Between the talk of boiling oil, alligators, “special celebrations”
and my tendency to swear like a sailor, I’m surprised BYC hasn’t slapped us all with and “explicit” rating/warning label here!
Honestly though, Thanks everyone, you all keep me hanging in here, and preserve what little is left of my already questionable sanity... I really appreciate all the support.
I wish the concrete had just gotten in before he got back. All I can say is there were both tears and yelling, but not directly at FIL, because I am sure at this point it would escalate completely out of control. I will
not be re-doing anything. I am secretly hoping that the concrete arrives and gets poured today while we are in town.
So, I’m partially to blame for Andrew having such a bad day, but his family is just... so... awful (there were also several Aunt incidents today). I did make him breakfast, and made him take an easy morning. He got some beer in the free mail from an anonymous person, and it could have been worse. I ended up just sitting in the barn crying and hugging Sammy for about an hour. He was
very confused by this, but also amazingly tolerant. Chickens (just like chicken friends) are good for the soul.
Saturday evening after the market, I showed our WWOOFer how I put up my chickens at night, and if we don’t make it home on the 4:30 ferry, my Mom will drive him up to put them up for the night while she feeds the cats. Today’s feed run is beyond necessary, as last night I cooked them up a big pot of rice, ground venison, and eggs for today to supplement what feed they have left for today. Turns out ground and canned venison is just as tasty to chickens as it is for my cats.
This morning I set everyone up for the day in full dark, but that didn’t stop the chicks from an escape attempt and devouring breakfast and their fresh water. Everyone else stayed sleeping like sensible chickens, except for Chickie Hawk who came out and stood on the ramp, ready to “defend his ladies” as always, and of course... the curvy girls and Roostie, who are quite happy to eat
anything at
anytime, and don’t need silly things like light to find their feeder, just the soft tinkle of pellets filling it is enough to rouse them.
Little piggies.
I’m quite worried about Precious, my blue Isbar, she’s tiny and in a hard molt that got dramatic very quickly. She has gone from being a little “off” to Ratty and threadbare and not leaving the roosting box over the last two days. She’s also going off her feed. Canned salmon treats is on the shopping list for her and lots of extra attention. I’ve decided to separate the lighter girls, sapphires and Isbars, out and put them in with Sammy’s boy once I separate out the cockerels from my next batch. The Marans are so much larger and now that they are more even in numbers they are starting to separate. It almost like Mr has two different flocks in the one tractor.
)
Don't know what to say 
