Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken around here.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I cooked beef.  I have several different chicken recipes, but my kids like my barbecue chicken with pineapple the best.  Tonight, I am cooking something we have never tried before. It's a boxed dinner kit from Velveeta called zesty barbecue chicken or something like that.  I'm hoping the kids like it, because it would be nice to add more variety to our chicken dinners.

I could save myself a lot of money if I raised my own chickens to eat.  I don't know much about operating a chicken hatchery, and I can only assume that it would require a lot of time and effort. I was reading an article recently about running a farm, and one of the things they were talking about was raising chickens.  I was laughing like crazy when the author started talking about how messy chickens are, and how they poop constantly.

I am sure hatcheries are not the cleanest places on earth, and to be honest, I'm not sure I could eat a chicken that I had raised from a baby.  I would hate to invest so much time incubating an egg, witnessing it hatch, watch it grow, and then have to chop of it's head to have dinner.  I prefer buying my chicken skinless and boneless, and faceless.

The same holds true for bacon and sausage.  I don't need to meet the pig before I eat it.

Turkey!

I saw this turkey in the parking lot of one of the businesses I deliver mail to everyday.  Of course I had to get a picture of it, because I am sure in a few weeks this beauty will be on someone's table for Thanksgiving.

Cows

 A few weeks ago, I went to some yard sales with a friend of mine.  I had been a long time since we had hung out, and I had forgotten how much fun she is to be around.  At one point, she climbed inside an inflatable ball and two guys rolled her down a hill.  I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

She is getting married soon, and her fiance has cows.  Being from New York, I really don't know much about cows, so I was asking a lot of question.  My main question was whether or not they killed and ate the cows. She said they don't, but they do sell them at cattle auctions, and the people who buy them do.  I was curious how much they make per cow, and she said it depends on how much they weigh.  They use cattle scales to weigh them, and then sell them to the highest bidder, I guess.  I'm not really sure, but she said they sold one cow for almost two grand last year.

That's a lot of money for a cow.  It kind of makes me want to get some cows of my own.  Not to eat, but to raise and sell.  Or maybe to eat.  Hamburgers are good.  And so are steaks. 

That's One Big Boy!

 

I took this picture several months ago when the kids and I went with my mom to Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. Believe me when I tell you that this turtle was huge!  He was right up against the fence, and we all got to reach over and touch his shell.  I made certain we all stayed away from that mouth, though.

My son has been having some health issues.  I know, what does a huge turtle have to do with Ryan?  Nothing really, except that they are both big boys.  

Last weekend, Ryan started complaining of chest pain.  He said it was hard to take a deep breathe, and he felt like he wasn't breathing right.  I assumed he was getting sick, so I told him to take it easy and rest.  Monday, he came home from school with a migraine level headache, and all he wanted to do was sleep.  I was trying to figure out what was causing him to feel this way when it occurred to me that he recently started back on his ADHD medicines.  

Tuesday morning I called my doctor, just to see if he could suddenly develop side effects from medications he has been on for years.  When the nurse called me back, she informed me that the doctor wanted to see him ASAP.  Since I was at work I couldn;t get him up there before about 5.  They stop seeing patients at 4.  

This should tell you how awesome my doctor is...he waited on us to get there.  They checked Ryan's blood pressure, and it was 156/94.  Yeah, way to high for a 15 year old boy.  They said it was probably higher the night before, which would have been the cause of his headache and chest pain.  He told me to stop both medications immediately, and to bring him back Thursday morning for blood work.

I wasn't able to get off work, so my mom took him.  When they got there, not only did they take his blood, they also did a chest xray and EKG. They are waiting for the results from the blood work before they decide whether or not to do an echo-cardiogram.  Scared me to death when my mom called and told me.  My doctor also sent a note to Ryan's school asking the nurse to check his blood pressure several times a week and fax him the results.  When he had it checked Friday, it was 112/60, which is a lot better than what it was. 

I can not tell you how relieved I am, since it kind of confirms that it was his medications causing the problem.

That said, my doctor also wants Ryan to lose weight.  He put him on a strict diet, especially watching his sodium, which contributes to the high blood pressure.  He recommended walking, so every day Ryan has been doing just that.  This morning, I joined him in a walk to the grocery store.  It was nice spending time with him without the girls.  It gave us a chance to talk about anything he wanted to.

