Chicky Ladies

We got chickens last week, Laying hens, and 2 turkeys. We wanted to start raising our own eggs again. Eggs here are $4 a dozen for junky store eggs, and we can raise our own good eggs for a lot less than that. So, that's what we're going to do. We actually ordered them from the Homer feed store a couple of weeks ago, but then we decided to check out the other feed store in Soldotna. They carry different types, so we got 20 chickens up there last week. Monday the Homer store called and said that the 20 we reserved with them were in, if we wanted to come and get them still. So we talked about it for a couple days and decided to get them too. So actually we have 40 hens now. Its a lot of hens, but we wanted to have lots of eggs, and we will. We'll sell the extra eggs to pay for the feed, and it will be great. We can sell them for $3 a dozen or so. Should be fun. Oh, and I included pics of our plants in our new greenhouse too. :)

Our new greenhouse

Mya's contributions were her stuffed alien, a lot of tail wagging, standing around in the way, and whining if she couldn't be in touching distance of Justin. :) Oh, and biting any sticks or wood bits that happened to hit the ground.
Ok, I'm pretty sure this next picture is some kind of OSHA violation - can a stuffed alien really be the ladder holder? It just seems they don't have the upper body strength........

My wonderful husband built me (well all of us really) a greenhouse this past weekend. We've been growing our little plants on our desk downstairs, but as they've gotten bigger we needed a more permanent solution. Plus its so hard to get good vegetables up here, that we have needed to do something for a years now. Just we didn't ever get to it, but now Justin's done it! Its an 8x8 greenhouse, with 3 shelf areas, up on the deck, hooked to the side of the house. Should be great. We've got corn, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapenos, flowers, and will soon have lettuce, dill, basil, maybe carrots. We also have planted pumpkins, alaska muskmelons, and acorn squash, oh and zucchini. Most of the squash/pumpkin family is still downstairs. They are waiting for cold frames in the garden when it thaws more. For now though we've got a great start! Fun stuff. Today we moved the plants (most of them) upstairs, and put in some brick pavers to use as insulation, or to hold heat rather, so that it will stay warmer at night. Pretty cool stuff!

Update

We went to the Orthopaedic surgeon on tuesday, to see what is going on with Justin's ankle. He still can't walk without extreme pain, can't work, etc. So since homer doctors didnt' have anything to offer us, we decided to go to Soldotna to an ortho guy that came really highly recommended. He looked at the x-rays we got in December when the accident happened, and he didn't look at them 30 seconds before he saw where it had broken and been damaged in the accident. So then he showed us, and it was right there as clear as can be. Then he took some more x-rays to see how that fracture had healed, and to see if anything else showed up.

There are 2 joints in the ankle, one that lets the foot flex up and down, and the other joint that lets the foot rotate side to side. The one that got damaged in the accident was the one that lets the foot go side to side. Its actually deeper in the ankle, and harder to treat. He said that we need to wait 3 more months, and if it's still not better, then we'll go back and he'll inject steroid and cortisone into the joint to let it relax and heal. Then he can tell by the way it responds to the shot how it was damaged and is healing. He was really on the ball, and was very helpful in letting us know what's going on. He also said that Justin did tear the ligaments in the ankle, but that they heal themselves, even though its very painful, they just heal themselves. He said his ankle is really badly damaged, but that we just have to give it time.

Then on wednesday we met with the director of the Small Business Administration to get some help with our business to build boats. He is really excited to help us, and thinks its the greatest idea and is going to be very successful. He has big plans for it, and thinks its going to go really far, farther even than we had planned. So that was really exciting, and encouraging.

Other than that we're just trucking along. Justin finished his big bowl, and today I need to get some pictures taken of it, and post it on the Etsy site. Its beautiful, it turned out really nice. Well, I better get going on doing my laundry (I HATE laundry, but oh well it has to be done). I actually used to do the laundry in the hopes that it would be DONE and I wouldn't have to do it anymore. Then I read this funny encouragement book, and it said, that I need to just get it in my head that the laundry will never be done, and to stop pushing myself to get it finished, because it will always be there, so that helped alleviate some of the laundry frustration, but I still don't like it. :)

What's New

I wanted to take a couple pictures of Justin carving on his birch burl bowl (try to say that 5 times fast), since he looks so cute all covered in saw dust. :)

Heathcliff is feeling pretty chipper, with the upcoming signs of spring. Of course with his limited verbal skills, its hard to tell the difference between "So nice to see you""WOOHOO its spring" "I'm out of water" "The mice/magpies are eating my food" and "Hey you kids get off my lawn". They're all just high pitched screaming and pacing around the yard.

