December 30, 2022 - Day 29

FRIDAY!

Buckle up for another boring post about the day...

Today was all about running around and shopping for food, for us and for the critters. 

The morning I made a trip to WinCo, hoping that by the time I was done that maybe the Azure Standard truck had arrived at the drop location. Nope. So off to home I went to wait. Since the feed warehouse doesn't open until 1pm I decided to just wait until my Azure order was ready for pick up. 

By the time 2 o'clock rolled around I decided to check the Azure Standard website... A HA! It was delivered a the regular time and the drop coordinator hadn't sent out the notifications yet. So off I went. First to Leolog to pick up scratch and mealworms - princess duck loves her mealworms. Then off to Edible Acres for my Azure order. I order several grain items to create my own chicken feed for the poultry. That box was on the heavy side and it took all of my strength and balance to first pick the box up off the floor...then try to open my car door to plop it in the back of my car. My wrist...well, I didn't damage it any more than usual I guess. THEN finally to Pioneer Feed for more food for the hogs. I'm so smart, I was there earlier in the week and picked up a couple of bags of pig chow and a bag of Alfalfa pellets for the bins in the garage. When I got home and was wrestling the bags out of my car and hauling them into the garage I was starting to get a little tired and not thinking straight. I opened the bagged WITHOUT positioning it at the top of the open bin...all of a sudden I had pellets pouring out onto the floor! That woke me up! I think I probably spilled out about 10 pounds of the pellets on the floor before getting lifting the bag up. Maybe less...I don't know. I took the time to scoop up a bunch by hand and putting it into the bin. 

I was pretty much over it by that time. I think I fed the swine dry food that day. Anyway, another day of running around done. 

A couple of days ago it occurred to me that we didn't get out to look at the neighborhood Christmas lights - thanks to the ice storm last week. So we went for a drive after dinner...

December 29, 2022 - Day 28

As we continue to move toward the new year, I am still in limbo. Not wanting to start something new and still creating a new routine. 

The day went pretty well yesterday until evening chores. Pretty much all the hens and our turkeys went into their houses because they were ready. And hungry. The ducks were compliant as well. However, Joody's babies decided to be super stupid and did not want to go into their shelter or the chick shaw. I chased them around for a while, getting more and more irritated with them. Then I decided to just lay off for a little while and take care of other tasks until it got dark enough for those two ding-dongs to go into any house.

As I observed them before I got them locked in I noticed that they REALLY wanted to go with the hennies. So after I finished up getting the pig food prepped for Friday morning I tried one more time to get them to go in. All of the hens were already on their roosting bars and settled in for a quiet night. That allowed me to open the door enough for the Aquila and Priscilla to go in. It only took one trip around the chicken tractor and they ran into the coop. Since I didn't see Priscilla go in I had to shine the light into the coop to see if she happened to slip in, she did. I continued to observe them for another minute or so to see what the hens would do.

Priscilla hopped up on a roosting bar, but after another moment or so she was back down again. She and Aquila were trying to find their place among the "big" kids and they were being picked on a little bit. They have to learn where they fit in sometime. They may have grown up around the hens, but becoming part of the flock is a process. We'll see how long this takes. 

I'm planning to list Aquila on craigslist in a few weeks. He really needs his own flock. 

December 28, 2022 - Day 27

The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's is rough. For me anyway. It occurred to me this morning that I miss having a routine. A good solid routine. 

The problem with the Holiday season with the short weeks and days off for Tom from his new job, my routine gets messed up. I am a creature of habit and I like to do things when they need to be done or when they make sense to me. This holiday season has been a little different because I had to jump into a new routine during National Collection Week. Just when I thought I was doing okay, bam, another three day weekend or whatever. 

So, while I was out doing chores, I was confused as to what day it was...Tuesday? Wednesday? Well, it was Wednesday because it's restock day at the Food Pantry and there were "snacks" for the piggies to be picked up.

During this crazy time with the holidays and the not so typical PNW weather I've been a little out of sorts. I've had some feelings of depression. That might just be my own doing though. I'm also an introvert. If I get asked to do something that is totally outside of the norm (depending on who is asking) then I have to think about it. When I agree I will obsess over the something until it's time to show up or whatever. This has only become a thing in the last couple of years. 

Ever since retiring, I'm pretty happy being at home, only leaving the house if I absolutely have to. Also, For a time, Tom was home most of the time. He had times of doing his handyman services or working. Since I retired his current job is the second engineering position. The first one was a not well thought out position that frustrated him more than anything. In the end the job didn't last long, we were okay with that. While Tom has a solid purpose working for a pretty good company I'm left to figure out what I will do with my days. Apart from the holidays and church related activities. 

The point is - I've been feeling a little lost. So, as we move out of 2022 and into 2023 I am hoping to make a change in my daily routine and add some physical activity - away from the house. Like walking and when I'm feeling stronger, running. Also, I plan to focus my bible reading effort by studying a specific book. The first one being the book of Philippians. I'll be going to a Warren Wiersbe book called Be Joyful. These are two things that I can accomplish in addition to my daily activities around the farm. I'll need to leave time for other activities such as the Food Pantry and other church related events. 

What did my Day 27 look like? Well, not a whole lot, I decided to be a little lazy. Didn't leave the house to do anything until around 3:30. I had a trip to the Food Pantry and then off to the Chiropractor for a 4pm appointment. My chiropractor moved her practice from the Mt. Vista area to Felida which is only a half mile from our church. Anyway, I tend to keep my chiro days a little on the light side so I don't mess up my back more than it already is. 

Since I had my chiro appointment at the time I would feed the animals, they got early dinners! Fortunately, I didn't have too many problems with the hens. They all were hungry and were more than happy to be locked in early. 

The boys (except Zeke) were enjoying the lettuce that I brought home from the Food Pantry. 

December 27, 2022 - Day 26

The day after the holiday weekend was a doozy! Kind of like our TV room on Christmas morning.

First lets just start off by saying that the start of winter in the Pacific NW has been "severe." Okay, severe is relative, we don't get the kind of weather that happens in the Northeast - tons of snow, but what we get happens so seldom that we PNW people don't know how to handle what little we get. 

