the vantage point of my girls

My son Tyler, Henny Penny, Foghorn and me..:)

    I stumbled on a great website/blog, The Chicken Chick at Egg Carton Labels by ADozenGirlz.  The Chicken Chic shares great ideas and she has a very readable format.  I found the chicken treat have and have nots extremely informative as well as her plan to build a first aid kit for your girls... I will work on that this week before fall term starts.
    Summer has gone by so fast...I didn't have anytime except to paint my chicken coops door Red...:)   My summer term was full of writing assignments...yikes.  But the good news is I nailed another 4.0 GPA...good golly pretty good for an old bird like me. :)

    PS  I did have the pleasure of reading "Just a couple of Chickens" Raising Poultry and a Family in Hard Times by Corinne Tippett.

It is a great book I'm still reading the last few pages as slowly as possible just don't want it to end.

Again it is very important to give credit where credit is due and cite all sources..so
Everyone must go to The Chicken Chick at Egg Carton Labels by ADozenGirlz and The Chicken Chick at Egg Carton Labels by ADozenGirlz.  Picture below is The Chicken Chick....

Backyard chicken-keeping information, tips, photos and DIY projects with a splash of creativity. Yours in Poultry, The Chicken Chick™ of Egg Carton Labels by ADozenGirlz.™

What a relief ...

I'm sooo relieved turned in my final essay, one of the most exhausting writing assignments I've completed thus far...just drains me. And had to reschedule my final for Wednesday yikes...oh well more time to prepare for that 2 1/2 hour impromtu essay..yet how to prepare when not given the prompt yet!!!!

 

I finally painted the door of my chicken coop Red...need to do the rest but I started with the door to seeif the color is right...it was...:)

 

I will be off for a couple of weeks before fall term starts up

 

 

Will be spending a lot of time with my girls ....and cleaing and organizing for a super productive year at school......

Ronnie belting out a tune

It was super hot this weekend for my girls and they were kinda cranky...LOL  I don't know what this was all about.  I thought maybe there was a snake in the coop or something :) She belted it out for at lease 10 minutes. This is Ronnie, she is molting and not giving any eggs right now and for good reason she might be cranky cause her skin feels like a pin cushion.  Yikes

The Lord is laying out my path.  I praise him everyday. I have won a scholarship, I am blessed and grateful and I'm in hopes the year will bless me with more. Every little bit helps.
    I'm on a new schedule to follow up with the volunteer of my Saturdays to taking care of Wilburville's newly planted douglas fir forest. Also I will continue my shadow hours with Dr Erin Anderson OD, who has provided me with her leadership as a mentor, along with 9 hours a week of tutoring students on CCC campus.
    My new project is to make time to work with the idea of bringing an Alzheimer's walk into the town where I live. This will require that I meet with the Mayor, so this will be on my list of things to do before the end of summer. In addition to that I need to work with the international program on campus and complete my application for a Costa Rica and Nicaragua trip which will commence in Spring and Summer of 2013.  To make that possible I have to dig further for and apply for funding by scholarships that encourages an increased international curriculum base in my education.
   If anyone reading this can offer suggestions on how to make adding abroad semesters financially feasible, please share on my blog I would love to hear of success stories.

    Here is a great picture of my son and of course the one in the front is Foghorn....:)

   As far as my path of continued success with "No Smoking" and my Restless Hens girls that make it possible, I'm golden on that commitment to myself my children and the Lord. By the way my girls (Hens) are doing fabulous, with the exception that I am concerned one of my Rhode Island Red's is overweight namely, Mohawk.  I love her, she is so sweet gentle and is always willing to get close with me and let me snuggle her.  She is the loner and is always last, in the back and least skid-dish, but extremely large.  She has a sort of waddle in her gait  more so than a regular chicken.  Super cute, but I shouldn't continue to give her so many snacks :)

I just loved this book....


  Still Life with Chickens, starting over in a house by the sea. A memoir by Catherine Goldhammer.

