My First Real Job, and Bits of This and That

Guess what I did today?

I finally accomplished something useful and helpful around our ranch. And I definetely made a difference for some little lives. It was my first real job around our ranch since my fall on Christmas Eve. And it was the most physical thing I've done since then, too. Today was a fairly warm sunny day, and now that I'm able to stand without support and walk with only one crutch, I felt ready to take on the job.

Want a clue? What is that wheelbarrow for?
I mucked out the coop! It hadn't been thoroughly cleaned out for 3 months and we were doing the 'Deep Litter Method' as I wasn't able to clean it and Ranchman John and the kids drew the line at handling chicken poop. Needless to say, it was nasty in the chicken house, with over 6" of poop, shavings, straw, food scraps, and more poop. Just nasty!

Sid Vicious agreed. He said, "It's about time you got out here and cleaned my castle, lady!"

My one twinling, Jem, was my right-hand man and not only brought me everything I needed for mucking the coop, he also took pictures, too. He refused to scoop chicken poop or even stick his nose in there.....and I truly don't blame him. Ewww!
Isn't that the nastiest chicken house you've ever seen?!

My hens enjoyed exploring and looking for any food tidbits from everything I removed from the henhouse.

In the past I've only had to use a dustpan to scoop out the old bedding and poo, but this time I had to bring in the big guns! And even the big honkin' shovel struggled to do it's job.
It was hard work and physically demanding, especially after being so inactive for such a long time. But it felt good to be doing the jobs I used to do before I got hurt, and even better to be outside in the fresh air (well, except for the chicken poo stink!) and to be hanging out with my chicken friends.
There goes Jem with the wheelbarrow, on his way to the compost pile. I couldn't have done the coop mucking without him.
Half the coop was scraped clean after 45 minutes. Whew!
And finally after 2 hours it was looking pretty good in there.
We loaded up 4 wheelbarrows full of stinky chicken manure for the compost pile.
Then it was time to toss in the fluffy shavings and replace the feeders and nest basket.
There is just something so satisfying about seeing the end result: a clean chicken house.
And happy chickens, too.

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And finally some bits of this and that.

I just have to say how thankful I am for my dear blog friends. When I started blogging over 3 years ago I had no idea blogging would be more than just journaling about my family and our experiences. Not only have I discovered many wonderful blogs that I enjoy following every week, but I've also discovered friendships along the way, too. I'm even more amazed when these friendships reach beyond the internet, through phone calls, visits and snail mail.

I've recieved so much support and encouragement from you, my blog friends, and it always seem to come at the most opportune time. Like when I'm feeling frustrated or discouraged or bored and useless. I am immensely grateful to all of you.

Last week, I received a package from my sweet friend Tammy, ofWrensong Farm. I was totally taken aback, as Tammy had already sent me some goodies right after my knee reconstruction surgery back in January. And yet again, she seemed to know that I could use some goodies and encouragement. I had a particularly tough physical therapy and was exhausted, stiff and sore.

Tammy sent me some interesting and fun books, a deck of very cool cards with different dog breeds on each card. A delicious aromatic cinnamon apple candle, a yummy gourmet raspberry chocolate bar, a lovely angora goat card, that reminds me of my Luna. And a magnet with a painting of an adorable paint foal that reminds me of the photo of my Baby Doll when she was a foal. (I included her baby picture below) Thank you sweet Tammy! You are a very dear friend.

And here's my mare as a cute little filly. She'll be 16 yrs old in April.

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One last bit I'd like to share are a few goodies that I recently won from the One World One Heart Promotion. Mmore than 700 artist blogs participated by offering contests for their readers to enter. The very best contest I won was for the ACEO painting of my mare, that you see in my header. I was one of 200 entries and was thrilled to have won such an awesome prize. You can visit the artist, Morgane Antoine, at her website and see some of her artwork by clicking on the link at the top of my sidebar.

I also won some pretty scrapbooking/card-making stickers and a sachet filled with lavender scented, heart-shaped body butters.
The postcard you see below is a treat, too. It was sent by my blog friend Erin of a Good Life in Virginia. She wanted to keep in touch with me while she was on her trip to Italy. I'm so tickled to recieve mail from Italy and my thoughtful friend, Erin.


So....what did you do this weekend?


From the Tower of,