Recipe ~ My Splendalicious Peach Bread Pudding

I have 17 hens that are all laying so I get about 13 to 17 eggs every day.  We eat some and sell the rest to our neighbors and friends.  I'm like a chicken pimp...my 'girls' gotta pay for their own food, and they do a very good job of it.  Most of the time I can barely keep up with demand.  But every once in a while I have a few of my regulars go on a vacation at the same time and I will accumulate some extras.  On those occasions I like to find a good recipe to use up the excess.  One of my all-time favorite recipes is my Splendalicious Peach Bread Pudding.

Its called Splendalicious for obvious reasons...I make it with Splenda instead of sugar.  Today I am sharing this recipe with you.  If you're not a Splenda user don't worry, I have included directions for both with and without sugar.  My bread pudding is moist without being custard-like, but if you prefer the custard style, I've included that modification in the recipe as well. 

Splendalicious Peach Bread Pudding

You will need:

About 12 Slices of White or Wheat Sandwich Bread. When making this recipe today I even used a couple of stale hotdog buns left over.  Stale breads are best for this recipe.
**If you don't have any stale bread you can buy a loaf of sandwich bread, let 12 slices sit out on a dish on the counter for half a day, rotating the pieces periodically so they get equally stale.  The stale bread absorbs the wet mixture much better.


9 Medium to Large Eggs (13 if you like a more custard-like bread pudding.)

24 Packets of Splenda OR 1 Cup of Sugar

1 Can Evaporated Low Fat Milk -12 oz

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon Orange Zest (I use McCormicks Ground Valencia Orange Peel)

3/4 Cup Diced Peaches packed in water, drained. (* you can replace this with equal amounts of canned pears or apples, drained, or even raisins).

Glass Baking Dish (I use an 8" x 8" Pyrex but any equivalent size baking dish will do)

Butter Flavored Cooking Spray

Foil

How to Prepare:

Place oven rack in center of oven.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl tear bread slices into pieces slightly smaller than quarter size.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest, and eggs.

 Pour diced peaches on top of bread pieces, then pour egg mixture over the bread and peaches, gently blend with a large spoon just until all pieces of bread are wet. Do Not Over Mix!

Spray the baking dish with a butter flavored cooking spray.  Pour the bread pudding mixture into the dish, sprinkle a bit of Cinnamon on the top.

Lay a sheet of foil over the dish but don't wrap it around the dish.  It is only used to keep the top from browning and drying too fast.  Place the dish into the over.  Bake for 60 minutes.

Remove the foil tent and bake another 15 minutes.  Top should then become a pretty golden brown.

Remove from oven, cover again with the foil, this time wrapping it around the edges of the dish, and let it stand for 10 minutes.  

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (I was out and only had vanilla with blackberries, it was still good).  
 

Store leftovers in a covered dish in the refrigerator.  Bread pudding is wonderful cool or warm.  You can re-heat in the microwave later if you like it warm.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have.  I've been making it since I was a teenager.  If you make it,  please let me know what you think, okay?

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!
 

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***This post shared over at the 'From the Farm Blog Hop'.***

Chicken Gym ~ Cabbage Jump (Video)

You know how 5 minutes after summer break begins, the kids start complaining how they are 'So Bored!', well my chickens are no different then kids.  When we were on vacation in Colorado earlier this year the 'girls' were so excited the first day about chasing down all the new bugs that had moved into their run since our last visit.  The next day they lavished on all the weeds that grew up in their area with the help of all the chicken poop they left behind last time. But by the third day the bugs were either eaten up or smart enough to stay outside the fenced area and the grass had been devoured and the roots scratched up.  The chickens looked So Bored.  They had already put that fresh earth to use dust bathing all morning, then by late afternoon they were just laying around in the shade doing nothing.

I knew that if I didn't do something to entertain them they would get so bored over the remaining 11 days of our vacation that they would start bickering with each other.  So I tried to think of some way to get them busy, but I didn't want to have to be actively doing the entertaining myself...it was my vacation too ya know.  

I came up with this...a Chicken Gym!  Check out the 'girls' doing the Cabbage Dance in my video.  I swear I got more entertainment then they did...

[If the video is blurry you can click on the settings icon and adjust it to a higher resolution.]

Is that the just funniest thing?  I changed the music because the wind was blowing and it sounded horrible on the video, I kind of like the music, it is called 'Chicken Dance', very appropriate I think.  I loved watching their little legs flare out to the sides as they jumped up to the cabbage. This was so much fun for me!

What do you do to entertain your chickens?  Or is that entertain yourself with your chickens?

The 'girls' got hours of exercise, they enjoyed the 'treats of their labor', and I was just laughing my butt off.  And, we did it all for just the cost of a .69 cent head of cabbage.  I already had the jute twine laying around.

Here are the Easy Peasy instructions to make your own Chicken Gym:

 

You need:

A vegetable or fruit that wont immediately fall apart.  I found that cabbage is best but you can use a head of lettuce as well, or a large cucumber, zucchini, apples that are cored, use your imagination.

Twine 

1/2" Paddle Drill Bit (really, any drill bit long enough to go through at least half the width of the veggie will work.

