June 27, 2012

Outside Temp: 49 F (It actually got a little chilly tonight, into the 50's.  Clear and beautiful all day, and very reasonable winds!)

What I cooked today:
Burgers and pasta: I got busy tonight and totally forgot to make dinner, until about 9:15pm, when I realized I needed to actually make dinner for the family.  I whipped up burgers quickly, and over cooked the pasta.  No problems, though, everything got gobbled up.

Update:
Ryan came home today!  Woo hoo!

I ran into Great Falls to pick him up (Grandma has been with him, while Patrick and I worked for the last few days).  It gave me a chance to go shopping, and get caught up on groceries.  Of course, I forgot my list, so I totally forgot the Calamine lotion (for our mosquito bites) and Kosher salt (because it's awesome, not because of the religion thing).  Oh well, I'll be back into town on Sunday (if not earlier)  to pick up my mom from the airport!!

Our chickens ran out of food this week.  I meant to pick up chicken feed on Saturday, when we got back from Seattle.  Actually, I meant to pick it up before we went to Seattle, but that didn't happen.  Then, Saturday got away from us, and I planned on picking up chicken feed on Monday.  But work kept me busy, so I hoped to get around to it on Tuesday.  By Tuesday evening, we still didn't have a new bag of chicken food, and their feed container (in their cage) was empty.  We gave them some grass and dandelions from the yard, and some old rice (the pre-cooked stuff that my family hates anyway). 

So, when I went into town, I stopped at Big R and got more chicken food.  I usually buy it in Geyser, and I really wanted to, but it was 11 miles in the other direction and I didn't have an excuse to go there.  I'll plan on going over there next week, and this time, I'll buy 2 40lb bags, instead of just 1.  Then, I won't run out (as quickly). 

The chickens were very happy to get food  Unfortunately, when we filled up their food, we somehow forgot to check the latch on their cage.  I sent Katie out to close the door to the shed, and she heard some rustling in the grass around the corner from the shed.  Of course, her first thought was rattlesnakes.  Until she looked, and saw 2 chickens walking around, outside their cage! The chickens are getting older, and will be able to free range soon.  But, we weren't really ready for it.  Their cage has a 2 foot high chicken wire around it, which means that even when the gate is open, they shouldn't be getting out.  Unless they were birds and birds could fly.  Hmmm, didn't really think of that one.  Of course, they couldn't get back into their cage, because the chicken wire was in the way. 

So, I had to pick them up and carry them over the threshold.  And the rooster didn't want to get picked up.  Which then involved a quite funny moment of me chasing the rooster around, and him flying away from me.  I swear, it was like a scene out of a movie.  But, in the end, I prevailed and all 24 chickens are back in their cage.