2009 July — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Our Anniversary – Almost

July 31, 2009 · by JudyL

Tomorrow is our anniversary and since I have a commitment for tomorrow, Vince took off work this afternoon and we went to Joplin.

We ate sushi and then we ate some more sushi and then shopped . . but not so much that I reached my frustration level. It was a gorgeous, almost fall-like day and we enjoyed ourselves but our purchases certainly weren’t exciting. We went to Office Depot and bought a box of paper. We went to Target and bought laundry detergent, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. We went to Lowe’s and bought a rake and little hoe looking thing to clean out the chicken coop. We went to Sam’s and bought a 50 pound bag of rice, a 10 pound bag of pinto beans, Claritin and peanut butter. We went to Wal-Mart and bought Baker’s Joy, parchment paper and a battery for the flashlight we use for taking Speck out at night. We went to Books-A-Million and Vince bought 2 magazines. We went to Academy and bought nothing.

I guess that’s about as exciting as it gets for us old folks!

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 22 Comments

The Eggs

July 31, 2009 · by JudyL

The chickens are getting really good at laying! I’m getting 2 eggs a day now, though I think there are three chickens laying. Here’s what I had early in the week.

Wait just a minute! Those three eggs on the right . . they look just a bit too big! OK! Those three came from the Amish chickens. The seven smaller ones came from my chickens. And they’re a whole lot smaller!

But, these pictures were taken on Wednesday. I’ve now gotten several 2.4 ounce eggs. Yes, I weigh them all and I keep a spreadsheet! Don’t laugh. I keep spreadsheets for everything!

The smallest egg from my chickens is 1.3 ounces. The largest in the picture is 1.6 ounces.

Eggs from the Amish weigh in at a whopping 2.6 ounces! With my most recent eggs being 2.4 ounces, we’re almost there!

I figured the only fair way to use the first eggs was to bake a cake. That way, we’ll all get some of the first eggs.

The shells were very hard, which made me happy. The lady at the feed store had told us we didn’t need to add any oyster shell because it is already in the food we give them. I kept reading that we did need to add oyster shell (they use that to help make hard shells). The shells from any fresh eggs are way harder than most any storebought eggs. The shells on my eggs were harder than I’ve ever seen. I hit the side of the counter several times to crack some of the eggs.

A 7-Up Pound Cake using the fleur de lis cake pan. Even though the recipe called for five eggs, I used seven since they were so small.

While driving earlier this week I was thinking of all the naysayers, specifically Helen! I can admit now that I did have just a bit of apprehension about the chickens. Vince wasn’t thrilled with the idea at first; I was afraid they’d be stinky and gross. We went through some tough times when they had been in the basement way too long and I was beginning to doubt that the coop would ever be finished but now that we have all that behind us, having chickens is way more fun than I ever thought it would be. I think having the red or gold star chickens is part of what makes it so fun. They’re so personable and friendly.

For any of you wanting chickens, if you can do it . . do it! I don’t see a single negative aspect of having them . . as long as you have someone who can help you if you go out of town much. The chickens go into the coop at night by themselves so all anyone really needs to do is be sure they have food and water and they’re put up at night and let out in the morning. I love my chickens!

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 23 Comments

Rarely . . I Quilt!

July 30, 2009 · by JudyL

Does it seem to you like it’s been forever since I had a quilt related post? Well, it seems that way to me too.

Remember when I had to hurry up and make a quilt because I couldn’t find the blocks I’d already made and had a deadline? This week I received the quilt back from Kansas City Star.

Simple framed pinwheels and one of the borders I shared in this post. I even used leftover strips for the binding. Maybe eventually I’ll come across the first set of blocks (and my ipod) and I’ll have two quilts!

· Filed Under: Quilting · 29 Comments

Life in the New Coop

July 29, 2009 · by JudyL

Moving day had arrived. The coop had been inspected by a few chickens but when it was time to actually get in the coop for the night, it just wasn’t happening. By 10 p.m., we were sure the chickens weren’t going in on their own. We tried leading them in with the flashlight. Sometimes they’ll follow a light. They followed right up to the door of the coop and then they “flew the coop”! They wanted nothing to do with it. Vince decided he’d run to Wal-Mart and get battery powered lanterns and put inside. Maybe the chickens would be attracted to the light and feel more comfortable. The solar panels aren’t hooked up yet so something battery powered was all we could use.

In the meantime, I had tried everything I could think of. I had caught a few of them and put them in the coop through the door, with the hatch door down so they couldn’t get back out. They were all scared to death and I hated doing that to them. Chad came out and decided he’d crawl into the run, catch them one by one, hand them to me and I could put them in the coop. That was fine til we got down to the last chicken. You know which one it was . . Smokey! I’m scared of that chicken so Chad had to catch her, and then he had to get himself and the chicken out of the run and put Smokey in the coop.

By the time Vince got home with his battery powered LED lanterns, Chad and I had all the chickens in the coop and we were hot, sweaty and tired! See that little lantern in the window? We leave it on for them every night.

Monday morning I was leaving to go out of town and I knew I’d wake up and find they’d all had heart attacks after all that excitement. I’m happy to report that they were all alive and well, and didn’t seem upset or frustrated at all. I walked out to the coop to check for eggs several times before leaving and each time, the 6 gold stars strutted right into the coop, hopped up into the nesting boxes so they were eye ball to eye ball with me when I opened the egg door. In fact, Tuesday night one of them came sailing out of the nesting box, right onto the ground, while Vince had the egg door open. The gold stars just can’t get close enough to us but they are easy to catch . . they just want to be held.

I was out of town Monday night but Vince said the chickens were in the coop . . calm, cool and collected . . before 8:30. This is how I found them Tuesday night.

They’re now perfectly happy in their new home. I’m thrilled that they’re in their new home and I’m sure Vince is more than thrilled to be done with this project.

Just look at that face! Don’t you think she’s thrilled with her new home?

By the way, 2 more eggs were laid Tuesday, for a total of 6 eggs now. I believe I have two hens laying. For those who told me that their combs get redder when they start laying . . I do have two with really red combs.