Hello, Bydgoszcz!

I have an obsession...  Well, I have more than one, but I'm only going to talk about one for now...  My tracking widgets have turned me into an OC monster! 

Well, maybe not THAT kind of monster.  More like this...

I have the same tracking widgets on all three blogs.  My visitor counter from pax.com keeps a running total of visits to my blog.  I don't know why I have it there.  I'm convinced it's not accurate, and I rarely look at it. I use the ClustrMaps widget to keep a record of all the countries that have visited my blogs.  I seldom check it either, but I like it anyway.  But honestly, the widget that I blame for my obsessive/compulsive behavior is the MapLoco widget at the bottom of the page...

This widget tracks the cities that have visited my blogs.  It's not accurate either.  I live in Xenia.  I have had visitors from Xenia show up on it.  But I show up as Dayton.  I don't know exactly how it decides what city to register.  I've also had visitors (I can tell by the comments they leave) that don't show up at all!  Not that it's really critical anyway; I just like to see all the cities around the world that pass by my blog.  It truly amazes me that someone in Bahrain read my blog!  I'm not sure I could find Bahrain on a map if it wasn't for Google!

The thing about this widget that really makes me OC...  It doesn't keep the data!  That's right...  read 'em while they're there!  It updates every twenty-four hours.  That means, if I should happen to get a visitor from the space station or Mars, and I don't check it that day, I'll never know.  NEVER!

I wish I would have placed these widgets on my blog when I first started them.  Or, at least, would have started keeping track of the cities when I first got the widgets, but I didn't. until around mid-July.  I'm not sure really when I started, but it probably closely correlates with when the dust started accumulating on the furniture.    OK, maybe my priorities are a little out-of-whack.  (What exactly is whack?)

Soon, my curiosity took over...  How long would it take for all fifty states to visit my blogs?  The OCD kicked in...  I set up a spread sheet. (Not this one.)

 

Everyday I checked the widget and recorded any cities not already on my chart.  I'm very organized, so this was a quick task.  It was going to be a temporary thing.  It didn't take long to collect a list of cities from forty states.  I found it's kinda like dieting...  the closer you get to the goal, the harder it becomes.

Since I've been logging the data, I'm still waiting for visitors from Delaware, Wyoming,  Rhode Island, and both Dakotas.   Yet, I've had visitors from Argentina to Yugoslavia.  I've actually been visited by seventy-three different countries!  Isn't that amazing?  And I'm not even one of the 'popular' bloggers!   I thought about giving up on the tracking.  Maybe I'll never have a visitor from South Dakota.

I thought about stopping when I reached a thousand cities...  Now, that time is upon me. Yes, this afternoon I crossed that threshold.  Yesterday I had reached nine hundred ninety-six world cities.  Today I had these new cities visit me:  Bhopal, India; Selfoss, Iceland; Espoo, Finland; Trabuco Canyon, CA, USA; Bydgoszcz, Poland. 

Should I hang in there?  Will Delawareans get bored enough to travel to my blog?  It has been fun to share with my two oldest grandchildren (also part-time bloggers) the new countries that show up on my widget.  Although, honestly, I think they lost interest long ago.

Recycled Dust & Old Neighborhoods

We had some business in Dayton this week, so while we were in town, we decided to stop at the shop and load up on sawdust. 

We know some guys that have a pattern shop.  Their trash collectors do not allow them to put their sawdust in the trash, so we told them we could help them get rid of it...  We use it in our stalls.  You know how I love to recycle!

We have to make sure we know what kind of wood it came from.  Some wood shavings aren't safe to use with horses.  And sometimes it's too dusty, so I just spread it around outside.

Looks like the dust collectors blew up before we got there!  Normally, most of the sawdust goes into this collector system:

Those black trash bags on the left are filled with sawdust, as is the door under the big funnel-shaped thing.  We ended up with seven large garbage bags full of pine dust and shavings.  That will top off our bin and get us through the winter. 

We don't keep our horses inside much.  Maggie stays in at night unless it's really warm out., and we keep her in during heavy rains.  The other two only stay in if it's icy out.  They have a run-in shelter in the paddock.  They don't let Maggie in it.