This is what you do:

Drill all the way through the thickest part of the veggie. If your drill bit is not long enough you can drill halfway through, then turn over and drill the opposite side until the two holes meet in the middle.

Poke the twine through the veggie (I doubled mine for more strength since the cabbage was pretty heavy.

Tie the ends of the twine above where the chickens will be 'working out'.  At home they have an arbor top in their run so I tie to that, on vacation we just had chain link fence panels and no top so I first tied a string across the top of two panels then tied the cabbage string to that horizontal string.

Important...you want to adjust the height of the cabbage so that it is just above the reach of the tallest chicken, this way they have to actually jump to peck a piece of it off.  You may want to start with it right at the end of their reach to get them started, then raise it a few more inches after they know what to do.  Mine now always know what to do so I keep it higher right from the start.

 No go build a Gym for Your Chickens!

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!
 

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This post was included in the Simple Saturdays Blog Hop

Dog 'Training Classes' or Dog 'Torture'...My Dog Might Say the Later.

Yesterday wast the first day of my puppy, Miss Hollywood's, Basic Training Dog Obedience Class.  We (well, I) was really excited about attending the class.  Hollywood is half Rottweiler, and 1/4 each Shar-Pei & Boxer, and at just 5 months old she already weighs over 40 pounds and is pretty good sized.  I know that when she is full grown I will need to be in control of her or she will take over. 

Miss Hollywood at 5 months (7/20/14) Looks like a High School Graduation Photo, lol

In preparation for the class I attended the 2 hour human class, which was an orientation for the class and to train us humans how to train our dogs.  After the orientation I was feeling pretty confident with my home training so far.  She learned 'sit', 'laydown', and 'wait' for her food until I said to eat, both with verbal and hand signal commands.  She also learned 'leave-it' (good for on a walk passing an irresistible cat poop) and 'drop-it' (for when she has my shoe or is sneaking out of my room with my underwear in her mouth).  So I thought we were ready.

Arrival at Class

We had to drive over an hour away to the class.  The class is downtown with lots of city traffic that Hollywood is not use to.  She was very nervous when I got her out of the car a few blocks away.  I thought we could take the walk to the class to relieve herself but the traffic and people proved to be too distracting so she didn't stop to pee.  When we arrived, we were the last of 6 people, so the only place left was next to my daughter and her dog Bear.  Hollywood and Bear recognized each other and while Bear was behaving, Hollywood was being obnoxious wanting to play with him and the other dogs in the room.  I tried to keep her near me while the instructor spoke buy Hollywood kept acting up and pulling at the end of her leash tethered to the wall in our area.

The First Lesson

When it was time to do our first lesson I could not get Hollywood's attention. She was too busy watching the other dogs and their owners and trying to get to them to play.  The teacher approached us and Hollywood pee'd all over.  I had to stop trying to get her attention and clean up the pee.  The teacher put up a barrier around Hollywood and I, so she wouldn't be distracted by everyone else.  That didn't work as planned, Hollywood started jumping up and pulling the barrier down.  So we missed the first and second lesson while I was busy trying to get her to stop pulling down the barrier and focus on me so I could instruct her.  It was a losing battle.  The teacher came over again and tried moving the barrier further away so Hollywood could not reach it and told me to just ignore her and keep trying to work the lesson with Hollywood.  By this time I was so frustrated because she never acted this way at home.  Yes, it was her first time in a crowd like this, but my goodness had she checked her brains at the door?

Then Shit Hit the Fan...Literally

My frustration was apparently transferred to her through the lease and she became extremely stressed.  Not only was she not focusing on me, not following commands, still trying to knock the barrier down, but now she developed the screaming shits!  I wanted to just crawl behind the barrier myself and hide.  My daughters boyfriend took over their dog and my daughter took Hollywood out the back door to a vacant parking lot to let her de-stress a moment and finish pooping, while I got down on my knees in front of everyone else and cleaned up a huge mess of dog diarrhea in my area. 

I was embarrassed by her behavior, upset with myself for getting so frustrated, and felt so guilty for causing her so much stress that she got the screaming shits.  My own stomach was churning because of this situation and I began to cry.  Boy, did we make a good first impression on this class. 

I went outside to try to calm myself down and relieve my daughter of taking care of my dog so she could go back inside to work with hers.  By the time we were both sort of in control and went back inside we had missed over half of the class.  I just sat in the chair in my area with Hollywood at my side.  I told the instructor we would just observe quietly for the rest of the class.  We were able to join in on the final lesson and Hollywood did perform it okay.  I think she was just so drained by that time that she didn't care about anyone else there.

"Please Stay After Class"

After class ended the teacher and I talked about what happened.  She said that because we live in a very rural area we just weren't able to exposed Hollywood to enough other people or dogs, like in this setting.  Combine that with the fact that she already has self-confidence issues from being taken away from her mother so early (we got her at 4 weeks old), and its actually not too abnormal for this to have happened.  She said she wanted me to bring her to a structured puppy play class on Friday (before her next training class on Sunday) so this place wont be a scary setting for her. 

