Month: June 2017

Eggs of Giants

June 13, 2017

Eggs of Giants

One cool thing about keeping a flock of chickens (aside from the 5am alarms) is that they pop eggs out!

Before we had chickens, I thought all eggs were white and exactly the same size and shape.  With the first time our Buff Orpington hen announced to the world that she plopped a smooth, clean, egg in the nest box, my preconceived notions about eggs were shattered.

It was BROWN!

It was TINY!

This giant, beautiful 6 pound hen had laid an egg that may have weighed 3 grams (okay, maybe a little bigger than that).  It didn’t have a yolk!  Maybe our chickens were broken.  Of course, they weren’t broken.  Most heavy breeds lay brown eggs.  Buff Orpingtons are heavy breeds.  Most first eggs are small and even the most proficient layers occasionally have an egg without a yolk.  They never did lay what I previously thought of as “normal” eggs, instead they were huge eggs (extra-large) with the occasional super-giant egg containing two yolks.

Currently, we have a rainbow of large chickens in our flock.  Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, and Plymouth Barred Rocks lay various shades of brown eggs (actually, pale apricot to medium walnut brown) and some have speckles!  Our Easter Eggers lay green, pale pink, and occasionally spotted eggs.  We also ended up with some White Leghorns, who are smaller than the others, but lay extra-large white eggs.  Our Golden Phoenix (who is a mottled English walnut color with a ring of golden feathers around her neck and scattered about her dark head) lays a torpedo-shaped almost pink egg 6 of the 7 days in a week.  Just like each of us are unique, each hen lays an egg with her own distinct size, shape, and color!

Young pullets (a female chicken is a pullet until she starts steadily laying eggs) will sometimes start out producing small eggs for the first week or so.  In the picture, we had a new layer’s tiny, a “regular” sized, and a double-yolker from our White Leghorn.

Another fun thing about having chickens is observing the variety of egg colors and shades when packing our eggs in their cartons.  We have at least one white and one green in each dozen but most of our hens lay an assortment of pink-brown shades called “brown” eggs.  They say you can tell what color a chicken will lay by the bottoms of their feet! (In our experience, not exactly, but pretty close)  In our last batch of biddies, we had three with blackish green “soles” of their feet. The girls are hoping to find a dark olive egg or maybe even a purple egg!

Yes, the girls name our chickens.  These names (usually for attributes or specific colors) usually find themselves playing hens or pullets in the Adventures of Long Tail.  Sometimes their creative names end up inspiring an actual story character (like Jasmine Rose in The Devonians).

The girls’ favorite part of chickens is the raising challenge.  They enjoy plotting color mixes as they separate them for breeding, watching the incubator for 21 days and squealing “babies are coming soon,” tending new hatchlings, encouraging them to explore, helping them grow, and seeing their breeding experiment results as they become pullets and cockerels.  Then they usually say goodbye to newly laying pullets about 18 – 26 weeks or promising-looking cockerels about 10 – 14 weeks as they prefer to sell them when they are “past the danger stage.” (aka too big for most hawks and no longer needing brooder care)

I love their learning adventure (as Rebeccah says, breeding in chickens is more colorful than Mendel’s peas) and we all enjoy the rainbow of eggs in various sizes the happy hens provide.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Sand

June 12, 2017

Sand

It was a busy, start-at-3am kind of day.  We’d planned on going to the beach but it was almost 6pm and I was still working.  Unpacked boxes stacked in precarious towers in what would be the music nook – if we ever got the piano, drums, guitar, bass, and other assorted nose-makers from storage.  The front room resembled tornado-aftermath footage; shoes without their organizer spilled from the single tomato box, book boxes sat about, awaiting the arrival of a bookshelf, folded clothes waited delivery on the couch, and the dogs, exhausted from barking at every neighborhood squirrel since noon, were sprawled out like black rugs.

