Dead Raccoon Walking

Early last summer, we lost a bunch of our chickens to raccoons. Almost our entire flock, which was smaller at the time, was decimated. After Ghon eliminated a few raccoons, he purchased about 30 chickens from a young boy who had raised chickens for his 4-H project. After the fair, he decided he was changing livestock and moving on to raise pigs.
With this flock came two roosters. A bad-ass rooster called Dr. Cox (named by the boy) and a one winged rooster. He had lost a wing in a fight with an opossum when he was young. In honor of his favorite Disney movie, Ghon called this new rooster Nemo -as both rooster and fish had one big wing/fin.

For a long time, we had a no-name rooster in the same run as Nemo. No-name rooster  quickly became Jackass. He was so mean to Nemo. Nemo ended up living in the coop, as every time he ventured out, Jackass would attack him. We started leaving food for Nemo in the coop. We would often have to search for him, and would find him huddled in a corner  or under a shelf. Eventually Ghon moved him to a smaller run and coop with our cochins, and he was MUCH happier. He crowed. He strutted. He was a rooster.

More predators, a stray dog, and hawks have had a huge impact on our flock at different points. Last week, we once again experienced sadness at the farm.

Ghon headed to the farm Wednesday to feed the chickens before work. The cochins have been broody lately. Although I have no reason why, Ghon's been letting them stay that way. Ghon arrived at the farm and found two baby chicks. And all three cochins were gone. All that remained in the run was Nemo and two babies. There were no signs of the chickens. Just a big hole in the wire around their run. I took the chicks home, and worried about Nemo, even though he is twice the size of the cochins and already a fighter.

I ran a few errands on Friday morning then stopped by to check on the chickens. Oh, not a pretty sight. No more chicks. Eggs, gone. We have a dedicated run for meat chickens we are raising - one had it's head missing - and was still stuck in the corner of the run. Innards on the ground behind it.  Whatever tried to get the chicken couldn't rip through the thicker and double layer of wire Ghon used to build this run. You could tell something tried to get in, but couldn't make it. Worst of all, Nemo was gone.

In Ghon's world, that meant war.

About 10:30 Friday night, he headed to the farm with his 22 magnum. With a flashlight taped to barrel, it was time to go raccoon hunting. My Dad kept an ear out for the kids so I could go too for about an hour. I had to take a second car, as Ghon planned to stay all night and put an end to the 'coons free smorgasbord.

So I went hunting for the first time.

And it was pretty boring.

We sat in the truck, in the dark, and well, did nothing. We listened.

After about 50 minutes of nothing, I heard a noise. Then, we both heard a louder noise. I was informed by the hunter that it was the bark of a raccoon.

So I got excited.

For nothing to happen. Except for Ghon starting to fall asleep and snore. I grabbed my stuff, came home, and went to bed.

Sometime between 3:45 and 4am, Ghon came to bed and didn't say anything. I had no idea if he was successful or not.
Saturday was planned to be a full day at the farm, work, work, working. Ghon needed to head out first to handle the remains of the chicken I found dead and check for raccoon remains. Once arrived, he realized the chicken was gone. I don't know if it's coop mates became cannibals, or if something else ate it, but it was ALL gone.

After some searching, Ghon found the coon. He only took one shot last night and thought it was successful but wasn't sure. Today, evidence! Goodbye massive raccoon. While I may thing raccoons in general are kind of cute, this guy was destroying our farm. He had to go. Thankfully my husband has a good shot even in the dark, at 3:30 am, after being waken by the sound of terrified chickens.

Dead raccoon. Full of our chickens.

Pottytime at Hummingbird Farm

The farmhouse has two full baths. Actually, let me rephrase that. The farmhouse had two full baths and acreage.

There is a full bath upstairs, with a shower stall. I keep it stocked with paper, and it's in what we consider the safe room for the kids. If we are working inside, they can play and watch movies in there, have a picnic style lunch, and have a close bathroom.

The second full bath isn't really a full bath anymore, nor does it have the same level of privacy that most bathrooms do. Back on demolition day, the shower/living room wall was torn down and the bathtub removed. The sink was ripped out, and I've since taken it to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The bathroom has three walls, once of which still has a door. A door that is almost pointless. Closing the door will shield you from anyone that happens to walk into the house and the dining room, where the bath opens to, but anyone can walk around to the living room and there you are!

