Drinking 
My next door neighbor and I have an arrangement. He gives me more grapefruit that any normal household could ever want and I give him eggs. Honestly, I think he gets a better deal. Eggs are year round, and I never give him enough to make him lose sleep worrying abut wasting them. Between sharing about half of them with family and the gallons of grapefruit juice we are still drinking we only threw away five or six of them.
My recent drink is a pseudo margarita. It is an easy recipe. 1-2-3. One part orange liquor - (whatever is on hand, which for me is blue curacao right now, and it looks very pretty - if you like blue drinks, that is), two parts common tequila, and three or more parts fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Serve in a salt rimmed glass on the rocks. Yummmmm.
Rabbits and Cats
The other night one of our cats brought home a "gift"; a baby bunny. It was not dead and completely adorable. It had a puncture wound with some light bleeding, so we put it in a box of animal bedding (what do I NOT have on hand around here?), fed it some strawberry leaves and stems, and we let it rest in the shower (where it was safe from our cats and dogs) overnight.
The next day the rabbit seemed good as new. I researched care for wild baby bunnies and it was clear that the bunny had the best chance if turned loose. So we turned let it go.
Unfortunately, another one of our cats was watching us turn it loose, so we had to save the silly bunny again. This involved hoisting Thing 3 over a fence from my shoulders, since begging the cat had no impact whatsoever. Geeze.
The bunny is back in the wild now, and we all hope he has a happy and long bunny life.
Chickens and eggs
We are getting somewhere between eight and twelve eggs, sometimes as many as 14 eggs, every day now. We have 24 mature or almost mature hens in the first pen. I don't think all of them are laying yet. We have 27 babies in the second pen. When they are all laying I suspect I will be pedaling eggs. It will defray the cost of feed.
At this moment we have eight dozen eggs in the extra fridge. Not a problem so far. Between our house, the next door neighbor, my brother's household, my niece's household, and an occasional "gift" to someone my daughter likes to share eggs with, we can handle the volume. When the eggs pile up I hard boil the eggs and make egg salad, other cold salads, deviled eggs, and even pickled eggs. This is after enjoying our eggs fried, in quiches, omelets, and custards.
It is hard to describe the fun the chickens have been for us. Thing 3's science fair project didn't win a prize, but it got a lot of attention and compliments. We enjoy outdoor time together when we let them free range. They have fun personalities. The chickens have really improved the quality of our lives.
Yay chickens.
I'll Bee Damned
We had a swarm of visitors yesterday. I was sitting in my comfy chair watching Thing 3 play with the chickens when I heard a strange noise. It was like a machine. I wondered if it was the pool pump or my air conditioner going bad. Then I noticed the cloud of bees floating across the property, approaching us - but safely at a distance. They flew in the cloud and started to form a ball around a tree branch. At first I thought they were attacking a bird's nest or something. Pieces of matter would drop out of the ball to the ground, but I couldn't see anything laying on the ground. Turned out is was "bunches" of bees falling out of a forming ball. Very strange. Here it is. Pretty cool, but creepy, huh?
My next door neighbor and I have an arrangement. He gives me more grapefruit that any normal household could ever want and I give him eggs. Honestly, I think he gets a better deal. Eggs are year round, and I never give him enough to make him lose sleep worrying abut wasting them. Between sharing about half of them with family and the gallons of grapefruit juice we are still drinking we only threw away five or six of them.
My recent drink is a pseudo margarita. It is an easy recipe. 1-2-3. One part orange liquor - (whatever is on hand, which for me is blue curacao right now, and it looks very pretty - if you like blue drinks, that is), two parts common tequila, and three or more parts fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Serve in a salt rimmed glass on the rocks. Yummmmm.
Rabbits and Cats
The other night one of our cats brought home a "gift"; a baby bunny. It was not dead and completely adorable. It had a puncture wound with some light bleeding, so we put it in a box of animal bedding (what do I NOT have on hand around here?), fed it some strawberry leaves and stems, and we let it rest in the shower (where it was safe from our cats and dogs) overnight.
The next day the rabbit seemed good as new. I researched care for wild baby bunnies and it was clear that the bunny had the best chance if turned loose. So we turned let it go.
