Wants

Hmmm...so here it is almost the end of February! Can you believe it?!?! I am itching for Spring and the beautiful green grass and all the pretty flowers and the light/ or no jacket weather.  I just love not being in winter!  I sat here thinking tonight...."Andrea, you have many wants!"  and I guess I do.  So I thought I might list a few.....but before I do, I don't want you to think I am being ungrateful for what I have....nope...I am very happy with what I have.  I love living here on the farm with my husband.  I have a full (and pretty round...hahahaha) belly, clothes on my back, a warm house to sleep.  We are all healthy.  God has greatly blessed us.  Still I, like anyone else I know, have some wants....so here they are...( and I am not going into world peace or such stuff...this is material stuff...and just for fun, so please don't get on my case about it....IT IS JUST FOR FUN!!)

1.  A real farm animal....I don't mean the chickens we raise...I mean like a cow, pig, horse, goat, sheep...etc.  if I really had my choice, it would be a cow...I love cows.  But Rod said they eat too much, and you have to milk them twice everyday...too much added work.  But I want a farm animal that is mine. :)

2.  Bib overalls....I know I would look funny in them, but I really don't care.  I look kind of goofy in my blog profile picture, but I posted that for the world to see.  Do you really think I would care what others thought about me in bib overalls?  However, I am not sure they make them for short round females.  The only ones I ever saw were mens...and they are too long, or girls that are tiny, or kids.  Someday I will find them at Goodwill and I will wear them proudly!! I may even have to change my profile picture!

3.  To learn to drive a tractor.  Rod just kind of laughs when I say this, so I may need someone else to teach me.  :)  Wouldn't that be a surprise to Rod if  he came home some night and saw me driving a tractor! hahahaha...that makes me laugh just thinking about it.

4.  A tractor...if I am going to learn to drive one, don't you think I should have one of my own?  I saw people square dancing tractors once...maybe I could get good enough to do that someday! For now, I would be happy just to drive one in a straight line!

5.  A truck...again one of my own.  I have driven Rod's twice now...and it is FUN!  Although, I would like a little smaller of one.  That would really be fun to take to yard sales...boy oh boy I could load that thing up!

6.  A boat....I love to go tubing.  Not a pleasant sight to see me bouncing up and down on the water...but it sure is fun!

7.  A miniature collie....I love them...and they are so pretty and so smart.

8.  A garden....and someone to teach me how to make it a good one.  I don't really know the rules of planting a garden...I just know I have to keep ahead of the weeds.  That is what a friend told me who has a beautiful garden every year.  I want to plant green beans and let them on the stalk a little long so the seeds inside get a little brown...that's how I remember my aunts green beans when she cooked them....I loved them!

9.  A laptop computer.  I know this doesn't seem to go with the rest, but its still what I want.  Then I could take it up to my parents house and show them all sorts of friends and families pictures and stuff on it.  Also, I could take it outside, sit under a tree and just enjoy the life on a farm feeling.

10.  I can't think of anything else I want right now....so I will put something really crazy....how about an elephant?  Wouldn't it be fun to say....do you want to see my elephant?  hahahaha and people would be like, "WHAT?"  hehehehe that would be so much fun.  And I could ride it all over or give other people rides on it.  Now, after having an elephant, a cow would not seem to eat too much! hahahaha Maybe I should have asked for an elephant before I asked for a cow!

Ok....so tonight was a night of funny wants.  Here is the last one....I want you to EAT MORE CHICKEN!!  hahaha  Good night, my blog friends! I need to get to bed before I crack myself up too much! :)

Trying to be Thankful in All Things

Hello my blog friends!  Once again, it has been awhile since I have written a post.  I have not had to be out in the chicken house lately, so there really isn't anything funny I can tell you about that.  Although I did help him flush water lines the other week...I am becoming a pro at that! hahaha  He did have to fix a pipe....but he knew exactly what to do, so that was no biggie.  I have also had to turn on or off feeders....again, no biggie...but that has been my extent in the chicken houses.  

