Lost my mojo.

These past few months I feel like the wind got sucked from my sails. Damsel has become impossible for me. I don't have the health for weekly parties and events and Facebook blacklisted me so my reach dropped substantially and no one was ordering. I adore the company with a passion but the biggest online networks include non-lethal self defense in their anti-weapon agenda and that just has made Damsel beyond hard.

The junior league I was working with became worse than high-school with the teenaged drama, name calling,  and backstabbing. So I walked away from my board position as the rule we try to live by is keep things as stress free as possible since the stress makes my fms worse.

I also haven't improved like we hoped. We think the climate is part of the issue. We spent a week in Wyoming and for those few days I was almost pain free. So we are hoping to find work out of the desert.

I am homeschooling Bug this year. Some of her group developed some awful risky behavior and I don't want her immersed in that. I honestly think that here in Vegas the kids are exposed to so much vice they experiment even younger than other places.

I've decided to focus on my writing again and on my passion for preparation and all the other great things I used to write about. I want to get back to reading my favorite blogs and connecting with the friends I've been neglecting as I tried to do Damsel.

So hopefully this is me climbing out of a dark place and getting back to the things I love. Sure missed you all.

scared

   Spike blacked out twice yesterday morning. We spent three hours in the ER with low blood pressure and low blood sugars. He had his first ever blood draw and took it like a champ. He had an EKG that came back abnormal.
   Today I took him into his doctor who ordered more labs and referred us to a pediatric cardiologist. The lab tech wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and let the needle slip out of his arm. Then she tried to put it back in the same vein and blew the vein. She dug around in his arm for a while before giving up. He was in a lot of pain and terrified. He didn't move a muscle while she dug around in his arm with that needle. But now he has to go back tomorrow and I don't know how well he will take that.
   I am the kind of person who does very well in a crises and breaks down afterward. Right now I am pretty freaked out.

Slacker

Sorry I have been MIA for a while. I have been up to my neck in incubators, chicks, chickens, kids, dogs, bees, rabbits, ect, ect, ect.

First topic, birds. I went out of town for a week and came home to find out that my house sitter had put my broody hen back in the coop with the rest of the chickens by accident. Luckily her eggs had only been left unattended for 24 hours or so and I fired up the incubator. Out of the seven eggs under the hen, three were clear (unfertile) and four were only a few days away from hatching. I actually saw one of the chicks jump in the egg when candled. Out of the four eggs, one died from being left in the nest too long without the hen and three began to hatch. I had issues with my incubator and two of the chicks shrink wrapped ( the membrane gets too dry and shrinks around the chick suffocating them). The lone remaining chick pipped at the wrong end and had to be helped...a lot. I ended up picking away all of the upper half of the egg so all she had to do was stretch and tear the membrane. She was too weak. I pulled the membrane off her head and picked away more of the shell. At this point all she had to do was pull her head out from under her wing and stretch. She was still too weak. I have a video of my three boys and a neighbor kid whistling at her to encourage her while I petted her wing and head to stimulate her into moving. She finally flopped out of the shell and into my hand but was still too weak to kick out of the lower half of the shell. I put her back in the incubator to gain her strength. After and hour she still only had one leg out of the shell and struggling to figure out how to kick free. After checking that she had absorbed the yolk, I realized she was still attached to the membrane by several strings of goo. I crushed the remaining shell to avoid her kicking against it and disemboweling herself and cut through the strings of goo close to her unbilical cord. I put her back in the incubator to dry off and get strong. By morning she was screaming for breakfast and running around the incubator looking for friends. She actually started to bond with the sponge I put in for humidity. I feather sexed her and she is indeed a hen!! I found her some friends that were being given away and they are all snuggling happily together in my laundry room.
   I also acquired a pair of blue laced red wyandottes! I have looked for this breed for over a year now. The chicks I hatched out last year were blue laced red wyandottes (BLRW for short) but they both were roosters. I am so excited for these birds!

Will blog about the other topics later.

Mission impossible

Because I have gained some sort of reputation as a person who can deal with any kind of animal problem no matter what it is, I ended up with this little guy in my kitchen today. He weighes 22 grams and is slightly bigger than my thumb. He's blind, he's bald and he JUMPS! If he survives long enough to open his eyes we will name him. Until then we are just calling him Mission Impossible. Wish me luck with this little guy. Even though I am trying very hard to distance myself, he is tugging at the heart strings.

Holy giant egg batman!

My little auracauna hen layed this egg this morning. Next to it is the last egg she layed. The big one is easily the size of a turkey egg. I can't imagine giving birth every day....chickens have it rough.

Crash has done it again.

Ironically, his shirt reads "Blood Clots, Sweat Dries, Bones Heal."

He has to wear the boot for two weeks, he can only take it off to shower. He is already tired of it and tries to find ways to get me to let him take it off. He is showering a lot more often these days. 

Great egg experiment update

I think the great egg experient may be a flop. The temp here have been unsteady to say the least and have made for some serious temp spikes and dips that I think might have killed my eggs. The neighbor kid swore he heard one of the eggs cheep today though and I have thought I have heard something the last few days too, so hopefully I will get SOMETHING. My broody hen got off her eggs long enough for me to candle a few a couple of days ago so I have high hopes she will be able to hatch hers. They looked right on track and I even got to see a little foot wiggling around in one egg.
I will post pics of what I do get and if anyone is interested, I will crack and post pics of the development of the eggs that didn't make it.

Chicks!!!

Ok so just one so far. The broody hatched out one little feather footed chick this morning. As long as she doesn't step on it, I will have at lest a semi sucessful hatch. I am still hopefull for her other five eggs as well. Pics will follow once the hatch is done.

Her name was Lola.....

she was a rabbit.....Wait, that doesn't sound quite right?

This is the newest bunny addition. Finally a female. Lola and Max are going to be the beginning of our survival rabbit herd (still not sure what to call it, what exactly IS a group of rabbits called!?) These particular bunnies are strictly pets, they all three use a litter box and have been strictly indoor rabbits, but their offspring will eventually become dinner. We plan on having several rabbits at various locations and will be learning (and teaching the boys) how to butcher, clean and cook rabbits. I would feel a lot better about eating a rabbit that I raised than one in the wild. They are prone to parasites that give me the heeby jeebies.

Reeses Pieces

We have added to our rabbit herd (flock?). Meet Reeses Pieces. He is a mini lop and was given to Butch by his best friends when they moved and weren't allowed to have a rabbit in the new rental. Reeses will eventually have a few girlfriends and they will be the beginning of our 4 H show bunnies.