Make that 35

Yesterday, I posted that we have a "farm" at my house due to the number of chickens we are keeping for the moment (hopefully Craigslist will come through for me and we can adopt some of them out as I don't like the idea of butchering anything with a name).  Last night, at gate closing time, we were down one chicken.  The white one we call Missy (as in, "Listen, Missy..." was missing (bringing the total down to 29).  My DH and I looked for her all around the back yard and neighbors field to no avail.  No feathers, no blood, no telltale signs of her demise.  So imagine my surprise this afternoon when I went out to refill their water containers for the 2nd time (did I mention it's hot as blazes around here?) and there she was.  And what was following her?  Five tiny chicks, of course!  The peepers look to be only a day or so old.  That tricky hen knew if she laid eggs where I could find them, they would be omelets in the morning.  So what did she do?  What all smart hens do, she hid herself and her nest just past the poison ivy, waaaaay deep in the honeysuckle bush.  As, I feel my summer slipping through my fingers, I have one more thing to add to the SBL (Summer Bucket List).  So right after the trip to Legoland and Chuck E. Cheese's (not in the same day as I don't hate myself) now comes get rid of 5 more chicks.

Some like it hot...

Some like it when the heat is on, too.  But, I'm not one of those people.  It is all I can do to make sure there are no chicken/cat/dog fatalities here on the "farm" (if one has more than 10 chickens...it counts as a farm, and we have 30 thanks to the monkeys shoving eggs back under the hens during brooding season).  Notice, I didn't mention the grass (because it has been dead for a few weeks at this point).  I was 13 in 1988 when we had a summer like this here in the Midwest, but I don't remember it.  I do remember going to the pool every single day one summer (maybe that's the summer).  This summer we can't even say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."  I wish it was humid.  I wish my hair was a little out of control.  I wish I wasn't worried about the water table and its implications for our well.  But, I am.  There's nothing I can do but, continue to pray for rain.

Couch to 5K

Yesterday morning my DH asked me if I wanted to work out with him this morning.  He works out every morning, pretty much.  And because our lives are crazy busy (mine not so much right now) and I like to hang out with him (I know, married 13 years and we still like each other...weird), I said yes.  I don't think he believed me.  Well fast forward to 5:36 (random isn't it?) and up he was changing into his workout stuff (at least I think he was based on the sound as my eyes weren't open, yet).  I heard him go downstairs.  Then, the guilt set in.  I said I would join him, but I hate working out.  Hate it.  So I struggled out of bed, changed into my running shorts and shirt, and down to the workout/family room I went to hit the treadmill.  I brought with me my couch to 5K in 10 (!?) short weeks plan.  I have no intention of entering a 5K, but I do like an organized plan and this was it.  So there I was at dark-thirty...sweating to KLOVE.  I'm not sure if I'll join him tomorrow, but I don't like starting over all the time.  Plus that, I didn't put "add one size to your pants" on my summer to-do list, but have managed to accomplish it anyway (thanks a lot nearby Russell Stover's outlet).