Dirty 30, Chicken haters

After work last night I decided to get a jump start on the weekend mulching project.  I swung into the nearby Home Depot and filled the back of the Tacoma with 30 bags of mulch.  While I was there I picked up some more garden items including a citronella plant to scare off mosquitoes, sweet onions and some more sweet potatoes, the first time I had EVER seen these at Home Depot.

When I got home I wasted no time and started dumping and spreading the mulch.  By the time   Cindy got home I had the truck bed half empty already.  30 bags of mulch was enough to cover the pond area and most of the orchard.  I’ll be stopping back at HD tonight for another 30 bags.  If my memory serves me correctly, it takes somewhere around 75-80 bags in total to cover all landscaped areas.

Cindy had another good pull from the garden in addition to helping me get the new stuff planted in there.  I actually have started to eat some of the banana peppers.  Cindy cleans them out, slices them open and broils them with cream cheese in them.  It turns out well.

Cindy and I are trying to get current with past seasons of 24 prior to watching the relaunch of the show which is sitting on my X1 box.  Progress hasn’t been as fast as I would like, we still have like 5 episodes to go in season 7. (9 seasons including this year)  The problem is we typically watch it in bed. Sleepy eyes mean quite often we don’t even get through a single episode before the tv gets flipped off.

As I mentioned yesterday I am hoping for a good weekend that will be clear of most of my normal chore efforts thanks to Cindy working on most of them today on her day off.  One of the things we will be doing is looking at chicken accessories at the feed store in Immokalee.  We have gotten a lot of feedback regarding the idea of getting our own chickens, all of it bad.

Nobody seems to think that getting a few chickens is worth the trouble.  Predictions of high maintenance, limited egg producing years and the birds just generally being a pain in the ass have been some of the most common themes.

However when I look at general chicken care guidelines like I found here, it is nothing that scares me or seems like a huge burden.  Plus we are only talking about 3 or 4 chickens (hens), not a dozen.  We don’t want them exclusively to be a back yard egg factory.  If they stop producing eggs I would be perfectly fine just letting them hang out for their golden chicken years. (can live 7 years or more)  It’s getting that I want to get the chickens just to prove a point, I can. 🙂

The NFL draft started last night. The Eagles traded down a few spots to pick up an extra 3rd round pick.  They always have been wheeler and dealers on draft day.  The Birds picked up Marcus Smith, a linebacker from Louisviille but I think they are thinking he could also play defensive end.  I have no real feelings pro or con about the pick, to me you just never know how a guy is going to translate to the NFL.  I have seen so many Eagle first rounders turn into flops that no selection is going to thrill me much.