Starting on Thursday it was super cold, it stayed in the 20s for most of the day and for fun, it started to rain that evening. So, cold + rain = Freezing Rain. I'm sure that there is a better explanation for freezing rain, but here is my estimation. I'm no meteorologist you know :D Friday morning there was a thin layer of ice covering most surfaces. It wasn't terrible though. It was okay enough for Tom to make it to work. I on the other hand did not leave the house - there was no reason for me to go out. Not long after Tom left, he was back home again. The powers that be at Otak decided to send employees home due to the weather - with pay! So bonus day off for Tom. It rained off and on throughout Friday and a little bit into Saturday. The good thing is that I didn't have to take care of the critters! Tom, however, had his turn taking care of them during the icy periods. Christmas was good, everything pretty much thawed out and we were back in business. Monday weather was good, nothing spectacular. Tuesday was TERRIBLE! 

It started to get a little windy Monday and only got worse! We had HUUUGE gusts Tuesday. The duck house was blown over, part of the roof on the chicken tractor came off and one of the doors on the big shed blew off the building and into the girls paddock. I didn't notice that until I went to give them food in the evening :(

Oh, and to make matters even more interesting - the power went out late morning and wasn't restored until nearly 4pm. 

I was already having a hard time with the pigs, so all of these things just sent me over the edge. It seems that I'm not able to handle the surprising things in addition to the annoying things. 

Carl on Christmas

Our typical weather day here in SW Washington is basically rain. LOTS of rain. Always raining. The amount of rain varies. A little, some showers or all out downpours. I'll take rain over wind any day of the week. 

So, my outside activities will depend on what the weather. Mostly how much mud will dictate how much I do outside. It's just a mud fest here every winter and I get tired of mucking around all the time. It is more than just mud, we have to add the pig poo in there also. The pigs poop where ever they are standing! So, there are land mines everywhere! Hosing the driveway is a daily thing, depending who you are. I do not like seeing any kind of poo on the driveway...not that the driveway is that great, but still, there are spots that are decent that we don't need poo.

Anyway, the weekend was relaxing for the most part. Christmas morning was fairly cold and we ended up bringing gifts into the TV room to exchange/open rather than in front of the fireplace in the Living room. Since the driveway was icy thru Christmas eve, it was a bit treacherous to go and try to get firewood from the pile. It would have needed to be split too, so that would have added an extra layer of unsafe-ness. 

ALSO - we went to worship Sunday morning! So, going to church made it feel less like Christmas and more like a regular Sunday.

Overall the weekend was pretty good. Weekends and weekdays are all the same to me, except I get the weekends off from taking care of the critters. AND when there's a three day weekend I get an extra day off :D

So, we are heading back into business as usual here at Windswept Farm!

December 22, 2022 - Day 25

Today I had my Good Friend Christmas gift exchange and coffee date. 

Every year for many years I have been meeting up with a couple of friends, really good friends, like 20+ years friends to exchange gifts. It took a while before we decided to go out for coffee - and it's been a lot of years before we could do this during the day. This year friend #3 retired, so it was a morning coffee date! This works for me, since I end up waking up so early most days and go to bed early most of the time. So, we met up at Latte Da in Vancouver and spent an hour or so catching up and drinking coffee and enjoying good fellowship. We met up early instead of at lunch which is what sounded like fun to me. Newly retired friend wanted to get a head start on her travel to Southern Oregon for Christmas with her folks and there was a severe weather storm in the forecast. We drank our coffee, opened our gifts and then went our separate ways. 

On my way home I dropped by WinCo to get some treats for the pigs. I scored by finding a 25 pound bag of juicing carrots and some cheap apples. Normally I would look for organic produce, but it's Christmas and I wanted to just grab whatever was available and get the heck out of there. The church food pantry had bags of baby carrots so I grabbed a bag and did a little extra "shopping" and then went home. 

This was the extent of my exciting day - nothing terribly exciting - except my Good Friend Christmas.

This will be the last post until next Monday. I'm going to give myself a break this weekend and enjoy the holiday weekend. 

Merry Christmas! See you next week...

December 21, 2022 - Day 24

It's Winter! 

To celebrate the first day of winter, everyone went crazy preparing for the Severe Winter Storm due to arrive here Thursday evening. I made a trip to Freddy's just to drive through the Jam-Packed parking lot. I figured that if there were that many cars in the parking lot, the store had to be packed!

So the next best thing was to go to Walgreens. I just needed a couple of items from the pharmacy area anyway. I didn't need to be around so many people! My big mistake was to try to go anywhere in the late morning. The only reason I did that was so that I wouldn't be lazing around the house until my appointment with the chiropractor at 1245. 

After I did my running around I arrived back home by 1:30 and continued to be lazy. My motivation level was very low and I was feeling a little down I guess. I think all this holiday stuff is kind of getting to me. Part of me just wants Christmas to be done and over with. Just need to get through the new year and then I can really get back to business as usual. 

As it is right now, it is cold out! With the Severe Weather storm coming our way, things are a bit on the crazy side. Prepping for a day of icy weather on top of Christmas coming this weekend. Oh yeah, that sounds like fun! I'm just happy that I don't need to go anywhere again after my gift exchange with my besties on Thursday. Plus Tom will be home on Friday for the holiday. 

So, I'm waiting for life to move on so I can get back to my real purpose on the farm. Right now I'm thinking of piglets! I am 99.9% sure that Big Momma Fiona is preggers!

I should post daily photos to see a progression as we move into the new year and beyond. My hope is that she and Rex got the deed done within the last month. She was in heat when they first were put together in their space, So I'm hoping that Rex did his thing. This will be the first time in the last couple of years that we have actually taken a part in planning when to breed the sows. Big Momma & Big Daddy offspring are suitable as breeding stock, so I wanted to get her bred first. Big Daddy & Little Momma piglets are generally for feeders. I don't believe that anyone has purchased any of Bridgee's babies for breeding purposes. Anyway, I was thinking of switching out Fiona and Bridgette after this weekend, but I'm going to observe them for the next week and make wait until the New Year to make the switch-a-roo.

December 20, 2022 - Day 23

While I thought I might go run an errand today I decided to spend the day doing chores around the house. Tom's laundry was overflowing in the bathroom hamper and it's something that irritates me. However, he did take a bunch to the basement. That helped out as the hamper drawer was closed. That's just a pet peeve of mine. So, for the majority of the day I was getting laundry done. Not very exciting, but it needs to be done sometime. 

