If anyone would have asked me 10 years ago what I'd be doing when I was 39 - candling eggs was not an answer that would have popped into my head in any instance. Yet here I am - living in the Pinelands somewhere in proximity of the Jersey Devil - and up until Thursday of last week- I was candling eggs. Now for you city folk who don't know about candling let me go back a few months. By now everyone knows we have chickens - well at Christmas I thought a really cool present for Donald would be an incubator- you know so we could do something with the kids- an activity if you will. I know I know most families turn to board games- but hey we live in the Pine Barrens- things are different. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. Spring was here and I started looking for eggs to hatch - I called a lady with eggs advertising on Craigslist ( yes that IS how we get livestock down here- unless you count the livestock auction that they hold every Sat that is lees than 4 miles ) and she said she had hatching eggs AND Guinea hen. Since we have a lone guinea hen , we had decided that he should have friends- so I called her and ordered a dozen hatching eggs and 5 guinea hen.
As Shearer luck would have it the guineas were delayed and since kids and I were all ready for babies- I asked her to bring some chicks so she brought 5 chicks and 22 eggs. She wasn't sure the hatching eggs were good so she gave me extra.So we set up 5 baby chicks on the back porch and 22 eggs in the incubator. Eggs are supposed to hatch at 21 days and during incubation you are supposed to "candle" the eggs. Candling is a way of holding up a light so you can see if a baby is growing in egg. Donald and I have never done this and are by no means experts but for about two weeks we did "candling demonstrations" for family and friends and by what we could guess- it looked like 2o eggs were fertile.wow lots of chickens.
A week after we got the first baby chicks- the guinea hen keets arrived- 5 so now we had 10 babies in our back porch. While all this was going on- I decided that my kids needed to be involved in 4H. 4H does teach about far stuff but it also teaches leadership, public speaking, community service and a host of other positive things. As luck would have it - there are no small animal clubs ( only horse clubs) in my area so I did what any crazy woman would do- I volunteered to be a leader- The Piney Poultry and Pets club will be having their inaugural meeting in June. I hadn't even finished filling out the 4H paperwork when the headquarters called and asked if I could "rescue" two baby chicks. Apparently a teenager - despondent over the loss of her beloved cat decided to bring home two chicks - unfortunately she lives in a NO CHICKEN development and the mother didn't know what to do. I happened to be going a mile away for a networking meeting that night so - yes I brought home 2 more chicks.
Eggs in the incubator went into lock down Wed night and we waited. I know now why I never had natural childbirth - I'm a wreck - Chicks started hatching Saturday and I haven't slept right since _ keep checking on the progress and worrying . At this time we have 8 chicks that have hatched and 1 more that has pipped- ( started to hatch ) Maybe by the weekend eggs will be done and I can get some sleep.
The guinea hen will eventually be released to free range on property to eat ticks. We can't tell the sex of the chicks as of yet but in any case I won't let Donald kill them so it seems we'll have plenty of eggs and probably a built in alarm clock or two - COCK A DOODLE DOO
PS- For any of you who have heard rumors about me kissing a pig at this year's Farm Fair - it simply is not true- Yes we do have a fundraiser whereby people donate money and the person with the most winnings kisses a pig- the nice people at the 4H have take pity on me and said I do not have to participate - next year will be my turn - SOOEY!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
On the road with JMS
I was reading an article by Brian Tracy ( American author/sales coach) which says " Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when trying something new" I'm pretty sure I accomplished that today.
I'm sitting here writing my blog this evening from the Marriott which happens to be located in level 1 of hell a.k.a. Queens. I really never was a big fan of NY and now after visiting Yonkers ( where my GPS said - " You have Reached your destination and I looked around and said I don't think so")this afternoon and staying in Queens, I know why. I'll take Trenton any day over being here.
Now for anyone who has served in the military or been to 3rd world countries, I am sure there are worse places someone could be but they are reserved for the lower levels of hell. Level 1 I have found out boasts Queens and probably some other fine places such as Camden.
I am here visiting contractors. Contractors who might I add I want to say"WTF- you couldn't afford to be anywhere but here?!" But as a professional I wont be allowed to say that tomorrow in my meetings. The best I can do is "My what a unique location you have and so close to areas that need to be rebuilt - how convenient!"
I do believe I'm safe for the evening in the Fairfield Inn by Marriott LaGuardia. The hotel itself is clean and neat although it has 86 rooms and only 12 or so parking spaces that I can count. Lord knows what happens if car # 25 pulls in. If I waked up in the morning and my mini van is in pieces I'll know it wasn't theft - just some poor soul trying to find a parking spot.
My room is on the second floor and has a scenic view of the United Rentals storage yard. From here I can see lots of lifts and tow trucks parked for the evening. The wailing sirens and the plans roaring overhead add to the ambiance. I'm sure when I awaken to snow on the ground tomorrow - it will be even more picturesque
On the way here I passed what I believe to be all the illegal oriental aliens that are in the US- if the government is looking for them - they have set up shop in Flushing. These weren't the nice oriental people that give you tea either - it's the other ones- you know the bad guys in Jackie Chan movies? I found them.
After I got to the hotel and found my room, I decided to go for a drive in the other direction ( away from Little China) and find something to eat. I found a small shopping center with an Avenue store, a Dunkin Donuts,a cute little diner like place called Uncle Bills, assorted other stores and more litter in the parking lot then you'd find on the ground after New Year's Eve in Times Square. I decided to check out the Avenue store and you know what? Apparently here they don't work. I know this because they didn't have one scrap of anything that resembled work attire in the store. They had I'm hanging with my homeys attire, I'm lazy and don't want to get out of bed attire and the Hoootchie mama dont I look good in my size 32 shirts attire. After perusing the Avenue, I headed over to Uncle Bills and grabbed dinner before darkness came ( I'm thinking I'd rather be in Transylvania on the street at night than here on the street at night).
