Voila!

For the past two or three years I have had trouble keeping my chickens out of the garden. I would put up fences to keep them out, but two or three of them would always find a way to get in. They love the open dirt where they can scratch for bugs, worms, grubs and small aggregate for their gizzards, but they inevitably tear up the plants in doing so. Besides that they also eat the foliage off of many garden plants.

I had a voila moment this morning when I looked out at the chicken coop and saw this:

 

Apparently they don't like to walk around in three inches of snow.

So now, all I have to do is figure out how to keep a three inch barrier of snow around my garden this year.

A Lot Can Happen In Twelve Months

I don't remember where I heard it, but the other day, I heard someone say, "A lot can happen in twelve months." How true it is. If you think back through the past twelve months of your life, what has changed? If you are anything like me, there are too many things to count - and that is just speaking of the things you remember.

As I was looking back through the archives of the pictures we took this past year, I found myself saying, "Oh yeah, I guess I did that this past year too." Due to the new fiscal year, my wife and I just recently went through all of our receipts from 2009. Boy, how some of the memories flooded back with the help of those little paper reminders. And yet there were a few that I just knew somebody else had sneaked into the pile because I clearly had no recollection of purchasing a 102702 EW PNE E&C 5/16"X3.5"X8' from Lowes.

Anyway, the point is, life happens. Time marches on, and try as we may to prevent it, we are all getting older. I have always been amazed, when certain landmark moments circle back around every year, how much things change. The people in our lives, our influences, our family, our possessions, our financial position, our outlook on life. When you consider the big picture of your life - are you concentrating on what is most important? Have you defined what is most important to you?

Are you where you want to be, doing what you want to do? Are you where God wants you, doing exactly what God wants you to do? Are these one in the same? They can be. Psalm 37:4 says "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give the the desires of thine heart." I believe this goes both ways. Not only will God give you what you desire, but he will give you the desire.

Think back over the last twelve months of your life. If you could do it over again, what would you do differently? Consider today as God's gift to you to start doing things differently. Change your future. Disturb your present.

New Chickens

Yesterday morning, I hopped on the computer and started trolling around Craigslist just to see what kind of "deals" I could find. Usually I go to the Free page first just to see if anyone is giving away anything useful, then I go to the Farm and Garden page most of the time looking for things related to poultry. Well, lo and behold, I get to the Farm and Garden page and what do I see - a listing for 11 Rhode Island Red hens for only $3 each. What a deal!!

Well, being quick at math it didn't take me long to figure that for less than a steak dinner at a fancy restaurant, I could have nearly a dozen bug chasing, egg layers. So I called the number in the ad. As I spoke with a lady on the phone, she told me why she had to sell the birds. Apparently, she has a new puppy that thinks chickens are sporty little chew toys pre-programmed to incite a pursuit, thus she was fearing for their lives.

I just happened to be headed to her neighborhood yesterday so it worked out perfectly. When I got there, however, we found that someone had miscounted and there weren't eleven but twelve birds. Luckily I had the extra three dollars in my pocket and was able to keep them all together.

Now they are getting adjusted to their new home. I think they will settle in just fine.

My total head-count now is thirty-seven:

- 18 Rhode Island Red: 17 hens, 1 rooster
- 6 Amaracauna: 5 hens, 1 rooster

 
- 5 Golden Comet hens
- 4 Barred Rock hens

 - 2 Black Australorp hens
- 1 Half-breed rooster
 

 - 1 Amaracauna/RIR mixed hen

Freebie Friday

A few months ago I somehow stumbled upon a blog by Steven Pressfield. In one of his posts, he talked about "Giving it away." His post was about a guy you may have heard of before named Seth Godin. Godin has written several popular books like "The Purple Cow" and "Tribes." He now has a free e-book out called What Matters Now. The gist of the book is an attempt by writers, businessmen and entrepreneurs of today to answer the question "In today's tough economic times, what really matters?"

It is a fun read - and some of the submissions are pretty interesting. You can follow the link above to get your free copy of the e-book.

Enjoy!

The Warmth of a Fire

There is nothing quite like the warmth of a fire in the winter. I grew up with a wood burning stove in our home and have always loved the heat it provides. I believe it is one of the best, most economical and (can be) efficient ways to heat the home.

Just like any other source of heat, burning wood has its drawbacks. The danger of having a large 300+ degree metal box sitting in the middle of the living room where someone can touch it and be burned, or the open flame of a hearth where sparks can fly out and burn the floor or worse, catch the house on fire. (With the proper precautionary measures, these things can successfully be avoided.) Many complain of how dirty they are -  tracking sawdust, dirt and wood debris into the house from the door to the stove. As a boy, I often complained of how much work it was to cut the wood, split it, stack it, and carry it into the house.

Nowadays, I burn wood in my shop to keep warm while building cabinets and various other woodworking projects for my business. The one thing I cannot complain about is it's cost. As trees are abundant around here, the only expense I incur is the gas for the equipment, and my time one or two weekends out of every year. It is very rigorous work, the older one gets, the more taxing it becomes, but I know some who consider splitting wood to be rather therapeutic.

In my opinion, there is no greater heat source for a home. Sure, a central heat and air system can heat quicker and more evenly, but it cannot compare to the comfort a wood burning stove can create. Maybe, in a perfect world, we would have a wood burning stove with the heat circulated by a central heating system.

A wood burning stove may not be for everyone, but it is my first choice in home heating.

This is Hilarious!

Of course, I would NEVER do anything even remotely close to this.

The 21 Day Difference

New years resolutions have long been the focus of late December - early January. It is interesting, that for so many of us, the resolutions we make rarely have enough impact on our lives to be any more than a fleeting thought by the month of March. In less than three months we so easily forget the promises that we make to ourselves to lose the weight, get organized, get out of debt, or learn something new.

This may be due to the habits we embrace. Poor habits are hard to break, and good ones, although not so hard to begin, are extremely difficult to maintain. Last night while I was in bed thinking of the "new year," of course I began thinking about resolutions. I remembered hearing over and over again as a child "it takes three weeks (21 days) to form a habit." For some, good habits come easily; yet for others it seems nearly impossible. Often it is not so cut and dry as just starting a good habit - we usually have to break the bad habit first, then replace it with a good one.

And why is it that we never hear of it taking three weeks to establish a bad habit? I think it is probably because the habits we would call "bad" are usually our habits of laziness and procrastination. How often do we find ourselves looking for the easy way out of something? And as one of my good friends used to always say, "why do it now when you can wait and do it later?" We as humans have such a propensity for indolence.

 

New years resolutions are so often nothing more than promises of a change in our habits - a difference in routine that may take some getting used to. I personally have made it a practice not to make new years resolutions; not because I don't want to change, but because I am the type of person who would prefer not to be disappointed, even though by myself, than to make a promise I probably would not keep. I still attempt to form good habits and make the changes in my life necessary to grow and become a better man. I just try to not let it all hinge on the first day of January every year.

So here is the challenge. For many, the new year marks a fresh start. I challenge you to make a "21 day difference" and use the first day of every month this year to break a "bad" habit and form a "good" one.

And remember this little mantra:

Three weeks to form a good habit - one day to break it.

Three weeks to break a bad habit - one day to form it.