My Goodness!!!

So, it's been WAY too long since I've updated the blog!! Sorry about that!

A LOT has changed since June!!

It turned out that Phineas and Ferb were both drakes, and Candace and Stacy turned out to be Candace and Steve! So, we traded Phineas and Ferb for 2 female Pekin from a local guy. He said they were both female, so we named them Zoe and Midna. It turns out that Midna is a drake as well!

 We then inherited our neighbors Khaki Campbell, Lily, because they were getting rid of all of their ducks. Lily was DDs best friends favorite duck, so we said we would take her. It wasn't until after I said that we would take her that we learned that she had broken her leg, and they had never done anything about it, so we have Lame Lily Duck! Around Labor Day I gave a friend 6 duck eggs to try and hatch. I had no idea if they were fertile or not, and it turned out that all 6 were fertile!!

 Then there was a mishap and the table that the incubator was on was rocked and only one egg remained. It hatched, and we named it Lucky. Since she was the only one, another friend gave us a Muscovy duckling (that we're debating is either a runner, or a Runner Scovie cross) that was about a week and a half older than her. So we had Gretchen and Lucky. Unfortunately, just the other day, Lucky choked on some food and we put her down. So, Gretchen is the only one who remains. :-(

All of our chickens are doing really well!! We ended up getting Buckeyes on 18June to replace the chickens that were lost in transit from Meyer. They all showed up happy, healthy, and chirping!

Robbie is our only rooster, thank goodness!! He welcomes the dawn every morning with a crow! He's fairly silent during the day tho. That makes me happy. We got our chicken coop done about a week before they were ready to go outside. Since at the time DH was traveling for work, it was just me building it! I did have a friend come over and help me with the initial build, but, after that I was on my own!

(yes, I know it's a little crooked... LOL)

The back is showing on this picture. I made it into 2 doors on the back, one large and one big, and the bigger door also has a large window in it. I'm going to be getting some better wiring to put over the openings, but, for winter I want to put some plexiglass, or something similar over them.

They seem to really enjoy it out there! They all free range in the back yard during the day.

(That's our neighbors RIR. They were have a West Side Story moment I think)

Recently a friend was moving and she had to get rid of all her chickens. So, we brought home 3 more hens, Boots, Lunch and Dinner. (I could only remember one of their names... LOL)

Boots

Lunch

Dinner

They're already laying, tho Lunch has just started a molt. Bad timing Lunch, bad timing!

Remember that tiny puppy we brought home?? Well, she's mostly grown up these days!! Here's some pictures of the little Annie from the last month or so. 

Sam and Annie

Annie and Dusty

Annie dressed up with no place to go!

Bat-eared Annie!

Our garden was mostly a bust this year. It was SO hot by the time the sun came out that none of us dared venture out there for more than a couple of minutes at most. Then our mower broke and we couldn't mow any grass, so the grass overtook EVERYTHING! (This was before we got the chickens and ducks out there to free range, they would have taken care of it.. LOL) At one point there was a deer sleeping in my garden! I scared it out when I went to feed the ducks and chickens. I didn't even see it! It just jumped up and ran off down the street! Oops! When we finally got everything fixed, it was just too late for the garden. We did find some interesting things in the back yard tho. Like this fellow:

Yes... that is a dead copperhead. We found it in the back yard. DS was moving the mower and it slithered out. He jumped out of the way and came and got me. Then he ran and got the neighbor and we cut it's head off. If it would have been in the back yard when it was mowed, I would have simply relocated it, or left it to leave, but with the grass being so high, I couldn't take a chance of someone getting hurt back there. 

We've already got a few things planned for next year, and we have some things in the garden now, covered by hoop houses! Lets see if we can get those to grow in there over the winter! Lets hope for a mild one! 

Hopefully it won't take me almost  months to update again! Until then, everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I don't use shampoo and conditioner

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When I first tell people I don't use shampoo or conditioner in my hair, they usually take a step back like you would a dog with fleas. It always makes me giggle.

A few months ago, I was trying out all these "natural" things, I found a few on "how to save money" websites, but this one TRULY interested me. How on Earth could you get away with not shampooing your hair?!?! Wouldn't it be greasy and gross? I know if I don't wash my hair every other day it gets really greasy and nasty! At least... that's what I used to think!

Studies show that using shampoo actually strips the oils right off of your scalp, which is why they tell you to not wash your hair the day before you have a perm or color your hair. Shampoo doesn't just clean your hair, it strips it of oils and moisture that it needs to be healthy and luxurious!

Another reason I tried this is because I was tired of going to the salon for a cut and them saying things like "Well, if you tried XYZ Product, you would have less frizz" or whatever they would have to say. I don't want to spend MORE money on products that I'm hardly ever going to use because I don't blow dry my hair all the time. HECK! I'm doing good if I BRUSH it every day! LOL

Enter to "no 'poo" method!

What I do is I take roughly a Tablespoon of baking soda, and combine it with a cup of water. I shake it up to combine it, and I pour it evenly on my head. I work it into my scalp really well, but not like you do with shampoo because it won't produce any suds. Trust me, it's working, even if there are no suds! Then I rinse it out. I then take about a Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to a cup of water, and use that as conditioner. I also use coconut oil as a deep conditioner once a week.

