Upcoming Holiday Plans

I have a pretty good idea that most of my family doesn't really pay any attention whatsoever to any of my blogs, and that's honestly fine with me since it allows me the opportunity to write posts they probably ought not see. Nothing incriminating, of course, just not necessarily required to be completely known. In this instance, I'm going to talk about what items I have planned to give out this next winter holiday. Many are known by some, but not all, and that's usually the way I like it.

Now, last winter I purchased 2 large items, 1 for each of my youngest children. Little kids are generally so easy to please! I found a M&D dollhouse, complete with furniture, for my preschooler, who will be just barely old enough for it. Then I picked up a super-nice wagon for my toddler. This is one that has pneumatic wheels, wooden sides, and a domed cover over the top! Then I became stumped for my elder girls.

I'll be making several home-made gifts for the family too. Hats and scarves and mittens. Also slippers/socks and who knows what else. For my mother I was thinking of making a hands-free shoulder wrap or a shawl. For my spouse... I have no idea!! I also want to make some large crochet 'socks' to be used as stockings. I'm honestly not sure what else I'll put on the docket. Extended family will be receiving a dried goodies basket this year: puff-mallows (dried marshmallows), dried fruits, and maybe some veggie chips. Not much, but everything flavored with love.

Inner Peace

I have found over the years that there are some things that you have to worry over and other things that you don't. I have maintained my sanity through cathartic writing, though honestly not everything I write is intended to be read by anyone. There are a few things in my somewhat chaotic and hectic life that bring me quiet joy and true inner peace. One of them is the rare sight of my children in complete slumber... once you get past the drool that is. Another is my new beehive in the twilight. One that has given me quiet joy for many years is my chickens, just watching them do what chickens do.

One of the biggest is one that I discovered when I was a mere slip of a girl, maybe 8 or 9. At a time of true tribulation in my childhood, I discovered a love so deep and so profound that I keenly felt it's loss for several years during which it was lost to me. Between the age of 10 and 18, 8 years I felt the loss. Even though I didn't truly appreciate the loss for a long time. It was my love of the mountains. Sound corny? Well it isn't for me, not when you grew up as I did, a tractless, homeless nomad at the mercy of my unable-to-keep-a-job father and a mother trying to do the best she could.

I must admit that while I haven't had a chance to appreciate the youthful Rocky mountains, I do have a preference for the aeons-older Appalachians. I have come to appreciate the different ranges within them. The Blue-Ridge mountains do actually have a blue tinge to them. The Smokies are very much smoke-grey and cloudy in appearance. I have even witnessed the "purple mountains majesty" in the northern areas.

I've seen "hairy" mountains in the winter, where the bare trees over the snowy ground give the illusion of hair. I've seen "mottled" mountains where clouds in the sky cast individual shadows over massive ranges. I've even seen "red" mountains where the setting of the sun was at just the right angle to light them ablaze.

Every time I take a moment to look upon the distant range, a gentle peace comes over me. It is this that I will never take for granted, whether I live here 10 years or 80 years.

Rabbit Show

Yesterday we went to a rabbit show. We've not traveled to one in over 6 months, so I'll admit we were a bit rusty. The basics came back fairly quickly, but I've found that too much time between shows tends to have an impact of the quality of a herd. I'm not necessarily giving it a majority influence, but it really does help to have outside opinions of your ongoing selection methodology. In other words, someone else to evaluate your work in relation to others that are working toward the same goals. It seems like everything in the rabbitry has chosen this particular time to molt anyway, so we took the only rabbits that were in relatively decent fur condition. Even though it meant taking rabbits that were not necessarily the very best in the barn. Those beauties, I'm sorry to say, are currently visiting nestboxes.

So with that in mind, we really were not the best exhibitors in the showroom. It's rather a shame, considering the cost of gasoline to get there and the ever-increasing entry fees. I mean really, $6 per entry per show adds up quickly when you have several animals to bring! We took 2 Havanas and 1 Holland Lop. It's sad though when your best placing was Best Sr Doe (Havana) and when you can say, "well at least we weren't the first off the table!" (the Holland). Honestly, it was actually rather refreshing because there were a lot of new faces, and the old 'winners' were nowhere to be found. That means that the newer breeders and the breeders that don't have a lot of $$$ to sink into buying the top stock actually have a shot at winning the big awards.

I did manage to sell more than half the Button Quail I'd purchased for that reason, as well as several toys and a pint of fig jam. And I picked up a beautiful pair of cream/white Satin American cavies! Yep!! I'm back into show-cavies... on a smaller basis.