After we left the shop, we decided to drop in on a friend I used to work with.  He lives one block over from my old house in the city.  No, I wasn't a country girl until six years ago!  I loved the city then.  Now, I can't imagine going back!

 I always loved the big trees that lined the street.

 Fourth house on the left. 

It wasn't much, but it was mine!  Built in 1907, it was a DIY dream.  I left it for the burbs in 1999.  Then, after tying the knot with Mr J, we bought some old farm land outside of Xenia.  The rest, as they say, is history...

Ghost Blogger

I came in the bedroom the other day and caught Mickey on my laptop...

  

 

 Seems she was working on a Thanksgiving Day post...

Happy International Overalls Day!

Lille Diane at Woodstock Lily gave me the heads-up on this one...  What item of clothing deserves its own special day, if not overalls?  They are a part of our history in many ways; from farming to hippiedom, overalls have been there!

 ~

Ah, remember the seventies? 

Big, puffed sleeves?  Huge, pointy collars? 

Yeah, I was 19, and I was cool...

 ~

Oh, but NOT as cool as Mr J...

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He still wears his overalls or, as we lovingly refer to them, 'bibs'.

I love the 'No Crack' feature!

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Bibs span the generations. 

From old dudes like Mr J to babies, bibs are universal.

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Bibs are appropriate for any occasion...

even greeting a new baby sister!

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There's something about wearing bibs that just makes you happy!

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They're great for playtime, too!

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And team them with a peasant top...

What a fashion statement!

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Nobody wears bibs like Lexi...

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But don't compare yourself to her...

Just don those overalls and have a happy day!

Homeless for the Holidays

Winter is coming on and the holiday season is upon us.  With Thanksgiving just around the corner, many of us are feeling gratitude for our many blessings.  It is a time when we sometimes turn our thoughts to those who are less fortunate.  When the first snow of the season finally hits the ground, I am saddened.  I love snow, but I can't help but think of those who are without shelter.  While I sit comfortably in my warm room looking out at nature's blanket, others are huddled closely together, trying to conserve their body heat.

Soon our families will be gathered together for a feast of thanksgiving.  We will stuff ourselves until we're hurting.  We will divvy up the leftovers for nibbling over the weekend.  But there are many who have no invitation to the family dinner.  For them, it's just another day of trying to survive.

Thankfully, there are people that not only care, but do something about it.  Cindi and Mark of Target: Dayton are two of those people.  They not only share the gospel with the homeless of Dayton, but they meet their needs.  They serve meals to those that attend the services.  They gave out over 400 pairs of winter gloves in October alone.  God has blessed them with enough donations to buy this chuch:

You can see the nice buses they are blessed to have.  They provide transportation from homeless shelters, low-income housing, the RTA bus hub, and the public library.  Last month, over 4000 people road their shuttle buses to Target Dayton Ministries.

This is one of the choir members.

She also helps out around the place.  She was all excited because I told her she could come visit our farm.  She wants a home in the country someday...

They prepare over 4000 meals a month, so they need a kitchen adequate to handle the load.

They also need a large place to serve the meals.  Last month, they served 1500 people a hot breakfast, and over 2500 people were served a hot dinner.

 

Cindi is very organized.  The tables are numbered to help the volunteer servers.  It is amazing to watch how efficiently their system works.  I've never seen a professional caterer do as well a job at getting a large number of people served pronto!

So why am I telling you about them again?  Well, if you live in the Dayton Ohio area, they could sure use your help and/or your donations.  If you live somewhere else, there's likely a similar place near you that needs volunteers, money, supplies... 

Whatever your situation, there is something you can do to make the world a better place.  Maybe you have decent clothes in your closet that you no longer wear.  Maybe you have a few hours a week to spare.  Maybe you have a van or car and could take someone to an appointment.  Maybe you're good at reading or Mathematics.  Cindi told me about a guy that gets to keep damaged boxes of syrup.  Evidently a lot of boxes get damaged, because Cindi doesn't have to buy syrup anymore!

Please think about what you have or what your talents are, and how God can use you to help someone else.  There is no better feeling than knowing that because of you, someone else had a better day...

