greene's blog: Things are hopping around here.

Yep, things are hopping. No, not the frogs and toads just yet; it's still too cold for that. But things keep happening.

Sometime in January, I had put 12 eggs into the small incubator and forgot to keep a log book. Guessed at the dates and put the incubator on lockdown on Friday.

It was Saturday when things went crazy around here. First, the chicks in the incubator started to hatch out.
Then, there's a phone call telling me that the man with the stump grinder is in my yard so I have to move my car. You might remember about the 60+ year old Azaleas that had been removed and left 5 huge stumps.
This was what my house looked like before the Azaleas were removed. They were a bit overgrown.

These are two of the five stumps.


I was a nervous wreck listening to that stump grinding machine...After the man and his machine left, I snapped a few photos, tossed some chicken food down and asked the chickens to start the clean up job on the mess.

I let the dogs outside for a few minutes and we all took a long, long nap. Well, the dogs and I napped. The chickens were busy working outside.

I usually have to go to the laundromat to do my washing but it costs anywhere from $29 to $49. I live in an unfinished house; there is a perfectly good washing machine sitting in the dining room, not hooked up to anything. It finally dawned on me that I could actually make use of the washer even though it would be a bit unconventional. I figured that if I had a hose long enough I could hook up the washer to the spigot in the laundry room.

Yep, so I did.

Well, no I didn't.

Garden hoses have a male and a female end but washing machines have 2 female ends. Back to the drawing board. And back to the store.

I already have a short garden hose so I bought a female end repair.
Yep, did it.
Hooked up the hose.
No water came out into the machine.
What?
Oh, maybe there is a plug in the end on the washing machine, like part of the packing material and such.
Yep, took out the plug.
Hooked the hose up.

Oh, by the way...every time I have to turn the water on or off, it's necessary to walk all the way around from the dining room, living room, hall, then through the locked gate into the laundry room, flip the spigot-thingy, the blue one for cold water, and walk all the way back, locking the gate behind me so the dogs won't get in to bother the chicks. Whew...am I tired.

Okay, turned the water on, walked all the way back just in time to see water spewing all over the place. I am not able to run but walked as fast as possible to shut the water off again. Oh, that locked gate again!

Then back to the dining room, grabbed a basket full of clean towels and threw the towels at all that water on the floor. Whew...I need another nap and back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong this time. Maybe my repair was faulty?

The next day I drove to the store and as I was looking at hoses noticed that there were hoses for those...hose caddy things. Some of the caddies require a male/female hose but others have Woohoo! 2 female ends! Yes, didn't even look at the price, bought it and headed home.

The next day is scheduled to finally succeed and get some washing done.
But there was a knock on the door.
Oh, crap, now what?!
It's the little boy from diagonally across the street. I know he doesn't speak any English so we do our best to understand each other. His mother needs rice at Walmart. (Sheesh, wasn't I just t Walmart the day before!) So I go into the house and bring out 2 bags of rice. His face fell. Nope, my rice isn't good enough. I have to get the rice at Walmart. Well, after about 20 minutes of this nonsense he finally uses all his sign language, facial expressions, and Spanish words. His mother wants to go IN my CAR to Walmart. Oh, great. That means that I have to get out of my house clothes, brush hair and teeth (don't worry, I do use two different brushes), put on 2 sweatshirts because it's cold outside, and then clear all the junk, garbage, thrift store purchases, etc. from the passenger seat of my car. I piled all the junk into 3 laundry baskets...I mean, it's not like any laundry is getting washed today. So far, all I managed to do was get the nice clean towels dirty and sopping wet.

Done.
Whew.
Drive across the street and find not just his mother, no, but his mother and one other woman who is very pregnant. (I'm joking in my mind hoping that 'rice at Walmart' aren't the Spanish words for 'labor and delivery'!) It's a good thing that the mother is petite - she settled the pregnant woman in the front passenger seat and squeezed her small self into the space in the back. (I have 4 dogs, a filthy car, and the woman is wearing black pants.) I drive us all to Walmart, park near the grocery side (well, we are going in for rice, aren't we?), and the two women immediately walk all the way to the other side of the store and start shopping for Valentines candy, stuffed animals, then boys' clothes, girls' clothes, women's clothes...but no rice.

