Blog thing time: 3 things

Thanks to friend Amy, I'm frittering away my time on this silly blog thing (well, I needed a break):

Three names you go by:
1. Neb
2. Nebbo
3. Neburrito

Three Parts of Your Heritage
1. German (blood: mother)
2. Norwegian (adopted family)
3. English, Scottish, Dutch, etc. (blood: father)

Three Things That Scare You
1. propellers
2. talking on the telephone
3. failure

Three of Your Everyday Essentials
1. God
2. music
3. peace

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. spectacles
2. khaki cargo BDU style pants
3. ivory henley shirt

Three of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists:
1. Hans Zimmer
2. Howard Shore
3. John Williams

Three Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love)
1. Romance (in the traditional sense of the word, not the gooey cheap novel sense)
2. Laughter
3. Devotion

Physical characteristics that appeal to you
1. Overal good physical condition
2. Cheerful countenance
3. Slender build

Three of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. Gardening
2. Dance (all kinds)
3. Reading/studying

Three Things You want to do really badly right now
1. Work in my yard/garden.
2. Go on a cruise.
3. Finish my hen house.

Three Places You Want to go on Vacation
1. UK
2. Egypt
3. Disneyland

Three Things You Want to Do/Be Before You Die
1. Make sure my animals will have somebody to take care of them.
2. Do my best to give my friends a chance to know God.
3. If my husband is still alive (and he probably will be), make sure there's somebody to take care of him.

Three Ways that you are stereotypically a boy/girl
1. I want to look good.
2. I want my house in order.
3. I want to be cherished by my man.

Three Ways that you are NOT stereotypically a boy/girl
1. I prefer the company of and friendships with men (most women are utterly silly to me).
2. I love running around in the bushes and carrying weapons, in fact I have delusions of soldier-hood.
3. I'm happy to get dirty, scruffy, whatever (if I can go to bed clean).

There it is, for what it's worth.

Good Egg

Just found this article on free-range chickens at Mother Earth News. I already knew my chickens produced great eggs, all you have to do is look at the watery, pale yolked things from the store compared to my girls' (or even store-bought free range) firm white, dark orange yolked eggs. I just didn't know how much better they are than store-bought jailbird eggs until now. Half the cholesterol? Twice the vitamin E? It goes on. Maybe if folks just stop buying the cheap, concentration camp eggs there will be more free-range farms and the price will go down a bit.

RIP, Natalie

Some time last night my ailing Americauna hen, Natalie, passed on to that great free range in the heavens. She'd been ailing for weeks; dropping weight, poopy butt, low energy. I finally took her in to the kitchen and washed her backside about a month ago and discovered lice! Poor baby. I dusted her, then we dusted all the birds (and their bedding and dust wallows) with Sevin and diatomaceous earth, but I think she was just too worn down. Now I'm worried she might have picked up worms. After all, they all lived in the barn until recently, co-habitating with the barn swallows (cute, but probably full of vermin). At any rate, yesterday she was moving pretty slow, then just sat down on the henhouse porch last night instead of going in. I put her in the "isolation" cage in the coop with doctored food and water and dropper-fed her some of the water, but this morning she was gone. I hate it.

I don't know which is worse, losing an animal to a predator and being filled with grief and rage, or losing an animal to disease and being filled with grief and guilt and self-doubt. I'm going to worm all of the birds just because I can't stand the thought of another one getting sick. Of course neither of the local feed stores has the wormer I want, Ivomec Eprinex, which is a nice topical thing I can apply between their shoulder blades (like flea drops for cats). Yes, it's supposed to be for cattle, but after a day of researching wormers ad nauseum it seems like the way to go. For one thing, it's the only cattle wormer that doesn't require a waiting period before utilizing the milk or meat. Apparently the other ones are a lot more toxic! I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and order some online, because I don't really want to wait on this. I have enough stress in my life right now, thanks.

Happy Independence Day!

A little 1850s (judging by the clothes) Independence Day art. I think what the artist was trying to say was, "Liberty is going to have a heck of a struggle since she can't lift her arms in that fashionably extreme bodice. She's going to need our help, since swinging the sword of freedom is obviously going to be a problem for her. Rally 'round the flag!" or something like that.