It's spring

It's that time of year again. I traveled north to a poultry swap yesterday. I admit the whole thing was a little disappointing as there were not more than half a dozen or so people there selling. After browsing and browsing I finally settled on a trio of blue Silkie started chicks and also picked up a dozen Guinea eggs for hatching. After waiting awhile a lady showed up with half a dozen laying hens, RIR & red sex-links. So I bargained for 3 of those for a co-worker. They are laying or will be soon. I missed a chance to get a quartet of blue Indian Runner ducks, but I figured it wasn't meant to be, so I'm really not upset. Honestly, I like the idea of ducks more than the reality. I also picked up a couple cards as I am still wanting some turkey eggs for hatching and some adult quail. Next week I'll stop off and pick up some Cornish Rock chicks to raise this year for meat and I'll also be placing an order for some blue Cochin chicks as well. So that will have me set for poultry awhile.

On the rabbit front, Jessi's 3 AFL babies have opened their eyes. Ari's doe and the Havana doe are due Tuesday, and 2 Holland does have finally palp'd positive! So there will be plenty of babies to go around for everyone.

As far as the gardens, I'll be planning to start tilling next week-end. We'll be turning 2-3 large areas, nearly the entire bottom of the yard. I've planted 3 more fruit trees, plus several root crops (asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries) as well as blackberry canes and some blueberry plants. Onions and garlic are up and thriving. Even the swiss chard came back out!

Baby Rabbits

Babies, babies everywhere and all the nests are lined!
Babies, babies everywhere and none of them are mine!!!

LOL

Jessi's rabbit, Reba has 3 babies. Ari's rabbit Lulu is expecting in about another week and a half. One of the unclaimed Havana does is also expecting. So why will none of my rabbits take one for the team already?!?! LOL

Work

I work for a place that find people jobs, I actually oversee our workers with one of the clients. Currently I'm watching over 70 people. That's a lot of heartbeats and activity to keep an eye on every day. My goal is to get it to over 100 people. But the climb is the real stressor. So every week we call people in for interviews, talk to them, evaluate them, decide if they would be a good fit. And every week it seems that our request for qualified people exceeds our actual turnout of them. As if that isn't enough, on top of that I have to deal with the folk already working. If they call out or are late, I'm supposed to administer disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.

The bad part is the place is so unbelievably strict on attendance, miss more than 1 day and you are GONE buddy!! Doesn't matter if you have a note from the Dr, doesn't matter if you were truly and genuinely unable to stand without vomiting, doesn't matter what temperature you or your family is running. Newborn baby? not a chance. Sound heartless?? To some it might, until you really think about it. How can you be fair to everyone, to every single worker in the place if you don't treat them all equally and blindly. Put down a blanket rule, one absence, and stick to it no matter what. And they are told and have it stressed to them right from the start. I don't think they believe it though. Do you know how many time I hear, "but I got a Dr's note..." I even had one guy try to tell me that because he ran his own company for 8 years that the place couldn't legally end him for calling in sick (idiot), which actually turned out really funny since they didn't. I only issued him a warning and he wound up quitting a week later.

The hardest part for me though is having to terminate the good employees who were probably truly and honestly sick. The ones who really REALLY needed work and looked at me as some kind of hope or reprieve from their situation. The ones that fate simply just doesn't seem to want to let alone long enough to get up off the ground and dust themselves off a bit. Those are the ones that have me super-stressed. Not to mention every time that happens, it means more work for me. Because then I have to replace those people as well as find ones for new positions.

It's stressful work. I truly hope my co-workers and I can keep this line going. Though I will admit, working a lot like this while taking it's toll on me personally also tends to have an impact on my computing time. When you spend all day on a computer at work, why would you want to come home and get back on one again!!

I have discovered that I tend to overestimate the level of friendships in my life. Sometimes it even makes me wonder if I really ever knew the people in my life I had always considered to be close friends. I look back and ask myself if I ever really knew them at all. I've also discovered that I still have that tendency as some of the people I consider close friends don't really react in the same manner. Ergo, I must have overestimated that relationship, right? It's a somewhat embarrassing realization.

Welcome 2011

A new year. These days just seem to fly past me. It seems like the past 10 years have just ripped right along. Where did all the time go? The passing of the seasons makes me start to think about the coming year, what I want to do this year. Already I'm starting to plan the gardens and the livestock situation. I've brought in a trio of meat rabbits, Californians to be precise. I want to see about some chicks for meat this year, but also would like to get out my incubator again this year. The gosling hatch last year was a lot of fun and quite successful really, over 50% hatch rate. I don't know what to hatch this year though... turkeys? chickens? goslings? something else entirely? I don't know yet.

I would like to get my shed built this year, it's been sitting on the porch for 3 years now, just waiting. I want to replace all my metal pans in the rabbitry with plastic too. I want to straighten up the inside and outside of my home so that it is more presentable. I want to find a bunk bed that will work for my youngest pair and arrange their room so that it will fit! I would like to have all the children sleeping in their own beds by the end of this year!

A lot to do, and only a year in which to do it!