Chicks!

My inlaws ordered us some Jersey Giant chicks from our local feed store as a Christmas gift. While it was a lovely idea, the whole experience was a little overwhelming.

Hubs received a phone call on the day the chicks arrived from his mother saying the chicks were in, he had an hour to get there, and he needed to bring a box to put them in. He was still on the water, had to drive 20 minutes to sell his catch, and did not have a box with him. I received a somewhat frantic phone call from him, which I will spare you most of the details but the general theme was "who sells a product and doesn't have a way for you to bring it home??" Understood. When he pulled in to the feed store, EVERYONE was there to pick up their chicks and he just didn't have the time to deal with it, so he asked me to go and pick them up.

I arrive at the feed store and go to the counter and say, "I'm here to pick up my chicks." deadpan response from lady at the counter: "You need to check in in the office over there." Ok.

I check in at the office, give them my husband's name, and the lady with the book says, "Oh. You're here to pick up Jersey Giants." Yes. The woman next to her says, "We're out of those." No emotion, no explanation, matter of fact they are out of Jersey Giant chicks. Except we ordered them. My inlaws paid for them. It's not like I showed up on a whim hoping there might be a couple left. So I said the first thing that came to mind: "No, you're not. We ordered them." That woman walked out of the office, and the woman with book apologized and explained that they did not know what happened, whether someone handing out chicks made mistakes or if the hatchery shorted them, but they should have had 2 extra chicks and instead they did not have enough. While I was standing there, another customer called expecting a Rhode Island Red rooster that they also did not have.

I was not quite sure what to do. No resolution was offered, other people were coming in with boxes of all sorts to pick up their new chicks, and I was left standing there with nothing. Finally I spoke up and said, "So what is going to happen?" The large man in the corner of the office, who seemed to be somewhat in charge (as much as anyone was in charge there) said, "I will give the hatchery a call tomorrow, there are other chicks we're supposed to have that we don't, I just don't know what happened. I'm not sure if they'll send an order that small, but that's all we can really do." Great, finally, someone willing to do something.

I leave the feed store and call my mother in law and give her the news, which surprised her as much as it surprised me. She even offered to call her son for me and give him the bad news since he seemed a little upset over the whole box issue. And she assured me that one way or another we'd get our chicks.

A week goes by and finally our chicks are in! I get a box, put some shavings in it (that's how we brought home our previous chicks), and head to the feed store. I get there and go straight to the office, where I'm told I need to check in at the counter. Ok. I do so, and I'm told I need to wait for the lady with the book to get back. She comes back, never makes eye contact with me, takes my box and goes to get my chicks (after handing a man his chicks in a poptarts box). Halfway to the back room she looks in my box, looks disgusted, and tells me I have too many shavings in my box. I say, "Ok, we can take some out." And she says, "No. Just do it when you get home." totally exasperated with me. Maybe she remembers me from the week before.

She comes back, gives me my chicks, and then tells the lady at the counter to make a note about my box. And you know, I get it know, the chicks I brought home before were older, and knew the difference between food and shavings, but I didn't know that then. I can't be the only first-time chick getter at their store, you would think they would have a teensy bit of patience for folks like me, and would want to educate so we don't make mistakes like that right off. I had prepared in many other ways, read books about brooding and hatching and all the other things I needed, but I missed that part.

If it was so important to make a note about, you would think they would supply boxes.

So that is the adventure of bringing our chicks home. We have had them for about a month now, mostly drama free. I have a few more stories to update you with soon! Here are some pics of them on day one, and a few days after that. Day one is the bottom picture.

Vacation Part 2

When we woke up on day 3 the weather was cold & dreary and we decided to get the heck outta there. We stopped at a few places on our way off the Outer Banks, hung around Roanoke Island for a little while. It was a good time, but hard to walk around outside because it was COLD. It's hard to remember anything else we did besides be cold. 

When we headed out, the bridge was closed, so we decided to take the scenic route down 264 and see what we found. The answer was nothing. Miles and miles and miles of NOTHING. But it was pretty, that's for sure. We saw a lot of abandoned houses, and every town we came to seemed to all have the same stores. There was something both sad and comforting about that. We talked of someday having a retreat down there, driving distance of the beach, plenty of beautiful scenery around. 

Driving by an Antiques store with lots of stuff on the porch, we decided to stop in! The older lady holding down the shop was super nice. Apparently the store has been in the family for 110 years, though it wasn't always an antique store, it just naturally evolved as their personal collection grew. Back in the day it was the "Walmarts" of the area where you could get anything from a new house to a coffin. They had a wonderfully broad collection, though a fair amount of the store wasn't for sale. It was still fun to look at, and had we had more money we would have bought a bunch of stuff. If we're ever in the area, we'll definitely stop in again! 

