I do have to say that chickens are not the most intelligent creatures I have ever had the priviledge of working with.  I let mine have free range of the yard from time to time, but it seems near impossible to get them to go back inside.  Farmer said to leave them alone and they will go back in on their own at roosting time, but I don't buy that.  They are quite adept at finding new places to roost, as chickens are curious creatures.  So I entice them back inside with feed...of course.  But a few of them are often behind the coop or off in the side yard.  They know the food is in there, but how to get to it?  They will run, and I do mean run, up and down the side or back or the coop trying ever so hard to figure out how to get inside.  They even jump in the water dishes!  It never occurs to them to walk around to the front of the coop and go inside the very same door they exited from.  I have five tiny bantam chicks that China hatched, though, and they have learned well the little holes they can squeeze in and out of.  Maybe, they lose intelligence as they get older.  Hmmph...don't we all?  My white silkie hen is sitting on one single egg.  She layed some a few weeks ago, but was kicking them around and not sitting on them.  I tried to incubate them, but the leaked.  So I am not sure if she will be able to hatch this single egg.  But time will tell.  I think she's been sitting a week and a half, so I will wait another two weeks before I take her off the egg.  I'd love a little silkie chick, though.  We will see.

Crazy Chicks!!

I have no time to do a lot this afternoon.  I am off to the parent's house for the weekend.  I have drill next weekend I have drill, and Robert will be here two weeks from today!!  I wanted to post something, so I have a few pics of some crazy chickens!  Enjoy, and have a good weekend.

Yellow Ribbon Days

I served in the U.S. Army.  And as is their custom, they provide you with an all-expense-paid trip to any of the war zones they have become involved in.  Well, I joined the army in July of 2001 in order to get money to pay off $50,000 in college loans.  I was in Basic Training on September 11, 2001.  I had just unloaded a truck load of hand grenades with a soldier named Minoya.  I was hearing rumours to the effect of an airplane had crashed and over 10,000 people were dead.  I thought that was a bit of a stretch considering I was unaware of any plane that could carry that many people.  It was about 6 p.m. (New York time) when we were finally briefed on what had occured at the Twin Towers.  Naturally, I was horrified.  I remembered being amazed at the the sky scraping buildings as a small child visiting the Big Apple with family.  My first memories of the buildings was nearly 30 years ago when I first became a NY Giants fan.  What a heart-dropping thought of so many innocent people losing their lives over nothing less than unjustified hatred.  So one event lead to another.  Soon we were in Afghanistan.  Then Saddam was accused of having "WMD's" or Weapons of Mass Destructrion.  My brother got to spend the first year in Iraq from the end of 2002 to the end of 2003.  Then I got to follow in March of 2004.  I was serving with the 27th Main Support Battalion out of Fort Hood, Texas.  But they were restructuring the army to make Brigades deployable without the rest of the division.  So a new unit was formed just to support the 5th Brigade Combat Team (5th BCT).  I was sent to be a part of 515th Forward Support Battalion (FSB).  We deployed with the 1st Cavalry Division.  I was fortunate enough to get chosen to be part of SPO or Support Operations.  So I got an office job with air conditioning in 140 degree heat.  My job was to track parts being shipped from the U.S. and Germany and other countries for repairing our vehicles and other equipment.  As you can see in the pic, I have a head light for an M998 HMMWV Hummer on my desk.  That was my vehicle that I drove a Captain from Kuwait to Baghdad in.  It was the absolute worst year of my life.  It was the first Christmas that I spent away from my family.  Even when I lived in Texas, I traveled to North Carolina for Christmas with my family.  My work day started about 8 a.m. and I was often still at work at 10, 11, or sometimes even past midnight.  It wasn't always because of work.  Oddly enough, I was not afraid of dying or getting killed.  My biggest fears were having to kill someone else or having to die alone.  Several times a week, and at times even daily, we would get attacked with mortars, RPG's or rockets.  But I must say that God was looking out for me.  I spent an entire year over there.  But I got to come home safely to my family and the ones I care about.  And that is my prayer for those still in Iraq and Afghanistan today.  That God will bring them home safely to their families.  SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!!

COURT AND FOOTBALL

What an unpleasant Friday I had.  I got into some trouble last February.  My car insurance got cancelled, and before I could get it reinstated, I got myself a fat little ticket.  To add injury to insult I could not get my vehicle registration because I had purchased the car from a neighbor and her name was still on the title.  They would not let me renew my registration because she owed back taxes to the county.  She had moved, and though I knew the city she moved to, I had no way of getting in touch with her except through her ex (who incidentally was of no value to me).  So I began my court visits in March, asking the judge each time to continue my case, allowing me time to get the situation righted.  My last visit at the end of July I had it all straight, and showed the assistant DA paperwork hoping to get the case dismissed.  It was not.  The judge allowed me one more continuance to figure things out.  I was told be the DA's office that I had no choice but to plead guilty!  UGH!!  The judge assessed a fine on this last visit, Friday, September 18th, and I was set back over $200.00!!  And it gets worse from there.  When I finally got out of court, my truck was as dead as can be.  I had to call my mechanic friend to bring me a battery.  That was another $50.00.  By the time all was said and done it was well after lunch.  So I simply decided not to go into work.  My weekend was not too bad.  Mike and I didn't do much.  We pittered around the house.  I transplanted a small tree that was growing behind my chicken coop.  I'm not sure what it is, but it gets these big white flowers on it in the spring.  I planted it in the front yard at the edge of the driveway.  We also went for a hike through the woods.  There are some trails behind the house that the deer use in order to get to the field to eat Farmer's collard greens.  Of course, last night was Sunday Night Football.  And my favorite team, the New York Giants were playing their arch rivals, the Dallas Cowboys in the Cowboys new multi-billion dollar stadium.  With only four seconds left on the clock the Giants kicked a three point field goal to win the game 33 to 31.  Of course, they should have lost, since the Cowboys quarterback threw  three interceptions and they also fumbled.  All four times the Giants scored off of it.  But what really matters, is that my Giants won the game.  So sorry Dallas.