Later in the day I decided to do some more work on the brambles on the big shed...

My goal is to actually clear the way to get inside the shed every now and then. There are so many vines, I'm not sure what it will take to keep these vines under control. I don't want to use chemicals to keep these from growing, the fact is they grow everywhere here! I don't mind that they are along the road at the front of our property. Somehow we have been able to keep them somewhat contained there.

Anyway, not much interesting happening right now. Just waiting to get past the holiday season. I love Christmas, but as I get older I'm not as interested in the holidays. We don't spend time with family because there aren't many family members that we enjoy to be with. So, we do our own thing. Usually cinnamon rolls for breakfast (which this year I plan to make my own) and we just relax all day long, like be truly lazy. The only thing we really have to do is take care of the pigs 'n poultry. This year I want to get some treats for the piggies, some fruit/veggies for fun. They love apples and pears, so if I can find some for cheap I'm gonna bring back a bunch for ALL of the swine. 

Speaking of swine - here's Fiona...

She's looking pretty good. I'm really hoping that she is bred again. I think she might be, but we'll keep them together a few more days before moving her out and getting Little Momma in with him. She's the sweetest girl! I'm looking forward to seeing her with piglets again!

December 19, 2022 - Day 22

Man, Mondays can be hard :(

Mr. Tom ended up having to leave early for work for a start time at a project set for 0700. That kind of changed my morning schedule a little bit. I get comfortable in my daily schedule and on Monday, as most days, I start with feeding the critters. However, since it was still very dark when Tom left I decided to work on the offering from Sunday morning. Sometimes working on the offering so early in the morning is not a good idea. Sometimes, things don't add up or I enter something incorrectly. Not this time! Since I was able to get the offering report done early, I was able to get going to start my errands earlier than I normally would. Also, the critters were hyped up this afternoon. Carl was just gobbling up a storm, for no apparent reason. He is LOUD! The pigs were especially pushy this afternoon as well.

Anyway, once I got the critters taken care this morning, I got myself ready to leave the house to run errands. Craft Warehouse was one of my stops for the day because I'm planning to crochet a Temperature Blanket in 2023. Over the past couple of weeks I've been reading about Temperature Blankets and how to do them and choosing colors etc. The fact that it's crocheting one row a day, I think it will be doable. Also, I also realize that I may get bored of this and then quit. I don't want to quit, I just want to do as much as possible. Now, I'm not much of a yarn crafter, so I'll be practicing doing single crochet until Jan 1 just to get it down in my head and maybe even build up some muscle memory. I'm looking forward to a new challenge for next year. This year I have been reading through my one year chronological bible. I'm on track to finish reading my bible on December 31. So I'm excited about that!

Later after lunch I got to work outside getting food ready for the critters. Then because I'm tired of all the blackberry vines I decided to get back to work on the giant project of cutting them back. 

This past Saturday I started to work on this mess. So far I have cleared just a teeny part of the brambles. As you can see in the photo the vines are EVERYWHERE! All I have are tiny loppers, which I don't have a photo of right now. So the job is going kind of slow. Although, full size loppers won't make the job go faster. They would help though, I'll be able to cut through the really fat vines. I probably should invest in some protective gear. Some of those vines are waaaay above my head. It seems like those might leave a mark or put an eye out if they were to fall on me. So, cutting brambles will be my life for the foreseeable future. Maybe even for the rest of this 100 days challenge.

Look at this guy, isn't he magnificent? This dude and his partner are from our little Cuckoo Maran hen, Joody. She went broody in June this year and we just couldn't break her broody. So after Esther hatched her baby, we got Joody set up in the garage brooder and gave her four eggs. She hatched these two in July. Now, Esther hatched a roo and we were able to sell him a couple of months ago. Then we hatched a couple of roos in the incubator a year ago and we sold the first one who we named Reba. We REALLY wanted a pullet and not a cockerel. We were able to sell Reba along with a couple of pigs earlier this year. So that left the other Easter Egger roo who is definitely Rafael's son who is now named Little Rafael. Now, what to do with this fella. I don't really want process him for meat, he's just a really nice rooster. He shows no aggression at all unlike the Jersey Giant rooster that we ended up with with our first flock. I would really like him to go to a flock nearby and live out a good life creating his own flock somewhere. 

As we get closer to Christmas, I think my farm activities will be at a minimum as I'll be doing some special cooking this week. We usually enjoy cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, but I have bought Rhodes cinnamon rolls in the past. This year I want to make my own, so I'll be working on that. Also, we each have chosen a meal that we are craving so I'll be making Risotto for Tom one of his favorites. I wanted a big fat steak - so I got a nice Ribeye for dinner this past weekend.

So look forward to more updates from my kitchen escapades in the next few days. 

December 18, 2022 - Day 21

Sunday again! As per usual, Sunday is a down day for me and for Tom if he chooses. However, since I don't do animal chores on the weekend, besides my church responsibility, the day is truly a down day for me. 

This particular Sunday did not end well. When my counting partner and I are done for the morning, that's it. I generally do not accept more checks/cash etc, however I will take the money and place it in my folder for the following week. Well, a person came WITH a blank check and wanted me to take a check and just add it to what had already been received/counted. When I informed them that we were done counting they got all huffy and kept going on and on about how ridiculous it was that they couldn't give me a check. I did not get a chance to say I'll take the check, but it won't be included until next week. They then turned around and walked off and yelled something as they walked away. Probably in an effort to make me feel responsible for them forgetting to get their offering in. Let's just say it was very unbecoming of a faithful follower of Jesus and did not make me feel any better about the morning. Which made it hard for me to keep a loving attitude for the remainder of the day. In fact I felt very let down the whole day. 

For a treat Tom suggested take out from Mar's Cuisine which is located at the Country Store in Felida. This was a welcome suggestion as I wouldn't have to figure out something for dinner. 

Also, the tree on the back deck now is full of Christmas lights. 

So, yeah...a couple of things that make my day less maddening. 

December 17, 2022 - Day 20

Saturday! My day started off a little on the lazy side, but then I had to get to work. The plan was for Mr. Tom to go and do some Christmas shopping in the morning and then we would head to the feed store to pick up more Alfalfa bales as well as some pellets. 

