~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[HHandbasket]

Linda has been a busy social butterfly lately. We dragged her happy butt to a concert last night & she had a great time. This was after she spent the entire afternoon schmoozing with some of the locals at another get-together during the day.

 

[ChicknThief]

Probably NOT Lemonade or wine .........Probably is:



Ha-Ha !!!

THE Curmudgeon

Pabst = horse p*ss

 

[sourland]

Pabst = horse p*ss

 

[gryeyes]

Oh, yes, Saturday was a VERY full day! I attended the 2nd Annual Sheriff's BBQ in the afternoon and early evening, held at the D'Agostini property on one side of "Leedy's Lake." There was a bounce house for the kids (plus two real rope-and-board swings hung from one of the trees) and a horseshoe pit. There was a live auction of many nifty items and a raffle for some others. BBQ tri-tip, beans, and a wonderful fresh salad with cranberries and walnuts in it. Plus brownies for dessert. The local Lions Club managed a drink tent, with water, soda, beer and wine to purchase. (All proceeds for beverage sales to go to Lions' scholarships.)



I met the Sheriff of El Dorado County, his wife (already know his mother, who was really pleased to see me show up and surprised at my gift of fresh eggs), a couple hopeful candidates for the Board of Supervisors, two Sheriff's Captains, some retired deputies from various counties, and a slew of local folks. Mr. & Mrs. Retiree from next door arrived and they squired me around for a while, introducing me as their friend and next door neighbor. We ate at the same table and they bought me a couple of glasses of wine. I wandered around some and came back to find them telling the Board of Supervisor who mediated our "neighborhood dispute" that everything was copacetic; he was very pleased to hear that news. He put an arm around me, tucked his head close to mine and told me HE "loves my animals" (his, not mine) and really understood how difficult it had been for me to re-home my roosters. He later introduced me to a Senator and the former Sheriff, also in attendance.

This chocolate Lab was extremely mellow, very friendly, and suggested many people share their meals with him.



John was there, too, mingling with the crowd. At one point, I saw him deep in conversation with the only persons of color I have ever seen which weren't shopping in a grocery store up here. Some time during the event he called my cell phone to try to find me in the crowd, but it was in my purse on "vibrate" mode and I never heard the call. We did connect and sit together for a time.

I didn't buy any raffle tickets, but there were some awfully nifty items, such as an 8-hour Firearms Training course at the Sheriff's facility, two "signed" SOG knives (whatever those are - they sure got a lot of attention from the male attendees), a variety of other things AND a turkey caller! I couldn't figger out how to work it, but I think I would have liked to have won it IF I'd bought any raffle tickets. (I never win at raffles.) It was a hand-carved, two piece wooden item, with an El Dorado County Sheriff's logo on the back of the round part one scrapes with the long dowel sort of thing. Anybody who knows how to use a turkey caller should 'splain it all to me. I'm sure I could find one on the 'Net but it wouldn't be an El Dorado County hand-made turkey caller.

Then I said my good-byes and headed off to Helwig Winery for the concert, just about 7:45 PM. I got there before the main attraction and sat with HH and FL. We had SUCH fun!

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Afterwards it was a trip to the HH/FL residence for some great conversation - Jeremy came over too - and a midnight meal of sausage in gravy over biscuits. NUMMY! And then I toodled home, already quite sure I was going to have to spend some recovery time at home. I can ignore fibro pain if I am having a great time.

I must have slept at least 15 out of the 24 hours of Sunday..... too much fun just wore me out.

There are quite a lot of "mini-stories" I want to share with y'all and hope I can remember them. Over the past several days I've spent quite a bit of Quality Flock Time, but not near as much as I would really prefer to experience. If I had my druthers, I'd only leave my property MAYBE once a week. One of the ways I convinced myself to go anywhere was to remember my RAV4 has an excellent A/C system. Yeaaah, cool air!! I can make that trip....

There are almost 20 tomatoes developing on my plants! The heritage Mortgage Lifter is actually recovering from having had every single one of its leaves removed by marauding chickens, as is the hybrid Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato. They're far behind the curve in producing fruit, as the new growth hasn't progressed enough to blossom, but they have actually survived!

