On February 15, 2010, our garden looked like this:

The snow was deep. So deep that MrC and I couldn’t get to work the next day. We actually got stuck in front of our house in his 4-wheel-drive truck. Ridiculous!

Fast forward a month and four days later: (aka March 19, 2010)

and MrC and I were outside burning off the rest of the garden. There was 3 back-to-back days of no rain which allowed the ground to dry up just enough for us to till.

We managed to get three passes done with the tiller before we ran out of gas. That was plenty for the chickens though. They thought it was Christmas morning!

We got a small area fenced off and got 2.5 rows of onions planted. This is the earliest we’ve gotten onions planted. Normally we procrastinate or hum and haw about what day we should till and then suddenly it’s May and we’re finally getting our onions planted.

And a little over a week later, we started to see onions sprouting up:

I’m really excited for our garden this year. Of course I probably say that ever year, but this year it’s ME pushing MrC to get things planted instead of him saying “We should probably plant these soon.”

In other not-so-good news:

This cute little thing is the kitten that someone dropped off months ago. We actually caught it once and put it in a cage and it was FURIOUS. And I knew that if we took it to the humane society they would put it down for being unadoptable. So we freed it,  started feeding it and I attempted to get it just a little more friendly. It doesn’t run away when we get close to it, but it won’t let us touch it. It did, however, prove to be a great hunter. Even with an unlimited amount of food available, MrC and I are constantly finding moles and mice laying around the yard.

Let me stop here and say that I KNOW how important it is to spay/neuter your pets. Four of our 5 animals are adopted! I’ve volunteered at humane societies and animal shelters. I see what happens to unwanted pets and it breaks my heart.

So my goal was to get to the point where it was used to us touching it and get it taken to the vet and get neutered. Because from the close encounters I had with it, I could tell it was a male.

Then one day, two other cats showed up. “Odd,” I thought. But just chalked it up to them wanting to get something to eat. Then two days later, I looked out my window and one of the wandering cats was mating with our cat.

I’ll admit I cussed at this point.

B/c I’m pretty sure that the female is always on bottom. Which is exactly where our cat was.

So the cute little cat you see in the above picture? Is now pregnant. She’s actually a couple weeks pregnant and her belly is starting to get big.

Sigh.

I feel HORRIBLE. I should’ve known! I should’ve thrown her in the cage and trucked her to the vet AS SOON AS WE FOUND HER. But she is still so young! I had no idea how limited my time was.

Keeping the kittens is not something we can do. We’re renting our house and with 3 cats, 3 dogs, and 15 chickens, we’re already pushing our limits. But I’m hoping that she has them in the garage and maybe I can handle them enough to where they are friendly and find good homes for them. Don’t get me wrong, if I can’t find homes, they’ll stay with us (over the protests of MrC, of course) but that’s not the ideal situation!

Argh!

SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS! And if you want a kitten and you’re in the Southern Indiana area, let me know!

At the lake during the summer, I have about 4 hummingbird feeders that I keep filled. These little creatures amaze me to no end. And they’ve scared me a time or two (their quick-flapping wings can sound like a large bee coming at you!!).

One morning, I was walking across the deck to fill up my other bird feeders and I noticed what looked like a leaf stuck in the hummingbird feeder. I went to go move it and noticed that it wasn’t a leaf, but a HUMMINGBIRD! I yelled for a friend and she came out and we gently got the hummingbird unstuck. It then fell/flew to the ground below.

And stayed there.

It didn’t seem hurt, just stunned. So I ran to get my camera.

I’ve never seen a hummingbird close-up. I was careful not to scare it so I didn’t get too close.

I love this next one.

We went out and checked on it every so often and after an hour or two it was gone. Hopefully it recovered and flew away.

I read in my bird book that it’s a common misconception that hummingbirds hide in trees for the winter or in the ground. They actually fly south and even though their wings are small, they can fly from north to south with no problem.

Have you ever seen a hummingbird up close? Without the aid of a camera?

Have you guys ever heard of a cricut?

And no, I don’t mean the noisy little bugger that gets behind your dresser and refuses to let you sleep!

It’s this fabulous little machine:

Image from cricut.com

It doesn’t look like much, but it’s a mean crafting machine!!

