Washingtonians

[Nikki99]

Idaho Sunrise

I think this is what's for dinner tonight! Baked potato scooped out, filled with your choice of goodies, then egg cooked on top until it's cooked but still soft. Variations are endless - even a Southwest Sunrise using sweet potato!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/02/an-idaho-sunrise-egg-stuffed-baked-potatoes/

Wow! Yum!!!

Well you better sign me up because my DH sais I need help!

Ooo Ooo I have an idea, we could give away chickens for things like 3 months no hatching, 6 months no hatching so on and so forth!

We brought a piece of honey-soaked bread to leave near an ant hill and observe what happened; that part didn't go well. What the heck is wrong with ant who won't touch honeyed bread? We left it there for an hour and kept moving it closer and closer but still they ignored it. Then we brought the piece of bread back to our own neighborhood and found an ant hill 2 houses down. Still it sits there untouched 90 minutes later. ???? Weird ants.

Hmm, that is weird, usually you see them all over any kind of people food on the ground.

Very strange how my roosters and hens change colors/sizes/shapes every few years or so..... wonder what that's about...

Thanks for the laugh. Lol

Let's see...

Yesterday - found out I became a victim of an Internet crime and now I have to research our bank account.

Today - the fire alarm goes off, over and over. After multiple calls from the alarm company, and me reassuring them that I do not have a fire that I can see or smell, I contact DH and ask him to come home. He comes home, blows the alarm out with spray air and sets it off two more times. He wonders if the smoke that is floating in the air that has drifted over from the East side is setting off the alarm. We can see the smoke settling through the valley. Other than that, we can't for the life of us figure out why the alarm keeps going off.

Tomorrow - let's just hope and pray that the only eventful thing that happens is that the alarm company fixes the smoke alarm, 'cause I don't need a 3rd bad thing happening.

Oh... let's just count my being sick for that last 3 days the third. Can we, puh-lease???? Why does weird stuff happen when you're just too sick to cope with it.

On a better note.... can't wait for that UPS truck to get here. Our 4-H curriculum is on it and I can't wait to have something to look through.

Wow! I sure hope everything settles down for you, sounds like you could use a break!

I think you'll want to avoid hay in the coop. You probably meant straw anyway. As a city girl I can tell you it took me about a year to figure out the difference. I use pine shavings in my coop and use the deep litter method. Some use straw, pellets, coffee chaff, sand - it's a personal choice.

We are doing the deep litter method too. We started that the end of July. How long have you done it and how do you like it? One problem I've run into is the shavings seem to get wet easily and every day b/c we keep a water-er in there for them at all times and the ducks make such a mess with it.
Also, do you scoop the poo out everyday or just rake the shavings around?

That's good advice. I look at those nest boxes and think that if I was a hen I would not lay in those. They are not 'safe' looking. Too exposed. Put a 'top' on them and/or install curtins.

HTH,

Fog

The darker and more secluded - the happier your girls will be =)

You could run a strip of 1x1 (or old curtain rod or something straight) down the front-top of the boxes and hang a sheet over the top covering the "roof" and most of the front. I'd think that'd be a super cheap fix to see if they like it better.

Old tarp is super easy to clean.... or even feed bags with the pretty pictures.

's! Thanks everyone. We are definitely going to get a cover on those babies along with some other ideas I've heard over the last few days.

 

[SadieSue]

I am still watching for 2 answers.. Is there someplace away from the Enumclaw sale to meet??? And Will I be meeting with myself?? Is anybody else coming? I will be bringing birds to sale and would like to get my $$ when the sale ends but thats the only reason I have to stay.

CR, I haven't been able to commit yet because I know I need a firm answer from DH who promised we would be able to go again due to the mix up last weekend. But I also need to consider that Saturday may be a difficult day for me to get away and enjoy myself because I'm hosting a fundraiser for displaced children at the wine shop on Saturday and will need to be there early to set up and start cooking.

If I'm unable to meet with you, you know I'll be hanging onto your "Fudge bottle" until the next time we can meet up or if someone near here is meeting with you.

I received my check from the Enumclaw Auction yesterday for the sale of my 3 Silkie boys. DH and I were pretty pleased to get as much as we did for them and now there is no more crowing in my suburban backyard!

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
I've used the deep litter method since I first got our chickens 1 1/2 yrs ago. It works well for me. Easy sweep out every 6 months or so, and recently VF gave me the helpful hint to use an old shop vac to clean out the corners and crevices for dust and shavings. I recently scored an old 5 gallon shop vac for free and it worked great!

