My Egg Customers Are the Sweetest of Peeps

My egg customers are the sweetest of peeps.  Just look at the sweet gifts I have been given recently when folks came to purchase their fresh eggs from me & my 'girls'.

This beautiful ceramic tile with a colorful Rooster designed with a cowboy & bandana theme and the words "Western Omlete" came from Louise, a sweet lady who always slips me an extra dollar when she pays me for my eggs.   I keep telling her that she gave me too much money, but she refuses to take the money back, saying that the eggs are so delicious that its worth that much and more.  Last time she picked up her eggs she gave me this lovely gift.

Another super sweet lady, named Helen, always returns her empty cartons, but they are never empty...she always puts jelly beans in the carton.  Today she handed me the carton but there was no familiar rattling noise, and I noticed the carton was not completely closed.  Inside I discovered this cute little Chicken...that was hand made my someone from clay, then hand painted.  It is so cute, and because it is a cone shape I am calling it my 'ChickCone' and I'm proudly displaying it with my other fun Chicken knick-knacks.

When you have chickens...you meet the sweetest peeps!

Keeper of 1 husband, 3 dogs,

3 cats, and 16 Chickens!

 

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Agressive Javelina's Charging At My Dogs Through the Fence -Video

Here in Arizona you are familiar with the nasty critters to watch out for and avoid such as rattle snakes and scorpions.  Another critter that we try to avoid is the Javelina, but in all my years of living here I didn't really consider them an extreme threat.  I have had them come right up to us to get a treat like a tossed strawberry (or stale cheerios in the case of my grandkids). I watch them each morning and evening as they make their way west then east in their daily travels.

Credit: Photo courtesy of the Arizona Daily Star

When I go out to my chicken run I sometimes find a group of Javelina's hanging out in the yard between the back door and the chicken run, but they will usually scatter as soon as they see and hear me coming.  The only time I hesitate approaching them is when they have new babies in their group.  They get very protective when they have little ones with them.  But even then, I have never had them get really aggressive with me, they just tend to stand their ground and expect me to give them extra time to disperse with their babies.

However this morning I was caught off guard by their aggression.  I looked through the window of the door before letting my dogs out into the fenced back patio and saw the Javelina's wondering around the backyard outside the fenced in area.  I opened the door and let the dogs out.  As is usual, the small dogs run to the fence barking frantically at the Javelina's and typically the Javelina's will scatter.  But today they did not.  They took a few steps away, then turned right around and came back towards the fence.  My puppy (8 mo old Rottweiler/SharPei) ran towards them but didn't bark, she wanted to play with them.  She jumped towards them and lowered her upper body like she does to instigate the dogs or cat to romp and play with her.  The Javelina's jumped towards her with their hock hair standing erect, huffing and snorting, clacking their sharp tusks in chomping motion as a threat to her.  Miss Hollywood was oblivious to any threat.

This was totally unusual behavior from what I have seen by Javelina's in my nearly 2 decades living here in Arizona.  I grabbed my video camera to record this because no one was home and I figured no one would believe they were acting so hostile this morning.  There were no babies in this group.  They all appeared to be full grown adults, perhaps they were all males so that sparked it. 

Watch (and listen to) the video below to see how they not only charged at Miss Hollywood, but also at my Boston Terrier Pickle as well.  One even tried to nip at Pickle through the fence (3/4 of the way through the video).  Note, Pickle only has one eye, so she has issues with depth perception...I don't think she thought the Javelina was that close.  There were about 5 or 6 of them circling around the fenced area.  They did not even seem to notice me, a human, standing right there video taping them.  -Scary! 

Here are today's 'Chicken Lady's Pick of FREE eBooks'

[*BEFORE PURCHASING* Please look at the price of the book before you purchase it.  These books were listed as $0.00 at the time of this post, but this is usually a short term promotion and then they go back to the full price.] 

This book will be available for FREE on Amazon for one day only, on Wednesday, October 1, 2104. 

This story is told from the perspective of Cheryl, the oldest of seven siblings.  There are glimpses into the heart and soul of each of the other children as they experienced unimaginable abuse and pain throughout their childhoods.

This book is a message of hope and unexpected joys as you experience the journey with Cheryl as she discovers the road to freedom through the Power of Forgiveness. Cheryl learned to forgive her abusers and her past, and it opened up opportunities for her life to change. In speaking and sharing all over the United States and in other countries, for so many years, her story has powerfully impacted thousands of other hurting people all over the world.

