Stolen Rooster

Saturday night someone(s) stole our rooster.  :(  

We didn't leave the house from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning, so we didn't notice it missing until Monday morning.  The rooster had been chained to the mailbox post to prevent anyone from taking it, but the thieves ripped the mailbox out of the ground and took the rooster.

I posted on several community groups in the area and heard a lot of supportive posts, but even more than that, people were commenting on how much they liked seeing the rooster.  I didn't realize what a following we'd created with that rooster.

And then the community news paper ran a piece about it.  If I had known they were going to quote me when I sent them the quick email, I would have picked better words.  :)

http://bristowbeat.com/news/072913-bristow-woman-seeks-return-of-stolen-rooster-sculpture/

I filed a police report but wasn't given much hope.  

I'm thinking that some teenage or early-20s kids were out Saturday night and thought it would be funny to take it.  I can only hope that somehow someone who has seen this show up in their yard will see one of the community posts or the article online and will get it back to me, but I'm really not thinking I will ever see it again.

Sigh.  We're disappointed and surprised.  We knew someone would try to take it, it happen once about 18 months ago and when the thieves realized it was chained down, they just threw it in the ditch and left.  I never would have thought someone would go so far as to pull out the mailbox post.

If we replace it, which I'm sure we will do at some point when I have the money to buy a new one, I'm just not sure how to secure it since a chain didn't help.

The Bounty

I wish we had more to show for the huge garden and all of the work I put into it.  I am really starting to believe that the lack of bees to pollinate the plants is the cause of our small harvest.  There's still time, so my fingers are crossed that we will get more.

A funny shaped cucumber

It already looks like a pickle

No matter how hard I tried, this pumpkin vine does not want to stay in the raised bed

The Goods

Freezing Herbs

I've been really behind on the garden projects and the herbs that are already dying and dead are proof.

Basil

Dill

Parsley

Rosemary

I was able to get half of an ice cube tray filled with the good herbs and a table spoon of olive oil.  I read about this idea online and figured I would try it.  Once they're frozen, I will seal them in bags and then can pull them out and drop them into a pan anytime a recipe calls for any of these herbs.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get more because I was too busy with other projects, but at least I have something.  I may try to plant and grow more before the end of the summer so that I can dry and freeze more.

Since when does finishing a roof require someone to lose a finger?

It's been about three months since I got the large chicken coop rebuilt.  In that time, I still hadn't finished putting the shingles on half of the roof.

Today was the day.  I made the boys stay home with me and we wheeled the shingles and nails out to the coop.  I climbed up there and was making great time covering the roof.  When I was about three-fourths of the way finished, the oldest climbed to the top of the ladder and was helping to hold the shingles in position and I even let him nail a few in.

We got down to the last four shingles, and somehow, I'm still not sure how, I managed to hammer my pinkie finger.  I yelled ouch and as I pulled my hand against my body I saw blood and a huge slice.  I immediately grabbed my finger with my right hand and told the oldest that I'd just chopped off the top of my finger.  I was able to calmly tell him to get to the house and bring me back gauze before I had to start telling myself, out loud, to breathe.  He ran off and then I told the youngest where to go find me a rag and an ice pack.

Once I was wrapped up, I insisted that we finish nailing the last four shingles on and then we got off the roof and came inside.

I got the bleeding stopped and I didn't cut off the piece of my pinkie completely.  I cleaned it as best as I could considering I kept feeling light headed (I don't do well with injuries once the emergency is over).  Then I wrapped it in fresh gauze.  I don't think it needs stitches.

The chicken coop roof is done.   I just have to fix the oyster shell dispenser and finish painting two sides of the coop and I can declare it completely done.

Just another day... right?

It's too darn hot!

Virginia is going through a serious heat wave where the heat index is over 100 degrees outside.  I won't even pretend like I'm outside between 12 and 9PM for more than the 30 seconds it takes to walk from the house to the air conditioned car.  It's bad.

The birds are drinking water, but I need to have more water dishes around the property so they'll have it nearby when they wander.  I picked up two pink plastic pools for them to use.

I figure between the dog and the birds, the water will be gone.  If not, I may be laying down on my back in one and putting my feet in the other in an attempt to cool off.

I am determined to fix this thing

Two years ago, when we moved here, I bought my first lawnmower.  I did some researched and talked to someone who had this specific mower and thought I made a good choice.  For the first year, things were great.  

