Sat. Eve, Nov. 15th… round, round get around.. I get around…….

Today was another fine, rainy day used to fulfill the running around we need to do from time to time. We had to go to Hudson to drop off a rescue animal at the L&M Pets store, after which, we had lunch at the Spring Garden Chinese restaurant in the Columbia Mall. Then a quick run to pick up 1½ peck of apples on route 81 and it was off to the Colonie Center Mall to the L.L. Bean store to return a pair of my pants and then on to a few more places to shop for needed articles. When we finally returned home, we fed the animals and gathered one turkey egg, which was the last of six to be placed in the incubator to hopefully hatch. From now on…… they will be treated like all the other eggs we collect. FOOD! We picked four duck eggs and 47 chicken eggs from today alone. That’s almost four dozen eggs a day. I’m so happy we have friends that regularly come to buy eggs from us. I just sold 26 dozen this morning to one of our friends from the city. He has a large family and distributes them among the members of the family. The other day, I sold twelve dozen to his brother, and another brother will be coming up in a week or so and would like another twelve or fifteen dozen. After selling the 26 dozen this morning, we had eight dozen left for our other regular customers, and then this evening, gathered another 4 dozen (less 1 egg). In any event, in the morning, I will have 12 dozen eggs in the refrigerator again.
Gotta say hi to our new follower. HI Frances from Texas…… Welcome to the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm. Hope you enjoy yourself and we bring a smile to your face. We are glad you joined Kelly, Lisa and Julie as a regular follower of our blog! Again Welcome to all of you!!!!!!

Saturday, Nov. 15th… The world according to memory of old……

Close your eyes for just a moment…… relax and stop fidgeting about what needs done or what you should be doing rather than sitting here with your eyes closed. Relax…… wipe all thought from your mind….think of nothing for a few minutes…… just maintain a blank mind…. One of tranquil lollygagging, drifting lightly as if you were on a cloud drifting across the wide expanse of a mountain range with only trees visible under a clear blue sky with your cloud being the only one around. Peaceful…… quiet…… delightful.
The holidays are coming… as before…accompanied with stress, the hustle and bustle of shopping, checking names off the list, preparing for meals and visits and visitors you will entertain. How easy it is to forget…… How easy it is to get caught up in the rush of things to come… as they have……before, as in years past since the beginning of time. How easy it is to dread the very best of life if you allow it to happen. I for one, was the worst......“The Grinch of all holidays.” This year, I change… this year I will not go down that same road. This year I will enjoy the holidays with the one I love and will build a memory to cherish.
As I look back over my life, I see holidays filled with partial enjoyment and partial regret. First of all…… I spent a lot of my life in the wrong shell… I was involved in a disastrous marriage of many years that I just wouldn’t quit trying to fix… yet it wouldn’t quit making me miserable, unhappy, used and yes, even abused. I worked long grueling hours, making excellent wages for my sins and all for a life I didn’t even enjoy… As Jospeh Campbell states..."Many young people choose their life's work and climb that ladder of success.... and when they have reached the top, they are ultimately, very unhappy. Then they realize that they placed the ladder against the wrong wall." Thus I finally saw my mistake with my career and being married to a person who was deeply in love with herself, living a lonely, selfish life within a bubble. The enjoyment I speak of, was the final realization that my memories of past family participation in holiday functions was all I had to look forward to. I had no future…… no present……for almost all those around me had vanished as they passed away …… my present family was slowly disappearing, with nothing replacing the loss. My life was over…… I thought, I should go… like the rest, to another place…a new life. So I checked out…I died from that life and moved on… to a small camper trailer… retiring from my job… and retiring from many bad years of marriage and was reborn to the world in new life, meeting the love of my life in a pre-ordained arrangement unknown to me at the time, but recognized upon it’s completion, I now see the world through a new set of eyes. I still have those old childhood memories, but I realized you must make your own future…… not of the old memories, lest I be living the past in seclusion….but to burst forth and create new memories to cling to in the future. I am now back… smiling and enjoying life daily. How different it is when you have someone to behold life with…now I close my eyes and she is all I see. I don’t need memories right now, for I can hold my present and future in my arms.

Friday Nov. 14th…Messages from the unknown.................

Voices from nowhere… obviously in your mind…silently whispering in your ear, a message of interest sometimes not of your liking. Ever wonder why you hear them and why the messages are so intense? Not intense in loudness…..but one of a constant desire or reminder….A pull to do something or go somewhere for some, unknown reason…. One that only reveals itself after all the whispers are adhered to. Usually the entire urge is displayed in a relatively short period of time…… a distinct revelation that is then easy to understand….sometimes, on rare occasions, the purpose of your journey is not disclosed to you in a length of time we deem appropriate or reasonable, yet we continue on, faithfully seeking out the intent of the journey. Once you answer these “calls to follow”, you feel a partial fulfillment of the past vision, which then allows the next apparition to unravel before you. This happens to Vicki and I a lot. An example of this is our shared desire to support the hospice program in our area, which has culminated from Vicki’s devotion to the hospice program as a retired hospice nurse, the death of her first husband, Carl, due to pancreatic cancer and my Mom’s hospice journey, after a brave, thirty-seven year battle with cancer too. All this, explains our devotion to such a humanitarian program, which has resulted in the formation of Nature’s Friend’s of Hospice, Inc. and the Hospice Gift Shop we are building next spring here on the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm property. We hope to raise substantial sum’s of revenue for the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State in the Columbia-Greene County chapter.
This is our final and most loving gift to those neighbors around us and we feel blessed to help provide that care.

