Cranky n Stinky.com

That's the theme for tonight. We're getting down to the mid-20s, which is basically real winter weather. Boo. I'm not real psyched about this. It also means snow is not far around the corner. I had to hook up the chickens' heater tonight, as well as the pacas' heated bucket. Hopefully they will do the job, safely. We've wanted to get a wireless thermometer to keep a reading of how cold it's getting in the barn and coop, but haven't yet. Guess it's time for a trip to Wally-world, someplace I really don't enjoy going. But for this kind of thing, the alternatives stores aren't any better, and Wally-world is cheap. Plus, someone has to pay back our debt to China. Well, ok, maybe like .000001 % of the interest on it. But I digress.

We had some strange egg milestones this weekend, after a warm rainy day (hey, it's New England - the weather isn't supposed to be predictable or anything). We had an 8 egg day. We also have gotten an enormous blue EE egg that must have been painful for the pullet, poor girl. We'll take a picture before it becomes Good Eats. Today, though, we had 5 brown eggs, and no EEs.

Is it sad if this is one of my favorite parts of the day to look forward to?

Bijan is doing much better, and able to eat well enough. He's almost a toothless wonder now, but somehow he gets it down.

I had a great weekend - got to see Iron & wine in a small venue setting. In some ways it was better than seeing them at ACL, but in others, it was worse. I was very keyed for both shows, but the nature of ACL with it being outside, sunny, diverse, all-day, enormous show made for a much more relaxed event; in Northampton, we were among the oldest in the crowd, there was not seat anywhere, and we were packed in so close that... well, maybe you should ask m750 about how close we were . Anyway, just a very different experience. I'm almost loathe to admit this, but I think I enjoyed seeing him at Austin City Limits better, it was just much shorter. Maybe we should just try to catch him in Austin proper. Although, we are taping the ACL showing on PBS this week.

I have added a latest music gadget thing on the right side menu, via blip.fm, if anyone wants to hear some of my recent favorite music.

As my last quick update, Aaron's birthday is coming up - Wednesday, Nov 19th! If you can, wish him happy birthday, he loves hearing from everyone! He'll be joining the ranks of the officially *OVER*t 30 crowd, as he's turning 31.

Our 14.5 year old cat went in for dental work today (which of course in pets usually means yanking). He lost three teeth, including a canine, though the vet only trimmed it off and closed the gums over it (too embedded in the bone). Anyway, he is back home and must be on some strong painkillers. His pupils are completely dilated, he keeps getting up to walk around but is kinda wobbly, and also sits in one spot staring at things two inches from his face, like the books in our bookshelf. I feel bad for him since we can't get him to settle down, but it's also a tad bit funny to see him like this.

In other news, we had a down egg day - only 3! Of course I am fine with that. Chickens need rest, too!
We did sell our first eggs (to coworkers). If you want to be on the list, let us know!

Here is a picture from my Dad's visit last week. This is me learning to inoculate my alpacas. The vet is showing me.



More pictures coming to Flickr soon...

There's another blog that has posed a chicken survey. So, Aaron suggested I blog the answers... here goes.

1. Do you have a particular favorite breed of chicken, and if so what is it and why do you prefer it? Or if more than one, which ones, etc?
Fairly new to chickens, so I have no strong preferences. Our black sex links are laying like crazy, and our Blue Laced Red Wyandotte roo is quite the looker. Though he is a big baby. The Easter Eggers lay fun eggs and are pretty chickens, too. If I were going just for volume, the black sex links would win.

2. Do you use your chickens for your family, to sell, or both? Meat, or eggs, or both?
We have our layer hens and we only plan to sell the excess (to friends, coworkers, family). We subsidized the raising of 10 meat birds at another farm, and we've had 1-2 roasters a month since they were processed in July. This usually translates to several meals for 2 based on a 5-6 lb bird. The meat birds were able to enjoy fresh pasture and were fed w/organic feed.

3. What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start out raising them, other than reading some good books on the subject?
Backyardchicens.com, and build a strong run. Don't skimp on the housing and fencing, though the very resourceful can get a lot of building materials through yardsales, Craigslist etc. Just make sure it will be a clean and dry home. Overestimate the size you need, you can always add chickens if you want to later!

