What's up now

I wasn't able to log on for more than a five minutes on Tuesday, and it didn't get any better Wednesday, so here is the post I would have shared on Tuesday.

  

My Bearded Iris bloomed again this year, and then bloomed again! For a total of four blooms. There probably won't be any new posts until at least June, may longer we'll have to play it by ear. I'm going to be very busy. Talk to you then.


                     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 


   

Fourth of July Red, White, and Blue Fireworks Earrings

    I was going to post this on Thursday, but the wind was so bad I couldn't get a connection in the house and it was misting so I couldn't sit outside to get online. Not that I'll be doing that anymore; too many close calls with dropping my laptop. And last time a bird pooped on my monitor. 
  But better late than never right?

    Here is my latest item : Fourth of July Red, White, and Blue Fireworks Earrings. They are based on my Rain drop earrings but with round beads so they look more like three fireworks in the night sky. They are nicely patriotic and a elegant reminder of summer nights spent on a quilt watching fireworks paint the sky in a Kaleidoscope of colors. 


 Soon I will have a pair for every season. I just have to pick out the beads for the Autumn one.

   Each earring is made of three small (6mm) red, white, and blue glass beads (one each) on three separate strands of hand curved stainless steel wires. The entire piece measures 2 2/8" from the top of ear wire to the bottom of the longest bead line. The ear wires are hypo-allergenic stainless steel.

  Buy your own here:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/189074728/fourth-of-july-red-white-and-blue 

  Mother's Day is Sunday and today is the last day to use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your entire purchase.

              Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. have a bat-tastic day!

Cucumbers

   The chicken wire seems to be working. The cucumbers out in the garden aren't growing very well, but they haven't been eaten. Yet.


   The cucumbers I bought are doing well too. Six survived. I'm afraid to plant them out in the garden; they will be staying in the front. I transplanted them into bigger pots the other day, they look ok.

   This is shaping up to be a terrible year for pests. Or a great year, depending on your view point. The kale have nasty green caterpillars on them. Some of the caterpillars are on the squash too. Speaking of which, if you have squash you should be checking for borer worm eggs on the under sides of their leaves and stems. If you don't sqush or otherwise remove the tiny red eggs within three days of them being laid they will hatch, bore into your plant, and eat it from the inside.

   The wind is terrible still. Ruining my internet connection, beating up the plants, and drying out everything.


  Bats Bizarre's having a mother's Day sale! Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your total purchase from today 4/29/14 through 5/9/14.

                     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical post. Have a bat-tastic day!

Blue chick

I finished working on a blue version of my chicks a couple of weeks ago. The blue really goes well with the yellow beak and feet. I'm going to add it as an offical option for the chicks later, but I wanted to debut it on my blog first. I could decide on which photo to use.

  
  One of these days I'm going to have to try taking group photos of the chicks in my old Easter Basket. Don't forget about Bats Bizarre's Mother's day sale. Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your entire purchase until 5/9/14.

Don't forget Cinco de Mayo is Monday. Mom and I will be having cheese enchiladas; here is our recipe: http://batsbizarre.blogspot.com/2013/05/fantastic-cheese-enchiladas-happy-cinco.html   

                     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Internet Connection and General Update

The last few days have not been the best for my internet connection. I broke my laptop stick on Saturday and got the replacement today.
 It was kind of nice. I think I'm going to have to take one day a week off from now on.  It's so windy I'm having to write this post outside. My Laptop keeps trying to blow away. Which is very distracting to say the lest.

  I found two hornworms on two of the tomato plants today. It's officially pest season. But there are bunches of ladybugs out there breeding and eating nasties. Too bad they don't eat hornworms, but I guess you can't have everything.   

My black iris about to bloom. And it looks like it will be a double at least! And the rose is going great guns. I don't know if it was this winter's freezing temperatures or the recent rains, but everything's blooming nicely here.




Man I wish this wind would die down.


  Bats Bizarre's having a mother's Day sale! Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your total purchase from today 4/29/14 through 5/9/14.