According to Genevieve, the downstairs bath also has dragons in the ceiling. Who really wants to have dragons watch them do their business?

I do. I prefer to have the dragons watch. When you are busy working outside, it's a whole heck of a lot easier to run in and run out then run in then up to take care of business. Although I'm not worried about the insulation dragon in the ceiling. I'm always scanning the dirt hole in the living room floor for some kind of creature. Therefore, the dragon bathroom is creepy, but still 'better' than going upstairs.

Unless you are a guy. Because guys pee on trees. And bushes. And bugs. And grass. And are oh so helpful when it's time to put out the fire. This time, I am talking about Ghon and Jonathan. Those two will hose down anything. To note, I do have a picture of Jonathan watering a tree. But his little butt is bare, so I won't post THAT pic.

But us girls have it a little harder. We can't aim. And as the kids remind each other all the time, only Daddy and Jonathan have penises.

Genevieve is a porcelain princess. She wants to go All. The. Time. Seriously. I can't make a trip to the store without at least one potty stop. A meal out? Count on two. I'm glad she stays pretty dry, but I'm tired of my grand tour of Winchester bathrooms.

Since the dragon bathroom scares Genevieve, she won't go in the house alone to go. So all work stops to take her in. So I taught her how to go pee on the grass. We'd already did it a few times during potty training and long car rides, but now we have it down to a science. The only problem is when we are at a public park, she announces that she has to go potty and tries to drop her pants right there to go. That is a no-no.

The only consistency in using the dragon bathroom is for poop. 'Cause that is a bit harder to do outside when you are a kid. Hell, I wouldn't be interested in doing it as an adult. When it's time to go poo, it's always off to the dragon bathroom. Where I have to turn on all the lights, scan for creatures, and have no place to sit and wait for that magical moment. If you have children, you know this adventure could take a while. Well, at least it can with my two.

So if you stop by Hummingbird Farm, you have a few options for handling #1. Find a tree. Walk upstairs. Use the dragon bathroom. If you are concerned about #2, I'd recommend going up. My potty campers could be headed in at any moment, and well, you would be left pretty exposed.

Squash!

First crop of squash. Guess what's for dinner tonight?

Pinterest Project #1 - Day 2

Time to work! But first, Friday night we didn't do any! After picking up the kids, Ghon and I met at the farm for dinner. I grilled some brats and also ordered a pizza from the only place in town that delivers to the farm. We'd ordered from there once over a year ago and thought it was AWFUL. It's a chain place, several locations through town. Jonathan's t-ball party last weekend had pizza from this place and it was OK, so I tempted fate again. Amazingly, it was good. Jonathan ate two slices on his own. We built a fire to keep working the wood pile down. Ghon found a huge salamander under a piece of wood and after showing the kids, he took it over to the creek for relocation.

Saturday however, was a different story, a morning of work.

Ghon headed to the farm early and went to work on the chicken run. After breakfast, the kids and I came down to work. The kids ran around like a few crazies, while I picked up sections of the yard. Ghon showed me how to use the trimmer. First time for everything. Unfortunately, I was wearing shorts. I really don't think I'll do that again. Meaning, willingly trim while wearing shorts.

Ghon and the kids racked the front yard and took the clippings out to the power line to start a compost pile. Last week Ghon had bought each kids their own rake, and they finally put them to use.

After the grass clippings were removed, I jumped on the tractor and mowed the front and side yards. Genevieve was in need of a nap, and at one point I turned to talk to her, and she was doing the jello neck head bob...completely falling asleep in the wagon. I felt so bad for her. She eventually woke up and laid down on the blanket under the tree for oh, 2 minutes.

I remembered to cover the kids in sunscreen, and even put a little on myself, mainly on my tattoo. I wanted some "color". But yep, the color I came home with was red. Except for the tattoo.

Sunday, Ghon had to work and the kids and I set out to finish the second part of the pinterest inspired project. First we ran some errands in town and picked up the plants and dirt that we needed. When we got back to the farm, we covered ourselves in sunscreen and got to work. First, I removed the old mailbox post. Then, I dug out the rose of sharon in our way, and Jonathan helped pull it out. While the kids tried to dig the whole deeper, I brought all the tires down and got them into position. Three bags of dirt into each tire, a few plants, and we were in business! After we were done with all the planting, we took a break in the shade of one of the front yard trees. The kids had some juice boxes and ice pops to cool down, and I added the hummingbird flag.