Mya has this stuffed alien, that I won at the state fair when Justin and I went in August. Ever since I walked in the door, she has wanted it. So the other day I was re-arranging some things, and she was standing there looking all pitiful/hopeful at the alien, that I decided to give it to her. Now she carries it all over the house. One day the cat held it hostage, which was hilarious, but those pics are on the other camera, so guess I won't post those today. :)

We had a bit of a controversy this easter, regarding Fourth of July Fruit Salad. Justin has his fruit salad with cool whip mixed in, and/or maraschino cherries. Now, no one is allowed to mess with Grandpa's fruit salad recipe - its a time honored tradition. But last time we had it he really wanted Cool Whip, and I said no, so this Easter I thought what the heck, and got him some cool whip. Dad tried to change the recipe further, which was not allowed. So now we're going to have to make fruit salad more often, so we can have different kinds. :) Oh, and we included a video of mom's dire warning for anyone who changed the fruit salad recipe. :)

Selling our stuff

Mom found this website where artists and craftspeople can sell the things they make, for a nominal fee. Its called Etsy. (http://www.etsy.com/), so we decided to set up a shop where we can sell the things that we make, since we all make different things. I'm selling cards that I make, and I'm going to sell the fruit baby hats that I knit, as well as the purses. Mom's selling cards, and her fancy scarves. Justin's making wooden, birch burl bowls, that he carves, and we're going to sell those too. We're just going to add things as we make them and come up with them. I think it will be fun, and hopefully work well for us. Our shop is at http://thewindfarm.etsy.com/ . Justin's bowls are so beautiful that I wanted to share them on here. He's making some much larger ones too, but they take a long time. :) We went out on our snow machines this winter and gathered the burls, then we've been drying them in the living room.

And I'd just like to say that I did a darn professional job with the pictures too. :) Alicia

Today was a snowmachining date for Justin and I. The weather was perfect, and the snow is melting fast so we decided to head out and take advantage of it. When the winter started and we got out machines, I was terrified of anything to do with riding them, but every time we got out, I learn more and get better at it, which makes me feel very proud. The second time we went out I had a major panic attack, and had to go back to the truck, so I've made a lot of progress. It was so beautiful today I wanted to show everyone what we saw, even though pictures can't show it nearly good enough. At the bottom is pictures from the last time we went out, and the weather was very different.
Trail through the trees on the way to Caribou Lake/Hills.
Below is me on my machine, the pic above is of the trail on the way to Caribou Lake.

Well, there's a story for the next photo. Usually I'm very agreeable to having my picture taken, I almost never take a picture with my tongue sticking out, but for this particular picture it fits. Right before this, Justin had gone up what I thought was a pretty steep hill following the trail that climbed up where he wanted to go. When I got there, I stopped at the bottom, NO WAY was I riding up there. So he gestures for me to ride up, I gesture no, and back and forth until finally he leaves his machine, slides down the hill on his butt, and comes over to me. We have a short discussion about whether I'm going up the hill or not, and finally he convinces me to get on the back and sit, while he drives us up the hill. So, I hunker down on the back, and holding the handlebars, and I put my head down and sqeeze my eyes shut as tight as I can while he drives us up. We climb for what feels like forever, until I feel the machine start to tip over. I swear it felt like we were tipped over, so I roll over with the machine, and we tip over in the snow at the top of the hill. Well, we were at the top, which I didn't know having my eyes shut still, and we were almost stopped when I rolled us over. But I was scared to DEATH!! I'm not a hill person, and I panicked. So then I was sitting on my machine trying not to panic about how in the world I was going to get back DOWN the hill when Justin got out the camera to take the pictures we'd ridden up there to get, and so we have a picture of me with my tongue out. :) BTW, I didn't ride back down, poor Justin had to ride his machine down, climb the hill and ride my machine down while I slid down on my butt. You'll be able to see in the pictures farther down just how high up we were!!
Just a pic of the trail.
the mountains across the bay from the trail.
I love this picture!

This was up at the highest point I went to. Justin went up higher and got the 4 pictures that follow this. I had gone as high up as I was able/willing to go. :) So I sent him up to get the pictures he wanted. I'm a big chicken. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day to go up there, it was perfect, even up as high as we were, there was just a light breeze.
This was the picture Justin went up there to get. Its looking into Sheep Creek, where we want to go in a boat. We really want to get over in that area.
Another view from up high, this time looking out Kachemak bay, towards homer. And seeing how far up we are I'm sure some of you can understand my being afraid! :)
Still up high. Its so beautiful and quiet up there.
Still up high.