So, while Tom was out I got to work getting the space where we store the bales. Over the past five months the garage has just gotten more and more disgusting! We have two ducks that live in the garage, like where they want. There's straw and alfalfa all over the floor, because those things are not the easiest to move. Whenever we get a flake of hay for the pigs we are constantly leaving behind bits of the hay on the garage floor. So, mix the hay/straw with water and duck poo and mud that's been tracked in and we got a very gross stinky carpet. Enough space to store the alfalfa was cleared and then I went on to the next project. 

Around our big shed we've got all sorts of brambles. All over the logs that have been in our driveway for the past few years. I am not a fan of brambles. They grow everywhere on our property! We currently are not able to get through the doors to the shed without being caught up on those stickery ropes all over the pavement in front of the shed. So I spent an hour or so cutting vines and raking them away from the building. 

While I was working on cutting the brambles Tom arrived home. I think it was around lunch time so we had lunch and then ran a couple of errands. 

Before the day was over put the short string of colored lights on our old Fake Tree that we have had for so many years. As it turns out, the one string wasn't enough to go around the whole tree, so more lights are coming...

This used to be our second inside tree, but we don't have enough room for both trees in the house so I decided to put this one on the deck. Tom found another string of lights that we'll wrap around the tree when the rain has stopped.

December 16, 2022 - Day 19

 My "lazy" streak continues. After taking care of the critters, I decided to go and try to finish up my Christmas shopping. Fortunately I didn't have too many places to go I kept it in the Greater Hazel Dell - Salmon Creek area. Whenever I spend more than a couple of hours away from home I tend to not want to do anything once I get home. 

I don't know why, but I just don't feel motivated once I come home. I usually just do the minimum and call it good. As I did the day earlier this week I sat with the boys on the pavement. 

It's the weekend, so I'll end this here for now.

December 15, 2022 - Day 18

Today was a total day at home. There was a special request for dinner so I had to get to work...

AFTER taking care of the critters. 

Tom mentioned that he wanted Chili Cheese Dogs for dinner. Chili has been on the menu every week for the past several weeks, so I got that down. Had most of the ingredients in the basement pantry, so that would be easy to accomplish. We had some Hebrew National hot dogs and cheese. The only thing that we needed was the buns. As I mentioned before the day was a home day. The next best thing...home made buns.

I got to work in the kitchen using Joshua Weissman's Multipurpose dough recipe. One that I have used in the past, but not recently. It's a bit more involved. It's basically Hokkaido Milk Bread. I'm not sure what the differences are, but his recipe is delicious! In whatever shape you make with it. 

ANYWAY

It didn't occur to me to take photos of the process, but I made a tangzhong (milk, water, flour). Combined in a saucepan and then cooked until it forms a paste. This is added to the flour along with a yeast mixture, whole egg, egg yolk. It is then mixed until it forms a dough, to which three tablespoons of softened butter is added until well combined. 

Blah Blah Blah, if you want to watch it made check out Joshua Weissman's video:

So, this is what I ended up with:

They are shaped pretty much like his, but they could have been baked a little long. No matter though, they are good! Who doesn't love homemade bread?

After the rolls were done I threw together the chili and then went outside to get evening food ready. I decided to spend some time outside with the piggoes. They had a treat of alfalfa pellets and then came over to lay down in the sun. Since I was sitting on the pavement they plopped down near me, or next to me...

These boys are super sweet and just love a good belly rub and a nap in the sun! Ted who is closest to my leg is the bigger of the two brothers. He likes to lean, a lot! So much that he is practically was sitting on my leg at first. Poor little Zeke tries to wedge in, but the brothers weren't going to let him. 

It's nice to spend a few minutes with these goofballs. Shortly after I took the last photo I decided to feed everyone early and get inside to get the kitchen cleaned up and dinner heated up.

No one seemed to mind being fed early.

December 14, 2022 - Day 17

Wednesday!

For some reason I was feeling pretty unmotivated. One might even say a little lazy. Meh, I'm not going to beat myself up and just go with how I feel instead of what I think I should do.

I had called for a chiropractic appointment the other day and was able to get an appointment for 2:45 this afternoon. So, right away I'm feeling pretty excited about the prospect of not being in pain so much of each day. Sometimes all I have to do is just step wrong and then I have a moment of shooting pain in my back.... :(

Once I was at her office and she got to work...I had a lot for her to work on. Everywhere! When she was finished, I tried to be careful with the chores. Most of the time I step wrong on some uneven ground and that's it. The real test would be sleeping. Which I had pain free sleep! 

I have another appointment next week just to make sure. I hope to get one more appointment after that and then starting visiting her once a month to keep things in check.

Enough physical stuff...

In the morning I went out to check on the boys, they were sleeping in their house. I knew that if I stood at the door, one of them would wake up and the moment would be gone, so here is a not so great photo, but it's a photo...

It's hard to tell, but all four of the boys are here sleeping

I'm glad that they are sleeping here, it's so cold this week. They snuggle into the straw and every day they have little pieces of straw stuck in their hair, it's pretty cute! Or they have this look...

As we get closer to the weekend I look forward to having the weekend off from doing the critter chores. That will allow me to do something else instead.

December 13, 2022 - Day 16

Coffee Order delivered!

The dry weather continues, but the fog and clouds hang around for most of the day. When the forecast says no rain, it still can be a little dreary. Oh well, at least we aren't mucking around in the mud. 

It was time to replenish the pig feed so a trip to Pioneer was on my agenda. Also needed to pick up a few items at the grocery store for dinner. I decided to go to WinCo first. Whenever I go to Pioneer all I want to do is go straight home afterwards. We have to go north to go to the feed store and going PAST the exit to home is really hard. So off to get people food first! 

The best time to go to WinCo is the morning, forget the weekends! Since I only got enough food for a couple of meals, I'll need to go out again to pick up a few more items - probably a trip to Grocery Outlet next time.

Then off to Pioneer Feed. It's one of my favorite places. The people are so nice there and I love their store cat. The funny thing about the cat is that it was sitting outside when I drove up and when I was toward the door, it hopped up, meowed and ran in the store as soon as I opened the door! He ran behind the counter and started eating. The other thing about this feed store is that they have a store bird - who can be somewhat loud if he is not being paid attention to.

