BLUE MOON!

Remember we have a BLUE MOON New Year's Eve!  Check out the post on this blog:

http://joansastrology.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-years-eve-blue-moon.html

This gives a good description of a Blue Moon!  I'll be out watching for it instead of reveling! 

I STILL have a chicken!

I ran out to the farm this afternoon after work to check on my gopher traps and my little chicken. She's still there!  I was afraid that she'd leave or that some varmint would gobble her up, but she's still there.  I decided if she was, then I would go to the feed store and get some scratch. So I did!  When I got out to the farm today, I think she was glad to see me, OR more than likely, she recognized the scratch sack! Regardless, she came a'runnin' right up to me.  I scattered scratch for her and she started gobbling  it up.

Here she is again eating her scratch.  One of you posted yesterday that she needed a name. I know all of you chicken keepers have named your hens, so I decided she should have a name.  I thought and thought and here's what I came up with -

My niece, who's 16, makes fun of me all the time for my Texas country accent and country ways. She was teasing me mightily over the holidays at mom's house and she gets a real kick out of some of the stuff I say - the words, the phrases and the hick way I talk. SOOOO,  guess what I named my chicken?  JACI !  I think that's very appropriate to name my chicken after my niece after all the grief she gives me!  I sent her a message on her facebook & a picture of her namesake and I'm waiting for her to respond and see what she thinks!

I did get another gopher over the last couple of days - now the count is up to 16.  Found a couple of new mounds in the front yard, so I got my traps out again. I didn't think I'd see any more of them until the weather warmed up a little.  I guess this one was stupid. I told 'em all that they could stay out in the pasture, just don't come in the yard. He can't say I didn't warn him. Must've been a crazy teenage gopher.

I have lots of raking to do. The catalpa trees have finally dropped all their foot-long bean pods and there are thousands of them laying all over the yard. It's quite a job to get them all cleaned up especially when we have 7-8 of these giant trees around the yard at the farmhouse. Oh well - raking's good exercise.

Back to work this week. Been playin' catch-up. I'll probably get my tree down this weekend and get all the Christmas stuff put up.  Ya'll take now, ya hear?  And do keep those gowns down!

I'M OFFICIALLY A CHICKEN FARMER!!!

Well, sort of... 

See, we were out at the farm today shootin'.  Got new guns. Me, Dad, Tony, and Adam.  Dad had to sight in some new scopes on his deer rifles. We had a coupla new handguns to practice on so we set up some targets down towards the pond so we wouldn't shoot anybody over the next hill.

SOOO, anyway I was walking up to the house and I heard some "...paawwwk..." sounds in the front flowerbed where my rose bushes are. I thought it sounded like a chicken. Upon closer inspection, I discovered it WAS a chicken - a cute, scraggly little hen - I don't know what kind, some of you will have to tell me. She was a little shy, she'd come out of the bushes and come near, but I couldn't touch her. I don't know where  she came from.  We have distant farms around but not anywhere near that a chicken would want to venture as far as our farm.

I had some dried corn and lettuce and some dried oatmeal that I threw out for her. She seemed to like it, and she was also scratching around for bugs and stuff and pecking little weeds.  I put out a bowl of water for her and she immediately got herself a drink and went back to scratching.  She looked a little thin to me. She's got a good hiding place in the middle of all the rose bushes, but it might get cold. I figured she was probably a free ranging chicken so she was probably used to being out in the weather somewhat. But I had an old bushel basket which I turned on its side and put a bunch of hay in it for her. She wouldn't let me catch her. I'll go check on her after work tomorrow or the next day. I really hope a hawk or owl or dog doesn't get her. She's far away from home, wherever that is. I don't know what else to do for her. She'll probably be ok if she'll stay up close to the house where she is. If she hangs around for a few days, I'll stop by the feed store and get some scratch and see if there's a better shelter to be had for her at the farm.

Do people drop chickens off at country homes like they do dogs and cats? I wonder.... I hope she makes it! If she does, and if she stays at our farm, then I'm officially in the chicken business!  I've been wanting chickens for so long, but haven't been able to have them since we're not there every single day. Maybe she's telling me that it's time to have chickens or it's time to move out the farm permanently?  Only the chicken knows!

O HOLY NIGHT

HERE IS THE REAL REASON WE CELEBRATE ---  Jesus.
Just wanted to wish you all my dear friends the Merriest of Christmases!

Merry CHRIST-mas!!!

You might have seen this making the forwarded email rounds, but it gives me great sadness to know that alot of it's TRUE...

*Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holidays !*

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Christ is The Reason' for the Christ-mas Season!