Sat. Nov. 29th… Reflections of Thanksgivings gone by……

I just read a blog post from Patrick on his blog which I follow at http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/ and he hit the nail on the head with the blog title “Thanksgiving is not a Norman Rockwell painting” which reminds us that there is far more to Thanksgiving than the impression of Indians and Pilgrims sharing a late fall meal because they just wanted to party. It was to give thanks…… for friendship, understanding and surviving the previous year of winter, hard work and the success of harvesting enough food to hopefully make it through their coming winter. They also were grateful for their new life away from the world they left behind. Yet given a few years later……the meaning was gone with fighting, bickering and killing between the very people that created and held that first Thanksgiving meal.
How many of our children really know what meaning the day of Thanksgiving truly holds? Actually, how many adults really know or keep the true meaning……… just like Christmas……… which has turned to a commercially important day to anyone trying to run a business and come out in the black at the end of the year. Christmas, starting on Black Friday, is the beginning of the “commercial dollar run”, which ends on Christmas Eve.
Does anyone still share the thoughts of Patrick? Do they look back at what they had and experienced in life? Do they ever feel fortunate to have been lucky enough to find the love of their life and make memories by spending their lives together?
Does anyone ever look back at lousy times and express any gratitude for the new found happiness they now have and enjoy?
Go to Patrick’s blog entry and read it…… read the heartfelt meaning of life and love of family from someone fortunate enough to understand what he has and is truly made rich by the realization!

Friday Eve, Nov. 28th… The Cub is marooned until Wednesday….

This morning, Vick thought it would be a good idea to level out the rest of the dirt piles in the yard so we could sprinkle grass seed and cover it all with hay to eliminate the mud. I thought it was a champion idea and after breakfast, I went out and started moving dirt. I had to be a little aggressive, because there was a little frost in the ground which went down about 4 inches, but after shaving through it, you could then pick up chunks of earth and loose dirt too. I was almost finished with the lateral that runs along the side of the barn when the steering tie rod broke again for the second time since we bought the unit. I stopped, ramped the front end on the bucket and pulled the broken rod off and Vick and I headed for the Cub dealer, just down the road. He had to order the $81.00 rod and we won’t have it until Wednesday, sometime. I begged a weld job from the dealer so we could at least get the Cub Cadet back inside the garage. I will install the repaired rod tomorrow and see if we can limp it into the garage. (I wish I the old Lincoln buzz box welder and Oxy-acetylene outfit that I owned in Pa…… I’d have been working again in a half hour!)
That was about all I did today…..besides taking a little nap from 3:30 to 4:30.…. Then went to pick up the welded rod, returned in time to put the critters in and go to Norton Hill for dinner at Frank’s Green Hill Café. Jeese…. I get tired when I push myself like this……I’m ready for bed already!

Fri. Nov. 28th… The day after…… all is well… all is well..

We returned late last evening from Vick’s brother and parents where we had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner, movie and visit. We arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon and chatted for a bit, then moved to the living room to be out of Robin’s way as she prepared the meal. Rich put a copy of the movie, Holiday Inn on their HD TV and we all watched Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire perform fifty some years after the original airing of the movie by Irving Berlin. It is still as much a classic as ever and I could watch it over and over. It all started in Joe & Anita’s living room where he was watching Miracle on 34th Street, which was on television. When they called us for hors d’oeuvres in the living room, Katie put the movie on there for Joe to finish watching, which was over in a few minutes, so Richie put the Holiday Inn on for us to watch. After the movie was over, we were ready to sit down to a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner with dessert to follow…… We then just sat around the dinner table chatting and laughing as old tales were recited all over again. We finally went into Richie’s office, where we set up the tripod and took the following Official, 2008 Thanksgiving family picture for everyone’s photo album.

This morning, we sold 33 dozen eggs to our friend from the city. He was more than happy to take them at $2.00/doz. Unsorted. I’m glad we understand each other………

