An Even Dozen

Well, six days into egg production and we've gathered an even dozen. In addition to the thrill of eggs, chickens are sure interesting to watch. Yesterday at noon, there were still no eggs, but Henny Penny was checking out the nest boxes-in one, hop out, then another. Finally she settled on one and you've never heard such racket.
All of our married life, whenever I've had trouble settling in of an evening and have done a bit of tossing and turning, Handy Man has always said to me, "Are you about to get your nest made?" Now I know where that comes from and HP flitted all over that nest box before finally getting down to business. While HP's sitting, Little Red Hen decides it's time for her to lay an egg and very timidly tip toes around the nest boxes, but the one that interests her is, as you might guess, right under HP, who won't get off the nest and Little Red Hen won't go in hers while HP is sitting.
In the midst of all this, Bean and Bugg arrive and HP finally decides she's done and leaves another beautiful brown blessing for Bean to find. Now Little Red Hen can get in her spot, and, in addition to Bean, at least half of the other girls line up across the nest boxes to watch her, like she was the latest soap opera- poor thing. Eventually, she delivers and Bean is as thrilled with this one as any before, and can't get over how warm it is and rubs it all over his chilly cheeks.
And me, well, I smile awhile because this is just exactly what I wanted this to be.

While Handy Man and 1st Lt tore out the living room wall to put in insulation, I took the kiddos and some plants and went for our first dinner in Rae and Michael's new home. Well, first one she cooked for me. I took dinner the day she moved We enjoyed a yummy chix and stuffing meal and had fun planting some mint and thyme, pulling weeds and planning for spring. Lovely.

Today was Kaye day. I fixed Handy Man and I some blueberry pancakes and took them some along with two little brown eggs. She and Pete were excited to have their very first fresh eggs and she enjoyed them. I made her some butternut squash for supper and she loved it. I hate butternut squash. It's orange and smells like pumpkin, blek! I saved the innards and peels and leftovers and brought it home to the girls, who devoured it.

Pete was not feeling well most of the week, so I was able to cook them two good meals, leave leftovers and get the laundry done. Her output today was very low and cloudy. Not a good sign and I have to just not think about it. Pete will have it tested tomorrow.

Any idea what it costs to have your heart fixed and your leg damaged and your life and the lives of those who love you irrevocably changed? Just a mere 289, 000 dollars. That's just for the thirty days at Floyd.

I came back home and found all three Australorps out of the pen and two of the Andulusians sitting on the gate. I shooed the gate sitters back and Handy Man got on the other side of my black girls to shoo them back in. I opened the gate and Big Cat Daddy Rooster flew out of the pen and rounded up his girls himself, marching them right back through the gate- too funny.

I'm going to take what eggs I have to Mom tomorrow. She's not doing well. Ten days on the steroid this time, and still she can hardly breathe. I know that she is eighty one and will not live forever, but I would not wish this end on anyone. It would break my heart, if my heart could ever get unbroken, instead, it just stays in pieces. I pray she could get over this and have some good days again.