A busy fall

Once again I find myself apologizing for the long time between postings. I guess the main thing that I can blame for my tardiness is that since late August I have been scrambling to learn a new job (which is really fun, by the way) and it is taking up quite a bit of what used to be extra time. I'm feeling fairly confident now and can focus on silly stuff like this blog!


Frank was out early one morning feeding apples to the horses and donkeys and saw this beautiful spider web covered with dew. I'm particularly curious about this one, as 1/2 of it is attached to the electic fence which is quite hot. Are spider webs not conductive? Or maybe they are and the spider is employing a little extra help? And what about that spider? Can't he feel the surge every second or so?


Then I saw this picture and the way Frank took it and thought of that spider thinking..."hmmmm, maybe I'll catch the BIG one!"


It is starting to feel a little bit like fall, especially with the chilly mornings. You can see here our inside pets doing what they do best on mornings like this. I swear they wait until Frank and I get up and they take over. With Sandy getting so old now, this is usually where she can be found most of the day after her walk with Frank in the morning.


How many new baby chickens can you fit in a nest box? Apparently only 4 with one cranky one stuck outside! It is hard to talk about, but we have had an illness going through our flock that is still really bringing some hens down, but we haven't lost anyone (yet). They are on some antibiotics in their water and hopefully we've turned the corner. The good news is that none of these new babies have been seriously affected. We're not getting any eggs now, and with the days getting shorter, we don't have much hope for eggs this winter until these new girls start laying in the spring. Good thing we have a new neighbor with 50 hens who is selling eggs. I just don't think I could ever buy store eggs again.

Well, I'm off for my annual trip to Grass Valley, California for a draft horse show. I have rented an RV so I can stay on the grounds and I am taking my new truck on its first road trip to Sacramento with all the stuff I need to have camping for almost a week. The forecast is for HOT, so I'm packing for that! I'm also taking my camera, so I should have lots of fodder for new blogs when I get home!

Five new girls!

Well, Frank and I had a little adventure today to go pick up a few new pullets (young female chickens that haven't laid eggs yet) to add to our aging flock. I found a lady on Craig's List who had some Barred Rocks, the same breed as the hens I lost this summer and wanted to replace, so we agreed to meet in the Seattle area for the hand-off. Of course, since we were down there anyway, we had to get some Dim Sum at our favorite place in the International District, but by 10:30 am we were at the designated spot to meet our new girls.


Well, we didn't actually get to see our new girls until we got home as they were in a cardboard box! So when we got home, we let all our existing chickens out to free-range, and we locked them out of their coop/run so we could let the new young girls out. They were happy to get out and eat some scratch and peck at the corn and cucumbers I put out for them. Shown below is one of the beautiful new girls! I really missed having barred rocks on the farm.


Lovely Laurel the chicken lady gave me an extra pullet!! The paler colored one is called a Cuckoo Maran and they lay chocolate colored eggs! I have always wanted one so this is a wonderful treat! In this picture you can see all five of the new girls (one is hidden behind the maran). They are already having a good time running around and pecking at stuff. It'll be interesting to see how the first time free-ranging goes! Hopefully they'll stay in the security of the coop and run for a few days when the others go out.


I just wanted to provide a little update on how much the baby chicks are growing! They are only 9 weeks old today and they look and act so mature already! Here is what I think is the only pullet on the left and a little rooster on the right. The little rooster pictured at the top of this post by my truck is a cocky little guy that we call "Neck Stretcher" because of how he challenges all the other chickens. We also refer to him as "Stew Pot" as that's where he's probably going to end up if he keeps up with his bullying behavior.


Luckily, there is another little rooster we call "The Peacemaker" who is so kind and intervenes any time he sees any of his hatch-mates acting agressively. I told him he can stay if he keeps up that nice behavior. He's the one at the top of the picture below. The chicken in front of him 'might' be a pullet because of some characteristics I'm NOT seeing on her. Keep your fingers crossed.


All in all it was a great day to get new chickens. We also brought up 10 pullets from this same farmer for another person in the Arlington area to save them a trip down. He got some buff orpingtons and some Rhode Island reds; both great layers of big brown eggs. So between us we increased the chicken population of Snohomish County by 15 new hens. May they all live long and produce many eggs!

Bad Jayne

I am so sorry that I have not posted to our blog lately! Things have been a little crazy, with going on vacation in San Diego, then coming home and having my mom visit for a week and then getting ready for school to start. Please be assured that everyone here on the farm is good and we are enjoying the end of our summer weather. Katie, below, is especially enjoying lounging around outside in spite of getting pecked once in a while by a baby chicken who doesn't know better!


