Our chicken adventures begin

"Chicken Math" happened at our house this year. No longer content to keep a few chickens to get a few eggs, I hatched a marvelous plan. Get. More. Chickens. That's it.  Cool plan, right?  Brilliant in its simplicity, really.

A lovely egg on a list of some of the things I appreciate about my good husband. 

As with any spectacular plan, problems are bound to crop up. My gals (and Elvis) were already crowded in their housing. But my dear, sweet, understanding, generous, hardworking, awesome, super studly, amazing (did I mention he's very understanding?) husband already planned to build a more suitable chicken coop this summer, so I simply (very simply, in fact) proposed he just make it bigger. MUCH bigger. DH wasn't overly amused with my idea for some reason.

           Needing a little elbow room!

Well, if they come, he will build it. Didn't I hear that famous line in a movie once? (You know, the one where Kevin Costner builds a baseball diamond in his corn field?) We went to our local feed store for a great variety of egg layers. Marans for chocolate brown eggs. Jersey Giants and dark Brahamas just because they are cool. Rhode Island reds for lots of eggs and some Golden Sex Links to insure we really truly got enough hens. This year, we let the littlest red-head choose two hens all for herself. Welcome to the roost, Chelsea (the Easter-egger) and Lavender (the Buff Orpington). How many chicks did we bring home? It might possibly have been about 30, but who's counting?  (It's called "Chicken Math. Google it.)

           Soooo cute at this stage!!

Then two of our little banties went broody and seemed to really want to just sit on their eggs. Sooo, I thought, why not? There will be plenty of room!! Twenty one days later the first of 15 eggs hatched. Our first home made chicken!!! It was soo exciting. The girls and I even danced a little jig (which probably resembaled The Chicken Dance a bit). Over the course of be next three weeks the rest of the little eggs hatched. We even got to save one who had fallen out of the nest and nearly froze to death. 

In any event, our little flock has grown substantially...both in numbers and size.  My (very understanding) DH has been a super good egg (sorry, it had to happen eventually) about building a safe place to keep all our fluffy friends.  But that's a story for another blog post. 

Time to keep track

Well, I have decided to really start blogging about my journey. Not because I think anyone will actually read this, but because I simply need to keep track. I do occasionally write in my journal. But there are times when my thoughts need a little visual aid. Like today, for example. I took a walk. Not from an actual desire to get exercise. Unfortunately, that is not currently part of my nature (yet). It is this diabetes stuff. It is kicking my butt, and I am sick and tired of getting my butt kicked. So, I visited a diabetes counselor and dietitian this past Monday. As a result, I am keeping track...mostly of the numbers and what I am eating. It has been a little alarming. My bgl (blood glucose level) was 123 first thing this morning. I ate a healthy balanced breakfast of oatmeal with peanutbutter, and scrambled eggs. Two hours later my bgl was over 350!! Instead of allowing this to impact my mood in a very negative way (high blood sugars make me soooo grumpy 😖), I decided to drink water and walk our hill. I went down and up the hill 3X in 20 minutes and feel better already. The kids are glad I chose this method if dealing with high blood sugars!! 

Up the hill really gets my heart pumping.

Tasty treasures hanging from some trees along the road at the bottom of the hill. I refrained from eating any, though. 

I have quite a long journey ahead of me. I weigh about 225 lbs, have type II diabetes which requires injections of insulin to control...and it looks like that control will take some serious effort to reach. My goal weight has been set at 145 lbs. I need an A1c of 7 or lower which will reflect giod control of my blood sugars. Insulin does indeed make it difficult to lose weight, but I need it to keep my sugars at a healthy level. 

Today's walk was a step in the right direction. 

My water jar holds about 80 ounces of water!!