amysflock: Flying away

"I'm leavin' on a jet plane..." Unfortunately, it's true. I am leaving tomorrow bright and early for Arlington, VA to attend a 3-day training class for work. I used to travel a lot for business, but have been on only one trip since I met Paul, and haven't traveled at all since we've been married. To say I'm not looking forward to it is part understatement, part pathetic whine. I will miss the farm, my view, my animals, gathering eggs, our dogs and cats, and most of all my hubby. However, I look forward to seeing a new place, meeting up with a couple of friends who moved back there years ago and who I haven't seen in a long time, and, hopefully, catching up on some much-needed rest. (I hate to sound truly pathetic, but it's been really, really difficult to get back into the work-full-time/farm-weekends-and-evenings groove. Sometimes I pine for my free time back, but the steady pay is nice.) :)

We'll get the cattle their fresh haylage bales this evening, so they'll be all set. Paul will just have to keep the chickens fed and watered, eggs gathered, and cattle troughs full. Oh, and he'll have to feed the dogs and cats. I think he can handle it.

I've got my packing lists, my requisite 2-oz. containers of toiletries and a lot of flight time to spend doing whatever I want. I'll be bringing my library copies of Joel Salatin's "You Can Farm" and "Salad Bar Beef," along with my seed catalogs and a writing tablet. There's a lot of planning to be done and no better time to do it! It sounds like the weather next week in Washington D.C. will be rather Washington State-like, while back home we may get some snow. I guess that's another reason to be glad to have this trip on my docket. I wonder if the cherry trees in Washington, D.C. are blooming yet?

The chickens aren't going to have much time, if any, to free range outside while I'm gone, but I'm making up for it by letting them roam a full 12 hours today (yep, I went out to the barn to let them out into the frosty morning while wearing my pjs and bathrobe!). I know they'll reward Paul with up to six eggs per day as they have a few days this past week, and are happy to have had the chance to dust bathe. I'll look forward to their little chicken clucks when I return!

Bathing beauties in a pile: Patty and Mama (Easter Eggers), Teeny (black runt) and the splash Blue Laced Red Wyandotte hen. Check out Teeny's Farrah Fawcett hairdo!