Even when you’re living your dream, sometimes you can still have “one of those days”. While I’m searching for a new job, I am enjoying being home taking care of the dogs, Sam, and the farm. I can’t believe how busy I stay with home and farm every day, and in addition I am trying to come up with new ideas to bring a little extra money in. The Dadz started his new job a couple of weeks ago, and that meant some adjustments to all our schedules. His new position is for a business that is in transition, so his schedule was kind of crazy that first week.
It left us all sleep deprived and struggling to find a way to make the new routine work. By week two we settled in a little more as his schedule calmed down some, and then we had that darn time change, which always throws me off. One day particularly challenged me. I woke up at midnight with a pain on my arm, only to find a tick attached to me! I either picked it up on one of our more frequent woods walks with the dogs, or working in the gardens.
I should be an expert at removing ticks by now, since I’ve removed many from dogs over the years, but this time I wasn’t sure I had gotten it completely removed. Did I mention that ticks and the thought of Lyme disease completely freak me out, and that our current employment situations mean we have no health insurance? And that I have trouble falling back asleep when I’m woken up at odd hours (part of what made that first week of the Dadz’ work so rough), never mind adding in stress and worry?
So that leaves my poor hubby trying to inspect my tick bite and remove any excess tick body parts before going to work early that morning, and me needing to get up and take care of the animals on three hours sleep, because there was no way I was going back to sleep after all that. (So far the bite seems to be healing well).
Because I know my limitations, I decided to take only Luke on a walk that morning. Cricket has been impossible on walks lately….nose glued to the ground while Luke is trying to actually walk – I pretty much get stretched in two directions. I just knew my sleep-deprived-self did not have the patience for it. While she gave me the sad eyes as we left, she was OK about it, and as soon as we got back and took care of the birds, we went out in the yard so she could play ball.
That’s when the guinea hen came in the yard and Luke went after it (you can read more about that in last Friday’s post – “Farm Dog Friday – Luke’s Little Adventure“.). When all that was settled, I realized I had stepped in some dog poop that was hidden in the leaves that covered the dog yard (it had been cleared of leaves once already). Both of my hiking boots were covered on the bottom! Well, I’ll just hose those off while I’m filling the water buckets for the birds. (The yard has since been cleared of most of the leaves again, and that better be the end of them!)
For those who read last week’s post, and wondered with me if the guineas would get smart and now stay out of the yard? No such luck! They seemed to for a couple days but just yesterday I had to herd them out of the yard several times before letting the dogs out.
Just another day on the farm! Somehow that afternoon I found the energy to bake two batches of dog cookies to take to a local store to sell later in the week. That’s one of my new farm ventures that I’m hoping will take off. I use ingredients from the farm – in this case fresh herbs from our garden – to make dog treats. This week I’ll be cooking our pumpkins to make puree for more of the pumpkin treats….I actually have a special order to fill!
Cricket and Luke benefit the most from that – they’re the chief taste testers, and they get any leftovers after bagging up. If we can’t sell them all, they’ll go in our freezer, and I’ll finally be able to say that I’m making the homemade treats I’m always wanting to for them!
If you didn’t know, we have a Facebook page for the farm, and we’d love if you followed it! You can find that by clicking here. I will also be working on adding a page to this blog for the farm, and will let you know when that’s done.
I will say “a bad day on the farm is still better than a good day at work!” Despite that challenging day, things are going well with it. We have been selling out of eggs, and can’t keep up with demand. Laying slows down a bit with the shorter days, and even the best pep talks to the hens can’t help that. We have enough regular customers that want our eggs now, that we can’t keep them all supplied. We will no sooner put a dozen eggs in our cooler by the road, and they’re gone! That means we’ll be adding to our flock in the spring, and we’re excited about that! I want to get some breeds that lay different color eggs like green and blue!
