We eat anything!

The "girls" are so happy in their new chicken run and coop. There is nothing but sweet little clucking sounds coming out of their beaks. They now see the "shinny plate" (i.e. pie pan) and come running for goodies (i.e. kitchen scraps, apples, pumpkin, tomato's and shredded zucchini). Several of them are very comfortable being picked up and petted on their neck and backs.

We still have one hen that is suspicious and may be a Col. Sanders. However, there are no tail feathers, just a large crown and waddle. I have added pictures for you to see and be the judge.

October marks the month that our first grandchild will make his or her appearance. We will most likely have to wait the whole month, as the due date is October 30th. The excitement is building and we can't wait to hold and love that new baby.

This past weekend we made another foray down south to our storage unit and brought back, with the help of a friends 16 ft. trailer, about 100 storage boxes. Now the fun begins. I have nowhere to put anything, so it needs to go on ebay. Just how many crystal flower vases does one need, anyway? I will save the three best ones for my daughter, daughter-in-law and future daughter-in-law. The rest just need to "move on"! I also brought up about 30 boxes of the kids stuff - books, blankets, pictures, etc. that I need to start separating and dividing amongst the kids. A lot of what is left is sewing stuff and furniture. We just need to get this emptied, sorted and distributed.

Terry started working a temporary job at the County Health Department. It is all women except for him. He was informed that the last three permanent hires started out as temps, so it looks promising. He was happy but tired when he arrived home. It's hard getting back into the groove.

I may have an additional 4 hour job in the afternoons with Healthy Communites. It is an after-school program and they are looking for a Kids Councilor. It would be an extra $1000 per month and that would be GREAT! 

So, that is the latest from Independence.

The chickens move to their new "digs"....

Well Saturday was the big day for "the girls". Terry, with help from our local Missionaries, have been building the doors for the coop and the outdoor chicken run. Yesterday, we prepared TWO watermelon boxes side-by-side in the coop, cut a hole in their original box and put the dog carrier next to the hole for them to climb into and use as a transfer carrier. After a lot of encouragement they were loaded in, the gate was shut and off they went to the boxes in the coop. Once there, we put the dog carrier inside the boxes and had to pretty much dump them out! I think that their thought was "You have me in here now, and I am NOT coming out!".

After looking around dazed and confused, they actually started to explore their new surroundings fairly quickly. Terry made two new perches, one about 8" off the ground and the other about 12" off the ground, complete with a little ramp to walk up to the perch. Very cute! Once inside the coop it started to rain, but they had their heat lamp on and continued to coo and make happy noises, so I think that they will be alright. These quarters will last for another 3 weeks or so, enough time to get the regular roosting poles up, the nesting boxes built and installed and to finish the outdoor run.

Chicken lovers seem to like to name their coops and go with decorating themes, so here are a few names and themes we are considering:

1. The Fluster Cluck House - (pure chaos - anything goes)

2. Fowl Playhouse - (a theater theme)

3. INDY Coop - (a race theme)
4. Coop de Villa - (a resort theme)

I will post pictures when available.

The chickens are weighing in at about 1 - 1.5 lbs. and about 10" tall. They love their roosting perches and now have enough space for all of them to get onto a perch at the same time. There still has been no real pecking order observed as they still sleep in "chick piles". What is funny though is they will perch in segregated colors...i.e. white birds together, black birds together, etc. Very interesting to observe.

Still no definite on if we have any "roos", however, one or two are suspicious, as their red head crowns are coming in faster than the rest. We shall see.

So, I will leave you with this thought about committment:

A chicken and a pig were comparing contrabutions to the farmers table. The chicken was quite proud of the beautiful eggs that she provided each week. While this was impressive, the pig could not help but reply that while indeed the hens eggs were a wondeerful gift, his contrabution was a complete sacrafice!

"Never squat while wearing your spurs"

Here are your "Words of Wisdom" from a very wise man who definitely understood life. 

Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash,

was one of the wisest men this country has ever known.

Some of his sayings:

1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

3. There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works!

4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

5. Always drink upstream from the herd.

6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.

8. There are three kinds of men:

          The ones that learn by reading.

          The few who learn by observation.

          The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.

9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

10. If you're riding' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.

11. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.

12. After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

ABOUT GROWING OLDER...

First ~ Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

Second ~ The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

Third ~ Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me; I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren't paved.

Fourth ~ When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

Fifth ~ You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

Sixth ~ I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

Seventh ~ One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it's such a nice change from being young.

Eighth ~ One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.

Ninth ~ Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

Tenth ~ Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

And, finally ~ If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you're old.

A Simpler Life continued...

