KaWoosh!

So, tonight we were flushing water lines...getting ready for peeps again tomorrow.  This task is an easy one for me.  In fact, this was the ONLY thing Rod ever let me do before we were married, and that was only one time.  What my job is...so everyone knows...I stand at the one end of the chicken floor, standing by the water lines.  When Rod says "ok..1" I open the water line...which is just turning a little lever thing.   When he says to close it, I do.  Hard, huh?  Ok...very easy, but still an important part.  Otherwise he would have to keep walking from one end to the other end over and over...there are 4 waterlines on each floor.  It doesn't take long with two people, and I rather enjoy the easy, no thinking job.

I was just thinking tonight as we were doing this, that I would blog about it, but it seemed like such a boring entry.  I mean really....."I turned on the water lines, and then I turned them off."  real exciting.

 I guess God heard my thoughts. :) (as He always does..so be careful what you think about!)  Anyway, as we were starting the second round of this, Rod as usual said to turn on 1 and 2.  So I did.  I turned on 1, and turned to turn on 2.  Then.....KAWOOSH!!  I looked back and saw a gusher of water coming out of line 1...and Rod was at the clear other end.  I was smart enough, though, to know this was not good...hehehe  Quickly I went back over to the line and turned it off...thinking that would be it...nope.  It wasn't gushing anymore, but water was still coming out.  Meanwhile, Rod is saying, "turn on number 2"  I realized he didn't know it was gushing.  So I yelled, "Number 1 exploded!"....for sure he would come running.  Nope.  He just said, "is there a lot coming out?".....ummmm.....YES!!!  He told me where to turn the water off, and I did...and long story short....IT WASN'T MY FAULT!!!  I was really glad to hear that! He forgot to open that line at the other end. Whew...I was totally off the hook.....wet, but off the hook!  He fixed it all back up...because he is smart like that...and we finished flushing the lines.  That was excitement enough for me...and I was thankful that I wore my beautiful hounds-tooth boots that everyone makes fun of...they kept my feet dry! :)

Lesson learned....never think any job is just boring...you never know when there is going to be a gusher of excitement. Until next time....eat more chicken!!

So Much Going On!

Hello, again, my Blog Friends!  Here it is..like TEN days after my last post.  This shouldn't be..but here is my excuses...like them or not...I was crazy busy doing all the usual Christmas stuff....which I admit, I LOVE! but still, it is a busy time, and then my computer was not working right...it wouldn't let me get on the internet, and when it did, it was terribly slow...like more than a normal slow (if there is such a thing), but it was REALLY ...R..E..A..L...L.........Y slow!  And I don't like typing long things on my ipad mini...so I just waited for this chance that it might work for a little again...and WooHoo...today is the day!! :)

Ok....First Christmas as a chicken farmer's wife.....I had a wonderful Christmas Eve and also Christmas.  I love this time of year....the happiness around, the little secrets of what you bought this person or that person, going to church and singing Christmas songs praising God for giving us His Only Son, the Christmas  get-togethers, and of course...the food!  But I especially loved waking up Christmas morning, saying "Merry Christmas" to my husband, and the first thing he said was, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"  :)  I love that that was his first thought Christmas morning...of Jesus.  I love Rod for his faith!

On a funnier note.....some unusual things this Christmas...we had two Christmases.  One on Christmas Eve with his two younger kids, because they were spending Christmas day with their mom.  We fondued (must not be an actual word according to spell check, but that is what we always said, so I am sticking to it), and then we let Amber and Avery open their gifts.  It was a fun and relaxing evening to me....and I enjoyed watching everyone have fun "fondue-ing".
The other on Christmas day with two of my kids.  It was different not having Kelsey home to wake us all up VERY early in the morning, anxiously awaiting to open gifts.  Yes, she did take after her mother...I was the early bird on Christmas morning growing up too.  In fact, I remember one year when my brother literally picked me up and threw me on top of my oldest sister to get her up.  Needless to say, she was MAD! hahaha   Anyway, this year was the latest that I have EVER gotten up on Christmas, and the latest that we ever opened our gifts.    Here is the part being a chicken farmers came into play.....I had to go out to the chicken house to tell Rod when the kids got up!  Yep....never had to do that before!  I couldn't believe that he was actually going to go check chickens before we opened gifts!!!!  He did get up early and go out, but still...I must admit, I was in shock when he told me that! (he was willing to sit away from us in his chicken clothes to let them open gifts....I said, "no" ....we wanted him to shower first...hahahahaha! I love his sense of humor. :)
We did get together later with Kelsey and Jake...my daughter and her husband, and then after that with the rest of my family....so all in all, it was a very enjoyable day. We missed Brad, but look forward to being able to spend some relaxed time with him later.  I love our family!

