Two weeks with Bella

Miss Bella Dog has been a Ruple for two whole weeks now! I think she's starting to settle in nicely. She is still a super chill dog and fits well into our family/lifestyle.

Bella is a quiet dog. I still haven't heard her whine or bark. She makes this funny noise when she yawns or when she's trying to play with MR - like a growl/rumble.

Playing. She's still figuring this part out. If I throw a toy or get her interested, she'll play for like 15 seconds - throwing the toy in the air, catching it, chewing, etc. Then she's done. MR will try to take her toy every. single. time. She will try to play WITH him, but as soon as she mouths the toy, MR drops it and won't play with her. He's not at all mean or anything, he just doesn't play with her. Yet.

Bella is mostly house-broken, but had a few accidents over the weekend (when I was home!) she peed right on our carpet in our master bedroom and then about 2 hours later did it again! I caught her both times and dragged her butt outside. Luckily for her, our carpets are disgusting and old and will be replaced. Soon. She also literally needs to poop as soon as she's done eating. We've been taking her out every few hours. I hope she catches on soon!

She is working on manners. She has none. If we are eating, she will get in our face to sniff and steal a bite. We are working on the "down" command. She goes into her crate when the girls eat. Each day I work with her for 5 - 10 minutes working on "sit" "stay" and "come"

Sleeping - since she's an adult, she spends a good amount of time being lazy and sleeping. Fine by us! Whenever I'm on the couch just vegging out, she will lay on me and I love it. This is what I've been wanting and waiting for. Mr. is not a cuddler. Not only is he not a cuddler, he's just too big. There's no way I could tolerate his 105lb body pressed up against mine, let alone on TOP of me. Bella is the perfect size.

I cannot get over how her face comes to a point with her nose. Reminds me of a greyhound. 

My favorite part of her is her soft muzzle. 

We've been letting her snuggle in bed with us before bedtime. Then we move her to her crate for the overnight. Last night was the first night she slept in our room on our bed, the entire night! She didn't move much and I only had to kick her when she was itching/licking - and that was at like 6am, so it was technically morning.

She is not a cold-weather dog, that's for sure. Lots of her mannerisms remind me of Hudson when he was cold. She has almost no hair on her underside, so I can imagine how cold she must get! When we go out, she is quick to turn around and come back in. I bought her a fleece sweater that she can wear daily and then we put her thunder shirt on overtop when we go out for longer than a couple of minutes. She has run around a few times in the snow, but then I think she gets cold. She was a stray in West Virginia, so it's likely she's never seen this much snow before. Or been this cold!

Because of this - I absolutely cannot WAIT to bring her to the lake this summer! I wonder if she likes to swim????

And, we've established that she likes hats. 

This was Hudson's Christmas elf hat from years ago. Mr. tolerated it, but Bella didn't mind at all! And then Ava wanted Bella to wear her birthday crown :)

Two weeks in and we love our new girl! She is still super chill, friendly and just a sweet, sweet girl. I hope she knows that she will always have a family to love her and a warm bed to sleep in. 

Snow Removal

This post is timely. And corresponds with my previous post on frigid temps and how we keep our animals warm.

When I was a kid, I feel like I remember always getting a ton of snow during the winter months. Maybe it was because I was small and it felt like a lot. I'm not sure. It seems as though as I've aged, we don't get nearly as much snow as we used to, 30 years ago. Global Warming, anyone?

When we lived in our old house, we had a normal length driveway. Steve's dad bought us a new snowblower as a housewarming gift and we used that to remove the snow. It worked like a charm for 7 years.

Then we moved.

Our new driveway is 500 feet long (roughly).

It's not paved.

Snow drifts are FOR REAL.

So when we bought our new house, we had to look into how we'd remove snow from our driveway so we could safely make it to the house.

This isn't even the entire length of the driveway. We're about 1/3 - 1/2 way down from the house. 

The blowing snow from either side creates massive drifts! 

Steve's dad had this friend who had passed away and had this OLD, POS shit truck that apparently "still ran" and it had a shitty plow on it. Let me be clear: I did NOT want this truck. I didn't want someone else's piece of shit - even if it was for $300. Even if the plow on the truck alone is worth $300. I immediately saw $$$$$$ and Steve's precious time, fixing this stupid truck.

I was right.

I was SO right.

It was a 1994 Chevy.

The body was so rusted, I feared for Steve's safety each time he got in it.

The inside was SO disgusting, I worried about contracting a disease while sitting in it.

The first year, we got a shit ton of snow (the year I stayed home on Maternity Leave from December 20 - end of March). He got the truck stuck, spent 8 hours in our driveway trying to dig it out. I was coming outside (snow pants, jacket, hat, gloves, etc.) to help in 15 minute increments because I had a 2.5 year old and a NEWBORN inside. Someone stopped to help him, got him unstuck, and then my dear husband got the bright idea to try to keep plowing (instead of just coming inside).

And then blew up the engine for one final hurrah.

Tell me why on Earth this man then decided to put an engine into this POS.

He'd spend HOURS on his day off (sometimes, the ONLY day off with the whole family home) to work on this stupid truck. Week after week. I begged him to get rid of it. I begged him to get a better truck (we could afford like a $5,000 truck). Nope. I asked if it had sentimental value to him, because it belonged to Tucker at one point. Nope. I didn't get it. We fought about this truck. Over and over again.