Unfortunately, another one of our cats was watching us turn it loose, so we had to save the silly bunny again. This involved hoisting Thing 3 over a fence from my shoulders, since begging the cat had no impact whatsoever. Geeze.
The bunny is back in the wild now, and we all hope he has a happy and long bunny life.
Chickens and eggs
We are getting somewhere between eight and twelve eggs, sometimes as many as 14 eggs, every day now. We have 24 mature or almost mature hens in the first pen. I don't think all of them are laying yet. We have 27 babies in the second pen. When they are all laying I suspect I will be pedaling eggs. It will defray the cost of feed.
At this moment we have eight dozen eggs in the extra fridge. Not a problem so far. Between our house, the next door neighbor, my brother's household, my niece's household, and an occasional "gift" to someone my daughter likes to share eggs with, we can handle the volume. When the eggs pile up I hard boil the eggs and make egg salad, other cold salads, deviled eggs, and even pickled eggs. This is after enjoying our eggs fried, in quiches, omelets, and custards.
It is hard to describe the fun the chickens have been for us. Thing 3's science fair project didn't win a prize, but it got a lot of attention and compliments. We enjoy outdoor time together when we let them free range. They have fun personalities. The chickens have really improved the quality of our lives.
Yay chickens.
I'll Bee Damned
We had a swarm of visitors yesterday. I was sitting in my comfy chair watching Thing 3 play with the chickens when I heard a strange noise. It was like a machine. I wondered if it was the pool pump or my air conditioner going bad. Then I noticed the cloud of bees floating across the property, approaching us - but safely at a distance. They flew in the cloud and started to form a ball around a tree branch. At first I thought they were attacking a bird's nest or something. Pieces of matter would drop out of the ball to the ground, but I couldn't see anything laying on the ground. Turned out is was "bunches" of bees falling out of a forming ball. Very strange. Here it is. Pretty cool, but creepy, huh?
Aside from being unsuccessful at getting any interviews, much less a job, things couldn't bee better in Bubblesworld (har, har). (My apologies for that.)
Any drink with tequila sounds tasty right about now... that's really an authentic margarita with grapfruit instead of lime, so I bet's it's good. Must try!
ReplyDeleteThat drink looks and sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteIt must be the time of year for bees to swarm, I've seen quite a few bee clusters around here lately, too.
Are those bees those pesky Africanized honey bees that are supposed to have killed everyone in the Southwest by now?
ReplyDeleteDamn, you guys are being overrun with wildlife!
ReplyDeleteMy encounter with a bunny today was with the one my lab partner and I were dissecting in my Anatomy class today. Somehow, a discussion developed about who at our table had eaten rabbit. My lab partner Paul, who is from Camaroon, and I both answered in the affirmative.
And that drink looks really good. Wish you were my next door neighbor.
ReplyDeletethe bees are a weird sight!
ReplyDeletetrading goods is a good business, yes?
You are much calmer than I would have been. I see a swarm of bees and I will have everyone and everything in the house, the house would be plasticed and duct taped around every crevice or hole, several cans of Raid, and a hysterical Raven on the phone with exterminators and anyone who might own a flame thrower.
ReplyDeleteKristi
ReplyDeleteStep back on the orange. I have let it go altogether.
Kriby and Vikki
Yeah, I was counting on seasonal, and praying for non-african.
JY
I've eaten bunny, and I'm not ashamed. Also, I wish for you as my neighbor, too!!!
Teri
We were amazed! They left before dusk!
Raven
I was mortified they would stay!
Teri
ReplyDeleteYes, it works out very well. Our fence makes a great neighbor.
I was painting a house once, on the second floor deck, and the colony of bees that were infesting the house decided to swarm and move on. There wasn't anything I could do, so they swarmed around me. They were bouncing off my head, my glasses, all over me. I could feel them on my face, my ears, everywhere. I couldn't swat them or I'd be dead, so I just stayed where I was and kept on working. It lasted for five minutes, but I didn't get stung once. I'll never forget that.
ReplyDeleteJoe
ReplyDeleteI'd never forget that, either!! The sound they make when they do that is one of a kind, isn't it?
Man, you have covered so many things that I'm interested in--the chickens, cocktails, bees. What a cool post. That ball o' bees is pretty impressive.
ReplyDelete