I knew we’d been working all day, but while trying to conquer the nightly result of supper, a quick glance at the chaos that reigned was rather disheartening.  It seemed that mood of disappointment had rubbed off on everyone.  Toddlers and preschoolers generally act out when they are upset and the older ones appeared to feel like they’d worked all day for a vain goal (the beach).

The cool thing about Florida is that even an early April sunset is close to 7:30.  The neat thing about technology is that everything for my business can be done from one phone; even on a busy night.  A super thing about our crew is the ability to grab-and-go and pack the van in minutes.

We went to the beach.  We hadn’t been to this beach since the previous summer, after Matthew (for non-Floridians, that’s “Hurricane Matthew”) when our beach spot was covered in debris.  “Our spot is back!” Yelled Kimberly.  We parked at our little spot (not legally ours, just where we always try to park) and the beach was beautiful.  The beach is always beautiful here.  It felt like my soul was refreshed just by walking in the sand.  The water was Florida cold, but we’ll get in the ocean in mid-winter and love it.  Lucas and I didn’t go deeper than ankles, but that was because I was dispatching and the surf was rough.  (Lucas loves the rough surf when the water is warm, not a huge fan of it when it’s cold)

We spied fishing boats and Lucas showed everyone the stars as the brightest ones greeted the approaching night.  We took several relaxing pictures.  I realized I had been allowing the normal side-effects of moving to control my attitude.  I should be more like sand; it moves, being formed and shaped by outside forces (kid’s hands, animal feet, car tires) but returns to normal easily.  I should let God be the waves and smooth the roughness of my irritation and frustration away so I’m smooth and even again.

Smooth and even feels so much nicer than frustrated and irritated.  I love how God uses His creation to remind me to slow down and enjoy life!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Health Changer

June 10, 2017

Health Changer

I have this thing about being dehydrated (low water) and anemic (low iron).  Or at least had that problem.  Pregnancy was like wake up, puke, attempt my multi-vitamin, puke, get to work, puke, and be falling asleep in the truck when we drove home.  I loved everything else about pregnancy.  My midwife told me I was anemic and needed to drink more water.

I didn’t like water.  I tried tallying glasses, but never got more than 3 in a day!  I tried carrying a huge bottle representing how much I needed in a day, but that was seriously discouraging because I didn’t seem to make a dent.  I eat healthy; mostly local and organic, almost never any hydrogenated, bleached, or processed foods, but it just wasn’t enough.

My sister introduced me to Shakeology.

It was $100 a bag (month) if you signed up as a coach ($15 monthly fee) which made it $3.83 per day.  I am a major saver (actually, skinflint, scrooge, etc.) with money when it comes to spending on myself.  I didn’t want to even try.  My coworkers spent $4 or $5 a day on a coffee though and that’s not a meal-replacement shake with over 90 essential nutrients.  But I was pregnant with #3 and if this vitamin stopped the puking and dehydration (as my sister claimed it would), cool.  They have a “bottom of the bag” guarantee (they want you to find your favorite way of making Shakeology).  Return an empty bag if I didn’t like it for a full refund?  Okay, I decided to give this almost-$4-a-day daily dose of dense nutrition a try.

It was awesome!  Within a week I was craving water!  Actually filling my tally sheet with plain, normal, water!  Not flavored water, not sweet tea, not even lemonade, but plain, healthy water!  No dehydration headaches!

But that wasn’t all it did for me!  It filled about half of my iron requirements, so with my other healthy foods, I was no longer anemic!  My bowels were regular. (Yes, all through pregnancy & just after too!)  I wasn’t that exhausted tired where you don’t feel like moving.  Toss in some potassium and I was full of energy.  No need for coffee anymore (I was using large amounts of caffeine to make me awake for the normal day) – coffee was now my treat!

That was about 9 years ago.  Shakeology was a game changer for my health.  More vitamins = more energy = being involved more in my children and life!  Most people say it’s a weight loss shake.  True; we crave food because we are missing nutrients so a shake with most of your essential nutrition = more vitamins = less craving = less calories = healthy weight loss.