The place was small and cozy and gave the customers a lovely view of the parking lot. While I was trying to order my dinner ( with all intentions of stopping at D&D for a coffee with Splenda afterward- in case your following my diet adventures) a young white couple left the diner without getting their food. Apparently the male of the couple was angry - because upon exiting he shoved the female into a car . A screaming match then ensued and for the next 20 minutes we watched as they fought - he slammed her into cars, including slamming the drivers door into her rib cage- which I 'm assuming broke a few ribs. S.he of course swung once but mostly covered her face while she kept yelling
We couldnt hear the dialogue but every now and then you'd see his mouth form an F to start a word and you got a good idea he wasn't happy. While the abuse was going on - someone in the place suggested calling the police and the owner of diner said- "Nah it's not in here". A police car did drive through the parking lot at that point but apparently they either stopped fighting as he went through or she wasn't screaming loud enough and it kept going - probably to Dunkin Donuts.
At that point I realized that my life has changed and instead of getting involved like I would have years ago, I kept saying to myself "look dumb white jersey girl- you've got a family to think of - don't get shot". I repeated that in my head several times and then I finally asked for the remainder of my dinner to go and headed back without my coffee to the sanctity of the Fairfield Inn by Marriott LaGuardia.
So it's here in the hotel I sit now - coffee-less but alive thinking "Yes I'm pretty sure I stretched outside my comfort zone."
I'm sitting here writing my blog this evening from the Marriott which happens to be located in level 1 of hell a.k.a. Queens. I really never was a big fan of NY and now after visiting Yonkers ( where my GPS said - " You have Reached your destination and I looked around and said I don't think so")this afternoon and staying in Queens, I know why. I'll take Trenton any day over being here.
Now for anyone who has served in the military or been to 3rd world countries, I am sure there are worse places someone could be but they are reserved for the lower levels of hell. Level 1 I have found out boasts Queens and probably some other fine places such as Camden.
I am here visiting contractors. Contractors who might I add I want to say"WTF- you couldn't afford to be anywhere but here?!" But as a professional I wont be allowed to say that tomorrow in my meetings. The best I can do is "My what a unique location you have and so close to areas that need to be rebuilt - how convenient!"
I do believe I'm safe for the evening in the Fairfield Inn by Marriott LaGuardia. The hotel itself is clean and neat although it has 86 rooms and only 12 or so parking spaces that I can count. Lord knows what happens if car # 25 pulls in. If I waked up in the morning and my mini van is in pieces I'll know it wasn't theft - just some poor soul trying to find a parking spot.
My room is on the second floor and has a scenic view of the United Rentals storage yard. From here I can see lots of lifts and tow trucks parked for the evening. The wailing sirens and the plans roaring overhead add to the ambiance. I'm sure when I awaken to snow on the ground tomorrow - it will be even more picturesque
On the way here I passed what I believe to be all the illegal oriental aliens that are in the US- if the government is looking for them - they have set up shop in Flushing. These weren't the nice oriental people that give you tea either - it's the other ones- you know the bad guys in Jackie Chan movies? I found them.
After I got to the hotel and found my room, I decided to go for a drive in the other direction ( away from Little China) and find something to eat. I found a small shopping center with an Avenue store, a Dunkin Donuts,a cute little diner like place called Uncle Bills, assorted other stores and more litter in the parking lot then you'd find on the ground after New Year's Eve in Times Square. I decided to check out the Avenue store and you know what? Apparently here they don't work. I know this because they didn't have one scrap of anything that resembled work attire in the store. They had I'm hanging with my homeys attire, I'm lazy and don't want to get out of bed attire and the Hoootchie mama dont I look good in my size 32 shirts attire. After perusing the Avenue, I headed over to Uncle Bills and grabbed dinner before darkness came ( I'm thinking I'd rather be in Transylvania on the street at night than here on the street at night).
The place was small and cozy and gave the customers a lovely view of the parking lot. While I was trying to order my dinner ( with all intentions of stopping at D&D for a coffee with Splenda afterward- in case your following my diet adventures) a young white couple left the diner without getting their food. Apparently the male of the couple was angry - because upon exiting he shoved the female into a car . A screaming match then ensued and for the next 20 minutes we watched as they fought - he slammed her into cars, including slamming the drivers door into her rib cage- which I 'm assuming broke a few ribs. S.he of course swung once but mostly covered her face while she kept yelling
We couldnt hear the dialogue but every now and then you'd see his mouth form an F to start a word and you got a good idea he wasn't happy. While the abuse was going on - someone in the place suggested calling the police and the owner of diner said- "Nah it's not in here". A police car did drive through the parking lot at that point but apparently they either stopped fighting as he went through or she wasn't screaming loud enough and it kept going - probably to Dunkin Donuts.
At that point I realized that my life has changed and instead of getting involved like I would have years ago, I kept saying to myself "look dumb white jersey girl- you've got a family to think of - don't get shot". I repeated that in my head several times and then I finally asked for the remainder of my dinner to go and headed back without my coffee to the sanctity of the Fairfield Inn by Marriott LaGuardia.
So it's here in the hotel I sit now - coffee-less but alive thinking "Yes I'm pretty sure I stretched outside my comfort zone."
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