Wow-what a day!
I had gotten up early to do some sewing and to make yogurt. Pat got up to clean the wood stove and start a fire (it's a wood burner/boiler, so it heats our domestic water all year).
Pat hollered for me to come downstairs to the basement to help him corner and catch a 2 ft long snake in the woodpile.
Blech, shudder, shudder!!!
I'm sure if someone was video-taping us, it would've been hysterical. Pat is more afraid of snakes than I am! We were both decked out in mud boots, wood gloves, sticks and a bucket-LOL.
We were both wishing Jonah was up as he wouldn't have minded touching it.
Around 9am, our farm friends down the road (Fred & Linda) came over to show us how to and help us butcher the roosters. I had been dreading it for a couple weeks, but approached yesterday morning with an absolute pit in my stomach.
It went surprisingly well and smoothly and only took us a couple hours. I really cringed about the killing, though. I made sure I wasn't near that area. Fred & Pat did the catching the roosters, the killing and some of the plucking. Jonah helped with the catching and plucking. Linda, Hannah & I helped also with the plucking and then we did the gutting and cleaning part. That was so gross. Linda had done this for many years in the past and she showed me how to do it-but I did not like it at all. It is an awful feeling sticking your hand inside a chicken (plucked and without head or feet) to pull out everything inside it. The kids enjoyed identifying organs, though-that was a good lesson. My dh was pretty impressed to see me gutting.
Hannah finished up the process by rinsing the chickens in clear cold water and putting rubber bands around the wings and legs so they would freeze in the proper shape.
We all had showers and got cleaned up and hung out for a bit. I finished getting velcro sewn onto a dozen cloth diapers for friend, Danise.
Later, we went to a wild game dinner at a nearby church. This is a big annual event-it's mostly outside and there lots to see and do and then there's a great dinner under a huge tent. We looked at tractors, hunting paraphenalia, boats, there was a hide tanning section, wood stoves (in camo-lol), there was a live folk music band and in the church there were hunting seminars and a seminar given by a missionary to Venezuala, all sorts of mounted animals to see and there was "Dan the Snake Man." The kids got to hold pythons, geckos, a 4 ft alligator and other reptiles. Hannah (10) spent a good deal of time there surprisingly-holding snakes & the alligator. Susanna was fascinated by the reptiles, but was also afraid of them. She liked the bounce house and sitting on the tractors the best.
The DEC was there and we saw an awesome presentation with the k-9 dog searching for venison and bullet casings.
The dinner was awesome(and the whole event was free)-venison, smoked salmon, wild boar and all the usual potluck foods. There were tons of prizes and we all won something. We really enjoyed sitting at the table and visiting with friends we knew.
We brought Piper(guide dog puppy)with us as well-this was the perfect event to take him too with all the people, noise and events going on. He did great!!
We all really enjoyed ourselves and I am counting it as a field trip, too.
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