A start to the new year

December was kind of a yoyo month, some good things, some not so good, the end of the semester finals, holidays, being sick, new landlords, etc.

So I have been trying to get organized, house and homestead cleaned, etc slowly, a bit at a time.  The to do list is overwhelming sometimes and I think stress has been a good part of me getting sick and feeling so tired all the time...so, taking it a little chunk at a time is how I am trying to handle it. Today I got a bit of that chunk done...still lots more to do but it is a start.

I have laundry mostly caught up, fresh sheets on the bed, clothes set for the rest of the week. I have food set for the week for breakfast and lunches at work and dinners at home so I am not tempted to eat out. I made scones this morning so I have 3 more for breakfasts with the blueberry cheese I made. I have the rest of the french bread I made from last night's oyster po boys so I will have that with the salmon cakes I made the other day and the rosemary cheese I made. For dinners I have soup that I am making now, black eyed peas and tomato. The kitchen is mostly cleaned and organized and so are my other rooms.  

On the homestead, I got my last wayward Khaki girl in the pen thanks to some help.  Her partner is in the garden, so within fence but not in the secure pen but he isn't leaving her so hopefully he will be in there soon too.  I got some pins in to secure the other up front pen that the duck boys are in.  

I also got a bit done in the big barn:

1. I got the turkey girls out of the small coop and into the shed with the ducks for the time being.  I also got Beo (my Buff tom Beowulf) into the shed because the boys are starting to fight. Believe it or not it is the beginning of spring for everyone... the girls (turkeys and ducks) are just starting to lay eggs and the boys are starting their turf wars and giving the girls lots of attention! So Beo is with 2 of his 3 girls and I will be moving his 4th in some time this week.  I hope to get the big pen started in the next couple weeks so the ducks and Beo's crew will have more room outside...until then they have enough room in the shed but will have to stay locked up, I can not afford to lose any more of them.  

Beowulf

2. Since the turkeys are out of the small coop, I put the babies in with the polish featherheads.  Hopefully they do okay but it is past time for them to get out of the baby brooder. 

3. I got the barn raked out and hopefully will get all of that into the garden tomorrow evening.

The rest of this week/weekend I want to get some work done in the shed (light with timer up); clean the rabbit cages and get their poo into the garden; get some prep work done for new big pen attached to the shed and make some plans set for a decent turkey poult brooder and separate duckling brooder since I know brooding time will be upon me way too quickly particularly with classes starting again next week. And this year, I am going to brood my own babies! 

So...that is the start of my new year with determination to make things good and successful.