All New: 'All My Chickens' Episode 2.

Sorry no pictures.

When we last left the girls, they had an amazing day of 4 eggs. That same evening the second new chicken laid an egg as well, not to be outdone by her counterpart and even more impressive, she left it in the middle of the patio, as to show off. This isn't normal behavior. So make that 5 for the days total. She's either brilliant, or totally retarded. Signs point to retarded.

This morning I found Matilda pecking Amanda in an attempt to kill her before the coop was opened. I had to beat Matilda off of her and booted her like a nerf football. The two new girls left us no eggs today.

The evening proved interesting. Emilee found security in the upstairs nest with Matilda, Nelly and Reba. This was amazing. Amanda was trying to perch on the door that was ready to be closed for the evening. I figured maybe this was the night where everybody gets along, so I threw the last chicken into the mix.

The fight was on.

Reba vs. Amanda. Smallest chicken picks a fight with the largest new girl. The feathers were flying. Reba was losing. Amanda paused with victory feathers in her beak. Reba pissed off instigated a second bout. I had to break it up. I took no chances with the other chicken who appeared to be getting along. So I separated them both.

The evening is restful as I placed a cover over the ladder hatch, sealing the lower level into a more secure haven until they are released through two openings.

I realize how boring our backyard has been until we received these stupid animals.

Tune in next time with footage of the coop addition.

Also, will we have eggs laid on the patio again?
Will Reba and Amanda tango once again?
Will the Cable's be having chicken for dinner?
The answer is, yes, they will.

'All My Chickens' an NBC Special, this Spring.

Four chickens were were not enough for the Cable family. The egg supply was dwindling with lazy chickens in the California sun. The chickens were escaping from the yard, which led to daddy clipping their wings. So the Cables decided to add two more ladies to the mix. A couple more Rhode Island Red's were the answer. ........So it seemed.

Meet the original ladies:












Friday night two new Rhode Island Reds were added to the mix. We added them late at night and just threw them in the mix to expect them to just get along. They immediately did not get along, so we separated the two teams for the night. The following morning was chaos. They woke up early and grouchy! The original ladies were in protest and the entire neighborhood could hear it. The two new girls:












All they could do is hide in the Iris plants and Rosemary bushes. I told the kids Iris and Rosemary were better names. Oh well. So after one full day of NO eggs from anybody, daddy went and bought a dozen eggs for the next day.

Then day two, the new girl, Amanda, gives us a huge brown egg. Plus three more from the original girls! Four eggs total!! Jules and I are happy. So daddy spent the day customizing the Chicken Condo and outfitted a new shelter on the first floor with a new perch and a new laying box. And of course new straw for every body.

Is the drama over?
Will the new girls ever get along with the old girls?
Will there ever be more than 4 eggs in one day?
Tune in next week to watch the feathers fly with...'All My Chickens'.

2 more chickens!!

Might as well, we have the room in the coop. We know some people selling chickens. Rhode Island Reds. We'll see how it goes. It's gonna add some drama to our backyard. I have to clip their wings this weekend. The little rebel Bantam chicken keeps escaping. I tried clipping her tonight but I was in no mood to wrestle her as the kids were screaming. Should be fun.

nerd alert!

I am a freak about nice pens. I have a lifetime supply of pens that I will never use. All from different companies. The one pictured above is a pen that I go out of my way to use. I am so stupid about my pens. It's a weakness. I'll stop my day when I stumble across somebody's nice pen. I'll write down what it is and skip on down to Target or Wal-Mart and pick one up. No idea why. The uniball 207 has been faithful. The newest I found was the uniball Jetstream 1.0.

I'm gonna go make a quesadilla and play video games now.

raw milk

My family is sad. The lady we get our raw milk from has sold her cows. I'm not sure the reasons why. Most farms and agriculture is dying off because of the anticipated drought. Water to agriculture is cut off, but golf courses and country clubs are not. Entertainment before necessity? I don't get it.
So we are searching for a new source of raw milk.

I believe God is preparing my family for a worst case scenario. We still have the farm bug in us. We have been having more talks of buying land so we can grow our own food. Gardens, orchards, chickens, cows. The variety that is possible excites us. It makes us sad to see how much control the government has over what we want to eat. No thanks, we don't want your pesticide laden, hormone injected, cancer causing products. We'll take it the way God intended it.

the hungry

This triggers my calling.
Last weekend while my son and I were doing errands, we happen to come upon scenes like this. Jake immediately gets excited and says "Look dad!! We can help him!! What do we have?? We have to buy some water and granola bars!!"
The excitement factor for him is equivalent to receiving permission to play his favorite video game. It's easy to help these guys. It's heart breaking when I see the children involved. Most guys or girls that are holding these signs DO have children, just tucked away in the bushes. It's not my job to judge them. It's not my job decide who to help and who not to help. It's an opportunity to share God's love.
If it were up to my kids, they would choose to drive around town all day on a Saturday and pass out food. I love this in them at such a young age.