When I started we just had chocolate (awesome with milk, Louis likes his with water), now there are six flavors (dark chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, café latte, and greenberry) so the neatest way to try them all is the sample pack.  If you are interested in the business side of it, try the coach link (I’m a coach for the discounts, like some people do Mary Kay for makeup discounts) but know many who make a living being a coach for Beachbody.

I encourage you to give Shakeology a try.  Who knows?  It could be the best investment in your health – I know it was for me!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

 

 

Research for Caleb

June 8, 2017

Caleb

I love to write historical fiction.  Historical fiction is fiction (a made-up story) set in a historical setting.  It can be following an actual historical figure, about a historical figure, place, or event, or a made-up story in a real time in history.

Writing historical fiction requires research.  The deeper and more accurate your research, the more in-depth and believable your story will be.

For example, “The Living God” is a historical fiction story.

Historical setting: Babylon, 6th/7th century BC

Historical figures: Daniel, counselors, princes, King Darius (Persian)

Culture(s): Recently occupied Babylon, rule was Mede/Persian, servants/slaves of various conquered tribes/nations/villages including Judean (Israelite)

For this story, I researched the culture of Babylon pre-occupation, the culture of the Mede/Persian empire, and the Judean culture for the time period of the story.  The Babylonians had a rather effective “conquer and subjugation” method of stealing conquered people’s high-ranking children and using them in court service to prevent uprisings.  They generally treated these individuals as princes and only took the best of the best.  Daniel was one such captive.

I also researched what was available on King Darius (and Mede/Persian rulers of this time in general), and Daniel; as these were my primary historical characters.

This research gave me insight into Daniel’s mental state.  Reading historical information about him revealed that he was grateful for his position, served his masters (at least three different kings) faithfully even if he disagreed with them, fulfilled his duties honestly, yet considered himself a prisoner and yearned for release and the ability to return to his homeland.

I created a main character to follow (Caleb) as a palace slave (captured youngster from another dominated tribe) using the cultural information I could gather.  Caleb is feisty, independent, used to being above the law (a noble in his former land), yet knowledgeable of the laws of his captive land and attempting to follow them.  As my research showed that often pairs of children were stolen, I also created Miriam, Caleb’s younger sister who is more accepting of her lower status as women were culturally lower than men even in nobility.

Since “The Living God” is a retold Bible story, the central storyline (regarding Daniel) is taken from the Biblical account.

So, that’s just a little bit about the research behind one short, historical fiction story!  I love researching things, so historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine.  Try that out with your next story – research and write!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

 

 

Florida Weather

June 7, 2017

Florida Weather

Today was normal weather for northeast Florida.  Meaning, when driving over the 312 bridge, we left a vicious thunderstorm and emerged under the sunny blue morning sky!  On the way back 30 minutes later, to our left was pouring rain and to the right was partly cloudy.  Off I95 and 16, there were waves of torrential downpours.  The Walmart parking lot was a temporary lake.  A low-riding car crawled through Lake Walmart with wheels nearly covered!  Fortunately, an escaping toddler had a mother with leopard reflexes and Mom prevented said toddler from a plunge into Lake Walmart.

If you don’t like the current weather, wait ten minutes (or maybe less, we can go from parched to flooded in less time than it takes to read this article).

Florida is a wonderful opportunity for weathermen.  You can basically wave your hands over my town and say, “today has a high chance of rain.” This is 99.99% accurate any day between June and November. (If it’s currently sunny, just amend that to “today we have a 10% chance of rain” and you’re covered in case a cloud shows up over your head because nature likes to laugh.)

You know, sometimes they say “its 90 degrees but feels like 104 because of the heat index.” This is to help you understand that walking around in anything more than a bathing suit and flip-flops will result in rivers of sweat cascading down your body – everywhere. (This includes your fingers and toes!) If you’re asking “what does outside feel like?” the answer is always between “surface of the sun” and “broiling.”