We’re learning about how to keep birds through the winter (it turns out they can weather the cold quite well!). It’s fun to watch the hens gravitate towards our front porch to sit in the sun when they are let out of the coop in the morning. Our weather has turned suddenly cold, so that now means we have to get out to the coop first thing in the morning to bring water that is not frozen. That’s become my job most days, since the Dadz leaves for work before the birds are even up at dawn! We also have to be sure to collect eggs promptly so they don’t freeze.
I’m also excited to share that we have a new logo for the farm! I wanted to use the two dogs from our blog logo to make into a farm logo. The woman who originally did my logo for the blog was no longer available, but wasn’t I lucky to find Ann from the Zoolatry blog to help me out. I don’t think I even need to say anymore….you can see for yourself what an awesome job she did! I’m so pleased! Ann is very talented, her communication is great, and she works promptly! I highly recommend her.
Most days around here go more smoothly than that crazy one did, though each day is very busy. It’s difficult for me to try to establish routines when they might get changed if I find a job. I am still hoping to find something flexible or work from home, so that I can still keep farm, pets, and this blog my focus. All paws and claws are crossed around here, because I think the whole crew enjoys having me around as well.
Those days are particularly hard, and you have my sympathies. I struggle with getting ticks off myself too. Probably a blog post in there…LOL
LOVE the logo for the farm, it’s absolutely perfect. Sending good thoughts that the perfect job for you presents itself. Hang in there.
Thank you! I just hope if I have to get a job, I can find one that will be flexible enough that I can still keep all my other stuff going. Keep sending those good thoughts!
I love that picture of the chickens with your pretty yellow door–it gives me that feeling of the William Carlos Williams red wheelbarrow poem! I’m sorry about all of the rough moments–I know the leaf-poop struggle well. It happened to me last weekend while I was raking up our endless leaves! I’m glad that you’re still enjoying farm life despite those struggles.
I wouldn’t trade it for the world, even though some days can be kind of hectic (yesterday a bunch of the chickens disappeared and we spent quite a bit of time tracking them down!!).
We still have leaves landing in the yard….I’m not sure they will ever stop falling. LOL
Glad to hear life on the farm is going well! My hens are molting, so eggs are pretty few and far between these days. That’s the nice thing about hens under the age of one, no molting! I hope the tick issue doesn’t progress into a problem. Good luck with the dog treat sales! What a great idea!
Thank you! We are going to enjoy this year when we don’t have to deal with the molting, and are still getting quite a few eggs compared to what others are getting. 🙂
It always surprises me when the ticks are worse in the fall than they were in the spring and summer! Hopefully the birds are helping with that, we’ll know better next year I think.
It sounds as if you are handling farm life quite well. I’d be completely lost! I love the new logo and Ann is very talented. I hope that you start selling all the treats and other things so you can continue working from the farm. I’m so proud of you!
Thank you, Melissa! This whole thing has certainly been a learning process, but that should help keep my brain younger, right? 🙂
I love the logo! Cricket and Luke are stars (and Sam in the one from the farm)! It’s easy to let the bad days get the best of you – but it sounds like you respected your limits and instead made the best of it.
I have my bad days, and certainly my share of down times….it’s been a rough fall. But I always try to look on the bright side of things and to keep moving forward.
Isn’t it odd how living the dream still involves those days that are so difficult? Kudos to you for knowing your limits and not taking both dogs walking when you were already stressed. I hope that things calm down into a good routine. I love the logo! Perfect!
Thank you! On a good day Cricket tries my patience when we’re trying to walk, and I believe in giving myself a break sometimes. Plus Cricket is just happy as long as she gets her ball time….the joy of an older dog that doesn’t need as much exercise and stimulation (which Luke can never seem to get enough of).
Sorry to hear about the bad day! I think your new venture in life is exciting if it’s what you want to do. I’m very worried about the no health insurance though, are you looking into Obamacare at least? But, I’m glad to hear that your hubby is working but I kind of think there’s a lot you can do with the farm instead of an indoors job, and your blog!
