Archives

Hurricane Michael

Oct12

Hurricane Michael was, for us, nothing more than a heavy rain event.  Thank goodness.

I still had the water and packs from Florence, so it was just a matter of getting a few snacks.  This one wasn’t forecast to do nearly as much damage as Florence, and I’ll admit it was hard to work up much concern.  I did feel a bit bad for the chickens, as I had just moved them to their new temporary home a few days earlier, but it was a good test of the sturdiness of the shelter.

We went outside yesterday after the rain eased off.  I keep meaning to buy a rain gauge, but let’s face it, I just use the puddle in the driveway to estimate how much rain we got (it’s deeper than it looks in this picture).

I was absolutely shocked when Sassy started splashing in the puddle.  Jake is my mud dog and Kodiak doesn’t like to get his toes wet.  Sassy’s never shown any interest in the puddle and has, in fact, screamed at Jake for flopping around in it.  I don’t know why, but today was different.  Sassy wasn’t quite as uninhibited with it as Jake often is, but the fact that she got in the puddle at all was amazing.  Maybe she’ll turn out to be a water dog after all…

Wool Dryer Balls

Sep20

I first heard about dryer balls a year or so ago, but I didn’t give them more than a passing thought.  Someone mentioned them to me a few months ago, and since Craftworks was up and running, I figured I’d look into it a bit more.  I discovered that dryer balls are very easy to make and do a wonderful job.  They reduce both the drying time and static electricity.  I haven’t used fabric softener since I started making these.  Since they last a really long time (2-3 years or 1000 loads, depending on who you ask), they’re saving me money in multiple ways.

Making these are easy, but if you’d rather, you can just pop over to Hamlin Craftworks and buy a set – that’s even easier!

I use 100% wool in my dryer balls.  I don’t stuff the middle with old socks or t-shirts like I’ve seen suggested on some sites.  The only thing I occasionally do is, if I can get a really good price on one particular wool, I’ll use that for the center and use the slightly more expensive wool for the outside.  This lets me save a little money and offer a larger selection of colors in the store.

The key is to make sure you’re using 100% wool, not a wool blend, and not superwash.  The blends and superwash wool won’t felt, which dramatically increases your chances of the ball coming unraveled in the dryer and leaving your with a tangled mess of yarn.

These are some of my favorite brands for making dryer balls.  I particularly like the Patons Wool Roving and the Wool Naturals.  KnitPicks is nice for the colors, but the thicker the yarn, the easier it is to felt.  Be aware, just as with any yarn, very dark colors may bleed during the wash cycle.

So, to make wool dryer balls.

1 – Wind the wool into a ball and secure the end.  I like to poke a crochet hook through the ball, grab the loose end, and pull it back through.  Any little tail left over, I just weave in.  I’ve found this is a particularly good way to keep the ball from unraveling.

2 – Place the balls into a nylon stocking and put a knot between each ball.  I’ve found that I can get five balls into a knee high.  Both the stocking and the knot are important because they keep the balls from felting onto your clothes or each other.  Be prepared to lose the stocking, though, as you may end up having to cut the balls out.

3 – Run the balls through multiple loads of laundry, both washing and drying.  It’s best if you can do at least one load with hot water and high heat to dry.  I’ve found that three to four loads works well for me (not to mention it gets my towels super clean).  After the last pass through the dryer, remove the balls from the stocking.  If you’re more skilled (or just luckier) than I, you might be able to untie the knots and gently pull the balls out of the stocking.  I tried that once.  Now I just cut the knots and rip the stockings.  It’s much less stressful.  The more loads you put the balls through, and particularly the more loads with hot water you use, the more the wool will felt, and the more likely it is to stick to the stocking.  It will pull apart, you just have to be patient.

I don’t make exceptionally large balls, so I use six in the dryer.  Fewer would work with most loads, but I’m lazy and don’t feel like having to look around for the extra ball or two if I do a large load of towels.  The six balls live in the dryer – when I pull the dry clothes out, I toss the balls back in so I know they’ll be there the next time I need them.