Shasta Daisy Barrette

Happy Earth Day!

 I was going to post my Shasta Daisy Hair Barrette for sale a few days ago, but my internet wouldn't go along. Not that it wanted to work today either.  Oh well... 

   I modeled the daisy on my mom's Shasta Daisies. The real ones have more petals, but other than that I think they look close. I'm rather proud of myself, I crocheted the flowers and it only took a couple of tries to get the stiches right. If you recall I'm just now learning to crochet.


I may have mentioned this before, but I really like these types of barrettes. I prefer to use it to keep my hair up, but it makes a pretty (and surprisingly secure) ponytail too.
 I have three different barrettes planed, maybe even one that's the back part in different colors without any embellishments.
   I had trouble securing my hair at first, but after a bit of trial and error I learned to put the end of my hair to the right of the other part and that I have to twist my hair to the left when putting it up. I don't know why but it works that way and only that way for me. Before it would fall out of the barrette  very quickly.
      
Here is a link to the listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/186671893/shasta-daisy-hair-barette?ref=shop_home_active_1


                        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

 P.S. I won't be posting Thursday. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Cucumbers And Other Garden News

I planted a row of cucumber seeds where the snow peas were this winter. When they didn't come up my mother and I planted two more rows, one of either side of the trellis. Some came up. And then something ate them. And mom's squash seedlings! There were dig marks were it grabbed one that hadn't sprouted yet. I'm thinking it was a skunk.

  I bought seven seedling from the store. (I will be keeping them in pots on a shelf on the porch.) Not long after that Mom noticed some more seedlings coming up. We covered them with chicken wire. They look like convict cucumbers. Wish us luck the wire works.

  I can't believe I had to cover the plants the night before last. I was afraid I was going to lose them all.



    Oh yeah, I also can't believe there are two tomatoes on one of the plants in the garden. Must be the chicken poop.

  
Happy Easter!

    Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical post. Have a bat-tastic day!

Yellow Cake with Strawberry Filling and Chocolate Frosting

   We're getting into strawberry season so I thought I'd share this great recipe. The cake is the Egg and Butter Cake recipe I shared earlier, but instead of a cream cheese frosting I used my favorite chocolate frosting recipe, because chocolate and strawberries go pretty well together add some pecans and you've got a great dessert for a spring get together.

                                  
                           Egg and Butter layer Cake

1/2 pound butter                                       1/4 teas. salt
2 cups sugar                                              1 teas. vanilla
5 eggs                                                       1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teas. baking soda

Cream butter and sugar well. Blend your dry ingredients together. Add 1 egg then a small amount of the flour mixture. Continue alternating ingredients until all are used up. Beat in vanilla and stir in nuts, if using, then pour into two 9" cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Here is a link to a printer friendly version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_M5jUvgW_JMJk_KdEk2pJIhSj6zYlTpoiy-t6zf9B-8/edit?usp=sharing


    While your cake is baking you can make your filling. This was originally a lemon filling recipe so feel free to add whatever fruit you like.

                                               Strawberry cake filling

    3/4 cups sugar                                  3/4 cups water
    2 Tbs. cornstarch                              2 egg yolks
   dash salt                                            1 cup of strawberries
   1/2 teas. cinnamon                            1 Tbs. butter

     Stir together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon in a sauce pan. To the dry ingredients add water, egg yolks, and strawberries and cook over medium heat until thick stirring constantly. Once the sauce drops heavily from the spoon remove from heat and add butter. Filling will thicken as it cools.

   Printer Friendly version here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oWsU1uoj4VqgVXyMSzMwxcis0RMPmCVM5USaSzygpv0/edit?usp=sharing

                       Then make the frosting. 

                                     Luscious Chocolate Frosting

   4 sq. unsweetened chocolate                                    2 unbeaten egg whites
   1/2 cup butter                                                            
   4 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
   1/3 cup milk


      Melt chocolate and butter together. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Place the bowl in ice water and beat with an electric mixer until it is thick enough to spread.