The main thing that is taking up our time is the beginning of school for our online teaching jobs. I was hired by the same company (Insight Schools) that Frank worked for last year, to teach English. I was assigned to teach American Literature to Juniors, which is great, but I haven't taught literature for a while, so I am studying and preparing for the course as fast as I can so to stay ahead of them! On top of that is all the record keeping and student contact that needs to happen at the beginning of the school year. I have met so many really neat students so far; it's been wonderful! I think I'm really going to like this new way of teaching.


Blogs coming soon will feature our new chickens (that we are running down to Seattle tomorrow to get) that we need to replace the ones that died this summer; harvesting and putting up some of the bounty from our garden; and we will also be talking about our new bikes (that we bought after renting the same kind on vacation, twice!). So stay tuned for updates about the happenings at Red Pony Ranch, hopefully coming soon!

See Jayne Go

See Jayne. See Jayne and Frank. Jayne and Frank have had a crazy summer. Jayne and Frank need a vacation. See Jayne and Frank get on an airplane and go to San Diego. Jayne and Frank will be eating lots of real mexican food and seeing animals at the zoo. Jayne and Frank will have five lovely days together in the southern California sun! Bye!

All that silliness aside, I just wanted to do a quick update to the blog because I won't be posting now for at least a week. Everything is fine here. The little chicks have integrated well into the big girl's coop and one is even trying to crow already. I got the running boards installed on my truck, but while they were doing it they dented the door a little. Of course they'll fix it, but not until I get back and get an appointment with the body shop. Frank and I are BOTH busy gearing up for our on-line teaching jobs; Frank with math and I in English (American Literature).

While we are gone a good friend is staying in the house and taking good care of everybody, and our regular animal sitter will be helping out as well, so people will be in and out here more than when it's only us here at home. It is very comforting to know we've got such good help taking care of all our precious animals here at home. See you in a week or so!

Truck's First Bath by Guest Blogger Frank

For years Jayne has wanted a new truck, and last month, she found the PERFECT truck, a 2009 GMC Sierra that had EVERY option that she was looking for, including being a two wheel drive, which is important because with me at 51, and Jayne at well, I really shouldn't share her age - suffice it to say that right now I am four years older than her and on November 7th I will be three - are a tad bit long in the tooth to go mudding, so a two wheel drive is perfect for us. "Why don't we buy it," I queried. And Jayne, having found the truck of her dreams gave me a totally logical answer as to why we shouldn't buy it: because it's white. Of course. Pass on the truck of your dreams because it's white. That, of course, made little sense to me, and so we purchased Truck and he is indeed a most excellent addition to our family.


So, we actually used Truck as a working truck yesterday and hauled some hay. Jayne, having fallen deeply in love with Truck suggested that I bathe him. And look how dirty he is! I can tell you with absolute certainty that everything I own, including my own body, has been 10 times dirtier than Truck is in this picture and I still didn't wash it. Oh, well, if Jayne wants me to wash Truck, wash Truck I will do.


Actually, here is a close up of the HUGE mess that Truck got into. Bad, bad Truck; no wonder you need a complete and total detail job both inside and out!


So, of course, we can't just wash Truck with any old swill that is out there, so we laid out for some fancy materials to make sure that the old boy was completely comfortable while being bathed. I especially like the micro fiber mitt that is so soft it could be used to pat your baby's bottom.


This is the old swill that we have used on every vehicle we have ever owned. And as for the Dawn, biologists used it to get the oil off of birds that have stumbled into a spill. It's obviously very good stuff, but not good enough for Truck!


So, we're driving home yesterday and Jayne noticed three specks of dust on the dashboard. "When you clean Truck tomorrow, will you please wipe down the dashboard with something besides water?" "Like Armor All?" I ask helpfully. "Absolutely not! That stuff destroys the vinyl, eventually. We'll never use that stuff on Truck!" And so imagine my surprise when Jayne shows up with Armor All. "Hey, Jayne, didn't you say..." "I was talking about the spray, not the wipes. The wipes will be fine." Now, I'm not a chemist, but I kinda think that the liquid on the wipes is the same as the liquid that you spray on, so if one will destroy your dash, then there is a real good possibility that other will too. Oh, well, I'll see my friend Deanna Vaughan - who IS a chemist - in about three weeks and ask her all about this.


And here is Truck, all nice and clean! Please compare this to the second picture in this blog to see what a difference a nice bath makes.


