They are gonna be the death of me

I got up yesterday morning with a miagarane.
I have had them for years, and they are pretty constant. I would LOVE to just lay down in a dark room with no interuptions but that is not possible. So I deal with it. I wear sunglasses inside, I puke all day and I look like I am going to die. Smells make it worse and constant chatter kills me. But I deal with it. I dont expect sympothy, and I dont expect my family to alter their lives because my head hurts. It would be nice if they would not talk quite as much, but that is not gonna happen.
Since I didnt get much sleep the night before it probebly triggered it.

The good news is:
We finally got some pigs.

The bad news is:
We finally got some pigs.

My sister in law had seen a sign about 40 miles away. It said 'hogs and pigs for sale.' So we called. noone would ever call us back. Then she said maybe she got the wrong phone number. So BR and I loaded the kids up adn drove over there to see. We got there and come to find out, they had sold out last year. But just forgot to take down the sign. In their driveway. They had recently went BACK into the business. cause like me they went to tryin to find a butcherin hog and they cost so much and were so scarce. But all they had was a pregnant sow. Babies due in 3 months.


When we left there I called back a woman that has been pretty hard to get ahold of. She was finally home. Had 4 pigs left and wanted the astronomical price of 50.00 a pig.

well since pigs are scarce as hens teeth you gota pay the price. We told her we wanted 2. I told her I knew she was staying at the hospital with her sister, but if I brought her the money would she save the pigs till she could get home and we could meet. She said "I got lights in my barn, come on"
It was already 6:00. So, we drove past our house and headed to hers. 85 miles in the other direction. She said she had hampshires. These are the black pigs with a white stripe around their chest, back and front legs.

She had the runt male, he had a 'belt' but it was a little wonky. and the sows she had were all black. Not what we wanted, but beggers cant be choosers. Then we drove back home. BR went ahead and got 2 sows.
And he tells the kids, that due to them being so hard to find, and so expensive, we will not be butchering these 3. We will raise them and then breed them and butcher THEIR babies.
I agree in theory. But I want some REAL meat. not the crap I pay 4.50 a pound for at walmart that has no taste. And I want to see my grocery bill cut in half.

With this scenario we are talking August before we can breed. Around December before they drop, and August before I can butcher. Thats a year and a half.
I think if I come across one more, I am going to buy it. THEN if it looks better than his, we will keep mine for breeding, but one way or the other, I am getting me some pork chops come August. Come Hell or High water!

Almost 170 miles, nigh on 10 o'clock and we had to get them settled in.

Then I had to check on them through out the night. We are VERY scared of preditors. You remember the pics of the coyotes? Well, they were walking right through where we built the pen. ANd we couldnt move the pen closer to the house. You dont want a hog pen in your back yard. I promise.

Then I had to go to town and get feed yesterday morning. or rather 'pig starter' This stuff is high as a cats back. 18.00 for 50lbs. Thats outragious. We locked them up in the lean to the first night, and I went out and let them run around in the pen yesterday. When it came time to lock them back up, they were not going to do it.

But maybe if they are not locked up they will survive if a coyote gets in there. where as if they were it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.



Yesterday, while I was running around trying to put more wire on the gate (because the runt can get through it) and dealing with a few other things, including putting up groceries, (which is one of those things I despise). I always try to make the kids bring them in the house, its the constant trek back outside that kills me. I just hate it. Putting them up isnt as bad. but bringing them in is agervating to me. ANd its never ONE sack. just a run for 'bread and milk' for a family of 6 is at least 12 sacks.
I was tired, cranky and had already ran around town all day. I had also driven to the horse pasture, stole some hay, fed, and got an extra feed bucket, I had the afore mentioned miagraine and still had work to do. The wind was trying to take the cap off my head and I had a chatterbox and a leach following me. The phone rang. It was the nurse at school. At 2pm. Matt had a headache and wanted me to come and get him. He had about an hour left. I had JUST been in town for hours. And I was NOT driving back in. I dont get any quarter when my head hurts. I still have to run them all over town, cook supper, answer why the sky is blue and the leaves fall off trees, and referee fights all day. So I was a bit cranky. I told him to lay down till 3. It would be about 2:40 before I could get there anyway. It was threatening rain, I had feed in the back, milk to put up and Bow and Rayley had already stripped out of their clothes.

On my way up, with like my 4th trip of bags, I look down into this old tin bucket that was on the porch. The wind was blowing something feirce, huge gusts all day. and it lifted up some of the hay that was in it.

