Color Me Happy! Winter Feed- Alfalfa Cubes For Chickens

A little spring color in the kitchen

Color Me Happy!
I made my first pilgrimage to the new Trader Joe's that came to Boise yesterday. Oh joy!!! I had been to their old stores in Portland years ago. After we left there they expanded a lot more. They sell lots of pretty natural, healthy foods, with their own label. Much of it is very affordable, compared to say Whole (paycheck) Foods. I love their shampoos, chips, mini cookies, condiments, etc.

Nurse Anya on the job

Under the heading of vision happy- my eye is healing up really nicely! Anya kept watch by laying on my side while I was crashed out on the couch the day of surgery. Just like last summers foot surgery! What a sweetie. I had a follow-up Tues., Doc said it looked really good. Another 2 weeks and I will get a new lens for my glasses. Everything is so BRIGHT, wow!!!

Under my bathroom remodel happy- we had to change our plans. Out with the fiberglass shower. Turns out it would have required demoing 2 walls. No thanks. We opted for another approach- standard steel tub, and white, tile look walls. This will be a much simpler installation and will look like a tiled wall when done. Works for me!

Under gardening happy- everything is getting so GREEN! I let the girls out again this evening, what a blast!

Under chicken happy- I went to the local feed store to check their chick delivery dates. I'm hoping for some chicks late April. Since they have to be inside I found it's better to do it later in the spring. That way I can get them outside a bit more, and not be so cooped up inside.

Ensen faucet, IKEA

Under travel happy- we're off to Oregon to see Dave's brother and then IKEA! I read a lot of reviews of their cabinets, sinks and faucets. All came with very good reviews. They don't sell brushed nickel finish which I like with hard water, but they have the one above. It's called a matte chrome finish so that may be the one.

We've pretty much decided to get this cabinet at IKEA, unless it's awful or out of stock. We like the integrated back splash. Tons of storage! IKEA has their plumbing go straight back, then drop. It's backwards of American plumbing. It creates a lot more usable space in the cabinets.

Winter Feed- Alfalfa Cubes For Chickens-
After reading this Independence Farms- Hay Cubes in Winter and this What Do Chickens Eat? Fermented Feed  I started thinking about using this idea to supplement the chickens winter feed. I bought a 40 lb. bag of hay cubes, about 2"x 2" wide. While I didn't ferment mine, I soaked them in really hot water, for about 30 minutes. The first 2 times the girls just looked at it. After that, all gone! I guess they liked it. Another good reason to read lots of blogs. I may try fermenting their feed after summer hits, and I can really watch what they're eating...

Fabulous Fermented Foods, My Eye Surgery, Spring Gardening With Chickens! DIY Duh Moment

Fun little linen towel I found

Fabulous Fermented Foods-

After I started making water kefir I found it really helped my acid reflux. It also got rid of my cat Anya's nasal wheezing. Who knew? I started reading up on more types fermented foods to try, then I found this- 20 Ways To Include Fermented Foods @ Every Meal  What great ideas!!! I LOVE their website, and you can do all kinds of things. If you sign up for their free newsletters they'll send you a free eBook, and very easy-to-read articles. I'll be trying this soon Lacto Fermented Mayo  Like me, if you need whey, here's a easy looking way to glean some- Buying/Making Whey For Fermentation   Bon appetit!

                                         

                                                   my water kefir

My Eye Surgery-

Thanks for all the supportive and kind words from all! My eye surgery went pretty well Tuesday. I can see much clearer, brighter and I'm somewhat corrected with the implant. I opted for middle range vision- some distance and some reading. I took my right lens out and can see pretty well! I stayed home 2 1/2 days. Glad I did. I have to do lots of eye drops, and sleep with a small protector over my eye for 1 week. I'm having a bit of fluttering on the outside of the eye. The implant hasn't seated completely. Doc says 3 days-3 weeks is very normal. Hopefully it will be sooner, it's just so distracting! When I look ahead I'm fine, but moving my eye, it's like a spasm. I'll wait about another 2 + weeks and get a new lens for my glasses. I don't want contacts, so this is a good alternative. Somewhere down the line I'll get the other one done, as it's not too bad right now. Then I'll be all set. Now I feel like I'm getting Dave's cold :( 

Spring Gardening With Chickens!

It's 60 and clear and sunny! Spring! Dave deep cleaned the front yard last weekend, trimmed the ornamental grasses, some of the perennials, etc. Today I had him toss some of it into the garden. The girls went to work right away. That's feathered composting!

Ellie

Little Blackie

There's food down there!

I see something!

Italian parsley re-seeded itself early, what a surprise!

Rhubarb's growing daily!

DIY Duh Moment-

When we installed new windows and a sliding glass door several years ago, we ran into a problem with the flooring in the kitchen. It kept curling. The flooring went up against the bottom of the slider. We tried multiple times to secure it. We had a contractor come in today to give us a bid for our bathroom re-do, gutters, and a few other small jobs. We asked about the floor and he said, "oh you just need a threshold strip". DUH. Dave went out and bought one, installed it. All fixed!  :)   

Happy St. Pat's Day!

Something Fun I Made