1,000 Eggs

Many moons ago, I decided I wanted to eat farm-fresh eggs from my own chickens. And so I got chickens and Eglu in which to house them. The brochure that came with the Eglu assured me that I would recoop--er, recoup the cost of it all by collecting 1,000 eggs.

And so, on July 20, 2009, I added a little egg counter to the side of my blog and began tabulating the eggs as they came in. Since the egg-counting started during the "Out My Kitchen Window" experiment, I thought it only fitting that it ended with a view out my kitchen window, too. Today, this was the view when I finally gathered my 1,000th egg.

There was a brief moment of rejoicing in the Holler as I brought the treasured egg into the house. (And there was a complete lack of emotion from Seth when I mentioned that we had reached 1,000--an eyebrow may have raised and an "Oh?" escaped his lips.)

In the interest of full disclosure, that 1,000 eggs doesn't take into account several things:

1. The money spent on new chickens when my first chickens went to the Great Chicken Coop in the Sky.
2. The money spent on the additions Seth made in securing the coop area over the years.
3. The money I made by selling eggs to Seth's coworkers. (I use the term "I made" very loosely since I never actually saw any of the money Seth got from his coworkers because his "delivery fee," coincidentally, happened to be the same as the amount I was selling the eggs for.)

Nevertheless, I feel a certain sense of accomplishment. I'm not sure what, exactly, I've accomplished, other than retrieving 1,000 eggs from my chickens, but that feeling is there anyway. Hurrah for 1,000 eggs.

Christie's word of the day: Imperious

This past week, Cael was of the opinion that nighttime sleep was overrated. However, his growth spurt seems to be over and he's once again (knock on wood) sleeping for longer stretches during the night. This means that my brain is, once again, beginning to function better (no comments from the peanut gallery, please). Which, in turn, means I  can think about learning another new word courtesy of Agatha Christie. Today's word: imperious

Her voice was imperious. (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe)

Kieran has been saying longer phrases and has begun putting more words together in sentences during the past month or so. One of his favorites is to imperiously demand, "Mommy do it!"

Holler Creatures

We've had a few tiny visitors this past week in the Holler.

The first appeared on the door one evening as I was going out to shut the chickens in their cage.

We took it inside and watched it for a bit and then put it back outside after we showed Daddy when he came home.

He must have liked us because he was still there the next morning. (I've since seen him hanging out on the outside of the kitchen window--he likes us, he really likes us.)

And then Seth rescued this guy from the middle of the road and brought him home to show Kieran. They took him down to the creek and let him go, but the next day, he was back on our doorstep, begging to get in.  

I often wonder what turtle moms think when Seth rescues one of their children. Do they miss him or her? Do they wonder where he went? Do they put out a Turtle APB and call the Missing Turtles hotline? Is there a turtle version of John Walsh that has its own turtle show? Is Seth's picture posted all around Turtle Town, "Wanted Dead or Alive for Turtlenapping"?

Seth isn't fazed by my musings (he's really not fazed by much, actually--except spiders). He believes that what he does is for the greater good of turlemanity. Maybe he's right -- he usually is.

Adventure Bound

This post is courtesy of my sister Kenda who is using me and my blog to enter her creation in a MoJoMonday contest.

I had this adventure card in mind as an idea for a birthday card to give to a friend. I found the mojomonday blog not too long ago and love seeing how others make their cards. I adjusted the layout of this adventure card to fit the contest for this week's layout. Since I don't have a blog of my own to enter it with, my sister was kind enough to let me use hers!

By way of explanation

Several people have recently asked about the raccoon attacks in relation to the Eglu, so I thought I might clear up a few things lest I besmirch the Eglu name.

When I first decided that I wanted to have chickens free-ranging in the Holler, I purchased an Eglu (available here). It's advertised as a predator-proof, easy way to house chickens. And it worked well for quite some time. I dutifully dragged it around the lawn so that the girls would have fresh grass to graze on and, in turn, fertilize the area. And, although I would see little paw prints on the canopy in the mornings, indicating there were coons in the vacinity, they never got to the chickens that were safe inside.

And then winter came. And I decided that the Eglu probably needed to be in a more protected environment. And so I moved it into the end of the building that the former owner of the house used to keep his own chickens. And somehow, over time, the girls decided they didn't want to sleep in the Eglu but wanted to roost on the Eglu. And it became harder and harder to get them to go into the Eglu at night. I'd chase them around, trying to them in, and when I finally got one in, the others would scurry away, and then the one that was already in would get out again. (No, the chickens were not smarter than me -- they were just faster.)

After awhile, Seth finally said, "Just let them roost on it" and began to make the end of the building more secure. It was during this time of securance (?) that the coons have been finding their way into the coop. I believe, however, that after his recent work, the chickens are now safe. I suppose only time will tell if my supposition is correct.  

All that to say, the raccoon raids are not the fault of the Eglu.

Four months

Sometimes it's so hard to choose just one . . . .

A Conversation

A few nights ago, I imagine that a conversation something like this took place deep in the Holler woods at about 3:30am:

Mrs. R: Dear, where is Junior D?

Mr. R: Oh, I decided it was time for him to stretch his wings and go after some wings, if you know what I mean [Mr. R nudges Mrs. R in the ribs]

Mrs. R: You what?!?

Mr. R: I said--

Mrs. R: I know what you said, I just can't believe you said it. Don't you remember what happened the last time you let Juniors A, B, and C do that?

Mr. R: Uh, well, um, refresh my memory.

Mrs. R: Oh, come on -- you're supposed to be a smart animal. Junior A got carted away in that big bug-looking thing and we never saw him again. While Juniors B and C didn't come back after we heard that --

BANG!, BANG!, BANG! [This was Seth exercising his second amendment rights on the raccoon that got into the henhouse]

Mr. R: Oh. That. Yes, er, it's all coming back to me now. . . . So, I, uh, guess we better get started on a replacement for Junior D, eh?

Addendum: No chickens were harmed in the raiding of the henhouse or in the shooting of the one doing the raiding.

By popular demand

Ok, so just one person asked for more pictures of Cael, but I like to think that that one person represents millions. And I like to think that I'm an obliging type of person (of course, I like to think a lot of things about myself -- most of which aren't true). And so, I'm happy to present variations on the theme Pictures of Cael.

 Seth had the camera

 The one moment of happiness during tummy time

 Modeling the 2012 Answers VBS T-shirt

 Apparently he wasn't interested in waiting for us to take him to bed

 Sleeping like a . . . well, baby

A little brotherly love

"You want me to do what?"

They call him The Count

At the yearly evaluation a few weeks ago, one of the questions the therapists asked, to gauge Kieran's cognitive ability, was "Does he understand the concept of one?" Although he's been able to say the numbers 1-10, I wasn't sure he understood what one of something was, so I answered in the negative. However, the very next day, he came to me and said, "Two brushes," and sure enough, he was holding two brushes (two of my make-up brushes, but never mind that part).

Many of the questions they asked weren't really things I had thought about before and didn't really know how to answer and I think I sold him short in several areas. It would have been helpful to have their checklist before they came so that I could think over the questions and topics (although I also understand that giving parents the checklist would probably skew their data in other ways).

At any rate, he's started counting things (a la Count von Count from Sesame Street) and especially enjoys imitating the "ha, ha, ha" laugh that the Count (and his daddy) does.