The newer engine kept us going that second year. Barely. It was frustrating beyond belief.

Then, FINALLY, the truck died. Like really died.

For fuck's sake. FINALLY.

So we needed a new plan. A plan that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg. Steve didn't want a $5,000 truck - he felt that it could and probably would have issues and need work.

So, what did we do? We made a good decision and bought this bad boy. This thing is legit! I was a little worried that an ATV wouldn't be able to move the amount of snow we had. I was wrong. We got snow tires and chains for it, and sand bags to weigh it down. We've had zero issues with clearing snow and this thing can handle a LOT.

For this season (2018/2019), we got a good taste of snow during a November snow storm. I don't remember what the totals were, but they were up in the high teens, if I remember correctly. Then, after that storm, we really didn't much accumulation until about a week ago.

I know how to use it and last week when we got 20" of snow in 2 days (Steve was at work) I was VERY happy that I could plow our driveway enough for him to make it up with the truck (the alternative would be for him to park at the road, walk down our 500 ft driveway and then plow).

Just more "stuff" to think about, living this country life!

This is 37

Well, well. I'm 37. INSANE. The older I get, the more fleeting time is.

Birthdays were never a HUGE deal in my family. Just wasn't. Of course we celebrated. As kids, my mom threw us parties and invited friends over. But, it wasn't like this insane, crazy, huge celebration. which is fine by me!

But, when I had kids, that changed for me. I wanted to throw the big parties for my girls. And we did, for their first birthdays of course. And then we decided that we'd choose when to do a big party as they got older.

I have so much fun celebrating them and making sure their birthdays are special to them. We blow up balloons and put them in their rooms when they are sleeping. I like to put up streamers across their doorways so they have to bust through it when they wake up :)

Anyway, Steve's birthday is 2 days before mine, so we usually celebrate together. Or we try to. This year, Steve worked and then did side jobs well into the night.

I opted this year to take PTO a couple of days before my birthday. Both kids had school/daycare and Steve was at work. I watched movies, took naps. It was glorious. I snuggled on the couch with Bella and it was lovely.

Then, Saturday, Mila had a friend over. The girls played so well all afternoon, and I promised I'd take them to McDonald's if they were well behaved all day. It was great! The girls played, I chilled and watched TV (and may have possibly fallen asleep!) and by the time I opened my eyes, it was 5:30. So, time to pick up and head to McD's! The girls had a blast. We dropped off the little friend around 7pm, and then headed home and relaxed a bit before bed.

My mom had sent a note telling me and Steve that we could use her credit card to buy ourselves some birthday gifts. I was running out of some of my makeup, so I was able to buy more, and then...and THEN! I got my new Carhartt purse! I've had an obsession with purses for as long as I have been an adult. I have many COACH bags, one LV (gifted to me from my mom), a couple other designer bags and my most recent favorite was a simple navy bag that I got from Stitch Fix.

I wanted a durable purse that could withstand my lifestyle. I needed it large enough to put my laptop into. The one downside is that there is no zipper. So it doesn't FULLY close. But, there are a few smaller pockets on the inside secured with velcro that work nicely for keys, business cards, my inhaler, etc. I love that there are two side pockets that work well for travel mugs/drinks. I opted to go with the "North/South" version instead of the "East/West" version and I like that I made that decision. It's a big bag but does not feel overwhelming. And I know it'll last me the next 40 years. :)

I got it here.

SUNDAY was my actual birthday. Since Steve's birthday was Friday and he worked literally an 18 hour day, we opted to spend some time with his parents for our birthdays. We ordered in Chinese food and just hung out. They were very generous and are helping to fund the pool deck this year. That's another story for another day. But, long story short, my husband and FIL decided to put a pool in our yard last year. (YAY!) but I'm being a snot and I want a very specific wrap-around deck (the pool is above ground). So, we got partial funding to start that project! My mom is also offering to help fund part of the deck (she'll be here in August, so it'll be done by the time she gets here!)

Here's a picture of something similar that I want. If it were up to me, or solely my decision, the deck would wrap around the entire pool. (Hell, if it were solely up to me, we'd have an inground pool!) Not to sound ungrateful....but a pool was not something that I had on my mind. Anyway, not only do I want a deck for safety purposes - with a lock and alarm on the gate, I also want to be able to CHILL and not go in the water every single time my kids want to swim. Steve plans on breaking ground early April, when the ground has thawed and the goal is to be finished with the deck by the end of June.

Back to my birthday. Sunday night CNN was airing a movie that I had my eyes on for a while. It's super intriguing and absolutely fucked up. The movie "Three Identical Strangers" is about triplets who were separated at 6 months old and adopted into different families. The families did not know that the boys they adopted were part of a trio. The "scientists" documented and "tested" the boys as they grew to try to understand nurture vs. nature. Astonishingly, when one triplet went off to college, he was recognized - one of his brothers had attended the same college! That's how this whole thing started and they started to unravel the story. It was crazy. Steve and I watched (part of) it while we ate Mark's Pizza and wings. My favorite.

I took Monday off as well - nothing worse than a Sunday night after a few days off. So I took Monday off too :) It was a good day to get the house in order, do laundry, clean, fed/water the chickens.

We also got my office desk up into the loft! There will be a separate post on this renovation, as soon as the furniture arrives. We basically turned the girls' upstairs playroom into our new office space.

37 is off to a great start!

