Yep, today's been one of those days. Not that anything crazy happened, but it's been our normal...and worth noting and remembering. 'Cause one day our "normal" will be totally different and I'll look back on days like today as precious and miss them. (And hopefully not like you miss a stomach bug or a temper tantrum, but something a little sweeter...)
Right? That'll happen one day? Surely, because right now things seem permanently hectic (and just plain maddening sometimes).
We woke up nice and early. P and I watched a family's farm vlog on YouTube (side note: wish I were brave enough to do those because they would totally be worth watching...), then we carried on with our day.
We fed the animals at home (including ourselves), then we headed out to do more feeding and watering.
We took care of the chickens and whatnot, then noticed one teenage chick didn't make it through the night. She'd somehow gotten injured (slipped tendon) a few days ago and apparently had reached the end sometime during the night. Jason got a shovel and scooped her up to bury. He disappeared for a bit for the burial, so P wouldn't see.
Before I go any further, I want to explain our family a bit. Jason and I are super careful about what P is exposed to. Though some folks whole-heartedly want their little tykes to know the real, hard side to life and owning animals, we try not to take it very far. She knows that we take care of and love our chickens, but that the time will come when we will eat some of them (or a coyote may beat us to the punch). And she's okay with that. But, even further, none of us are to the point yet where we're actually comfortable with doing the dirty work, so the processing of animals will most likely not include us (and if any of us will be part of that day, it will be me and only me). But that matters not just yet, so on we go...
As we were finishing up our morning chores, I noticed two other teenage chicks were looking kinda sad - slow to eat, sluggishly moving around, with their wings all droopy. So I did what any good chicken momma would do - I put them in a bucket and carried them home.
Once home, I arranged a nice little "hotel" for their day/night inside, then (and I know this is weird...) I bathed them, blow-dried them, then gave them some yogurt and honey water. (Don't judge. You can't tell me that if you were cold and wet and didn't feel so good, you wouldn't want a good spa treatment to give you a pick-me-up...) Then we put those clean, less droopy looking little chicks in the hotel suite for the day and started the next task at hand.
The next thing on the checklist today was to set up and move the newly hatched tiny chicks from the incubator to a brooder. I got the brooder, a heating lamp and the food and water containers ready. The only problem was that we were out of chick feed and the new shipment was at the post office. It was waiting to be picked up.
So off we went to our tiny downtown, in pajamas and muck boots to get the chick feed. (And if you saw me at the post office, it was a pleasure! But don't think I live in my pj's - I swear I own real clothes. And a hairbrush. Oh, and a mirror. Eek!)
Long story short - we got the new babies all warm and situated. And, again, we carried on to the next task...
We headed to K-town to pick up some farm fresh milk and get a late lunch. Lunch was fabulous, but the traffic was a little over-the-top, if I'm being honest. Just another reason to love a small town with the max speed limit being 30mph. Slow. It. Down. People!
While we were out and about, we loafed and talked about projects that were coming up. Before we knew it, we had worn ourselves out from all of the conversational stress that is our lives and settled on an *easy on the wallet/easy on the kitchen/horribly bad for the teeth/but oh-so-fun* dinner - Krispy Kreme Donuts. Hot and Fresh, to be specific. And their name lived up to every hope I'd had for them.
After scarfing down three of those bad boys (again, don't judge...), we headed back to the farm.
There, we gathered eggs. This is a task we do daily, but recently it's been a little different. You see, we have broody hens.
What's a broody hen, you ask?
Well, let me explain to ya! It's a lady-bird that's danged and determined to sit on and hatch every egg in sight. Even if that means defending her nest to the death. And when you need to get an egg from under one, you're gonna get the wrath. They'll hiss and puff up and peck you soon as look at you. It doesn't sound too crazy, but it's kinda scary (especially for little P, who is always eager to collect and count every egg). They have no patience for you or your bare hand - and are quick to show it.
Also, while a hen is broody, they do not lay eggs. So here's the tiny loot from today...
While we were at the farm, we decided to check on the guinea nest that was tucked away in the woods, under some brush. It was the cutest little nest. Full of a zillion eggs and lots of little polka-dotted guinea feathers decorating its edges. And...well...it is no longer. Something had a feast - ate the momma guinea and around 40 eggs she had been diligently sitting on. And even though I curse those hateful, loud guineas daily, it was a little sad. I was excited to see that strangely hideous, yet beautiful ol' guinea momma raise some babes! But, alas, it wasn't her time. Sorry, momma! By the looks of things, you obviously fought a good fight. :(
See what I mean - kinda gorgeous, but still somehow not at all and clown-ish instead?
After coming home, we got P ready for bed and all tucked in. Now it's quiet in the house and I'm done. Done as in "out, trout". I'm heading to bed. At 8:00p. (Yet again, don't judge.) I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically.
But, even through the exhaustion (and haze and nausea brought on by eating donuts for dinner...), I will say that I am thankful.
For this day and many more just like it.
Goodnight.
For this day and many more just like it.
Goodnight.