I can see how wet shavings could be an issue. My coop stays very dry since I keep the waterer in the run. At first light of day my auto door opens so the girls have access to water before I have to go outside to let them out of the run.

I scoop the poop from my poop board every couple of days. The poop that falls in the shavings on the floor of my coop stays dry and composts to "dirt" pretty quickly. I just toss it with a rake as needed or when I'm adding new shavings. Since my coop is 4X8, I've found that using a small children's rake is the perfect length for that purpose. The kid sized garden tools are my coop tools for a lot of things.

 

[SadieSue]

Another pallet coop design -

http://communitychickens.blogspot.com/2012/07/cool-coops.html#.UFs-CK63meY

 

[itsren]

I am still watching for 2 answers.. Is there someplace away from the Enumclaw sale to meet??? And Will I be meeting with myself?? Is anybody else coming? I will be bringing birds to sale and would like to get my $$ when the sale ends but thats the only reason I have to stay.

I'm still trying to figure Saturday's schedule out. Turns out DH has to attend BALOO training all day on Saturday because no adult leader in our Cub Scout Pack is trained for outdoor camping. We've been having to rely on a local Boy Scout Troop to send someone who is BALOO trained along with us during our outdoor camp outs.

My thoughts are maybe we can host at my house in the afternoon... but, let me chat with my husband to confirm that. I want to make sure everyone is well, too. I'm finally beginning to feel better (thank goodness!!!!). But, the kids are still sniffling. Whatever this bug is/was, I sure don't want to pass it along to anyone.

 

[SadieSue]

Since I mentioned my fundraiser in an earlier post, I thought maybe I should re-post here and send out an open invite! My cousin Rich and I are hosting a spaghetti dinner/wine tasting/fundraiser for the "Just Because Club" on Saturday night, September 22nd. This organization provides Christmas parties, Easter celebrations, picnics, etc., for disadvantaged youth of Pierce County between the ages of 4-17. These are children who are have been removed from abusive or neglectful homes where there is often alcoholic or drug addicted parents and caretakers and are waiting to be in foster care. Because of their situations, they are have no one who is looking to provide them with the little celebrations, rewards, gifts or treats. Most of them have no contact with their families and have no where to go for the holidays.

Rich and I will be cooking pasta dinner starting with an antipasto platter, then spaghetti with spicy marinara sauce, home made italian sausage and onions, home baked Italian bread, salad. I'm baking biscotti and pizzelle italian cookies and there will be an array of decadent desserts. Along with dinner all guests are invited to wine sampling for the entire evening and can sample any or all of our 15 different wine varieties.

Cost for dinner is just $20 and at the end of the evening, 20% of all wine sales go to the Just Because Club. Each time we've hosted this dinner we've been able to give them a check for at least $600 for the kids.

We are limited to 25 guests for dinner. It's a delicious dinner, no one ever goes away hungry and it's for a good cause. We do still have tickets left - if you'd like to join us, call (253) 272-5511

 

[chickenjane82]

Interesting. Thanks for your feedback. I've never met anyone who's used anything but the K curriculum, which she loved for their kids. We also feel like it's a bit easy right now but that's because he already reads and we're doing early phonics; that part is super quick and over with by day 9 though, so we're looking forward to getting into the meat and potatoes. We're also maximizing the library book basket and bringing in every book we can on the topics of the week, which is beefing it up for sure.

Just a side question: Did you do the Basic or Deluxe package? What about the extra's like "Drawing with Children" and the music stuff? I feel like it's actually hard to get everything in the deluxe package done daily, maybe it's just because I have William (2) all over the place and needing extra attention. Thanks for chatting with me about it! I like hearing what people think for sure since we chose it this year

I bought the deluxe package. I like the drawing with children book. I never did anything with the music part. Infact, the cd is still in the plastic!

 

[Nikki99]

I've used the deep litter method since I first got our chickens 1 1/2 yrs ago. It works well for me. Easy sweep out every 6 months or so, and recently VF gave me the helpful hint to use an old shop vac to clean out the corners and crevices for dust and shavings. I recently scored an old 5 gallon shop vac for free and it worked great!

I can see how wet shavings could be an issue. My coop stays very dry since I keep the waterer in the run. At first light of day my auto door opens so the girls have access to water before I have to go outside to let them out of the run.

I scoop the poop from my poop board every couple of days. The poop that falls in the shavings on the floor of my coop stays dry and composts to "dirt" pretty quickly. I just toss it with a rake as needed or when I'm adding new shavings. Since my coop is 4X8, I've found that using a small children's rake is the perfect length for that purpose. The kid sized garden tools are my coop tools for a lot of things.