Other than running errands the day was pretty quiet. I've decided that late fall is really not that great for outdoor activities. I mean I would go out and do something, which I did do a couple of things. I have to be somewhat strategic though. Our White Holland Turkey is LOUD. He gobbles whenever I am outside. I swear he just wants attention, even if it's bad attention. When I get tired of listening to him, especially if I am stand right next to him the hose comes out! He scurries away for about two minutes before coming back and starts screaming again. Doing farm chores can be a challenge. So what is the strategery? I left Carl & Cindy locked in their house for the time I was outside during the morning. It was the most pleasant time outside!

After returning from running errands, I felt a little bad so I finally let them out after I ate lunch. Then all the gobbling started up again....sigh...

Tuesday = Tacos for dinner. Since tacos are easy, I decided that it would become our standard Tuesday night meal. Also, I can do different kinds of tacos each week to make it more interesting. No more thinking about what to do for dinner on Tuesdays!

December 12, 2022 - Day 15

I'm afraid that these posts will start getting a bit boring. However, as a said before, this is my daily diary, so I can remember the things that I have accomplished during the week. Now that I have been posting on the daily, I think that this will be a regular part of my routine. 

Monday was a day of running around and doing my Monday stuff and then some Christmas shopping. When I finally arrived home it was lunch time. So I had my lunch and caught up on the stuff that I normally would do in the morning, tidying up around the house before going out to get the pig food put together. I have to say that the boys were pretty cute yesterday. When I arrived home, Oliver and the brothers were settled in for a nap, two in the garden and one just on the other side of the garden fence. Little Zeke was grazing not far from the one brother who was outside of the fence. 

The pigs find a comfortable spot wherever they go. This week will be a dry weather week with some sunshine. I think the piggies will enjoy laying out in the sun and napping for sure.

December 11, 2022 - Day 14

Ollie and one of the brothers napping in the garden

TWO weeks of being the farm manager! It's been slow going, because it's the holidays and right now I'm doing the minimum to keep things going around here. Also, the weather has been wet, Wet, WET! Nothing unusual for this time of year really. 

So, Sunday is our worship day so right away half of the day is over before it even starts. As a 30+ year member of our church we have gotten to hear many reports from our missionary partners out in the "field." Yesterday we got a "retirement" presentation from one of our missionaries who has served in Macau. This couple has been serving the Chinese people for the past 43 years. It was wonderful to hear from him.

The rest of the day was a down day for me. Although I did do one thing. Cookies, I made cookies. I had some None Such condensed mincemeat on the shelf and found a recipe that looked good....they were good, so we are happy now. Something a little sweet to have after dinner now. 

So, yeah, this was the day. This coming week is going to be a mostly dry, so there might be more outside projects happening! Looking forward to sunshine!

December 10, 2022 - Day 13

The weekend! 

I REALLY look forward to the weekend because I get a break from doing the critter chores. I usually do Saturday morning, but since Friday was so rainy I was over being outside. So I asked for Tom to do the whole weekend :)

The first thing on our agenda was to go to the Battle Ground Wilco store. Tom is wanting a pair of rubber boots and Wilco has a decent selection of boots to choose from. After about a half hour Tom figured out what he wanted. So now I'll have to figure out a time to get out and shop for his Christmas gifts.

Farm project of the day - hauling wood chips to the momma's area. The pigs tend to wreak havoc in their areas. Especially along the fence. Bridgette and Skinny momma must pace more than Rexy & Fiona, their area is terrible! It's just going to get worse, winter hasn't even started! I'm wishing for a less wet winter, but I don't think that will be likely. We have experienced at least three Atmospheric River events in the past couple of months. Not Cool.

My indoor project was baking a loaf of Grocery Store White Bread from Joshua Weissman an unapologetic cookbook...

One of my favorite things is baking bread. It's just so much better than anything we buy at the store. 

Also, made a big ol' pot of chili, another favorite thing to make. I like it because I just do whatever. I get the basics out, but then add this and that to make it a little different every time. That will last us another couple of meals.

I might be retired, but I still look forward to the weekend!

December 9, 2022 - Day 12

The week has been long, but then short at the same time. This particular day it felt long. It rained virtually all day long. There were a couple of moments when the rain slowed to a shower. That's when I took my trip to my local Azure Standard drop location to pick up my order. 

The rest of the day was spent getting the Living Room back in order, which it is with a couple of things that need to be stored away. So that gives me a sense of accomplishment. Now I can focus on doing the other things that I have set aside for the past month. 

Basically everything that I enjoy doing - baking, sewing...reading, had to be set aside during National Collection Week, Thanksgiving week and Tom being home, decorating for Christmas. The holidays really mess me up. Even when I was working the Thanksgiving/Christmas was just too busy.

Let's see how the rest of the year goes, twenty-one days of 2022 left. Then a brand new year!

December 8, 2022 - Day 11

Ted fresh from a nap!

Another day at home, no shower or anything. The focus was on getting the Christmas tree decorated and try getting things tidied up. Mission almost accomplished. The tree is all glitzed up, but the living room still needs help. I spent so much time indoors that I didn't see the critters again until I went out in the evening to feed them their evening ration. 

The weather is really starting to get to me. The gray skies never really affected me until this year. While I was working I was in a nice bright office and didn't really care about the outdoors until it was time for lunch or quitting time. I mean really, during the winter months, I was leaving home while it was dark and going home when it was dark. It's just the way it was. Now I'm sitting around and the gray feels so depressing at times. 

The weather for cast for next week looks VERY GOOD! Starting on Monday the forecast shows little rain and several days of sun balls with some clouds. Just what I need! This will allow me to go outside and do some "fun" stuff. I might work myself silly. 

Before I can look ahead to the dry days, I still have to feed the pigs 'n poultry a couple of more times before I get a break. 

The Pay Sucks

 

On one of my weekly trips to the bank for my church responsibility I was chatting with the Bank Teller. She had asked me how my week was going and it just happened to be National Collection Week, so it was a bit busy for the previous week and this day was Big Monday. She said "You sure are busy for someone who is retired." 

Well, yes, but when I was working my 40-hour-per-week job I was pretty busy trying to do my farm stuff after work and on the weekends. So, I feel like maybe I'm not nearly as busy, but for a retired person, I am busy. Especially now that I am basically taking over doing all the things here on the farm and keeping the house going.