When I left, my eyes were still swollen and red from crying.  I stopped at Starbucks for a frappuchino (trying to pep myself up).  I know the poor young man behind the counter wanted to come around and hug me.  (They are so sweet there.)  I continued to cry about halfway home, feeling like the worst doggy-mom in the world for upsetting my baby to the point she got the screaming shits. 

After the Tears Dried

When I finally stopped crying, I came up with a plan and made a vow to correct this so she would never feel that way again. My plan is to work with her more at home to help build her confidence and try to expose her to more people and different places this week.  Then on Friday, before the puppy play class I will spend about half an hour at the public park throwing the ball for her while she is on her 50' leash.  This will let her have lots fun with other people and dogs around, but not right next to us, so she will maybe wear herself out, allowing her to be more calm in class.  (And hopefully empty her bladder and bowls thoroughly before class.)  I will do this before each training class as well.

I need to have her be an obedient and well-behaved dog since she is going to be so big, but I never want to cause her so much physical and emotional discomfort again.

I will let you know how it goes...

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Product Review: BriteTap Chicken Waterer ~ Traveling with Chickens

BriteTap Chicken Waterer

BriteTap installed on 2 Gallon Rubbermaid Cooler Jug

*Note, the link above takes you to Amazon to purchase the cooler alone.

When I bought mine they were only $9.97 each, shipped Prime.

If that price is higher now it may be peak season, so shop around.

  
Those of you who know me personally know that I spoil my chickens rotten.  They are not just livestock or egg producers, they are my pets.  Every one of my 17 'girls' has a name, not that she responds to that name, but she has one.  Like my pets that live inside the house, the 'girls' go with us when we go on vacation.  Yes, we take all 17 chickens with us.

How do we do that without looking like the Beverly Hillbillies?  Easy, my husband and I converted an old tool trailer into a mobile chicken coop trailer.  It has 6 nest boxes, 24 feet of roosting area, 72 sq ft of deep litter floor, and a pop door, just like at home.  We installed a roof vent that is covered so it lets warm are out and if it rains the girls don't get wet.  We also installed special vents on opposing sides of the trailer to create airflow without turning the insides into a dust bowl.  I personally tested this by riding inside the trailer while my husband drove down the highway (Don't try this at home its not safe and probably not legal either). I just wanted to know what the ride would be like for my girls.

The evening before we are heading out on our trip we close up the home coop and let the girls free-range by the trailer.  I open the pop door and toss in some treats and they voluntarily go to bed in the trailer.  I close the door and open the vents.  The next morning we hook up the trailer and head out.  The girls spend the day inside while we are on the road.  If its very warm outside I also place about 5 frozen water jugs on the floor.  They huddle in the front of the trailer on the floor while we are moving.  Sitting near the jugs combined with the air vents keeps them from overheating.  When we make stops I open the pop door and give them some special treats while they stretch their legs a bit.  I usually collect eggs at each stop too because they will periodically go sit in a nest box as the urge hits them while en-route.

When we reach our destination, (our cabin in Colorado) I pull the trailer up to our pre-constructed run area, pull the two chain-link fence end panels up against the front and back corners of the trailer. These panels have a piece of fencing attached at the bottom which blocks access to the area under the trailer to make a secure run.  Then I open the pop door and put their ramp up to the door.  They come out in the new location and are as good as home.  We have made this trip several times this year.  I think we have perfected the system by now.  The girls don't seem to be stressed too much because the trailer is just like home.  They do get a little cranky from sitting in the trailer all day (it's an 8 hour drive) but they get over that pretty quickly when I let them out to catch all the new bugs that moved into their run since their last visit.

My baby Miss Hollywood is the unofficial chicken guard.

One thing that I use to make traveling with my chickens so much better is the BriteTap Chicken Waterer installed on a Rubbermaid Cooler Jug.  The girls have a Chicken Fountain at home so they are accustom to getting fresh, clean, cool water from chicken nipples.  Since I don't want to transport my Chicken Fountain, I purchased the BriteTap Chicken Waterer (actually two of them) along with a 2 gallon cooler jug for each.  This way I can strap one jug inside the trailer while we are driving, and have two of them set up in the run once we are at our destination.  Each morning I just refill the jugs with water, add an ice block on warm days to keep the water cool all day long, and put them in the run on a couple of cinder-blocks.  I can also easily add electrolytes or other liquid supplements during the trip and the day before heading home to help the girls deal with any stress from the trip.

I love the BriteTap Chicken Waterer because it was designed to fit on the cooler jug, (it can be installed on other containers too, see the pics below).  You just remove the spout at the bottom of the cooler and replace it with the BriteTap Waterer, all the hardware you need is included.  The cooler jug insulates the water so it helps keep it from getting too hot or too cold, depending on the outside temperatures.  They are easy to clean when needed and the girls always have access to cool clean water.  The handle on the jugs also makes it very easy for me to carry in and out for refilling or cleaning.  You could just open the top and use a hose to refill them but I take them inside and clean & refill them in my kitchen each morning.

Other methods ways of installing BriteTap, but they do require some drilling.