There is a link to Target: Dayton! in my sidebar.  If you would like to make a donation to their cause, you will find an address on their home page.

May God bless you and yours this season, and may you never be without a home.

Eggszact Science

It's been almost six years since we moved onto this farm.  It's been a lot of hard work to turn it from an abandoned, overgrown corn field into a productive farm.  It's still a work in progress, but we're now reaping the rewards.  And even though we've had a lot of experiences over these six years, we're still learning everyday... especially about chickens and eggs!

A lot of you comment about the rich color of our egg yolks.  DJan, believe it or not, your store-bought eggs started out like these.  Yeah, a long time ago!  That's the problem.  The cooked eggs I'm showing you are usually around a week old.  The ones you get in the store?  Who knows.  Eggs, properly handled, do keep a very long time!  But, like anything else, over time they loose nutritional value and taste.  That's the big difference.  It takes time to go from the nest to the grocery shelf.  So, for the same reason we seek out fresh veggies from the farm markets, you should be buying your eggs fresh from the farm.

Most of the comments we get about our eggs are about the taste and the colors.  You've seen in previous posts how the brown eggs range from almost white to deep brown, some even almost mauve!  Then there are the green ones... some mint green, some sage, some olive, some aqua.  They look lovely on a tray.  Not only do they vary greatly in color, they also vary in size.

I've posted pics of the extremes, from the tiny egg I had for lunch to the one that had to hurt!  Aside from those, our eggs range from small to jumbo.  We don't separate our eggs by size the way you find them in the stores, so when we box them up, we try to mix the sizes so that each cartoon contains about the same amount.  We do, however, try to keep out the small eggs and the jumbos.  Customers really don't want the small ones.  When they open the carton, they want to see big eggs.  That's fine with us... the small ones are our favorites!

We've discovered that the ratio of white to yolk is not the same for the smaller eggs.  The yolk is a much bigger percentage in the small eggs!  When I had a friend tell me she prefers more white, I was astounded!  I thought everyone like the yolks the best!  Is there anything tastier than egg yolk sopped up with rye bread?

And the jumbos?  Well, most of them are double-yolk, and well...  you know.  Lots of yolk!  Actually, we wouldn't mind putting them in the cartons to sell, too.  Problem is, the lids won't shut!  Yeah, jumbo eggs take a larger sized carton, so we set those aside for our own use.

We've just learned there is a down-side to fresh eggs (...aside from the cost, the filth, the work, etc.)  You can't boil them!  I don't eat a lot of boiled eggs, so if Mr J or FIL have boiled any of our fresh eggs before, I don't know how they turned out.  Last week Mr J decided he wanted some hard-boiled eggs.  After the determined time had passed, we cooled the eggs down.  I always remove the shell before putting them in the fridge, so I thought I'd be sweet and remove the shells from Mr J's eggs.   OMG!  What a mess!  The shells wouldn't come off.  They stuck and pulled chunks of egg off with them.

We found out what went wrong from the resident chef at the Bengal Barn.  Something about the membrane not yet being detached from the shell.  An egg must age two to three weeks to allow air to enter and the membrane to detach.  Otherwise, you'll never get the shell off without practically destroying the egg!  So did ya ever think an egg could be too fresh?

Now Mr J has two dozen eggs set aside for Thanksgiving.  He wants some hard-boiled and some deviled eggs for the big dinner.  I've decided to split the hard-boiled eggs and lay them out on a tray like deviled eggs to show off their beautiful innards!  I'm thinking about using the double yolks for the hard-boiled.  Yum!

I mentioned proper handling...  Egg shells are porous and chickens poop alot.  These two facts combined spell trouble.  It is important to clean any poop off the eggs before storing them, but you have to be cautious in how you clean them.  If you scrub the eggs wrong, you can actually push the contaminates (nicer word than poop) through the shell!  You can't soak the eggs in water, nor can you let them sit to dry.  The water will soak into the egg.  I won't share all the details.  If you have chickens and want to know, just ask me...

Here's a cute tidbit to tie up this post...  If you feed your chickens garlic or onion, you can get flavored eggs!

Now, don't you feel eggstremely eggducated?