   Printer friendly version here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16UI8mfvvJDm7EDGoZXak4eA3AmZX08bnpd19COm5doQ/edit?usp=sharing


                   

          Thank you for reading bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 

 

Hair Barrette

  I've become rather enamored with the type of hair barrettes that use a hair stick and a piece of metal or fabric to hold your hair back. Right now I am trying to make my own with knitting. I have three versions in mind - I don't have the yarn for one right now, but I hope to remedy that soon.- I have the prototype for the 'original' done and have finished alpha testing it.

  The hair sticks are holding me up. I tried to dye them by soaking them in green food dye, water, and vinegar; thinking it wouldn't rub off that way, and that it would be easy to dye a bunch at once. But while it did dye them and the dye was a beautiful shade of green, the sticks are little weird looking. The are a lot paler in person then in the photo. I'm not sure if I want to go with it or not. 


P.S. I finished the shorts. They are a little long. But I only plan on wearing them around the house. Not bad considering I didn't have a pattern. Next I will be making pairs out of some fabric I bought. (The shorts I showed you were made from some fabric my grandmother gave me.)  But I won't be using a invisible hem for the others. Such a pain!    
 

                Thank you from reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Nothing Much

   I don't have that much to talk about today. I wish I had some new product to tell you about, but I've working on a lot of things instead of foucusing on one and finshing it. Everything has to be done in the garden right now or it be too hot for anything to grow. I'm making a pair of shorts and a hair barret prototype. I haven't been able to work on that blanket I told you about. And my engravings have hit a snag.

  I started out with a large resin bead to engrave, but unlike glass a resin engraving doesn't stand out against the rest of the bead so I'm looking into ways to make it stand out, paint and a sealant? A different color of resin? This calls for a trip to the craft store.

  I'm using a blind hem on the shorts; I've never tried it before, but then I've never had a machine that could make it before. So I thought I'd give it a go. I hemmed one leg last night and I'm not sure how study it'll be. I guess we'll just have to see. It also seems like a lot more trouble then it's worth.



                            Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Sourdough Bread Bowl

    This is my favorite recipe using sourdough hands down. That's why I saved it for last in my sourdough count down. (There are recipes for sourdough pancakes and rolls, but I haven't made either in years.) It's so good Mom and I had it for New Year's Eve, her birthday, and mine. It was inspired by the Red Lobster appetizer, but only loosely. Like most of our made-up recipes the amounts are all estimates and you should feel free to add or subtract anything to suit your tastes. This is really just a rough idea of how to make it. We never make it the same way twice, but it's always delicious.   

  First make your sourdough, recipe here: http://batsbizarre.blogspot.com/2014/03/make-your-own-sourdough-bread.html, but after the second raise place one loaf in a round pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray instead of a loaf pan.

   While that is baking you can make your sauce.  

   Sauté chopped garlic, onions, and fresh mushrooms, if using, in a pan with butter for a minute or two. Add 1 cup cubed, peeled and deveined shrimp. Once the onions and garlic soften add about a tablespoon of flour and cook until the flour no longer tastes raw. Add enough milk to make a thin gravy, salt, pepper, a dash of hot sauce, kale, and or spinach. Stir. Test your seasonings and add your cheese,  Monterey Jack and processed cheese loaf together are great in this, add caned mushrooms, if using, one can of crabmeat, and squid. If you are adding fish now would be a good time. Cook until the cheese melts and your seafood is cooked; if the sauce gets too thick add some water or milk.

   Once the bread is done cut the loaf in half and hallow out the halves with a fork. Toast the innards you removed in a toaster oven or on broil for a second or two in the oven. (Watch it carefully if using the oven.) Spoon the sauce into the pie and enjoy. (If you make enough sauce you can fill both the top and the bottom and get two meals out of it.)        

              

          Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!
                           