You could probably make something similar yourself using the bulk chicken nipples.  I have tried, but when I install the nipples on the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket (which is an additional system I have at home too) you had to find a way of securely hanging the bucket so the chickens can get underneath to drink from the nipples without fear of it falling on them.  The BriteTap Waterer allows me to just set the cooler on a cinder-block with the BriteTap hanging over the edge.  I just found this to be a much better mouse trap for our needs.  It isn't cheap, but I feel it was well worth the price paid.  I will get years of use out of this product not just when we travel, but here at home if I need to quarantine chickens and therefore need additional waterers or if I have babies that need their waterer height adjusted as they grow. 

To Sum it up:

• Would I recommend this product to a friend?  Oh Yes
• Did it do what it was advertised to do?  Absolutely!
• Was it worth the cost? Yes - pricey, but worth it.

*This was an unpaid, unsolicited review of a product that I purchased myself and the opinions expressed here are solely my own. The owner of this product has no advanced knowledge about this review and will only see what I have written after this post goes live.   I have included Affiliate links in this post, please see my Full Disclosure here.

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Kindle Book Review: "Wake Up Successful" by S.J. Scott

Wake Up Successful ~ How to Increase Your Energy and Achieve Any Goal with a Morning Routine

By S.J. Scott

Affiliate link

I just finished reading a Kindle book titled "Wake Up Successful" by S. J. Scott that I wanted to share with you.  I learned about this book while I was reading Mr Scott's blog, "Develop Good Habits: A Better Life One Habit At A Time."  The reason that I took the next step of going to Amazon and buying the book was because at this very moment I was still wearing my PJ's at 9:30am and feeling overwhelmed and very unproductive.  I didn't sleep well the night before and I was dragging this particular morning (and many mornings honestly).  It seemed that I had no energy for the distractions that were keeping me from my morning chores and therefore none of the things I normally did in the morning were getting done.  So the title certainly caught my attention.

I purchased the book but didn't have time to start reading it just yet...and never found the time that whole day. But the next morning I opened the book before opening my emails. The book was a pretty quick read, I did it in a single day, taking breaks to tend to tasks at hand while absorbing the information he shared.  There is a lot of great advice in this book, as well as on his website.  It is obvious that Mr Scott lives the methods he teaches in the book and therefore he 'Wakes Up Successful', just look at his 11 books available on Amazon.  Click here to learn more about the author and see his list of books available in both print and kindle versions.

I wont go into detail about Mr Scott's methods, you will need to read the book yourself...which I do recommend.  The book was well written, and well laid out so you not only learned what his methods where, but why each step is important to the overall goal of being more productive by implementing a particular morning routine into your life.  Which in turn will make you more successful.  I don't think that I am going to be as rigid in my morning routine as Mr Scott is, because my lifestyle does not include waking up to an alarm clock and I don't work a 9-5 job.  But I do see the need for a lot more structure in my mornings to help me be more productive in my day.

If you don't seem to have enough energy to get your day started in a positive, productive way, and you feel that you never get anything done during the day despite feeling like you are constantly working, then you should really read this book.  Maybe pick it up on a Saturday morning when you have some time to relax and read.

It has inspired me to work out a new morning routine that I think is going to help me be more productive all day.  I know I need to break the bad habits that I currently do, and begin to do new things until they become my 'good' habits.  I'm serious about making this change because I believe Mr Scott when he says, "you can learn how to build a better life - one habit at a time."

To Sum it up:

• Would I recommend this book to a friend?  Yes
• Did it do what it was advertised to do?  Yes
• Was it worth the cost? Yes

*This was an unpaid, unsolicited review of a book that I purchased myself and the opinions expressed here are solely my own. The author of this book has no advanced knowledge about this review and will only see what I have written after this post goes live. I have included Affiliate links in this post, please see my Full Disclosure here.

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Hen: "Help I've Fallen Off My Roost and Can't Get Up"

The 'girls' free-ranging.  Tiny the Turd-Head is the Black Australorp near the center.

We Heard a Noise

Several nights ago, just after midnight we heard one of my chickens let out a squawk and heard a thump sound.  It wasn't exactly a 'loud' sound but it did startle us awake because they are so close to us.  You see, one wall of the chicken run is the side of the house that our bedroom is on.  Actually, if you opened the two bedside windows you are looking straight into the chicken run.  They are so close that even with the windows closed we can still hear them make coo sounds inside their coop each evening, we can hear them exiting the coop in the morning, and getting a drink of water from their Chicken Fountain.

So, when we heard this squawk and thump it really wasn't terribly loud but it startled both of us.  We both said, "Did you hear that?"  We listened for any additional sounds, knowing that if somehow a predator made its way into our 'Chicken Fort Knox' the girls would be freaking out loudly, but we didn't hear another sound.  After a few moments we assumed it was some sort of disagreement about prime roost position. So we went back to sleep.

The Next Morning

Early the next morning we heard the girls going about their morning routine of running to the water fountain, then we heard the treadle of the feeder being activated. We drifted back off to sleep for another hour.  That's about how long it takes the girls to get their fill of water, feed, and dead bugs under the bug light, before the daily bickering begins over who gets the prime nest boxes and who has to stand in line (next to the empty ones), bitching about how long she is taking to lay her egg.