Pet Chicken Sites

Chicken Magazines:

Urban Farm                    www.urbanfarmonline.com

Backyard Poultry           www.backyardpoultrymagazine.com

Poultry Press                www.poultrypress.com

Fancy Fowl                   www.fancyfowlusa.com

Countryside                  www.countrysidemag.com

Mother Earth News   www.MotherEarthNews.com

Practical Poultry          www.practicalpoultry.co.uk

Home Grown Poultry  www.homegrownpoultry.com

The Coop                   www.the-coop.org

The Poultry Pages     www.allotment.org.uk

Poultry Organizations/Associations:

The American Poultry Association  www.amerpoultryassn.com

American Bantam Association www.bantamclub.com

National 4-H Club www.4-H.org

Americauna Breeders Club www.ameraucana.org

Silkie Bantam Club www.americansilkiebantamclub.org

The Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquitieswww.feathersite.com/Poultry/SPPA/SPPA.html

Old English Game Bantam Club of America www.bantychicken.com/OEGBCA

Other Pet Chicken Websites:

My Pet Chicken www.mypetchicken.com

Feathersite www.feathersite.com

Poultry One www.poultryone.com

Chicken Crossing www.chickencrossing.org

Incredible Chickens www.incrediblechickens.com

Goodbye City Life www.goodbyecitylife.com

Suburban Chicken www.suburbanchicken.org

Backyard Chickens www.backyardchickens.com

Pets Boutiques www.petsboutiques.eu

Excellent CBS News Sunday Morning Show today!

    I was extremely inspired this morning, when I watched CBS News Sunday Morning.  A truly genuine story was told by Mark Straussman, about a young woman named, Luma Mufleh living, in a suburb near Atlanta Georgia and her dream to build a school. 

    Luma Mufleh, was born in Jordan in 1974 and she moved to the US to attend Smith College. After graduation she established residency and found work in Clarkston, Ga.  She ended up forming a Fugees soccer team with the children living in our country from other war torn countries.      

     She became very involved, especially in 2007, when she went all in and is now dreaming big to build a school that will help educate these children, with whom the public schools are unfortunately failing. With her love of soccer and her desire to become a US citizen, she understands what these children need to succeed and she understands the importance of not taking US citizenship for granted as she has just recently been granted US Citizenship. She is doing all she can to create a village of supporters for her program, has been and will continue to help carry her kids through a lifetime of education and learning. Her energy and dedication is driving her dream to build a well needed school for them.

   Wouldn't it be fantastic if somehow the young girls who recently invented and designed the SOccket Ball, came together to raise the 5 million needed to build this Refugee school on the 19 foreclosed acres Luma has been able to purchase. 

     I will follow this story and I hope when I graduate that I'm able to meet her and visit her school and all the kids who attend. What an inspiration that would be. It is my dream to find financial ways to help her and propagate programs like this that are necessary everywhere in the U.S. to elevate young children with the education and support they need to become our next outstanding generation. It's only from the firm foundation we build and nurture that we can then lean on for strength & support in our futures.


                                                 Bibliography


     http://www.thefootballsupernova.com


     Strausman, Mark, perf. "War, Soccer, and the American 
            Dream." Prod. Jason Sacca. Coming Home. CBS:
            CBS, 08072012. Television.

      Praise God! I think I almost started to tear up when I received a confirmation email from Dr. Anderson (Vision Source, our eye doctor in town) letting me know that she will allow me to shadow this summer starting July 20th.  Boy, that made my day.  Every little blessing that takes me down my path to reach my goal is something to celebrate!  I also planned a visit to the Pacific University this coming Friday to visit the campus and get familiar with what it will take for me to be accepted there for Graduate School!
      In the mean time I stay on course by applying for every scholarship I can find, caring for my chicken co-op Restless Hens & sharing their eggs, caring for the 100 + newly panted trees on Wilburville and working as a tutor at the tutor center on campus.  Of course I'm also making time for my writing and speech courses, which I'm enjoying so far. Great Professors, I've been so fortunate to study with.

