February 24, 2006


This is Napoleon. Isn't he beautiful? He knows it too...Or did until Vader (that innocent looking Lab puppy from a few posts back) got a hold of him. Now he looks like that! I'm sure he knows he isn't quite as pretty any more. The poor thing. Vader is doing penance by staying confined to the dog pen until he learns good poultry manners. I'm sure he'll get the drift, Chickens are not chew toys!













Last night I was sitting up with Aurora so she'd fall back to sleep when Husband came in from work. He said the third and last sow was having her piglets. My first reaction was an expletive of which I'm not proud and promptly had to ask forgiveness. My second thought was, "No one's going to sleep tonight. It's a good thing I went to bed at 9 pm." My third thought was, "Why can't these stinking things give birth during the day?" (These thoughts were all behind the initial expletive.)

Husband said that since it wasn't as cold last night he'd clean them up and give them their shots in the farrowing house instead of in the laundry room. I was so thankful! Nothing disturbs the sweetness of a deep slumber quite like the squeal of a stuck piglet! (Sorry, no pictures yet. I wasn't in the mood to wade through 8 inches of mud and fight off a momma pig to get one.)

He was done and back in the house around 3 am which was a great improvement from his 5 am finish last Saturday. We ended up with 2 gilts (a third was still born) and 10 boars. I took both the boys to town with me so he could sleep in this morning. I'm not sure if Aurora let him, but he didn't go out to do his chores until after 10.

I made a few exciting purchases in town today. I got myself a new wallet. The grown up kind! The one I had was a little blue thing with a kind of 1950's print and a detachable coin purse. It was too small and pretty dirty from being pitched out of the shopping cart repeatedly. The new one is Burgundy leather (or at least pretending to be leather) with contrasting white stitching. It came complete with a calculator, a key ring that clips inside, an agenda/address book, and places for pictures, credit cards, insurance cards, coupons, cash, and change. Now if only I could graduate from diaper bag to hand bag. What's really strange is how excited I am about a $7 wallet! It even has a loop to keep your pen in!

I also picked up a puppy proof toy box for the living room. I don't use real toy boxes. They're never big enough and too expensive. I'm a big fan of Rubbermaid and Sterlite totes. The one we had in here was a little one that worked more like the bottom of the toy pile than an actual containment device. Aurora could simply reach down and picked out a toy to eat. My new one is a beautiful soft mossy green with contrasting spring green lid latches. It has a lid! And latches! Now if only my children will use it. I'm not holding my breath, but momentarily the living room looks like we have one very neat child instead of 3 walking hurricanes!


Incidentally, our Wal-Mart is being renovated and I can never find what I'm looking for. They do have new shopping carts with places to seat two children (which I love). They also have those new little check-outs with no space to put your purchases and the turn style baggers. This means I not only have to wrestle with 2 children & put a weeks worth of groceries on 4 square feet of space, I also have to load it all back into my cart before all the other stuff is out! This I do not love.

7 comments:

Dana Glover said...

I just found a solution to the torture called grocery shopping with two children -- online shopping with Harris Teeter! They basically have everything in their store online (even the sales items) and you click your items, choose a pick-up time and pay. I drove up, pushed a button, said my name and they brought out my groceries and loaded them into my car. I saved money, time and sanity! They only charge 4.95 as a service fee (your first time is free). My "personal shopper" did an excellent job -- even with the produce and expiration dates! My mom wants to use the service but she is embarassed to do so because she doesn't have the kids to use an excuse. :)
Congrats on your new purchases. I've needed a new purse for a year now, but can't bring myself to buy a new one.

Have a good weekend.

Ragged Around the Edges said...

Oooooh, new pigs, new wallet, new toy tote. I'd be happy too!

FarmWife said...

Harris Teeter- that's one of them fancy grocery stores ain't it. We don't have them nice thing 'round here, just Wal-Mart's and lil' old markets! Besides, if I shopped on line, I may never get out of the house again! :)

Dana Glover said...

Yeah -- HT is one of the few luxuries we have around here (about 13 miles away). Don't worry though, the boys and I still make regular trips to Target as a form of entertainment.

Farm Fairy & Bruno said...

That poor rooster...shopping fixes everything..I think...

Did said...

Wow - I have about 15 purses. Granted, they're all gifts or cheap vintage store finds. And, having no little ones to tote around means that I don't have to have practical bags. I do have only one wallet, and it's terribly boring.

Ramblin73 said...

Hope your chickens fare better than ours did. Several years ago we lived in the country and had 40-50 chickens, and 3 hunting dogs. We left for the weekend to return to a massacre. The dogs got out and killed 10-15 chickens. My Dad says that once they start chasing chickens it is hard if not impossible to get them to stop. Can't trust them after that.