All this hen bickering makes it impossible to sleep in so I get up and start my morning routine.  I scoop out the fermented feed that I make for the chickens in my kitchen, top it off with whatever leftover veggies and tidbits we might have, slip on my Croc's and let the dogs out into the back yard while I head to the chicken run.  They get very excited about me coming into the run with a bowl because the know its full of pure poultry goodness.

On this morning I walk in the door holding my bowl high so no one jumps up to try and sneak a bite before I can pour it into their dish.  

...but wait,

 No one is jumping up trying to sneak a bite.  I pour the contents of the bowl into their dish and no one pecks at my fingers as I dump it, and no one jumps in the middle of the dish to make sure she gets it first.  I almost didn't notice this because it was so pleasant not dealing with that routine preformed like an OCD ritual by 'Tiny the Turd-Head', my Black Australorp. Isn't it funny how you don't notice an unpleasant thing when it isn't there?

Then I Saw It

Suddenly I remember the squawk and thump sound from last night.  I looked up towards the coop and there was 'Tiny the Turd-Head' laying on the ground.  I rolled her over and she was still alive, but very limp, her head was hanging lazily, she had a strange blank look in her eyes.  I removed her from the run because chickens being chickens they would be pecking at her as soon as they finished their hurried morning routine.

I looked her over and saw no signs of predator attack, no signs of ill health, and just last night she was being her usual pushy turd-head self.  So the only thing we can figure is that she either fell off or was bumped off the highest roost and hit her head on another roost on her way down. She died a short time later.  The hubby took her body down the hill away from the house and coop.  Within a few hours we checked and sure enough her body was gone.  Hey, the buzzards, coyotes, and javelina's have to eat too.

Tiny's death is my first hen loss.  I've lost baby chicks but that is not unusual within the first few days. She has been with me for a year and a half.  I thought I might be more upset, but it was 'Tiny the Turd-Head'...it's actually kind of nice not having her pecking at my hands. I totally understand that raising animals means loss is inevitable, although I would have cried all day if it were my babies 'Sunshine' or 'Fritzy' who I hatched out of store bought eggs...Oh Wait, I haven't told you about that yet! (Coming Soon)

Tiny the Turd-Head when she was a tiny baby, with her coop mate Goldie.

So I'm curious, have you experienced a chicken loss?  How did you react?  Have you ever had a hen fall (or get pushed) off a roost and die from head injury?

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!
 

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What's in my email inbox?

Too much that's for sure, but I can't bring myself to get rid of most of them because they are all important to me on some level.

Let's take a look at the first 10 I see...

• This just popped in, Market Watch. I don't follow the stock market, but my husband does, so by me following I get updates about all events that MarketWatch.com feels is moving the stock market in what ever direction it's going at that moment. So if Terry announces that the stock market is down today, I can insert the email headline and say, "Yep, the "Us Concern Over Federal Rate Policy" is probably what's to blame for the drag on the Dow." And I sound so smart, lol.  Sometimes I am really amazed at what Market Watch feels will impact the stock market enough to generate an up-to-minute email post like, "Happy Birthday Harry Potter!", or "Wozniacki to Run NYC Marathon!", yeah I'm going start selling (or buying?) stocks based on that exciting news!

• Then there are a few emails from Amazon telling me my items ordered yesterday will be delivered TODAY! Oh how I love Amazon Prime and having a shipping center just a few hours south of us in Phoenix. The problem with being rural is that it is almost faster (and costs less if you factor in fuel) to buy most things on Amazon rather then drive over 100 miles (one-way) to the city that has the stores that sell the stuff.

• And then I get to one of my favorites emails, its my evening email from BlogLovin, sharing all the most recent posts from my favorite blogs.  Let's see what's new today... First up I see a post by "A Fly on our Chicken Coop Wall, "Young moms have no idea how good they have it: Photography then and now", and a post by Making Our Sustainable Life "Canning Organic Plum Juice".  Hey, lookie there, it's My recent post too.  (I follow my own blog thru BlogLovin so I know how it shows up for my readers.)  There is a post by Grace Grits Garden "Things I don't need more of (even if I live to be 104)", and there are a few backyard farming hops that I will visit to meet new people and learn new things.

• The next few emails are updates from Twitter about who followed me, RT'd or DM'd me since yesterday and similar updates from Pinterest and Facebook.

• There is an email from "Wendy Davis for Texas" (hey Wendy, just an fyi, "I don't live in Texas").  Wendy Davis for Texas is telling me it's the '13th Hour' and they 'need to reach $35,000 in donations by midnight!'  I guess because I'm a Democrat they feel I should donate to all democrats everywhere.  Well, I have nothing against Ms Davis, I actually like her and would vote for her here in AZ but I can't donate to every democrat in the country...I didn't make enough money in the stock market selling stocks on Harry Potters Birthday.

Once my first-of-the-morning chores are done I get to sit down and relax a bit to drink my morning coffee while I skim through the emails.  If I get through them fast enough there is time to read some of my favorite blogs. Sometimes I leave a comment, but often there just isn't enough times if I want to read lots of them. But either way, I do enjoy the posts and feel inspired by the wonderful bloggers who have written them.

So what's in YOUR Email Inbox?

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!
 