       
       
        

I Guess It's Finally Spring

  

    I guess it's finally spring here. Or at least I hope so because we've got a lot of veggies in the garden and I would hate to lose them to a late frost. All we need is some crookneck and pan-patty squash, cucumbers, and for the tai peppers seeds to finally sprout. I still have some herbs and flowers to plant and a couple of plants that need to be transplanted. but for the most part we're on track.

  So far this has been a very strange year, most of the country is still frozen, normally this far south we've had plants in the ground for at least a month, but not this year. It was too cold for seeds to sprout in the green house.

   After two years some of my Dutch Irises finally bloomed! And they bloomed double! They are so pretty, no idea if the white ones died or are late bloomers but so far six of them are blue with yellow spots. Here is a picture of the first four to bloom. They are in pots on the porch so I have a very good view of them. The Hummingbirds love them.
 The Grapefruit is covered in blooms, but that last late frost killed the apple's blossoms. It was covered. We're horrified, but at least a couple stayed. And my Gladiolas are reluctantly pushing above the surface. 

                        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!
                                    
                 

Make Your Own Sourdough Pizza

 
  Sourdough makes for a fantastic pizza crust; crisp enough for my thin crust loving mother yet bread like enough for me, who personally thinks thin crust tastes like a cardboard cracker. Plus if you make the full recipe you get enough dough for a pizza and a loaf of bread. All you have to do is follow the recipe for bread I shared last week until after you knead the dough then you roll it flat and put it on a cookie sheet covered with cornmeal. Then put on your tomato sauce and toppings on and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Find the recipe for bread here: http://batsbizarre.blogspot.com/2014/03/make-your-own-sourdough-bread.html

A good tomato sauce isn't very hard either. Simply combine about 3/4 of a can of tomato paste with about a half a cup of water -basicly enough to make it spradable- a sprinkling of oregano, basil, garlic powder, sugar, salt, and pepper, or whatever seasonings you prefer in a sauce pan over low heat for a few minutes so the flavors mesh. -We don't measuer much here, you just have to taste the sauce and make sure the seasonings are right.-

The topings are up to you. We like an everything kind of pizza. Anchoves, onions, spinach, peppers, olives, sausage, even kale. If we have any freash, we like to add exrta basil and sliced tomatos. You have to fry the breakfast sausage seperately before adding it and the onions and bell peppers taste better if you caramelize them first, but everything else can go on as is. Then cover everything with cheese, mom and I use Monterey Jack and a little Romano, but any readly melting cheese is good. Try putting some kale on top of the cheese too. It's crunchy and good!


                     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!


                               

        

Inscriblio Cordless Engraving Tool

  When I found an Incriblio cordless engraving tool on sale at the craft store the other day I knew I had to buy it. I have been wanting to get into engraving and/or metal stamping for a while now, and for six dollars how could I say no? It engraves on glass, metal, stone, ceramic, plastic, acrylic, wood, leather, and more. (no idea what the and more covers, I mean what wasn't mentioned on that list?)  

   It takes 4 AAA batterers. Which I forgot to buy that day, and , of course, it turned out I only had one at home. (Most of my stuff uses AAs.) So, I had to wait a couple days to try it out. But I have been working with it on and off for about six days now and I think it's really cool. It has a nice weight, not too heavy to work with, not so light feels it cheap. It's not balanced; most of the weight is in back, but if you hold it like a pencil the heavy end rest securely and comfortably on your hand.  

   When working with it you should prop your arm on something stable, like the edge of the table you're working on. Because you need a steady hand for this. The inscriblio tends to try to wiggle when I work with it.
    I find it's easier to work with if you don't press too hard and just score the surface lightly at first then go over the lines a few more times to deepen your engravings.

  

    Wolfram finds it very interesting. Every time I start it he runs up and sticks his little grey tabby head as close to the device as he can; staring at it and smelling it. My mom has suggested it sounds like a dying animal to him. (He is very bird crazy. Just this morning he tried to take a swing at a Blue Jay through the window.)  