We made our way through and ended up staying in Rocky Mount with some hotel gift cards we received as gifts a long time ago. There wasn't much in that town for use, but we had a very comfortable bed to sleep in and some quality time in a hot tub!! We even hit up a Dollar Tree for some more road trip supplies. If you haven't noticed so far, a large part of this vacation was spent sitting in the car. Frankly, we don't always get along in the car, but there was something about not having a destination that made driving fun. 

The next morning I had breakfast at my very first Waffle House, and we set off for Virginia! At some point there was a huge back up on the highway, so we again decided to take the scenic route. We headed over towards Shenandoah National Park. On our way there, we stopped and grilled some fish at a rest area and looked over maps and pamphlets of the area. I loved our fish picnic! It was freezing cold out, and we had a gourmet meal that didn't cost us a thing. 

As we reached our evening destination, we frantically tried to find a campground. We stopped at one, and the people there seemed a little... off. We called around and finally found a KOA that had a cabin! Which was awesome, because it was snowing! We stopped off at a thrift store because I didn't manage to pack a hooded sweatshirt, and when we arrived at our cabin someone had turned on a space heater for us! Hooray! We again grilled a delicious dinner (honestly can't remember what we ate that night, but I remember it was GOOOOD, or I was starving). By night time it was almost too hot in our cabin, but I was thrilled we weren't in a tent. 

When we got up the next morning, the sun was shining and the snow was slowly disappearing. We took our time, made a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, and headed out for an Antique Mall! Which was super fun. It took us a few hours to walk through the whole thing, and frankly their definition of "antique" was stretched a little bit. I found a map of Maine from 1865 that I just had to have, but other than that everything stayed right there. 

From there, we drive up to Baltimore (hit some crazy traffic in Maryland), bought some blue crabs, and then started the drive home. I had to work Saturday at 4, so we had a little crunch on the way home. 

We tried to stop in CT to spend the night, but the hotel we chose was booked up and it was closing in on Midnight. We decided to say eff it and just head for home! Around 3:30 in the morning we pulled in our driveway, woke up my poor mother who was watching all our animals, and settled in for a little nap. 

It was definitely a whirlwind week, but we had so much fun! Most of our time was spent in the car, and I think it's a testament to our marriage that we still love each other, and still spent the next two days together. It was really nice being away from all the stress of home, not having to worry about anything except our next destination (which was often the next public restroom). It definitely inspired me to simplify things at home so I can rediscover the peace we found on the road. 

Vacation, Part I

A month later and I'm finally remembering to update about our whirlwind road trip! I think it has just taken me that long to recover. This trip was not spur of the moment, we had an inkling about what we were going to do. The transition from notion to action occurred a little faster than we anticipated.

We never went on a honeymoon. I lost my job four months before our wedding, and started a new job four days after. When we had the time, we didn't have the money and taking care of our home and creatures always took priority. John got it in his head that when he was done fishing for the winter we should just jump in the car and go, for like a month. However, finding someone to care for our animals for that long is just impossible. Not to mention, he brought home six little ducklings before his last fishing trip that were growing insanely fast! So he got done fishing on a Wednesday, and we were heading out the next Monday. I managed to get Monday through Friday off from work, but just couldn't get anyone to cover my shifts on Saturday and Sunday.

Day 1 of our trip was off to a rocky start. For one, we needed money, so we had to wait until we could get to the bank and cash his check. Then there were a number of other little things that needed to get done, and it took up half the day! It was early afternoon before we were finally on the road. We stopped that night for a nice dinner in Massachusetts, and since we didn't want to just use our hotel passes for 5 or 6 hours of sleep, we decided to drive through the night to the Outer Banks, North Carolina!

Around 10pm I really had to pee, so we pulled off the highway into a town where apparently everything closes at 10pm. The gas station didn't have a public restroom, McDonald's dining room was closed (but drive thru was still open), Lowe's was closed, and WalMart had just closed. FINALLY we found a Taco Bell that was still open and had a usable restroom. I really wish I could remember the name of this town so I could never ever go there again, but alas, I will probably end up there on our very next road trip.

Around 2am I dozed off. We saw so many signs for things that looked interesting, and so many thrift shops I wanted to see! But nothing was open, and we had to take mental notes for "next time". John was a trooper, he kept on driving. Finally, around 6am, we were near Chesapeake, VA, he got tired and asked if I could drive for awhile. I was thinking, "Sure! I'll just drive us to the next Rest Area, and we'll take a snooze in the car." There were no Rest Areas. I kept on driving and we made to the Outer Banks around 9am. Trouble is, the campground we were staying at didn't have check-in until noon.

This is where Day 1 runs into Day 2. We drove to the end, checked out the ferry to Ocracoke, and decided that would be a fun idea for the next day. We walked through the "Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum", and then I got to sit in the sun with my toes in the sand for about 20 minutes. This was easily the best 20 minutes of the trip for me. Right as I was about to fall asleep on the beach, we decided it was a good idea to find our campground and take a nap. Unfortunately, when we arrived at our campground, no one else was there either. No one answered the phone when we called. Tired and cranky, and definitely hungry, we set off to find lunch and decided if we saw another campground, we'd just stop at that one.

