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Stressful week

I think I am too old for the stress of fighting the codes department, doing 2 TV interviews and 2 live radio interviews. It has garnered some support for keeping the chickens; probably not enough.

The bean soup turned out well, but it could have used a bit more salt. It is easier to add salt than to take it out.

I went to the farm store and got some cracked corn and another bag of bedding. Their fruit trees were all on sale and I found the last Cherry tree they had for $10.00. It needs a little TLC, but that is OK. I think it will live after it gets some much needed water.

I should be getting more work done, but I am too tired to consider it. I guess I will wash the few dishes that need to be done and freeze the bean soup. Not all of it 'cause I will eat some more this eve.

The beans needed a lot of time in the crock pot. I guess they slow cooked for about twenty hours. I also like to take a mixer and reduce the beans down a bit...kind of smoothing it out.

I think next week I will make the Split Pea Soup for the freezer. The problem with making all that soup is that I love to eat it.

Because I am very tired I will not write much. There will be nothing on SUNDAY. I really need a day of rest...LOL END

Rugs and stuff

I have been thinking about my Mother and how she used to "make do" especially how she used to make braided rugs out of old cloths. I can't really tell you how to do it, but I could show how you do it. Mom would cut a branch off the Lilac bush and whittle it into a crochet hook. I wish I had one of hers now, but they are long gone. When she was satisfied with her homemade hook she would start a braided chain and crochet a rug from strips of old dresses about an inch wide. If you were to get your instructions from a book it would have you make the long braids and sew them together. I don't think my mother did that unless they were getting old and coming apart. She made several hooked or braided rugs that I can remember, some of them fairly large. After she passed away I was at home and trying to clean thing out I noticed my brother had used one of her homemade rugs to cover his boat motor and ruined it. It made me very sad to see it soaked with oil and out in the old shed being used as a "tarp."
One of these days I will try to make a hooked or braided rug like my mother used to make. It isn't hard and I could do it even with a goofy arm.

A man who had told me he would buy my chickens a month ago is now back pedaling. They are selling in the paper for $7.00 dollars each and I offered mine to him for only $5.00 each. Now he wants to"help me out" and have them for free. People don't realize or just don't care about the time, money and care that goes into raising chickens, not to mention how I feel about giving up my chickens. He will not get them for free because he is not a person of need.

I know that the process of changing city codes takes some time and can be a deliberate, drawn out affair. The results are not guaranteed. In the meantime I have less than 30 days to find my chickens a new home.

I have finally taken the time out to start a crock pot of bean soup. I will let it slow cook for several hrs. and probably have some for supper. It seems like my phone has rung far too often these past two weeks and my days slip away without getting much done. This afternoon I have taken the time to shred up some old mail and will get rid of that, maybe I will spread some in the chicken run as it is a muddy mess today. The chickens like to scratch through it. I already poured a bag of corn cob bedding in the run this morning. When it rains in KY., it comes down in buckets and sheets with a little hail mixed in for good measure.

Back to work....The END

All wet

I just checked the Gleaner and found some really nasty opinions to the editor. Some were for chickens and some were just plain ignorant and under-educated about chickens. Chickens that are well cared for, well fed and well housed, do not make as much noise as people that tear up and down the alley on motorcycles, big trucks and people gunning their cars half the night.

I did go to the city attorney's office and get get some information on how to fight my own battle. People who said they would come out and support me did not...lip service. Americans are rapidly losing their freedoms and rights due to lip service. If Americans would put actions where their mouths are we wouldn't be in a social pickle. Do the citizens of this county really think our government is on the right path? You are quickly being led to the slaughter with a happy smile on your faces. The next four years will open your eyes widely. The past four months have been castrated and feminized...too bad America, I knew you when.

I received a call from a radio station in Atlanta, Georgia, asking me to do a live interview, which I did. The host has his own blog site trying to help people change the anti-chicken codes across the country. They have formed a group and you can sign up on the chickenwhisperer,bogspot.com. I hope I have it right, but it is easy to find through your search engine. The asked me if I could perhaps do another interview early Saturday morning. I am not sure that will occur.

Anyway, I have been out in the heavy rain trying to get the chickens in, but there is always a joker in the crowd. Of course, it was the littlest one of the bunch. It was a runt with one bad leg that I didn't think it would make it when I first got it. Every chicken I brought home has done well and survived.

Out of someones poor luck there is always someone...or several, that want to profit from the situation. I have had calls from people who were giving out platitudes, but wanting free chickens. Someone even wanted stuff from my garden. Well, wait folks, it isn't over yet.

The Sisters from where I retired from watched me on TV and were surprised that I held my own in front of a TV camera and facing 10 commissioners. When the false complaint was read I got angry and forgot all about the camera guy and ten guys on a raised podium. I am no wilting flower when pushed, lied to or about. "EAT MY CHICKEN FEATHERS " says I ...or whatever, I can get mad "nicely."

I am still asking people to e-mail... thegleaner.com, in favor of urban chickens. I wonder if anyone will. America, the Beautiful, Home of the Indentured Servants.

END

I tried...