Here's a picture of the place we took off from today. We like this spot because you just dump the sleds off the trailer, and run up the road, and join the trail. Its an easy ride, and a fairly smooth way to get back into the hills.

PICS from last week:

These pictures are from last week, when we went out to take wood to a friend (Nate), and then he went out snowmachining with us. Here's Justin in the front, Nate in the back.
Just as we were thinking about heading back to Nate's house, a storm rolled in and started to blow really hard and pelt us with snow pellets. All the more reason to head in.....
The clouds look so cool though....
More from the storm before we went in.

Me and Justin together last week when we went out with Nate, I'm on Nate's old machine, so he could have fun on my machine. My machine is a lot for me to handle, its heavy and its very powerful The little machine was perfect practice for me, I think it topped out at 25 miles an hour, instead of the 100 something mine can do (not that I've done it).

The video is of Justin doing a wheelstand on his machine. He's the only person I've seen of all the people we've gone out with who can do one. You have to be tall enough, and strong enough to get the leverage to pull the machine up, hang onto it, and punch the gas hard enough to get the front end to pull up. It looks way cool though, definitely worth watching!

Hope you like the pictures of our adventures for the day. :) Alicia

Denae tagged me on her blog, so I thought I'd post my replies on my blog. Anyone who wants to do this is tagged! :) Alicia

*what is your occupation? I take care of my mom
*what are you listening to right now? Jay Leno's monologue
what is the last thing you ate? dinner - mexican type food, beans, meat, taters, green chile
*do you wish on stars? yes I do
*if you were a crayon what color would you be? a purple/blue hybrid
*how is the weather right now? cold-ish
*last person you talked to on the phone? my mom
*do you like the person who tagged you? absolutely
*how old are you right now? 27 and 297 days
*your favorite drink? lemonade
*favorite sport to watch? I’m not really into sports, but I love watching rodeo and monster trucks
*have you ever dyed your hair? Yeah, quite a few times
*your favorite job? I don't know
*any pets? Scruffy (cat), Mya (dog), Heathcliff (loud screechy goose)
*favorite month? hmm, May or December
*favorite food? That's a tough one, I like a lot of stuff
*what was the last movie you watched? Fantastic Four, rise of the silver surfer
*favorite day of the year? I don't really have one
*what do you do to vent anger? rant, or listen to loud music
*fall or spring? Summer, or if I have to choose between fall/spring, I pick fall
*hugs or kisses? gotta have both
*cherry or blueberry? cherry I guess
*living arrangements? living with my parents, in an apartment downstairs
*when was the last time you cried? a couple weeks ago I guess
*what is on the floor in your closet? Shoes & water storage, and some junk
*who is the friend that you have known the longest? Um, I don't know, my mom I guess
*what did you do last night? Finished quilting part of a quilt, watched movie
*what inspires you? music
*what are you afraid of? I'm afraid of the dark, I admit it
*how many cars have you had? 6- F250, escort (2), durango, Dodge Ram, F150
*how many keys are on your key ring? 9
*how many years at your current job? 4 years 2 months
*favorite day of the week? Anyday that isnt' bad
*where have you lived? Joseph OR, Homer AK, Tok AK, Bozeman MT, Laie HI
*first cd you ever bought? I'm not sure honestly
*favorite vacation? hmmm, the one is November I think
*favorite tv shows? Top Chef, Project Runway, Iron Chef, Real Housewives of Orange County (I admit it, trashy as it is, I like it), Grey's Anatomy.
*5 things on my to do list today: get my hair cut, get some groceries, price shelves, fix dinner, get ready to go to Anchorage tomorrow morning EARLY
*Snacks I enjoy: String cheese, cookies
*What I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire: Pay off debts, give to both sets of parents, buy a house way out in the sticks, maybe an island, just live, do what I want, enjoy myself.
*3 of my bad habits: bad language, impatience, not finishing projects I start
*5 jobs I have had: dishwasher, gift shop manager, petroleum dispension technician, personal care attendant, baker at PCC
*5 things people don't know about me: I don't like bugs, I don't like soccer, I love Get Fuzzy the cartoon, i'm allergic to fish, I forget stuff a lot.