Now, if you are one of those people that washes their hair every day, or every other day and starts this... I'm going to warn you to have LOTS of pony tail holders ready! Your hair will go thru a cycle where it produces WAY too much oil and you will have an itchy head, and your hair will be greasy, but it only lasts about 3 weeks and your scalp will calm down and adjust to not being stripped of all it's oils all the time. I normally wear mine in a pony tail anyways, but I do let it down occasionally. You might also have to experiment a bit to find the right "mix" for your hair. I started out using exactly 1 Tablespoon to 1 cup of water. I now use a bit more than a tablespoon, but still 1 cup of water. I find that if I use only 1 tablespoon or less, my hair gets greasy quickly.

I now only need to wash my hair about once a week to 10 days. I just went to get a hair cut on Saturday, and the stylist told me that my hair was healthy and very nice looking.

When I first started doing this I thought that my hair would be a tangled mess after I stepped out of the shower. I have VERY THICK baby fine hair, and whenever I used to get it wet, I had to put conditioner in it, or I would end up with a handful of hair that would get pulled out brushing it. I don't have that issue at all! The vinegar lives it almost virtually tangle free! Not completely, but, I have noticed that there is less hair in the shower, less hair in my hairbrush, and it has some natural bounce and body to it now. I'm falling in love with my hair all over again! :-)


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Just some updates!

Well, things have been sorta eventful around these parts the last week or so. DH had been gone to Florida for work, so it was just the kids, the animals, and myself.

This past week seen another Tropical Storm. This one was pretty good! Still nothing major, but, it sure did leave lots of rain and plenty of wind! The ducks were LOVING it tho!

They sure have gotten big since we got them in March and early April!! Stacy is definitely a drake, and Candace is a hen. I'm also pretty sure that Phineas is a hen and Ferb is a drake. Woohoo! One of each! I'm excited about that!

We had been waiting for what seems like forever to get our chicks we ordered from Meyer. We originally didn't think that we were going to get them until mid July, but, it turns out that they had an over hatch and we were able to get them this week! Apparently it wasn't a very good week to get chicks via mail. When our 8 chicks arrived, only 3 were alive. The other 5 had gotten themselves outside of the matting and stuck between it and the box and were more than likely too cold and died. :( I called the hatchery as soon as I got home and they said that they would give me until Monday to make sure those 3 were going to make it, and they would replace them. Unfortunately, unless they have an over hatch, they may not have any chicks until August! I really don't want to wait until August to get the rest of my chicks! That would mean that I would need to give up my bathroom THREE times! LOL I think in about 3 weeks I'm going to get the chicks enclosure made up, and then they can go outside. It should be plenty warm enough that they don't need a heat lamp any more.

Here are the remaining 3 chicks tho!

From left to right we have Nugget, Bonnie, and Louise. I was going to name them Thelma and Louise, but DD had other plans. Of the ones that were gone when I opened the box, 2 were yellow, 1 was grey, and the other was chipmunk like Nugget and Bonnie. The other chick was a "meal maker" free chick and I'm pretty sure it was a black Australorp. I hope that when we get the new chicks that they're not all chipmunk. I'll update on Monday and let y'all know if I'll be getting chicks next week, or in a couple months. :/

Annie went to the vet this morning. She's getting SO big! She got her 12 week shots, and weighs 17 pounds.  She's gained almost 13 pounds since we got her. How crazy is that?!?! She's pretty much outgrown the crate that we have her in. We have a bolster bed in there, so if we took that out, she might still fit, but there's no tray to the bottom so I would feel bad about not having a nice squishy bed in there for her! Here's a picture of her in her favorite sleeping spot... under our table!

How could you ever be mad at that face? Even if she does have your $80 tennis shoe in her mouth! ;-) She's actually doing really well with the whole chewing thing. She mostly uses Lilly as her chew toy. Of course, lots of barking and hilarity begin about that time as well. :-)

Alberto

So... not much to report in on here at Ivy Hill. I've been pulling a steady handful+ of strawberries every day tho. Delicious ripe strawberries! YUM! The eggplant and peppers are starting to get the beginnings of flowers, and the tomatoes and beans HAVE flowers! Just thinking of sinking my teeth into a vine ripened tomato makes my mouth water with excitement!

The ducks are doing really well in their enclosure! They really like it out there! They seem to enjoy standing close to the fence when the dogs come out. The only one that really seems to get worked up any more is Dusty. She would stand there and bark at them for a good 5 minutes before giving up. Of course, when they get riled up and start running around their pen, all the dogs start to get riled up! Minus Annie of course. She doesn't really seem to give any thought to those ducks at all.