So, for now, I am waiting to hear the results of all the tests, keeping my fingers crossed that everything comes back normal, proving he is a healthy teenager.

Horseback Riding As Exercise?

I have been thinking lately about different ways I can exercise that would be fun.  A blogger friend of mine has been writing a lot lately about her experiences horse back riding, and it sounds like so much fun.  I don't know much about horse supplies or how much work goes into taking care of horses, but I bet it is more fun than going to the gym and walking on a treadmill.  I guess I need to do a little research, and see if there is somewhere around here I could try it out before I commit to anything.  Who knows, I may get thrown off and break some bones my first time out, or I may find out that I am really good at it.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Cades Cove

On our way back home on Sunday, my mom wanted to go through a park called Cades Cove.  They have this loop that you can drive, where there are historic buildings to walk through, and wild animals to be seen.  My mom had been twice before, and both times she saw a bear.  We were hoping to see one, too, and luckily, we were able to see two of them.  The first one, in the picture above, was pretty far away, but we saw it pretty well because it was big.  Actually, it was huge!  Brandi was a little scared it would come running towards us, but it didn't.  She even got out of the car for a better look!

The one in the picture below was a lot closer to us, which was pretty cool.  It was too busy eating to pay us any attention, and when I say us, I mean the twenty or so people who stopped on the side of the road to watch it eat. 

It was a pretty nice way to end a wonderful weekend!

Peek A Boo

When we went fishing on Easter, the girls spotted this little lizard. All I wanted was a picture of it, but it has no intentions of cooperating. I finally got this shot. It looks like he was playing peek a boo with me. Every time I went on one side of the tree, it would scurry to the other. I'm impressed I even got this picture taken. lol!

Wordless Wednesday ~ 9/16

Check out the baby flamingo. We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this little fellow. The zoo keeper said they only let them out for a few minutes every day to be with their moms, and we just happened to be there at the right time. There were two babies, but one kept hiding in the tall grass. As cute as they are, I have got to say that the whole exhibit smelled horrible...it was the worst smell in the whole zoo!

Finding Their Way Home

I have been thinking about having my outside cats neutered. The vets charge so much more than the shelters do, so I think I will get it done there. With shots and the surgery, it will cost me about $27 per cat. I know, not bad, right? The shelter not only neuters them, but they will microchip them free of charge. This is a great way to insure that if my boys run off, or are lost and someone returns them to the shelter or brings them to the vet, they will be able to contact me.

This week, May 3 through 9 is the American Humane Association’s Be Kind to Animals Week. If you have your pet outfitted with a microchip this week, HomeAgain will donate one dollar to bringpetshome.com. You can find more information about what is involved on the Home Again Web Site. I wish I had done this for Zoe, our cat who ran away when we moved. If you remember, she kept going back to our old house every time we brought her here. After the fifth time, she just disappeared. Hopefully she found a new home, and didn't end up at the shelter. If she had, we could have gotten her back if she was microchipped.

HomeAgain is more then a microchipping program. For an annual fee, you can talk to pet-recovery specialists and get twenty four hour emergency medical assistance by calling 1-888-HomeAgain. You can also get medical pet insurance for lost pets and if your pet is found more than 500 miles from home, you can get up to five hundred dollars in travel expenses. This is even more of an incentive to have your pets microchipped.

You can also buy your pet supplies online at a fundraising Web site specifically created to help shelter animals. With each purchase, money is given to animal shelters for food and medical care, at no extra cost to the consumer.

We can all help to make sure lost pets find their way home.

Watch Out Elephants, Here We Come!

We are headed to the zoo tomorrow. By we, I mean all 17 of us! That's five adults, and twelve kids. It's about an hour and a half drive, so that's not too much fun. I love seeing the elephants (of course!) and hate the penguin house. It always smells like poop. The reptile house is fun, and the kids always ride the carousel. We pack a picnic lunch, because the zoo has a wooded area with picnic tables where we like to sit and have lunch. Of course I will take tons of pictures, so I will have lots to share in future camera critters!