Thurs. Nov. 13th… Today was our day and we took it and ran!!!!!

Today marked the two year anniversary of Vicki and I getting together here on the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm. We have known each other for more than four years… when she bought a puppy from me when I was living in Pennsylvania. Anyway…… Vick’s first husband succumbed to cancer and she moved here to be closer to family and since I had kept in email contact and received pictures of the puppy as she grew, we also talked and I supported Vick throughout Carl’s sickness and after he departed. I came to the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm in the beginning when she asked if I could help her as she bought the place……and to do a little carpentry work after she closed on the property. I agreed and here I am……… after two years to this day. I started helping her in early August with a trip to see the property. By September, she had made the deal and closed in October. I then came up from Pa. to help with the carpentry and by November 13th, realized I had found my soul mate and the love of my life. For the last two years, we have not been out of each others sight for an hour……… we have been together 24 hours a day, seven days a week for two solid years and I can’t get close enough to her…… even to this very day…… and will continue to try harder every day…… for the rest of my life.
We officially married on February 14th, 2008, but we choose to celebrate today…….Nov. 13th as our true anniversary…… The date that Vicki and I actually became as one…once we both confided in each other that deep, loving feelings had evolved.
So today was our day…… we left early and stayed late…… we bought what we needed to attend an event coming up in Albany that we will attend on behalf of our newest venture, Nature’s friends of Hospice, Inc., the business we started to raise funding for the Hospice program of Columbia - Greene county. The event on November 20th is hosted by the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State. The 4th Annual Musical Comedy Hour & Live Auction will be held at the Albany Marriott Hotel and Vicki being a retired Hospice care nurse…… this is very near and dear to her heart, so we will be in attendance for the buffet dinner, the comedy hour, followed by a live auction to raise funding. We can’t wait.
I’m going to give everyone a treat by giving you all a look at Vicki’s recently completed art work which she has worked on almost every evening before bed for the past several months. She does magnificent work and I am extremely proud to share these copies with you all. All the watercolors are of pets belonging to people we know, because Vick feels it makes the portrait a more personal type picture when completed. She does commission work from clear, detailed photos of your pet and will accept applications for watercolors at:
http://skipwattbooks.com/skipwattbooks_011.com Just click on the text which says, “ For terms and conditions, click here.”

"Four Seasons of Beauty"

"Rose"

"Autumn's Remainder"

"Rose II"

"Elvis"

"ol' Yeller"

"Emmy"

"Winky"

"Robbie Rooster"

"Rudy Rooster"

The Infamous Barbie & Boobie with a good message! Carry on ladies!!!!

Wed. eve, Nov.12th… Best laid plans of Skip & Vick……

Well, today was a lousy knee day and Vick turned the wrong way this morning and pulled her back a little. I must say however, Vick did much better than I did. I was miserable all day with excruciating knee pain every time I bent over it was terrible. I say best laid plans of Skip & Vick because we got about nothing done today. I filled all the feed bins and we framed out for the board & batten on the duck and old chicken houses, so we’re ready to put board & batten on when ever we get back to doing it. My best laid plans entailed completing both the new and old barn winterizing and then starting the outside lighting. Not to happen and I wonder if we are that damned slow or I have poor planning skills now-a-days. I used to be able to look at a job and figure exactly how long it would take to complete, within an hour. Now, it would seem I can’t figure with any certainty within a week.
The heck with it…….I’m taking Vick to dinner at the restaurant before art class tonight. See ya all tomorrow!

Wed. Nov. 12th… We’ve got it all it seems….all but time!!

When I went out this morning to release the birds and make good on my promise of posting lots of pictures, (which we have neglected to do….. Why???? Because we always run out of time) I came upon the conclusion that we pretty much have it all… First of all we have each other…. And Vick and I will never take that for granted…..believe me! Secondly we have family….maybe not always as close to us as we would like them to be…… but the best and closest they know how to be. We also have our dream….filled with all the little blessing God allows us to keep and enjoy here on our little farm. Now………… all we have to do is make time to enjoy everything. We’ve spent two solid years working to build what most regard as ten years of progress…… and we’re almost done with that, so we plan to make that enjoyment time.
I’ve clicked a ton of pictures this morning. The new ducks, the pheasant, the (close to) finished fence for the Alpacas, the eggs, the three outside runs we will try to winterize today and a nesting paradise in the hay loft. Then we clicked the incubator and turkey eggs and the juvenile peeps in the basement too. Enjoy!!







Eggs in the old hen house....
An unfinished gate opening in the new fence.......

Where I leveled the dirt on the ditch..

Tina's fourth egg........

Tina eating when I opened up this morning.......

Dirt still needing leveled at the ditch..

Timmy means business!! He's tough!

Meet Phillip Pheasant!!

The mornings take of eggs.

The nesting Paradise in the loft!!

The finished fence.... Now for the gate.

Where our Alpaca's will roam and browse.....

More action in the loft......

Wow!! This place is getting crowded..

Todays winterizing project.....

Three new duckies in the front... the two males and one female Rouens...

The fence in it's entirety...... but we need to build the gate!

A better view of the farm....

Winterization project #2 and #3....

Ok Bill..... here is the comparison of a chicken egg at the bottom a duck in the middle and a turkey at the top....

The peeps we hatched when all the chickens were sick and on antibiotics.

These are some fine looking birds

Day two egg rolled off the garbage can and broke........ Now she lays the egg in the earthen nest

Turkey's in the building stage.......

Completion date is December 6th...