Thurs. Nov. 27th… Six AM Duck Walk…… Happy Thanksgiving…………

Well, this morning I arose at 6:00 Am and as I squinted to see in the morning mist over the frozen Pupskill Lake Pond…… I saw the rat pack scampering around at the end of the frozen pond. Looking like an outtake from an old Charlie Chaplin movie or maybe the Keystone Cops…… I watched as they fumbled and fell over one another as they slipped and slid on the ice surface of the pond, working their way from the downstream side which had frozen solid during the night, to the up stream side of the pond where there was still a center vein of flowing water. After seeing them on the ice, I waited for a little more daylight to flow over the horizon, so I wouldn’t scare them further up the stream, toward the open fields, when I went out to herd them back into the duck house. Within another fifteen minutes, it was light enough to see everything, (our Indian Runners are white & tan……and were easy to spot in the early morning light) so I donned my heavy coat and boots and headed for the end of the pond. Once I approached them in the stream, they panicked and headed for the pond, but quickly reached the end of the open water and stopped at the ice line…… there, they held, quacking incessantly like a bunch of old ladies at a male stripper review. I threw a few cat tails at them and yelled “Go HOME!!!” and they finally climbed out onto the ice and did their Charlie Chaplin walk across the ice, picking up to a full speed "runner" at the grassy bank. They were running full tilt and had almost made it to the duck house until I stepped out of the weeds, into the yard, which was a good football field’s length from the duck house. I believe they were relieved to be home where there is a nice heat lamp, plenty of nice clean water and wood chips to nest in so you can close your eyes and carelessly sleep…….safely……… instead of continuing the twelve hours they just endured. I entered the farmhouse, unbundled and poured a cup of coffee, returned to the computer room to relax and upon looking out the window……… beyond the chicken & duck house, in the stream area by the fields, some seventy-five yard upstream from where those ducks were, stood an adult coyote, (I think) looking into the yard and down toward where the ducks had just been, in the stream. I said, I think, because there are a few dogs in the neighborhood, and this was far enough away, that I couldn’t say for sure, but it sure looked like one. Until I grabbed the binoculars, it was gone…

How close had we come to disaster? Was it a Coyote or a neighbors dog? We hear them by the dozens at night, howling, not more than 100 yards away from the house…… in fact, we heard them last night, howling from the open fields, with the ducks appearing to be between us and the howling!!! I doubt the ducks are aware of the fact that they could have been the bird on a Coyote’s Thanksgiving table last night or early this morning.
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Wed. Eve, Nov. 26th… Day is done…the rat pack is gone……

Gotta tell ya!!!! There are gonna be six very scared Indian Runners come tomorrow morning, if they’re lucky enough to even see tomorrow morning. I’m sure if they are alive when the sun rises and it is light enough for them to make a bee line back to the duck house, they’ll be high tailing it toward the house. This is the very first time they wouldn’t come in and little do they know about what they are in for. They better not be doing the usual quacking about nothing they usually do every time there is a little noise or they will draw the scores of coyotes we have right to them and they’ll never see the sun-up on Thanksgiving day. Vicki and I tried everything we knew to get them to come in from the swamp area at the end of the frozen Pupskill Lake Pond, but they wouldn’t budge and if I tried to get closer to them, they went further into the swamp area. Better that they stay out in the main channel of the stream, but it is not at all deep enough to thwart the efforts of a hungry pack of coyotes. They’ll have all six of them if they get one. I don’t know what else to do because those 6 are the most incorrigible animals I’ve ever seen……thus, the name, "The rat pack", (The name also refers to the belief that an established pack of rats will belligerently reject an outsider who tries to join them.) and these six ducks are definitely the text book definition for a rat pack. They will not join or stay anywhere near the other ducks.
Just like Sinatra and Martin, Lawford, Bishop and Sammy Davis Jr., these six guys travel together everywhere and steer clear of all the other ducks and chickens… just like the 1950’s and 60’s group of high-rollers, they go where they want when they want and tonight is nothing new, except they have trodden a few steps further than ever before by not coming home. That my friends is THE RAT PACK…….
We finally had to give up and come in, leaving them to the mercy of nature and the night, because Vicki still had her filling and three pies to make for tomorrow’s meal at her brothers. I hope that I see them in the duck pond in the morning when I get up around 6:00 AM. If they are out there, I’ll go out and leave them in if they let me. Otherwise they will take off for the swamp again. ( the little bastards)…..

Wed. Nov, 26th… Tomorrow is the big day… Gobble, Gobble……

This morning in I was up at 7:00 AM, let the dogs out to do their dodo’s and got the coffee goin’. I then settled down in front of the computer to read blogs. After sitting here for a few minutes, I decided to give Vick a head start and help her by boiling the eggs we will use for deviled eggs, which we will take along to her brothers for Thanksgiving dinner. She is doing an apple pie and two pumpkin pies this morning also. Well, anyway, I put the eggs in the water and added the required couple of pinches of salt to the water and returned to blog reading for awhile, trying to think of what my mom did to keep new eggs from sticking to the shells, but I couldn’t remember anything except her adding salt to the water.(which definitely helps the water boil, but the sticking…..I don’t think so…) anyway, I was reading blog entries from Tennessee Granddaddy, Ellipsis and The Chicken Chronicles...Again, when it finally hit me…………baking soda ……… Mom put baking soda in the water, which lowered the ph of the water and caused the eggs to not stick to the shells as it was absorbed through the shells as they boiled and cooked. I immediately ran to the stove and grabbed the baking soda out of the cupboard and poured some into the already boiling water. I hope it wasn’t too late……… Well, we’ll see when I try to peel the eggs.
Anyway……… remember when you are doing your eggs for pickling, deviling or making egg salad…..add the baking soda to reduce the work.
We are still awaiting an answer from the Cornell extension office about what you have to do to be able to sell our eggs in a local store, so nobody gets into trouble. After all, at $2.30 per dozen, we are still losing money, but like I said, we never got into this to make money. We do however have a high feed cost and we have to do something with the eggs, so if we can recover some of the feed cost, it’s nice. Wish us luck! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Tues. Nov. 25th… Cool, rainy and dark… Yucky day of mud……

