Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Could I have a side of biscuit with my butter..PLEASE?



Presenting the most delish Southern breakfast I enjoyed last weekend at Straun's Eat Shop in Shreveport w/ none other than the amazing David Leggett. Love him!

After examining these pics I realize why I gained 4lbs after last weekend (it couldn't have been the copious amount of vodka tonics......). Seriously. And Southerners are can't imagine why we are the fattest people in the U.S.

But, LOOK AT THOSE BISCUITS! pure heaven. and totally ok to have every 6 months! Moderation.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Chloe is a STAR!

Chloe-nina is now a professional model.
Here she is modeling our car harness for our new Wal-Mart packaging.
Watch out Naomi Campbell!

I am so proud of her.

Friday, August 24, 2007

egg egg egg egg egg egg egg egg egg egg egg egg eecummings

FIRST EGG AUGUST 23, 2007
Yesterday was the day! Yay hooray!
I am so proud of Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
Now of course, I can't be 100% sure that it was her but, she is the only hen displaying classic egg laying behavior: her comb and wattle are bright red and fully grown, + whenever you walk up to her to pick her up she kind of squats down (I think she is hoping for a rooster......poor thing...destined to a life of celibacy.....kind of like a nun...doesn't sound too bad actually....that's weird never mind).
Don't you love her in the above pic? She is just a-squawking at the camera. And she is so nice and fluffy now!



Above: The fruit of Jackie's labor.Is it not gorgeous??



I am so proud of my ladies! I'm sure we will be getting blue and green eggs soon as well.

For ye without all of the chicken knowledge I have gleaned from backyardchickens.com:

You have to teach chickens to lay in their egg boxes. Most farmers/etc do this with ceramic fake eggs that you can buy from hatchery catalogs, feed stores etc. Well, wouldn't you know it that Kathy (my mom) didn't have ceramic eggs in her easter decoration collection but MARBLE eggs. Yes, marble eggs. Why? who knows. Too bad she didn't have a faberge egg I could have used.....nothing but the finest for my first ladies!!

Anyway, so....about week ago I put the marble eggs in the hen's egg boxes. Apparently this encourages them to get into the egg boxes and scratch around.....make themselves at home and figure out that it is a purrrrrrrfect spot to lay eggs.


One of the marble eggs is dark green so it is really easy to see in the egg box. Yesterday after work I was refilling their waterer and I noticed that the green egg was missing! I crouched down and moved the hay around and found that the green egg was hidden under lots of hay and a beautiful pinkish-brown egg was in it's place!!!!!!!!!!
Raising chickens is so rewarding.





Thursday, August 16, 2007

YOGA




I am so excited b/c I'm going to this yoga workshop this weekend!
YAY!
Very spur of the moment, I've been looking into going to a yoga workshop at the kripalu institute with my yoga teacher in November. Check out kripalu.org. It sounds so wonderful.
The workshop at kripalu is an anusara yoga workshop. I used to go to an anusara teacher in Austin. Liz B at Yoga Yoga. Her classes were so hard! I really don't think I was ready for them at the time. Physically or emotionally. I love that style of yoga so much and I would really like to get more into it.......So, I was researching anusara a little bit on the web yesterday and I found this workshop in Jackson, MS which is only 2 hours away. Well, it was meant to be b/c not only was there space left in the workshop because the studio decided to move it to a larger space but, the owner of the yoga studio offered to let me stay at her house!
I can't wait.....I'm sure it's going to be a weekend of opening and growth.
Also, Julie (my yoga teacher) said that I could teach some anusara asanas to her classes in the future if I was interested. I would really like to teach yoga one day and this would be a great beginning............
Namaste y'all.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Eggs.......................when????????



All of the books/websites say 18-24 weeks. So, we should be having eggs any day now. I can't wait!
I am going to be such a proud mama.
I check their egg boxes eagerly every morning but no green, blue, brown, or pink goodies have been left for me yet.
The Ladies latest trick:
Somehow they have figured out how to fly up to roost on top of the fence of their run. I took some funny pictures of them up there last night I will have to post. Instead of putting themselves to bed in their cozy coop which I work so hard to keep well fluffed, well hay-ed, well pine shave-ed, well stocked w/ crumbles, dried corn, water, and whatever else their little bird heart's desire.......they decide to perch on a 1.5 inch wide metal bar that is 6 feet up in the air.
The funny thing is that if they just flew down the opposite side of the fence they could escape but they haven't seemed to figure that out......yet. These are dumb, yet crafty creatures.
So, if dark-thirty passes and I haven't remembered to go out and close the ladies in their coop I go out and see them all lined up in a row on the fence like pigeons on a telephone wire. Cute, but annoying. I was picking them each up individually and carrying them to the coop....but there were feathers flying and lots of frantic wing flapping and squawking so my latest technique has been to push them off of the fence from the other side with a broom. (How country is that?) These birds can hold on tight! Sometimes I have to push REALLY hard.
So, I have to confess that last night I was a really bad chicken mistress and I FORGOT to put the ladies to bed. I put myself to bed and at about 11:30pm I started awake and realized that the girls were outside....easy prey for raccoons, possums, the neighbors' big fat cat. So, off I trot to the coop in my green striped nightgown and orange crocs. There they were....all lined up in a row on the fence. Sitting ducks. However, this time they were all asleep. Chickens are really deep sleepers. That's part of the reason that they need to be put in a coop at night because they are completely defenseless when sleeping.....a raccoon could come to get them and they would never wake up in time to run away. So, I picked each lady up off of the fence and carried her to the coop.....they were so sweet and didn't even put up a fuss! It was like carrying a little sleeping baby to her crib. Some of them woke up but they just looked at me with their little beady bird eyes without even making a cluck.
All of the ladies made it to bed safely.
All is well.

Monday, August 13, 2007

WHITE RABBIT




Folks,

I have a new car. The acura had a great 10 year life but there's a new kid in town:

2007 Volkswagen Rabbit: Candy White, 2 door, 5speed standard.

Love it!

I was trying to decide btwn this car and a honda civic. While the civic is so practical and responsible......I decided that the rabbit is more "me".

What do you think?