Work zone. Pull out plants, digging holes and planting flowers.

Jonathan took this picture of Genevieve and I working.

Before and after. Old, falling down mailbox, rose of sharon. Now, a sturdy box, hummingbird flag, butterfly bush, and plenty of flowers. You can now see the road when pulling out of the driveway - before you are in the road!

Ta-da! The final product!

Pinterest Project #1 - Day 1

People think Facebook is a waste of time. Sometimes, I agree. Scroll, scroll, scroll through updates of our closet friends, spending time when you could be doing something more productive. Like wasting time on Pinterest.

Pinterest, the website of great recipes, instructional activities for kids, tattoos, crafts, you name it, it's on Pinterest. Just like Facebook, I have an account and boards of things to do with the kids, crockpot recipes, dessert recipes, hot guys, and ideas for the farm.

Saturday afternoon the kids and I picked up some paint while running our errands. They were pretty excited about our painting project. I was saving painting for Sunday, so while the grill got ready so I could cook dinner, Jonathan helped Ghon and Genevieve hung out with me. But first, we needed to harvest our first crop!

Broccoli! One or two had already gone to seed, so the chickens had a broccoli snack. There are still a handful of heads still growing. We should have another pull in about a week.

Ghon is still working on extending the chicken run. A good number of holes have already been dug out, but he has been working on making them a bit deeper and pulling excess dirt out. Jonathan gave him a hand with the digging on Friday.

 While the boys worked digging holes, Genevieve, Giraffe, and I mowed the grass, again.

My beautiful girl.

 The Pinterest project....

The pin-spiration!

There were easily 12 tires left on the farm. Some with rims, some without. Small, large and tractor sized. We will need to dispose of most of the tires, but I figured I could make some awesome planters out of a few as well!

My plan is to build a small flower bed by the mailbox. The farm house is at the bottom of a hill and on a curve. There have been plenty of accidents there in the past. I figure the tires will also help protect the actual mailbox. Since the road itself is a tad busy, or at least the cars travel crazy fast, I'll be planting some hearty perennials in my tires. I'm starting off with three tires, and will play with the layout a bit next week before planting. We have a new mailbox post up, so phase two next weekend will be to install the mailbox, remove the old box and post and get the plants in. I have a small hummingbird flag to decorate with as well.   The biggest challenge will be to decorate, but keep the 'approach' clear for the rural mail delivery. You can currently see the ruts and the approach as she pulls up to the existing box to drop off any mail. Today, the kids and I painted the tires in preparation of next week's planting.

The kids did a great job painting. We came in paint clothes, and boy am I glad! They did manage to get more paint on the tires than themselves, but came home pretty blue, Genevieve in particular.

After painting and a quick cleanup task for Ghon, we headed home for showers. Ghon won't be home until close to their bed time and HBO and I have a date for 9pm, so I don't want to be at the farm late. :)

Memorial Day at Hummingbird Farm

Yes, Memorial Day was oh, over two weeks ago, but this is the first I've been able to sit, write, and post pics. I really shouldn't be as I should be getting ready for bed, but oh well!

We spent Memorial Day Monday at the farm. Well, most of it.

Ghon started our dinner by 9am by throwing a brisket on the smoker. Then the family made a trip to Southern States. We looked at plants, we searched for vegetables, and we bought 5 more chickens. Sigh. Ghon wanted 10, but I held my ground with 5. Something has been getting some of the "adolescent pigs" as I call the young chickens. We've lost more since Memorial Day. We had 50 baby chicks and we are down to about 20. It's sad and enough to make you angry all in one. The newly purchased chicks are almost of mature age, and should be laying in the next week or two. The pigs should lay early July. I'll be glad to get more eggs!

After the trip to town, we got to work. After Ghon tilled a row for us in the garden, Jonathan became farmer and planted. He did a wonderful job helping plant over 30 tomato, pepper and melon plants. I thought for sure his attention span would have wore out much sooner than it did. Genevieve helped some as well.

 

 

 

Jonathan and Genevieve were great helpers - and zombies.

After a little planting, I convinced Genevieve to take a nap while Jonathan and I kept working.

