How I Love Thee, Baby Chicks, Let Me Count the Ways!

The baby chicks are doing well so far and I just adore them!  I could sit all day long just watching them play and scurry around.  I love peeking into the bathroom early in the morning and seeing them all quiet, and sleeping.  Just like newborn babies they just melt my heart!  I can't wait to start seeing them growing into chickens, watching their colors evolve and finding out who is the "top dog" in the group!  I think I'm already finding my little favorites, the ones that love to see me as much as I do them.  Of course, I will love each and every one of them, you can't help yourself.  I love to go out and sit and watch my adult chickens every day.  They are so entertaining watching them interact with each other like chickens do in their little world.  A lot of people think chickens are dumb, but when you really watch them, they are really smart and crafty.  They have their own set personalities and you can get a good laugh every time!  I'm just in love with my chickens, and I suppose there are worst things to be than a crazy chicken lady that lives on a mountain, haha!

I had all these things I wanted to do yesterday, but it was so windy and the cold just cut threw me, there was no way I was spending time outdoors unless I had to, which was to feed the animals and run right back inside. I did clean out all my saved two liter bottles.  Today, I will fill them with fresh water and store them in my darkened pantry that I have for water storage.  I am shooting for 6 months of water for the family, it might be a stretch to find places for all of those bottles, but I'm working on it.  My daughter asked me what do you do with it in 6 months, when she saw me writing the fill date on the bottle.  I said "use it in the gardens and start over".  She nodded like she was showing interest for my sake, because she had lost interest  before I finished my sentence.  I just love teenagers, they do keep us in constant wonderment.  I am obsessed with my  sprouted seedlings and hoping for seedlings to sprout that I'm watching often waiting to see them pop out of the soil.  My tomatoes are starting to get tiny little sets of second leaves on them and finally, after talking, demanding, praying over them, my eggplants are starting to sprout. I'm excited to see how they grow, I've never grown eggplant before.  My peppers are sprouting too, and my tomatoes and broccoli are growing big and tall.  I cannot wait to get them into the dirt in a few weeks.  I'm leery of the weather it has been so strange this winter so I'm not going to let it fool me and plant too early, but I certainly want to right now.

I have been on facebook for ages, and other than checking the birthdays to wish someone a happy birthday or sharing photos with family, back when my camera wasn't my enemy, I really had no use for it.  But, as of late, I have joined some yard sale groups, and livestock groups and gardening groups, and now I honestly could sit here all day reading this and that.  It could be a real time eater if I allowed myself that privilege.  I found a swivel rocker yesterday and am going to pick it up today.  I can't wait, I have been searching for an old school swivel rocker for my living room for a long time now.  They are hard to come by, and when I saw the post on the local yard sale page, I was like a girl invited to the prom, I was so excited!  I can't wait to go and get it this evening.  I plan to recover it, it's the old traditional blue and that is not my favorite color, but I will have something pretty that goes with my decor when I get it all finished.

I am making a pork loin for dinner tonight, and there is a recipe for Napa Cabbage salad that shows up at church from time to time that I adore.  I broke out my church cookbook and found the recipe and I am making that today to go with dinner.  I just love all the flavors and the crunchiness and I'm already wanting to eat it, I could eat it for breakfast!  I am sharing my new found favorite salad recipe with you, I hope you like it as much as I do.

Napa Cabbage Salad

1 head Nappa Cabbage
1 bunch green onions chopped

Dressing:
5 T butter
4 T sesame seeds
2 packages of ramen noodles, the seasoning packets removed
1 oz sliced almonds
1/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup oil
2 T soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar

In a skillet brown crunchy noodles in the butter add sesame seeds and almonds and finish off browning. In a saucepan, combine vinegar, oil, soy sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil for one minute. Cool and stir well.  Fifteen minutes before serving, toss cabbage mixture, noodles, nuts and seeds mixture and vinegar, oil sugar, soy sauce dressing. Toss well.  This serves 12 but can be altered depending on the amount of Nappy Cabbage you use.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!