Monday, July 28, 2008

Happy Thoughts on a Sunny Monday



My sweet-if-a-tad-challenged Dot, the White-Crested Black Polish hen:

...laid her first egg yesterday (that's it, in the middle):

It was a perfectly formed, white, extremely oval egg, bigger than my smallest eggs, but smaller than my biggest eggs. It weighed in at precisely 1 ounce:

My very pretty, but extremely loopy, girl:

...wanted to sing about it afterwards:

How do I know it was she who laid the egg? She is the *only* white-egg-layer of my entire flock! Remember how cute she was as a chick?:

We visited Velvet's Baby, the donkey I adopted out, at his new home on Saturday:

He lives in a wonderful place, is a happy boy, is now named Elvis, and plays with balls:


This barn smiled at us as we were driving to see him:

Back at home, the old roost in my chicken coop kept falling down, so I decided to try my hand at building a new one:

It's bit steep, but the chickens seem happy to use it and I now know how to make the next one even better:

I made potato salad using Yukon Gold potatoes I grew in my garden (that's Roxy, my pup, drinking from the hose):

and with eggs my hens laid for me:

It was yummy, too:

I saw the biggest Angus bull of my life at the county fair yesterday. Bubba is 3,400 lbs of masculine mass:

My dairy farmer/hay provider friend picked up the GRAND CHAMPION award for his dairy cows at the fair:

I think one of the calves I gave that penicillin shot to is here somewhere:

I'm having great fun with berry season. Every afternoon when I go to pick my daily bucket of raspberries, my chicken friends join me:

Bippity, the Barred Rock, is very good at pointing out the ripe ones:

Look! Twin raspberries:

I have about 10 quarts of frozen raspberries at this point:

And...last but not least....the laptop that I managed to drown in April:

has been repaired and was delivered to me just fifteen minutes ago:

Happy thoughts on a sunny Monday:

26 comments:

  1. Good that you are having such a sunny and happy day! Your potato salad and beautiful red raspberries make me hungry. I love fresh raspberries and gave up trying to grow them after a few years of trying. Congratulations to Dot on her first egg. Funny that a black hen would lay a white egg, but it would be weirder if it were black or grey I guess.

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  2. That bull is huge! And rather intimidating...

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  3. YEAH! The laptop's back!

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  4. Wow! Sounds like you are having a great day! And Dot's egg is just darling. The potato salad looks delicious. Hooray for laptops! You must be so excited to have that back.

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  5. I share your delight in this glorious day. I've been smiling ever since I got up this morning, and nothing seems to darken this sunny Monday so far.
    What did you put in the potato salad? It looks fabulous!
    Wonder what Jim said to the laptop people....

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  6. Potato salad from your own potatoes with you own eggs . . . couldn't get any better than that!

    And the raspberries—I'm envious.

    Beautiful garden, great post, perfect weather.

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  7. AHHHHHHH.....I got my dose of Danni and now all is right with the world!!!!
    ;-)

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  8. What a week end... glad Elvis is doing well.... I am so excited... we should have our first eggs in about a month! Christina

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  9. Haha, congrats on the first egg from Dot! That's quite a nice, big egg! ;-)

    Elvis looks like he's in a nice home...with his ball. :D

    WOW, your eggs are so orange! Is it just because they are wet?!! Ours are brown, not orange!

    HOLY COW (or should I say bull?!), that is one HUGE bull/cow (bow? Bull/cow combined, hehe...or maybe cull)

    I envy you and all those berries...we have almost no wild rasberries! We have wild black berries, but as I have been away these 2 weeks, I missed the height of the season :-(. Are you going to make jam out of those berries? I love homemade jam--lots of sugar. :^)

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  10. I wonder what they had to do to that bull to make him so big?
    Those raspberries look delish. And that potato salad.... Yummy.
    Don't you love growing, picking, raising your own food.
    I love sunny Mondays, I'm glad yours was good.

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  11. WOW! Look at those raspberries! I'm trying to find a spot for raspberries in my in-town yard. I mentioned to my wife yesterday that the perfect spot would be right where the lilac bushes live now...with the full implication that I would have to cut those down first. She didn't like the idea. I'll keep thinking.

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  12. Too bad Dot's 'hair" couldn't have stayed back away from her eyes like when she was young.

    Is Elvis lonely? Looks like he doesn't have a buddy to hang with. I'll bet he brays all the time, calling for his herd.

    About the bull---all I can say is, "I hope they use AI with him" The very idea of live cover makes me worry for the safety of the cows. Sheesh!

    I can't believe your chickens let you eat any of the raspberries!

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  13. Yay for Dot! How exciting for her. She was a cute chick and is an adorable adult.

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  14. Dot makes me laugh. She looks so hilarious! Great job on the roost and I love the photo of Elvis playing ball. He must be at a happy place.

    I left you an award at my place. From one Oregonian to another....Happy farming!

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  15. I too love the Dot singing photo. You need to frame that one.
    So what is the secret to getting the shell off of fresh hard boiled eggs. How'd ya do it.

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  16. Thanks for coming over to visit the 7MSN. I came right over here to meet you and your donkeys and feel like a total slacker after reading about all the things you did in one day. I have just got to figure out a way to have chickens and fresh eggs again...you've inspired me.