   I'm weeding with my chickens at my heels, crock pot spaghetti cooking for dinner and Tyler (my youngest son) is out mowing the grass, and it doesn't get better than this on a sunny summer day :)

     Spent the morning filling out scholarship information, which is my new everyday ritual. I'm determined to continue my education and it will be short of impossible without winning a few scholarships....Please God Please make one happen for me; I won't let you down :)

    Well It is now June 28th and my first week of Summer Term.  I am tackling speech and writing courses so I will stay very busy.  

    Finished last term with a 4.0 GPA , which I'm gaga about.  Yahoo. That was a tough term and I'm proud my efforts paid off.

    A week break with weather that was pretty nice allowed me to spend most of my time outside with the girls.  They are getting very fat so I better lay off the treats.  Every time I sit at the picnic table to eat my nestle nutty ice cream cones, they literally go ape-shit. No manners at all, as they all clamber up on my shoulders arms and head.  geez those bad girls.  

   Recently I am taking notice of the different personalities  and the intricate ways they treat one another.  Leghorn, my girl with the broken leg that is totally healed has become very bossy.  She doesn't lack confidence that's for sure.  She was so gentle and sweet when she was lame and now she drives the show. Some like to cuddle and make soft noises and others still fight my affection but none of them are mean.  I like the curious non nonchalant ways my other leghorn saddles up next to me and when I'm not paying enough attention to her she will peck my leg.  It cracks me up cause when I lean down to pick her up she runs like the dickens...LOL

   I decided to start doing some research on animals and emotional behaviors, if they have such, which I believe they do, although there are many naysayers out there.  Recently I opened and started reading When Elephants Weep which is comprehensive and compelling and provides argument after argument about animal sensibility and emotions.

When Elephants Weep, Jeffery Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy
and  I am really enjoying  The Pig Who Sang to the Moon also by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, especially the chapter on chickens. This book has recommended other books I intend to read like...

  The Fairest Fowl by Tamara Staples, Ira Glass, and Christa Velbel and
 Just like an Animal, by Maurice Burton   (has anyone out there read either of those two books?  Are they good?)

     I believe we negate to be protective of animals other than what we consider house pets, probably out of a need to continue feeding on protein without guilt or worry. Otherwise it might become way too inconvenient to keep breeding them and slaughtering them and wrapping them in saran wrap so we can cook them and eat them.....yikes Out of ignorance its easier to continue with this pattern ....the deeper I look the more I see it's just another avenue of slavery  through the insane inhuman production of the meat we eat.  It is very sad.

     Some really interesting facts, studies and anecdotes about animals and the emotions that have been recorded find me beside myself...  Its' crazy especially elephants and cows and their calf's

Well Finals were complete yesterday, now I wait for the grades.  I hate waiting...yikes
 
  Steph & I start Peer Assistance Training today...here we go...

    The weekend is supposed to be a beauty....I am so looking forward to it...maybe some hiking. One week off to fix my chicken coop and make it clean and pretty for my girls and then it's back to Summer term...All writing course for summer and then Fall hope maybe Calculus and more of the dreaded Chemistry and  the Anatomy and Physiology I love... I pray for funding please God show me the path I must take...pre med is what I'm shooting for!!!  yahoo
  

     It's almost finals week again and my head is spinning with deadlines.  I received great news that I am a student candidate being considered for the Charla Richards-Kreitzberg Memorial Scholarship and I'm so excited about it.  What is crazy is that my study partner and new friend Stephanie Hamel is also being considered for the same scholarship along with 3 others.  She is incredible and a great writer so of course I want her to win, but I told her that I don't want to read her story till after she wins LOL because I also had to write a Personal Statement Essay for the same Scholarship ...... She and I also applied for the same job on campus without realizing it and were fortunate to both be hired for a fall position as Student Peer Assistant. We have been hooked at the hip studying for Joe Bean's amazing Anatomy and Physiology Biology 231 class, he is about the best professor I've ever had the opportunity to study under.  If I am blessed as a winner of the scholarship I will be able to enroll in the rest of his biology series as well as micro biology and I will be on my way to complete pre med @ George Fox or OSU.....ya baby

     I am also excited to spend more time with volunteer work for women in need,environmental protection programs and my girls the Restless Hens and their egg production. (I live on the Abiqua a beautiful amazing clean river and we want to keep it that way). God willing all this will happen and he will bless me with a way to buy a car this year. I've been without a car for almost 3 years (Judi my ex mother in law has been an angel driving me everyday, as my personal taxi. Without her, the last 3 years would not have been possible) There was no other way of entering College full time without giving everything up. I dream of Gradutaion day with my son's Toby and Tyler in the audience. I work to make them proud and show them that anything is possible, even if the chips are down. It is possible to give it your all and make it happen, and I want to be a role model that shows them that they can make their dreams come true too.  