4. Do you primarily keep your chickens in a coop/enclosed chicken yard, or do they roam your property?
Our chickens stay in the run area for most of the time. We let them out only when we are ourselves outside doing work around the barn, yard, etc. We usually do this late in the day so twilight gets them back in the run. However, a cup of scratch tossed in the run will usually work too!

5. Do you ever let them into your garden? If no, do you have a fence or something to keep them out?
Uhm, yes, they have gone in our garden. It is not fenced from them. But our garden was not a wild success this summer. Next summer may be different.

6. Do you ever use a chicken tractor, and if so, is it for meat birds only? do you use electric/ net poultry fencing? I'm interested in which has worked for you and which has not. What has been your experience with pastured poultry 'a la the Joel Salatin sort (follow behind the livestock grazings at the optimum time), if that applies?
We do not use a tractor for the layers. The meat birds were in a tractor for much of the time.

7. Do you keep chickens year-round, or raise them for seasonal processing?
Year round; it'll be our first winter with the hens.

8. How many chickens of a certain type do you raise at one time (what works best for you as far as how many to raise at a time?)
I think this depends on your goals. If it's just family eggs you want, a half dozen may be enough. We have 12 hens and 1 roo, in part because I figured a few wouldn't make it. They all did! But we're happy anyway, a dozen seems like a good number for us.

Inquiring minds (me!) want to know. I've seen so many folks with their own styles of chicken raising, and I'm so curious to know what works best for you...
Raising them from chicks is very rewarding!

Well, I started this one days ago, but the title still applies. We got five eggs today, and for the first time two Easter Eggs! The new egg is a lovely shade of pale blue, not as green. It is pretty big for a first egg also (well, we think it is a first egg). Our trendlines are really beginning to go up in our graph, despite the daylight hours being much shorter at this time of year. According to our spreadsheet, we have gotten roughly 90 eggs since they started laying, which sounds like an awful lot for a short time. If we get up to 50% laying a day, that will be very impressive.

Fortunately, the temperature has moderated so the waterer hasn't frozen this week at all. We did get a heater base, and as of today, a heavy duty outdoor cord. The alps already have the heated bucket I got this weekend, though presently unplugged.

Yesterday, Aaron prepared a dinner with 10 of our fresh eggs, sliced dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and herbs (basil, chives) from our winter herb garden. We had some hearty bread on the side. More on that some other time... I've been negligent in my reporting on the hydroponic herb garden (Aerogarden).

It's also been great to have my Dad here, on this very historic week. We've had a lot of great conversations which makes for a great change of pace, even though this week has certainly been as hectic as any, with coordination of more alpaca moving going on. The vet will be out to our farm tomorrow, I've got the day off to spend with my Dad, though I am hoping to get to the gym as well. Aaron's parents will be here later in the evening before they head off on a fun trip to Costa Rica with his sister, her husband, and their granddaughter.

Over the weekend, I'm hoping we'll have time and good weather to get into the woods for some walking, as well as visit some local farm stores.

For those who may have missed, we have a cam currently pointed at our paddock. You may be able to spy pacas or chickens. They will be small (chickens especially) so look carefully.

http://www.crankynstinky.com/pict/tank.jpg

Works during the day.

All in all, we're well, but busy.

Ah yes, we decided to be geeks about our chickens' egg production by cooking up a Google spreadsheet to track our hens' laying history. Then we got the idea to make it into a nifty eye candy chart. Then we decided to embed it in the blog. See the title bar up top for the permanent home. For those too lazy to click, I'll help you for the first time:

We'll update it frequently, maybe not always daily.

August stats for Squid-land.

$2.99 with about 6-7 active lenses, enough for a dozen eggs at the grocery store...

I put up a new lens tonight on tri gear:
Triathlon packing list

Enjoy! I have to build some more lenses to keep the momentum going now...

I'm in my 21st or so (not going to figure out exactly) hour of fasting for Yom Kippur. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a full day fast that begins before nightfall the eve of Yom Kippur, the night of Kol Nidre. We have a final day of introspection and atonement. In the tradition, it is also a conversation time with G-d before the Book of Life is sealed. Fasting is a big part of the observation, and I always dread it prior to, but in the moment of it I understand. It's not until about the 20th hour that it starts to sink in, i.e. when it starts to feel difficult.

