Crying Fowl!

It's an auspicious day here in our homestead nestled safely in the Pinelands of NJ. It started the same as any other hectic Monday. 4 crazy kids reeling through the house, my mother coming over to do the laundry and to  find things that are wrong with my housekeeping and I was heading  on the long track to Princeton for my weekly meeting. Now I don't mind going into the office but  it does tire me.

The trip each way is long and we usually brainstorm so by Monday evening  I'm shot. This week I actually had to "dress" and no I don't attend the weekly Monday meetings naked but I usually wear jeans and my very comfy sandals. This week we had a potential client meeting so I had to look human with real shoes and all - the kind with heels- that hurt. Needless to say I was tired so I was none too happy when at 5:45pm , my wonderful husband told me I needed to pick up the kids from daycare before they turned into pumpkins( which happens at approximately 6pm). I asked where he was and he said he was out getting my "thing" Now I knew that probably meant the dog run I had seen on Craigslist for my chicken. Poor Henrietta hates being cooped  up but needs to be safe so I concluded she needed a chicken run. - Yes I know very Green Acres of me. Being in the country aircan do that to a perosn

Anyway by the time I got home with 4 squabbling kids in tow, I must have looked absolutely wiped because when I got out the car my husband asked " Long Ride?"

I replied" yes and I just want get all un corporate ( I really do hate dressing ) and be human again"  He chuckled and said " well this is the place to do it"--- That's when I heard an unfamiliar noise.

It started out as a slight Cheep Cheep and grew louder and more intense. I turned the corner into what used to be my sunroom and saw it was now taken over by baby cheeping something. Apparently while I was in Princeton brainstorming, my husband thought it might be a great idea to not only get my chicken run but to also get 10 guinea hen keets ( I just found out tonight that's what they are called)  After all they eat ticks and while I admit I had thought about getting one or two- 10 never crossed my mind.

Needless to say my night was spent calming excited children and getting pooped on for the very first time by a guinea hen keet.  My husband informed me that he didn't really plan on keeping all 10 , he was going to give some  to his friend who has a chicken farm.The problem is how do we decide how many to keep?After reading up on them they apparently are social birds and I'd feel guilty about breaking up the gang.So for now we just add them to our ever growing family.

If you've ever wondered if I am a hick wonder no more because not only did I enjoy this little fowl craziness, my husband informed me while he was purchasing the keets, he also got some fertile guinea hen eggs and fertile turkey eggs for his friend with the chicken farm. Fertile Turkey eggs?  My eyes glazed over and I laugh maniacally -

 Stay tuned for the birth of a Pinelands Turkey!

 

 

 

 

 

More Fun in the Woods

Life down here in the middle of no man's land has been swell. I am getting used to the 14 billion bug bites although I now know that I am not a candidate for Survivor as I would be the first person in the history of the show to be removed due to bug bites. I can hear the conversation now.

" Did you see my daughter on Survivor ? We were so proud of her!" " Oh what did she look like? she was the one removed in the first 10 minutes of the show that was swollen beyond recognition from 1000's bug bites"

I know I know - why don't you use OFF you're thinking? Well I have along with Skin So Soft , Cutter and any other known insecticide made for use on humans (  I have not however tried Raid)  While these wonderful concoctions work for some people , they simply do not for me. It's like adding steak sauce to an already juicy steak. It does not seem to deter the little buggers- they just slurp the stuff off and then bite. My doctor upon examining me just said "welcome to country livin"

So I now try to stay within the realms of my sun porch. Speaking of which I usually go out there at night to read and I have gotten very good at identifying wildlife. Just the other night I heard a strange noise that I immediately identified as the Jersey Devil. I was soo proud of me for being able to identify it that I called Donald out to tell him. He listened , said tree frog, rolled his eyes and went back to watching Home Demolishment or some show like that.

Speaking of which , we are redoing our laundry room. I might have mentioned that before but the project continues.... slowly. Things were looking up last week when my wonderful brother in law came over to help. Hubby and he were working at 7am - they were humming, birds were singing and I took the kids to day camp. When I pulled in an hour later ( yes we live THAT far away from the world) things were not so cheery. I heard grumbling and the distinct sound of a jackhammer. Needless to say my car tried to make a run to Atlantic City at that point but somehow I convinced it to pull in the driveway.

They made some progress on Friday but apparently now we are stuck in some sort of we need permit hell. Apparently because we need pro,we now need an electric permit, a plumbing permit and a blessing from the Pope. From what I understand the blessing is the easy part.

Of course my husband being male and all went down to the construction office to do what every red blooded american male would do in this situation. He made up a story about replacing the stove so we could forgo the plumbing and electrical permits and just get right to the blessing. Turns out good old Bob who used to own our house was a very active member of our community and part of the planning department so everyone in town knows this house ( that is except the garbage men who cant seem to find us until we call AFTER they've picked everyone's garbage but ours and complain ). SOOOO now we have to wait a few days , hubby has to return to building department - say he is married to crazy person who now wants a propane dryer in addition to the propone stove he told them about. So we'll have to start the process of getting the plumbing permit, the electrical permit and the pope blessing anyway. Estimated time for installation March 2009 - stay tuned.

As a side note- Henrietta is home. She was caught in her cute chicken trap on Sunday of this past week. My father being the ever helpful person that he is , volunteered to build  me a chicken coop- he even took my son with him.An hour later - I was impressed - he pulled up with a perfect rabbit hutch that he bought and handed me the bill for.  apparently he overestimated how much fun it would be to build a chicken coop in 95 degree weather. Henrietta is here but not happy as she feels the hutch is demeaning and would like a bigger area. If anyone knows of anyone with a spare coop on their hands or even a dog run , please let us know. We want a happy chicken!