The second year it stopped working.  It would sound like it was going to start and then die quickly.  I did some research and knew it was the carburetor.  So I replaced it.  

Things still didn't work.  I took it to a shop, they fixed it and told me it was "bad gas".  I bought new gas, mowed the lawn twice, and then it stopped working.   I took it back to the shop and they fixed it for free (this time), and told me it was bad gas again.

It was new gas!  I'd also added something to help with the ethanol!  

A few weeks later, it stopped working again.  This time, I bought the parts I needed and cleaned the carburetor and drained the tank myself.

Things worked great for several weeks.

Until last week.  It wouldn't start again.  I can't imagine having to clean the carburetor every month so I did some research and found that the fuel line (tube) could be bad and that I could add a fuel filter to the fuel line to help keep gas clean.

So I bought the parts this morning and got to work.

The mower "before"

I decided to replace the air filter, clean the carburetor, replace the gaskets, replace the fuel line, and add a filter.  I couldn't think of what else to do.  

The parts

I was annoyed with how much gas I drained and won't be able to use.  The jar on the left was already nasty and dirty, but the gas in the jar on the right didn't even look bad.

Add caption

  I had to cut the new fuel line to fit the space, and cut it to add the fuel filter.  I wasn't sure which direction the filter should go until I found a note online that the filter has an arrow, sure enough, I turned it over and there it was.

The arrow is pointing down in this picture

 And then I took the carburetor off.  I was shocked at how much dirt was in there.  I later found that some of it may have fallen in as I was taking it off, but geeze!

Add caption

 Once I had it all back together, the fuel filter fit perfectly.  And I was excited to test things out.

I poured some special stuff in to help clean the tank and carburetor and fight ethanol issues, and then I had to run to the store to buy new gas.

There's the fluid in the filter

When I got home, I poured the new gas in and it sputtered for about 15 seconds before dying.  I was scared.

I started it up again and it sounded beautiful.  I mowed about half of the lawn (45 minutes) before someone pulled up the driveway and I had to stop.

I'm just glad I was able to get her going again, but the true test will be if she works after the 3rd or 4th job.

A Typical Day

Recently I have had many people ask me questions about how I get everything done around here, especially since I'm a single mom.  

I decided to break it down for a typical week/work day based on this last school year.

I wake up at 4AM and head to the gym.  Yes, really.  I learned several years ago that I must workout if I want to stay in shape and physically able.  I think it also helps my self esteem.  Unfortunately, my only choice is to go at 4AM because there is just no other time to go.

As soon as I get home I change into my rubber work boots, take the dog out, feed the goats, and open the coop doors.  The youngest chicks get freedom to range all day and the laying-aged birds get freedom into the chicken run.   

The goal is to be in the shower by 5:30, so if I can get inside before 5:20, I will make myself eggs for breakfast.

From 5:30 to 6:30 I take a shower, get dressed, put makeup on and dry my hair, make lunches (since we don't often get it done at night), getting the boys up, nagging them to get ready, packing up my computer nad work bag, and sometimes making them breakfast.  The boys get up at about 6, so if they are dragging their feet then I don't have time to make them breakfast and they get granola bars and bananas or something else I can grab on the way out the door.

I drop the youngest at daycare and then make the hour drive to work.  I get to work around 7:30, and the students show up at 8:45.  I leave work at 4:05, the moment that I'm allowed to leave and I head straight to daycare to pick up the youngest.  

On a good day, I get him at about 4:45 and we are home by 5.  As soon as I get out of the car, I change into my rubber boots and head over to open the coop door that will let the laying hens free range, feed the goats, and let the dog out.

As soon as I'm inside the house I figure out dinner and get to work.  

The youngest goes to bed at 7, so after the animals are taken care of I only have about an hour and a half to make dinner, feed everyone, clean up from dinner, get him to clean himself and hopefully have him make his lunch, and put him to bed.  

Once he's in bed I head outside to count and lock up the birds and let the dog out one last time.  I try to finish the dishes and then I set my gym clothes out (I wear my gym pants to sleep so it's one less thing to do in the morning), check my email one last time, and go to bed.

The goal is to be in bed by 8, although I don't usually get to bed until almost 9, and at times it's later than that.

I am a firm believer that getting 8 hours of sleep is important to maintaining health, so that's what I try to get and I try to get the youngest son into bed so that he gets as close to 11 hours of sleep as possible.