There is a survival rule of thumb - the rule of threes - which anyone trained in Wilderness medicine or rescue will know. It's not quite literal, but helpful to remember: three minutes without air, three hours without shelter (from cold/exposure), three days without water, three weeks without food. A Yom Kippur fast does not approach these limits, but it is at this moment that I can imagine the confusion and desperation someone who has had no food or water for a few days more is going through, the cumulative effect of a weakening system. In terms of Yom Kippur, it is meant to keep the focus of the day on prayer. But I think it is also meant to remind of how frail and fleeting life is - and our returning to eat at the end of the fast is a returning to life, as well as normal life (work, school, etc). By this time in the fast, many people have varying degrees of tiredness, headaches, and general lethargy. We are past general "hangriness" as some of my friends call cranky hunger. We can no longer work terribly effectively, even if we want to. As a kid this was always a time for homework, which was difficult with my mind straying a lot. I remember things like rereading the same paragraph several times, or restarting a math problem after getting clearly wrong answers. In short, it was frustrating to not be functioning as expected, much like anytime it is frustrating for one to be sick with a cold or an injury. It still is, but I have come to accept that as part of the fast, and I know it ends quite soon after I start to eat again.

In good health and times of success, we don't remember this feeling of being on the brink that easily. Of course, we are in a challenging economic time and more people are scaling back on luxury and even basic needs as we contend with depressed job markets, foreclosures, and loss of retirement savings. Fasting today is an interesting parallel to the refocusing for many going on at the societal level, and of the difficult choices many are having to make to maintain food or shelter.

Yom Kippur comes along without any relation to whether it be a good time or not for someone, let alone a society, and any Jewish adult who is physically able to (it won't endanger their life) must observe the fast.

I am thankful for this, I think it is a necessary space to be in once a year, a humbling moment. In this one day fast, it helps me remember that I am never more than the rule of three away from potentially life threatening times, and that without these basics higher production is difficult. It is an opportunity to remember that on a day to day basis, how fortunate I have been to not know this feeling. And it is symbolic that as my individual fast ends, a meal together with others begins.

That is how long it took for our chickens to start laying. Yes, they've started! I couldn't be more excited!
Aaron and I have joked about the $1000 dollar egg, and we're already to the $500 dollar egg. But having your own produced eggs is a great feeling. It's a relief to know that they are capable, and the time we've put into them is coming to fruition!

Tonight, I came home to let the chickens out with just a hint of light left, and all but two hopped down off their roost for treats (yep, 6:25 and they're roosting, it's so sad - pretty soon I won't see them at all at night). This is pretty normal - there are two girls who are early to roost and they value their sleep over treats.

Anyway, as the rest were having their cracked corn treat, after days of looking in the nest boxes only to see nothing, I said to myself, well, maybe because I cleaned them out yesterday there's an egg in there... It was just yesterday I had calculated their age to see if they should be laying, and yes, they were at the magic mark. But it was dark in the coop and a little hard to see. Is that a bunch of feathers, I wondered? Put my hand in, and not one, but TWO eggs, one each in the top nesting boxes. One is a brown egg, which means from one of our Black Stars, and the other an olive colored egg, so, from one of our Ameraucanas! I thought for sure the Ameraucanas would be a while longer. They are tiny, but solid shells, so they are healthy eggs! Now I can't wait to see if all the girls start laying, or maybe more importantly, if they'll keep laying as it gets progressively darker and colder...

We'll have to add free choice oyster shell to their diets, which gives them extra calcium they need to keep producing healthy shells. Next, we'll have to get an inside the coop waterer that will not freeze. We could be getting as many as

Picture below:



I will maybe get one compared to a real egg next.

Edit: Ok, here it is, middle egg is from a mature local hen (bought).

I'm going to make this quick... as I am blogging at 1:30 (yeah, good idea).

But I wanted to post some observations - three nights ago I was driving in Hollis NH in the dark, when I startled, passed a man on a bicycle. He had no light, scruffy appearance, and the look of one who had all his belongings attached with him.

Odd, but as an isolated event, maybe not so.

This morning, on my way to work I saw a man sitting on a bench in Groton, who again, had the general appearance of a homeless person.

Strange, but so be it...