More evidence that Truck did indeed get a bath.


So, here's the deal with Truck and the lessons he can teach us. Jayne, who really is the love of my life and completes me in all ways despite the fact that I have had a whole lot of fun teasing her in this blog, has always wanted a truck; she's also always wanted horses. She's waited, well 51 minus 4 years for this to happen, but it finally did happen. Moral of the story? Don't give up on your dreams. Ever. I love Truck because my wife loves Truck, but also love him because he will remind me for a good long time that I should never give up on a dream, no matter how out of reach it seems. You shouldn't either.

Fun on the farm!

Boy, has it been a whirl-wind summer! Seems like Frank and I are always coming or going! We just ended a lovely visit with Frank's brother Jim and his bride Mary. We got to spend some quality time with them (I had never met Mary before), part of which was during a short trip to Victoria, which was beautiful and enchanting as always. Back here on the farm, we introduced those city folks to the joys of rural living. This included giving the watermelon rinds to the horses and donkeys. They love to see us coming with that green plate full of sweet treats for them!


A big milestone on the farm today was that the little white chicks ventured outside for the first time at the ripe age of 5 weeks old. I had been letting them out to roam the barn the last few days, but frankly, I was getting tired of them leaving little chick poopies all over the place, so I'm ready for them to move out of the barn. Here they are being fascinated by food that actually moves (a bug!). They figured out quite quickly that moving food is tasty!


I could not have asked for a better momma hen. She has been so good at teaching them all they need to know and they are surprisingly obedient when she calls or warns them. Here she became alert to something in the yard and one of the chicks made sure to look too.


The chicks kind of crept out of the barn in little groups today, so I wanted to show you that there are indeed still 5 chicks. I THINK there are two roosters and three pullets, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that outcome. One of the little roosters sounded like he was choking this morning so I looked at him to see if he was OK, and he was actually trying to crow! What a funny little guy! So far our resident rooster, Colonel Sanders, has made contact with the chicks and he has not shown any signs of aggression at all. Let's hope it stays that way for a while and until I decide what to do with these two unnecessary boys.


Two of my neighbor kids came over today (the girl is also my excellent farm sitter) to just hang out, so we got to work shredding some of the excess zucchini from my garden. My friend Ange told me that if I froze them in three cup bags, that once they thawed and the water is poured out, that would leave me with the two cups of shredded zucchini that most recipes call for. So that's what we did. We got 6 packages to freeze and with the two cups left over we quick whipped up a chocolate zucchini cake that we took to a cookout at their house the same evening. They had fun getting their friends and neighbors to try the chocolate cake they made but didn't tell them it had zucchini in it. It's a good cake and I managed to save one piece for Frank when he gets home from Boise this evening.


I'm having so much fun with my new truck! It actually sent me an email the other day telling me I had only 32 pounds of pressure in one tire when it should be 35. Too funny! It also has a voice activated phone in there: I just say DIAL and then the number and it takes care of it! Talk about hand's free. So now I can still say I don't have a cell phone, but I do have a cell truck!

We have one more get-away (to San Diego) this summer before we hunker down and get to work at our respective jobs. The same on-line high school that Frank works for hired me to teach two classes of English. (This should eliminate the need for me to substitute teach for anyone except my favorites.) Gotta love a job you can do in your jammies! Needless to say, there won't be any pictures of that!

Visitors and Anniversary!!

We are having a wonderful time with our visitors from Illinios...Frank's brother and sister in law, Jim and Mary. One of the things our guests wanted to see was some mountains up close, and since Frank and I hadn't yet been up to Mount Baker, we drove up there yesterday. Wow, was that a beautiful drive and the scenery was breathtaking!! The Mount Baker Highway actually takes you around to the east side of Mount Baker, which is an approach we had not ever seen as our views of the mountain had always been from the south or west.


There were other snowy peaks around this area, as well as many green meadows and majestic pines below the tree line. We think we even spotted a small herd of mountain goats in the distance. It was a beautiful day and it was even a little warm after doing some hiking around Artists Point.


On a side note, this coming Saturday is our 17th Anniversary and Frank bought me a really big present. We drove it up to Mount Baker as we weren't sure our old van would be up to the task. It performed great and we enjoyed playing with all the toys in there. Thanks, Honey, for 17 wonderful years and for my new truck!

Today we're sticking fairly close to home with a tour through Frank's school and a drive to a cute nearby town followed by lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Tomorrow is a Seattle day, and then we're off to Victoria for a few days. We're having a great time but it seems like time is going by way too fast. I'll update again this weekend.