So I see this.





Great, my kids found a buzzards nest. And got the eggs. and are trying to incubate them! JUST my luck.

Then I got to wonderin. What has GREY eggs? I dont think anything does. Maybe a snake. which would be just about right.

I decided to make them get rid of the eggs. because if the bird had been off the nest, they were done for anyway. you have to keep eggs at a constant temp of around 100* for them to hatch. Snake eggs also have to stay warm, but I think they can go dormant for a while. Turtle eggs too. So if they get dug up or the ground freezes they will still be viable when it warms back up. bird eggs are the same way to a point. but dont last as long as turtle and snake eggs. Which look ALOT alike. of course snake eggs bounce so you can tell the differnce.

But, it just made me mad. Contrary to the way it looks, with 4 kids, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 18 chickens(with 10 more on the way), 3 pigs, 2 horses and a potbellied pig, I am NOT running a zoo. And I dont want things hatching out up here that I wouldnt drag home on my own.


When I got it all unloaded and put up, I had to find Bow's shoes. Rayley 'thought' they were in her room so I went into there, which is a DISASTER, and glanced at this.




Do you see it?


See it now?



How about now?

Well, I will admit, I am still a little skittish since the crap they pulled on Presidents day, so, my blood pressure went up IMMEDIATLY! I am not one for catching a live snake. BUT there is 18 baby chicks (yes I have lost two) not 15 feet from where this one was. Chirping their little heads off. And I knew he could get through the cage. These kids had the nerve to bring a snake into the house, KNOWING they are not allowed to.
SO, I stomped,
with my barefoot
then I reached down and grabbed its head.




when my blood pressure goes up, my miagraine gets worse. That is also one of my triggers. any slight rise of blood pressure gets me. Now granted, sometimes I will be doing just fine, then all of a sudden I get a sudden pain in my head, everything goes black for a second and BOOM, my head is splitting in two.

But when I already have one, it can be a mild one. Just a sunglasses and please dont scream headache. But it can get worse with just a little stimulation. That is what happened.






Then I got REALLY mad. I dont know where my mind was. Seriously. I will blame it on the miagraine, having seen the eggs, that I NEVER wear my glasses and am blind as a bat, and the fact that I was just plumb tired. Preditors are on my mind, and its just one of those days. I had seen this thing in their rooms for months. And the first few times it gave me a little start. But, shortly thereafter it hits me that it looks fake. Today had just been one of those days. While checking out at walmart I had gotten 2 bags of oranges, they were 4.58. marked down to 1.89. So I got two 4lb bags, of course only one rang up right, so the lady was having to change it, and one of them came aloose- a dozen oranges went EVERYWHERE. We were chasing oranges from Hell to breakfast.

So as I was walking out to the hog pen, I decided to look IN the bucket. I was still apprehensive, incase a snake was in the eggs and it had hatched out. I was still wearing my sunglasses, while walking in and out of the house. And they are not prescription, so everything is blurry and dark.

This is what I found.




Last years plastic easter eggs that had Spiderman plastic on them that had been taken off. So they were just a slate grey color. I swore I had thrown these away.

Yep. I'm an idiot. but you have to admit, you'd be a little gunshy too if your kids brought home a buzzard.

Oh the chickens. As you know I got some larger breeds at the feedstore the other day. Well, I called back to ask if they would be getting in any banties. Not anytime soon, I could order and they would be in at the end of March. Well, you cant put day old babies in with month and a half old babies. they would peck them to death. I needed them quicker. So I went to Ideal's website and ordered some. I got 8 bantams, Cochins and just normal. These are soo cute. I got some called Frizzle Cochins. Their feathers turn up. like they stuck their finger (or beak) in an electric socket. Plus I ordered 2 Black Jersey Giant Roosters. I only need one, but you hate to only get one and it die. This will put me over my 25 birds that was my original goal, but not by much. They are coming in next Friday. The post office will call me when they get here. I am so excited!! THe banties will weigh about 2 pounds when grown. The Giants will be around 12. The average of my others is around 7 to 8.

Here are some of the babies I have now. It was right before we change the litter, so it looks bad. I change it at least once a day. ahhh more work for me!





Here are a few pics from the hog pen.


Not a great shot of them, but here are the newest additions.

At first it was just me and the youngest two. I was busy trying to get the gate secure, Rayley and Bow had been in and out of it about a dozen times, The wind was whipping and everytime they opened the chicken coop door it would slam into me. A peice of tin had already came at me like a guilotine and I was on the verge of just bringing the pigs in the house and lockin the kids outside.