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!!

I'm not dead!  Really, I feel fine!  I suppose you all thought I had died or something to that effect.  I'm guessing that thought had crossed your mind since I have not been around.  That's not the case at all.  I just have been way busier than I really want to be.  I am still quite busy, to be honest.  That's why I gotta make this post a bit short.  But I will try to fill you in with the short version.  I have been on the truck lately because we had a driver out on vacation.  Filling in on the truck is not my job, but the guy who was filling in cut his hand pretty badly and had to get stitches.  So, I found myself driving a delivery truck last week and this week.   I will be on the truck more this week, as well. Ugh!!  Se la vie! I have sold off a bunch of my chickens.  But I needed to do that because having so many was getting quite expensive.  I have a few eggs in the incubator, but I'm not sure how many will hatch.  I had to take out a few last night because they were bad.  But China is sitting on 10 eggs now.  The eggs in the incubator are due the 19th and China's eggs are due on the 22nd.  I've got a Buff sitting, but not regularly yet.  She sits for most of the day, but roosts at night.  I'm not sure what to do about her. 

I also got some racing pigeons.  I got eight of them, but one got away.  It came back the next day, so Mike thought they all would come back.  He let them all out.  I've only got four left now.  There are three or so that have been flying around and have landed in the yard, but are not going back to their coop.  I think they may be gone forever, and I'm not very happy about that.  But the man I got them from said he'd get me some more if need be.  I will see what happens by the weekend.

Our friend Robert is coming to visit!!  He lives in Texas (about 1500 miles/2400 kilometers).  He will be arriving here in North Carolina  the first week in October.  He was Mike's friend years before I met either of them, but we are good friends now.  He's been there for us through some tough situations we've had to face.  He came to visit a few years ago, but that's a bit too long.  We are certainly looking forward to the visit. 

That's what I got for now.  Hope all is well in Blog Land.  See y'all in a few!!

Free Range

When I got home yesterday Mike and Farmer were in the back yard chatting about chickens.  Farmer is a really nice gentleman in his middle to late 70's.  He is often giving us vegetables from his garden, he gave me wire and string for my green beans in my garden, and last week he gave us crates to transport chickens to the flea market.  When I arrived yesterday we were discussing the price of chicken layer pellets and how much they like to eat.  He was saying that if you let them run around the yard to eat grass and bugs that it can help defray the cost.  I do let them out from time to time, but there is a hawk that has been hanging around for the past weeks.  So I try to only let them out when I can watch them.  They do love to run around though.  And when I'm in the yard they chase me all over the place (waiting for me to feed them, of course).  I had to wrangle up the bantam bitties, though.  Henry suggested it because he let his roam and they got big enough that he couldn't catch them.  He waited till they roosted and they were roosting in the top of a very tall Maple tree.  So that didn't help.  I didn't want to have that situation, so I caught them and pinned them up.  I'll probably sell them at market this weekend, anyway.  China is sitting again on 12 eggs.

Well, it is a holiday weekend, as Labor Day is upon us.  I really don't know what Labor Day is all about.  It is called Labor, but we don't work.  What's up with that?  But I have a three day weekend staring me in the face.  I will be going to market most likely on Saturday morning.  Then in the afternoon I will be heading off to visit my parents, and my father's birthday is on Sunday.  Holiday or not for you, enjoy your weekend. 

AND BINGO WAS HIS NAME-O!!

I got another award!!  I got an award from Becca @ Becca's Dirt!  You guys are so sweet!  Really, you are!  I have been awared the Beautiful Bingo Blog.  I was checking out some blogs the other day that had lots of followers, and I wondered how many people started following and haven't looked at the blog since they started following months ago.  I gotta say, I'm not going to follow a blog if I don't intend to read it.  I may not comment every time, but, trust me, I'm reading.  And enjoying!!  I will share this award with:

Steven @ Steven's Chickens

John @ Going Gently

Amy @ Bubble's Blog

Tracey @ Crafty Scraps

Cal @ Cozy Corner

Odette @ A View From Above

Berte @ River Bend Farm

Thanks Everybody!!  Have a great day!!

MORE CHICKEN CRAP

It seems that there are just never enough hours in a day.  I always have so much more to do than I have time to do it all in.  I did go to the flea market this weekend.  I sold 14 of my chickens.  I sold 6 white leghorns, 4 black sex links, and 4 bantam chicks.  I'm okay on hens right now.  I still need to get rid of some roosters.  I have 5 black orphinton roosters, 1 barred plymouth rock, 1 dominique, 3 bantam, 1 rhode island red, 1 aracona (or whatever it is), 2 silkie roosters, Little Chicken, and 13 young chickens that I haven't sexed yet.  But that's still 14 roosters.  Anybody want a few?  LOL 

I didn't buy anything at the market.  I did look around a little, but I didn't see anything I really wanted at the few booths I visited.  Mike found a guy selling fresh seafood, so we bought some oysters.  Of course, when we got home I was opening the oysters with an oyster knife, like you're supposed to do.  But they were being difficult, and the knife slipped.  It jabbed right into the lower part of my left thumb.  It hurt pretty badly, especially since that's the thumb I broke in four places about three years ago.  It was a small cut, so no need for stitches, but it must've been deep.  My whole thumb went numb, and I could feel pain in my finger tips and wrist.  It's much better now, though.  It really only hurts now when I bump it.

I still don't have a camera.  I'd really like to get one, but I've got too many other demands right now.  Soon, I hope.