In addition to taking care of the critter chores I'm doing a lot of the grocery shopping, animal food shopping, miscellaneous shopping also. Already this week I have been to the bank, to my friend's house to pick up some critter snacks and to the grocery store, twice, and to the feed store as well as Harbor Freight to buy another tarp for the momma's shelter. That is just two days of errands. It's not so much the number of stops I make, but where those shops are relative to our home. Let's just say if I can do online ordering and not leave, I'll do it!

All busyness aside - I want this life! I have been dreaming of leaving my comfortable job behind (and decent pay) and start playing a bigger role here on the farm. With the holidays now upon us, there is an added layer of work to do that normally isn't a thing. 

Currently our living room is in shambles. Even though I have all sorts of time in a day I still have to do other stuff, and as in the past, decorating for Christmas isn't the highest priority. I'm pretty sure that in the next day or so I'll have everything all in place and can spend time doing some other fun stuff while I'm not doing farm related chores. 

While Tom is off working full-time, I'm here at home making some changes that I've been wanting to do for quite a while. We are only 4 weeks into my new "life" and I am feeling like things might actually turn out alright after all. 

It will be a few years until we'll be doing this farm gig together, but it will be worth the wait now that we'll have a steady income coming in. For the past almost two years, finances have been tight, but we've been able to get the bills paid, but not much was left over to do much of anything else. From now on we'll continue to take care of our monthly bills, but we'll be able to do some projects around here. Some that I might be able to do on my own, but definitely others that Tom and I will do together. 

These past few weeks have been an adjustment for me as Tom has a set schedule Mon-Fri which means I have a set schedule as well. My morning chores have morphed into a smooth feeding routine and I'm able to get most of the critters fed BEFORE the four boys are done with their food. While the routine is not terribly extensive, I do try to gather up the bowls from the sows and from Big Momma and Big Daddy before I go in for the morning. So, yeah, things are working out.

I am realizing that as the week goes on I get a little tired of feeding the critters, not so much that I want to just skip feeding them. If I did there would be a riot the moment I walk out the door. I'm sure that once the dreary weather is past us, in six months or so, I'll feel much better by the time Friday rolls around. 

So, yeah, retirement for me is great! I love creating my own schedule everyday and December is Christmas month, so I'm STILL working on that. When the new year rolls around, I'll be finding all sorts of things to do out on the farm.

Being home has been my dream for a few years...Best decision ever!

December 7, 2022 - Day 10

On the tenth day of the 100 days I found myself driving a lot. Well, more than on an average day. 

First stop of the day was Pioneer feed - about five and a half miles from our house. Then to Harbor Freight for another tarp. Harbor Freight it approximately thirteen miles from Pioneer, if going the back roads. Then my last stop for the morning was WinCo. My first thought was to go to the Hazel Dell Grocery Outlet, but then I thought of a couple of things that made a trip to WinCo the better choice. Harbor Freight to Winco was about six miles. That's a lot more driving than I do on any average outing any other day of the week. An average day for me would be going to the bank or to Freddy's. Both three or less miles from our house. I guess becoming the Farm Manager requires a lot more driving!

After returning home and eating my lunch I got to work replacing the cover on the momma's shelter. Their poor shelter is so janky! Basically pallets (we love a pallet here!) with 1 x 2 pieces of lumber to attach them. The original roof was some old plastic from the big shed that we used as a curtain and some old landscape tarp from a few years ago. All the plastic was just ripped and shredded. We also used some old wavy plastic roofing for the front part of the shelter. It did not look good. This is when I should have taken a before photo, but did not. Here is the end result - 

It's still a little janky, but not as bad. 

This is the original look of the shelter (with our neighbor, Avery) The plastic really was just all over the place!

So, the pigs are all set up. In all honesty, the two girls don't have the best set up. They are basically out in the open with nothing behind their shelter to give it some stability like Big Momma and Big Daddy's shelter. It should work for the season. Just as long as Skinny Momma doesn't keep messing with the tarp in the back of the shelter. She is a stinker.

Good Day All!

December 6, 2022 - Day 9

There are times when I decide to NOT go anywhere, which means I don't shower or do anything that would make me appear presentable should I encounter another person here at home. We all need a "down" day every now and then. However this day was not really a down day, I worked on making Christmas fit in the living room. 

The original fake Christmas tree was in the basement and I thought I would bring it up to see if it would work out. In the end, Tom said that he didn't think it would be necessary, so I think it will go back downstairs...OR...maybe on the deck out back. That would be kind of cool. 

Anyway, the day was truly a do stuff around the house day. Until I get the living room back in order, this will be my main project.

We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

December 5, 2022 - Day 8

Foggy Morning on Windswept Farm

Monday is my bank day. So, I spent the morning after doing the critter chores working on the Sunday morning offering and getting a deposit ready to go. My routine is to outline the cash and the different categories that the cash is intended for and then enter checks and then prepare the Offering Report to send out on Tuesday morning. Most weeks are the same and I'm pretty happy with this routine. This makes my Monday morning go smoothly. I also had to make a stop at my former supervisor's house to pick up some critter snacks and then a quick stop at Chuck's for EGGS! 

Yep you read that right, we are now buying eggs. Our hens are not laying! This is the first time in FIVE years...I'm annoyed, but planning for the next year.  In 2023 I'll be adding a half dozen or so of Australorps. They truly have been the best laying hens we have ever had and at this point we don't have any young Aussies. The feed store usually has aussie pullets available as well as Wilco. So you can bet that I'll be heading to Wilco as soon as they have their chicks to see when they'll have a batch in the store. 

I've also decided that December is too gloomy here to do any work outside. Late fall in the Pacific NW is a gloomy affair and the temperatures tend to hover in the mid to upper 40s and into the 50s. While I'm okay with the cooler temperatures, I'm not ready for the cooler weather right now. Also, there are days when the fog will stick around for most of the day. Those days can be depressing. 

Since I spend the majority of my time alone, I'm pretty keen to get the house in order for Christmas and enjoy the decorations until then. We'll see how things go in the next couple of weeks. It is possible that I'll decide to do something farm project related. 

Additionally, I'm planning to NOT volunteer at the food pantry this week or meet my friend there later. After the super busy week I had last week, I'm looking forward to a down week. Relaxing a taking care of indoor projects and maybe even bake later this week. 

We'll see how the week goes..

December 4, 2022 - Day 7

Sunday is worship day for us AND I generally do not do the chores after feeding the critters on Saturday morning. So it was a rest day for me. 

