Tag: chickens

Day #43 – So Much Easier

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Today was a run around get stuff done. Donny and I ran to the feed store to pick up some feed for the chickens. Then we had to hit Home Depot for sand also for the chickens. I made the kids appointments to get their meningitis vaccines for school. Next we took Jackson and drove up to Kilgore to turn in his transcript. Hannah’s appointment for her vaccine was today so we went to the doctor and that took a long time because her knee was bothering her and the doctor wanted to check it out. Of course, we can’t leave out grocery shopping on our way home. We are going to completely blow the food budget this month because we were all hungry when we were shopping and I had no list because we were only supposed to be picking up a few things. Oops.

But, the very best thing that happened to day was I bought this beauty.

Y’all I finally pulled the trigger and got a weed eater that I can actually use. It feels like Christmas. After dinner I just had to go try it out. First around the pool gardens.

Then around the patio.

And finally around the garden.

I’m still getting the hang of it, but it’s going to make doing the yard so much faster and easier considering I was doing all of this by hand.

I also picked this spray up at the feed store. We have aphids so bad and I’ve already caught them on my pumpkin sprouts.

I didn’t want actual poison, so fingers crossed this works. My poor pumpkins are trying their best to grow.

But the hydrangeas that were rapidly dying in the pot I had them in are getting new growth like crazy now that they are in the ground.

We will see.

A Little Update

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

This weekend the weather was just awful. It was cold, windy and rainy. We ended up staying inside almost the whole time. The most exercise I got was changing into my chicken boots about 10 times a day to go out into our water logged yard. One morning last week, it was about 5:30 in the morning, I heard the chickens getting very restless. That’s unusual for them when it’s still dark outside. I was walking into the backyard when I saw this giant owl perched on the roof of the coop. When it heard me it flew away. We make sure that the coop is completely secured when it gets dark because there is always something trying to get to them.

We have 8 hens and they have finally started laying again, which is great with the price of eggs now.

The city is replacing the water and sewage lines in our neighborhood so our street is getting ready to get torn up. It’s going to be a pain for a while, but will be so worth it once it’s finished.

They are just about ready to be digging in front of our house. What started off as a very foggy wet day turned out to be just gorgeous.

I finally got all of the donations bagged up. There were piles sitting in our living room for weeks. Jackson and I took them to the thrift store. We decided to go inside and see if we could find any treasures. I found this planter that still had the original makers sticker on it. Even though it was completely and horribly tarnished, it was marked solid brass so I picked it up.

I started working on it when we got home.

After a lot of elbow grease mixed in with some vinegar, salt, ketchup, toothpaste and finally some brasso that I picked up at the grocery, it turned out pretty good.

Speaking of thrifting, about a week ago I picked up this little table to use as a plant stand. Who would have thought that it’s the perfect table for Donny to use while he is healing. He still has a hard time putting weight on his knee, but he finally has an appointment with a rheumatologist on Thursday. I feel so bad for him because he still goes to work and uses all of his energy there so he is wiped when he gets home. Because he becomes a stomach sleeper during the night, he’s been sleeping on the couch so that he can keep his knee from moving. I am just praying the this doctor can give him something that will help him out.

Reinforcement + LJS

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

Lately some of our chickens have been very bad. There are 3 ring leaders that insist on flying over the gate and running amok in our yard and all of the neighbors’ yards. I spend a lot of time during my day herding chickens back to their yard. Donny and I spent a lot of the day outside. I was taking down the Christmas lights and he was adding more insulation to the coop because we are supposed to be getting some colder weather later this week. Those 3 chickens plus some other followers in the group kept getting over the gate. Donny realized what a pain it was to be wrangling chickens multiple times. He brought out more chicken wire to raise the gate area even more. We thought that worked until one of the chickens flew right over it. I had had enough. I decided to do whatever it took to keep them in our backyard.Donny told me, “you can be serious?’. Oh, but I was. All it took were 2 brooms and a rake plus several zip ties. I also got our scarecrow out of the shed and made sure to chase the chickens around waving it and growling loudly. I figured if they were scared of it they wouldn’t come near it. This is how it turned out.

Donny’s first reaction when I was finished was, “what are the neighbors going to think?’. I told him I didn’t care because I was sick of chasing chickens. Let’s cross our fingers that this works. Let’s hope the HOA is okay with it. Ha had, just kidding, we could never live with an HOA because I’m pretty sure we would get fined every day and/or kicked out.

Hannah treated her boyfriend to dinner since tomorrow is his birthday and she has to work tomorrow night. Since they were already going to eat we decided to try out our new Long John Silver’s. I know, I know, most people think it’s gross, but it has a special place in our hearts here in Longview. You see almost 2 years ago it was not doing so well and they were going to shut it down. That’s when our Facebook group “All Things Longview” went on a mission to save it. And save it we did. Several months ago they completely tore it down so they could build a new store that wasn’t grimy and greasy like the old one. The brand spanking new LJS opened a few days ago and I’m happy to say that we had to wait in the to-go line for quite a while. Even the inside was full and there was a line in there also.

The food was actually SO good. Everything tasted so fresh and it wasn’t overly greasy. I was quite pleased. They also got the order 100% correct. Go LJS! I hope you stay this busy.