Snowy Monday

<— Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful! And just so you know, I’m not fat.  I’m really big boned.

(He weighs 30 lbs.  He’s always been a big boy but not this big.  He ate a piece of embroidery floss.  It was literally stuck from one end to the other and acting like a saw in his intestines.  Since having intestinal surgery to remove the string his digestive system hasn’t been quite right. He’s gained 10 lbs but his eating habits haven’t changed.)

Oh that’s just not nice!  Taylor saw this and said, “Then he has jelly bones!”

I made two trips out to do morning chores. Because of the storm I was going to leave all of the birds in. Not long after I finished and came into the house the clouds parted and the sun came out. I let the birds out until it started to snow around 11:15 am. The chickens and turkeys have the last two pumpkins to keep them occupied while they’re closed in.

I spent a few hours on MNN this morning. Tomorrow’s issue is fantastic. In case the guy at Pioneer Wireless is right and the snow does knock out my internet connection (it never has before) I wanted to have it ready to go. If necessary I can call Kirk in the morning to publish for me. I’ve been very happy with my internet right up until the cable was sliced. It didn’t work well the day after it was fixed. If it’s wet out I have a hard time getting online. I called to ask for a tech to repair the problem. Instead, the person I spoke with said he would like to send someone out to uninstall all of the customers in my area because our service is poor. Hello? We’re not complaining. I bet he wasn’t a marketing or communications major. Can’t imagine he works in sales either. I can download at 200kps. That’s a heck of a lot better than the 28.8 I moved up from. I don’t care if this one particular person in the office is happy with my signal. I’m happy and I’m paying for it. I’ll stop now. Let’s talk about birds.

I mentioned farm decisions and then never got back to telling them. I’m over wintering 11 bourbon red turkeys. Food has gotten too expensive to do this again. Tom and Jake will stay. One hen is going to be butchered. She’s never been quite right. I think she probably didn’t hatch quickly enough and is a little brained damaged due to a lack of adequate oxygen. Two hens are going on seven years old. They’ll make fine soup. I’ll choose the three best mothers. The other two hens and all of this year’s poults will be sold.

And then there’s the ducks. I’m refusing all requests for ducklings. There will be no ducklings this year. I’m cutting back to a a few specific drakes. I’ll keep all of the hens. The wild mallards will be leaving in the spring. If I have to call IF&W for permission to transport them or come get them that’s what I’ll do. I hope they leave on their own and save me some work.

I made two loaves of whole wheat bread this morning using freshly ground hard red wheat berries. I finished rising and is baking now. I took pics for a cooking lesson another day.

I’m going to go pour myself a cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee from New England Coffee. It’s my new bad habit. I even bought a four cup maker so that I can make just one respectable sized mug instead of a whole pot I wouldn’t stay out of. Then I’m going to start working on a succession planting chart. btw, the seed order for Fedco is finished. I’m putting it into a spread sheet. When it’s finished I’ll upload it so that you can see what I’m growing this year. I cut down the number of varieties by 30%.