Well, you know the old saying, "You can't fight city hall, " but I gave it my best. Tomorrow I will go to a lawyer and try to get the city to amend their ordinances. What they ruled on was pretty vague, but because my area is not zoned "agricultural" they ruled against me. According to their vague rulings you can not even have a garden or fruit trees in your yard. Is this a free nation or what.....Not.

Because I got mad about a false complaint that was lodged with the city I now have a headache. The complaint was made that my chickens were starving and eating each other. My chickens are well cared for, well fed and protected. They are so spoiled and fat. They also get scraps from the kitchen, but they don't like onions. So..now I have a headache. (I DIDN'T LOSE MY TEMPER)

Channel 14 News had come out around 3:30 PM to do a story about the chickens and attended the commissioner's meeting. I didn't see it because I was busy pleading for the city to amend their so-called code. I guess other people did see the news and some have called. It was cut and dried, as I knew it was, but I will make an attempt to change the code for the sake of others. There are a lot of poor people in Henderson that would benefit from having a few backyard chickens.

Tomorrow is another day and I will start anew. Because most of this day has been tied up I don't have much to say other than I fed the chickens and they certainly are not starving, 'though they act like it.

Maybe I will feel like writing more on Thursday, maybe I will think of something interesting to post.

END

Soup 'n stuff

It started out HOT. The humidity is HIGH. What else is new. Well, the garden is dry for one thing. I have been trying to knock down cobwebs with a long duster and a wet sock. Spiders annoy me, but come right back.

Chuck came and mowed the yard and planted some more radishes and some parsnips. It is supposed to rain tonight, but that is what they said for last night and it didn't. We really need the rain now.

I love Split Pea Soup and make mine in the crock pot. Anything that keeps the house from heating up is a good appliance. Anyway, I am including this recipe and it doesn't have to be followed exactly.

SPLIT PEA SOUP

2 cups dried split peas

2 quarts of water

1 ham bone

(I use chopped ham)

1 cup minced celery

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 Sprig of parsley

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Place peas and water in crock pot

Add all other ingredients

Some people add shredded carrots

Trim meat from bone or add whole bone

Set crock pot for high for a couple hrs.

Turn crock pot to low

I usually let mine simmer for about 12 hrs.

I do not hurry it.

You should have about 6 servings

If you are in a hurry you can boil

the split peas for a few minutes

along with the ham bone

and other ingredients

Lower heat and simmer 2 1/2 to 3 hrs.

Slow is better.

Tomorrow is the day I go before the Henderson Commissioners(chicken police). Wish me luck.

Big Brother Harry is out of Rehab. He says his back pain is gone, but his incisions are sore. I am gonna bet he is a little bit shorter than when he went in.

I have been trying to mend things again. Mostly stuff to wear for the garden and chicken coop. The stuff won't last long, but I may get a few more wearings from my "rags."

Is anyone interested in a few more recipes? Speak now or forever eat your own soup 'n stuff.

END

Hen House

I got up at 7 AM and now I am sleepy. It was fairly cool and humid, but I decided to clean out the Chicken Condo. I got the coop pretty well cleaned out and started on the chicken run, but something was nipping at my shoe laces and tugging on my shirt tail. I did get a pile scooped up in the run. The "gleaners" thought that was the perfect spot to scratch and hunt for bugs and corn or anything they had missed in their initial hunts for whatever flew, crawled or moved. A nightmare for insects of the world as the insects knew it.

At first the chickens were afraid of the big garden cart and the wide snow shovel I was using. No, it wasn't snow that I was shoveling. The birds soon got over being scared of the Invader from Outer Green Spaces, jumped into the cart and continued with the days work of hard working chickens. Very soon the cart was full of Aliens of the Feathered Kind. I went in the house to get my camera. When I went to get a shot of their antics they became camera shy and "chickened out" for that great, one time shot. It was so funny to see a cart full of chickens doing what they do best, making scratch in the sunshine.

I quit for the day because I needed to go pay my home owners insurance, take a result to the Dr. and go aggravate the city ordinance clerks. I asked for copies of the ordinance of my "grave" violation. What I saw did not specifically mention chickens/fowl as livestock. They are supposed to copy and mail me some other stuff pertaining to the so-called code violation.

A friend came over from Evansville and we went to the Golden Corral to eat too much. They kept announcing "code twenty." Finally I asked, "What is code twenty?" It turns out that code twenty is for all the staff to stop and wash their hands. Don't they always?? Code 200 is for someone to check the bathrooms. Did they think the bathrooms were going some where?? Actually, it is all about the Piggy(Mexican)Flue at bay.. I personally think it is an airborne, virus, but washing dirty hands is good, especially after messing with chicken poo...LOL.

Several blogs have been posting about sustainability. Well, you have to fight for your right to be self sufficient in a system that is in your face from the Federal Government, State Government, County Government, and Local Government, to your neighbors next door. I wonder, when it will end? You soon won't even have the right to feed yourself because some idiot legislatures are even considering to make it illegal to raise a garden in your own backyard. "LET THEM EAT CAKE."

END