This schedule has worked except during the swimming lesson or cross country season where we will have 2-4 nights of practices so that 90 minutes of time with the youngest son before bedtime also has to include driving to and from a 40-60 minute lesson or practice.  This also doesn't include the times that I need to clean out all of the animal water dishes and refill them or deal with other random issues like refilling feed chicken feed bins, luring goats back into the pen when they've gotten out, taking care of sick animals, etc.

On the weekends I play catch up and clean the water dishes, clean the coops out, pick up the dog messes, and do all of the household chores.

This has been the schedule for two years and since I am switching jobs next fall I am hoping that things will go smoother and I will have more time in the afternoon to get things done.  Hopefully I won't be getting up at 4AM anymore.  

We may finally have our second garden harvest soon

The garden has FINALLY started to produce...

I just hope the sweet potatoes are looking as good under ground as they do above ground.
If only I could get rid of those weeds....

One of the stacked herb pots.  I still need to plant more.

Sunflowers that the goats ate.... Looks like only one is still alive.

The goats got to the green beans too.  Half the plants are gone.

The broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages have been eaten by the goats :(

The tomatoes are starting to pop up

Calendula flowers

The first bell peppers

Potato plants

The first raspberries - and they tasted great!

The pumpkins are growing and I planted more watermelon plants.

The first butternut squash

The first zucchini

A New Project and a Great Gift

We are hosting exchange students for a couple weeks in July and I needed to get more beds to accommodate everyone.  I bought a used bed online and planned to just use it and then get rid of it, until I realized how cool the bed was.  

It's a bunk bed with a third bed that looks like a drawer under it all.  Each of the two beds on the actual bunk bed have a shelf for books and storage.  In order to make things feel a bit more new I decided to take on the task of sanding it down and refinishing it.  I've never done this before but it didn't sound hard if I had the tools.  

So I bought them.

Any excuse to buy a new power tool makes me happy.

That's my new power sander, it's one of the few power tools I didn't own yet.
And that's one of the headboards "before" I got to work.

The youngest wanted to help.

And I made the oldest help.

It was looking exactly like it did before I started the task.  I'm not sure if that means I did a good job picking out the color of stain to match, or if I didn't do a good job making it look new.  :)

The right has the first coat of stain, the left has only been sanded down.

 It won't be put together until tomorrow and I still want to buy a new mattress for the youngest to have on the bed, but once it is complete I'll take a final picture.

UPDATED:  Here's the finished picture along with nightstand that I bought and finished.  I also got a small dresser that I finished but you can't see it in this picture.

And then I took on building my new grill.  :)  The parents pooled money to get me gift cards to Home Depot (among other places) for an end of the year gift.  I really don't think I will ever experience the kind of gift giving that I did at my old school.  Those parents were amazing, and I felt awkward as I'm not used to that type of stuff and it's unexpected.

Despite my desire to use the gift cards for practical supplies to build shelves for the canning supplies in the basement, I decided to get a real "gift" with them and I replaced our old grill.  This was the biggest grill that Home Depot had in stock.

Can't you just imagine how many steaks I can grill while also cooking corn on the cob, zucchini, and shrimp kabobs?  :)  Tomorrow we will grill our first meal of chicken and corn on the cob, and then I think I have one final package of pollo and carne asada.  :)

A day in the kitchen

The forecast said hot and sunny today so I promised the kids we'd go to the water park.  Then I woke up this morning to feed the animals and clean the coop and it was raining.  The weather report said rain and scattered thunderstorms all day and the waterpark actually posted to say they were closed for the day.

The only option was to swap our plans for later this week and try the water park another day.

So it was time to make some dill pickles.

We had picked up pickle size cucumbers at the farmers market last week but hadn't had a chance to pickle and can them.

The dill liquid

 We haven't tried them yet, so I can only hope they taste as good as they look.

We bought peaches at the farmer's market yesterday and while peeling them was easy one I did the boiling water dip, getting them off the seed and slicing them wasn't.

We only ended up with two quart jars, although I have enough peaches to make 2-3 more quart jars.  I was getting tired.

And then I made some biscuits from a new recipe I found.  These are all for the freezer and can go straight in to the oven when we want to eat them.

I may or may not have eaten a raw biscuit....

I was as tired as Faith looked