Chicken Scratch 4

Oh my gosh I'm 50 and a day.....

Life was slow this last day, too dang hot to do anything...

I checked out a new forum for Horror buffs...... Horror Freaks...

Ya got to check em out...

Nothing much to say today, I am tired thou and I should head off to sleep, but who sleeps now a days...

Have you checkd out pharmer phil's country phorum ....outstanding.

Chicken Scratch 3 1/2

One more day, and i will be 50... now that is one scary thought, nobody I grew up with would ever think i would make it this far...

But tommorow, June 27th, 2006 will mark my half century on this earth...
Who would of ever thought that I would be the Chicken Farmer in middle Tennessee... Who would of thought that I would be living on a small farm, growing what ya eat, selling off the excess and giving away things to boot.

Not even me, Times haven't always been the greatest, But i'm not on unemployment, I do have a roof over my head, and my truck is paid for, so that must count as something...

Family seems like millions of miles away, my family now-adays are the e-mails I get from my brother, and an occasional hi from my cousin Tom... Every body else must of thought I dropped off the face of the earth when I moved to Tennessee. Cause some of em I haven't talked to in thirty years...

Today, life was simple, I fed the birds, collected 5 eggs and watered the mater plants.. I did drive to the local gas station so I could get 5 bucks worth of gas for the lawn tractor... I then proceded to mow the lawn for two hours plus... We cut approximatly 3 acres of grass around the house...

One day the flower gardens will take over the lawn.. But for now I cut it...
We did manage to put in a double border wildflower garden last year, it's almost 120 feet long... Some day it will be 1000 feet, or at least thats what I'm hoping for...
We use them mostly for cut flowers. but I have been placing an occasional herb betweenst them.. At least I hope that was a word... We like flowers, at least now I do.. growing up in Illinois I didn't, in fact I really hated them all... couldn't eat em, so I never planted them.. Times have changed...

Going out to the walking path later to pick blackberrys... I was promised a pie this week, if i pick enough....

O.k. bye...

Chicken Scratch 3

Howdy,

It be today... Woke up late today... nearly 8:00 am, i must of been real tired, never sleep that late...

After I feed and water the birds , I will make my sunday morning trip to the dumpsters to go shopping.... Find the neatest stuff on the weekends.

Seems like it will be another hot one today in the south. The sun is real bright, it must of got up early. The flowers are still open from last night, we have the prettiest tri-colored four-o-clocks. and the wildflowers look pretty with the morning dew on em.

Might go visit the neighbor down the road later... I been sneaking around trying to find out details on the suprise birthday party the wife is planning. I hit the big 50 this tuesday.

We went garage saleing on Thursday... we picked up a dinosour cake pan, so my cake will be a dinosour shaped, yellow cake with mint chocolate frosted...

That's it for now...

Chicken In The Breadpan Picking Out Dough

Chickens do eat dough, and just about anything else ya throw em... Ate Mrs. Chickenfarmers Potato Salad last nite... They were fighting over it...

Amazing what some people will write about ain't it...

The weather was cool and overcast today... But this afternoon it soared back up into the 90's...

Check out the news about them terrorassed people playing games again and getting caught... them boys was mostly americans, what the heck was that all about... I have some family that still lives in Chicago, they don't know what to think about all that shit and a half. Americans. !

I missed my favorite tv garden show today... Gardening By The Yard.... I think Paul James is totally a nut case. But he makes sense. he reminds me of a friend I had in College... His name was Paul too and had a huge mustache also... That guy could eat 60 krystals in one sitting and wash it down with a diet cola.

I got a coupon in the mail today for 5 bucks off on Purina Chicken Food... the coupon was expiered and to top it off they were announcing a funniest chicken photo contest.. The entry was supposed to be posted by May 12th, 2006 !

Go figure.....

Chicken Farmer's County

County had a heritage festival going this weekend....

The Courthouse square in Linden, Tennessee had a arts and craft festival around the square... Also they scheduled Bluegrass and Gospel music singing.... There was also historic cementary tours.. Some old gravestones in this county, some dating back to the to the opening of our country... There are many historic graves from the Civil war also... interesting....

There will be a Hee Haw jamboree this evening at the high school... Elvis Shinkicker will be the headliner with his Elvis impersanations, along with The rest of the countys Hee Haw troupe... This event will be going on bettter than it's second year now...

Took a big trip to the City of Lobelville, Tn on the north side of the county to sell a couple dozen eggs.... How far would you travel for a buck ?

Life in the county is good... our county is so small, even thou we have two large cities and another smaller one, Three Amish settlements in 435 sq. miles we only have 7200 people in the entire county.. The cows outnumber the people almost. and the estimated deer population comes close.. Our county is so small that we don't have a county fair, but the folkes in the next county across the river invite us to thiers....

Our county has two very small grocery stores... no Mc Donalds...No Walmart.... No nothing... I live 12 miles to either town in the county, a trip to town for something takes almost 20 minutes on the backroads and when ya get to town you wonder why ya came there... We do most of our shopping in Lexington, Tn.. but that is 38 miles away and two counties away.... For our major shopping we head an hour south to Florence Alabama or Corinth Mississippi...

It is diffrent living in the south for sure, But up north you can travel 38 miles and it will take ya over 2 hours... Down here people don't mind driving that is for sure... And we do combine trips...