Frigid Temps on the Farm - how we keep our chickens warm

Hello folks! Another wintry blast as hit our area! Luckily (for most of us) it hit overnight from Saturday into Sunday.

 

-30??? WTF

This is what news stations were posting about our area. Those near the lake (Ontario Lake to the north - the light green areas) were supposed to get 15 - 24 inches of snow, with maybe half of that coming from Lake Effect snow.

I live in the red area. I live near a much smaller lake (you can't see it from this map view) but we were supposed to get 12 - 20 inches of snow. I think we hit that amount by yesterday morning (Monday).

Not only did we get the snow, but out where we live in the country, the snow drifts are really, really bad. Roads could be plowed (although lately, I've felt like my county/town doesn't plow as much as the suburban towns) but the drifts are literally 5-7ft high. Or higher. And the blowing snow make visibility horrible.

Well, yes, we were born and raised in WNY so we're used to this weather. Shit, we'll probably be wearing shorts by the end of this week! But, while we're used to this cold weather, I'm not sure my chickens are. When we bought our chicks, we did look for "hearty" birds that would withstand colder temps. Everything I've read said that they do NOT need heat lamps to stay warm and alive. They huddle together in the coop and stay warm that way, I guess. But, as I'm sure you'll learn about me, is that I'm super paranoid and cannot imagine the thought of my chickens being cold. So last year, we decided to put in a small heat lamp during the SUPER cold days. I believe we only really used it for a couple of weeks when it was 25 below freezing.

We don't use anything fancy, we use this kind. It's pretty generic and works well. We used this when the chickens were babies and they stayed in our basement until their feathers came in.

We put it back in there Sunday. As of Saturday night, we are looking at temps waaaaay below zero, if you count the wind-chill. Literally -30 with the wind chill. Even with heated waterers, the water is freezing. We even put up a big board on one side of the coop to help keep the wind from blowing so hard. We went out there a few times to make sure food wasn't covered with snow and make sure they were OK.

You can kind of see the big board of plywood through the fence,

blocking the wind in the chicken run. 

Our first weekend home with our newest girl

So, how did it go you ask? Well, let me start from last Friday. Both Steve and I had to work Friday - all day. I had not made any special plans to go home or anything to let her out. I had a lunch meeting to get some items that I'm planning to donate (I'll post about my volunteering time with No One Left Behind in another post) and then I had a 2pm meeting. After my meeting, I started to feel bad that Bella was left in a crate all day - she's still so new and I'm sure she was somewhat nervous. 

I got home around 3pm and luckily, she was fine in her crate (no accidents). I quickly let both dogs outside and decide to bring Bella back to my office for the rest of the day. I had several co-workers who were really anxious to meet her. She did fantastic! She met everyone with a wagging nub, was friendly and calm. I walked her around a bit, then we sat in my office and worked until close to the end of the day! 

Such a good girl

After trying to get out of my office, she eventually just laid down! 

We went and picked up the girls, and then headed home! She did great! We experienced a pretty big storm over the weekend (weather people were warning us for DAYS ahead of time!) and it was a pretty decent storm. It started Saturday and when we woke up, it was snowing. It continued to snow and get more intense as the day went on. The bulk of the snow was going to hit overnight and into Sunday morning. Steve's work NEVER closes for stuff like this and even they closed 2.5 hours early! Steve got home around 7:30. 

Sunday morning we woke up to at least 20 inches of snow. And it was FREEZING. MR loved being outside and dove into snowbanks like a freaking dolphin. It was hilarious! Poor Bella is NOT made for this weather and we had to literally throw her out the door each time to get her to pee/poop outside. She had a couple of accidents over the weekend, but I attribute it to A) her being in a new house and B) it's just so frigid out. 

I ordered her this shirt for the time being. I want something that she can wear all the time. I'll get her a heavier jacket for next year. I'm also going to ask my mom if she can make a turtleneck-type scarf for her. 

Anyway, days 3 and 4 went really well and we love her! She still hasn't made a peep...

Meet Bella!

Well, needless to say, the meet and greet went well! I got permission to leave work early in order to meet the rescue people and foster mom. I picked Mila up from daycare (Ava stayed home sick with dad) and they were in our driveway when we pulled in! I tried to play it cool.

She came out of the car with a nub tail wagging (I thought she'd have a long tail!) Steve was inside with MR. They did the usual sniffing and that was it. Neither seemed to care all that much about the other. Bella (formerly Java) LOVED the girls and her nub went nuts when she played with them.

We were able to keep her right away, so that was great. We took her shopping to Runnings right after everyone left (they stayed maybe 20 minutes?) and bought her a new dog bed and crate, a new toy, some training treats and a new collar/leash combo.

Her personality is amazing. She's super laid back and does not seem to scare easily, or is skittish in any way. Wheels don't seem to bother her. She is extremely friendly and sweet. She's vert gentle. I even gave her a bath today and although a bit hesitant to get into the shower, once she was in there, she sat nicely and allowed me to wash her thoroughly. I started this blog the DAY we got her. Her first day went really well. I did find out when I was cooking dinner, that she does not prefer to be around me when I'm cooking and using the hood fan. I was cooking up some homemade chicken fingers and it was a bit loud - she retreated to our bedroom and laid on the floor.

She is a bit itchy, the rescue (and vet) think it could be caused by allergies. She's on steroids for the next two weeks.