The shop vac idea is a good one, I hadn't even thought of that. I think DH has a little one that would be perfect. Thanks for the idea!

I have thought about putting the water outside but I read that ducks can't have access to food unless they also have access to water. I'm thinking about putting the food outside under the covered part of the yard.
How do you like your atuo door? I've been thinking about getting one but have hear that they are pretty pricey. I'm sure it would be well worth it though, especially on those nights when we aren't home until well after dark or the mornings we sleep in...we get lots of complaints on those mornings.

Poop board? What is that and where do you put it?

 

[chickenjane82]

I have yet to hear of any curriculum that keeps up with state standards by itself. I know many, many people who have home-schooled and most of the kids I know have grown up struggling in high school or college if they stick with one curriculum. There was this one family, where both the husband and wife owned a very successful businesses, that I thought had the home-schooling plan down to a tee. Turned out, her oldest couldn't get into a college, and was struggling with passing classes in his vo-tech school. They were beginning to realize their other two were going to struggle, as well.

I supplemented my kids early education with Abeka when they were smaller. There was no way that curriculum even came close to what they were being taught in the Public School they were going to at the same time - and they were in a special needs class in the public school.

I grew up in an A.C.E. school (Accelerated Christian Education). Both my brother and sister completed every Pace that had ever been written, and aced most of every test, too. They had to graduate one year early because the curriculum had nothing else for them to do. They went on to attend NNU (Northwest Nazarene University) - the only college my parents could find that would accept them. Both of them struggled. My brother had to switch his degree to a ministerial degree just to get through and graduate on time, and my sister had to go to NNU for a few years, before she could switch to a state college. She ended up having to go to college for 10 years to successfully get the degree in finance that she wanted. My brother did not become a minister, but he had a degree that helped him get a good job in the work force. He spent years being disappointed that he was never able to get into the architectural field he wanted to be in. I was switched to a public High School in 11th grade and the school counselors told my parents that I was so far behind academically, that they could not ever imagine that I would ever make it into a state college. I did get it into a state college, but my 11th and 12th grade years were brutal. Gratefully, I had very sweet English and math teachers who were willing to have me stay after school to help me.

My recommendation to any homeschooling parent would be use multiple curriculum and make sure your child is keeping up with state standards. You can pull them from the Internet here: http://www.k12.wa.us/CurriculumInstruct/learningstandards.aspx . They are huge documents, but it is worth making sure your child keeps up with what the Public School system teaches. I've seen far too many kids, from well-meaning parents, come into the public school system after being home schooled and really struggle. The child's ability to get into college in the future will rely on the kid's being able to pass college entrance exams and those exams are based on what is taught in the Public School system.

Edited to fix the link.

Yep, I have the k12 site.
Thats what we are going to use as a guideline this year so that he stays ahead or atleast AT those standards.
I kinda feel like religious curriculums dont focus as much on academics as secular ones do. (Im not stating that as FACT, just my personal observation with the ones Ive looked at and got feed back from)
Im not even buying a package this year. Im going to pay a tutor/teacher to help build our own based on where hes at right now and where he needs to be by next year. As for right this second we are using what we have. I have TONS of materials just not a set anything yet.

 

[itsren]

Yep, I have the k12 site.
Thats what we are going to use as a guideline this year so that he stays ahead or atleast AT those standards.
I kinda feel like religious curriculums dont focus as much on academics as secular ones do. (Im not stating that as FACT, just my personal observation with the ones Ive looked at and got feed back from)
Im not even buying a package this year. Im going to pay a tutor/teacher to help build our own based on where hes at right now and where he needs to be by next year. As for right this second we are using what we have. I have TONS of materials just not a set anything yet.

Have you heard of Washington Virtual Academy? It is public home school. It is paid for by the public school system. The child has a teacher assigned to him or her. The child is home schooled by the parent, but a school teacher is involved to make sure the child stays up to standard. The parent can then supplement other activities as they choose.

If we can't get our our oldest son waiver-ed to a different middle school next year, we'll use WAVA until we can either move, or get a waiver in place. The middle school he is designated to go to is the toughest middle school in our city. It is notorious for it's gangs. We won't deal with that school at all. Our little guy wouldn't be able to handle it. He'd be teased mercilessly, and wouldn't understand to not accept being treated badly.

If we do end up having to do WAVA, we'll supplement his activities with a heavy emphasis on robotics, computers, aerospace, film-making, etc as those are his strengths. He's a big-time science and artsy kid.