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Almost Wordless Wednesday

The hubby is learning how to weld (and trying out his new plasma cutter).  For his first project he made this for me.  How Sweet is that?

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

I would love it if you 'Liked' me on Facebook too!

Did this post stir something inside of you? If so, Please leave me a comment, I would love to know what you're thinking!!!

5 Facts About Me That You Probably Didn't Know

I enjoy reading blogs on subjects as varied as chickens & backyard farming to techy how-to's, and from living green to entrepreneur networking, but that isn't one of the 5 Facts.  While reading all these various blogs, that have been written mostly by women (and a few men), I've had the opportunity to learn a little something about the people behind the blogs.  In the past I kept my own personal stuff to myself.  Partly because my husband was leery about me sharing too much personal information on the world wide web, but also because some of my beliefs don't fall in line with many of the bloggers that I follow or who follow me.  I was afraid of losing those virtual friends if they knew more about the real person behind the Backyard Chicken Lady.  But as I said in my recent come back post, I've come out of hiding in the closet and I am ready to share more of myself with you.

So here we go...

5 Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Me...the Real Backyard Chicken Lady.

My first name is Anna.  But that wasn't my birth name. I was born PollyAnna. But try growing up with that name.  By the time I finished school I was so sick of hearing children chant, "Polly want a cracker?" or having the nick name "PollyWog."  Throughout my childhood I'd never met another child with my name. However I did meet several old women with this name.  When I was of legal age, and working as a Paralegal, I legally changed my name by dropping the 'Polly' completely.  Now that I am an old lady myself the name Polly doesn't seem so bad, but I'm kind of fond of Anna now.

Family story is that my mother saw this movie the week I was born.

I ride a motorcycle.  When I was turning 39 (but thought I was turning 40) I went through a bit of an early mid-life crisis.  I didn't fear growing older, heck I was celebrating my 40th when it was actually my 39th birthday. (I didn't figure that out until the next day).  Anyhoo...on this monumental birthday I decided that I was not going to live my next 40 years like I had my last 40 (or 39).  Nope, things were going to change.  Yep, I was going to do something I had always wanted to do...I was going to learn to ride a motorcycle.  My new husband rode motorcycles since he was a little kid so we were already surrounded by bikes.  I just needed to learn to ride.  I took a beginners riding course at a Phoenix motorcycle training school and got my license.  Since then I have been through 4 bikes and ridden over 30,000 miles on my own bike.

One of my favorite bikes (#2) a Suzuki Intruder 800.

I am afraid of birds.  Not chickens, I'm afraid of the sky-flying birds, but not just the really scary birds like buzzards and hawks, I am also afraid of crows, sparrows and parakeets too. I can thank Alfred Hitchcock and his movie 'The Birds' for this.  I watch it now and it seems so corny, but when I was a little kid it terrified me.  Still to this day I go into a bit of a panic if a bird flutters its wings near me.

Are you old enough to remember this movie?

I own guns, but believe we need gun control.  I would like to see guns registered like we do cars.  Then if you sell or give away your gun you have to report it so that you wont be held responsible for what the new owner (or thief) does with it.  And like driving cars, if you don't have a license to operate it, you don't get to legally use it.  I think too many people believe all the scare tactics being promoted by gun sellers, that gun control means taking away our guns.  That is so far from the truth, but the truth doesn't sell guns in record numbers.

Reality

We need gun control because not everyone is a sane, responsible gun owner like you. This image is from EsterGoldberg.com a very funny blog I read.

I believe I was born an Entrepreneur.  I have been self-employed most of my life.  I started my first babysitting business at the age of 12.  It truly was a business, I was the only girl in my neighborhood that carried a calendar and was booked up for weeks in advance during the summer after the 8th grade.  I was so sought after because I wanted to be a mom SO bad that I would literally pretend the kids in my care were my own children.  In addition to playing with the kids I would cook their meals, fold laundry, do dishes, vacuum, and still get the kids bathed and in bed on time.  One parent, a single mom, even hired me to just come help her clean house on occasion when her kids were gone to their dads.

I've had multiple businesses throughout my life.  I've been self-employed at everything from being a paralegal to a pet sitter, from a eBay power seller to owning and operating a brick & mortar baby store.  I have had businesses that did well and I've had businesses that failed.  I am currently self employed in a passive business but still find myself constantly thinking about different businesses that I could start today.  I sometimes feel the need to create businesses like you might feel hunger.  My two favorite magazines are "Backyard Poultry" and "Entrepreneur."

[Disclosure: These two are affiliate links.]

So now you know a little more about me.  I will continue to open up about myself in the future so you will learn more about my thoughts and feelings on lots of topics other than just chickens.   But don't worry, I still have lots to say about chickens...and the donkeys I am thinking about raising!

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

I would love it if you 'Liked' me on Facebook too!

Did this post stir something inside of you? If so, Please leave me a comment, I would love to know what you're thinking!!!

Disclosure: In an effort to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendations, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Thank you for your support and please know that I will only feature products I absolutely love!. Unless of course its a product review for a product that is terrible, and in that case you will NOT find any affiliate links for that product.

