Random Thoughts & Happenings of the Week

Sunday began the week with one kid starting to feel bad on the way home from church, setting the stage for the rest of the week.  And while no one else in our family has caught it, I'm pretty sure it's the flu.  We are not alone in this though, as one of his close friends has the same symptoms and their school had 180 out sick yesterday.  Tamiflu's side effects scare me, so we've stayed home and treated it the old fashioned way with plenty of fluids, tv watching, napping and kept the fever under control with ibuprofen and Tylenol.  Our bed seems to be the place for napping (the cats agree!).

We've all been taking elderberry and just in case, I've tried to slip in some apple cider vinegar any chance I get.  If someone told me doing headstands would prevent/stop/heal it, I would do that at this point.  Sickness makes me feel a little crazy.  Especially when it's the kids.  I made the kids "homemade orange soda", they loved it.  Sprite, a splash of Ginger Honey Sipping Cider (ACV), a squeeze of orange, and a slice for garnish...they had no idea it was sort of healthy.  Or had ACV in it!  I found the Vermont Village ACV at Walmart Neighborhood Market.

It's rained quite a bit, which meant our driveway turned to peanut butter (or so it felt).  We had gravel delivered and poured and it was an instant transformation.  Who knew gravel could bring such joy?

The roof we'd been waiting on since the storm before Christmas is finally underway, and the very same day we got the beautiful driveway, the delivery truck sent it into utter ruin.  Boo.  At least they've promised to fix it once the roofing job is complete.

On the bright side, our damaged, green shingled roof is now gone and a beautiful new metal one is being installed.  The pitter-patter of little feet (bumps, bangs and house-shaking thumps) was music to our ears.  Today anyways.

Our neighbors lost another guinea (something keeps raiding their coop), leaving them with Jenny, the last lonely guinea and two chickens, Henny and Brewster.  Three must be a crowd, so she's left the lovebirds to join our rowdy crowd, cooping herself along with them.  Don't worry, the neighbors gave her permission to stay over.

 One of these is not like the other...in both the above and below pics!

 Someone keeps laying double yolks.

Whew, excuse me, that is a red, dry, wrinkled hand!  

And just like that, the week is almost over.  As I write this, it turned Friday!  Here's hoping you and yours have a great weekend and stay healthy!  Come on Spring! 

Pie Crust Pop Tarts

Today's dreary weather and a ball of leftover pie crust waiting in the fridge just begged for making pie crust pop tarts.  Better Homes and Gardens made incredibly adorable ones, but we went for quick and cute. 

I use Martha Stewart's pie crust recipe from her aqua cookbook, you can find it here.  It's quick, easy and always perfectly flakey.  It makes crust for a double crust pie, so we had some left from a quiche over the weekend.

My willing helper cut them into heart shapes, then we spooned strawberry "spreadable fruit" onto centers.  Just like in pottery class at school, dampen the edges of the tops and bottoms with water, place together and use a fork to press sealed.  We cooked them at 350F for 10 or so minutes until they started turning golden on the edges. 

Of course, while you wait, it's a prefect time to bring in a chicken for a snuggle and dry her off.  Just make sure to wash your hands afterwards...

And voila!  Quick, tasty, and not too too sweet.

Friday Night Pizza

When the kids were really little, we started making individual pizzas at home on Friday nights.  Each "decorated" their own to their liking and it killed several birds with one stone...picky eaters, wait times at restaurants with two hungry littles, early bedtimes, and it just feels special. 

I found an easy recipe and it evolved as time went on.  Now I have it memorized (wonder how many pizza nights it's been!).  This makes 4 individual pizzas. 

One cup of warm water (see yeast instructions for exact temp, I just make mine warm to touch but not hot)
2 1/4 tsp Fleischmann's Yeast
Little bit of sugar to help yeast rise

Olive oil (probably about 4 tablespoons)
2 cups flour, plus extra for rolling (you may need to add a little to the dough when mixing, depending on how sticky it is)
1 tsp salt
Herbs or spices if desired

I preheat my oven to 450, it gives the bottoms of the pizza a nice crispness and the cheese on top a nice browning.  You can set yours lower, if you'd rather (it takes longer, but pizza might rise more).

Mix yeast and sugar into measuring cup with the water while nice and warm and let sit until it rises and looks foamy.  I pour the olive oil in my stand mixer bowl first, to prevent dough from sticking.  With the dough hook (you can do this in a big bowl by hand also, if you'd rather) inserted in the mixer, add all of the dry ingredients, gradually adding the yeast water and mix, adding enough flour so that dough looks less sticky and forms more of a ball.  Remove the dough hook, cover the bowl of dough with a clean towel and sit in a warm spot to rise.  You can skip this step, if you're in a rush.  It will still rise in the oven, just not so much. 
When dough has doubled in size (or when you absolutely just need to get it done), give it a quick knead on your floured counter top and cut it into four individual pieces.  Roll out each pizza and give it a little stretch as you're rolling it out to help with texture, makes it a little chewier and less bread-like.  I like place the individual pizza doughs on a sheet of parchment paper on a large cookie sheet to prevent sticking (and less mess to clean up after baking). 

Top as you wish and bake!  I like to keep an eye on mine, the length of baking time varies wildly depending on the toppings.  Veggies take longer, pepperoni and cheese with no sauce cook really fast.  Enjoy!

On Moving to the Country

I grew up outside city limits, in a neighborhood of sorts, but still surrounded by field and forest.  On warm nights, we heard frogs singing at a nearby pond and pretty much any night, coyotes  laughing crazily as they ran down our street.