There’s only one more day until that big Thanksgiving day meal! A day of celebration for all…… usually family.... that hasn’t been together since that fourth of July picnic in the back yard, or maybe even labor day…. Some, you maybe haven't seen since last year at Thanksgiving or maybe Christmas…… or maybe longer, like my family. My dad was here last year for Thanksgiving and that's the last I saw him. Since then, he has been placed in a elderly care facility in central Pennsylvania. How I would love to bring him up to visit, but with the medicine and twenty four hour care he now receives he can’t really leave. I am happy to say that he isn’t lonely, like he used to be, ever since my mom passed away, because on August the eighth, he was remarried to a really nice lady in the same facility and they are spending their lives together, in a room there, with everything they need. My brother is about 17 miles away from the facility and visits regularly and dad and I talk almost every day, if he is not busy…… Sometimes I call and he is so busy he cannot talk, so I just hang up and giggle to myself, happy that he is content and happy……. And yes, BUSY! One real problem is the distance between us, making it really difficult for me to visit him, because it is an eight hour trip to his place and another eight hours back home to here in upstate New York, so I can’t just pop into the car to visit, especially with all the animals to care for. There is a really nice director there that receives emails and pictures I send to dad, so I can keep him tuned into what’s going on here, but it’s still not the same during the holidays…… Nothing is ever the same during the holidays, so enjoy what you have now……for life is ever changing and you never have today what you had yesterday.
We are still gathering eggs and waiting to find out what we have to do to sell them commercially. The dude from the city called and wants 25 dozen eggs for next Monday at 8:30 AM, so I’ll keep them for him, I guess. He wanted us to sort them and pull out any small eggs and give him only large and jumbo (for the same $2.00/doz. ) Knowing that other places are getting $4.00/doz. For large, free range eggs, I informed him that we sell the mixed for one price, that is why we can offer them at $2.00/dozen…… which is a steal. Sorted they would cost far more than that, but he still wanted large & jumbo only for $2.00.….. I said you’ll have to get them somewhere else and he said ok, I’ll be there on Monday for the 25 dozen at $2.00 each and I’ll tell everybody they’re mixed.

As it stands right now, at the rate of 45 eggs a day, we need 53.3 days in each month, selling eggs at $2.00/doz. Just to cover the $400.00/month Feed cost. Maybe he can tell his friends that…….as he sells our eggs, and makes his profit. I pictured getting to a point of needing a retail outlet and the necessity of increasing our prices to at least cover the feed which would be about $3.50/doz…and that just ain’t-a-gonna-happen!!
We do this for the pleasure of it… being around the animals and seeing and hearing them…… so the eggs remain $2.00/doz. We decided will donate them to an area shelter (if they would take them) before we sort and charge multiple prices…… it beats throwing them into the woods, but we’ll do that before we dance the jig for somebody that’s obviously making money off us. Can I ask a simple, little, question..... What is wrong with some of these people anyway?????