I think she's the perfect size dog for us also - at 42lbs. Even though I was originally looking for a weiner-ish looking dog, I wasn't sure if they were maybe TOO small. Bella has a sweet, narrow little face and a hardy body! I think she'll fit in wonderfully with us. I took her for a walk and introduced her to the chickens and while interested, did not bark at them or anything.

Look at this face!! I cannot get enough of her. 

Last night, I tried to get her to play and it worked! We played with her new toy and MR got really jealous the poor boy! He kept sitting on my lap (he NEVER does this) and pushing his big head into my arms. LOL. I am giving him extra kisses and pets to remind him he's still our #1 boy.

Playing with her new toy

Her nub was wagging more by the end of the day yesterday. She's still getting used to laying in bed with us to cuddle before going in her crate for the overnight. She was super hesitant to get on the bed and once she was up there, she didn't know what to do! Once I got MR to lay down, she got it :) Then she was on her back, ready for belly rubs! She's a DOLL and I love her so much already!

This pic cracks me up - it reminds me so much of Hudson and Shelby

Here is Shelby and Hudson - apparently we like Black and Tan and Brindle! 

I cannot wait to take our new girl on all our adventures! I wonder if she likes to hike and swim like MR?

What I didn't know about living in the country

Soooo...this suburbanite-turned-country-girl had a lot to learn when we moved out to the country. I *thought* I knew what we were in for! I was wrong.

Here's a list of items that I was wide-eyed about. Aren't we in the 21st Century?

1. No garbage pick up. We used to use Waste Management and paid a monthly fee to bring our large bin to the end of our driveway. Normal. Like normal people do it! Found out that this same company does not service where we live in a "rural-residential" area. Solution? We take all our garbage to the dump. We have a tag on our truck, and we gather up all our crap, put it in our own bin (that we bought) and load bags and bags on garbage onto the trailer and drive down to the dump (it's not far, only a couple miles away). Lucky for us, we don't pay by weight. I believe we pay a yearly fee.

2. Cable - the cable provider we had used previously does not service our area. Part of me was excited about this, because the ONE cable provider had SUCH a monopoly and kept raising prices, horrible service (both technical/digital/TV related and also TERRIBLE customer service). So we went with DirecTV for cable (we don't actually need it and went to cancel this month). We also had to use a separate Internet provider as well. We went through 3 years of massive headaches, but I have to say, I *think* we're set now. Since we have Hulu, Vudu, Amazon Prime video, YouTube, Netflix, etc. we opted to cancel our cable and save ourselves $150/month (and put it into our Cabin Fund - more on that later). Well, after we canceled, a day later we get a call. DirecTV does not want us to cancel our service, so they are offering us a $48/month for exactly what we have now, NO CONTRACT, and a $300 gift card. Score! Let's keep it, bank the $100/month still, get the $300 gift card and then cancel next year. We're still saving money per month. So I'm good with this for now.

3. WATER. Yes, water. I guess I never understood how lucky people are to be connected to the town's water and sewer. When we moved into our house, we knew they were on a well. All I knew previous to this, was that well water stunk and you couldn't drink it. When we went to tour the house, the water did not smell funky at all (we learned later that you can dump bleach into your well to remove the smell for a while...great). We learned that yes, you can actually RUN OUT OF WATER. If it does not rain, and our well runs dry. Well, that means we have no water. We couldn't run the dishwasher, take a shower and do laundry at the same time, or even close to the same time, or we'd run out of water. I WAS NOT OK WITH THIS. We paid a shit-ton for our house and I wanted to have water whenever I wanted to have it- DUH. Ava was 8 weeks old when we got our water tested (we were buying reverse osmosis, purified spring water from Wegmans for drinking, but were using the well water for cooking and showers/baths). Once the guy from Anderson Water and Power came over and tested our water....well. I think it's safe to say that I could NOT BATHE MY BABIES in that water after I saw the results of the test. Nope. Not gonna happen. So, we paid $7,000 (3 months after buying our house - so we were BROKE) to install a water treatment system into our home. I'm not gonna lie, it's beautiful. Now we can drink our tap water, but we also have a reverse-osmosis purified tank especially for drinking water. So our fridge and spicket provide delicious water now. And I don't freak out when bathing my kids. The water treatment system did not solve our "running out of water" problem. It just TREATS the water, but does not store it. So, we put in a 400 gallon tank in our basement. Since we got that sucker installed, we've never run out of water. Hallelujah. However, if we lose power, our pump won't work and ergo, won't pump water up to our house. Sigh. That happened once, after a week-long beach vacation, we came home after an 8 hour drive to realize we had no water.

4. Mowing the lawn. This is not my chore. When Steve's Grandpa Teenie passed away, not only did he leave ALL his carpentry tools to Steve, but he also left his 40" zero turn Cub Cadet mower. It mowed our 1 acre in Fairport in 45 minutes. We figured it'd be ok for our new house. Nope. It took Steve almost 5 hours to mow our lawn. And he had to fill up the gas tank once during this. He'd come in to "take a break" because it would be blazing hot, or just sitting and bouncing for 5 hours was too much. We talked about it and it made sense to get a larger mower. 5 acres of lawn is a lot more than 1 acre. But, it was going to be a big investment. We were spending a LOT of money to be comfortable in this house! To me, time = money. 5 hours on the mower on a Sunday means he's not spending that time with us. He's not playing with the girls. We ended up getting a Gravely commercial zero-turn mower (I believe the deck is 60") Steve has been able to mow the entire lawn in about 1.5 hours without needing to refill the gas tank.