   I've practiced on an old soda can, a piece of glass I found in the chicken house, and have engraved a small 'J' on my Anchor clasp choker prototype. When I did that it exposed the copper under the sliver coating so I'm not sure I will be signing all my metal work. But I have been writing 'Wood' on all of our metal tools. Like the ladder.

    I can't wait to get my hands on some of those metal disks they sell for engraving. I have some plans for jewelry using those and/or beads. Hopefully I will be unveiling them soon.







            Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

    

Make your own Sourdough Bread

   This is the recipe I use to make Sourdough Bread. Last time I forgot to slash the tops of the loafs and it fell in the oven. Not that it's been raising that well lately, I hope that the warm weather will help with that.
  When the bread gets to the half way point during the second raise you'll need to prop the towel up to keep it from sticking to the bread. I had that happen to me; it was terrible.

   It freezes well. Pop the bread into a freezer bag and you're good to go. I had the cut the heel off to fit it in the bag.
 
   Click here for the printer ready version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OsTFbYIgEztd53zKKzGTzwqT1nVfNlSlHqZwmjsVhcU/edit?usp=sharing
 

                                                Sourdough Bread


   1 package active dry yeast                         1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
  1cup warm water                                       5 cups flour (more or less)    
   2 Tablespoons                                           2 teaspoons salt


     In a large mixing bowl sprinkle yeast over warm water. Leave it to dissolve for five minutes.
Stir in sugar, sourdough starter, four cups flour, and salt. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave to raise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and mix in about one cup flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Knead until satiny, about five minutes. Shape the dough into two loaves and place in a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or on a cookie sheet covered in corn meal for a flatter, round loaf. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let raise again for 1 1/2 hours. Slash the tops of the bread with a sharp knife so the loaf doesn't fall. Brush the tops with melted butter for a shiny finish. Bake at 400 for 40 to 50 minutes. Set on a rack to cool.


                       Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

What I'm Working on Between Projects

   Last December I started working on my first knitted blanket. Originally it was going to be a receiving blanket but over the freezing winter I've had I decided to make something I could use.

  I'm pretty far along right now, almost half way, and am compulsively measuring my work.

  I hate casting on a lot of stitches so I designed it as a corner up piece. Since this is my first blanket and I knew I would be working it on and off between other projects I decided to keep the blanket simple with a stockinet stich (one purl row then a knit row.) and a row of crochet edging to fancy it up and keep the blanket from rolling up. I went with a crochet edging for three reasons: I don't practice my crochet enough, most of the really cool edgings are done with crochet, and I stink at picking up stitches using knitting needles.       

  I knew I was going to use one of my Sensations Rainbow Boucle skeins; but that still left the question of which color to choose. I was torn between either of my greens, or my purple. It was a tough decision, but I eventually picked color#1019 or Berry Print, in honor of the color of 2014 Radiant Orchid. (I.e.: I couldn't pick which one of the greens I liked better.) Plus I can always make versions of it in both of the greens later if the pattern works out.

  Don't be surprised if you don't see this blanket for sale in my shop anytime soon.  I'm not sure if I'll sell it at all. It takes a while to knit. I am looking into selling the pattern, but I'm not sure how many people want a pattern for knitting and crochet.

  P.S. I'm using the new interchangeable knitting needles I won along with some yarn from Storey Publishing's September Giveaway.

       Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 

P. P.S This is the yarn I use to make my Colorful Boucle Cowls. I call the purple cowl Berry Purple. See the listing here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/171658076/colorful-boucle-cowls?ref=shop_home_active_19
         

Make Your Own Sourdough Starter

   I really like Sourdough Bread. But unlike most breads you're going to need a starter if you're going to make it at home. Sourdough starter is strange it's more of a liquid then I pictured when I first thought of making Sourdough and taking care of it is more like taking care of a living organism than anything else. Which is a little creepy when you think about it. Try not to think about it.