Social Media ~ My Follow, Friend, and Fan Policies

I love Social Media in general because it's really opened the world up for me.  I can find fast facts (or opinions) on just about anything I am curious about, I can get inspired by others who are halfway around the world, and I feel more connected in this big world, even though none of it is face to face. 

 

My top three favorite social media sites are Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

• I like Facebook for sharing my pictures, personal information and updates, my blog posts, and current events with my close friends and family.  It makes it easier to stay connected to those who are not close enough for regular visits.   It also provides me with a Landing Page for my blog readers and chicken people to get together to share and learn information, offer support to one another, and just enjoy chatting about chickens.

• I love Pinterest because I am always being inspired by things other people share on their wall.  I also love when I can share something then I see that lots of other people enjoy what I've posted and shared it on their walls too.  And talk about inspiration...Pinterest is my fav for expanding my creative side.  

• I'm sure I'm addicted to Twitter.  I go there for learning about things that are going on at this very moment...news from around the world and within my own community, discovering interesting websites or articles, and sharing quick conversation with like-minded people.  

For each different social media site you can have friends, followers, and fans.  Which can get a little overwhelming if you are not careful.  To keep things in check I have developed my own personal Follow back policy for each of my top social media sites.

My Pinterest Follow Policy:

On Pinterest I only follow particular 'Boards', not a persons entire 'Wall' because with each new person I follow it could quickly get overwhelming.  For example, if I find a 'Pin' from someone who has consistently added cool things to a particular 'Board' such as mine here, "Re-cycle, Re-Use, Re-Purpose" then I will follow that board.  Each time I visit a new persons 'Board' through a Pin that I discovered, I may add their Board to my follow-list as well. 

My Facebook Friend & Fan Policy:

Like I said, I have a Facebook Page for this blog and I have a personal facebook account.  I rarely ever 'friend' one of the Page Fans, but I do converse with them as my friend on the page.  If one of my friends or fans has a Page of their own, I hope they will tell me about it because I love to visit new pages.  If the content is of particular interest to me then I will 'Like' their page as well.

My Twitter Follow Policy:

Twitter is a whole different critter and therefore will require a much more detailed policy description.  I have probably never met any of my followers, or those I follow, in person and probably never will.  But that doesn't make the relationships you make on Twitter any less valuable.  I follow people on Twitter for many different reasons as I am sure they follow me for just as many if not more.

Generally I will follow back just about anyone who follows me.  But not forever...

 The Top 10 Reasons I Follow people and organizations on Twitter are:

1. I have interesting conversations with like-minded people.
2. They post valuable leads to websites with information I am interested in.
3. They keep me updated on local and world news.
4. They are funny, entertaining, informative.
5. I do business with them.
6. I may in the future do business with them.
7. They are following me and ReTweeting my Tweets.
8. They post inspirational quotes that are of interest to me.
9. I hope they will follow me in the near future.
10. They are following me.

So as you can see I am an easy Follow..."But not forever."  

The top 10 reasons I 'Unfollow' people and organizations on Twitter:

1. They stop replying to my tweets that I specifically posted @ them AND...
2. They start spamming me in tweets, @'s or DM's.
3. They start tweeting mostly angry, hateful, rude tweets. (or falsehoods to generate any of these)
4. They have no real content of their own (only RT's or quotes they googled that day)
5. They tweet in support of Fox 'News' (sorry, I just really cannot stand Fox 'News') 
6. They unfollow me.
7. They don't follow me back after a reasonable period of  time.
8. They mostly post "Buy My Product!" tweets.
9. They tweet racist or prejudice comments or jokes.
10. They are a Pervert, I don't mean tweeting a sexy comment...I mean "Hey babe, what are you wearing?" DM's, or sending me pictures of your body parts.  Or if your profile picture is a body part that is normally covered by underwear. This one will get you Blocked as well as Unfollowed.

You are probably asking yourself "WHY does she follow-back folks who she doesn't appear to have much in common with?"  I will tell you why...because you just never know who the real person is behind that social media profile image.  Like just today, I discovered an older male African-American retired postal worker who mostly tweets about basketball, but we have the EXACT same stance on abortion and politics!  We have something to talk about, this brings two people into a conversation with someone they might otherwise never have crossed paths with.  So there you have it, now that you know how I roll, I hope you will go Friend Me, Fan Me, or Follow Me, and I will return the favor as I've outlined here. 

Here's where to find me in Social Media Land:

 

(I haven't quite gotten the hang of G+ yet, but I'm working on it.)

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

I would love it if you 'Liked' me on Facebook too!

Did this post stir something inside of you? If so, Please leave me a comment, I would love to know what you're thinking!!!

I'm Coming Out of the Closet

I've known I was a democrat as far back as grade school when I first learned the differences in the two primary political party's platforms.  I have not wavered on that position, although I have not always voted democrat.   Yes, I have on occasion voted for a republican, because I felt that person would've been a better president. (you are welcome Mr Reagan).

Over the last 30+ years of being of legal age (to vote) I have pretty much kept my political opinions to myself.  I was taught that your votes were secret, hence the secrecy around the polling place and privacy while in the voting booth and turning in your secret ballot.  So I only shared my democrat preferences with very close friends or relatives.  As a self-employed person for most of my life, I never showed a preference one way or the other about politics in my business establishment because I figured that approximately one half of my customers were like me and the other half were not, and I didn't want to offend the 'other half'.

