New Series on The Daily Coop - Recipes!

I'm starting a new series of posts over on The Daily Coop called "Friends Don't Let Friends..." and it is going to be sharing some of our favorite recipes. We're pretty good cooks around these parts and get lots of questions and requests about our foods and what we eat, so it seemed like a good fit.

The first installment is all about making real (as opposed to instant) oatmeal.

Check it out, let me know what you think, if you have any questions or want to make requests.

Please Send Good Thoughts

If you've ever looked at my profile you would have seen that I have another blog that I write called The Daily Coop. I'm not as good about updating it but it's all about my three chickens who we've only had about a year.

My main love is our rooster Napoleon. Napoleon loves me and I love him. He comes when I call him and he likes to snuggle down in my lap when I sit down. This is even more unusual as we have not had them since they were chicks.

Today Napoleon was attacked by a dog and hurt severely. I rushed him to the emergency vet and was there with him for hours. They've asked us to have him there for a bit and then call them back. I don't know what is going to happen with him. He's is so little.



Napoleon got hurt because he was bravely defending his girls (who were able to run and hide) from this large spaniel dog. The dog may have meant no harm but Napoleon is less than 5lbs and does not know that. He just wants to protect the two hens. They were unharmed but he was not.

Almost all of his feathers were ripped off and he has a puncture wound in his back. I was able to stop the dog, gather up Napoleon and rush him to the nearest after hours vet, which is actually not that near.

I'm sitting here in tears and covered with his blood. I know this is gruesome but please please please send any kind and healing thoughts his way. I don't' think I could bear it if he did not make it.

Thank you.

UPDATE: Napoleon is home right now. We have to give him pain shots in his chest every 2 - 4 hours. We have to give him liquid antibiotics orally. He has to stay by himself for a while too and not go into the coop. We're not sure for how long. We bought an XXL pop-up dog crate. It's soft and has good ventilation which will also keep out flies, we hope. We have him in the basement right now which doesn't have bugs and is dark and draft-free. He's out of shock but he's very very tired. We just left him in the cat carrier that we used to take him to the vet. We took off the door and put a towel over it. We're hoping he stays sleepy. I have the dryer going down there so maybe the noise will soothe him.

We'll keep updates going on The Daily Coop.

High Glamour Weekends

Most of the time on the weekends, I'm not doing much besides errands or cleaning the house or letting the chickens "free-range". Now that we finally are getting some sun, I was to be found outside sweeping all the pollen and leaves off the drive way and letting the chicks run around.

Highly glamorous to be sure.

I'm holding my rooster Napoleon here. Love that fashionable plaid jacket which is actually the husband's and my protective gloves (which are rose pruning gloves - so he can't peck at me).

Hawt!

Even though I was not a big fancy-pants today, the flowers and trees look beautiful. Here's a few pics from the yard -

That's the side of the 100-year-old coop/stable.

The wisteria has really grown in the few years we've owned our house. Adding the arbor helped it since it can latch onto something. And it smells amazing.

Lots of butterflies and fat bumblebees out today.

If only I had something to wear as pretty as these.

What the heck?

Is this true or just incredibly random?



You decide!