I will continue to take notes on this topic. I was surprised when reality hit me in the face and I realized that it truly is a "thing" to "get ready for summer" and "get ready for winter." I don't think I could handle this property by myself. That's not easy for me to say since I'm very independent and had lived on my own previously. But, I have zero interest to climb into our sewer tank to retrieve whatever pump stopped working and have shit water drip down my face. (Yes, that actually happened, I had to hold the light for Steve, while simultaneously gagging and throwing up in my mouth while he figured that out. Gross.)

Looking to add a family member to this crazy life!

Well, the title pretty much sums it up! Let's back up a bit. Steve and I both had dogs growing up. Family dogs. When we got together, he already had Shelby, his first Rottweiler. She was 2. When we bought our house, it happened to be around the time someone I knew found Hudson. He was tied up behind a house and left with no food, shelter, water, etc. It was terrible. We adopted him, and for 7 years, had two large dogs who were our LIFE. We took them everywhere. We always took them to the canal to run and swim. We took them on vacation. I spent way too much money on ridiculous sweaters for an 85lb dog. It's just who we were.

Fast forward to the summer of 2014. We went on a family vacation to Florida. I was 10 weeks pregnant with Ava. We had my friends from work house-sit and watch the dogs for us. Everything was fine. We got home from vacation and a week later, we woke one morning and Hudson had passed. It was so sudden and I was so devastated. He was my heart dog. He was only 7.

Shelby was 11 at that point. She made it to the following year and then started to go downhill. She stopped eating. She stopped being able to walk. It was so sad. So we made the decision to euthanize her. So, within 1 year, we lost both of our dogs. It was hard.

We went 6 months without any pets. My house was CLEAN! But my heart was empty. Even with two little kids (at that point, an infant and 2 year old), the house was somehow too quiet.

So, October 2015, we welcomed Legacy's Mister Mister to our home. His dad, Midas competed in Westminster! (and will compete again this year as a veteran). We wanted to make sure he was well established in our home before adding another dog.

I believe this was taken last summer (2018) so he was just about 3

About 6-8 months ago, I felt like we were ready. We also dog-sat for a friend while they were away on vacation for 8 days. We had watched her for a few days back in April, but this was going to be a full-on week. The dogs got along PERFECTLY! Willow is a teeny, tiny Weiner/terrier mix (9lbs) and the dogs got along just fine. I was a bit worried MR wouldn't know his own strength, but alas, he proved me wrong. He was SO happy to have a friend! I swear he was sad when we brought Willow home.

Having two dogs is a lot of work, I realize. But I also am used to having a dog who could cuddle with me. Hudson was SUCH a lover and a baby - always had to be touching one of us. MR. is not a super cuddly dog, and even if he was, he's 105lbs and is just way too big (for me). Now that he'll be 4 this year, he really has matured a lot and I feel like we're at a good place to welcome a new furry family member. We don't have any trips planned for this year, and that's pretty much the only time we worry about having multiple animals.

What's been hard, is that we're looking to rescue. It's apparently MUCH harder to rescue than it is to qualify for a show-worthy dog ($$$$). I was denied a rescue dog because we allow MR to be off leash when on our property. WHAT? What does that have to do with a new dog? We had to keep Hudson on leash at all times...and he was 85lbs. The dog I was asking about is 15lbs. Anyway. I was not happy with this rescue - who judged me before asking questions. If you're wondering who they are, they are "Pixie Mamas Rescue" out of Buffalo. They are idiots.

So, I filled out applications for maybe 3-5 other dogs. All had meet and greets that went well. So last night, I found her:

Her name is Java (they think she's between 2-3) and her foster mom says 

she's a "sweet soul", very gentle and gets along with dogs and kids. 

We will have a meet and greet with her on Wednesday! I can't wait! Fingers crossed she fits into our family. Wish us luck! She's a mountain cur mix, which would work out well for our family. Here's the definition from Wikipedia: "The Mountain Cur is a type of working dog that is bred specifically for treeing and trailing small game, like squirrel and raccoons. They are also used for hunting and baying big game like bear and wild boar as well as being an all-purpose farm dog."

So, if in fast she's truly a mountain cur mix, it appears that she'd fit into our lifestyle quite well!  

What's for dinner?

Surprisingly, many people ask what I feed my chickens. We go the traditional route, of layer feed (crumbles) from our local store. We're lucky that our town just welcomed Runnings (home, farm and outdoor store, similar to Tractor Supply or Country Max) to our area. I think it was right when we moved in, about 4 years ago. They sell everything we need to keep our mini farm running smoothly.

When the chickens are babies, we started them on chick starter/grower feed that includes probiotics and yeast culture to keep the babies growing well and healthy! Now, with ALL of my animals, I try very hard to provide them with all natural, or organic (if I can afford it) foods. I know that what goes in must come out and the better that goes in, the better that comes out. After researching, I also found that many homesteaders feed their farm animals leftovers! This got me very excited. There are some foods that are not good for chickens (raw beans, chocolate for example), so I make sure to throw all of that out. But, since I also have two small children in the home - for any parents out there who may be reading, you'll understand this! - so a lot of their uneaten food gets tossed over the fence to the chickens. They LOVE it! The best part is when they come running when they hear the sliding glass door open. And, I'm not throwing out nearly as much food as I used to. I also try to feed my human kids as organic as I can afford, so the leftovers are also mostly organic! I also make sure they have access to pebbles and small stones to help with digestion. I used to buy it (don't remember the brand) but now that they can free range, they have more natural access.

