Chariots Afire

And other things. I'm in the process of trying to prep the garden. I say "trying to" because I keep running into obstacles, of course. The former pigpen needed clearing out; moving hay bales, pallets, cattle panels, fence posts, electric fencing, plastic sheeting, etc. I plan to drag the cultivator thru the area with the tractor, but can't adjust the cultivator without a 1" wrench and that I can't find. Hubby is working 6 days now, and if he had his work truck here... I also can't dig up the ground rod that was for the small fence charger; can't drag the cultivator till that thing is out... and hubby is working. He was going to do it for me this morning before he left, but we both were distracted by our neighbor's house burning to the ground. This is NOT the same neighbor that was complaining about my pig housing last weekend. However, if they thought the pig house messed up their view... That is, we are about 1000-1200 feet from the road. Our driveway passes thru 2 other properties between us and the road, and we own all the land to the west of their 1- and 2-acre plots. The Complaining Neighbors live nearest us, on 1 acre. The house closest to the road (original farmhouse for the original 20 acres) on 2 acres is what burned. And I do mean burned. Thankfully, the owners moved to California a few weeks ago, and I don't think their renters had moved in (much). There was a family in a 5th wheel that parked in their backyard, but their truck and trailer left last night at some point, perhaps to go camping. Their suburban, however, was parked a bit near the house, and I think that might need a paint job.

I moved the chicken house the other day. Those hens were happy to get to new ground and green grass. They scratched dirt-holes to bathe in, and I surrounded an area with 80 feet of electric poultry netting for them. I haven't plugged in the netting, but if the kids don't stop climbing in to find eggs, I may need to... 11 eggs yesterday, total. One was cracked in the nest, so Trudy got it. 4 today, but I expect more. They are late-to-lay.

I think our Rare Chick is an Araucana rooster. Quite pretty, he is. We still have him and a Red rooster, which I'm not too sure about. Generally the hens stay in the netted area and the roosters circle it trying to find a way in. I'm a little creeped out at the idea of eating fertilized chicken eggs, though there are some who advocate it, nutritionally.

We got our low-rpm juicer the other day, and are looking forward to using it. I tried to make some v-8 for Hubby's lunch, and, well, I'm glad he likes beets. Ick.

We've retired the use of our microwave, being convinced that it's not beneficial (if not downright hazardous), and got a great Oster Toaster Oven at Costco instead. I love it.

Yesterday I made Cauliflower-Potato Soup with half the cream cheese and butter, and it was incredible. I've long loved a recipe for potato soup but rarely make it due to the excessive butter required to make it. This one is fairly lean. In fact, 1/6 recipe (about 1 1/3 cups) has 354 calories (the way I made it). God bless my NutriGenie program. Hubby is doing very well on his diet, and I'm glad to find some tastey meals that he can enjoy.

I'm still trying to work out a way to move the pig to the trees to root out. Maybe take her for a walk on a leash? Leash her and make a pseudo-electric alleyway where I want her to go? I can't risk her rooting up the neighbor's lawn, but the entire purpose of having her (them) was to deal with those trees.

I bet she could do it in no time at all. If she wasn't busy running off or maybe dragging me with the leash. Maybe tie the leash to the truck hitch? Hmm... I really am crazy.