Starting late March I will be calling the farm supply each week to find out what is scheduled to arrive.  There are lots of different breeds out there, but  I prefer heavy dual-purpose birds.  These birds tend to be the kinds that your grandmother had, today often  called heritage breeds.   Heritage breed chickens tend to fend well for themselves foraging for dinner and tolerate  weather conditions.  My favorite heavy breeds lay well and when they get older they are large enough to be Sunday’s stew.

It means that this year’s flock won’t have as many different breeds that make the showy collection my neighbors all talk about.   In spite of that  we are sure to have plenty of  farm fresh eggs for breakfast and a few spring chickens on the dinner table.

Still a Safe Place

When we packed up our kitchen and planned for time without a sink.   One of the things we did was bring in some dishpans we had in storage.  Almost immediately our cat curled up in them.   She had spent time in a shelter before we adopted her.   They used dishpans as cat beds.  Though Abby has been here over a year, the dishpan apparently still is a safe place in her mind.   Even though there was a cushy pillow she preferred the undersized dishpan.  Animals remember much more than we think

Removing Kitchen Cabinets

In the spring we added new cupboards to our kitchen on the west wall that had none.    Now we are replacing  the existing cupboards, adding a pantry and a desk area.   The existing cupboards  don’t look too bad, but when one looks close they were bottom-grade builders stock glued together, particle board construction.   The frames are now coming unglued and sagging in some places.  I live in fear that some night I am going to hear a crash and all my dishes, good and bad, are going to end up on the floor in a broken mess.

Last week the new cupboards arrived and they are sitting in the living room. Monday  our cupboard man will start the installation.  In the mean time this weekend John and I have packed up the kitchen, and carefully taken out the cupboards.  We are hoping to resell them and get a few bucks for them.

It is Sunday night, and I am happy report the cupboards are all in the garage.   It is amazing is it did not take more time than we allowed.  As weekend project warriors, most home projects  take more time than amateurs like us plan for, lots more time .   What is ever more amazing, maybe even a  landmark occasion is that this project did not result in a fight of frustration.   My husband did not get mad and silent and I did not get mad and and get loud.

It was a great start to the second phase of the project.   I can hardly wait until the cupboards are all installed, then I can think about lighting, the backsplash and new flooring.   It has taken me ten years to start this project lets hope it doesn’t take me ten years to finish it.

Long ago a woman’s bible study group  changed my personal image of Christ from this one we see in our  churches today.   I believe that God gives a personal an image of Christ that furthers our understanding of faith.  God made Christ a man and put him on this earth to do a job.   As a man he was fashioned to be accepted by society to do his mission.   God knew that making him homely, a leaper, or handicap at the time he was sent to earth would not likely make him successful at his mission in the years when Christ walked the earth. If God sent Christ to earth today I can not imagine what form he would choose to reach us today. Would he stick with the tried and true image we embrace today or would God pick something different looking?

I know that there are books of  experiences of clinical death experiences and those who have visited heaven. They talk about their experiences there and what they saw.   I have read several and don’t question heavens existence.  In fact they confirm my faith and that I have been put on this earth as spiritual journey.  But none of those books  or subsequent Bible studies changed my belief that image of Christ Is given to us from God as we need it to be.   There are pictures of Christ as a black man;   is that wrong because someone who has been to heaven saw him as white? I doubt it.  In fact I find  something comforting and familiar about that picture of a black Christ  hanging in someone’s home or church.   When I visit a museum and see pictures painted centuries ago in so many different fashions I always find something in the face that quickly says “I am  Jesus Christ.”

Does this mean my friend and others are wrong in their image of Christ.   No.   Does it mean I am not a woman of  faith if I don’t embrace and know a single image of Christ as the true one.  No.  I think it means the Holy Spirit is working in each of us providing guidance, interceding and assisting in our prayers.   My lucky friend already knows what Jesus will look like when she walks through the pearly gates

During a headache, every little sound is amplified over and over.  Every sound thunders and bounces around in my head like a bad series of echos.  My husband’s rhythmic breathing  as he sleeps sounds like a hurricane.   My dog’s dreams with a  muffled barking  at crows he is chasing  across the fields,  sounds like a pack of dogs to my sensitive ear.  Eventually those sounds, that usually bring comfort, force me from my bed.   I take my migraine prescription, get ice for my head and take up residence in the recliner.   I quickly discover, that which I know from the past nights, there is no place that true silence exists.    The motor of the refrigerator sounds like what I imagine a jet engine sounds like if you put your head in the turbines.   Your heating system makes tons of noise as the system expands with the heat and cooling as the thermometer cycles.    The winds that beat my house find little cracks and it will whistle in through.  I meditate and envision my happy place until my drugs kick in and start the slow recovery process from my latest migraine.   I refuse to give up any more time than necessary to them.

Baby chicks don’t start arriving at the local farm supply until late March, because our weather is just too darn cold for them before then.   If you are willing to pick your chicks based on what the farm supply ordered then talking chickens in January is too early for you.   If you are like me and you’d rather pick your own breeds and willing to pay extra to have them sexed now is the time to get your order for the spring in.

For those of you not familiar with this process, chicks are ordered from hatcheries.

BREEDS    There are several major and even more secondary hatcheries in the US.  Each of them have certain breeds with lots of overlap on availability on some of the more popular breeds, but other rarer breeds may only be found at just a few hatcheries.

GENDER Sexing hour old chicks is  not a perfect science.   Some breeds are called sex-linked.   Sex linked are birds, that the male and female have different color genes and it is apparent as soon as they come out of the shell, based on the color of their down.   The others require someone to take a peak at their private parts.  As a result each hatchery only attempts to sex certain breeds.   A  person should expect to pay more for females as they are the preferred gender for their eggs.

ORDER SIZE  It used to be you ordered 25 chicks of one breed, period.   With the revival of backyard chickens and folks caring more about where their food comes from and  humane treatment, the hatcheries have been changing the rules.   Small orders are available, but folks should expect to pay more.   Another option is to find another local who wants to order their birds and split up an order.  Some hatcheries insist on overnight mailing and other’s two day service has been an age old tradition that has worked and continues to be an option.

TIMING  The season for ordering chicks starts right after New Year’s.   Folks in warmer climates  have already started placing their orders and  some breeds are already sold out for  January.   If you live where it is still cold and snow is on the ground, it does not mean you can wait. It means you need to put your order together now and submit it.  The most important part of this process is to ask them not to deliver your chicks until you and your weather is ready; give the hatchery a desired delivery date.

So I have books and catalogues out.   I am looking back on what types of birds I have already had and how in retrospect I feel about them. In the next few days  will be doing my 2012 chick order.  I will keep you posted on what I do.