Hello. This is the very first post on this brand-new web site. I plan to write about what's going on here on my mountain in Tennessee, and maybe some observations on what God is doing in the world.
After a long, wet summer, this week has been the first touch of fall here in Tennessee. We turned off the ceiling fans one day, and I slept in my long-john bottoms with a tank top.....a compromise between summer-evening-wear and winter wrap-up.
Youngest son is the only one of our kids still at home, and he has sporadically been chopping wood and stacking it for winter heat. This week I suggested he pick up the pace just a bit.
Here in our little mountain cabin, we have two choices for heat -- pay the propane company a few hundred bucks to fill up the gas tank or chop a whole lot of wood and get that wood heater moved into the living room from the porch. I have a rebellious streak in me towards utility companies. Not only do I hate depending on someone else for the basics of life (shelter, food, water, heat), but I also find that a close scrutiny of the utility bill reveals a whole pile of mysterious charges. One time I called the phone company to find out why I was paying about $15 in tax.
"Oh, that's a government tax," the guy on the phone told me.
"Which government?" I asked.
He couldn't tell me! This official at the phone company could not tell me why I was paying a sales tax for a service, nor which government entity it went to!
I prefer non-participation. Some day I hope to be entirely off the grid, but for the time being, we pay phone/internet and electricity. If I have anything to do with it, the propane company will not be added to that list.
The young hens in my laying flock have begun laying, and after a few weeks of small eggs -- and an occasional whopper double-yolk -- the lovely brown eggs have blossomed to what a store would consider Large or Extra-Large. I love it!
Back in the spring, we went in with a friend on a flock of chickens. We bought 20 chicks from the local Tractor Supply -- 9 Buff Orpingtons, 9 Plymouth Barred Rock, and 2 Black Australorp. The Orpingtons and Barred Rock were "pullets." The 2 Australorp were "straight run." Since we wanted a flock of egg-laying hens, we bought mostly females (pullets). But I also wanted at least one rooster, to protect the flock, keep the hens happy, and wake me up in the morning. (I just love hearing a rooster crow in the wee hours!) So, we bought 2 of the Australorp straight run (meaning they haven't been sexed, and you just take your chances what gender you get). Since straight run usually is more males than females, I figured to get at least one rooster out of the black chicks.
We brought the babies home and set them up in a big cardboard box in my living room. A few weeks later, I moved the growing birds upstairs to a big cast-iron tub. And about the time the babies traded their chicky-fuzz for feathers we moved them out in the hen house. It was early spring, and still kind of cool at night, so when they moved the heat lamp that had kept them warm in the house moved with them.
Now here we are in early fall, and my chickens are about 7 months old and laying large brown eggs every day. I get better than a dozen eggs almost every day.
And the rooster question kind of solved itself. Neither of the Black Australorp turned out to be a rooster. But the largest of the Buff Orpington -- one I called "Big Mama" -- ended up being a rooster! (I have changed his name to "Big Bruiser.")
It just goes to show, nothing is certain but the love of Jesus, and even professional chick-sexers make mistakes.
After a long, wet summer, this week has been the first touch of fall here in Tennessee. We turned off the ceiling fans one day, and I slept in my long-john bottoms with a tank top.....a compromise between summer-evening-wear and winter wrap-up.
Youngest son is the only one of our kids still at home, and he has sporadically been chopping wood and stacking it for winter heat. This week I suggested he pick up the pace just a bit.
Here in our little mountain cabin, we have two choices for heat -- pay the propane company a few hundred bucks to fill up the gas tank or chop a whole lot of wood and get that wood heater moved into the living room from the porch. I have a rebellious streak in me towards utility companies. Not only do I hate depending on someone else for the basics of life (shelter, food, water, heat), but I also find that a close scrutiny of the utility bill reveals a whole pile of mysterious charges. One time I called the phone company to find out why I was paying about $15 in tax.
"Oh, that's a government tax," the guy on the phone told me.
"Which government?" I asked.
He couldn't tell me! This official at the phone company could not tell me why I was paying a sales tax for a service, nor which government entity it went to!
I prefer non-participation. Some day I hope to be entirely off the grid, but for the time being, we pay phone/internet and electricity. If I have anything to do with it, the propane company will not be added to that list.
The young hens in my laying flock have begun laying, and after a few weeks of small eggs -- and an occasional whopper double-yolk -- the lovely brown eggs have blossomed to what a store would consider Large or Extra-Large. I love it!
Back in the spring, we went in with a friend on a flock of chickens. We bought 20 chicks from the local Tractor Supply -- 9 Buff Orpingtons, 9 Plymouth Barred Rock, and 2 Black Australorp. The Orpingtons and Barred Rock were "pullets." The 2 Australorp were "straight run." Since we wanted a flock of egg-laying hens, we bought mostly females (pullets). But I also wanted at least one rooster, to protect the flock, keep the hens happy, and wake me up in the morning. (I just love hearing a rooster crow in the wee hours!) So, we bought 2 of the Australorp straight run (meaning they haven't been sexed, and you just take your chances what gender you get). Since straight run usually is more males than females, I figured to get at least one rooster out of the black chicks.
We brought the babies home and set them up in a big cardboard box in my living room. A few weeks later, I moved the growing birds upstairs to a big cast-iron tub. And about the time the babies traded their chicky-fuzz for feathers we moved them out in the hen house. It was early spring, and still kind of cool at night, so when they moved the heat lamp that had kept them warm in the house moved with them.
Now here we are in early fall, and my chickens are about 7 months old and laying large brown eggs every day. I get better than a dozen eggs almost every day.
And the rooster question kind of solved itself. Neither of the Black Australorp turned out to be a rooster. But the largest of the Buff Orpington -- one I called "Big Mama" -- ended up being a rooster! (I have changed his name to "Big Bruiser.")
It just goes to show, nothing is certain but the love of Jesus, and even professional chick-sexers make mistakes.