More Snow Daze

It snowed again. There were about five inches on the ground so I had a moment of stupidity thoughtfulness and figured I would clear the driveway for Jon before he came home. It was warmish (22 degrees F) so I reasoned that the girls would have fun playing in the snow while I worked.

But this time I would not be defeated by the evil Gator. I would outsmart the snow and use the snow blower. Plus, this way the snow would be thrown over the massive drifts rather than add to them as the plow would. I am so smart!

It worked great until the snow blower quit working. I was halfway down the drive. Blocking the driveway so Jon definitely could not get up the driveway. That was the opposite of my good intentions. I wanted to make it easier for him, not make more work. So I finally got the snow blower working again and started back up the driveway. It died. Again. And now my youngest realized I wasn't right next to her and had started bawling, toddling down the driveway to me. I could get the snow blower started but it wouldn't continue running. I tried pushing it up the driveway but mostly that involved me running in place, feet slipping and sliding on the ice.

Then in dawned on me. I checked the gas level. There still was gas in it but it was pretty low so I trudged up the hill to get the heavy gas can which I lugged down the hill. Once filled with fresh gas, the snow blower ran beautifully and I was able to clear the driveway for my dear husband. Meanwhile, the girls did actually seem to have fun playing in the snow and with their two kitties, Smoky and Pepper, though I'm not so sure the latter enjoyed the snow nearly as much.

When will it ever warm up again!? Did I mention there are chickens in my laundry room? They need it to be warmer before they leave the house. And they are starting to grow feathers and fly. In the house.

Snow Daze

I admit it. I am one of those people who actually like snow. I enjoy playing in it. I cross country ski, I snowshoe, and I like making snowmen (or snow animals). Living in Iowa has not been kind to my love of snow. In the years I have lived here, we never got a lot and many times it melted in between snowfalls. Very disappointing.

This year, however, we move to a farm and what happens? We get DUMPED on. And of course we didn't really plan on getting lots of snow so we didn't plan ahead when we started plowing our driveway. We are now running out of room for our snow! Our Gator-turned-snowplow can only push so much snow and it won't push back the giant drifts that have invaded our land.

Jon seems to enjoy using the snowplow but I have to admit, it has not been kind to me. He was on business travel when we happened to get a few inches of snow. Not normally a problem but we also had lots of wind which created a knee-deep drift across our entire driveway. Jon was coming home that afternoon and he was very sick. I knew I had to get the driveway cleared so he could get up the driveway and not worry about plowing.

It was cold so I bundled up the girls and threw them in the Gator. We had planned for this snow so the Gator was parked in the garage, warm and ready to speed down the hill, throwing snow to the side with ease.

I got about ten feet before we got stuck. Couldn't even back up. I shoveled out the Gator, girls crying, and took another whack at it through a slightly less deep section. We made it down the driveway. And got stuck coming back up when I wasn't even plowing. Several attempts later we finally made it back up the hill but the only thing we had accomplished was make some tire tracks in deep snow.

Fortunately, that was when our one neighbor came along with his old tractor and said he would clear our driveway. And he did. I was able to take the girls inside where we all warmed up and cheered up. Thank you, neighbor!

Chicka Chicka Poo Poo

Chicks are cute and after showing their pictures, I noticed evidence of “chick envy” by some friends. But did you know that you need to check chick butts often to make sure they don’t get pasty butt? Pasty butt is when their vents get “glued” shut by poo. This is a life threatening condition so it is important to keep their little chicky bums clean.

As a mom of 2 young children, I wonder why I thought it was necessary to have MORE butts to wipe. And did I mention the chicks need to live in the house for a while? Yes…we now have chickens…in the house. In my laundry room, to be exact.

I couldn't resist adding a fluffy chick picture. This is Elsa.

On the positive side, I have someone to talk to while doing laundry now. Oh, and the danger of pasty butt is usually only a problem for a chick’s first week or two of life. I am also happy to report that most of my chicks don’t seem to have a problem with pasty butt though I will admit to needing to clean off a few feathery tushies. For the record, the chicks don’t seem to appreciate the fact that I am saving their lives. Indeed, they seem to be a bit indignant about the whole process and loudly peep their displeasure. Silly birds, don’t they know I’m helping?!

Peep Peep

The cashier thought she was losing her mind. She heard strange sounds and they were getting louder and closer. What could be making them? Birds? But birds in a store? That doesn’t make sense! Well, it does when that store is Theisen’s and it is Chick Days. And we were the cause of the cashier’s confusion as we were one of the first purchasers of their chicks.

We decided to add to our crazy by adding eight fluffy, adorable chicks to our Faux Farm. We thought some variety would be nice (it is the spice of life, after all) so we got two chicks of four different breeds. We were ultra-creative in naming them. Our Buff Orpington chicks are Buffy and Orpy. The Barred Rocks are Barbara and Rocky. Our Silver Laced Wyandottes are Lacey and Dottie. Are you getting the picture? So creative, eh? Oh, and our Americaunas are Elsa and Anna. We strayed a bit from the formula with this one but my four year old is obsessed with "Frozen" right now (even though she hasn't even seen the movie yet) and insisted on these names. At least Anna works with Americauna. Elsa just doesn't fit in but I guess that kinda goes with the theme of "Frozen" anyway.

Barbara, Dottie, Lacey, Rocky, Elsa, Anna, Buffy(in back), and Orpy

Here We Go

A few months ago, we moved to a small acreage in Iowa. Since then, we have had several little adventures and I have had people tell me I should start a blog to document these adventures. So here it goes. Maybe my stories will entertain some while others will read about the crazy in my life and be glad they live the lives they do. Either way, I suppose it will be a good way for me to keep track of what goes on here at our Fe Fi Faux Farm.

To start things off, I suppose I should give a little background information about our place. It is five acres. We have one neighbor, unless you count the herd of horses next door, then we have lots of neighbors. But really, we can only see one house across our meadow and we like it that way. But we also technically live in town and are surrounded by houses though we can't see them through the trees. One of my favorite aspects of our place is the close proximity of the bike trail. We love to play outside and it has been fun to spend so much time on the trail.

 We apparently are gluttons for punishment as this place requires a great deal of upkeep. The house is an older house and the land has not been well-cared for over the last few years. This is especially evident by the large amounts of poison ivy that I unknowingly hand-picked during our first few days here. The sneaky stuff was hidden amongst some larger plants and vines and I didn't discover the poison ivy until a week later when I broke out in a severe poison ivy rash. This was not my favorite "welcome to the neighborhood" gift ever but it is the most memorable and I still have the scars as a memento. For the record, I do wear gloves when gardening now.