My friend had one and she always talked about how much she loved it. “Those crazy crafters!” I would think to myself “Always looking for something to spend money on.”

Then I tried hers out and LOVED IT. We were using it to cut out shapes and decorations for a scrapbook I work on for MrC and myself sometimes… and it’s so easy! And so neat!

I decided that if I still wanted one when I got my tax refund, that I would buy myself one.

Then two days later (and I still haven’t filed my taxes, if that tells you anything) I got on ebay and bid on one and WON! (Insert excitement here!)

So here’s a quick how-they-work

You have the above machine (the one pictured is the Cricut Expression).

You buy a cartridge:

(Note- these are NOT CHEAP! If you buy them at Wal-Mart or online at cricut.com, you will pay up to $80!!! So far I’ve been stalking ebay and craft stores for good deals- I will never pay more than $25.00 for one!)

You plug the cartridge into your machine.

Then you take the keypad overlay (included with the cartridge) and put it on your cricut:

Then you place a sheet of cardstock (or other paper, thicker usually works better) on the ’sticky sheet’ that comes with your cricut. And you pick what you want to print from the keyboard and add any options that may be available (shadowing, italic, bold, etc). Here are some shape options that come with this particular cartridge:

Each cartridge (when bought new) also comes with an ‘ideas’ book where you can pick up hints and tips on what works well.

Also? You know the lettering that you see on people’s walls? With the sayings like “Home is where the heart is…” or “Good times happen around the kitchen table…” Well, you can also print those vinyl letters with your cricut! Really I’m just getting started, but there are so many possibilities!

Now the big question: What are you going to pay for this cutting wonder?

You can find them at Wal-Mart (with one or two cartridges included) for around $290.00. Which isn’t too bad of a deal. But I went on ebay and bought a brand new one (no cartridges included) for $200 and free shipping. I bought it from a user named craft-e-corner (click the name to go to their site) and it was shipped quickly (and free!) and it arrived in perfect condition. And really, I’ve seen them go (from that same seller) for under $175.00.

There’s also a new cricut out for cake decorating, which is pretty neat.

Do you guys have one? Have you heard of them?

Are you remodeling?

Were you impressed with my$6.00 project where I took a gold fan and made it silver?

Do you like redecorating every once in a while but are on a tight budget?

Well, I started a new blog. One devoted soley to bargains I’ve found and great (but cheap!) products to aid in your remodel or redecorating.

So check it out and let me know if you have any thing you’d like to recommend!

 JEN’s Home Bargain Blog

So, even though the roads JUST got cleared off two days ago, it is snowing again. And we’re supposed to get another 7 inches by tomorrow morning.

Ugh.

So while I soak in my snow-induced-depression, I’ll leave you with some pictures I’ve taken recently.

and finally:

MrC sent me roses at work on Friday. I was 100% surprised!!

Let’s talk chicken feet today, shall we?

First off is Fred’s feet.

His spurs are like nails. I mean there is no give to them when you squeeze them. Just complete and utter HARDNESS.

Fred is not a friendly rooster, but he and I have an understanding. MrC sometimes has to remind him of their mutual understanding in other methods involving a shoe and threats of a gun.

But overall Fred isn’t too bad of a rooster. And when we have visitors, he’s never bothered anyone. *knock on wood*

Now onto a less lethal pair of feet:

This is one of my Barred Rock hens. In fact, she was/is the dominant hen.

You can see the toe on her left leg is facing backwards. I have NO IDEA how this happened. Just one day last Spring, I noticed that she was limping and closer inspection showed that she had somehow ‘broken’ her toe so that it wasn’t correctly positioned anymore. I brought her inside to inspect it closer (much to the dogs delight) but there was no swelling and I couldn’t see any external damage.

Chickens are mean to the weaker chickens so I kept a close eye on how she was treated. She was eating normal and would hop from the chicken coop to outside with the other to eat bugs. But all that hopping would make her tired and she’d just lay in the grass for periods of time. She still slept on the roost by hopping slowly up the ramp, and none of the other chickens were picking on her.

