Egg Production Halted ~ Gratitude ~ The Pioneer Lady's Country Christmas

What you see in this basket is not from our hens.  They are from the pullets we bought this past spring.  They are shooting out eggs like there is no tomorrow, however our 1 year-old, and 2 year-old hens are not laying.

They stopped laying about 2 months ago, when I saw that they were molting.  I did some research and read that chickens will stop laying while they molt, and need the energy to produce new feathers.  And from what I read, it takes the hens about 2 months to start laying again.

Sickness ~ Alias Update and Other News

It happened.  

I caught the plague that the kids have been toting around. Ugh.  I blame it on forgetting to take my vitamins with me while camping.

I am just plain miserable.  My head hurts, the bridge of my nose feels like it's being squeezed by vise-grips, and my eyes are watering uncontrollably.  I already used a box of kleenex (which I insisted on buying the kind with lotion in them).  Thank goodness I have one jar of homemade vapo-rub made.

And I know I look as bad as I feel.  Hubby took one look at me and said, "you look like h*#!!"

He told me, "go back to bed" and that wasn't happening.

I had to prepare a birthday dinner (chicken alfredo and steamed broccoli) along with an apple and peach pie, get ice cream, and so forth.

Ha....go back to bed?  

Not happening. 

However, thankfully my son was off work Monday, and was able to help me by taking Alias to the vet.  He came home and said Alias got a clean bill of health.  Yay!  He is healthy and now current on his shots.

As for an update on the second inspection of the stove piping....didn't happen.  The second company we called, never called as they stated they would, nor came out.  Hubby said, "don't call them again."

I have now called the third company, who is scheduled to come out next week.  They would be here sooner, but are swamped with calls, as it is getting colder in our area.   I'll have an update on the inspection late next week.

Today, I am paying for not "going back to bed."  I am more miserable today than yesterday, and promised my 11 year-old I would do all of the dishes (she was getting a migraine last night and the other kids went to the movies).  

I did spend some "sitting time" working on some Christmas gifts, but I can't post photos until after I gift them.  

I will be going back to bed, after the kids get on the school bus.  I'm hoping that I have a few more glasses of homemade ginger ale in the fridge too.

Fall Camping Trip

I'm excited to say, that we got another fall camping trip in this year.  Hubby and I decided to camp the first night by ourselves.  Woot!  Oh, we needed the time alone.  It was a relaxing, romantic, camping date night.  And surprisingly, I did not take my camera this time.

The second night we picked up a few stragglers - 2 kiddos. 

Although it had rained a bit, we relaxed in the camper, reading, knitting, drawing, one kiddo doing school homework, and chatting.  After the rain stopped we started up the fire, and had more fun with s'mores and such.

Camper's Mug Cozy

Remember when I was telling you all about how I stopped to crochet, right in the middle of cleaning up my messes?  Well this is the result.  One completed "project" anyway.  

I ended up not using a pattern (not all mugs are the same size as all the printed patterns are for), and made my own for these camping mugs.  I did not want to mess with sewing buttons on, so I simply single crocheted 12, double crocheted into the 3rd chain, counting that as the first chain in each row, and dc across.  I measured about 10 inches, before finishing off, then simply sewed ends together (just enough to secure a hole for the handle of the mug).  

Caramel Apple Jam

I made a batch of caramel apple jam yesterday.  The grocery store finally got in some organic granny smith apples.  I used organic ingredients, and my homemade vanilla.  Yum.  

I apologize for the poor photo.  As fall rolls in, the lighting in the house gets worse.  Here is the recipe:

Projects

Projects?  Pieces of work?  Tasks?  They all sound like "work" right? Ugh.  I got myself into a tizzy this week, and had to get crackin' on doing some actual completions.  Otherwise, Hubby was going to call "hoarders" and turn me in. Seriously.  I had so many "projects" going on at the same time, I literally lost track of what needed completed first.  

Prosperous Weekend

(garden before we tilled it)

 
The garden is getting back into shape.  We secured the pea fence again, dug out the plastic and stakes, and mowed down weeds.  We started to till it, and get it ready for next year.  We battled tons of mutant lady bugs though.  Just standing to take the photo, I ended up covered in them.  I moved back pretty far to take the photo, and even then, you can't see all of it.