Cheryl's bold message that she so eloquently conveys to the reader is that they must not remain just victims, or survivors - they can become healers of themselves and others, just as she has done. The book resonates with the colors of triumph, courage and life-sustaining caring for others.

** This book is also available for Free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Learn more

~~~~~~~

Ex-cop Frank Harper doesn't want to get involved. Harper is visiting the small Ohio town of Cooper's Mill, trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter and a grandson he's never met. But he finds the town gripped in fear-two young girls have gone missing, taken in broad daylight from a busy street. And the police are coming up blank. But once Harper is drawn reluctantly into the investigation, he'll stop at nothing to find the girls. And he doesn't care who gets in the way.

** This book is also available for Free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Learn more

~~~~~~~

You will learn everything about Sprouting that will get you started and excited about creating your own Superfood that is super healthy for you and much cheaper and healthier than buying in the store.

Sprouts are crunchy and flavorful additions to any diet, rich in natural sources of proteins, vitamins, enzymes and minerals; they add a healthy punch to sandwiches, salads and stir-fry dishes. You can easily buy sprouts in many grocery stores and whole foods stores, but it is so easy to grow your own sprouts at home, plus you can control the amount you need and also experiment with different sprouting seeds and beans for a wider variety to choose from.

** This book is also available for Free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Learn more

NOTE ABOUT KINDLES & AMAZON: By the way, you do not need a Kindle device to read Kindle books, you can download the Kindle app to your Laptop, Desktop, Smartphone, iPad and just about any smart devices.  You will need an Amazon account to purchase the free books.  Sign-up is super easy if you don't already have one.  To get a Free book you have to go through the purchase process even though the price is $0.00.  You will need a method of payment on file with Amazon, but they will not charge your card to 'purchase' a free ebook. 

*This was an unpaid, unsolicited post about the products shown above that I have purchased myself.  Neither the authors nor the publishers have asked me to include their books in this post.  The first image in this post today is courtesy of adamr at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.  I have included Affiliate links in this post, please see my Full Disclosure here.

Keeper of 1 husband, 3 dogs, 
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 .

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Discovery of a Volunteer Tomato Plant in my Empty Alaska Grow Bucket

For my 2014 growing season, the plan was to experiment with Alaska Grow Buckets as my garden.  I like trying different methods to see if one might work better than the one I am currently using.   But my timing was out of whack because I was scheduled to have hip surgery right about the time I would have been planting my seeds indoors.  So I wouldn't have my own seedlings this year, but I planned to buy some seedlings at the local nursery when the time came to plant outdoors.  I did prepared my Alaska Grow Buckets, mixed my soil-less soil and was about to set up my irrigation system when the doctor called to move my surgery date up -to just three days away!  So the garden was put on an indefinite hold while I started preparing for what I would need to do for the surgery, recovery, and physical therapy afterwards. 

After surgery I could see that I was not going to be physically able to manage a garden this year.  I couldn't empty my buckets back into the compost bins because they were too heavy for me to lift post-op and I didn't want to bother my husband with that chore either...so they just sat there on my patio. 

 

One of several Alaskan Grow Buckets I had 'planned' to grow in this year.

By the time I had recovered enough from my hip surgery to be off the crutches and finally moving about without my cane, it was just too late to even think about starting a garden.  I looked at my poor plant-less grow buckets sitting there each day as I went past them to tend to my chickens.  Then in early September, just one day before we were to leave on a trip to Colorado, I noticed something growing in one of my buckets.  I assumed it was some kind of weed, since it's monsoon season here and the weeds are having a hay-day.  But when I got closer I saw that it was a tomato plant!?!?  How the heck did that get in there?  It was not there just a few days ago, I know this because I had just moved that particular bucket to this new location to block my dog from sticking her head through the fence right there. 

It was a thick little plant that looked pretty hearty.   Things must really grow like crazy in these Alaska Grow Buckets with the awesome soil-less soil I mixed together.  This would have taken at least 4-6 weeks to grow to this size in my seedling pots.  Wow!

A 7" tall, very healthy looking volunteer tomato plant. Day 2 after discovery (not more than 5 days old).

