The other day a lady called and asked if we were still looking for laying hens, and we were, and she had some she wanted to sell, so yesterday we went and picked up a dozen rhode island red laying hens. They’re pretty cool, I mean, if you’re interested in that sort of stuff! I’ll get a pic up of them in the next few days. Right now they’re busy settling in to their new coop. But we’ve gotten seven eggs since yesterday afternoon, so that’s not bad! I got them so we could have a continual supply of eggs for the dogs. My sister (who is also my handler) wants to sell them. So hopefully they lay lots of eggs!
A friend of ours was looking for an ‘indoor’ dog, so after they dropped off the chickens for us, they took Rainy home with them. She’s technically a birthday present for their soon-to-be three yr. old son. He absolutely loves her, and Rainy loves being an indoor dog. Of course, she still spends time in the dog yard when they’re gone, and I’m sure she’ll do her share of sledding. Their son already has his own plastic dog sled. It’s pretty cute.
My sister hurt her back the other day, so I can’t really do much until she’s better. Unfortunately, I’m quite dependent on her.� But once I’m finished my house-sitting, I want to try doing some bikejoring. Maybe I can get together with some local sledders and we can head out on some trails.
After the last three weekends of house-sitting, I’ve learned two things: one, I drink a lot of tea. Almost constantly when I’m inside, actually. And two, I can’t drink tetley. It has to be red rose. So I went out and bought my own package of red rose orange pekoe, and bring it with me every weekend. And if we were to add a third, I eat a lot of ice cream. But I have a very active job and lifestyle, so I don’t need to feel guilty. At least, that’s what I tell myself . . . .
So I was talking about the poultry I’d like to order next spring, and other random livestock, and my mom says to me, ‘We don’t live on a farm!’ To which I replied ‘We will by the time I’m done with it!’ So this summer we had turkeys and pigs, which we plan on getting again next spring. Add to that the laying hens, which we’ll also get more of, plus meat chickens, and possibly pheasant. Random, I know, but we’ve got to do something different, right� And the only thing stopping me from getting a meat cow this fall is that I didn’t have anywhere to keep it. But now that the pig pen is empty (and the freezer is full!) I thought, hey, we could put a calf in there for the winter, and then move it to the back in the spring! I just thought of that this afternoon. I’d have to convince my sister, as she’ll be taking care of all the animals while I house-sit for six weeks from end of February to beginning of April. But it wouldn’t be that hard. Just give it water and feed, and clean out his shelter every once in awhile. Or I could do it when I come home to run the dogs. It’s something to think about, anyway. I thought it’d be cool.