Humidity is never zero. This is because we live surrounded on three sides by water – a peninsula. (a finger of land testing the water screaming, “please, cool me off!”)  Humidity means water in the air.  Okay, imagine walking through the rain and you’ve got my town’s humidity level.  Chickens walk around in perpetual fluffiness and when you pet a dog, your hand gets wet.

All in all, this is a great vacation spot!  You leave normal life to visit us so you can experience noon heat, 2pm humidity, and the afternoon torrent of a cloudburst where everyone’s phones go *BEEP* because the instant weather alert warns (ten minutes after the storm has passed) that “Thunderstorms may be imminent.”  After your vacation, you wonder if the reason people actually live here is because the brain cells of the natives are fried.

Honestly, all jokes aside, we live here because we love it!

I love Florida weather – and love my special little town.

As a side note, the best invention ever for Floridians was the air conditioning unit.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

 

The Real Egg Thief

June 6, 2017

The Real Egg Thief

We had forty little chicks in the high brooder.  It was back when our little 4-level brooder held three batches of monthly chicks in stages and by the time they were in the bottom level, they roamed the yard. (At 12 to 13 weeks, our breed was too big for almost all predators.) Hardware cloth (wire) protected them from everything and a warm heat lamp kept them toasty (until their feathers come in at about 4 weeks, chicks need 100 degrees Fahrenheit).

But one morning when we went out to feed them, a corn snake had feasted!  He had popped the staples and lifted up one corner of the hardware cloth to slide his seven foot body inside their tiny brooder and eat at his leisure.  He was so camouflaged in their warm hay floor that we didn’t see him at first!  We just saw that almost all the baby chicks were gone.

Corn snakes are very important around farms because they eat rodents and other pests.  We had to relocate him to another area and use big u-nails instead of staples to make our brooder big-snake-proof.

Naturally, any adventure with our chickens turns into a Long Tail adventure!  In Long Tail and the Egg Thief, the snake only eats eggs and tries to scare off the chickens.  And, Long Tail’s humans shoot the snake with an arrow (this was because Christina and Rebeccah had been doing archery lately, so they thought that was cool).  Usually, farmers don’t kill snakes unless they are poison snakes that pose a threat to livestock and people.  We have a black racer snake living under our house and he routinely gets fat with mice that would try to get in the henhouse (or in our house).

Since then, we haven’t lost any chicks to snakes.

Raising chickens, like many things, is a learn-as-you-go activity.  You can read and research forever, and try to do your best.  Sometimes, everything will go along fine, but other times, the unexpected (three hungry fence-destroying neighbor dogs, a seven-foot corn snake, or a family of five dive-bombing 4 foot tall eagles) will show up and you learn from those mistakes on what to do next time.

For me, most of the upsets in our continuing chicken flock become adventure stories for Long Tail the Rooster.  That’s seeing the bright side.  Because just like everything in life, we can’t go back, only forward!  Let’s march on, chicken adventures!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tar

World Builder

June 3, 2017

World Builder

I love creating alternate fantasy worlds.  I like to make them believable but fascinating.  Here’s a little step into how I build them:

In Web of Deception, the world of the Four Kingdoms is vibrant with culture and history.  I research elements I want, design histories that incorporate geography, climatic or geographic racial differences, climactic events, and culture clashes including the resulting epidemics, interracial blending, or wars that would have been.  To me, when I read Swavarian, I see the history of the people that made them who they are.

Sometimes I love the world so much that I create alternate stories within it.  For instance: the sharply contrasting cultures within the post-apocalyptic Earth world in the Realm of Earth series began with Grenadan stories focusing on the clashes between the militaristic tribe of Grenada with its central hub cities and primitive outskirt cities and the neighboring pacifist tribe of Camela in Source of Strength, Bold Worlds, and The Truth.  This precariously perched world with one central militaristic tribe whose Guards enforce law and order in most of the ten tribes shows up again in the Brantley Station Saga with the wealthier, more technological Qualizidians dealing with the political requirement of allowing Guards in their underwater mining colony.