Edna and Edith are becoming ever so friendly (although they do scream and kick for a few moments whenever they're picked up) and love to check out whatever I'm doing... or John is doing. Edna has jumped to the porch steps railing but slid on its slanted surface and had to jump at the last second to land on her feet on the ground. Here's a series of photos of her peeking into the screened porch.

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No, I didn't let her into the screened porch. I know, she's adorable, but Rules Are Rules.


The ducks and geese playing in the kiddie pools and stock tank can always draw my attention.

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And then there was the morning Angus decided he didn't want to walk all the way over to the "pool area" of the yard to play in water.

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Sister #1 took her solo adopted chick out of the coop late last week. I was so thrilled to watch her shepherd the chick in the portion of the yard by the coop chicken door. Mama hens are so fierce! She may not have hatched that chick but she voluntarily took over Mama duties from the hen under which I first placed that chick. (The chosen hen prefers to sit on eggs right now; when she got up for a constitutional, the chick was left behind after it tried to follow her. The third time I checked in the coop for it, I couldn't find it and had a moment of panic until Sister #1's "chick call" alerted me to its change of surrogate moms.)

Edna - after she settles down when I pick her up - loves to have her breast gently scratched. She fell asleep on my knee as I rested under the pergola one afternoon. She'd startle awake when I skritched her on her back, then closed her eyes again. I think I sat there for a good hour, loving on that turkey poult. Edith has a touch of white in her tail feathers and on one wing; Edna's wing and tail feathers are totally covered in grey-brown bars. John has raised turkeys before, so he has experience to share. He said it appears Edna has imprinted on me. Edith, on the other hand, will come very close to me only when Edna is there, too.

I love the way they sound, and can tell when they are just casually hooting around on their expeditions through various parts of the the yard or hooting in a search for their partner poult. I totally embarrassed myself one day when John and I were standing at one end of the porch. I was - naturally - watching the flock and asked him, "Don't you think my little hooters are cute?" He turned his head in a slow and level, speculative gaze as I realized what I'd said. "The baby turkeys! The way they hoot all the time!"

Suggestion to self: "Yes, Linda - think before speaking. Even with friends." I may have known my contractor for a year now, but that doesn't mean he knows me and understands the endearments I use with my pets as well as my other friends understand me. Although, to be honest, I'm sure such a question would have garnered a ribald response from HH and/or Farmer Lew. And perhaps quite a few BYCers. Ya think?

Hitchcock and Charlie have been re-homed. That was one of my trips away from my property. Very sadly, I called Amy from Bradshaw Feed to ask if there was space in their Roosters For Sale cages; she was busy at the counter at the time and sort of explained my problem to a customer she was serving. He asked "What kind of roosters?" Hitchcock is a purebred Salmon Fav, and Charlie is a bantam buff Brahma. She apparently showed the hatchery example "picture" of an SF to him and he told her he'd love to have one of those. So I boxed them up together, picked up HHandbasket and headed to Sacramento. (HH brought two White Faced Black Spanish hens to sell to Amy for her personal flock.) We went to the feed store first and checked out the rooster sale cages.

Oh my. There were roosters there I would have loved to own myself! But alas, I can only keep two crowing roosters and Mr. Retiree had walked over to complain about the "two screechy roosters" still on my property almost 3 weeks after "two rooster limit" agreement had been made. John was working on the porch's second screen door at the time; I was holding it as he screwed the handle onto it. Mr. Retiree said something manly, bluff and tool-wise to John about "all that work for Linda sounds like it's burning out that bit," which caused John to remove the bit and hand it to him to check it. (The bit was razor sharp, which Mr. Retiree had to notice. Hmm, guess you were wrong.) He acknowledged the fine condition of the bit. John casually said something along the line of "Yeah, it seems Linda gets blamed for a lot of things which aren't her fault or even true."

I told Mr. Retiree the last two crowing roosters would be gone within a "couple" days. It was quite quiet for several minutes after he left. (John was giving me time to wipe away the silent tears which leaked down my face afterwards.) I even called and left a message on their home phone message system to let him know I was taking them away the night before I loaded them up to take them to Bradshaw Feed.

