Welcome to my blog.
I have no idea where this will go; it may be a wild ride because I'm just
going to follow my thoughts and see where they take us! I've wanted to blog for years, but for one
reason or another I've just never gotten around to it. I spend entirely too much time in front of my
computer, much of it I can’t even recount what I spent the time doing. I've decided if I spend some time here, at
least I’ll have something to show for it!
First, a little about
me: I'm Cristyl, a 38-year-old mom of three. My children are "Baby Girl" (21 years
old), "Monkey Man" (19 years old) and "Little Man" (14 months old). When I had Baby Girl I was a Junior in high school - she was born 11 days after my 17th birthday.
Almost three years later, I gave birth to Monkey Man - I was 19 years old.
I honestly didn't think I would ever have any more children, but my
husband "DH" and I decided a couple years ago that "it's now or
never" and that we were just crazy enough to start all over. So, I
gave birth to "Little Man" when I was 37 years old.
I’m also a mother-in-law to Wrench , my daughter Baby Girl’s husband; they've been married 1 ½ years.
DH and
I have been together over 14 years; we will have been married 6 years at the
end of April. He balances me,
knows me, and tolerates me.
We currently live in
southern Colorado in a rural area along the Arkansas River. We moved here
nearly five years ago to "live the dream". Since then, life has
been harder than we could have ever imagined. We have struggled with
finances like we never thought possible (like much of America). We have
changed how we live our lives and how we spend money. We survive on less
than 25% of what we "scraped by" with just five years ago. It's been hard,
but it's also been liberating in a way. Learning how to live on less
actually feels good if you focus on the accomplishment side of it rather than
focusing on what you don't have. And in comparison with much of
the rest of the world, we live really well on the little we have!
We have two dogs: Hyper Dog is a three year old border collie and
The Cuddler is a seven month old black lab-border collie mix. We also have 22 hens and a rooster. Only one of the hens and the rooster have
names: Prissy is my favorite chicken
(don’t tell her sisters!) and Quasimodo is our rooster. Quasi is so-named because his back is crooked
– and has been since we picked him up “free to a good home” this past summer.
Prissy is an araucana
and lays beautiful light blue eggs, but that’s not why she’s my favorite! She became my favorite sometime last year when
it became apparent that she was the lowest hen in the pecking order. The other hens picked at her mercilessly,
plucking her feathers, refusing to allow her to eat or drink water and chasing
her every chance they got. She was so
afraid of the other hens, she rarely even came outside the coop - chickens are
mean creatures! I hated seeing her
treated this way and worried that the other hens would eventually kill
her. I cordoned her off on her own,
giving her an entire coop to herself (we have two connected to a shared outdoor
area), so she could heal. During her recuperation,
I gained her trust and she now seeks me out every time I go into the chicken
area. She follows me around, clucking at
me and just a few days ago, jumped up so she could cuddle up to me at eye level…needless
to say, she gets the all the petting, snuggles and special treats she
wants. The other hens get chased away if
they try picking on her or steal her treats while I’m around.
I’m going to add some
photos of the gang (as soon as I figure out how) and call this my first blog
post. Complete, finite, done! I warned you it would be scattered and it
certainly is…a little about my family, me, my life, my pets, and a lot about a chicken! Go figure!
Thanks for reading!