Then her toe swelled up. To about 3 times it’s normal size. I knew that if she got an infection in her leg, it would eventually kill her so again I kept a close eye on her for any signs of change.

The swelling eventually went down and soon she became one fast hopper. I’d call to the chickens and they’d all come running and here she’d come, hopping like her life depended on it.  I wish I would’ve gotten a video of it b/c it was pretty comical to watch her come hopping so fast.

Now you can’t even tell there’s anything wrong with her.  She’s still the dominant hen and never hesitates to make sure the other chickens know that.

But I still wonder- how in the WORLD did she break her toe like that?

For whatever reason, I’ve become suddenly very interested in the birds that visit our bird feeders. I even asked for (and received!) a bird-watching book for the lakehouse. So now I’m even more annoying with my “Well, look-e-there! It’s a whatchamacallit!”

Right now I have 6 bird feeders at the lake. And the birds go through them very quickly. (With the help of a squirrel every once in a while… even though I have 2 squirrel feeders as well) But it’s neat to watch the birds that stop in. Here are a couple of my favorites:

This little guy is a Nuthatcher and is neat b/c he hops down the tree (like he is in the picture) but they can pick up their heads and look at you from that position. (A unique trait among birds, so says my Kentucky Bird Watching Book).

This guy is a woodpecker. And it surprises me how big he is. He looks funny hanging off the side of the bird feeders!

Here is one of the MANY cardinals that visit. He looks fat and sassy doesn’t he?

This past weekend, we (and by WE, I mean Mr.C and LakeHusband and LakeNeighbor) started tiling the shower in the master bathroom. You have no idea how happy I was that all my colors (the tile, accent tile, and wall color) came together. I think even MrC was surprised.

Nothing’s sexier than a man with a calculator! ;) 

 You can see the color on the wall. I think it’s called cold slate or something like that. It’s a gray-green color.

To compare, this is what the old shower looked like when we bought the house:

Complete with mold growing on the ceiling. There was also uncleanable black gunk all around the shower door.

Oh- and the rotting plywood right at the base of the shower:

Not to mention the STRIPES that were everywhere. Red and Green in fact. It actually took THREE coats of HIGH-HIDING primer to cover the stripes. Crazy.

I can’t wait to be done with it and have a fabulous master bathroom!!

MrC does business with a lot of contractors. A perk from that is that he gets to do lots of neat stuff (he got taken quail hunting, he got taken to The Oaks (the race before the Derby), etc). And sometimes I get a part of that perk. Like when he brought a ham home from Clifty Farms. The farm is located in Paris, Tennessee. We’ve never cooked a ham before, but we followed the instructions and wah-lah!

This particular ham goes for around $70.00.

 It was VERY salty, but I like salty ham so it suited me perfectly.

Have you guys ever cooked a completely raw ham? Are you doing one for Christmsas?

Merry Christmas!!!

I know I’m a little late (hello! Christmas is in 6 days!) but I wanted to post some pictures from my family’s Thanksgiving.

For one, MrC always deep-fries the turkey. One word: YUMM. This also helps mom out b/c it means that the oven is free for all the other things she cooks.

The one bad thing about deep-fried turkeys getting more popular is that the cost of oil is going UP. And when you need 4 gallons, it can set you back a good $40!!!

MrC found this AWESOME injection recipe from Crisco’s website. Click HERE to see it. I don’t remember if we used it on my family’s turkey or not b/c they are picky eaters, but we used it on his family’s fried turkey and it was A-MAZING. (We are some fried turkey FOOLS!)

Here is the finished product:

Yes, please.

After food was ate and lottery tickets were scratched (another Family tradition- everyone gets 2 lottery tickets at their place setting), we took some GIRLZ-ONLY shots.

Me with my 5 sisters and my mom. I’m not sure what Sister#2 is pointing at. 

Then my camera got ’stolen’ from my sister and lots of random shots were taken. I like this shot of my sister (#4) and her boyfriend:

I think it’s neat that my camera caught her camera too.

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE MY CAMERA? I mean, yeah, you can buy a better one, but for $200 (they’re originally $230 but you can catch them every once in a while for $200) the Nikon L100 is a great camera!

So do you guys deep fry your turkey? Or go the more traditional route?