A Little Of This And A Little Of That On Monday…

Monday sure comes around often, these days.  My stomach is churning and my head is whirling because I’m running on two hours sleep (see reasons below).  Can I have a weekend do-over?

I mentioned ‘love bugs’ on my last post, and several blog friends didn’t know what love bugs are. Lucky them!  Love bugs are these small black flying insects that remain ‘hooked together’, even when they crawl or fly.  They travel in swarms, and seem especially attracted to certain things. They splatter all over our cars whenever we travel, and if they’re not washed off promptly, their residue will mess up the paint.  Here’s a picture of some love bugs:

Aren’t you glad you don’t have love bugs at your house?

Here’s what our front porch has looked like for four long days.  All of those disgusting black specks everywhere are love bugs, and we even had a fan blowing on the door to discourage them! I think it’s safe to say, love bugs are attracted to our front door.

disgusting love bugs are everywhere!

In weekend news, Ed and I didn’t really do anything special, but we did go over to our daughter’s house, Friday night, for some pizza/family time with our daughter, oldest son, & their families. I think everyone enjoyed that!  The three oldest grandchildren get along very well, and always have a good time when they are able to play together, which is usually quite often.  I’m glad the three of them live close to each other (and to us!).

Ed and I still weren’t feeling our best, but Ed managed to forge ahead and do some prep work on the future chicken run for the new chicks, while I watched.  I gave him my moral support, and kept him company on his frequent breaks.  It’s about all I felt like doing.

Ed’s prep work involved removing the old top soil from one section of our existing run, and replacing it with new top soil from the garden–one five-gallon bucket full at a time!  It was an all day job, and Ed would never gotten it done without the help of his little tractor, ‘Allis’ and her dirt scoop!

We’re now ready for step two, adding a tin roof, which Ed will probably do next weekend or the next. I hope we’re both feeling better by then!  The last step will be building a small chicken coop for the chicks to sleep in.

Speaking of the baby chicks, they had been doing great, but I ran into a problem Sunday.  I’ve been very diligent about checking on them every hour or two, but Ed and I needed to do a bit of shopping.  We were gone a little longer than we’d intended to be (6 hours) and when we got home Ed noticed that the white chick named ‘Della’ had developed a case of ‘pasty butt’.

I picked Della up, and cleaned her little fluffy bottom, but I quickly discovered that Della had major problems.  Apparently, she’d gotten very constipated during the day.  This is what happens when pasty butt goes unchecked, and it can be deadly.  Poor Della wasn’t looking so good, so I pulled an all-nighter, checking back and forth, and cleaning her bottom with a Q-tip when I need to.  Her little bottom looks horrible (think hemorrhoids) from all the straining, so I’ve had to isolate her from her sisters, who would gladly peck her to death because of her red bottom.  Sigh.  Times like these are the ‘down side’ to raising chickens.

poor Della, in isolation (at least she can still see her sisters)

The good news is she made it through the night, and after seven hours, of stressing and straining, I think Della got herself cleaned out.  I have no idea what today will bring, and she’s still in isolation.  She looks a little better, but not much.

The other good news is, ‘Pixie’, (named by Cathy of Tales of the TCKK Family) the runt of the flock, is hanging in there.  At least she hasn’t suffered from ‘pasty butt’–yet!  Last night was the night to lower the temperature in the brooder by five degrees because the chicks are now a week old, which was another reason I pulled the all-nighter.  I had to keep monitoring the temperature, and raising or lowering the heat lamp accordingly.

One last bit of news from the weekend.  I participated in my first Facebook yard sale!  I decided it was time to let go of some of the grandbaby items I’ll no longer be needing.  I listed a total of six items, and managed to sell all but one.  It was an interesting experience.  It turned out that one lady, who bought four of the five items, works at the hospital with Ed!  This morning, Ed left for work with a car full of baby stuff 🙂

That’s it for today!  I hope your weekend was less eventful (and less stressful) than mine, and I hope we all have a good Monday!