Daffies and M&C

I went out this morning just sure there would be no daffodils left due to the frost last night. I found some. I brought them in and one tulip and a handful of grape hyacinths. I was really surprised they weren't trashed! The daffies were a bit raggedy but they look great anyway!





Last night I made some homemade mac and cheese. It was fab! It had a touch of garlic in it and wow! that really made it yummy! I used fat free cheese, some Velveeta, fresh Parmesan and whole wheat macaroni. Oh and of course, lots of black pepper and the garlic powder. It went well with the rest of the meal!



We're going to meet the lady who's taking our roosters tomorrow. I'm going to shop for more chicks, getting a couple more females of different breeds, hopefully, at the farm store that's about halfway between her and us and she's going to meet us there. So far, I'm pretty sure that 4 or 5 of the chicks I have now are roos, so I'll take them and if I'm wrong about their gender, she'll end up getting some macho hens too! That's okay tho, I may end up eventually giving her a few hens anyway, just so I don't over-crowd my coop! I want some different breeds so I get colorful baskets of eggs, thus the shopping trip. Right now I have 3 breeds and would like 6. But only want about 8-10 chickens. Buying chicks is a crap shoot for the most part, where gender is concerned...there are signs of what they are when they reach about 4-6 weeks old...but the signs can be so so so wrong! You have to wait until they crow or lay an egg. Hens don't start laying until around 20 weeks old! You only have a 50-50 chance of getting girls. It's nice to have a lady lined up who's a vegetarian and only wants chickens to roam around her yard so she can watch them. I really lucked out finding her!!

Warning...Bitchfest ahead:

A tie rod end broke on my car Friday on my way home from work, talk about a jolt as I was driving down the road. I knew it was a tie rod, don't ask how I knew. Okay, ask! I fixed the tie rod on my garden tractor all by myself. It was the first manjob thing I did after my DH passed away. It was my right of passage into the world of being a single woman. You know, the "I am woman hear me roar" thing. Anyway when I got out to check the damage on my poor car, sure enough there were my tires pointing totally different directions. Fast forward...I picked up my car from the mechanic last night. It cost $550 which included the towing charge of $75. The mechanic also fixed a couple other things I knew were wrong with my car, thus the high bill. I'll get that towing fee back from my insurance company. I just paid my car off in Feb. Go figure! And I just got my tax refund back the day this all happened, Go figure again! It was, however, quite a bit short of paying the bill. And so much for putting it in savings! Well, as someone pointed out, at least I don't have a car payment PLUS a big mechanics bill and at least I got some money to pay for most of it! I'm hoping to keep this car running for a couple years. So I guess I'll have to shell out some maintenance money once in a while. Makes me wonder what will go wrong about the time my $600 tax rebate gets here!

Hope this cold weather goes away. It didn't hurt the chicks or the roses, so I guess it's all good.