We put a light out in our chicken coop about a week and half ago in order to provide the chickens with enough "daylight"  that they would maybe start laying eggs. The weather here has been pretty bad this week- it's cold and there's a lot of snow for Seattle- so I wasn't checking for eggs because I was thinking that the chickens would be using all their energy to stay warm. I went out to the coop this afternoon to close the windows with another storm hitting tonight, to keep the chickens out of the wind and snow. When I opened the coop door to make sure that the chickens were all settled in, I noticed that, sitting in a little pile of shavings on the coop floor, was a small brown egg. One of the Buff Orpingtons was pecking at it but it was unaffected from the pecking. I was so excited because the egg wasn't expected at all.

After rushing the egg into the house and calling Jared at work to inform him of my find, I went out and opened up two of the four nesting boxes and filled them with timothy hay. Thea's chicken, Sally, was acting like she was making a nest in the corner of the coop so provided the power doesn't go out tonight, we may have some eggs in the morning. Hopefully we'll be able to open up all the nesting boxes by the end of the year because all the chickens will be laying with some regularity. It seems that we've been feeding them well because the shell of the egg appears to be strong and intact.

It's interesting that this egg would arrive today as it was exactly a week ago that we had to put Jared's Blue Laced Cochin hen, named Dinner, to sleep because she had vascular sarcoma in her right leg. It was so tough especially because she was only 6 months old and had never laid an egg because she was too sick and had to spend a lot of time at the vet with the hope that we could save her.

I wonder if every chicken owner gets this excited when their hens lay their first egg?

 Check this out http://seattlefreeschool.googlepages.com/. For those of you that live in Seattle and want to learn something new or would be willing to facilitate a class this is the place to go! Sophie and I attended a food preservation class the other night and this coming week I'll learning about keeping chickens in the city. There is also a class on beekeeping at the end of the month that I plan to sit in on; then there's cheese and soapmaking (separate classes).  The best part is all the classes are in fact, FREE! I may even facilitate a class or two since I know how to sew and plan a funeral (separate classes).

As I stated above, I've decided to keep chickens for (brown) eggs. We can keep up to twelve for the land space we have however I think that's a little much to start out with. I found a man in Queen Anne to build me a coop- it's going to be stunning- and I've fallen in love with the looks of the  Partridge Wyandotte however they aren't easy to come by so I'm going to have to do a little searching. Jared suggested I hit the State Fair this year in order to take an up close look at the hens and talk with their owners. This isn't a process one should take lightly so I'm reading a lot of books and doing a lot of research on the internet about keeping chickens.


If things go well with the chickens, I may consider pygmy goats in the future. Their milk is great by itself or for use in making cheese or soap. Jared says one thing at a time, we still have a lot of work to do around the house- like years worth.

The garden has been started- the sod has been pulled up and given away and now we are leveling the dirt off and getting ready to add some luscious compost from our yard in order to cut down the clay a little. We'll be planting corn, pole beans, roma tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, peas, pickling cucumbers, strawberries, pumpkin, and several types of lettuce and peppers- from red bell to Thai spicy.  We also have some herbs to plant- basil, oregano, and dill. As an aside, I've added some photos of the flora in our yard up on Flickr. So pop over and take a look when you have a moment.

With all this planting and yard work going on, I've decided to submit an application for the WSU Extension Master Gardener's Program for 2009. The application period and classes for 2008 are already over with so I'll wait patiently until August 1st for the new applications to come out and then submit one right away. I printed off the 2008 application so I could practice the essay questions and have everything ready to go for the new application. 

While the weather forecaster predicted HOT weather here in Western Washington for the weekend, feeling some sun and warmth actually feels GOOD! I spent almost all of yesterday working in the yard weeding and cleaning things up. We ate dinner outside on the patio last night and it was just lovely.

When Jared and I were standing on our front porch last night we noticed that we can see the Olympic Mountains pretty well. We can see a sliver of the Cascades from the backyard too. Jared mentioned that if we ever go ahead and put a loft in, we'll have perfect mountain views in both directions.

We're off to the WA State Archives on Monday to research our home and see it's history. There will be photos from 1937 on, even though our house was built in 1912, and will make note of every building change to the house. We'll get to see who originally built the house and how much land it sat on and whose owned the house since. I have a feeling we're only the third set of owners. We can even order copies of the 1937 photos of the house, which I hope to frame and eventually hang in our living room. 