All Greek?  No.  All part of the Realm of Earth!

That’s the way I explore other cultures in our real world.  I like to step into the shoes of different classes of people during whatever time and wiggle my toes around in them.  I like to picture their daily lives, struggles, imagine what their dreams would have been, and understand their culture without today’s lenses clouding my judgment.  It works for various cultures today too.  How does one understand another culture easily?

Imagine you are a mother in it.  What are your worries?  You love your children (love is universal); your hope is for them to have the best.  That I’ve found to be the easiest shoe for me to step into.  But you have to be able to drop your preconceived notions about what “best” is.  Here, in America, we have almost unlimited hopes and dreams.  An early Greek family living in a smaller polis would be hoping the rains didn’t wash away their crops and dreaming for a winter free of sickness.  They spent most of their day gathering food for the same day; as with most agrarian systems, they lived life connected to the seasons and their crops and animals.  Even if we are fortunate enough to have a garden today, we can find readily available food almost anywhere for a price; we live connected to our jobs which provide us money that translates into food, shelter, and clean water.  “Best” for them was survival.  Their “Best” is what we take for granted.

When I build my worlds, I’m pulling bits from a myriad of cultures I’ve studied and attempt to morph them together in a believable way.  Then I walk around in the shoes of the people I’ve created and pull their hopes, dreams, and feelings from what I would feel should their history be mine.  Hopefully, this process creates some realistic characters and believable worlds for your enjoyment!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Sooty Makeup

June 2, 2017

Sooty Makeup

     I’m not really a makeup person.  (Okay, I almost never wear makeup.)  Someone says “makeup” and I think sweaty post-workout drizzle where my face looked like a tie-dyed T-shirt (which was my teenage inexperience with makeup).  Rebeccah, however, is very artistic and does makeup well.  It’s an art to her.  Makeup is just another type of paint and human faces are her canvas.

Loving, excited aunts have made sure the girls have a colorful assortment of fun, safe makeup to play with as they enter the teenage threshold.  They’ve taught the girls many makeup techniques and how to match colors.  (Sometimes the craziest of color contrasts emerge, but that’s all in the learning game – and clowns need makeup artists too.)

One afternoon I was busily canning marinara sauce (a family staple) when I heard Kimberly announce from the front door, “Mom, come see, we’ve done our makeup in your style!” (Christina was just beginning to explore makeup)

My style?  I was busy, but curiosity won and there’s little I could do before the steam finished exhausting.  I peek and they are coming from outside, where they had discovered some soot from the outdoor kitchen.  All three of them are covered in smeared soot.

“My style?” I laugh.

“Yes!”  Christina says, “just like in the army!”

Camouflage!  That would be my makeup style.  Just let me blend in with my surroundings and disappear – that about described my normal interactions with most other humans.  I didn’t realize my children knew me so well!

“Yes,” Rebeccah adds, “we can look up now, and no one can see us.”

Turns out they were playing spy games, based on the recent string of military movies we’d watched over that weekend.  Of course, in black-and-white, all the face camouflage looks just like soot.

They took off to “finish their mission” and I returned to my hissing canner.  At that point, I was trying very hard to do more than blend in.  That doesn’t come easy for me.  I can write all day and interact with imaginary people in my made-up worlds, but interaction where I make myself open to others is not easy.  I love teaching, playing with, and guiding children.  My own age group?  It’s not easy for me.

I’m learning how to wipe off the sooty face camouflage and try my hand at real makeup.  I’m learning how to be open to others and allowing myself to invest in them – to be real, invest time, to speak instead of being silent.

I’m enjoying this “be the canvas” stage I’ve entered.  Plus, it’s an extra time to listen (and talk) to my daughters because I always want to be open and real for them.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~ Nancy Tart

 

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