Onward and Upward

Well, after the tragic loss of Stu to heat this morning, we've moved on, ever on. Miss Ann was wonderful enough to share an extra rooster with us plus some fertile eggs in addition to a few of our own. Our next project/skill is egg hatchery. I think that's the phrase for it anyway. We have another broody-butt hen, the Frizzle, who is on the nest, so we've decided to let her sit. She's sitting on about 10 eggs of a wide variety....Buffs, Banties, Dominiques plus a few surprises. Egg hatching is like a box of chocolate, after all...(do I really need to finish that quote?)

We're in the middle of a heat wave here in Ohio, with highs in the low to mid 90's....which wouldn't be such a big deal if it were August; but for June, that's stinkin' hot! We've kept cool in the pool, and have had a little more Wii time than usual, but that will end with the coming rain and cooler temperatures of this weekend. The crazy-hot weather has also given me an opportunity to stay inside and reorganize my food stores...we're low on some of the basics like flour, sugar and oil...now that I'm organized I can work on restocking.

Speaking of food stores, our local grocery, Krogers, has been running some awesome stock up sales! 10 for 10$ sales on 3L bottles of water, toothpaste, toilet paper, hand soaps, etc, so I've been hitting the sales hard and filling up my closets. They've also had cheap-cheap prices on staples like Ranch dressing and pasta and fun foods like Capri Sun and Gatorade, etc. (Yes, I know. Capri Sun is the Debil, but in an emergency, a couple frozen pouches of flavored water is better than nothing, right? At least my kids think so.) In the past 3 weeks, I bet I've doubled the amount of goods in my storage just through 10 for 10$ sales at Kroger. Yeah, Kroger!

Another find this past week....the hunting/camping/survival section at Walmart. I had no idea they had so much good stuff back there in that dark, funny-smelling corner of the store. I felt like a kid in a post-peak oil candy store. Space blankets and water filters and fire starters as far as the eye could see. Plus freeze-dried food, solar showers, tents, mess kits...I was so excited! Yes, it doesn't take much to excite me, but now, at least, my Bug-Out Bag is complete! And to think, I would have never wandered into the survival section had the kids and I not been hunting a fishing pole for Jeff for Father's Day. It was fate. Pure and simple : )

Fun plans for this weekend include a few yard sales, planting some salad greens in pots, pails and troughs on the north side of the house, helping Farmer Runyan with his new fence and hopefully beginning the new chicken coop. So much to do, so few hours in the day. Til next time, best wishes from the Run.