I love my chickens, buying a house, Moving an established lifestyle

Loving my chickens.   I went against the rules and let them out day before yesterday when we had all that sun.  I was working in the yard and could keep them out of the garden.  They were pretty much purring as they foraged under the oak tree  getting at a whole new crop of bugs and worms.  When I let them out one of  reds was in the coop laying.  When she came out of the coop she freaked out because she was all alone. Elphie and Hash responded first by dashing back into the pen. The others came running too.  They surrounded her and en mass  escorted her into the yard.    They waited until she settled in and then went back to happily scratching.  I love the way they take care of each other in a crisis.  Makes up for those times when they are fighting so much I want to make soup out of them.  I got to show them off to the real estate agent last night!  Yep Jimmy and I are going to take advantage of the buyers market and  buy ourselves a house with a little bit more land.  I want a bigger garden and a few more chickens and Jimmy wants goats!  I really want a miniature cow too ... but I think that would kill Jimmy.  Every time I mention it, he get this sort of purplish, strangled look on his face.    Anyway... about this house.....  I never realized, until we were explaining to our  VERY PATIENT real estate agent, Amanda,  just how picky we are.  I mean for the most part we are pretty laid back  about our living conditions.   The wall of bookshelves is always disorderly, cuz we use it almost daily.  Its not a library, its a reference center.  Jimmy and I always have our little piles of crap related to whatever project we are working on  laying about within convenient reach. The back porch, laundry room always carries evidence of our outdoor activities (shoes,gloves, baskets, hand tools, you name it) There is usually evidence in the kitchen of gardening and cooking  laying around.  I mean, we don't live in one of those homes that would make it into  a magazine with cream colored rugs and  'Decor'.  (decor is silly)   We have a lot of original art in the house but they are not treated like  museum pieces.  They are treated like one of the family.  We are .....best description...... scruffy.   So, I was surprised when it took 3 hours to lay out what we wanted  and why.
I'll be sad to leave this place.  The gardens are well established and we have a nice routine.  Starting over somewhere else  will be daunting.  On the upside... we will get our green house. On the downside... OMG we have to MOVE all this stuff. The fish will need a new pond immediately. We will have to take down part of the fence  to get the chicken coop out. We will need 6 guys to move the hot tub. We will have to dig up the  the medicinal garden to take with us cuz some of the stuff we have is hard to come by.  The cold frames will need to come down.  The solarium will have to be disassembled and moved quickly so the tropicals don't die. Many of the herbs will need to be put in pots and transferred cuz I'm not leaving my favorite sage plant or my thyme bush.  And all that will have to happen before I even pack up the house.   Good Lord...... I'm tired already just thinking about it!

OWS, Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Seattle, I'm surrounded by retards

Well, I pretty much have to comment on the Occupy Wall Street / Seattle Cuz its in my face every direction I turn.  The media is so immersed in the old paradigm  they cant even report on what the OWS  people are talking about. They are babbling about mobs and unclear messages and actively state they don't understand what the Occupy Wall street  protest is about..  My retard neighbors are all up in arms over the  'commie/ hippie/ job less bums' that are occupying Westlake.  These guys aren't very smart to begin with, but  their lack of understanding  of the events is pretty astounding.  But on some primal level they must be getting the message  because the panic  and fear all around me is palpable. 
I guess I understand the fear because if the OWS message is allowed to permeate the mainstream mindset ...Its the end of life as we have known it for the last 30 years. 
For those of you who have been reading this blog for the last four years, you know that I frequently rant about the  corporate domination of this country.  It is in fact the very  corporate greed and abuses  that the OWS is talking about that set Jimmy and I on our path 5 years ago.  While we call our lifestyle 'artisan' it is really anti corporate .