I think I might have made a big mistake when ordering our chicks. We ordered from Meyer Hatcheries. They had what was called a Meal Maker. I didn't really bother looking it up, because I thought it was just something that you put in their food or water when you get them. It was free, so I ordered one for each of the chicks... 7 in total. The other day I was checking on our order, just being curious, and I decided that I would look up what a meal maker was. IT'S A FREE CHICKEN! GAH! They say that they give these chickens away so that you can either donate the eggs, or slaughter the chicken and donate it to someone less fortunate or a soup kitchen or whatever. What am I going to do with 14 chickens?!?! We only wanted 7... we can't do 14! LOL Maybe I will give some to the neighbors. I don't know WHAT I'm going to do!

We did have Tropical Storm Alberto pushing in on us, but overnight he decided that he wanted to stay out to sea and not come visit. Thank GOODNESS! Tropical storms aren't too bad, just like a bad thunderstorm really. I'm just glad that we don't have to worry about it right now. Official hurricane season begins in June, so, we're just a bit early.

Anyways! That's all I got for now. :-)

Free Ducks!

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So, the past 2 days have been KILLER!!

I somehow managed to rope my friend Billy into coming to help me build this enclosure for the ducks. We THOUGHT it would only take the day of Saturday, and we would would have it done! Well... neither of us accounted for the fact that we are not the worlds best carpenters.

We got SLIGHTLY farther than this on Saturday. We managed to get all 4 walls completely up, the door in, and a support beam in the center. We then realized that it was going to start pouring down rain. We got all of the equipment inside about the time that the Heavens opened and the rain came down in buckets!

So, after church today, the kids and I went to our FAVORITE fast food place. It's called Cook-Out. You can get a main item, TWO side items, and a drink for less than $5. If you want a shake (which are some of the best in the universe might I add) it's $1 more. Today, I got the PB shake. It brought me back to Cincy where you can get the worlds BEST PB shake any corner UDF store. Haven't had one since then. It was DELISH! I may have a new addiction!

After lunch, we got back to work. We got the fencing on the outside, and the chicken wire on the top. I got most of it tied together, but the one section on the very outer edge isn't done. It overlaps quite a bit, and we don't really have many predators here, so I'm not super worried. 

The only things left to do are: Get support beams for between the 12' sections, build a ramp of some sort for the kiddie pool, a cinder block or something so they can get OUT of the pool, and putting the chicken wire on the bottom of the inside. 

 I thought this picture was really funny because Lilly was watching them hard core! Dusty is infatuated by them and every time she goes outside she walks around it about 209 times before I go out there and get her. LOL

We also ordered our chickens today. I believe we're going to have to build another enclosure for the chickens. It just doesn't look like there's going to be enough room for both the ducks and chickens in that enclosure. We won't get the chickens until July. Unfortunately, in all the mock order that I put in with that hatchery, I never noticed that they had an option to pay when the chicks were ready to ship. I could have had them by now. :-( Oh well. It's all for the best I think. :-)

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Last week in the house!

So, I realize that I haven't posted about the ducks in a while! They've continued to get bigger, to get more feathers, to be stinky, smelly, and as dirty as possible! LOL

Next weekend our friend Billy is going to come over and assist us with building their enclosure. It will just be a simple thing for right now. A simple 8'x24' enclosure with field fencing on the outside, and chicken wire on the inside and top. We will also be ordering 6 chicken hens and 1 rooster as well. We're not going to build a coop right now, because the ducks don't need it anyways, but we will probably build one the beginning of June. I'll be sure to post pictures of the process of us building the enclosure!

Here are the ducks last week.

The mallards (Phineas and Ferb) are starting to get their wing feathers now. I can see the blue, and even a bit of the white on Ferbs wing! I'm still hoping that we have 3 hens and 1 drake, but I would be okay with all hens as well. I just REALLY don't want more than 1 drake. That would be bad.

Anyways! Monk mowed the back yard today, so I couldn't put them in their enclosure after church. They got some time in the bathtub instead. They really enjoy bathtub time, but I can't say that I'm going to miss cleaning up after it!

I also will not miss my bathroom smelling like a duck, or pine shavings on my floor, or... dreaming my bathroom is really an oven because of their red light! I will sorta miss them... but only long enough to get chicks... and then the process starts all over! GAH! I'm a glutton for punishment I do believe! ;-)

Homemade Laundry Soap

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For the past 6 months or so, I have been making my own laundry soap. It works FANTASTIC! It smells wonderful, it cleans beautifully, and it is significantly less expensive. (Just what we all like to hear, right?!)

You will need Borax, Washing Soda, Fels Naptha (or Zote, Ivory, or your favorite bar), and a cheese grater. (The oxy cleaner is optional)

First, you grate your soap. I only have a large hole grater, if you have a fine grater, you won't need to do the blending step. :-)

1 cup of Washing Soda (not baking soda)

Put half the soap in the processor or blender and the powder and blend.

1 cup Borax, and blend as above

I usually add 1 cup of oxy cleaner, but I ran out on the 1st batch I made today. (oops!) Mix, and you have your detergent!

Use 1 Tablespoon per load. I've been told that this IS safe for HE machines because it is a low (almost zero) suds soap. I also use about 1/4 cup of white vinegar in a "downy ball" for fabric softener. It leaves our clothes soft and virtually static free!

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