One thing about the south is we have no snow to speak, Oh I ain't saying it never snows. It did snow one day last year but the next day it was 65' and the streets got the the chert dust washed away...... One benifit down here is you really can garden 3 plus seasons a year... We pull beans and lettuce out of the garden for christmas dinner. !

if ya ever get a chance to come down this way stop on in and say hi...

Chicken Farmer..... That's me

Howdy,

Feelin a little red tonite....

Must be a farmer's tan... But what if you don't farm, I have never heard of say a football players tan, a golfer's tan, etc... Why do people pick on farmers ? Did you know that farmers, bring the fruits and vegetables to your table.... The milk to your fridge, the eggs to your neighbors doorstep, oops that slipped....

I salute my fellow farmers, thier families and thier way of life.

Remember Hee Haw ?

Ya can stand in a cornfield and salute the small towns of America... believe it or not....

Thirty years it took me to buy a piece of America... I bought this small farm in 2002....A much smaller version of my ultimate dream, but no less mine...

Our farm consists of 4.93 acres,

We grow most of our own vegetables, We like squash, maters, and green beans and peppers, so our gardens consist of mostly these..We have 6 Peach trees, 6 Plum trees, 2 Nectarine Trees, so within the next five years I should be able to make a fruit salad... The peach trees are older, they bear fruit, but only if the bugs let us.... We are 100% Organic, we only use beneficial insects and natural sprays that are organic....

We are lucky to have planted a Strawberry Patch, can walk the paths on the rear of our property to pick Blackberrys, Muscadines, and fresh herbs....

I don't claim to know everthing about gardening, farming, or agriculture in general... I want to live the simple life, for the most part what is left of it...

My gardening, and projects were put abruptly on hold September 22, 2005 when my entire left side shut down and led to me being life flighted 65 miles to Maury County Hospital... the doctors said it was a massive stroke, the helicopter medics claimed me as a cardiac arrest, and by the time I got off the helicopter an hour later, the folkes in the emergency room were waiting with gelled paddles and expecting the worse senerio... To thier dismay, my heart was fine !

The next day, A fine young lady doctor came and told me I had a pinched nerve that had temporarily shut down my entire left hand side, no feeling in arm, leg, foot, and with a temporary loss of full speech...This was only after numerous tests with abbrviated initials.. Ct, Mri, Ultrasound, too many to list... To thier amazement, the pinched nerve eased up and I was able to be released...

I was refered to an Orthopedic Surgeon in Columbia Tennessee, this quack of a doctor touched my hand and said nothing was wrong and asked me to return in a month or two for another exam. I never saw him again, and my family doctor refered me to another Orthopedic surgeon who ran more tests, made me come back numerous times and eventually replaced C5 C6 and C7 of my spinal cord. You see the pinched nerve was caused by these vertibrae breaking up and I thank this fine doctor for all he has done..

I really don't ever expect to be fully functioning in my body movements ever again, It is painful now to walk, sit, shit, and other normal daily routines such as sleep or holding my head up... I must live with I am told, the repacements bones ( Titanium ) were fused after my neck was slit and the old bones were removed... They wanted to do this out-patient but because of my size they kept me overnite to keep an eye on me...

How did this come about you ask ? I work as a drug and rehabilitation Counselor at a juvenielle facilty... a prison so to speak for troubled youths... One day I was having a normal conversation with one of the theriputic residents on my ward... Out of the blue he pushed me over a chair arm and pinned me by my shoulders against the floor, my feet and legs still over the chair arm, he then preceded to jump on my chest pinning me more and began to hit me in the face twenty something times eventually not satisfied so he began to kick me in the head area... All this while other residents viewed the escapade... One resident finally, it seemed forever went for help....

I was told to walk to an emergency room that day, across the street and there they gave me one pain pill and sent me home...

Years later the bones in my neck began to break up causing eventually for them to sit on top of each other pinching the nerve that led to my side shutting down...

Today I have some use of my arm, but not all, I cannot turn my head to either side nor can I lift heavy objects without massive pain, I regulary see the Orthopedic Surgeon for follow-ups, and I also see a Neurological Surgeon also... I have not yet begun to start any therapy and my recovery is listed currently at one year or more.

Life if a Chicken Farmer eh ?

I draw a small stipend from an insurance company 60 % of my wages... because I was smart enough to take the long term disability clause of the policy.. I stress to everyone out there, take this coverage if it is offered... Things do happen...

I signed up for Social Security and SSI, hopefully I will get it... Being that I cannot lift any thing over my head, cannot sit nor walk for long periods, I would like to see the job I am now qualified to perform.

My garden now is weedy.... I did not plant the 4500 sq. foot garden like in the last year, this year we grew a few maters, squash, and beans... Maybe next year the garden will be big again...

I sold off all my chickens at the end of last year, only to replenish them two-fold this year....

It is hard for me still to drive my stick shift truck so I am limite to what I can do.. So I sit at home or lay around on the couch.

Too much to say but really no time to type as I now hurt... I will say goodnite for now.....

Chicken Scratch 2

Welcome Back Chicklings.............

After much thought I must break down and give ya an update.....

What is life without icecream ?

Love the stuff especially the French Vanilla......

For those searching the web and have stumbled in here... welcome....

Have you checked out the best gardening forum on the web ?

go to.... pharmerphil.proboards37.com

Here ya can check out the latest in gardening issues and revues... Great people, great site...

ChickenScratch

ChickenScratch