The only problem with this volunteer tomato plant is that the season is pretty much over.  And how the heck did the seed get into my bucket in the first place?  I did not put any seeds in the buckets and the soil had never been used before.  I don't put seedy plants like tomatoes in my compost (so nothing starts growing in there)

The only thing I can think of is that the birds must have dropped it there and it grew!  Let me explain...Earlier in the spring, I threw out lots of sunflower seeds, wild bird seed, and some chicken scratch on a flat area in front of our property so it would grow and could be cultivated for my chickens to eat, but before I could get them covered and watered, the birds swooped in and carried them away.  Then a few weeks later we discovered corn growing wild near where I spread the seeds, and up the hill from our property.  I also found a sunflower growing in the middle of my raised planter on the back patio, but I did not plant it there or drop any seeds anywhere near that area.  (see the pick below)  So the birds must have dropped a seed while flying over our house. 

So that must be how this tomato seed got into one of my buckets.  What are the odds of that?  Pretty slim I would say. 

Surprise sunflower growing in my flower bed -birds dropped it there.

This excites me about the potential of using Alaska Grow Buckets and the soil-less soil mix because this little tomato plant looks healthier than any one I've ever grown before.  So, back to the discovery of this little tomato plant...as I said, the day after discovering this little guy, we were to leave for our 10 day trip to Colorado.  I wasn't sure how much water the monsoon rains would bring while we were gone and the irrigation system was not yet set up for the Alaska Grow Buckets, so I put the bucket into the middle of my mint bush and stuck the tiny irrigation line for the mint into the bottom wholes on the bucket.  This would keep plenty of water available for the tomato plant and the excess would run out the side holes and into the mint -so everyone would be happy. 

Volunteer Tomato in my Alaskan Grow Bucket sitting in the Mint Patch.

Visitor to the mint patch - a Tarantula Wasp. Scary but they are only interested in Tarantulas.

Upon returning 10 days later, this is what it looks like.  WOW, what a lot of growth.

Day 12 after discovery (not more than 15 days old).

Then 1 week after that, look at the growth!  And its not even been that warm here (compared to earlier in the summer).  I think it's time to build a cage for this tomato. 

Day 19 after discovery (not more than 22 days old).

I will bring this little survivor indoors (to my seedling growing room) once it gets too cool to grow outside, and see what it grows into.  It's such a mystery, I don't even know what kind of tomato it is.

Have you ever had the wild birds help you plant a garden? What did you get?

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Chicken Lady's Pick of FREE eBooks! (9/27/14)

It's suppose to be a very stormy day here in Arizona today.  Heavy rains, thunderstorms, maybe even a couple of tornado's...wow, that would be something!  To me this translates into a fabulous day of staying in my jammies all day and reading a good book.  Take a look below to see if you can find a great book to curl up with on this stormy day (if its not storming where you live...just pretend you are here).  So here we go...today's list of the Chicken Lady's Pick of FREE eBooks, enjoy!

[Authors Note: I am always very open about the fact that links on my blog may be an affiliate link, (see my Full Disclosure here.) especially links to Amazon (because I am an Amazon affiliate), however I would never promote a product or service that I didn't think was a great value to myself and my readers.  To create even more transparency, (and to make my work just a little easier when putting these Free eBook posts together), I'm going to try using an Amazon-labeled image so you know for sure its an affiliate link.  You don't have to use my links to buy a product at Amazon, but if you do, you are supporting my blog with a teeny tiny commission.  And I will be ever so grateful!]

If you are new to this series, each Tuesday & Saturday I will be posting the Chicken Lady's Pick of FREE eBooks!  I will include books that I am personally purchasing, in my favorite genre's like non-fiction, books based on a true story, or fiction that seems non-fiction, self-help, autobiographies, true-crime, cook books sometimes, and children's books.  I will also be including some books that are not necessarily my kind of books, like sci-fi, romance novels, and books about sports, as long as they have very high reviews on Amazon.  Sometimes I will include books that are not free to all, but will be Free for you if you have a KindleUnlimited subscription. [Learn more about it & get a Free 30 day trial here.] Please leave me a comment if you like this series of posts as it will encourage me to continue bringing you a new list of FREE eBooks twice each week!

You don't have to have an Amazon Kindle to Read Kindle eBooks.