Tonight, on my way home from work, I saw a third man, on a bicycle, again appearing to be unkempt, worn clothes and so on, and he was riding with a large bag of cans gathered from recycling bins. This was in Westford.

It is a unusual to have seen three potentially homeless people in such a short time in some of the wealthiest towns. Of course I am not denying their existence, but it's not something I have observed save the occasional notice, like I did these past few days. Truth be told, they do stand out in this area. I'm not sure what to make of it; it could be seasonal as homeless people with some mobility move toward cities or other locations where shelters exist for the winter. I just hope this isn't indicative of an increase in the numbers of homeless in our state...

Tomorrow morning, seven years ago, it was a bright sunny fall morning. I was in a great mood and had the music from a CD cranked up as I drove to my office in Waltham, MA. Traffic was flowing, and I got to work sometime around nine. I walked in the building and passed by a cube where someone appeared to be listening to the radio out loud. Unusual, but I didn't think much of it. I greeted my coworker with an enthusiastic hello (we shared our office) and he looked at me and said "Have you heard?" "Heard what?" "A plane crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC." I said, "Oh, really? What, a Cessna?" I'd immediately thought about those little planes flying close to the skyscrapers. "No," he said, "a passenger jet." My blood stood still and my heart sank. "Oh, wow." I said. We talked about what he knew which wasn't much. At this time, the second plane hadn't hit the tower yet, but just moments later our administrative assistant rushed in, and said something like, "A second one has hit!" People started to gather in the corner conference room where there was a TV, and as we saw the images of the planes going into the towers, the fire balls, and began to piece together an attack on our nation like none of us had ever fathomed. I remember the fear for the unaccounted flights, seeing the other two planes go down, learning the two flights had left from Logan, wondering where my sister who worked at the Federal courthouse was, and if she was safe. I immediately started calling and texting her but had trouble getting through, as everyone did. I wondered who was on those planes, and in the towers, a question answered only many weeks later as those lost truly became known. Fortunately I did later hear from my sister, once she was able to respond. That would prove to be our main way to communicate in the next week. And I wondered what our future would become as a country.

In the days after 9/11 there was such sorrow. Such pain. Such unity. 9/11 disproportionately affected the east coast - my state of Massachusetts, New York City, and Washington D.C. It also affected Los Angeles, as two flights were destined there and several of the people on board were from California. And it left a scar upon the people of Shanksville, PA in what we believe was a story of heroism as the average Americans aboard Flight 93 realized they were being used as a weapon to kill more of us on the ground. But even as the east coast collectively mourned, Americans from across the nation - Florida to Iowa, Alaska to Alabama - mourned alongside. There was a renewed understanding we were bound together, and that we'd succeed or fail together.

Seven years and two wars later, we are still hurting. We seem to have lost so much in addition to the lives lost on that day. We are in many ways more divided, and we have given up personal liberties in exchange for promised security. Yet, really, we are no more secure from the unpredictable. Many Americans are more fearful, more cynical than other times in our nation's history. We have seen our political leaders betray us, our corporate CEOs mislead, our jobs continue to move overseas, our housing market depressed. It hasn't been a shining moment in our history.

We need to begin a new period where hope wins over fear; where we care about each other again; where we embrace the best of this country's ideals, and no longer scrape the barrel with the worst. Perhaps this seventh day of remembering will mark our nation's time to move forward again.

We haven't blogged in a while, boo us. As usual, there is a ton of stuff going on. Most of it is good. But tonight I wanted to blog about my Squidooing. I am no Squidoo maven but I'm trying to see where this goes. I haven't added new lenses in a while, but figured I'd start tracking my progress to see what I make. Keep in mind the earnings are for two months prior. So, in September, you get paid for July. In October, for August, etc. I did not Squidoo at all until August so July reflects 0 effort on my part; I only had some lenses that were very old and stale. Any prior earnings before July were unclaimed... of course I realize I could be using my time in other ways that will have a better ROI in the grand scheme of life but I enjoy making them so what the heck.

So, with no further ado, here is the beginning of my history:

July 2008: $1.59. Enough for a Gatorade at the QwickieMart. Had 4 lenses during this time.

Anyone curious can see my list of lenses on the left hand side.

I did my first olympic distance triathlon yesterday. Well, I suppose I'll start with the bad first, then I can focus on the good...

