.
.
I went over to visit my friend’s mini-horse again. She needed me to do a petsitting visit two days in a row, so I got there early so I could spend some time with her horses. She told me where to find the brushes, and I went back and gave the little girl a good brush all over. She seemed to like it just fine, especially her withers – that made her make a funny face and wiggle her lips 🙂

The next day I got there later, did my petsitting chores, and went back and talked to the pony and gave her a bit of a scratch, but it was getting dark so I had to go. She usually just watches me walk away, but this time she followed me to the gate, then stood there giving me sad eyes. So I went and got a brush and she stood perfectly still in the paddock while I brushed her all over – she really liked it! But then it was really dark and starting to rain so I told her good night and went to put the brushes away while she wandered back to her stall. What a nice little horse! I’m so glad my friend said I was welcome to come by anytime and get a mini-horse fix!

_

After a year of mostly ‘famine’, it’s nice to have a little ‘feast’…

There’s the rest of them. We were waiting for boxes to be delivered to pack up the stacks of ships waiting to go out. We’re getting about 85-100 orders a day through Amazon. We work until late at night, and get up early and work some more. Yay for Christmas-Time!

_

_

I returned the egg trays to the incubator (they have been out of it since we brought it home) and suddenly the remaining spare parts all made sense.

I have determined that the timer is not working, though I have located a replacement for about $100 – as soon as I have that kind of money to spend on this little project. I can still push the on/off button to make the drum rotate. So here’s a demonstration:

Yesterday I finally finished putting new casters on the bottom of the incubator (the old ones were rusty and broken). I dug around in my spare parts drawer and found a set of heavy casters that were perfect for it. Now that it was mobile I could roll it around. Dave’s only request was that I not plug it in for the first time in the garage, it needed to be out in the driveway so if it burst into flames it wouldn’t burn down the garage.

It was a beautiful day today, so I went ahead and wired the new cord into the fusebox (the old one looked like it had been mowed over and cut off). I rolled it out in to the driveway and hesitantly plugged it in. The fan came to life inside the drum. The light came on as the heater warmed up. Finally I threw the switch for the drum motor, and the whole thing slowly hummed as it tilted forward! It works!

Take a bow – giant drum!

I’m overjoyed to see the fan, heater, and motor working. Now I just need to replace the weatherstripping and see if the thermostat is working to hold a temperature, and if the timer works to rotate the drum back and forth. If it can hold a steady temp and humidity, and handle turning the drum, then I’ll get some fertile eggs and give it a try.

Update: the timer seems to be DOA – but it’s made by a company that is still in business and sells the exact same unit, so I might be able to get a new one to just swap in, or get the old one fixed. I have a call in.

_

This view from a different maps site shows a better angle for viewing the back yard/pasture area.

The blue lines are the property lines. The red outline on the left is the ‘front field’, and the bare square of dirt in that field is where I had a friend plow it with their tractor to try and have a garden, which didn’t work out because the ground was soft and rocky, the plants didn’t grow well, the weeds invaded, and I ended up abandoning that plan. However, I still think this area might make a nice winter pasture for a few small animals, like some goats or sheep. This picture was taken several years ago, and the trees in the front field are much bigger now.

The red outline on the right is what we call the backyard, or the back field. It’s a nice little pasture, and the goats were quite happy there for the winter a couple years ago, though it was hard to get food to them without having to tramp downhill through the slippery mud. The shed on the top right of that area is the hay shed, which is the backside of the chicken coop, and it was a nice shelter for the goats that one winter.

When I look at it like this it sure looks like a lot of space!

_

Google has updated the satellite view of our house. For a long time it was frozen in time with the shop half-finished.

Now it is complete, and the little pasture shelter we built a couple years ago is visible. So is a chicken tractor in the side yard, and my yellow wheelbarrow just outside the back fence. My yellow mustang project car is in the driveway, though surprisingly enough the two ‘regular’ cars are not. The doors are open on the chicken house at the top of the picture. It must have been a hot day! Mid-summer, I’d guess, from the yellow grass in the yard and pasture.

As you can see, our property is mostly pasture. If only I could figure out how to make it earn it’s keep. I love my little wanna-be farm!

Night before last I moved the chicks to the big coop, sneaking them in at night and putting them on the roosts with the big hens. The next morning when I checked on them the big hens were all out in the yard, and the babies were still in the coop. By afternoon they had gotten brave enough to go out in the yard too, and I saw them running around enjoying the grass and their new freedom. It’s so nice to see them out of the tractor finally!

So last night I went out to check on them around 11pm, and there were no babies in the coop, just the big hens. I got a flashlight and went out in teh yard and found them all hunkered down next to the fence. So I picked them up two at a time and gently put them in through the chicken door to the coop. I had left a light on in the coop, and they slowly made their way in and found a spot on the roost.

When I had all seven in there, I went back around to the other side of the coop and watched until everyone was on a roost. Some of them went all the way to the top roost and squeezed in with the big chickens, and got a few pecks on the head for their trouble. But pretty soon everyone was settled in together, big and little all on the same roosts. So I turned off the light and went to bed.

This morning first thing I saw was the chicks back out in the yard, running around, flapping, and chasing each other. What fun! I love to see happy chickens!

Today I made Milk Jam, or Dulce de Lech. It’s very easy. You take a quart of milk, some sugar, some vanilla, and a bit of baking soda, and then, over the next few hours, reduce it to a thick, caramel-like sauce.

I have not had any success the few times I’ve tried to make caramel, but this has worked every time. Only trick is the recipe says you’ll get one cup, and I got exactly two cups. I can’t imagine boiling it down any thicker than I did. 

We made a spontaneous afternoon trip to Ridgefield this afternoon. It was so hot though, there wasn’t as much to see as last time. The birds were definitly either elsewhere, or laying low.

This is my favorite shot, it would have been perfect if the blades of grass hadn’t got in the way on the left.

I’m also not too happy with the grainy-ness of my pictures, since almost all the pictures were taken at max zoom. Since they are grainy already, when you crop them it’s even worse. But we got some nice shots, and it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.