Well, we didn't turn Charlie over to the feed store, but took the box with both roosters in it to the guy who had said he'd take Hitchcock. I figured I'd see Hitchcock off safely before I brought Charlie back to the feed store. The new home was adjacent to the feed store property and when the nice guy saw I had two roosters in the box, he said he'd take both of them. He clipped their right wings and we let them loose in the HUGE chicken run. He has more than 100 chickens, including a few roosters and a few ducks. He said, "I'll just let 'em fight it out amongst themselves until they figure out their pecking order." Which is exactly how it works in my flock.... I was SO freakin' relieved! What a great home for them!

Hitchcock even started to tid-bit a RIR hen before we departed.

John called me that night just to see how I was doing. I thought it was very considerate of him.

I better get this posted before I add any more photos and stories.

 

[1muttsfan]

My little hooters -

I am sorry that you had to give up some of your little friends, but it sounds like they landed a good home.

 

[Kansaseq]

OMG--Don't you think my little hooters are cute!? Sounds like something I'd blurt out!

Kinda funny you made that comment to John

Looking at your pictures, I'm struck all over again at how beautiful your part of the country is. What a lovely, natural place you live in--I'm envious, and so glad you've decided to share your experiences and home with us. Thank you.

 

[ChicknThief]

Thanks for the update Linda!!

Its always sad to give up an animal, but it sounds like they have a new home that is equally as nice! It's great to know that they went to someone who really will appreciate them.

Great stories too! Little hooters.

 

[wolftracks]

Linda I had you pegged for a Vodka girl. Maybe you should just put whatever you're drinkin into a Vodka bottle. That way when you make your hooter remarks, John can just chaulk it up to the booze talkin.

Loved the jab John got in about the bit and you getting blamed for everything. GO JOHN!!

I'm getting to the point that I hate reading this thread. It's making me what to live there. I saw that snow on the ground. It made my bones hurt.

Since you seem to be low on chickens after having to deal with those creepy people and losing roos, you might need some EEs and OEs. I have abunch and more are hatching. How many you want??

 

[Jferlisi]

=( Poor hitchcock. I have never meet you but by reading your posts and, all he was my fav. Im sorry you had to get rid of him.

Dont mean to be a debby downer. Do you know what two you are keeping?

 

[gryeyes]

First, I AM a vodka kinda gal, but I live in wine country now and have a friend who works at a winery, so I've developed a better appreciation of various wines. Educating my palate, I guess. But for sitting at home and having an adult beverage by myself, it's Blue Ice vodka for me. (This is a very good American-made potato vodka - from which all good vodkas should be made. Check the labels of YOUR vodka!)

The two agreed-upon "keeper" roosters are Carl and Bernard. Unlike the bantam breeds, their crowing is not screechy. Today, Maximilian the Silkie crowed. I'm hoping nobody notices.

He and "Rupert" the Silkie hen are a couple. I'd like to keep them both.

After we got all the rocks in the concrete planter, and my solar lights set there with them, I discovered the chickens use the edge of the planter as a path from one side of the house to the other. After all, they hate walking on the rocks and they cannot use the enclosed porch as a route of travel any more.



The solar lights look really nice at night.

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Even without the porch light on, isn't this an inviting, night-time view?



I also snapped a shot or two of the deck and the pergola at night. They're crappy photos but maybe they'll give y'all a sense of the glimmery stuff I like to drape here and there. These are also solar powered light strings.

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The smaller lights near the bottom of the last two photos above are mini path lights. Just enough light so nobody walks into something in the dark.

We also put river rocks under the propane tank, because the chickens were dust bathing under and around it. John was concerned they might undermine the concrete block pads supporting the tank. I placed a blue ceramic bowl on the rocks so Dusky the Escapee Bunny (and Elvis the call drake) could find water more easily. Everybody drinks from it, but it's easier for the rabbit to drink from the bowl than the poultry waterers in the yard. Sometimes she will venture onto the ramp to the stock tank to drink from that water, but I am gratified to see Dusky and Elvis drink quite often from the blue bowl.