Ok...enough about Christmas.  In the chicken house....it is cleaning out time.  This is a hard time....Rod is kept very busy cleaning out the chicken house after it is empty of chickens getting ready for the next round.  In the other house he still has chickens, so he also has them to keep taking care of.  So, he doesn't have much spare time.  I feel bad for him.  Hopefully he will soon show me how to drive a tractor or something so that I can help him...but for now, I am sort of useless out there.  I will say, though, when I go out to the chicken house now...it doesn't stink so much! And the sawdust is nice and clean! :)

Now....I know you all have been anxiously awaiting the final results of my poll....so....here it is.......drum roll please...........(I don't know how to type out a drum roll...sorry! hehehe)    Out of 38 people willing to answer my questions.....Do you like your toilet paper roll on over or under? and when you use toilet paper do you fold it or wad it?......Over is definitely the winner 32-6!   WooHoo!! I knew it!  And here is a small tidbit of information that my husband informed me of when we talked about toilet paper.....over is the correct way because if you take notice on toilet paper that has a design like a flower or something, if you put in on over, then the picture is upright.  But if you put it on under, the design is upside down! Yep...I looked!  The toilet paper with a design that we have is made that way!!!  Cool info, huh?

Ok...so the second part...this was much closer and much more difficult for people.  I only gave you two choices...folded or wadded...and several said something in the form of loosely folded.  So, in the end, since the loosely folded ended up an even number, I just split it and gave to both sides.  The results....VERY close...but folded won by two....20-18! I can not believe how neat some of you people out there must be! Wow! Good for you for taking the time to fold...me...I would be more of a wadder!  Anyway, thank you all for your participation! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from me!!

Until next time....eat more chicken!! :)

Snow on the Farm

 This is a picture of our house and barn during the snow storm we had over the weekend.  I know my FB friends already saw this, but I wanted to share it here too. I was going to put more on, but it takes forever for them to download, so you only get my favorite one.

I must say, I don't really mind the snow here like I did when I lived in town.  Two reasons....I don't have to shovel the sidewalks here!!!  My house was on a corner, so I had to shovel a lot of sidewalk!  I was very thankful when my neighbor got a snow blower and like to use it! :)   The other reason is because out here, the snow doesn't get gray so easily...it stays white!  It is so pretty to see it covering the yard...even several days later...because it is not all gray from the road traffic and from the train dust.  So, I guess I can say, this year I am more thankful or more appreciative of the snow and its beauty!  (I just wish it didn't come with the cold temperatures too! hehehe)

Very Important Poll!!

Good Morning!....see...no mouse half dead in a trap today!! :)  However, last night I went out with a friend of mine...and we were discussing toilet paper.  Yep....when you go with me, you never really know what you will talk about.  But we got on to two questions about toilet paper and decided we needed to take a poll...so please help us out.

So..here we go....

1.  Which way do you put the toilet paper on....over or under?  Like do you like to pull it down from the top or up from the bottom?

and the second...a little more personal, but still a pondering question of ours.....

2. Do you fold your toilet paper or wad it up when you use it?

Those are the questions...pretty good ones, huh?  This wondering and wandering mind wants to know!!!

I imagine, that even if you don't answer these publicly, they will still make you think about it!  hahaha

Until next time....eat more CHICKEN!!! :)

What to Do???

Morning, everyone!  I can't say its a good morning...at least not all of it.  We have a continuation of the Knouse House Mouse story.  So, we hadn't caught any mice since the first mouse was caught.  I was quite happy to be very honest, but deep...Deep....DEEP down I know usually there is more than one mouse.  Well, today that notion came to life again...almost literally!

I was putting pine cones around to add a little touch to the Christmas decorating, went into what I call the TV room and happened to look on the floor.  Low and behold there I saw the mouse trap! With a mouse in it!!!!  The trap had been way back under the couch so the kids couldn't reach it and get their hands snapped in it.  How did it get out to almost the middle of the floor???  When what to my wondering eyes did appear...a movement from that little mouse!!!!!  IT WAS STILL ALIVE!!!! Now what do I do?!?!!?  Do I pick up the trap and take it out? But what then?  Or do I kick it back under the couch and wait for Rod to take care of it?? But what if it crawls back out?  OH, what to do!?!

What did I do?  I oh so carefully picked up the trap...by the little wire thing that holds the trap set, but was now loose because the mouse set the trap off.  I took it outside and threw it into the snow.  I was done.  YEA!!!!

Nope.....I went back in, thinking surely the mouse would quickly die...especially in the snow after I had thrown it out.  Or the dog would find it.  Nope.  Neither happened.  I looked out the window...there it was...still wiggling.  Now what?  My heart couldn't take it.  I had to do something ...again.