DONKEY: The donkey is arguably the noblest beast in all of the animal kingdom. The donkey is sober, patient, cautious, intelligent, sure-footed, has good stamina, and contrary to common belief it is not stubborn -even though they were formerly referred to as an Ass. [Source]

It seems that of late (since the 2008 elections) people have become more outspoken about their political opinions...from what I see the most outspoken have been the republicans and tea party members.  My neighbors, community leaders, and the businesses that I frequent don't seem to think it's a problem to publicly rant about the opposing party, or fill their yard (or business windows) with posters and signs supporting their choices and strongly opposing the other, as if 'their' choice was the only 'right' one.

None of my democrat friends, democrat neighbors, or democrat owned business that I frequented were doing this.  If you drove around in my neighborhood it would appear we were 100% Republican, when in fact we are nearly a 50/50 split. My husband even succumbed to the pressure and asked me to remove the small magnetic bumper sticker that supported Barrack Obama before we left the house so no radical republican/tea partyist would scratch up my car (they were actually doing that).  We democrats kept silent, we didn't boast loudly that we were voting democrat. We didn't stand on street corners shouting political propaganda at passer-byes, we didn't have huge rally's with Fox Channel celebrities making hate speeches. And we certainly didn't post signs in our businesses meant to offend one half of our customers.

But I feel a change coming on. I personally (and I'm not alone) am fed up listening to the nonsense that people are repeating as fact because they heard it on a Fox station. (I refuse to call it Fox 'News'). I am tired of keeping silent when a loud mouth racist republican insults or disrespects our President.  I'm tired of shopping at businesses that make it clear they don't like democrats.  I'm tired of not expressing my thoughts in mixed company because I don't want to offend someone (who has NO trouble with offending me).  I am tired of being a closeted Democrat.

I am coming out of the 'Democrat' Closet!  This next election season I am going to proudly share my choice in who I feel should be our next President and who should fill all of the other political positions beneath him or her. I am not going to remove my bumper sticker. I am going to host an election night party.  And I am going to speak openly about my beliefs.  But I am going to be a better, more respectful citizen, by doing all of this without becoming an offensive jerk like the people I have quietly tolerated for the last 6 years. 

Yes, in the next election season you are going to see a whole new Chicken Lady who ain't Chicken anymore!  

[Source]

 

Oh Boy, Has a Year Rreally Gone By Since My Last Post?!?!

Oh boy, has a year really gone by since my last post?!?!  I am sorry for being away so long but I felt I needed to take a sabbatical for a while, I just didn't plan on it being this long.

You are probably asking "Why did you need a sabbatical from a simple Chicken Lady life?  Well, because it wasn't always so 'simple', and I needed to sort out some things within myself.  I originally created this blog to share my journey getting back into chickens, back to country life and living more nature, after being away from that lifestyle for most of my adult life.  But after a while I began to feel that I was boxed in to just blogging about my chickens, gardening, and my living green experiments.  I didn't feel that I could share more about the personal side of 'me' in this journey.  I had so much more I wanted to share and express but felt my readers that came here because they were interested in chickens wouldn't be interested in the other aspects of my life.   This left me feeling that I was being two people -the chicken lady AND the middle aged woman struggling with being middle aged, finding my way career wise or retirement wise, surviving in this hostile political time, and finding place within all of this.  I didn't feel like I was being my true self in only sharing one aspect of myself with you, so I took a break to sort this all out.

During my break, I considered starting a new blog where I would blog about the other 2/3's of my life, but that just felt inauthentic.  So I did what a deer does when faced with headlights of an on coming car...I stood there doing nothing, waiting for the car to hit me.  Fortunately for me the metaphorical car went around me.  Leaving me just standing there still confused as to what to do next, which direction do I go?  So just like that deer, I wondered off into the woods and pondered my decisions.  I doubt that's what the deer really do when they are barely missed by a speeding vehicle, but I would like to think that they at least learn something from the event and stay off the road in the future.

For me the time away gave me some clarity.  I began to realize that to be my true self I had to be willing to take a chance that my readers wanted to know ME, not just the Chicken Lady part of me.  So after much thought, consideration, and soul searching, I am back!  I loved this blog so much.  I loved interacting with my readers, and reading your blogs.  I just hope my readers are still around somewhere willing to give me another shot at this.  I have decided that I am not going to box myself in to just talking chicken (which I do love to do) because there is so much more to me than just that.  This was suppose to be about sharing my journey... chickens were just the springboard to that journey.  You can now look forward to me sharing my thoughts on other subjects, my opinions, and my personal feelings about things other than just chickens.  But don't worry, I will have lots to say about chickens!

Thank you for coming back and understanding that I just needed some time to figure out what direction I wanted (needed) to go in.  I hope you are willing to get to know the true me and take this journey with me fully! 

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

I would love it if you 'Liked' me on Facebook too!

Did this post stir something inside of you?  Leave me a comment, I would love to know what you're thinking!!!