The White Crested Black Polish make me smile all the time. They've got such quirky personalities. They're VERY friendly and John has remarked he wouldn't mind having a (small) flock of them. Of course, he cannot, living in his community. He says my flock gives him the opportunity to appreciate poultry without all the hassle of caring for and/or worrying about them. He messed with Jack, one of the two WCB Polish roos (neither have crowed yet) by touching him on his back to get him to turn around to see what was going on. You know, like touching someone on the opposite shoulder and making them look. He realized Jack's crest made it impossible for him to see John's hand reach down to him.... Jack gets picked up a lot. He just mutters about it, but when he's back on the ground, he will peck the leg of the person who held him. Not hard, and no flogging, just a "Hey, there!" peck. Jack and Dylan (the other Polish roo) both follow me around a lot. I love their habit of escorting me here and there.

They and Pippa often stalk the Escapee Bunny. (The bright color at the bottom of the photos is my summer skirt - I was sitting on the porch steps at the time.)

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Sister #1 is now bringing her adopted chick out of the coop on a daily basis. It's been really hard to get a photo of the chick, but I finally managed it!

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It's amazing how the chickens can burrow nearly circular - and quite deep! - dust bathing holes. The turkey poults utilize one particular "spa" spot whenever there isn't a chicken already occupying it, and the following photo shows Edna and Edith sharing the favored dust-bathing spot.



They also found John's wheelbarrow ramp very useful.



I may have mentioned I don't do heat well. It really saps my energy. If I'm also having a fibro day, the heat will wipe me out even more than usual. The enclosed porch makes it very nice in the cooler evenings and nights, because it keeps the mosquitoes from getting to me. I moved my bentwood rocker out onto the porch, which cleared some more living room floor space. I also set up an antique card table out there, which I'd kept stored behind the closed door to the bathroom from the office. I haven't finished "furnishing" the porch yet, but when I do, I'll share photos of that living space.

I need to get the window air conditioning unit out from under the stuff I've stacked on it. Last summer, it was set in the window which John removed to install the single French door to the deck he built. I need to figure out a way to conceal the utility-strength, orange extension power cord which I'll need to use to operate it in the most appropriate living room window. The closest power receptacle is all the way across the room.

Some of the Easter Hatch tweens are really interesting looking chickens. I hope to get some good shots of a few of them in the next few days; I know they're mostly mutts, so who knows what breeds went into their making. Some have little crests, many have feathered legs and or feet. Of course, ALL are adorable. Every last one of 'em.

I'll be making a run to Sacramento tomorrow to drop off a six-pack of fertilized eggs for another Bradshaw Feed customer who has a broody hen. She's a bantam breed (the customer doesn't know what kind - so it doesn't matter that I cannot tell him what breeds will hatch from Olmstead Homestead eggs.)

Almost two months of retirement and I'm enjoying NOT working very, very much. Not quite as happy with the significantly smaller pension payments..... this is going to take some time to settle into a balanced budget situation. Ah well. Life is still very good.

And any winter snow which falls at this altitude does NOT "stick" for more than a day. Folks wanting to move here just need to pay attention to the altitude; anything at 2200 feet or lower is quite "do-able" for those who abhor snow. I mentioned to John I "could" have bought something up Grizzly Flats Road - with acreage - but he shook his head. "No, if you were actually up near the community of Grizzly Flats, you could be snow-bound for several days at a time. You really did pick a good spot, despite the Rooster Hating Neighbors."

He usually plays music quite loud when he's working; his taste is as eclectic as mine. All the way from Led Zeppelin to the Everly Brothers and everything in between. Perhaps if someone complains when he's present, he will get a chance to say, "Really? Is it worse than the roosters?"

Because the new roof project has been put on hold until next year, he's working on shoring up the fascia and eves, and then will paint those and the exterior walls. Even with the naked new wood in place, the house looks so much more "finished." He had a couple of other job commitments this week and will resume work to finish off the other side of the house this coming week.