 

The biggest event of the day...I learned how to drive the tractor. Sort of. Ghon has to turn it on, get it everything in gear and make sure I am pointing straight, but then I am good to go. I mowed the far field and orchard and part of the front yard by the fire pit. The kids love riding in the wagon on the back, especially Genevieve. I mowed again this past weekend, and she rode with me the entire time. I even learned how to raise and lower the mower deck this weekend. :)

 

We took a few breaks, fed the chickens, and let the kids be, well, kids.

Genevieve giving chickens some broccoli.

Jonathan hauling more firewood to the fire ring.

Firecracker.

Singing along to songs in his head.

Wearing Daddy's hat, she kept calling herself "Daddy's Boy!"

Playing with his electronics.

A month ago, Cindy and I cleaned out the workshop. Ghon walked in and said "Oh, this wasn't here before." In other words, queue Kim leaving the scene.  He leans down and starts to pick up a snake skin as I back away chanting "I don't want to see it!" Conveniently, the kids were in the car ready to head back to the house with me to pick a few things up we forgot. So down the hill I ran and into the car. I looked in the rearview mirror to see him holding a huge snake skin. I still hate snakes. How dare it shed it's skin in my almost cleaned out workshop??? UGGG!

That is roughly 6 feet and 4 inches of snake. This might be Slick.

Thinking happier thoughts, this is what we had for dinner.

Corn, ribs and brisket - all on the smoker.

My baby girl loves corn. She was singing all about her corn, which was fresh off the smoker with no butter, salt or pepper, and was amazing.

From the log bench to the tractor, gnawing on her corn cob.

After dinner, Jonathan asked if he could take pictures with my camera. I let him run around with it and he took a ton of pictures. These are some of my favorites.

His boots, the chickens, his gator, mom and dad, trees and the fire.

We burned from the magic hour of 4pm until about 9. We got some work done and got some good family time in as well. It was a good day.

Can you tell we like burning things?

Smores!

O, Anna Sun!

So this post doesn't really have anything to do with progress on the house. Nor does the video have anything to do with rebuilding an old farm house.

However, I have always liked this song and the lyrics have taken on an expanded meaning for me the further we dive into the renovation. I considered bold font for the lyrics that remind me most of the house and the project, but it's probably obvious and easier to highlight those that don't, so I've left it alone. The song was written at a conflicting time - the end of college and the start of true adult life. In relation to the house, the song for me describes the status now, the destruction, the hard work, and the potential it holds.

So enjoy, "Anna Sun" by Walk the Moon.

"Anna Sun"

Screen falling off the door door hanging off the hinges
My feet are still sore my back is on the fringes
We tore up the walls we slept on couches
We lifted this house we lifted this house

Fire-crackers in the east my car parked south
Your hands on my cheeks your shoulder in my mouth
I was up against the wall on the west mezzanine
We rattle this town we rattle this scene

O, Anna Sun!
O, Anna Sun!

What do you know? this house is falling apart
What can I say? this house is falling apart
We got no money, but we got heart
We're gonna rattle this ghost town
This house is falling apart

Screen falling off the door door hanging off the hinges
My feet are still sore my back is on the fringes
We were up against the wall on the west mezzanine
We rattle this town we rattle this scene

O, Anna Sun!
O, Anna Sun!

What do you know? this house is falling apart
What can I say? this house is falling apart
We got no money, but we got heart
We're gonna rattle this ghost town

What do you know? this house is falling apart
What can I say? this house is falling apart
We got no money, but we got heart
We're gonna rattle this ghost town
This house is falling apart

This house is falling apart

Live my life without
Station wagon rides
Fumbling around the back
Not one seat belt on
Wait for summertime
Coming up for air
Now it's all a wash
Now it's all a wash

Live my life without
Coming up for air
Now it's all a wash
I want everyone
Racing down the hill
I am faster than you
Wait for summertime
Wait for summertime

O, Anna Sun!
O, Anna Sun!

Sun!

What do you know? this house is falling apart
What can I say? this house is falling apart
We got no money, but we got heart
We're gonna rattle this ghost town

What do you know? this house is falling apart
What can I say? this house is falling apart
We got no money, but we got heart
We're gonna rattle this ghost town

This house is falling apart
This house is falling apart
This house is falling apart

We're gonna rattle this ghost town

This house is falling apart

This house is falling apart