Are you a crazy chicken lady? & Various ramblings

Yesterday morning as I was leaving for work, I was in quite a contemplative mood. I began to wonder what makes for a crazy chicken lady/man.?! Is it when you start to sing Tom Jones' songs to your favorite chicken? Like my personal favorite "What's new Phoebekins- whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa..." LOL

Another classic sign of a crazy chicken lady is having not one but, two baby monitors hooked up at all times in the chicken coop, to make sure no predators are present. Yet another sign of the ever growing craziness is having your chickens names on your address labels and Christmas cards. And instead of sending out photo's of your children to friends, you send them photo's of your chickens. Judging by, my own standards, I'm as chicken crazy as a loon!

More craziness of my own is knowing when to put my sweet Big Momma (photo above) back in with the other girls. After nursing her back to health the last couple of weeks, I've grown very attached to her. Usually, she was a very independent and quiet hen. Since she's been in the house in her hospital cage, she has taken on quite the lovie dovie personality. I've began to call her LovieKins as well as Big Momma. If she wants a scrambled egg she will make the sweetest little whines. She wants one at 5:30 am, 1:00 pm and 5:30 pm. After she eats at 5:30 pm, I clean her cage. Then she takes her usual after eating nap. Her feathers are nearly all grown back in & looking pretty good. Tho, she looks to be molting off one primary wing feather. Her comb is slowly getting red again. I've had her off the antibiotics and nutri-drench for about a week. I hate to put her back in the coop, as I know she'll have to take the hazing of Weezy, Tootie and Sylvia. The other girls pretty much will leave her alone. I think I will leave her in the cage for another week inside the coop to help the girls get used to her. I just don't want her to go back down hill again with the stress of getting put back in the coop. Not only that I will miss the little sweetheart!

Tony cat is 16 years old and he has tender lungs. When it gets snowy and dry here he starts sneezing jags. I've been running the vaporizer and humidifier for him. It worked almost immediately. Since he's a Senior Citizen Feline, he's more prone to little colds and allergies. Luckily, I have an excellent Vet. They see my cat and my chickens. I take my animals to Dr. Plante & Dr. McMahon at North Country Animal Clinic.

I've been trying to figure out what kind of dessert to make for Christmas dinner. I'd like to have 3 desserts. One cheesecake, perhaps a cranberry/apple pie and some kind of cake. We're having our Christmas get-together after Christmas. Working for the USPS, I will have Christmas day off, then have to be back at work on Friday and Saturday. So, if I can get the day off Monday I'll have our big dinner on the Sunday after Christmas. My Postmaster hasn't gave me an approved leave slip yet, so I probably won't know for sure that I can have it off until the last minute. Ugh!! How I do hate having to work outside the home sometimes!!! Only 23 years until I can retire! Or I can quit and move to Arkansas and become a full time homesteading housewife and beef farmer. I've been praying about it. In this economy it's a scary choice to make, especially since my job pays a living wage.

Does anyone have any stories or experience going from a good job to not working outside the home? How's it working? What did you have to change economy wise? How does raising your own garden cost wise compare to grocery store prices? I'd be very interested in seeing other women's stories in this area. One thing I worry about is that my husband is 25 years older than me. If he passed on, do I have to wait until I am 62 to collect on his Social Security? If I lost Eric's income and I was a housewife, I couldn't make it on minimum wage that's for sure. I'd need his Social Security. Anyone know the rules on this? I guess I worry too much :O)

Anyway, I'm getting droopy eyes... good night everyone.

Closing verse Bible verse:

Song of Solomon 8:6

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. (NIV)

Back to life...back to reality...

Well, we're back home. All the chickens are doing well and Tony cat is very happy that we are back. The photo you see to the left is of one of the numerous Maple trees in my grandma's yard. The weather in Arkansas while we visited was gorgeous! We missed the big 12" snow in Northern NY...yeah!!!!

We had great time. I met my nephew Hayden for the first time. He's a cutie pie. He's 4 and quite a loving child. He threw his arms around me and grandma when we went to visit him. I wish I lived closer so I could see him often. Also I saw my niece Madison who's almost 4. She such a sweetheart and very bossy! It's a family trait- so my hubby says! Grandma is doing pretty well. We've decided to move down there. I hate to quit my job but, it's getting to where she really needs us to help her out. Lots of prayers and planning will have to be done before we pack up. We'll probably have to leave the house vacant while trying to sell it. It probably will be easier to sell then anyway.

On the chicken front Phoebe is limping a bit. I let the girls out today for awhile after it rained and Cluckster and Girl were picking on Phoebe and I think she must have hurt her leg. So I put her and Scroungey back in the chicken tractor for the day. She seemed to be walking a bit better tonight on the way to the roost.

When Eric went to pick-up our mail that was being held at the post office it was in a big box. I still haven't gone through it all! I've read all the letters, opened the bills, etc. I still have the magazines to go through tomorrow. Well, I'm off for the night.