Happy First Day of Spring!

It's the first day of spring, but Mother Nature is still reminding us that Old Man Winter isn't completely gone yet. Much to our surprise, it snowed a good 4-5" Sunday night into Monday, and then the temperature dropped to -2 degrees! I thought I was done plowing for the year, but I had to make another run yesterday . . . for the last time THIS time?

Then, last night, just as we got into bed, it started lightning-ing! (Ing-ing-ing?!) In March! Thunder soon followed. We had a show for 30-45 minutes, but it stayed some distance away. There was only one thunder clap that shook the house. And now, it's 39 degrees and raining. Go figure. March is a hard month to predict.

We are finally butchering the last of the chickens (that need to go) this Saturday. A girlfriend of mine does the processing for me and keeps half of the birds as payment. She, in contrast to how we do it, does it the old-fashioned way (plucking them), and so we end up with whole chickens suitable for roasting and carving at the table. That's always nice to have! I think we'll cull about fifteen. So, we'll kill them bright and early in the morning, and then I'll rush them down to her (she lives about 1/2 hour away) before they freeze. She'll have the water boiling, ready to scald them (much easier to pluck that way). Then, I'll return in the early evening to pick them up, all processed and ready to go in the freezer. A good deal, no?

Speaking of chickens, it broke my heart to do it, but I drove about 2 miles down our road this afternoon and "donated" just over 17 dozen (gulp!) eggs to the wild critters. That was about 9 days' worth . . . days that I've lost recently due to my gall bladder problems. Being so sick, I just wasn't able to stay ahead of production, and, since I won't tolerate eggs that are anything but immediately fresh, they had to go. It was a kick in the pants for Chicken Mama, so I hope the animals enjoy them!