Now that they are all over the age of 9 months, they are all on layer feed which helps with egg production. On top of leftovers and their regular food, I also like to get them chicken scratch as a treat. This encourages their natural scratching behavior and is a nice supplement to their normal feed. I have gotten one of these scratch blocks but didn't love them. It's a big block that stays in one place, and with almost 30 chickens, they weren't able to get to it easily. I think this summer I'll place a few in the fenced area in different spots for easy access.

And the reason for why we try to give them the best diet:

Aren't these gorgeous? We sell them for $3/dozen.

Chicken Coop - UPDATED with pics!

One of the reasons I (re)started my blog is truly to document our crazy life. I tell people stories of my days and many respond with "you should wear a camera on your head! I'd love to see it!" and it's usually when I have some crazy story about chasing chickens at 7:30am wearing work clothes and needing to change into NEW work clothes because I was sweating like a pig by the time I was done.

Another reason is because my husband is literally OBSESSED with watching people's YouTube videos on their homesteads. It's hilarious. He'll watch people NOT talk, and just build. Clean. Feed. whatever. It's a bit strange that he's so into these videos...at least the one where the guy DOES NOT TALK AT ALL. But, he watches so he can learn. Figure out how other people did it and if they were successful. Figured if I'm going to have a blog about my mini-farm, I should include some of the things we did to get to where we are now. I hope if anyone ever stumbles across this blog, that they find it helpful!

Chicken Coop:

Steve built this entire thing by hand. He built it in our garage, then moved it to the location we wanted and put it together there (he used his Polaris ATV to drag the pieces). He has ALL the carpentry tools, because his Grandpa Teenie was a woodworker and gave Steve ALL his woodworking tools when he passed away.

He used 2 x 4's for the frame. We used a really durable wire mesh to go around the whole thing. He put a metal roof on as well. Each side has a nesting box (not seen in photo). Inside the coop are two rungs for them to perch on and sleep on. My goal is to get more areas in the run for perching.

The framing goes up

The hen house goes up

Getting there - the paint is called "Barn Red"

Nesting box construction + assembly

Nesting box going up

Before this summer, we had to go out each night and lock the chickens up in the coop/run area. We are afraid of other critters getting in and once they get in, the chickens have no where to run. So each night, after they'd put themselves to bed, I'd go out and lock them up. In the summer it's no big deal. In the winter or when it's raining? Ugh.

But, BUT! We were going on a week-long beach vacation to Ocean City, MD (I'll do a post on that later!) and needed someone to help with the chickens. It was not realistic to ask ANYONE to come over nightly to close and lock up. So we looked into an automatic chicken coop door and bought one. Now, we didn't need someone to come over each night. Just a couple of times during the week to check on food and water levels! Genius!

We also have two of these heated waterers so their water does not freeze in the winter. These work ok - if they can stay plugged in, they are great. Sometimes, the chickens running around have made it unplug from the extension cord and then the water freezes pretty quickly. So we check every day/couple of days depending on our schedule. If we're home, we check daily. We have two non-heated ones as well, so in the summer, there are 4 waterers available to them.

We also bought one of these 50 gallon rain barrels to keep near the coop for easy access to water in the summer. This is right outside the coop door and in the summer, it has a nozzle and we're able to fill their waterers pretty easily and not have to walk all the way back to the house where the hose is.

Fence:

After we lost 5 chickens within a few weeks to a DANG fox, we knew we needed to do something to keep our chickens safe. And to keep me from being paranoid and scared. It was traumatic, to say the least to watch a fox run off with my chicken in its mouth. I took the kids to visit my BFF about 2.5 hours away for a weekend. This was his opportunity to get this fence up, without anyone bothering him. This is a 50ft x 90ft fenced-in area. The gray building on the left of the photo is Steve's shed that came with the house. We left a space next to the shed that would allow us to build our barn and have the friends from the barn and our chickens can cohabitate. The height of the fence is about 5ft. So the chickens CAN flutter to the top of the fence and get over. We've had to help them get back or or we open the door around 4:30 and they all go home and go to bed :)

I will continue to post about what technologies and resources we use to keep up with all of this! As we add animals to our family, I will do separate posts for each and what each animal needs to live on our mini-farm.


This is my youngest, Ava, who just turned 4 right before Christmas. 


This is Abu, our first rooster. He's an asshole and has attacked me several times and drew blood. Jerk. 


This is our Brahma rooster. He does not have a name! He's HUGE. He may be a tad aggressive to the other chickens, he's submissive to Abu and does not even try to attack us. We actually have 3 roosters, but they all seem to understand the pecking order (pun intended!) Abu's the boss. 


This is Hei-Hei, my favorite chicken. Since she was a baby chick, she was the MOST interested in us. Eats out of our hands, we hold her, pet her. I've brought her into the house! She's super laid back and is the BEST chicken! <3

How I became an accidental country girl

If you met me, you probably wouldn't assume, that I live in the country. On 8 acres. With almost 30 chickens.