EXCEPT - we needed to go to the feed store and pick up a bale of straw and one of alfalfa. The newly covered and cleaned pig house needed some straw for extra warmth. Not that the boys would care so much, but at least they wouldn't be sleeping outside in the rain/snow. It did snow yesterday and it was a little more cold than it has been in a few days. 

The remainder of the day was spent indoors as it had started snowing while we were at church and pretty much continued throughout the rest of the day. Fortunately snow around here doesn't last long and the snow on the driveway has melted and the snow on the ground will turn more icy, but at least there isn't much.

The other thing that we worked on is our brand fresh new fake-o Christmas tree. Straight out of the box and fluffing the branches. That took the both of us, each of working on it an hour at a time I would guesstimate. 

It looks pretty good I think. Once it's in place and decorated It will look much better! While this is a environmentally friendly choice I think I'll miss a live tree for the one month out of the year that we have the decorated for Christmas. I won't miss tromping around a tree farm looking for the "perfect" tree or continuing to look after we found the "perfect" tree. No water involved here or trying to get the tree straight in the tree stand. 

So my Monday project will be getting the living room rearranged for this tree!

December 3, 2022 - Day 6

Saturdays are kind of my down day - kind of. I feed the pigs 'n poultry in the morning and then that's it. Today was a little different because we needed to replace the "roof" on the pig shelter so that the stall would be dry. 

The tarps that I picked up at Harbor Freight were for pig shelters. Big Momma and Big Daddy's shelter was done. It was the easy one, the one I could do by myself. Plus it gave me a little bit of time with our breeding pair. They are SUPER sweet. A little love starved maybe, but sweet. They like to rub their heads on my leg and me being 5'3" they could easily just knock me over!

Anyway - after I went to my friend's holiday bazaar we worked on getting the 12' x 20' tarp on the old parking structure. Yeah, I don't remember the previous tarp we purchased being that big, but it must have been. 

Once we got the tarp mostly on the roof, it was time to start coming up with a game plan. I'm getting better with being off the ground, but I did have some trepidation at the beginning - Tom wanted me to toss is drill up to him (I was on a ladder he was on the roof), but I didn't feel that I could actually do it. That drill is heavy! So I sucked it up and tossed it as far as I could and it got close. That's a win for me! Then the strips of wood that would hold the tarp down around the edges. Once we started getting things going Tom figured out that he had made a mistake and we had to re-group. Which is good, because if he went much further then it would have been a real problem. 

In the end we were able to get the tarp in place and secured. In my past life, I would have wanted the tarp to be perfect. Like stretched out and smoothed and looking nice. Fortunately, I'm not like that so much anymore. 

As you can see in the pic the tarp isn't as smoothed out as it could be, but let's be honest, who really cares? 

If we can get the boys to go in there at night instead of sleeping on the wood chip pile that would make me happy. We are planning to get a bale of straw to spread out in there before the weekend is over. That should help make this space feel more "homey."

It only took a couple of years for us to realize that we didn't need a tall door to keep a momma and her piglets locked in the stall. Notice how we used plastic to cover the window. It's ugly, but effective. 

The rear of the pig house isn't as visually pleasing, but I don't care and neither do the pigs. The reality is, I want to a least fix the portion where the planks came down. Another note, this structure is so old I'm surprised that it is still standing! One of the goals is to get it fixed up and use it for storage. How about that garbage bag that is stapled over the window?! It does the job and the pigs won't know the difference!

December 2, 2022 - Day 5

Another busy day away from the farm for me. Actually it wasn't all bad, just ran errands to what seems like all corners of the county. Got my sewing machine back, stopped at Harbor Freight for tarps. Picked up more pig food and then to Freddy's to get miscellaneous items. 

The afternoon consisted of grinding up a pork shoulder for breakfast sausage and then outside to take care of getting a tarp on a shelter that is in Big Momma & Big Daddy's area. Then of course taking care of the critters. 

This post will be short because I am tired and I'm out of words. For now.

December 1, 2022 - Day 4

It's DECEMBER?! Man! This year went fast!

Okay, now that I am 4 days into posting here - I just wanted to put this out there. This is basically my daily diary. So if you are not interested in my babbling about this, that and the other thing no worries...don't feel compelled to come back. I promise as we move away from the holiday season, I'll have more time to dedicate to doing all things farm. 

So, yesterday was another running around day. Found a place to drop off my sewing machine for service. A place that is more than 10 miles from our home. Generally I choose places that are close to home. I just don't like to be away from home. Call me a hermit.

The last time I took my machine in for service was nearly 10 years ago. So I was still working and sewing wasn't a high priority activity. However now that I am retired I have more time to set aside to sit down and sew a little bit. I LOVE IT! Anyway, the previous place I took machine to is so much closer, BUT also the wait time is more than a week :( This new place, while not close to home, is FAST! She had very good reviews and I will be heading out in a little while to go pick it up! Oh yeah, my sewing room will be whole again!

Before going home I dropped by Walmart to pick up a couple of items and then met a friend of mine at our church food pantry so she could shop.

The one thing that did happen yesterday that I never expect is that a gentleman left a note for us. Basically he wants to buy a boar. If I didn't have plans for the four boys that are currently wandering around our farm I would totally sell him one of the brothers, Bill or Ted. The former Farm Manager, Mr. Windswept, went and texted him a very curt message telling him that we didn't have anyone available. 

OH COME ON!

After telling him that he stepped into my farm manager role, I told him that I would contact the guy. This is how we get people interested in American Guinea Hogs and OUR hogs. So, we'll see what happens...

Have a great day!!

November 30, 2022 - Day 3

This day was filled with all sorts of non-farm activities. Well, the normal feeding/watering the critters is an everyday thing so there's that. I set aside time today to visit with my former co-worker(s) at the fire station, help at the food pantry and run errands. Nothing terribly exciting, but it was my day.

My visit with my former supervisor was nice. I hadn't stop by the station for almost a year. Although, we did get together once for lunch. I think we might have to do that again. Anyway, we have been keeping up with each other via text or email, but my visits to the station just didn't fit into the schedule most days. While I was there I got to visit with the Chief, one of the Assistant Chiefs and one of the Paramedics who is on light duty due to being pregnant with her 2nd child. It was a nice visit and I miss seeing my friends there, but I am very happy with my decision to retire early. 