By the time we made it to lunch, we called the campground again, they would put up a map to our tent site on the door, and we could just setting up in the morning. Finally we had definitely plans to sleep at some point!

After a very late lunch (we might as well call it earlybird special dinner), we got our tent set up, and went for a walk to check out our surroundings. Our basic plan was to use the campground as our "base camp" and go exploring a lot more the next day. We drove all over the Outer Banks on the first day, and stopped and saw a lot of things, but our sleep deprived brains didn't fully enjoy everything. I managed to choose the one campground without beach access, but we did manage to find a marshy area we could sit and watch the sunset. We stayed up grilling, having a few drinks, and managing to stay warm as the night temps were in the 40's. Turns out the campground had just opened, and the hot water wasn't on yet.

Within a few minutes of putting food on the table, we had a kitty friend coming to visit! She was quite pretty, VERY friendly, and a completely unapologetic beggar. After an appetizer from us, she went in search of larger prey, and we watched her gracefully climb a tree next to a bunch of birdhouses. And then later she came scratching at the sand next to our tent, and we hoped and prayed we weren't sleeping in a giant litter box.

Whirlwind Adventure

We had so much fun on our little getaway! I'll sit down and fill you in more fully soon, but the highlights include:

Cold Camping Nights
Gaining what feels like 10 pounds (at least)
Lots of sitting in the car
A lighthouse
An Antiques Mall
And the Waffle House.

We arrived home in the wee hours of Saturday morning, and then I had to work Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. We are just starting to get back in the groove of being at home and with a little sunshine outside we have lots of plans for the coming days!

On The Road...

Since we have yet to have a honeymoon, and we both happen to be free this week, the Hubs and I are hittin' the road! On this cold and drizzly Maine morning we're packing up and heading south!!

We don't have a plan, we don't know where we'll be tonight, but we have a tent and love on our side. I'm hoping to find a beach and weather warm enough to sit on it. And that's about it.

See you Saturday!! (we hope)

Spring Fever?

I know I should be excited the days are getting longer, the temperatures are getting warmer, and there's a hint of summer just around the corner. The truth is, there's something about the onset of Spring that makes me very sad. Or maybe it makes me have SAD, just in a different month than everyone else. I get super tired all the time and I just don't want to really do anything. I start thinking I have chronic fatigue, or some other deadly affliction, and then I remember that I get extra tired every year at this time.

I think the possibility of being able to do things outside reminds me of all the inside projects I never got around to doing over the winter. And then I start down this spiral thinking about everything in my life I didn't finish, or didn't finish well, and then I start thinking that I'm never going to be successful, and everyone hates me and I'm going to end up homeless and alone.

I know it's not rational, but sometimes I'm not rational. Instead, I lay in bed a little longer, I wear my sweatpants a little more often, and I drink a little more coffee. This year I'm trying to be somewhat proactive. I'm working on projects more often, I'm cleaning and getting rid of a LOT of things. I'm making the area around me a little happier in hopes that it will be a reflection of myself. And you know what? I think it's working.

For starters, I'm watching less TV. It is so easy for me to get sucked into sitting on the couch all day, and then the laundry doesn't get folded, the dishes don't get washed, and nothing gets finished. By limiting my TV time, I am able to get a lot more accomplished, and I start feeling like there are more hours in a day, and maybe I'm not quite the failure I thought I was.

I will keep you guys updated, but this is shaping up to be the best Spring ever! Or, at least I'm trying to make it the best Spring ever.

Storm Warning

We have soooo much snow! And without Hubs around, I have a lot of shoveling to do. A few weeks ago when we had a big storm, I did a small amount of shoveling and later had a back spasm that I haven't fully gotten over. Last night I spent an hour clearing off our deck, and now the pile nearly reaches the deck! This snow is heavy, branches of trees are leaning down, and under the snow is a lovely layer of ice.  Even though I'm all plowed and shoveled, my car isn't going anywhere today.

My inlaws were kind enough to schedule a delivery of wood the other day, and the only place for the guy to deliver was right in front of the garage. When I heard snow was coming, I had to get that pile of wood stacked under the deck so I could park my car out of the way, and so the wood would not get covered in snow. I did what any self-respecting woman would do, and I called my Mommy and asked for help! She is such a trooper.

It has been quite the weekend of physical labor, but I kind of love it. All my muscles are sore, all my clothes are wet, my dogs are tired from chasing me around, and there's a beautiful layer of white over everything. Soon it will all melt away, and all my hard work will seem like it was for nothing.

Today the wind stopped blowing, the fire is going in the woodstove, and a nice pot of soup is simmering on the stove.