The enjoyment of living here in Independence could not be more fun. To illustrate the point, one of the first community events we attended last November was the "Annual Fruitcake Festival". Now I am sure you are wondering "What's up with that?", and rightly so. It is something that you just cannot believe until you see it. Fruitcakes from around the world show up decorated around the theme, (last year's theme was America's Got Fruitcake). People come in outlandish costumes, eggnog both spiked and plain are served, the locals share there singing and dancing talent and there is a Fruitcake King...really! And believe it or not, there are pictures to prove it. Terry and I were asked to sign-in the fruitcake entries. Later in the evening, after they have been judged, they cut the fruitcake entries and you get to sample the ones that interest you. This has been going on for 5 or 6 years now. There is a Costco fruitcake from the first year that is brought out to sample, then re-wrapped, doused with brandy and re-stored in an old Civil Defense Water Can. This can is a throwback from the 1950's, I am sure. One brave soul is goaded into sampling the resurrected 5+ year old fruitcake and gives his or her opinion on the flavor. So far, the cake has had excellent reviews. The whole evening is like a skit out of Saturday Night Live! We are soooo looking forward to this years event which has a theme of "Disco Fruitcake". I will keep you posted on this one of a kind event.

Now, getting to the part of how we decided on Independence as our new home. I was hired to become one of the Noon Duty Aides at Lo-Inyo Elementary School in Lone Pine. Just 2 hours a day, but with the promise of additional sub-work in either a classroom, the office or cafeteria. Since Victorville was not producing any job prospects, we looked at the opportunity as a "foot in the door" and went for it. Every month additional opportunities for extra hours showed up and even some one-on-one with a special ed student at the high school. I realize now that I should have gone beyond my 2 year AA degree and buckled down to get my BA and teaching credential. However, after looking into what was involved in moving towards that goal now, with online studies, it was not worth the $70 grand that it would take to achieve that goal. So, for now, I will be content to be the best Instructional Aide any teacher has had the pleasure to work with. 

Towards the end of the school year, I re-interviewed for the Instructional Aide position at the Juvenile Center, a position that I first went after last July, was hired and now work with a wonderful teacher in that facility. The kids are amazing, and I hope that I can make a difference in their lives. To date, our numbers in the classroom have remained low, between 1-5 students (yeah!). However, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, as we can accomadate up to 17 students...yikes! I do miss the little ones at Lo-Inyo, but my new position is full time and that is working out better financially.

Terry and I were also coming up once a month to attend Kearsarge Chapter and enjoy Eastern Star activities with that group. We have now joined as members and are officers. Our connections with Victor Valley Chapter will soon cease, as it is difficult to attend their meeting on Thursday nights. We gave up our offices with that Chapter in July  as it is a 3 hour drive in each direction and we bring the dogs with us. They hang out in the truck while we are in Chapter, but that situation along with the time involved on a week night is no longer working out. We never seem to get home before 2 am after hitting up Winco, etc. So, our request for a demit will be forthcoming at their September 8th meeting.

Since winter came early this year and stayed late, we were able to have the most gorgeous view of the mountains from our front porch and window. The moon glistening off of the snow capped mountains brought a picture of eerie clam and peaceful quiet. It was awesome! In addition, it is a star gazers delight up here. One of these days we will purchase a telescope as everything is so beautiful and clear in the night sky. No city lights to ruin the view of the heavens.

I think that this is a good place to stop for now. Stay tooned for more happenings from Independence!

Living A Simpler Life...

As many of you know Terry and I officially moved to Independence, CA in December of 2010. Now this is a rural town of about 575 residents located about 45 miles south of Bishop. In our quest for a more steady income in this difficult economy, the move has put us an additional 180 miles further from our kids, now over a 5 hour drive away. This, more that anything else, has been the most difficult part. Especially now that we are waiting for the birth of our first grandchild on or about the 30th of October, 2011. In addition, our daughter has re-located to San Diego, spreading us an additional 150 miles apart. Thank goodness for cell phones, text, email and now this blog.

Our daughter-in-law and daughter both have a blog that I have been enjoying for quite some time now. Since I am tech-challenged, I was reluctant to give this a try. However, with the encouragement of our daughter, here is my first attempt. I am sure that this will be a work in progress, but I also hope that it will provide my family with some personal trials and successes of "living a simpler life".

When you down-size from 1800 sq. ft. to 525 sq. ft of living space, you quickly realize what items you need and which ones were just taking up space. Interestingly enough, the previous family who occupied our current home raised SIX children in this house. I am quite sure that several bunk beds were involved! But for just the two of us, the house is just right. Having been built in the 1920's, the house has a lot of charm. However, it needs some TLC. Fortunately for us our landlords are all in favor of supporting any repairs needed and allowing it to come off the rent. This arrangement works great for us as we can fix things up the way we want over time and enjoy the benefits of the labor.

I will try to post a picture of the house that we took shortly after moving in. Some changes have already taken place in the form of yard work, but in essence it looks the same. One of the nice features of the property is the large front yard WITH GRASS. Duke and Duchess think that they have died and gone to heaven. Their last back yard was mostly brick patio. The down side for Rajah, Ta-Ta and Snickerdoodles is they have had to become indoor cats, as we are located directly on Hwy 395. They have adjusted, but let us know of their unhappiness each time the dogs get to escape outside.

This seems to be a good place to stop for now. However, when I return, I will tell you about the most amazing view from our porch, the choo-choo train across the street, the community garden and of course the newest addition to the Fenske Farm..."the girls" aka the baby chicks! Stay tuned for more adventures on Living A Simpler Life!