Here are today's 'Chicken Lady's Pick of FREE eBooks'

[*BEFORE PURCHASING* Please look at the price of the book before you purchase it.  These books were listed as $0.00 at the time of this post, but this is usually a short term promotion and then they go back to the full price.] 

Retired homicide detective Thomas Prescott is reluctant to read the best selling book Eight in October, a true-crime thriller based on a string of murders occurring throughout October of the past year. After all, it was his case, and he doesn t need to be reminded of the gruesome details. The book dubbed the serial killer, Tristen Grayer, The MAINEiac. Grayer is allegedly dead, but only Prescott knows the truth, Grayer is alive and lurking in the shadows. On October 1st, the anniversary of the first murder, Tristen resurfaces, killing someone special from Prescott's past. Suddenly, it s deja vu for Prescott except this time the women closest to him begin to fall victim at the hands of Grayer. With the help of former flame, medical examiner Dr. Caitlin Dodds, and Eight in October author, Alex Tooms, Prescott must race against the clock to stop Tristen from completing his encore.

~~~~~~~

[This Kindle eBook edition has been completely revised and updated with new content including recent interviews with James "Whitey" Bulger and a new chapter on Mickey Cohen.]

*NOTE: This book contains graphic depictions of crime and prison violence.

Alcatraz Island was home to some of the nation's most notorious criminals. Prisoners include Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, James "Whitey" Bulger, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert Stroud- the Birdman of Alcatraz, Alvin Karpis, Henri Young, John and Clarence Anglin, and Roy Gardner. In Michael Esslinger's latest book, Letters From Alcatraz, the prisoners' stories come to life in their own words. With over twenty years of research, Esslinger, author of Alcatraz: Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, has salvaged and compiled an extraordinary collection of inmates' letters, many never before published.

Letters from Alcatraz Includes:

• A foreword by former Alcatraz Officer: Larry Quilligan
• Over 280 photos depicting inmates and the prison workforce
• Over 125 letters and original correspondence from inmates both on-and-off the Rock

** This book is also available for Free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Learn more

~~~~~~~

THE ASTONISHING TRUE STORY of a group of thirty-two boys and leaders who accomplished an amazing feat in 1972, when they rode their bicycles from Wood Dale, Illinois to Jacksonville, Florida. It was a simpler time--a common sense two-pedal world with realistic adventures, and everyday heroes. An innocence was lost when twenty-six young boys in a small rural town set out to accomplish something bigger than themselves. 

   

Their journey of nearly 1,400 miles would take them through eight states, crossing over the Great Smoky Mountains. It was a tremendous achievement--one that would be hailed as the longest organized bike hike in the history of Scouting.

** This book is also available for Free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Learn more

~~~~~~~

Confidence is lacking in a plain little girl when she arrives in a new town alone. The townspeople are astonished, “My, she’s plain!” But, of course they were normal. They were colored folks like you’d find anywhere. They were blue. They were green. They were orange. They were red. They were spotted and dotted on their bodies, hair, and heads. They were striped and plaid and flowered and checked. They were abstract and camouflaged and arrowed and flecked.

Jane appealed to their kindness, hoping that there might be anyone who would take her in… someone who would not consider her plainness a sin.
They take her in all right, but decide to change her, fix her, make her bright.
There follows a debate over which one of their designs she should be. But at the big 4th of July celebration, she comes to a great revelation and decides, “The only way I can be special, the only way I can be unique, is to be me. That’s what I think… even if it’s as plain as plain can be.”

Great fun, adorable illustrations, and tongue-twisting rhymes add to the delight of this story.

** This book is also available for Free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Learn more

NOTE ABOUT KINDLES & AMAZON: By the way, you do not need a Kindle device to read Kindle books, you can download the Kindle app to your Laptop, Desktop, Smartphone, iPad and just about any smart devices.  You will need an Amazon account to purchase the free books.  Sign-up is super easy if you don't already have one.  To get a Free book you have to go through the purchase process even though the price is $0.00.  You will need a method of payment on file with Amazon, but they will not charge your card to 'purchase' a free ebook. 

*This was an unpaid, unsolicited post about the products shown above that I have purchased myself.  Neither the authors nor the publishers have asked me to include their books in this post.  The first image in this post today is courtesy of adamr at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.  I have included Affiliate links in this post, please see my Full Disclosure here.

Keeper of 1 husband, 3 dogs, 
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 .

reade more... Résuméabuiyad