  Starter is basically yeast, water, and flour. Dissolve one package of dry yeast in 1 1/4 cup lukewarm water. (It should feel comfortable on your wrist. If it's too hot it will kill the yeast.) Stir in 1 cup of flour put the mixture in a plastic or glass crock, never store it in a metal container, cover the opening with cheese cloth, and store in a warm place. Every day for five days add a 1/2 cup of flour and a 1/2 of water. When it smells sour it's ready to use. You'll need to replenish it by adding the same amount of water and flour you used back to the starter every time you use it.
  
   If you store it on the counter you'll need to feed it or use it every two weeks or so, depending on the temperature. When the starter turns grey you should use it soon-ish. If you store it in the fridge you'll have at least a month.
  If you don't feel like using it you can feed it a 1/2 cup of flour and a 1/2 cup of water or a tablespoon or two of sugar. You can feed it lukewarm potato water, but when I did my starter turned pink. I had to throw it out. It might have been because I forget to use or feed it, but I'm superstition about potato water now.
   
      Somethings to remember about Sourdough starter: 
    - Throw it out if it turns pink. It's poison.

    -It needs to be feed or it will starve to death.

    -It needs to breathe.

    -Always use lukewarm water

    -Keep the container clean. Any bits of flour around the side will grow mold and may contaminate your starter. Plus it's gross. 

   It sounds like a bad science experiment, I know, but the bread tastes really good and it makes a great pizza dough, more on that later.
  
               Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Seven Eggs from the New Coop

100% production from the new coop, yesterday! Seven eggs from the seven new girls, and it's not even spring.

  We also got 12 eggs from the big house which has 13 hens, so 99% production in total yesterday.
We're going to be leaving a notice about eggs for sale when we go the library today. Wish us luck!

--Side note I am still working on getting more inventory made. I just finished knitting the wings for the second black and yellow rooster. He needs a face, tail, and a signature.   

                 Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Hello Spring?-- Not so much.

  While we were at the feed store yesterday Mom picked up two tomato plants and a packet of seeds.

  It isn't going to get out of the thirties today. It's raining on and off. I heard thunder last night. When I woke up today everything was covered in ice. A few weeks ago the newspaper's weatherman told  people to go ahead and plant their gardens. Chanel 13 tried to say what temperatures it would be at what time last night. They were off by 11 degrees the night before that, predicting 37 degrees. There was ice in all the outside animal's water that morning. I don't know if the local forecasters should be commended for their never give-up attitude or checked into a padded room.
 
   Speaking of never giving up: Mom is planting some of the seeds.

   I'm making sourdough for a pizza. Happy Fat Tuesday!

              Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!



 
  

Farmer's Market in Rosenberg

   There is going to be a Farmer's Market in downtown Rosenberg. It'll be open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or until the produce sells out, starting March 15.  I'm going to have to go there and check it out one of those Saturdays. I've never been to a Farmer's Market.
  Apparently you have fill out some forms and be approved by the board before you can became a vender. I'd like to be able to sell eggs, whatever extras we have from the garden, and of course some crafts there. But it'll take a bit of research. I have no idea how much the booth fee is going to be yet. It's at the Third Street Park, I don't even know where that is.

   I'm kind of phoning this blog in; tomorrow is my birthday and I'm taking it easy. Well, it's the day I celebrate my birthday on non-Leap Years.

                        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. have a bat-tastic day!

P.S. I called the woman running the farmer's market. It costs $10 for a booth, and you have to bring a table (they don't actually have booths), plus there is a $25 dollar membership fee.
  
  


  
  

Don't Loose Chickens to Hawks.

Despite, the nice weather we're having here Mom and I haven't been able to let the girls outside for very long. Why, you ask? Hawks. They're not that bad most of the year, but every winter hawks from up North inundate the area. Which wouldn't be a problem if they only hunted mice and small birds and left the chickens alone. Unfortunately, they do not.
We lost our rooster to hawks last year, (That's how we ended up needing Abe) ever since then we do everything we can to avoid losing anymore chickens. Here are four pieces of advice for keeping your chickens safe.