New photos of my girls, for a photography class assignment

Luckily we had a really nice stretch of sunny weather in May which is really unusual for this time of the year.  Three more weeks till finals....oh dear. 

Ya ....what a great idea....LOL

That's me..... you know it

I want to share again why this blog is important.

     When I decided to quit smoking, I was also in in transition to go back to school full-time. Amazingly and in God's ways the College I chose became a smoke-free campus the same term I started back. Of course this only encouraged me even further and I became even more focused on giving up the cancer sticks. I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of getting my degree.

     Now that I look back on my success I also see many reasons why I was successful....

     I challenge anyone that wants to quit smoking to do it for yourself first and foremost but also add another project into your life that will simultaneously fill in all the moments where you may be overwhelmed by a craving for another  cigarette.

     This is how it worked out for me:

     After 4 months of no smoking I was rewarded with 10 baby chics. I was taken over by their helplessness and realized I was in for more than I bargained for. (Just like when you bring home that puppy that turns your life and house upside down for the first year) So in a sense the time I had to spend with them taking care of their every waking need only helped to shroud my cravings since there was no time to act on them ....LOL .

    So my advice is to plan in great detail how you will reward yourself. It should be with something that will possibly and obsessively consume your time for a short while, this is crucial in your first year of success.

     Also, when my chickens were 8 months old and I realized how they helped improve my life in so m any ways and I wanted to share them in this open blog/journal of their lives and mine. They say journaling is very cathartic and helpful in so many ways so it may be because of this added process (like my own AA meeting with my chicken blog that I'm reminded of my continued success) that I continue to be a non-smoker, advocating everyone to give it up.

     I hope this inspires someone out there to formulate a plan to quit smoking. Please anyone who reads this share their thought and feelings I would love to hear.

Signing off for now and scooting to class....first day of spring term is today...:)

Roxy - n - r - Hens

Ok ...now this one is a little louder....I know I sound crazy but the girls love the attention...they really do

Ok, I bug them way too much....but they tolerate me and give me lots of eggs.  They don't peck each others' backs or fight too much and they are gentle with children, animals and adults alike, not just me.  Pretty amazing birds if you ask me....just need a full time maid to clean their coop and poop :)

Leghorn is the most subdued and gentle of all my hens...Sally is too but she is more a mix of bossy and dainty

Warning ....please turn down volume before playing clip :) I'm loud...

here is a little clip of leghorn in her basket

 This is Shasta the new Christmas kitty...
She has an attitude problem and doesn't understand what personal space is.
That is my study space during college terms.







Next, below we have leghorn ingesting cottage cheese to help her with her well ...runny stool.

 This is her trying to figure out how to hop!








I eventually had to put her in a basket and carry her around all day.  So of course every cat in the house had to stick their noses in her face. Believe it or not she was feeling so poor she never once pecked them.  Also notice below, this is Creamy and leghorn meeting for the first time.  The cat in the picture above is Shasta and she is lighter in color.

Notice the Anatomy poster on wall next to my bed. I figure osmosis of 900 anatomical terms might be possible if I go to sleep looking at it and wake up looking at it.  This way I don't have to count sheep......I just keep repeating the bones, muscles, endocrine system and well you get the idea...
     And yes, after leghorns visit I stripped the sheets and cleaned up the entire room before I got back in bed...

 Lastly I gave her some electrolytes in her water and some fresh air by the window and then her time  in my room was done LOL.

She is now out with her hens, these pictures were from her first 5 days she lived in the basket