Ok....I know some of you are animal lovers who could never kill anything...and usually I would be right there with you.  But, if I let it go, it would come back in and I would have this predicament all over again.  And besides...its head would now be somewhat smooshed...how could it live like that?  So, I decided I must do the humane thing and kill it myself.  With what?  Ok...to make a long story shorter...and because I really didn't like this part....I found a bat..and with one quick blow to the head...lets just say, the mouse is out of agony.  I am sorry all you animals, I murdered a poor little mouse.  

Oh the woes of this Chicken Farmer's wife.  I came back into my house with my head hung down....and decided...I would write this blog!

So, until next time...keep the mice away from my house....and eat more chicken!!! :)

Snow Day!!

Hello, my blogger friends! Haven't written much of a post since my lost phone incident, so I figured I would write one today.  Did you miss me?  hehehe  Probably not, but here I am anyway.

We have snow here on the farm today...and the schools are closed...which equals a day off.  But really...is there any such thing as a day off?  Especially living on a farm?  I know I have a stack of laundry to do.  Still have to feed the rabbit...not that that is hard job or anything, but still must be done in the snow!  Rod will still be checking chickens....hehehe notice I didn't volunteer yet today to do that? :P I still have a house to clean.  So, we don't really have a day off...just a change of plans for the day.  Either way, I will take it!  

I can't say that much different has been going on here.  Oh, the chickens are already starting to go out. We get a call during the day, and they say "2000 white pullets are going out from house 1 at 6 tonight"  I have to write it all down so that when I tell Rod I get it all right.  I am not sure which of the details are needed, so I just tell him everything!  In fact, if the man told me what color pants he was wearing, I would probably repeat that to Rod too!
The guy even tells me about the feeding schedule then too.  Here I thought he was just telling me that because he knows I don't know anything.  Isn't that nice of him?!?!  I thought so, too.  But then I found out he tells that to the farmers too, not just me.  :)  Rod did tell me I could use abbreviations for the message...like wp for white pullets....or 2k for 2000, and that he would know what that would mean.  Again..how thoughtful....only, it would take me longer to think about what the abbreviation was than it does for me to just write it out.  I will just continue to write it out....or if I want to look like I know what I am doing, I could rewrite the message for Rod with the abbreviations....hahaha  I really am not dumb...I just don't think as fast as I used to, and this chicken language I am still learning, so it is just easier for me to do things the long way.
I haven't learned to do the equipment yet, like putting up feeders and water lines, so poor Rod had to come home from hunting camp the first night so that he could get things ready for the chickens to go out.  That will be a job I will learn in time...just it was too much to explain to me over the phone.  I felt bad for him...but I was glad to see him! :)

Oh! Something I forgot to tell you all about last week because I was so grossed out with my phone situation. Remember earlier when I said I liked the black/grey chickens better than the white ones?  Well, I still do!  That night when I went into the first chicken house, the white ones were the first for me to go through.  And boy did they seem to have attitude!  Maybe they were girl chickens...sorry, girls, but we do get attitudes much faster than guys do....or maybe these are just the teenage-ish chickens ...and again, sorry teenagers, you seem to have more attitudes (but I love you anyway)...but they had attitudes.  Like "what?!?  You want me to move?" ...and "who do you think you are walking in here disturbing us"....well, I got pecked by not one or two, but several of the white chickens!!! What's with that?  It didn't hurt because I had on my cute boots, but still!  How rude! :P hehehe  The black or grey ones are still smaller, and they run to stay out of your way.  Love it!  :)

On a funny side note....as you know, I am happily, newly married...and its our first Christmas together...so we decided on a real tree for Christmas this year instead of the artificial trees we each had used in the past few years.  So, on Saturday, we excitedly got into the truck and went and picked out a tree...a very nice tree.   And brought it home.  Rod looked for his tree stand...it was much to small...so I went to my old house to look for the stand we used before, and couldn't find it.  So, here we were...with a beautiful Christmas tree, and no stand!  hahaha...but thanks to Facebook...and a dear friend who said she had one we could have, we now have our tree in our house in a stand! (its just not decorated yet...I have to go get the lights from my other house!) :)  When I figure out how to add pictures to this blog, I will post a picture of our first Christmas tree!

That's all for now...until next time...eat more chicken!!!

YUCK! YUCK! YUCK!

I was going to blog about things going on here, but I am grossed out at the moment, so this will be short!  I lost my phone tonight...yep, you guess it...I lost it while working in the chicken house. So when I was all done, I had to go look for it.  I found it....on the DEAD chicken pile.  YUCK! YUCK! YUCK!!!!!!