Yes, I am looking into Obamacare, and hoping we can afford to at least get something. There is certainly plenty to do here, there’s no doubt about that, but I need the income an outside job will bring too; finding something consistent that’s work at home is proving difficult.
Great logo!! Sounds like you are keeping crazy busy with the farm!
Thank you! Some days it feels like too busy, but the truth is I need that to stay motivated!
Love the new farm logo, Jan, it rocks!! And you hit it on the head with the “A bad day on the farm is better than a good day at work:” – at least I think it sounds like it would be! Anyway, you know I am wishing you the best in all your endeavors, and I can’t believe you can get up so darn early and do stuff, ha-ha!! Oh, and when we were talking about the chickens not needing a lot of heated area, etc. and getting eggs before they are frozen, I hadn’t thought about the water-wow, so that just is a lot of work there, no wonder you are so busy!
At some point we’ll probably invest in a heated waterer, which would make life easier. I think going out first thing in the morning when it gets really cold, snowy, and icy, will get old quickly!
YOU ARE AMAZING! YOU ARE INCREDIBLE!! Where in the world do you find the time? You must be insanely organized!!! Your treats look darling and I bet they are delicious! We ADORE Ann and love her work, she truly did a fabulous job on your logo! Hoping all will be fine after that tick bite……that had to have been scary!! I am hoping your treats and all take off so that you don’t have to find a job outside of the home. You are just incredible!
Thank you SO MUCH! But trust me, Caren, I am far from organized! I am all over the place, and rarely get everything on my list done because I’m easily distracted. I used to be more organized when I was younger, but I think menopause took that away from me! LOL
Love the new logo! Very cute and eye-catching. How exciting about the dog treat business you’ve started! Funny enough – but not “haha” funny – my daughter found a tick in her leg last week. It was her first, and she freaked out. I’ve had a couple in my hiking days – in fact I got Lyme disease from one of those little buggers – and I just hate them. Fortunately I caught the Lyme within 2 months, and a relatively short course of antibiotics knocked it right out. I know it can lie dormant for years and either never kick up again or decide to activate, so I’m keeping that in mind in case I get any symptoms again. I’m glad your tick bite was no big deal, but what a nasty thing to be awakened by!
Oh no, for your daughter, and for you! I’m so glad you caught it…I’ve known some people that have Lyme disease and it’s really awful.
I am watching carefully for any signs of that rash or any flu symptoms in the next month or two. I don’t think it was on me for very long, but the nasty little sucker was on the back of my arm where I really couldn’t see it!
Unfortunately I’ve been awakened by ticks too many times….but before it was always just feeling them crawling on me!
Well, at least you’re staying busy at the farm…with dogs, and hens, and what-not. It is your full time job!
If only I got a steady paycheck for it!!
I love the new logo. I hope you can find some way to work from home.
Thank you so much, Edie!
I’m a little jealous I must say. There’s a farm girl inside me (my dad and my uncle grew up on a turkey farm) and I can envision myself enjoying the life. “A bad day on the farm is better than a good day at work:” sounds like you summed it up well. Enjoy!
—Wags (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats
My whole life I was always saying that I wished I could live on a farm. I never thought it would really happen! Even though we’re pretty small-scale, it still fits the bill. 🙂
That logo is fabulous!!! I enjoyed reading about the fun you’ve been having!
Busy, busy! But what a fun and rewarding busy. I hope you can find something that you can do from home, that seems the best bet all around.
I think it would make everyone happy, but work from home jobs seem hard to come by.
The new logo is great! I love it! And, of course the crew likes having you at home! They love you!!
Best of luck with the job search!! I’ve always said the search is the worst part.
It’s no fun, that’s for sure! I do have my first interview next week, though I’m not feeling very enthusiastic about it. LOL
Love the logo, it is super cute! Hope the job hunting goes well as Mom says it is the worst thing in the world! In the meantime, enjoy the farm!
There’s nothing like a job search to make you realize how little you really know. LOL