My Son.

Quality time with my family comes in many forms. They are all my favorite, but I have a new one to approach. With my son getting older and wiser, he has recognized the more 'man' stuff that he qualifies for. Our latest is fishing on Saturday or Sunday mornings. Granted it's still winter, he still loves it. Wait till spring, he wont know what hit him.

My latest objective is this: He asked for a new alarm clock for his room, like I have. A piece of junk with a built in radio. I asked why he needs to have an alarm? He didn't know. I told him, if I got him the alarm clock, he would have to use it to wake up early to get ready for fishing. He liked that idea. I also told him I would only buy it for him if he could learn to wake up early enough to spend time with God. It's my duty to teach him how. So starting very soon, it's father-son with devotions. Probably outside with hot chocolate and coffee, sitting in his fort as we watch the sun rise. I'm so excited! I want him to be as well. As a father, I think I can instill this habit in him while he is young. He'll learn it as a way of starting your day, just like dad.

Also, it's St. Patty's day. whatever.

8 O'Clock Coffee

This is the best coffee that I have ever had. Unfortunately I cannot find it locally anywhere. I found some online and am greatly pleased. I tried the 100% Colombian and love it, especially in the french press. I highly recommend this coffee to any body that is a coffee drinker. You will not be disappointed. I am anxious to try the other flavors they offer, I just can't find anything locally.

Mars the Eagle

My son created his own constellation for a homework assignment. I found it appropriate to share with you his creativity. He even wrote an ancient myth to explain the reason or explanation for the constellation. In case you can't read his cursive, it reads:

"Once a eagle garding a golden egg. One day the eagle flew away for food and the egg fell out of the nest and s(p)laded on somebodys head. When the eagle came back she was mad and flew into the night sky."

My children amaze me at their wisdom.

Grand Prix

I had a wonderful weekend with my family. It's taken me till now to get to this blog entry with the time change. I am really screwed up from it this year.

Anyways, Jake's car did amazing. Sure I helped with the car, but I made sure he had a hand in it as much as he could. It's his car and he knows it. So he had about 10 heats and placed first in every one. Then in the finals, he placed second and fourth. Over all he was the 4th place car. Not too bad out of 40 cars, plus he got a trophy for 4th place. He is still on cloud 9. He walks around the house with his trophy and brings it out when guests come over. He's proud, as am I.

apple.

Oh yes. So I have been praying about buying an iPhone for weeks. Then through signs, God started showing me means of justification to call it a necessity to justify a purchase. I was determined to wait it out and do it eventually.
Apparently, I didn't need to wait any longer.
The boss surprised me and got me one anyways. I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I am. I mean it's just a phone, right?.....nope. I'm learning there's a lot more to it. Time to get WiFi in the house again. If anybody has any cool apps to share with me that I should download, lemme know.
Oh I am so stoked.

Save this link.

Hey kids. I thought I would share this link. This is how I start my every day. I save this link to my bookmarks and before I open my online music or Facebook, I see this staring at me. I know it just takes minutes to open and read and I automatically feel better.
I recommend everybody finds a link like this to start their day. I use this link because it's in front of me. Sure the Bible would be a good choice too. But this is how I do it with no excuses not to.

When I start to have a bad day, it's usually because I forgot to spend time with God.

I hope it works for you, thought I would share.

My son.

While I am at work selling Steelcase products (that's for the Herman Miller guy checking up on me today), my son is at home being home-schooled by my beautiful wife. As I don't have much input on what he is learning, he has chosen to have a fascination with Astronomy. I did not push this upon him. I delight in this decision.
His ceiling is filled with glow in the dark constellations and planets. He made planets from paper and hung them from the ceiling. He has a telescope that he treasures sitting on a shelf aimed towards the fake constellations.
He studies their stories and ancient meanings.
The weird part: I did this when I was his age. I was sucked into this fascination at a young age. My dad is still into this, more-so than I am. Is this in our blood?
I'm looking forward to the next clear night so we can drive out past the city lights and really take a look at those stars.

New Chair

So we sold our Herman Miller Aeron Chair and UPGRADED to a Leap chair by Steelcase. It's time for all of Redding to upgrade to a Leap chair. I have had an Aeron chair for years and the front edge of the chair offered inadequate support for mine and my wife's legs causing a loss of blood flow to our legs and thus causing them to fall asleep. So our new chair offers the needed support.

This is our new Leap chair for Cassie. She sits all day long. She also happens to be my hardest sale ever as she is very particular with what chair works for her.

I am convinced that this is the best chair in the world. There is nothing better and we are privileged to be able to sell these.

Lifetime warranty on the frame and structural components. 10 years on the mech and cylinder.

What a great way to spend your tax return on!