Jimmy and I  have refused to eat processed foods for some time now, because the stuff is poison.  The only way to do this is to grow and can our own food.   Supplementing with locally  grown produce.  (cuz our yard is just a smidge too small to feed us all year long and  we haven't built a greenhouse yet.... but just you wait Henry Higgins)
The OWS statement to support this is:
 'They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization'

Jimmy and I have our own chickens that we keep for eggs and meat because the state of  commercial poultry in this country is  tragic.  The animals that are used to produce eggs are kept  in such  an unhealthy and abusive environment  that I'm not going near  their eggs.   Common sense: Don't eat food produced by sick animals who are  covered with sores and forced to produce.
OWS statement:
'They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices'  (this is not a PETA statement. This is your food)

I have repeatedly  ranted about low quality  products  and products with designed obsolescence built in.  All of them produced overseas
Jimmy and I actively search for high quality American made  products and yes we are willing to pay the fat price tag to get  them.  But they are rare and  few and far between because American manufacturing  has been  assassinated by corporations by  moving the  factories overseas to take advantage of  laborers who have no protections and who work for pennies.
The OWS statement on this
'They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay'
'They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions'
'They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.'
'They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.'

Jimmy and I have no medical insurance.   Not because we don't need healthcare but because we just cant scrape up the extra 15 thousand dollars a year,  EVERY year to pay for it.  We  take care of our medical needs with  Jimmy's medicinal herb garden,  home remedies ,supplements, and Mexican anti-biotics.  The reason we cant afford health insurance is because (no matter what other reasons they give you)   health insurance is a publicly traded commodity in the stock market.  Bluecross/shield is owned by wellpoint.  Wellpoint's stock is currently $26 a share.  Medicine in this country is FOR PROFIT not for people.  If you cant pay.... you're dead!
Me and Jimmy?... We are the walking dead. (note: I used blue cross/shield as an example... don't believe me? Do your own research)
OWS statement on this
'They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.'

'They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.'

Personally I think the OWS  should hit a little harder on the medical industry.  But they are covering a lot of ground and a lot of abuses  by corporations in a multitude of areas.  Taking on the faceless leviathans  with tentacles in the  home of  every single American  high and low is a daunting task. So, I will cut them some slack.

To the media, my retard neighbors and anybody else who doesn't understand what the OWS is protesting.....
 It is not about who is running for any office. It is not about raising or lowering taxes. It is not about more or less social services or welfare.  It is not about immigration. It is not about  not supporting our troops. It is not about Democrats or Republicans or Independents or Fringe Fruit Balls looking for political power. 
It is about  the high jacking of  the American government by  Corporations, who have spent  billions of dollars over the last 20 years or so to buy  laws, policies and regulations .  Corporations   have  the controlling stock in our government.
They want to charge you 29% on your credit card...... They BUY a law that says you have to pay it.
They want everyone to buy insurance.... They BUY a law that says insurance on your house, car, yourself, your business... is mandatory and you have to pay it.
They want to take the living wage  American worker out of the equation .... They  BUY

deregulation of import and export laws, allowing them to NOT pay tariffs and taxes on overseas manufacturing.
And so on and so forth.  They BUY BUY BUY .
They have bought so much of the American judicial system that the system is  no longer for the people by the people.  It is now for the corporations by the corportions.

Still don't get it?  In its simplest form.  They own you brothers and sisters, body and soul.  And you will submit or else.... They will ruin your credit, take your house, take your job, poison your food, deny you medical care, make your life savings disappear,  watch every move you make , tell you that every choice you make that is contrary to their wishes is not only wrong but illegal  and  burden you with so many laws and regulations that you will  need daily doses of  anti anxiety and anti depression drugs just to get through the day.

 Oh wait.... they already did all that.

If  you  want to read for yourself what the OWS is about (without the FOX corporation telling you what to think) go here    http://occupyseattle.org/resource/official-statement-occupy-wall-street

Now that I have addressed that issue...... Hash is laying the  cutest  little eggs you ever did see and my soap is perfectly well.... soapy.  Elphie and the two older reds are molting.  We have enough jam to last us at least a year.  My homemade tomato sauce is scrumptious and canned up and stored.  We already opened a jar of this years spicy hot pickles.  We still have plenty of vegetables  in the garden and last nights dinner was all from our own yard.  I've started  work on the  the out of control rug again (now that the weather has turned chilly)  AND I had a wonderful time  at the small  studio party that I hosted  for the girls in the show that  just  ended. Karaoke, food, wine and good company.  One of them is moving away for a couple of years, which makes me sad, cuz she's pretty cool . But I will never council against adventure. 

So, onward we move in our Artisan lifestyle... Next up?  Weaving and cheese making!