Dooms Day for Chickens

Well today was the big day...at least for some of our chickens. We butchered five. It was a little harder than we thought, emotionally, but much easier physically than we anticipated. But the deed is done. It only took an hour and a half to butcher all five, then another hour to clean them up inside before I was satisfied that they were edible. The funny thing is we kept having neighbors drive by real slow, coming back from hunting that morning and waving to us as we were covered in chicken blood. I wouldn't have been suprised if they stopped to talk while we were doing it. That's just how it's done down here I guess. They were almost eight weeks old so they are older than the chickens you buy at the grocery store, but because we didn't pump them full of chemicals, or "special feed" they are considerably smaller. The obvious hard part was the act of killing. I couldn't look. Spencer said it was hard for him too. He said it would have been easier if they weren't looking right at him while he came down with the cleaver. We don't care for chicken skin when we eat chickens, so we didn't have to do the horrible mess of dipping there bodies in hot water to do the plucking. We just cut around the feet and the skin and feathers come off like a sock. Very convenient. These should last us until Christmas, and then we'll kill a few more right before Spencer's parents come, so Mary Ann doesn't have to see them before hand. I'm glad we're not eating them tonight, because I'd have a hard time eating them on the same day, after I picked them up to kill them. Anyway, I've included some pictures of the event. They aren't too gruesome. One might be a little, but Spencer really wants to put it on the blog. So sorry in advance if you don't like it. Just remember that's what you eat too, you just don't see it with the feathers on. And they had really good lives, just not the last minute of their life. Not bad, much better than done in a factory.
Well, now about us...we've been doing great. School gets out with finals this next week, so Julia will be home more often, which will be nice. Spencer is working as hard as ever, and the Vice President of the school (also the Stake President at church) commented on how he is the best worker in his department, and that he's always working and helping others, so nice compliment. Spencer was accepted to Grad school, so he will be attending this spring. He will be going to Mary Baldwin and getting a Master's Degree in Special Education. After just one semester he can start student teaching and 90% of the time those student teachers get hired right after they are done with that semester of student teaching, they don't even have to be done with their Master's program. So it looks as though we only have a year of transition and he'll be doing great. The masters' program usually takes a minimum of 15 months tops so he's going to be taking as many classes a semester as possible so he can get it over with, and move on with life.
We sold Spencer's Jeep and we were able to get a motorcycle instead, because they are much more efficient on gas mileage, and we're going to need it with Spencer going to school 45 minutes away everyday, not to mention work. So we are trying to really get caught up on loose ends to save ourselves some money.

We have our wood heater going nice and toasty in the dining room so we stay warm. We have plenty of dead wood from some trees we cut down in the summer, and so we are able to heat ourselves basically free this winter.

I pulled out the sewing machine, and I've made a crude stocking for Meredith for Christmas, as well as a gift for Spencer...can't say what it is cause he will read this blog later. I am trying to do projects that don't require much time, so I can focus on Meredith. With her growing so fast, she is just all over the place. Today for a nap, Julia was watching her while we were tending to the chickens and Meredith pulled off all her blankes, sheets, and even socks before she went to sleep. She just has so much energy. She's really getting into movies too. Any that have animals, usually Disney. But she runs around while it's going and I can't turn my back for a minute, or she's feeding the cat her toast or on the table dancing to the music, or pulling books off the shelf. Anything that's destructive or a "no no" she loves to do. I'm getting plenty of exercise just going around behind her and cleaning up in her wake. And I'm having another one! I must be crazy. Oh well, at least this one will not move much for a few months so I can get control of my first child.

I guess that's about everything. Nothing else is going on. We got our first snowfall this past Wednesday. It snowed about two inches, but started melting that afternoon. Hopefully winter will come back. Almost all the snow is gone, and Meredith didn't even get to go play in it. Well don't worry I will take pictures if she goes out in the snow, and post them up here.