The Great Carrot Massacre!!!!

Tonight, Christine talked me into buying her a 25 pound bag of carrots, that is right 25 pounds.  I tried to resist, and tell her that we could get them cheaper at the farmers market this weekend.  I even called my Mom for back up and she confirmed, but as usual, i could not say no that smiling face.  She is so excited about caning and has described her primal urges to can as much as possible to prepare for winter.  

Since i have uprooted this Californian, i decided it was only fair to concede and purchase the bag of carrots.  Besides, i would be the lucky consumer of bottles and bottles of delicious carrot soup, right!   

The entire kitchen was consumed by carrots this evening.  The Pug, ever present at Christine's feet, was really excited every time a carrot fell, only to be disappointed each time he realized that it was only a carrot and not a pepper, beef, chicken, any other kind of meat or cheese!  After a while even the Pug gave up and joined his Boston sister on the couch.  We have taken them mountain biking with us each of the last two nights.  They have clocked at least three miles each night and are doing extraordinarily well with running along side us.  Pig, as always, is either right in front, or to the side of Christine.  He loyally lets all passers by know that they are not allowed to get close to his mom!  Luckily this has not involved him throwing his body at two and four legged creatures, it has only involved his running towards and turning around and chasing after them briefly.  What a welcome change from the one dog attack party we got to enjoy on the trail last year.  

Everyone is rather tired around here at this time of year.  It gets dark rather early.  We have been enjoying our time sitting in front of the fire and reading.  The chickens however, are rather upset with their current sleeping arrangement.  Before this last weekend, they were allowed to sleep on top of their roosting boxes.  I tried to fix that by putting up a 2 x 8 on an angle on the top of their boxes. This acted as a mild deterrent and only worked mildly well.  The only good thing about it was that it made their poop roll off on to the floor.  

A couple of days ago i attached a piece of plywood to the top of the 2 x 8 in an effort to eliminate their last high perch and get them to use the perch i made for them.  As you can see from the picture, they have now decided, after much deliberation and experimentation with different sleeping arrangements, to use one single roosting box for the four of them.  This may work while they are still the young, immature, free loading chickens that they are, however, i do not think that it will work so well as they get larger.  

We are having a great fall here in Utah.  I love watching Christine enjoy the seasons change.  I really appreciate her perspective and love of this place we live.  I love it too and am super lucky to have her here with me.  Come soon and there may still be carrot soup left. 

The chicken Aunt and Uncle