All of our married years, we have lived in town.  There's just something about traffic noise, sirens, and people that made me yearn for quiet, stillness, frogs singing...and possibly even coyotes laughing.

After a whole lot of praying and waiting and more waiting (patience is not one of my virtues), we finally got our chance.  It sounded perfect on paper - 2 story house, hardwood floors, wood burning fireplace, a few acres, pond and a detached garage on a hill about 10 minutes or less from where we lived.  Sometimes, things on paper look a little different in person.

Driving out to see it deterred 3 of the 4 of us, with kind of a messy/scary/junky place right before our turn and a steep-feeling (at the time) loose gravel driveway straight up a good-sized hill.  Both kids were asking to just go back home and my husband said more as a statement than a question, "Oh Cara, what have you done" (I've heard this before, a time or two).  I was completely undeterred, because only good things are at the end of  long winding gravel driveways...right?

As soon as we took the right fork at the silver propane tank (not kidding), and went under a ginormous oak tree, we saw it.  Sticking out like a sore thumb, in all of it's orange-y brown and green-roofed glory...and I knew it was THE ONE.  I think everyone else in the car shuddered (as I internally uttered a "thank you God"), as well as our realtor, John, who we were following.  Dear, long suffering, helpful, kind John.  After helping us find our first house, he's cheerfully shown us many houses and pieces of land over the past many years.

So symmetrical, except for that front door...

We toured the immaculate, strangely laid out, and incredibly dated house.  It was all wrong!  The enormous master suite, complete with huge jacuzzi tub, tanning bed, weights room and NO closets (seriously, clothes were kept in dormer storage), took up the ENTIRE upstairs. 

This bedroom was 24' long and 14' wide.

This is a huge weights set.  

We made this into a bedroom and two twin beds fit comfortably.

The best view was from the jacuzzi, though you could only see it if you stood up. 

See the view?

The two kid bedrooms were downstairs and shared a very large master type bathroom with the rest of the house. The kitchen cabinet's stain almost matched the orange-brown of the exterior paint, and the real wood floors ran diagonally until meeting with very blue, mauve and terracotta toned ceramic tiles. 

 Nothing wrong with blue...unless you're a warm tones kind of girl.

Diagonal floors, and that fireplace (shaking my head).

Lots of odd planning, but absolutely filled with potential.  And who doesn't love potential?  We talked it over for a couple of days and decided it was perfectly imperfect.  And with a new coat or two or three of paint, it could really be adorable.  Floor plans and finishes can be changed, but land not always.  The land was far better than what we'd hoped for.

We left our sweet neighbors in March, and moved into our perfectly imperfect new to us house.  The kids shared the upstairs until demolition began and then shared a room downstairs.  Bickering, giggling, irritating each other and keeping each other up at night took over the next three months.  We wondered what on earth we'd been thinking and if it was all a big mistake.  Since the home building market was booming in our area, no one wanted to take on small jobs such as an upstairs remodel.  We found one craftsman with time to start demo and framing and then it was a crash course in construction for the Davis duo.  And while we love, love, love our home, and have done a lot in almost a year, there is still so much to do!  But that is a story for next time.

A Funny Thing Happened

I feel like I should start at the beginning, but goodness, it would take so long to cover everything!  So I'll just give you some bits and pieces and string them together as time goes on.

Sooo...last March (can't believe it's almost been a year!), we bought a house with a few acres in the country.  That is a great big ongoing story, so stayed tuned.  And naturally, we HAD to get chickens because we've always, always wanted them.  The problem was, that by the time we were ready for them (remodeling, etc.), no one in the area had any.  We called all over the place, no one had any plans of chicks until later.  It was July, after all, and no one has baby chicks at the end of July.  We wanted six, but after checking with a couple of hatcheries, found you have to order a minimum of 25 (the number is necessary to stay warm in shipping).  Our neighbor was interested also, so 25 was doable, we could split with our neighbor.

We placed our order...Black Australorps, Silverlaced Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, and Ameraucanas pullets (females).  Their hatch date was July 25, and they came in the mail the next day.  Twenty-five fluffy little pompoms in a snug little box.  With one extra chick.  Just in case.

We had a little wading pool with heat lamp and all the necessaries all ready for them in our office at home.  They were adorable and so fun to watch.  Natalie's birthday sleepover was the next night and she was sooo excited to show her friends.

Twenty-six chicks in a wading pool.  Heat lamp is on, just doesn't show up so much here.

The next day, party preparations began.  House cleaning, bed making, decorating...and then the post office called.

"Where would you like to pick up your chicks, at the hub or Joyce post office?" the man asked.

"Um, I think there's some confusion, we picked them up yesterday", I replied, as I hurriedly scampered around trying to usher mess to the correct rooms.

Again, "Where would you like to pick up your chicks TODAY, at the hub or Joyce post office?" the man asked.

"Wait, what?"  I ask this as the sound of baby chicks drifts through the phone.  "I can't send them back, they will die"  the man says, "What do you want me to do with your chicks?"

"We'll be right there!"  And off to the hub we went to pick up another small box of 25 tiny peeping pompoms.  With one extra chick.  Just in case.

THIS is what 52 chicks in a wading pool looks like

Needless to say, it was the BEST slumber birthday party EVER, even though our guests arrived and we were still vacuuming and finishing the kitchen!  And guess what Tractor Supply had in stock the next week...yep, chicks!

We gave all but 36 away, and 36 compared to 52 seemed like a much more reasonable number.  We are down to 34, losing one chick to an accident and a full grown favorite to a raccoon.  Most started laying eggs in January and we are getting about 18 eggs a day.  Oh, and remember how we ordered all females?  Seven of ours turned out to be roosters!  More to come!