Hurricane Florence

Sep17

Florence has come and gone (for us, at least) and we’ve made it through with minimal damage, unlike the poor folks in eastern North Carolina.

The chickens were freaked starting on the 14th and spent most of that day tucked up in the front corner of their pen.

On the 15th, the wind really picked up, but by the end of the day on the 16th, the worst had moved through.

Thankfully, we got most of the wind before the rain fell, so at least the ground wasn’t already saturated.  I have a feeling that if it had been reversed, we’d have had a lot more trees down than we did.  We were also super lucky that the bulk of the limbs and trees that came down did so well away from the house, vehicles, fence, and coop.  There were a couple of limbs that came down right beside the chicken pen, which made me glad I’d left their coop door open for them to escape if they needed.  A tree also landed on the back corner of the fence.  I spotted it from the kitchen and was able to move the tree and push the fence back up enough to still be a decent barrier for the dogs.

We were lucky, and I’m grateful for it.

Hurricane Prep 2018

Sep11

With Florence heading our way, it’s time to start prepping.  I’m out in the country and on a well, so I have to make sure the animals and I are good for a few days without power and water.

Took a trip into town and came back with bags of kibble and chicken feed, a few gallons of drinking water, bread for peanut butter sandwiches, and other non-perishable foods that don’t have to be cooked to eat.  And, of course, the all-important hurricane chocolate.  Note to self: save that until Florence actually gets here.

Here at the house, I’ve rinsed out old milk and orange juice jugs and filled them with water to use for washing and flushing, should it be necessary.  I’ll fill tubs and buckets when  we get closer, since those will sit out on the carport and I don’t want to hatch any more mosquitoes than necessary.  I’m moving all the loose items to covered areas and securing as much as possible.  I also have several flashlights, batteries, candles, and matches easily accessible for when the power goes out.

I’m putting together packs for the dogs and cat, just in case we have to relocate temporarily.  Khar gets a bag with kibble, litter and tray, her medical records, and a catnip mousie.  Her carrier is out so she won’t panic and hide if it suddenly appears.  For the dogs, it’s medical records, medications for Kodiak, kibble, jugs of water (we’ll share), and a couple of bouncy balls.  Their crates are already loaded in the van and leashes are hanging by the door.

The pine trees are my biggest concern, and there’s nothing I can do about them.  I’ve heard more than once that the lady who used to live here worried about those trees, especially the ones that are right near the house.  For some reason, nothing was ever done about them when they were still small enough to deal with easily.  Now that they’re huge, the cost of having them cut down is rather prohibitive.

Ah, well.  I’ll do what I can and hope things aren’t too bad.

Interesting note:  This date last year was my first day at the new job, and we had a hurricane hit us.  I’m thinking I should have heeded the warning of the combination of a hurricane and 9/11 as a start date…

If Florence is headed in your direction, here are some good resources for getting prepared:

National Hurricane Center Hurricane Preparedness – Be Ready

ASPCA Disaster Preparedness

HSUS Make a Disaster Plan for Your Pets

Colors!

Aug30

Yay!  The Easter Egger girls are FINALLY starting to lay!  They turned 25 weeks old at the beginning of this week, so it’s certainly about time.  I knew they were late bloomers, but geez.  Now the other two just have to get with the program…

 

 

Clipping Chicken Wings

Jun30

Earlier this year, I decided it was time to start raising a flock of chickens.  I love the taste of fresh, farm-raised eggs.  The dogs do too, as matter of fact.  I found a lady an hour away who sells a variety of chickens when they’re 5 weeks old and ready to go straight into a coop.  I got lucky and snagged a coop on sale (yay, sale!), and put it together the weekend before I picked up the chickens.  As a spur-of-the-moment thing, I also bought a few chicks from Tractor Supply, which I raised in a brooder box in my living room.  I will NOT be doing that again.

