Sorry for the hiatus, but I had so many things start moving fast.
Firstly, the chicks had hatched in April. Six of the chicks went to my mom and now it seems she has four roosters. She also has purchased chicks at Tractor Supply to hopefully make up for the lopsided number of hens to roosters. The rest of the chicks are in a chicken tractor that I am not quite done with, but I did get the wheels back on and now just need to put a hole in the upper level for a pop door and then cover that opening as well as get something to close it.
Secondly, I started a new job as a CNA at a different facility. I have been an aide for over 10 years, so my no-nonsense does kick in when someone is acting the fool. Ironically, the management are happy that I don’t just go by the ‘patient’s rights’ slogan. If you haven’t worked in healthcare, residents can abuse that and it can infringe on the staffs ability to do a good job and take care of other people. It also puts a lot of stress on the staff because they most likely are trying to do their best job, and some people are just out to make trouble. Thus burnout among healthcare workers.
That was where I was last year. Burnt out from management not listening and putting more work on me. Family gaslighting me to make me feel bad for putting up boundaries and not hippity hopping to their tune. Something had to go and since I was not then, nor now, in a place yet to leave, I decided I could get a new job. It is a longer drive and lower pay, but it keeps my van from dying and saves me extra trips to the store as I can stop by after work.
Thirdly, Meryn had her baby! It is a boy named Mario. He is super sweet and is over a month old. He is already biting her teats and trying to mount his mom. When he reaches 8 weeks, he is going to live with his dad on the other side of the fence.
His birth was a bit exciting I should say. When I got home from work I was trying again, fruitlessly, to fix the chicken’s fencing so they could not escape. When I finished I decided it was consistently warm enough to set up the goats automatic waterer. As I was doing this I heard a goat scream. I looked up to see Amelia and Manny, but I didn’t see Meryn. I go to look behind their shed only to find Meryn standing with hooves coming out of her rear. I grabbed her and pulled her to the other side of the pen that I had set up for when she gave birth and in ten minutes he was born. She took to him immediately and eventually let him suckle. The funny thing is he was born May 6, that happens to be the birthday of my cousin’s oldest daughter who just turned sixteen and I had been a live-in nanny for her when she was little. So I named Mario after her.
Now we are into June. I am this year pulling back on my gardening while I figure out how to clean up my place so I can eventually move to a new homestead that I own and do not rent. I have no solid plans, only dreams and hopes. But scaling back on everything is what I am trying to do in order to save money and eventually start over.
So I have planted some potatoes, random things in my Greenstalk towers. I have two stock tanks that I planted carrots and progress #9 peas. Instead of buying dirt, I’m using last years compost from my chickens as dirt and so far the potatoes are loving it. With more feed bags I’m sure that I could plant even more. I also have onions that I planted last summer growing. I thought I had killed them.
That sums up almost everything. There is so much more that can be said. But I’ll save it for later.
The Black Cherry Azalea 