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."

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! This New Year I woke up to 23 degrees and snow filled streets.

View from my front door to the left

View from my front door to the right

Keeping Warm

Before moving to California, I had believed it was a sunny and warm state. Little did I know, that wasn't totally true. My family and I live in North Eastern California which gets pretty cold. Last night my husband informed me it was six degrees at 11 p.m. and dropped to Zero during the early morning hours.

We have different methods to keep ourselves and our animals warm. Some ways are frugal and go along with our simple living, but others are not so frugal related to necessity.

On the frugal side for human warmth we have: long johns, sweatshirts, flannel shirts, warm drinks, (like hot chocolate and green tea), hot soup, and extra blankets. On the not so frugal side, we have an electric mattress cover we use occasionally.

For our animals, the dogs live inside (Max and Princess) and when outside, if above 35 degrees, they have a hay filled dog house and pen. The cat (Prince), lives on the back porch (he doesn't like being inside and has a full shaggy coat of fur). Knuckles, our rabbit, lives in a hutch full of hay and has a 2'x5'x3' dirt bin to tunnel in. The chickens and ducks have an insulated coop with hay and two red heat lamps.

The house is kept warm by a wood stove and three small electric heaters, which we turn on at night to keep pipes from freezing. We decided it was cheaper to pay a higher electric bill than to replace frozen damaged pipes.

January and February are the coldest months here. But, with all our various methods we stay snuggly warm. How do you keep warm in the winter?

Entrance to Dog house

Knuckle' Home. She is peeking out in the left bottom square 

#1 and Goldie getting warm under the red lights

Spot on the left and Maxine on the Right getting ready to snuggle in the hay

"What is that woman doing in here?"

Maxine going to bed down under nest boxes

Our wood stove. Small but heats well

We use 3.5 cords of wood a year. We bought 5 cords this year because it was cheaper

Knee Update

I returned to the Orthopedic Doctor this past Wednesday for my monthly checkup. I shared with him I've been having increased pain on the outer aspect of my knee. I pointed to the area; he examined it and I grimaced in pain. He decided to do another X-ray to make sure the fracture had not shifted. If there was a shift it would result in surgery to repair. At present I have not heard back about the results. I am taking it as 'no news is good news.'

During the visit the doctor repeated previous instructions; the fractured bone is the second largest bone in the body and will take a minimum of four to six months to heal; stay off the left leg, and no returning back to work until at least April 1st. He also provided a signed application for a temporary handicapped parking placard.

To be able to get through my day I use different things to help me. I use a brace which keeps my knee mobilized for protection, crutches to walk or should I say "hobble" around, a wheelchair as needed to get around and elevate my leg if pain increases, a stool to sit and do dishes, and my husband chauffeuring. It has been a real loss of independence.

I do have a few exercises I do for my legs, which consist of: bending and flexing my left knee so it will not lock up, elevating my legs, holding them in place to the count of ten, ten times in different positions. These exercises will hopefully help me regain the muscle tone which I've lost in both legs, helping decrease therapy time in the future.

Healing a fracture is slow process but I am positive I will make progress each month, returning back to normal at God's appointed time.