I will say, our farm looks like we are sitting in little white mountains....there is snow plowed up everywhere!  It makes me very thankful that he plows with tractor things rather than having to shovel it! My mom called the other day and said that their neighbor came over with their snow blower to help remove the snow from my parents driveway (thank you, Curt) and she had shoveled some too.  Then she asked me, "do you and Rod have a good shovel for up there?"  I just giggled...and said, "Mom, we don't need shovels...we have tractors!"  (Rod does use a shovel for a little bit of the sidewalk, but it just made me laugh...and her too when she thought about it!)

Oh, a problem I am having...trying to get my license updated.  To make a long story a little shorter, I went on Saturday to try to get this done.  (I don't have many opportunities to get to the DMV)  To my shock and surprise, they were closed...and yes, I did check on the computer to see if they are open on Saturdays..which they are.  Why closed...because of snow? Nope...because Monday(today) is a holiday.  So..remember that..if you need to go to the DMV on a Saturday, just make sure the following Monday is not a holiday...or else they will be closed.  Ok...I need to be thankful for something here....well, I got to spend more time shopping while I was waiting for Lauren to be done working.  I had driven out with her to save gas..and she only worked until 12:15, so it wasn't like I had a whole day to spend out there, just a few hours.  And I got a lot of bargains at Kohl's!...for which I was very thankful!

Other news...today, I got a call from the oil man who brings the oil to my other house.  He said he couldn't deliver oil because he couldn't find the steps to get into the yard! They were covered by more than a foot of snow and ice from the snow blower! (I am thankful, though, that our neighbor used his snow blower to clear the sidewalks....I don't need to worry about getting up there every time it snows)  So tonight I had to go up to shovel out the steps.  The oilman was right...you couldn't even see the steps or even tell where they were supposed to be!  Thankfully my neighbor came over with a hoe-type thing to help break up the ice.  I broke one of my old shovels trying to break up the ice!  I love good neighbors...I had them there and I have new ones here...God sure has blessed me all my life with good neighbors!

Oh, the reason I was concerned so much about making sure the oil man could come...I don't want to run out of oil again.  Yes, again.  For the first time ever, I ran totally out of oil up at the other house.  And guess what...the entire house inside is black.  Yep.....BLACK!! Apparently a furnace gets mad when it is empty and decides to get even!  I mean....if a furnace could get mad, mine was furious!!!!!!Seriously....was all that soot needed to teach me a lesson? Apparently I needed a big impact to make sure I learned my lesson.  I DID! I DID! I DID learn that I never ever want to run totally out of oil again!   But , (trying to be thankful)... because of this incident, we got the furnace cleaned...which apparently was LONG, LONG overdue!  

I started sweeping it up today...I never realized how many little spiderwebs are in a house.  Granted, we haven't lived there for almost 4 months, but still, there were a lot of little black webs in all the little nooks and crannies of the house.   I have a mountainous job to get it cleaned up....any volunteers to help?  If so, wear black!  hahaha.  If I think about it, I will take pictures on Saturday when I go up to really get started.  If you have never experienced this, you will be totally amazed! How to be thankful....I am thankful that we had a lot of stuff already moved out of the house...it could have been worse!

I was feeling a bit defeated tonight when I went up there and also coming home.  However, a twenty minute ride home was just what I needed.  Instead of letting everything bring me down, I decided to give it to God.  I remembered my life verse..."He does not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind"  and I also thought about how we are to be thankful in everything...good or bad.  Hence, the thankful blog.  So...here I am...admitting that I am trying hard to not be defeated and finding that the harder I work at trying to be thankful, the better my spirit becomes and the more relaxed I become.  God is good...ALL the time...no matter if life is throwing us candy or rotten tomatoes...He is faithful.  Shouldn't we try to be faithful to Him?  I am trying!

Until next time....eat more chicken!!! (and be thankful for it!)

Fun...Fabulous...and Full...FEBRUARY

Hello, Blogger friends!  Can you believe its February?!?  It used to be...in my immediate family...that February was a month that had no special dates really specific to our family.  No birthdays, and no anniversaries.  Then my sister got married in February and not only that, but her husband's birthday was February.  Then, my second daughter was born...yep in February.  Then I met Rod...and his birthday is in February and so is my son-in-law's!  And, my second daughter's boyfriends birthday is today...again in February!  Wow!  Also, now being married again....I look forward to Valentine's Day as a newly wedded couple!!  Woohoo for February!! What a happy month!

