Update on Me & Chicken Butchering

Ok, it’s well past time for an update. I recently had a cardiac CT scan that showed up some blockages and a few days later had a cardiac catherization to check it out. Sure enough, I had two stents put in to give me a grand total of five. My cardiologist says next time it will be bypass surgery for me. Not good news. I am doing alright now other than getting used to my changes in medication. My ear infection slowly improving as is the infection in my leg from my last fall. My son Eric is giving me a scare since he went into the ER from chest pains Friday night. Earlier that day he moved a refrigerator from his house to mine all by himself. It seems that he only injured his chest and back muscles in doing so, according to the ER physician, but I hope that the scare it gave him will convince him in to getting a full cardiac check-up with a cardiologist. Bad tickers run in my family pretty strongly, and I worry about all of my kids and constantly harp at them to get checked out.

Yesterday was chicken butchering day here on the farm and we harvested most of our extra roosters (15) and a hen that had foot problems. Although one gimpy rooster we call Hop-a-long got a last minute reprieve from our granddaughter Aden, who insisted that we had to keep him because she had a dream about him. How can you possibly argue with the logic of that? So that leaves us still with 27 chickens. Angie and Eric brought all of their equipment over and did most of the work. They did let me do enough to feel helpful and I must admit to being sore and tired enough afterwards. I am very grateful for all of their hard work. Because what little I did was enough for me for one day (I missed my nap too). Grandma got to do enough babysitting to make her happy. And Aden and Ethan seemed to have fun playing in their pool and the new toys grandma got to keep them entertained. Even their dog Ginger had fun running around with her brother, our dog Harley. Poor Harley was exhausted last night because he doesn’t get off the chain much and all of that running really wore him out.

Today we plan on working on the nest boxes and maybe getting started at the job of finishing off the chicken carcasses in preparation for freezing.

The chicken ranch is much quieter now, but we do miss Mr. Rooster’s crowing, somewhat.