We must be finished because they get into the line.
The line is a mile long. (By the way, I need to pee!)

All of a sudden they do an about face and head to health and beauty aids with me trailing behind. They search and search looking for something. I realize they are in the body wash aisle looking for hair shampoo and conditioner. Move them gently to the correct aisle where they are sniffing all the scents (how can they smell anything with their masks on?) and finally decide which ones they want to purchase.

Okay, back into the line which is now twice as long.
We are inching forward when it dawns on me that they are most likely gonna pay with cash. I excuse myself to talk to the cashier, yep, credit/debit cards only - no cash. Well, I'm not getting out of this line and into the longer line for cash only so I explain to them that this line is credit only but I am willing to use my credit card if they reimburse me with their cash. Yes, they seemed very pleased to not have to get into a different line. Well, since I'm the one paying, they gave me the honor of scanning and bagging every item. Two separate orders. (I really have to pee! I can imagine the pregnant woman is thinking the same thing.)
The total was $145...and they never even bought any rice!
They reimburse me, we drive back home, unload, and each woman gives me a big smile, a thank you, and some Valentine candy. The mother gives me $10 for the ride which I try to refuse but, well, you know how that goes. I drive myself home (finally was able to pee), let the dogs out for a quick minute, then drive myself to Walmart to buy my own stuff and stop at the liquor store on the way home. (Sometimes thinking requires wine.)

The next day I realized that the boy was not saying 'rice at Walmart'; he was attempting to speak English and trying to say 'ride to Walmart'. Ya gotta give the kid credit for trying. He must think I'm a total idiot for not understanding simple English.
The dogs and I go to sleep.
Wake up at about 2 am. Well, I wake up; the dogs are snoring like lumberjacks.

Remember that no water was going into the washing machine no matter how many times I tried?
I had hooked the hose to the HOT water side on the washer instead of the COLD water side.
Yes, I truly am an idiot.
It's official.

Well, meanwhile the chicks are still hatching. While all this was going on, the six chicks turned into 8 chicks. Three others needed assistance to get out of the shell. Of those 3, two are doing fine but one may not make it. (This one is not very photogenic, believe me, you don't need to look.) I've been using a plastic syringe to give him/her water and some Vet/RX to see if it'll work.(Helpful chick advice is appreciated, thanks.)
The ten fluffy butt chicks are now in the brooder with the sickly chick alone in the incubator. That's 11 chicks from 12 eggs. The last egg seems to be a dud. But you will notice that I did not count any chickens before they hatched.
Here are some of the chicks eating. And yes, I did have to drive all the way across town to buy starter feed for them.


This chick is pretending to be an owl.


My dog Jack is allowed to visit the chicks. He loves his little 'babies'.


Somewhere in the middle of all that nonsense, usually around 3-4 most mornings I did some sewing. Made shamrock masks someone named Beth requested for her friends who work in the medical field. Our Saint Patrick's Day parade and festivities are cancelled due to the pandemic, the masks will hopefully provide some joy to the essential workers. Also made some Superman masks. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and not all of them wear a cape.


Today I finally washed laundry in the machine. I still had to walk all the way around to turn the water on and off, and when the water drains out of the machine it goes into a huge plastic tub since there is no drain in the dining room (but there is a handy window) But I saved some money and got lots of exercise.

One of these days, in my spare time, I'll clear a path so the washing machine can be relocated to the laundry room where it belongs.

But wait.

I usually like to end on a happy note but this time the end will be a gardening note.
For anyone who is still reading, and who is a gardener, I need to mention that those ancient Azaleas were keeping company with some very prickly companions. Smilax. Think about it for just a quick minute. A stump grinder was used and ground up not only the Azalea stumps, the oak, sassafras, mulberry and all the other assorted smaller stumps, but every smilax bulb, vine, and root...

Cue the Twilight Zone music; this is just beginning to get interesting.

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