We started out this month with a family bowling night....that was a lot of fun.  I even broke 100 points in one of my games...a true rarity!  And for the first time in my ENTIRE life, I got to roll the ball all 3 times in the last frame...with a strike on the last ball! Woohoo for me!!  I thought that was really, really cool.  After bowling we went for Chinese food....I love Chinese food...so what else could be a better ending for the evening?

I also got to go grocery shopping with some of my friends today...yep, grocery shopping for 3 different households...with all groceries going into one van.  And the store was having a 20% off everything sale today!  Love it!!  WooHoo!  Grocery shopping with friends is so much more fun (and funnier) with friends.  I had an absolutely wonderfully fabulous time today!  Thanks Lisa and Rachel for such a fun morning!

Oh, its also almost time for peeps again in our second house.  We get them on Tuesday, so Monday night I get to wear my work boots to go help flush water lines!! Can I get another "Woohoo!!!" ?  I don't get to help dump peeps though this week, because I will have the little ones I babysit here, and I won't be able to go out to the chicken house to help.  :(  I will look in on them though...they are so cute when they first get here.

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday!  We are having a very small party here...but will have lots of food! ...yep, you guessed it...Woohoo!!!!!!  Fun commercials, food, family and friends...oh, and football....all in February!!! I love happy days filled with friends, family, and food....God sure does bless us, doesn't He?!?   Just look for the good and you can find it.

Ok, its late...(as you might be able to tell by my post....no, I am not drunk...I have never been drunk, and I plan it keep it that way!)...I have had a fun-filled day and I am tired and ready to go to bed.  But I just wanted to wish all my Blogger friends a very Fabulously Fantastic February!! WooHoo!!!!!!

Oh...and by the way....eat more chicken!

No News is News

Hello again, my blog friends!  How can it be close to the end of January already?  Time flies by!  I realized I have not posted for quite awhile and thought, "Why not?"  I came to the conclusion that I was thinking that I haven't done much in the chicken house to write about. Then I thought again...and realized that this blog is not just about the chicken house.  It is about my LIFE as a chicken farmer's wife.  I have a life whether or not I am in the chicken house!

So, what have I been doing?   Hmmmm.  Well, I think the biggest and continuing task I have right now is moving one very full house into another very full house, will only a few evenings here and there and only partial Saturdays to do it.  Sound like a complaint in there?  Yep..there is.  Sorry.  We are to do things without complaining.  I need to work on that! :)  It is a hard job made harder by the fact that my husband and I both like stuff!!  and have A LOT of it!  I have been trying to slowly figure out what to keep, what to store, what to give, what to keep for a possible yard sale,  and what to pitch.  Not an easy task....and for a disorganized person like me....it seems endless.  Anybody have a magic wand?

Hahaha...this makes me think about a pastor friend of mine who used to ask me, "Andrea, don't you see the light at the end of the tunnel?"  Which would frustrate me to no end....and he knew it, but was always encouraging me with that and it always made me realize that "this too shall pass."  And after my divorce was finally over (which was the tunnel he was referring to), and I started to get used to the other end of the tunnel, I got myself into another tunnel...waiting for Rod.  So he said, "Andrea, you must like tunnels."  hehehe....NO!! No, I don't.  I just seem to keep finding myself in them.  Now my tunnel is just getting my other house cleaned out.  This tunnel is not near as bad as the other two.  I am very thankful for that! :)  See....there is always, Always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for!  And no, Pastor Paul....I still do not like tunnels, but this time, I do see the light at the end of it! :)

Oh....here is a funny tidbit....my boots.....I haven't used them yet!!  Hahaha....we bought boots for me to work in the chicken house, and I haven't had to since.....hehehehe...that just makes me laugh.  So..for all you farmer's wives out there...don't want to work in the barn?  Buy work boots!!!!  :)

Ok...must go start my day....have to check the wood stove..yep, that is one of my new jobs as a wife...to keep the fires burning...to keep the house warm.  I don't mind it...unless I forget and it goes out and then I have to start it again.  Not hard to do, but sure does make me smell like a campfire!  Although, come to think of it....I like the thought of a campfire...and roasting marshmallows.  Has anyone ever roasted marshmallows in the wood stove?  Hmmmm....now that's a thought to make it rewarding! Ha! I will let you know if I ever make s'mores in our wood stove.  YUM!