I was last in my age group, 48 of 48. WOOO!

Ok, that's pretty much the bad.

I wasn't as prepared for this race as I meant to be. Aaron and I spent a lot of time getting things ready for the alpacas and with the alpacas. And after work, almost every day for what seemed like six weeks was thunderstorms which curtailed (although it wasn't impossible) efforts to exercise. I rode the trainer, ran on the treadmill, and even got kicked out of the INDOOR pool on an attempt to get a swim workout in on a Saturday. So, in short, things were not ideal for me, but then again, they probably weren't for many others either. I was pretty close to bailing altogether, because I just didn't feel prepared. But, after thinking about it, I decided I should do it anyway, and just get the experience. Every race is a chance for experience...

I headed down to the hotel Saturday evening. The parking lot was completely full with tri cars, yet not a person in sight in the lobby. I immediately went to sleep as well. Was awakened only once by the sound of sirens, and actually got a pretty good night's sleep.

At 5:15 the alarm went off and I got dressed and ready. I wasn't able to eat but I was only feeling a little queasy. The race location was very nearby and I got to register and get body marked right at 6:30 or so, well before the main crowds. In fact the race was delayed since there was a line wrapped around the building to register about an hour later. The bike racks were marked with your number which I liked (better than no marking or not using those nifty racks where the back tire goes in - like those too). I had plenty of space to set out my gear. There were something like 750 racers (632 individual racers per the results).

Aaron got down to the race around 8 am, and found some of his coworkers doing the race. I got ready for the swim which was wetsuit legal @ 75 degrees. I was in one of the later waves so there was plenty of waiting around. Finally my wave went into the murky, mucky water (seriously, you could not see your hands in it at parts) and yet I wasn't freaked out, just a little nervous. Finally it was our wave's start, and as the bulk of it took off, I took my time. I'm still not sure about being in the pack, and I just focused on alternating breast stroke with freestyle, and getting to each buoy one at a time. The swim felt long, and it was - the most I have ever swum at once in open water, at least at one time. The course was around a small pond, and at points the swim pack constricted so that I had no choice, and for the first time I got a few pokes and prods, felt someone swim onto my legs, and it was a little nerve wracking with all the arms and people around. I managed to keep my cool and make my way around the buoys. Finally, I saw the starting gates come back into view, and came out of the water - hungry at that.

Transitions at this race are crazy long. I mean you have to run from the water, across a lawn, a little road, down the back of all the bikes and then back into the transition area. Lots of sticks and gravel and stuff I usually don't walk on... I wouldn't be surprised if it were a tenth of a mile, I mean they were long. Anyway, my T time was 5 minutes and I can't imagine more than 2:30-3 of that was me actually getting ready. I didn't wear socks, did have a gu, and a swig of gator, but I don't feel like I wasted a lot of time there. I didn't dry anything other than my feet. Aaron was there watching me.

Back out on the bike, and I had a pretty good ride. I kept the pace up the whole time, though I got passed by plenty of others. I only passed a few people. I was a little concerned by this, but just kept riding. The course was overall quite flat, and scenic at points. There were some very minor hills but well spaced apart and not too challenging. I did take a few looks around and enjoyed the route. Coming back in from the bike, I could see that there were runners coming in, lots of them, and thought, wow, a lot of people are going to be done before I've even started my run... granted the first wave started a long time before me, and swimmers were coming out of the water before I even went in, too!

Another confusing and long run around transition to get out to the run course. I started out reasonably but my left knee area was getting pre-cramp twitchy already, and I knew it was going to be a bit of a battle. After one mile down, two miles down, still hanging in there. Three miles, still good enough. Snuck in water at nearly each stop (probably not the best racing plan) and by mile 4 it was getting tough, and I had to walk some of it. Over the last 2 miles there were some hills which made it particularly challenging; I know my times dropped way down there.

I never doubted I would finish, but under what circumstances less clear. As it was, I was pretty cooked by the end, but even in that there is some learning that I'll take away for future info...

here are the times and info.

T VAN ES PEPPERELL MA 3:37:11 48/48 F3539 575 34:39 [swim] 5:06[t1] 585 1:35:54[bike] 3:00[t2] 601 1:18:34 [run]