h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yup. I'm waking up early to have them for bfast! I didn't have time today.

Good for you, Auntie Bats!

I'm hoping she'll make a habit of laying her eggs in the window box so I can collect them there instead of critters getting them from who-knows-where. Then I can have fresh eggs frequently.

I think it's heartwarming that you've befriended this poor, lost hen, Batty.

She's funny... this morning she was on top of the shed like a weather vane.. hope she doesn't lay her eggs up there - we'll never get them.

Wouldn't they be likely to roll off the roof and break when they hit the ground?

I'll have to do some research to be sure, but I think chickens are more likely to continue to lay their eggs in the same places if you feed them in the same place and their nest is the way they want it.

After a little research, it looks like you may be in for 1 or 2 eggs a day (but maybe not every day) for a while.

If she likes the flower box, she'll probably continue to nest there. Hens make a distinction between places to roost and places to nest, so she's probably just roosting when she's sitting on the shed roof.

They don't immediately start to "sit" on the eggs when they lay them. They let them cool off a bit first to suspend embryonic development (assuming they were fertilized), and only spend time in the nest when actually laying eggs until they feel like they have "enough" eggs under them, then they'll start to brood (incubate) them. So if you keep the eggs gathered up, she'll probably continue to lay for a while. If she stops laying eggs because there's nothing there, then you could add a plastic easter egg filled with sand, or a golf ball or two - just anything that feels like eggs under her so she'll continue to lay. If you add too many though, she'll be likely to decide that she has "enough" eggs and will start to brood them.

I wonder what kind of will hatch from golf balls.

I'll be having chicken for dinner tonight. Just as soon as I can catch the blighter < winkeye> no, actually I will be having chicken; I got a chicken breast out of the freezer this morning, so it'l be defrosted by dinner time... no idea as yet as to what I'm going to do with it, but it'l probably involved mushrooms as I've some that need to be used up soon, and probably also therefore onion not sure beyond that... probably rice

T'other night I made clam chowder by combining the recipe for potato soup on the back of the dried milk box and advice from Batty (yes, it's hot here, but the other choice was using leftovers that we're all getting tired of! Of course, that's what we had last night...) It turned out really good! I'll have to at least double it next time though--there was just barely enough for 2 people for 1 night.

I'm glad it turned out, Amy. It was a really good idea to add the clams and make chowder instead of just the potato soup - not that it's not good in it's own right.

We had stuffed peppers tonight with sauteed green beans and onions.

Regarding the chicken we haven't had any more eggs in the window box. Maybe I should hard boil a store bought egg or two and put them in there... they're bigger than her eggs so they should be easy to tell from hers.

We had built a nest for her in a nice lattice box and fastened it on the branch of her favorite holly bush. She didn't much care for it but there was a family of chipmonks that thought it a playpen.

Maybe if I put the eggs in the windowbox she'll come back to it. I worried that by taking all 3 eggs she had laid out of the box she decided it wasn't the place to leave them.

Well I have had many good dinners this week...those boat crews work very hard but they eat very well, I think my favorite this week was the ham cooked with the pineapple rings and such...with all kinds of fixens to choose from

We've been kind of oinking out this weekend. We were celebrating because I got the results of my cancer tests back and they were all negative. I have to go back because they want to adjust my meds but the cancer is definitely NOT back.

Last night we had big juicy steaks. I brought home some nice strip steaks - close to 2" thick.. yum! Seasoned them with garlic, salt & pepper. Then tossed them on the grill. We have a huge ceramic cooker called a "green egg" so they were seared at close to 800F. We then had them with salad and home made rolls.

Tonight we had red snapper and shrimp, both made "al mojo de ajo". You smash a few (ok, lots) of garlic cloves and slowly brown them in olive oil. Then once it's cooled you can add salt, pepper, oregano and lime juice. Use it for a marinade and also to baste the stuff while it's grilling. I also found some Silver Queen corn (the sweet white kind) at a farmers market when I was taking to the vet, which was cooked in the husk and slathered in butter.

Oh, that sounds wonderful!

We had Steak Diane tonight. (She's apparently a pretty good cook, since we've had Pork Chops Diane and Chicken Diane recently too) Sauteed Broccoli and mushrooms on the side, with some mashed potatoes for the family and cauliflower for me.

Yum! I love steak Diane.. did you have it with the crab meat?

With crab meat?!

No... I didn't know that was supposed to be part of it. The recipes I have don't call for crab.

Or did you mean Crab Diane? That sounds like it would be good too.

There was a restaurant that made Steak Diane and put a dab of lump crab meat and some tender asparagus on top before putting the sauce on it.

Ignore me... I was thinking of Steak Oscar... maybe they were related though...

Still, that sounds amazingly wonderful too.


Apparently Oscar knows his way around a kitchen too.

Oh it is!

It's steak, preferrably filet, with asparagus and crab meat with bearnaise sauce.. yummy!