Well, until next time....eat more chicken....and s'mores!

All Wet :(

So, today's post is not about chicken farms or me being a chicken farmer's wife.  But it is the result of moving to the farm.  You see, at my other house....where I lived before I got MARRIED....a pipe broke.  I don't know if it was yesterday or when exactly it broke, but there was water everywhere in my laundry room and a foot of water in my basement.  Not good.

My son went up to the house for me today to get a few more things to bring down to the farmhouse.  I got a call from him saying that there was water in the basement, but that he and our wonderful neighbor got the water turned off.  They were going to pump it out, but there was no where to pump it too because of where the house was located, if they pump it out and it went to the road, it would turn to ice and possibly cause an accident.  So, we are letting it recede on its own for now.

After coming back home (and in different clothes and shoes because his first set got very wet...and he was very thankful there were still some clothes and shoes up at that house for him to wear), he volunteered to go  back up with me when I said I had to go up to get some of the stuff to get it dried out.  (side note, my daughter also said she would have helped, but at the time, she was still babysitting....I am thankful they both cared and offered to help)

Well, good news...I don't think the pipe will be too much to fix...and that is coming from me...who knows nothing, so I am hoping I am right about that!  The water didn't reach the furnace...very good news.  Also, good ....there were only a handful of pictures in a box that got soaked.  So I brought them home, and they now cover my living room floor.  To me, other things are material.  Yes, valuable, but still replaceable.

We brought home a laundry basket full of soaked coats, and clothes.  a sewing machine (hopefully that will still work after it is dried out) and a deer head! hahahaha....it was in the freezer and my son wants to get it done up to hang on his wall.  Well, with the freezer possibly done for, we had to bring that head home...thankfully it is cold enough to keep it outside for the night or a few nights.

Something kind of cool looking....apparently the water in the laundry room was spraying at the window....there was a two inch thick sheet of ice on the window....not a good thing, but it was really neat to see.  Kind of pretty.  I wouldn't suggest spraying water on your windows though just to see what it looks like though.

Oh, something else I learned tonight....my wonderful hounds tooth boots..which are actually rain boots...must have a hole in each of them...because my feet were swimming in water inside the boots!!  In cold water!!!  I was so glad I just took them along to wear in the basement.  I had my sneakers along to wear home...and there were extra socks still up at the house.  But so much for waterproof boots.

I am thankful...it could have been worse.  There is definite damage done, but  we are safe and sound here in the farmhouse....and it is warm and cozy here.

I know this isn't as fun of a post, but its still an event in my life here.  Life isn't all fun....but it is what it is.  And as one of my all time favorite sayings goes....there is always, always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for.
So until next time....eat more chickens...and check your rain boots for holes! :)

It's Gotta Be Official Now!

Guess what! Guess what!! Guess what.....I got new chicken boots!! I should be official now...they are real work boots...bought just for me....for working in the chicken house!!  Yep...my husband bought me them tonight when we were shopping at the Village Merchants.  I was so excited, I told him I couldn't wait to get home to blog about it!  They are a little big, but that is ok.  I can wear thicker socks that way to keep my toes warmer while walking out to the chicken house on these bitter cold mornings.

Here is a picture of my new boots....I just love them!.....

So...all you other chicken farmer's wives (or anyone out there really) what do you think?  I am just smiling from ear to ear.  I mean, I still love my hounds tooth ones, but they are not warm and really are not made to be work boots.  They did the job good though for me.  But these are work boots and those were rain boots...and now I will keep them as such.

Ok...this proud chicken boot owner is done raving  about my boots.  I am going to go put them on again and then put them where they belong with Rod's work boots. :)

So, until next time...eat more chicken!

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!!