Today in the Chicken Yard

 I ventured out today for a few minutes. Or should I say, I "hobbled" out with my crutches. I haven't seen my chickens and ducks in a couple of weeks.

Members of My Flock.

First Egg of the Day.

"Got to get to Mom!"

 It was 25 degrees, with a few patches of ice I had to avoid on my way to the chicken pen. I was greeted by hungry chickens, ducks hissing, as their tails wagged in warning, "Don't come near!" And my cat coming over the fence from the neighbor's house.

"Hello up there human!"

My chickens are very friendly. They believe humans = food, they especially like table scraps. The ducks aren't as friendly. We have two Muscovy ducks. The male weighs approximately 24 LBS and the female is close to 12 LBS (per husband's report. Norm is male 15-17 LBS and Female 5-10 LBS). The male is a good "guard duck" and has been noted to run skunks off. He is particular who is near his harem. The ducks hiss instead of quack. I am sure my neighbors are thankful for that.

"You are trespassing!"

"I'm going to get you!"

Frugal Tips-Kitchen

I started out years ago trying to be frugal by using coupons, generics and reusing items. I made being frugal a game to see how much money I could save. Over time, to help save even more money, I used tips from numerous blogs, articles and books, which I had read on frugal living. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas.

I have started listing the frugal tips I use by related topics. The first being kitchen frugal tips.  I want to encourage readers to leave comments about the tips and share any other tips you may use. Hopefully we can all benefit from them.

Tips for the kitchen:

• Wash out and reuse freezer and sandwich bags which have not been used for meat.
• Wash and reuse tinfoil which has not been used for meat.
• Wash dishes by hand and allow to air dry.
• Use 1 teaspoon of dish soap per load of dishes.
• Rinse dishes in cold water in dish pan.
• Use dishwater to mop floors after washing dishes if water is not too dirty or greasy.
• Bake from scratch, bread, muffins and cakes.
• Turn off oven the last few minutes when baking an item. The heat in the oven will slowly decrease as it finishes baking the items.
• When cooking food by boiling, turn off gas or electric once water is boiling. Food will cook in the hot water. The continuous boiling doesn’t cook the food but the heat in the water will.
• Reuse animal food bags like dog and chicken food for garbage bags.
• Reuse grocery bags to pick up dog waste.
• Reuse tea bags 2-3 times.
• Use jar lids as tea bag holders.
• Reuse butter tubs for left over food.
• Reuse paper grocery bags to wrap packages to mail; use to place cookies on to cool or soak up grease from meat.
• Use cereal box liners for sandwich bags.
• Use old towels for cleaning rags.
• Use water from boiling spaghetti and potatoes for plants.
• Use cloth napkins, made from clearance material.
• If you use a dishwasher only run when filled and allow dishes to air dry.
• Don't use disposable dishes or utensils.
• Keep only kitchen utensils, cookware and dishes which you will use. 
• When running water until hot, use a pitcher to catch the colder water until hot, to reuse elsewhere. 

Please join me next Friday for the frugal food tips I use. 

  

Skinny Scarf Project

I did it! I actually finished a project. I am terrible at finishing projects. I have projects which I started six years ago and have not finished. For this project I chose something which required minimal effort and time. I made a skinny scarf. I found the pattern at http://crochet.about.com/library/blbegscarf.htm.

The website http://www.about.com is a wonderful resource, I use frequently for information, recipes and projects. It is really worth taking a look at.

Finished Project

Max Modeling the Scarf.

Community Service

Max was really excited today. He was able to do his community service. My son and I took him to the Assisted Living Facility to visit our friend Vera. Vera is a 90 year old lady, who use to be neighbors with my husband when he was growing up. She has been a friend of the family for over 30 years. She also absolutely loves dogs.

"I'm Ready!"

"OK, Let's go please."

"Open says me!"

"Knock, knock, Vera."

"Joy, Joy, we are reunited!"

"She loves me and won't let me go."