I love my little farmhouse.

We've moved all of our belongings to our new house and the rental house has been throughly cleaned- the cleaning took 5 hours because I don't want the landlord to have any reason not to give us our deposit back. The garage is full of boxes and other crap, the basement is full of boxes and other crap. The dogs and cats are very high energy right now- Max won't stop digging along the fence line to try and get to the dogs on the other side of the fence. I've had to break down and buy him a shock collar to get him to stop digging. Dachshunds are notorious for being stubborn and I think this is the only way to get Max in line. The collar is a last resort. 

I'm exhausted, Jared's super exhausted, and the girls are crazy crabby which I assume means they're exhausted too. The house is a mess- I have yet to cook a meal because I'm not sure that the 50+ year old range even works right and my new range (YAY!!!!) won't be delivered until Saturday. At least the washer and dryer are here and in good working order.... so long ancient appliances!  

Now the real work begins- there are a million little things that need to be done to the house, the yard needs to be mowed, flowers need to be planted and a garden needs to be started. I also need to get a clothes line up and help Jared get the gutters cleaned and get insulation into the crawl space underneath our bedroom. I'm also supposed to start a new job in less than two weeks- downtime is no longer an option.

After growing my hair out for about 5 or 6 months, I cut it all off- short- yesterday because it was driving me insane. When I came into work today, one of my male co-workers said I look like a boy and should grow my hair out long because it's sexy and would please my husband. Apparently, all women are supposed to have long "sexy" hair. 

I guess this co-worker doesn't know my husband at all; I'm surprised he didn't tell me to get breast implants too, so I could please my husband with some big breasts to go with that long hair; I can hear aRseN vomiting right now. 
I guess my co-worker doesn't get that not all men want a woman with long hair.

It's interesting to me that men usually comment that my hair is too short when I cut it all off but women always compliment me on how cute it looks and how they wish they could wear their hair like mine. What does that tell you?

I was also told today that my haircut makes me look young, which is very appropriate since I have a birthday in less than two weeks.

I suppose I could update in gorey detail but frankly I don't want to spend a lot of time on that. Things are happening, life is good. 

I'm feeling the effects of a gloomy winter; I long for the warm sun and having the windows open in the house to feel the sea breeze blow.

I am now certified as a Hospice Volunteer specializing in patient care; I'll be assigned my first patient in about two weeks.

Sophie has her 10th birthday on Sunday; I'll have no more children with a single digit age. Only 8 years until Sophie turns 18, image that.

Check out my photo a day blog for more insight into the daily goings on of my life, I think maybe I capture my life better in photos than in words.

I never expected that this could happen at my job- apparently it was quite a scene.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/324956_cemetery26.html

I thought it was warm out today until I had to take some paperwork downstairs to the crematory. Damn, it feels like hell down there with both retorts running full blast. There are these little windows at the opposite ends to of the retort doors where you can peek in and see the cremation in process, its like a car accident- I cannot tear my eyes away. I've only had a chance to catch a glimpse of cremations about an hour or more into the process, so its mostly bones and muscle that remain. Someday, I'd like to see a cremation from the beginning, I think it would be a good education for me.

We are going to be doing some traveling this summer and I need music suggestions for my iPod. I'll take anything you've got, so make your lists as long, obscure, and eclectic as you can. Though I already have 1,000+ songs on my iPod, I feel like I get bored of the same 'ol, same 'ol and need to change it up. So, help a girl out if you can!

Thanks!

After spending over 3 hours dealing with traffic this morning, I was able to pick Elsa up at a vet in Everett and get her to her new home. She is tired, a little shaky, and cold, which I contribute to her being so damn thin. When I picked her up this afternoon, I couldn't believe how skinny she really is. It looks so terrible to me that I started crying once I got her home. It literally makes my heart hurt to see what was done to her. As soon as she is feeling a little better and has had a chance to get adjusted to our home, I'm taking her in for a full vet exam. She needs her nails trimmed and her ears smell like they could have an infection, along with a bunch of other things I don't know about. I know it's going to take some time to get her little dog body healthy again, if it ever was to begin with. I was calling Max loudly this afternoon and she seemed spooked by the tone of my voice, which makes me think that she was more than just starved but that she was also abused in other ways. Why on earth would someone do something so awful to a helpless animal?