Ugly Chickens, Beautiful Eggs

When we first got our chicks, they were the most adorable, fuzzy, little creatures we had ever seen.  Then as they grew, they started to stink, they poop everywhere, and they started to look a little prehistoric.  Chickens are down right ugly... I mean the kind of ugly that only a mother could love.  We have grown to love them, and they have grown to tolerate us... as much as nine hens can tolerate 2 young boys that like to hold them, chase them and pet them.  They also hug them, kiss them, carry them, and somewhere along the line, the hens started to follow Blake and Luke as if they were their mothers, so they more then tolerate them now :)

I call them all "Mama" but the boys make up all sorts of names for them.  When the girls see us, they get all excited and start making chicken noises.  They are nothing like I thought they would be... nothing at all, but they are so much more.  My kids LOVE them and they help take care of them.  They enjoy gathering eggs and learning about them.  They think its really neat that we get to go shopping for our eggs outside and we don't have to buy them in the store.  We also have 4 Americana Chicken and they lay blue, green, pick, grey, and white eggs, so its always so exciting for the boys to see what colors we get each day along with the classic brown.  I think that we will always have chickens, even when the boys are grown and gone.  And how remarkable... to have such an ugly creature, provide such a beautiful bounty for us to enjoy :)

 

Farm fresh from the coop to the breakfast table

 

 

My 30 Day Laundry Challenge

Who doesn't LOVE the smell of sheets dried outside in the sun?  Clothes smell and feel so much better when the fresh air runs through them and the sun shines down on them.  I have always wanted a clothes line... I grew up playing amongst the sheets at my Grandma and Grandpa Howard's house, and I have always wanted one, and then... an opportunity presented itself :)

Kyle's Grandpa Ray was a sheet metal worker, and 40 some odd years ago, he made this beautiful clothesline for Grandma Kay.  Since they are moving and since they don't use it anymore, they offered it to me, and I am so glad that they did. 

Today, as I was hanging my latest load of colors on the line, and then my neighbor came outside and I am wondering if he thinks that I am a little "out there"  He came over to the fence that we share and said " that's a beautiful clothesline, I love that you are doing that"  I told him the story about how its been in the family for a long time and I promised that I wouldn't hang any "nitty gritties" on the line for his family to see, but something tells me that they would find it funny, and so would I.... Kyle would be mortified HAHA!

I also have a smaller portable clothes rack that was Grandpa Ray's mom's that he also gave me.  I will reserve that for inside drying on those not-so-nice days... So I am challenging myself to 30 consecutive days without a clothes dryer. I wonder if I can do it?  I wonder how much power I will be sawing??  Either way, I am excited to do it.  It brings out my hippy side a bit. And I am totally going to hang my bras on it... just to watch my dear husband squirm a bit :)