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  17. Yay Dot!! What a pretty conical egg. And in those pictures she looks so pretty. I'm so glad you included polish chickens in your flock, or I'd have never known about them and got my own. They sure do add such a unique aspect to the coop, don't they?

    It's good to see Velvet's baby again, but I can't help but say that, while his new place is nice, I bet he misses romping through the trees and grass at Critter Farm.

    If I saw that bull, I'd probably step back a ways. He's huge! And very impressive.

    When you eat those sweet twin berries, please think of my own sweet twin boys. You know I always see double around here. hehe

    By the way, I think your blog is brilliant! Come visit my blog and pick up your award :)

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  18. Hi farmer jen - ewww! a gray or black egg just would turn the stomach, don't you think? :-)

    Hi solomon - it was amazing standing next to (behind) Bubba. He was a magnificent animal - I felt badly that he had to stand there all day tied to a post with a ring through his nose, you know?

    Hi seasons eatings - Yay - I can blog from bed again! woo-hoo :-) :-) (ha ha)

    Hi frugalmom, now don't go too far. I never said I was having a great day - just having some happy thoughts on a monday... :-)

    Hi zitrone - you know how I like things simple...the potato salad had potatoes :-), eggs, celery, some dill pickle, pickle juice, yellow mustard, mayo, and some sour cream...it was delicious!

    Hi californiagrammy - you always post the nicest comments. If you're passing through any time soon, I'll share my raspberries with you. :-)

    Eve! You made me smile so big...your "dose of danni"?? That sounds almost scary! :-)

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  19. Hi christina (tocco) - only a month to go until your own eggs? the moment of your first egg is one you'll never forget! hey, I want to see some updated pics of your chicken girls.... :-)

    Hi mellimaus, i think my eggs look orange because of the lighting *and* the fact they were wet...they really are brown, i swear! :-) If I finally find the time to make jam for the first time, I'll send you some, ok? :-)

    Hey sugarcreekstuff - I don't know how that Angus bull got so big, but I was relieved to hear them talking about him as "the family pet"...in other words, no harm is gonna come to that guy - he's a true novelty that people come from all over to see!

    Hey jimmy cc - maybe your wife will compromise and let you take out one lilac for you to plant a few raspberry canes (start small and maybe she'll be convinced once she tastes them). My husband is in absolute heaven with all these berries...and as a garden item, they're certainly low maintenance!

    Hi ceecee - I love your comments!! You caught a number of things that I didn't talk about but have thought about myself! Re Dot and her hair....Pip is the same way...they are literally blinded by their head feathers. Not a good thing for a prey animal to be visually impaired, you know?
    Also, regarding Elvis - his little pony girlfriend was away at "training school" when I visited and his new owner even mentioned to me that he had been a bit mopey since she was gone - but she was due back at the beginning of this week, so hopefully he's all chipper again. Regarding his braying - he brays when he's happy, when he's sad, when he's lonely, when someone's coming up the driveway, when the moon is out, when his water is clean, (you see where I'm going with this, right?)...and his new owners LOVE IT :-)

    Hi christy - I wish you could see Dot in person - she is such a different chicken than any of my others...she *darts* everywhere, there's no slow, languid motion about her. No thoughtful consideration...just rapid darting, running, twitching, jumping...constant movement. She's a sight to behold!

    Hi gnightgirl - Dot is one photogenic girl - she gives me tons of good material :-)

    Hi egghead - Thank you so much for the award - you know, you gave me an idea...we should totally make up a super cool Oregon award...that only we, Oregonians, can gift out when we really like someone's blog! :-)

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  20. Hi,
    Found your blog recently and I am enjoying it. I am so envious. You are living my dream...I am just too scared to do it!
    Tracey :)

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  21. Hi goatgirl - well, there was no secret for peeling that particular egg - the shell all but fell off once I cracked it a bit. But I heard something today about a way to cook eggs that practically peel themselves: "put cold water and eggs into a pot with baking soda. Bring to a gentle boil and boil gently for 12 minutes. Then cool them in ice water." Here's the youtube video of the guy blowing his egg (literally) out of its shell after cooking it this way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2gYHJNT3Y :-)

    Hi the7msn - thanks for coming to visit *me*!! :-) Now, I can't have you feeling like a slacker, so I have to say that those pictures and events occurred over a weekend, not just one day! And I was very tired after this weekend! :-) I love, love, love my chickens...so, of course, I totally think you should get some. :-)

    Hi twinville, isn't that egg of Dot's something? She laid another one just like it for me today! I was wondering that about Velvet's Baby when I saw him, but he really did seem quite peaceful and very happy with his new owners...I think he knew his braying was causing some issues here and decided to find a family who would adore him for it!
    You're kidding - I got an award from you, the princess of really cool blogs? Thank you so much - this feels really good!!

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  22. Good thoughts and yeah on the laptop!

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  23. What a wonderful Monday! I love Dot........

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  24. what great photos. I love your hen, she looks such a crazy little birdie!!

    I made raspberry jam on the weekend, wish I could have picked them straight from the bush like you.

    Gill from Canada

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  25. OOO, so it isn't red...that would have been really cool. But I guess you can just make it wet a lot to get the cool affect- ;-).

    You could also make yummy smoothies with the berries. :-)

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