Friday, November 04, 2011

We're back to Autumn... for now...

The 4.5 inches of snow we got last weekend has melted, and has left a certain amount of carnage in its wake.  We lost many trees... such heavy, icy snow falling on trees that still had their leaves was not ideal.  Our big pawpaw tree has split in two, as well as the Party Tree in the center of the clearing where we got married.... many others have lost large limbs or fallen over entirely.  It's sad to me, but at least I know that the trees will not have died in vain.  This weekend is supposed to be nice, and I anticipate hearing the roar of the chainsaw for a large portion of it.  We have a stove, and it is hungry.  These dead and dying trees will feed the stove next year, after they've been cut, split, stacked and seasoned.  They gave us fruit, shade, and beauty in life.. they'll give us warmth in death.

The ducks have FINALLY started to lay eggs!  I'd never eaten a duck egg before this past week.  Hubbybunch scrambled them up in a skillet and melted some sharp cheddar on top... and they were incredibly delicious.  They were creamier, and tasted more fatty than chicken eggs.  Now if we could just get the ladies to lay consistently in their cozy little duck house, that would be even better.  We're finding the eggs all over the place, and I'm sure we're NOT finding others!

One of our younger Ameraucanas has started laying as well, but she's the only one of the newer birds to do so.  Daffodil went on permanent walkabout one day last week... she was our best layer, and one evening she just wasn't there when we went to close the coop up.  There were no feathers, no signs of a struggle like we've seen in the past when a predator gets a hold of a bird... she just vanished.  We miss her, she was one of the original four chicks that Hubbybunch's mother gave us three and a half years ago. 

I've been granted my wish of a day shift position at work, much to my relief.  I spent two weeks on nights, and while the people I worked with were great and I slept just fine during the day... it was really hard not seeing my husband for 24 hours at a time.  Yesterday was the last day of my orientation at work... and I'm now officially counted as a real person!  Next week I'm on my own, and I admit I am a little bit nervous.  But I simply keep telling myself that time after time, I've proven that I have the skills to do this job well.  I'm still learning, but so is everyone else, even those nurses who have been doing this for decades.  There will always be something new and unfamiliar, but that doesn't mean that I won't be able to deal with it.

Right??

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