Let me back up a bit. I married a country boy. I also happened to know him since I was 15 years old (and he was 14). He grew up hunting, fishing, building forts across the street in the huge field and woods. He got his first bow and arrow set when he was 5 or 6 years old (and it's SO cute!)

I did not grow up like that. My dad was a pharmacist and my mom a nurse. My dad is anti-gun. I grew up in a suburban neighborhood on a cul-de-sac. I had a great, pretty stereotypical childhood.

Steve grew up a few streets over.

After becoming friends, then super close friends, and taking him to my prom, we ended up together. He said he always knew he'd marry me. I NEVER THOUGHT IN A MILLION YEARS I'D END UP WITH HIM. LOL. He still makes fun of me "ya never thought you'd marry me huh" and I cannot imagine my life NOT married to him. Funny how life works out.

I still didn't know that my life would end up in the country, with a mini-farm. I'll skip some boring years, but I eventually bought a house when I moved back to the area after college and working a couple of years in that city (Buffalo). I moved into Steve's tiny apartment (think, 600SF) and um, it was...a bachelor pad. And that's saying it kindly. He parked his motorcycle in the living room, if that paints the picture for you.  The second I moved in, after selling my condo, I was house hunting.

Found a house in the next town over from where we grew up. Right smack in the middle of everything. Every restaurant delivered. We were 30 seconds to the best grocery store (Wegmans, if you're from anywhere near NY state, you will know what I'm talking about). All our friends could easily make it to our house from their neighboring towns. Everyone met at our house. I LOVED that house. It was perfect for us at the time: we were 24 and 25 respectively. Working full time (this is during the time where I use the term DINKS - dual income, no kids!) And, bonus, the house sat on almost an acre of land - right in the middle of town! For 7 years we loved that house. Grew in that house. Renovated that house. Brought our first baby home to that house. But, since it was smack-dab in the middle of town, it was loud. When we (I) bought the house, we didn't mind the traffic or the noise. But it got old, fast. Especially with a baby in the house. Even with a large yard, it was not fenced in, and we could NOT think about letting our baby outside without us helicoptering.

So, the house hunt began. We always said we'd be in our first house for 5-7 years. And we were at 7 years. I didn't realize I was a country girl, until we bought our forever (dream) house. And I was VERY pregnant when we moved into our new house (7+ months pregnant. Moving when pregnant with a 2 year old....sucks).

The house is bigger than we imagined our next house would be. It's further away than we wanted to be (by about 10 minutes), but when we saw it, we knew it was meant to be ours!

This 2700SF house sits on almost 8 acres. We have about 5 acres of lawn, if I had to guess, and approximately 3 acres of woods. Our house sits back about 500ft from the road. It was built in 2003 (so relatively new). It's a classic colonial and I love it.

I think perhaps it was around this time that I fully became engulfed in living the country life and giving my kids the benefit of being outside a lot. I wanted to be able to have my kids play outside without the fear of being hit by a car. I didn't want people to easily see that we were outside. I guess I just wanted privacy and freedom. And this house had it. As my husband says in the classiest way "I want to be able to piss off my back porch buck naked without anyone seeing or caring." Ok then. And that's the first thing he did! LOL.

And, having all this land. What are we going to DO with it? What are we ALLOWED to do with it? We went to the town to ask. It's super casual where we live apparently (in a rural-residential area) and went something like this:

Steve: what kind of permit do I need for a chicken coop?
Town Guy: where do you live and how much land do you have?
Steve: down 21 near the lake, 8 acres.
Town Guy: yeah, no, you don't need anything. Do whatever you want. Have a nice day!
Steve: .....

And so, I got my chicken coop. Let me also just say this. I had looked into a small-ish coop that could hold maybe 6-8 chickens. I found one at Tractor Supply for around $400. It looks like this:



Now, remember this. If you follow me, you will start to see a trend here. What I ask for, or what I envision, versus what my husband actually builds.

Here's what I got:



The hen house is 4ft x 8ft. Generally speaking, if chickens are not able to free-range, they should get 10 square feet per chicken. But, as you can see from the above picture, our chickens can free range. However, due to losing 5 chickens two years ago from one fox family (picture me chasing the fox, with a .22, screaming and crying. At least the kids were in bed already. Sigh.) we put up a big fence this last summer. It's about 50ft x 90ft. The run is 8ft x 24ft long and is fully enclosed (except one small exit to the fenced in area). The chickens have an automatic door to the hen house for night time so critters cannot get in there and kill them. The coop has a door that is left open, so the chicks can go out to the fenced area or into their run at their own leisure. And, I don't have to go out each night and lock them up anymore!

I'll do a separate post about the technology we use for the coop. I've found several things have been SUPER helpful as I learn how to navigate this lifestyle!

So yeah. I wanted a few chickens. We started with 6 (you have to buy 6 at a time). And then we got 6 more. Then I bought 4 adult chickens off a buy/sell board I'm on. Then when my daycare provider (we love her, I'll do a post on childcare later, too!) needed to find homes for her 12 chickens, we took them in. We lost a few to a fox family, even Mr. killed a couple (damn dog!). I think we're at 27 or 28 chickens right now.

We left an area to the left of the fence that will be home to a barn (hopefully in the next 2 years). The barn will then be able to house 2 goats, a donkey and a mini pony. Right now, that's the plan!