Of course when I have my back turned my kids will get into stuff. Bow had already dumped out a 4 pound box of staples. ended up INSIDE a 2 foot section of rolled up chicken wire, and then he did this:



Yes, he is STUCK in the fence.





Later Rayley was telling Brett about him doing it and that mo-ron argued with her, telling her that noones head would get stuck in there. And then proceeded to show her that even his big ole jug would come out. He was wrong. But I didnt rescue him. he finally got loose, but almost lost an ear in the process.



******Oh, and while I am trying to write this blog, I am constantly fighting them off of me. They are fighting each other, trying to sit on top of me. wanting something to eat or drink, or just talking. I keep telling Rayley if she will get OFF the couch and play Bow will too. But she was standing on the edge of the couch. reading a book, leaned over the back. and asking me what each word was. She doesnt want ME to read it to her. She wants to read it to ME, but cant read yet. And she just wants to keep it away from Bow. She is just trying her hardest to aggitate him.
So, he is leaning over the back of the couch too. then he falls over the back. Into a box that has some Christmas decorations in it. A box that I have asked time and again to be taken outside. That my kids have continued to stack crap ON and in. Well they put their baseball helmet in there. And Bow flipped off the couch and into the box. landing perfectly with his head in the helmet. I swear. It was a once in a lifetime thing. And since he was okay, I couldnt help but laugh. He wasnt crying, he was just mad as a wet hen.



Yes, he is wearing a purple shirt and pastel striped shorts. Rayley dressed him this morning. the helmet was laying on its side over in that corner.

This is just what my days are like. They are CONSTANTLY into something. or messing up something. there is no such thing as sitting still, being good, or staying out of trouble.

******back to the hog pen yesterday.


ahhhhh he cant get to me!! Soooo nice!! Wonder if the hogs would survive if I left him out there?

Notice how bad the chip is in his tooth? It just breaks my heart that he did that!

I told the kids to go out and sit, the pigs were very skittish, and hogs stress really easy. But none of them were capable of sitting still. Except Matt. He got the closest to them and was able to touch one.

and I had a bucket of water that I poured out, the pigs had been rooting everywhere, I fiqured they might like the soft mud too.
But guess who got to it first?
Yep, my own wallerin hog...





By the time we got back to the house, Bow was having a melt down. He hadnt napped all day and just wanted to be held. I had to clean the kitchen, unload the dishwasher and cook supper.
I had came up the house before the rest with Bow to get this started. When they came in, not much was done. Bow was a walking, crying, climbing mess. I opened the dishwasher, he would climb in. or start pulling things out. I would get him out and he would then start dragging things off the table. The bread, some plates from lunch, or out of drawers and cabinets. IF he wasnt hanging on my legs making it impossible to walk.

When the guys and Rayley came in, Brett asked me if he could cook some of supper. I told him to have at it and went and sat down with Bow. With in minutes he was alseep. BRett cooked hamburger helper and it was good. I was very proud of him and it helped me out alot.

Of course the kids wouldnt shut up long enough at dinner to not wake Bow back up. But I did get to get the strawberries cut up for dessert and got to eat most of my food.

Now back to my kids and my days. After I got done here, I went and made lunch. While I had my back turned getting peanut butter out of the cabinet, Bow got into the jelly.. Before I knew it, he had it all over my hair.
So I did something I dont ever do when the kids are awake. Or try not to.
and NO I dont mean cuss. I will admit, I do that ALL the time.

I took a shower.

This is what I am blessed with each and every time I take a shower and they are awake.



They bang on the door, they open the door, they get into a an argument in the bathroom.

ANd yes, my bathroom is a mess.
its something else I cant do while the kids are awake. I cant clean it. While I am cleaning the shower, or picking up clothes, Bow is in the toilet. Or if I am cleaning the toilet, he is in the shower.
If I can keep him OUT of those places, he gets into my bathtub, that we have already decided I dont ever use and instead use as storage, and get out the stacks of newspapers that I put there, so they wont be scattered all over the house when he finds them. Since I buy 5 to 6 a week (for the coupons) , there is alot of paper in there. I started keeping them a few weeks ago, to line the chick brooder with. DO you know how many individual sheets are in a Sunday paper? If its not that he is unrolling rolls of toilet paper.

Today he hadnt scattered much. I thought. instead it was all in the bedroom floor. but my camera batteries were out. And I wasnt in the shower but about 5 minutes. just long enough to wash my hair. I swear!