Cletus, the lighter ball of fluff in the above picture, is a Naked Neck roo who rules his flock with an iron wing.  I have a Naked Neck hen, three Easter Eggers, two Barred Rocks, two Black Jersey Giants, two Rhode Island Reds, and one Golden Comet.

  

I’d had the older chicks a couple of days when I realized that the coop would quickly become too small for them to be in 24/7, and knew I needed to build a pen.  No worries there – I’ve put up a lot of fencing since I moved to this place.  I got my supplies and the next Sunday morning I started on the fence.  My very first post, I cut the phone line.  Oops…I’d forgotten those wires ran that close to the house on that side.  It took a few days to get everyone out to mark the utilities (and repair the phone line), but within a week, I had a good-size pen built for my little flock.  They were thrilled with the freedom, at first – then they decided it wasn’t good enough.

  

I came home from work one day and found a distressed chicken on the wrong side of the fence.  Okay, no problem, just a one-off.  Nope.  Once that hen started letting herself out, others followed.  After a few days of chasing chickens back into their pen so I could let the dogs out, I gave up.  You want out?  Fine, you’re out.  I started letting the chickens free range during the day and taking the dogs out on leash.  The chickens were happy, but the dogs weren’t.  Then some of the hens started ending up on the wrong side of the 5’ yard fence.  I just kept waiting for one of them to find its way into the dog pen…

I could fix this – I just needed to learn how to clip chicken wings.  I checked online and found some basic instructions.  Clipping wings looked easy enough, and everything I found said to do just one wing so the chicken would be off balance.  Seems reasonable.  Oh, wait…how do I do this by myself?  I only have two hands, and I have to hold the chicken, spread the wing, and clip the feathers, all without hurting the chicken or myself in the process.  Hmmmm…..  I finally found a video that showed a woman hanging a chicken by the feet using a grooming noose, which left her with both hands free to spread the wing and clips the feathers.  Sure, I can do that.  Except it turns out, I couldn’t.

I decided to do it one morning, pulling them one at a time out of the coop.  I tried it first with the easiest of the hens, and that girl just would not relax while hanging upside down.  She was flapping and flailing and doing everything she could to make the job impossible.  Okay, next option.  I managed to very awkwardly hold the chicken on her back, nudge a wing out a bit, and cut one or two feathers at a time.  This method nearly got a few of the hens stabbed with the scissors when they struggled, and left me with several scratches from their toe nails.  But I did manage to get nearly all of them done this way.

Then it was Cletus’ turn.  I’d saved him for near the end because I really didn’t want a ticked off rooster chasing me around the pen.  I used the net to catch him and drag him out of the coop, and as I reached for him, I had a flash of inspiration.  Leaving him on the ground, tangled in the net, I reached in and pulled a wing just past the net’s frame.  With a quick snip, snip, snip, all of his flight feathers were on the ground.  Amazing!  Quick, easy, and no one got hurt!  I did the same with the last three girls in less time than it took me to do any of the other hens.  Why did I not find this suggestion anywhere on the internet?  I mean, really, I can’t be the only person who has to do these sorts of things alone.

So, everyone has a clipped wing, and everyone has stayed safely in the pen since then.  Not to worry, though, they’ll be free ranging again soon enough.  I want to make sure all of the girls know to lay eggs in the nesting boxes (the older girls just started laying, and the younger girls haven’t started yet), and then I’ll work out a schedule that keeps both the chickens and the dogs happy.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Jun18

These three Alpine goat boys joined us in late April and are here until the weather turns cool.  They’ll be heading off to freezer camp in the fall.  Until then, they get to have a cushy life eating grain, hay, and all the scrub they can reach.  They’re clearing a dog training area and new garden space for me this summer.  This was one of the first pictures I took of them – they’ve grown quite a lot since then!  Breakfast is the dark one in the middle, Lunch is the lighter fellow in the back, and Dinner is the bi-color goat on the left.