I also want to caveat this post. We do eat and sell the eggs. Farm fresh eggs are amazing (you can really tell the difference!) Chickens generally lay one egg every day for 12 days then take one day of rest. During peak laying season, we were getting between 9 - 15 eggs daily (some of our chicks were babies and therefore were not laying yet). During winter, they slow down production and we'll get between 3 - 7 eggs per day).

However, the reason we are doing this is because we love animals. I have zero plans to slaughter any animal that we raise. I would like to find a USE for the animals, of course, to make up for the $$ we spend in feed and such, but I have NO PLANS to eat my animals. NONE. ZERO. The guys at the feed store always give me a look after they ask "so what are your plans when they stop producing?" and I'm all "excuse me? What? They are my friends!" and the chuckles and eye rolls happen. Whatever. I can't eat an animal that has a personality and has developed a friendship with me. If anyone ever met my favorite chicken Hei-Hei, try meeting her, falling in love with her, and then eating her. Nope.

And so it goes. I now wear cowboy boots or muck boots when I'm out feeding, cleaning, gathering, etc.

And then I put on my stiletto heels and make up and go to the office and work.

Day in the life - version 1 (dad's at work for 3 days straight)

I've been reading a lot of DITL blog posts from various bloggers I've kept up with throughout the years. I've always found those fascinating, because I always wonder if other peoples' lives are as crazy and hectic as mine seem to be. I love seeing/reading how other overwhelmed moms make it work.

I have a unique situation because of Steve's schedule. We're lucky that he works a full time job (one that he loves and has been at for the last 10 or so years) but only works 3 days a week. This means that he's also the stay at home parent for half the week since I work out of the home 5 days a week in a traditional Monday - Friday office job (more on our careers later).

We've been lucky that our kids have only ever been in daycare part-time. I'm actually very proud of this fact. I worked in daycares all through high school and college. I think daycare is great for kids, for socialization, etc. I get it. I'm all for it. But I also saw the kids who were dropped off at 7am and picked up at 6pm. That's a LONG day for anyone, but for a little kid? 5 days a week? Listen. I get it. Not all families are lucky or have a situation that would allow less time in daycare. Those situations are real and sometimes, there's nothing you can do about it.

BUT, I've also seen the kids whose parents just use daycare as a "babysitter" - I had one family whose child was in daycare Monday - Friday from open (7am) to close (6pm) every single day. His dad worked from home (10 minutes away). Really?

So I've been fortunate that my babies were only in daycare for 3-4 days MAX (and when they were babies, it really was 'only' 3 days).

ANYWAY, back to my DITL post (which isn't a REAL post because I'm not actually doing a real day, but you get the idea).

5:50am - I snooze the alarm
6:15ish - I get out of bed to start my day
6:45 - dressed, hair done, make up done - head to kitchen and start breakfast for the girls

Mila gets bacon, cereal, toast or a combination
Ava usually wants oatmeal and bacon

7am go upstairs to get the girls up
7:05 - 7:10 potty, get settled to eat
7:30 - get dressed
7:35 - shoes on
7:40 - out the door, load into car
7:45 - bus stop (end of our 500ft driveway)
7:50 - bye Mila!
8:00 - drop Ava off at Miss Leah's
8:20 - 4:40 - MOMMY IS AT WORK SLAVING AWAY IN FRONT OF HER LAPTOP (and going on facebook and instagram, who are we kidding?)

5pm - pick up both kids
5:10 - home, unload car, backpack, lunch boxes
5:15 - Mila lets MR outside
5:20 - kids watch some TV while I get dinner started
5:30 - 6pm dinner

6:30 - 7:30pm TV, playtime, snuggles, reading, pajamas
7:30 - head upstairs, brush teeth, go potty,
7:45 - bedtime stories!
8:00 - kisses good night

After kids are in bed and quiet, I do a quick pick up of the house, sweep, vacuum, make lunches (I HATE this chore so much for some reason!) and then, I do one of a few things, depending on how motivated I am:
1. Cook a real dinner for Steve and me (this doesn't happen that often, lol) but timing actually works out and he's home around 8:45, just about enough time for me to make something
2. Sit on the couch and veg and watch TV
3. Get out the laptop and do a little work (in bed)

Because of Steve's schedule (full time but 3 days) his days are LONG. His commute is about 40 minutes, and his work day is 13.5 hours. So he leaves the house before any of us are awake and doesn't get home until almost 9pm. So he goes 3 solid days without seeing his kids! I don't think I could go 3 days every week not seeing my kids faces. But, on the flip side, he gets to be HOME with them for FOUR days every week! It's different now that Mila is in school, but he gets to do all the "stay at home parent" duties that I don't get to. I'm so grateful that at least ONE parent can be there!

I'll do a REAL DiTL post - complete with pictures once I decide to actually do it. I think I more so wanted to document what single-momming it is like when Steve's at work.

I want to caveat this post - I understand that my situation is in NO WAY a real single-parent--lifestyle. I know the hard days will end and I'll have my partner back. I know that I do have someone to lean on when all is said and done. And while I can resent some of this, I know I shouldn't. It's hard when it's all on ME to do ALL the things. Heck, I get pissed and tell Steve "you never have to work and parent on the same day" and I think when I said that out loud, it finally sunk in for him. I work a full day, and then, THEN need to be a good mom and listen, and play and parent and all those good things. Sometimes, it's hard. I have no real, big complaints. But if I can't vent or complain on my own blog, where can I?