Mon. Eve, Nov. 24th… Sold a few eggs & chicks in brooding house…

Today ended up being a pretty busy one… I was up at 5:30 to leave the dogs out and make coffee. Vick was up then also, but painted as I read AOL and tried to come up with a morning blog. There just wasn’t ANYTHING to write about, so we went to breakfast about 10:00, then headed on up the mountain to the Cornell AgroForestry extension office to talk to Mick about our eggs, but he was in the Troy office today. The lady took our number and said she would contact him if she could and have him call us. Well………… maybe tomorrow……… yeah, definitely looks like it will be tomorrow. Oh well, 1 day = four more dozen eggs. We did, however, sell five dozen eggs today to one of our regular customers and sooner or later, Dawn & Don should be here too.
We had to wait around for Culligan to show up and repair our water treatment unit……….because we have pink water. The unit that deals with sulfur screwed up and now needs rebuilt. Another $175.00.…. Ho, ho, ho, Merrrrry Christmas! They showed up around 2:30 or so and it was only $145.00 because it’s close to Christmas…… Oh well, we’re happy with any savings right now.
After Culligan left, we went to the brooding house and cleaned all the old shavings out and scraped the floor clean, then installed a top over the chicks, installed two heat lamps and left them free in there to run. They liked it and were ready to move to the brooding house anyway. In a few more weeks, we will need to take them to the new barn and place them in with the other chickens.
Uhhhhhh-Ooooooooooh…………… There is a major flood watch that just came into effect until tomorrow night this time, as a severe weather front is moving in and will deliver heavy rains to our already frozen landscape and that is not good in the streams which will flood immediately with 100% run off of the rain water. We should see water running everywhere!!!!!!!!! Look Out!! Watch your basements!!! This is a unique circumstance indeed, so keep your eyes open.

Sunday, Nov. 23rd… 38 dozen eggs and no where to sell em……

Now isn’t that just a fine pickle???? The guys from New York who are buying them from us (when they want them) and selling them to friends, making a killing on them, doesn’t want them just yet. WELL, Tomorrow we are going to the Cornell Ag Extension office on the mountain, to find out what we must do to sell our eggs to a store or retail outlet. I’m sure there is some kind of rhetoric we will have to go through to be able to sell them. Perhaps we will have to be FDA inspected or whatever. We do label them with our logo sticker which is below, but I don’t know if there are more restrictions or not. After talking to Mick at the extension office we’ll know what we have to do. We have the potential to supply 28 dozen eggs per week, minimum, right now, so we need a place that will move eggs. There is a huge market for free range chicken eggs and organic eggs. I really wonder about the organic eggs and what they classify free range as and then there is the cage free eggs too. Our chickens free range all day long if the weather is ok, otherwise they stay in the coop and in the outside run area, but eat the same feed. If the weather is nice, you can find them in the yard, the woods, the flower beds or where ever they wish to hang out for the day. Free ranging here is just that……they go where ever they want and eat anything in the yard or woods that strikes their fancy. All Natural!! The most we did today was thaw the bunny's water in the lower barn. After that, we dropped six bales of hay down from the loft, closed it off again, placed the six bales of hay at the bottom of the front door which we closed off and installed two more heat lamps over each rabbit water bottle. Now the rabbits have heat over every cage. The celotex closes off air from the loft and the tarps close off air from the front and side doors. NO BREEZES in the barn should equate to a warmer barn in the morning than this morning. This evening the barn was at 32 degrees when it was 9 degrees outside. We'll see in the morning. After feeding and gathering eggs in the morning, we’ll go for breakfast somewhere and then go up the mountain to the extension office. After that who knows what the day may bring?

Sunday Morn, Nov. 23rd… Egg, Egg, Eggs everywhere eggs……

I was peacefully sleeping last night, when suddenly I awoke for no apparent reason and it was pitch dark in the room…… Usually the TV is on and there is a mumble of sound, since we turn it down before retiring to sleep. (usually) But now, it was dark as a deep cave and there was no sound at all, in fact I imagined I could hear my own heart beating, it was that quiet! I rolled around and tried to put my feet on the floor, but I couldn’t find anyplace to put my feet down over the edge of the bed, so I reached across the bed to awaken Vicki and tell her something was wrong….. That the power had gone off and we should check the dogs or whatever…..
Vicki was gone…..I was there by myself! I thought to myself, "What the ……" and with my mind being totally blank….I stood up to find my head hitting something. I continued to feel my way around and to my dismay, I felt a vertical wall to my left, another to my right and both seemed to arch toward one another at the top. As I continued to feel my way around, I noticed I was enclosed in a kind of globe……… a rounded globe. Wondering how this had happened and my panic starting to peak along with the fear of what may have happened to Vicki, I started to thrust my weight against the side of the sphere and kick at it. Finally I started punching at the wall with my fists and it started to give way with a loud crack. I continued to punch and punch until I could see daylight and hear the TV again. Through a hole which started to develop, I could see Vicki sleeping on the bed, so I continued punching and kicking with all my might and finally the wall collapsed and I was free. I was surrounded by large pieces of egg shell……… I was in a freakin’ EGG! Just then I was awakened by a sleepy eyed Vicki, who said, “Roll over and go back to sleep, you must have been dreaming…….you were groaning and thrashing around.” I lay there in bed, wondering if it might have had anything to do with the thirty four dozen eggs in the refrigerator in the barn and wondering what we were going to do with them all, knowing there would be another four dozen in the morning? Maybe farming is really a dangerous business to be in after all!