with what he is preaching. It is too much like the way people flocked to an unknown speaker who was going to change the world in the early 40’s…… such an eloquent speaker and scholar that he had millions of followers wearing black arm bands and doing his will. History is destined to repeat itself as they say, but we must stand our ground and not allow it to happen again. It is not a good thing to have a civilian militia stronger than the armed forces…… for that is what Hitler had back then… and it scares me now. Senator Obama has too many ties with some really nasty names in the world. Names that also hate the American way of life and would love to snuff us out of existence.
All we can do is vote and pray to God that this man fails in his quest to hand our country to the enemies of freedom.
Say what you will about John McCain, but the facts of history show his courage, faith and conviction to this country and freedom. He was captured, beat and tortured for five years and never betrayed his country by uttering one bit of information to the enemy. He proved his love of country and I think he will defend us again. Obama never protected anything and wants to give it all away. Either he is naive, stupid or conniving in his actions……… and we can’t condone that! Remember this…… if we don’t like some of McCain’s policies, like abortion…. We can change those things with laws and representation…… But if your leader is sleeping with the enemy, (as Obama appears to be) your leader can give it all away before we can change it!

Tuesday, Nov. 4th… ELECTION DAY…… Finally, it is almost over!!!!

What a busy day today has turned into already. We have an appointment to get a haircut at 2:00 o’clock today, (Vick’s regular trim, but badly needed by me) We have to stop and vote, (what a choice) and then we have to go to Ed Pooter’s Middle Field Lumber to pick up our fence boards. We can then install the fence railings and get ready to white wash the entire fence. We will then have a completed pasture… fenced in… for the Alpaca’s when they arrive next spring. Besides, it will make the barn look finished….finally.

If there is any more time left today, we will dig the little trench across the driveway and install the wire for the barn lights and such. There are still a few outside lights that need installed so we can see to go to the barn at night without a flashlight. All in a days work to us……but to most people up here…… all in a months work!!

All joking aside, all this work is good for us, because I’ve lost 15 pounds and Vicki has lost a bunch too. I needed to drop weight and exercise more, because my blood test indicated borderline diabetes (109)….not really bad yet, but leaning that way and my father has been a diabetic, on shots for 10 years, so I’m a candidate for it. Now is the time to change the numbers. We have also cut out soda, all junk food and we both stay away from carbohydrates which instantly turn to sugar. We now eat apples and bananas in moderation… very little potatoes, bread and pasta, etc. and more greens like broccoli and salads with our meals. When we eat out, we study the menu more, looking for the best of the evils present and stay away from the worst evils altogether. We also have a full exercise gym set up in the basement with a elliptical runner, a tread mill, an ab lounger and the original Bowflex workout gym. We did all these every night, before Vick hurt her back this past spring, so we now need to get back to doing it religiously again. Work and exercise…… a known remedy for high sugar…being over weight and
Having lots of energy. (especially after the elliptical runner for a mile)

Monday Eve, Nov. 3rd… Tomorrow is the election and I hate it!!

Tomorrow is like going to the bathroom without any toilet paper… It’s bound to get dirty and nasty…… in fact it will surely stink too!
Who wants to vote when there is nothing to vote for? Have you seriously looked at what our choices are?

We have a democrat that says his past 20 years was spent in a church, listening to and exposing his children to a man he doesn’t agree with and has never held the same views as Jeremiah Wright….in all the 20 years he attended…… every Sunday…… listening to a man that hates America…… every Sunday and he doesn’t agree with him????????? Also, it seems that for years he has been keeping company with most of the towel head swamis of the middle east or anyone that seems to hate us, yet he wants to lead us!! Where to, I wanna know???????

Then we have an old Republican fart that can’t remember how many houses he owns……… will he remember what country he is President of??? Or where that damned button is that you push to launch the boom-boom rockets??? Who is my VP??? Joe the plumber is my friend……a PERSONAL FRIEND! Is he my VP??? Well he should BE!!! You know….during the Cuban missile crisis…while Kennedy was walking in circles, wringing his hands and worrying, making life and death decisions….. Big Bad John was TESTED. He sat on a flight deck waiting for someone to decide if he should take off and bomb something and what, while Kennedy decided what our entire country should do… while the Pentagon dealt with all the intelligence given them……BUT… John McCain, was tested…… as he sat there in his little air plane waiting to go play war, if allowed. How was he tested??????

Then there is the chance we could have good ol’ Joe Biden for a president if something happens to Swami Bamma…… He seems like a likable, jolly fellow…… He was the 5th youngest US senator in history…… one who enjoyed sports and socializing better than studying at the University of Delaware in Newark… played half back for the football team, but chose to drop out in his Junior year to chase after his out-of-state girlfriend in Syracuse, NY which became his first wife. (I guess he dropped out of that too) I wonder what he will do in the middle of being President (if he ever was) and he decided he loved something more than being President… and if he was President… how many foreign diplomats would he say the wrong thing to???? Talks too much you know!! Obama said so!

Then we have the barracuda lady from Alaska…… She winks and smiles and watches Russia every day…… Keeps an eye on them so they don't get away with anything. She seems smarter than the Republican party wanted her to appear at first, yet she still makes light of things she doesn’t know or isn’t sure of. She might be just what we need if she knows how to juggle the books when caught, wink and finger shoot (Bang) as she tells ya she’ll get back to ya on that one… and she might just ride over to Russia on a snow mobile with her hubby and her moose musket and clean house if they piss her off!

Now I ask ya…… Who could ask for a better Presidential choice than these?????? I can hardly wait!!! Do they serve coffee and doughnuts if you get to the polls early in the morning tomorrow? Can I vote for all of them??

Monday, Nov. 3rd... Another day unfolds for our enjoyment of life

Here we are, looking out over yesterdays labors... enjoying the fact that the freeze proof hydrants are in and we will have water in the new barn and at the old duck house all winter long. The ditches are all filled in and only two sections need attention to lower the height of the dirt and make things looks "completed", so we will get the Cub Cadet out for a little bit today and flatten them, then wait for the rain to settle the rest. Hopefully, we will not have to put any more dirt anywhere to level it out later, but if we need to, we will. We're just extremely glad to get the lines in so we can drain the summer lines for winter.

We should spend time today trying to get ready for the installation of the main feed for the barn electric today. That means digging a shallow trench across the driveway, installing conduit and the wire from the potting shed panel to the barn panel. Not a hard job, but the last major one before winter.

It's also nice to take a few minutes to just look out over all the beauty surrounding us here on the farm. The trees whisper to us all day long, and yes we both take a few minutes to listen throughout the day. We hear the wildlife as they conduct their "daily business" and ski-dawdle here and there collecting food for winter or to just fill their bellies right now. The sun is still warm against our faces as we watch life around us, but that warmth will soon disappear behind dark winter clouds and we will cherish what we are experiencing now for the next five month, until spring decides to release us from the bonds of winter. This summer has gone so fast, in part, due to the work we performed, building the barn and Vicki's spinal decompression therapy, but it clears the way for our future enjoyment of next summer and the farm. We will be able to enjoy raising little chicks, ducks and turkeys in the spring with little effort, while taking care of all the other chores and then have the day to ourselves to enjoy whatever we want to do or go where ever we want to go. You know, in retrospect, we made a pretty good investment in our future this past summer.

Here you can see where we have to flaten the pile on the left , like the right side....

See the well casing? The well house ( laying on it's side) needs placed over the well casing...