After leaving the fire station I be-bopped over to the church food pantry to help restock the shelves/refrigerators/freezers with food items. It has been very pleasant working in the pantry - now that one person who thought they were in charge is no longer helping out. 

With the food pantry stocked up again I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things to restock our own pantry/kitchen. I'm very annoyed since my hens have pretty much quit laying eggs and I have had to buy eggs. At the store. No bueno. Actually the hens lay an egg now and again, but when I go to retrieve it, I find that they have pecked a hole in the egg. Super no bueno. 

Now, here's how the evening chores went. Everything was going just fine, but the hens were being totally stupid and either were still hanging out with the pigs or refusing to go into their houses. The youngest cockerel & pullet (Aquila & Priscilla) both did not have an interest to go into their house. Seems that the tray of food that I gave them in the morning was a big fat problem. You would have thought that it was going to jump out at them. I ended up removing that and the Cockerel decided to go in, but his partner was not convinced and kept running around. To top things off, while trying to get another hen into the coop, Joody (mom to A & P) escaped from the coop and just started running around all over the place. I let her get her ya-ya's out and went around to gather up the bowls from the pigs. After a few more minutes it was dark enough and Joody was getting extremely anxious to get back into the coop. Aquila finally went into his house, Joody was in the coop - now it was time to get Priscilla. After a few minutes of trying to get her to go into ANY house I gave up. By that time Tom was home (!) and I had him help me get the last hen to go in. All I can hope is that tonight will not be a repeat of last night. 

Oh, the pigs weren't helpful, but that's too much to tell and I don't want to revisit their shenanigans.

We are back into the typical Pacific NW weather now. There has been quite a bit of rain this week and it's cold enough for some sleet mixed with rain. I don't mind the rain, but when it is so cold, I'm not a fan. I just have to continue on since the critters won't feed themselves. The garden cart had a good amount of water in it from all the rain overnight. 

Hoping that the pigs 'n poultry behave tonight. 

November 29, 2022 - Day 2

It's still early, but I thought it would be best to start my daily post early in the day rather than later. If I don't then I won't sit down later in the day to start it and then the day is over...it's all about being organized and intentional. 

So far today will include a trip to the feed store to replenish the piggo food. Other than that I don't have much else in mind, but I do think that my other outside project will be to haul some wood chips to the garden as well to some very muddy areas around the new garden. We'll see how the morning goes.

Well, it's Day 3 and as I suspected I was busy throughout the day and didn't get a chance to sit and update the day. The good thing is that at least this post was started...

So, Plan B - the day after will be update day. After I am done with feeding the critters I spend a little time hanging out and thinking about my day.

This starts today. 

Yesterday was a fairly rainy day and I did make it to the feed store AND I did haul some wood chips into the garden. The rest of the day was spent indoors. Catching up on chores that needed to be done and seasoning up some ground pork for breakfast sausage. Also, I attempted to make English Muffins. The attempt was a fail. I had baked up English Muffins before, but the flour that I had was not whole wheat. The flour that I have on hand may have been labeled white bread flour, but it looks more like whole wheat. I'm not good at incorporating wheat flour into my bread bakes - so my English Muffin dough was terrible! Going to the store today to stock up on good flour and use the pretend bread flour to start a batch sourdough starter. 

So yeah, yesterday wasn't anything exciting. It was full, but not terribly exciting. 

Here's a pic of the boys:

The brothers, Zeke & Oliver

When the boys are head down and chowing down it's easier for me to get the rest of the critters fed and then ultimately released for the day. Most of the time these four don't realize what is going on around them. Usually, the sound of the garage door being opened is a big trigger and they come running. Food keeps them happily occupied - this makes for a happy Farm Manager!

November 28, 2022 - Day 1

What is Day 1? Well, back story - we have been watching Justin Rhodes on and off for several years now.  A few years back he started this thing called 100 days of growing food, which he would start in the fall and continue for...yeah, 100 days. He did that for at least three years, I think. Well this year he switched things up and decided to do 100 days of building a homestead. Check out his YouTube channel - you'll see what he's doing. 

Huh...interesting. Well, I decided that I would start something with the theme of 100 days. I mean really, I retired so I could live the farm life and what have I been doing? Not as much as I thought I might, that's for sure. I can only use the I'm-getting-used-to-retirement excuse for only so long. Not that it's excuse it's for real. The past year I have been actually doing more around here, but I want to see more results! Well, if I had to look back on what I accomplished, it would be notsomuch. 

Ideas - I have so many ideas! All I need is time...I've go that going on. I also need some funds. That's what has been slowing me down. 

Until Mr. Windswept Farm's retirement finally kicks in he'll need to figure out income. At the beginning of the year he was employed by a local engineer who works out of his home and it was okay. It was more frustrating than anything and that lasted like three months or so. Then the rest of the year was filled with a lot of handyman work - which lasted pretty well for quite a while. THEN in the last couple of months he was applying for jobs at a couple of engineering firms in the area. The first place which is across the river in Oregon invited him for interviews and tests and ultimately decided that the other applicant was a better fit. Okay, disappointing, but not the end of the world. Not too long after that a more local company (here in Vancouver) decided to interview him. Once they became aware of the skills and experience that he has they had other ideas for him. So, long story short, he started work on November 14 in a position that was specifically created for him. 

So, here we are nearing the end of the month and I'm looking forward to starting some outside projects. Soonly, he'll receive his first paycheck and we can start catching up on things that we set aside for another day. A couple of those things would be fencing the rest of the field so we can run the pigs further away from the house and gardens and give them more space that includes more pasture. The other project will be my second garden. Also, I would like to give the chickens their own space and keep them to a specific area. Mostly because this year we have had the least amount of eggs in the five years since we started raising chickens for eggs. No more free-ranging for the hennies and no more searching for eggs!

That's the plan at the moment - but we know that anything can happen and plans can change. 

Today is supposedly Day 1, but it's Monday and I serve as the Financial Secretary at our church. Which is fancy for "I count the Sunday morning offering". Actually I take care of retrieving the online contributions information as well AND go to the bank to deposit the monies. So, Monday is my inside day. It can still be my farm improvement day though. We'll see how things go inside and if I have time I can do some outside shenanigans besides feeding the critters. 

Stay tuned for more posts here over the next 100 days!