   -Don't let them out when there are hawks about. Listen for their tell-tale screech, watch for large shadows flying over head, or large birds perched in neighboring trees, telephone wires, or fences. Don't let then out that day unless you can stay outside and around the flock while they are out.

  -Put a cover on your run. Putting wire on top of your run can also detour other predators.

  -Fishing line. I've heard that stringing fishing line over your run will detour hawks. They see the line shining in the sun and don't want to mess with it.    

  -If you can't put a cover on your run and the fishing line doesn't work at least make sure you don't build a run that is long and narrow. A hawk can swoop right into a long narrow run and get your chickens.


         Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day.

Make your own Knitting Bag

Need a bag to hold your supplies? Cut up an old pair of pants, the only thing you have to buy are the handles. That's how I made mine.

      It's not quite as neat as some of those roll up needle holders, but I can store those tiny ball of leftover yarn in it.

 One of the best things about using an old pair of pants are the pre-made pockets. If don't sew the top part down you can have two pockets in one spot.
   (Plus jean fabric doesn't unravel as easily as most fabric does and is very study.) 

  I cut the legs off the pants, so they were the same length, 21" long in this case. Then I cut up the seam so that they were flat panels of fabric.
   I lined the pieces up and sewed them together.
  After that I folded the top edge of the bag over to hold the handles. I just eye balled it when cut a slit in the folded over part for the handles to go out of.
   If you want a more finished look you could use chalk to mark where you need to cut the fold for the hands to come out of cut there and stitch the edges to limit unraveling before you sew the fold over lengthwise.

Now it's all about customization! I put the pockets inside by sewing the original pockets inside the bag. It was so easy I'm thinking of adding a couple more. All you need are an old pair of pants, a sewing machine, something to use as a handle, and an imagination.

  

                            Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

  

  

Pasture Time for the Little Girls

   The weather's nice here. Mom and I were able to start back up on our daily walk. We decide to let the little girl's in the new hen house have some supervised free-range time in the pasture. They were a little skeptical, but seemed to enjoy themselves. I think they will get used to it rather quickly.

   Quail, Lee(leopard), Miracle, and Ducky behind the hen house. 











   Tooie is crowing now and the eggs from the new coop look fertile. Speaking of eggs We almost hit one hundred percent production from the younger girls yesterday. I picked six eggs from the new coop. Only one didn't lay that day.
                            

Possum trying to figure out how to work the gate.

             


 Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

100th Post

This is my one hundredth post. I wish I had something cool to write about, but nothing interesting has happened lately. Just stuff to keep me busy, by the way I will not be writing a post this Thursday. The most interesting thing I can come up with to write about is what I'm knitting right now. I told you it's been boring here. 

  I've been making more of my rooster ornaments. I just finished a black one and am working on  another yellow and black one. Tonight I'm going to finish that eye and sew the other on. I doubt I'll have time to glue in the feathers tonight, though. My plan is to have at least two of each color already made so I can take them if I go to a craft show or a farmer's market. I've been thinking of getting my nerve together and asking a locale store to offer them for sale. But I'm not sure about it.

                      

                    Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!
  

 

The Younger Chickens are Laying

I am excited to announce that, despite the cold, almost all the younger girls are laying. Maybe all. I'm not sure about Quail. I'll know for sure when we get two blue eggs or seven eggs out of the new coop in one day. We've been getting three to four eggs in varying shades of blue and green every day. Amy and Mary, the Ameraucana girls, haven't started laying again after their molt, so all of blue and green eggs you see are the new girls.

Some of the eggs are fertile. I heard Tooie crowing last night. Our little Cockatoo is now a fully fledged rooster.

           Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Lucky the Horse

    I made my mom her own Horace Jr. doll. And managed to make it in 4 instead of 7 hours! So it was finished for her birthday.

   As you know she wanted a black one to go with her rooster. Originally I was going to give it brown eyes, but mom suggested red. I think he looks pretty cool. She named him Lucky.


                 Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!  

      

New Chickens: Nancy

*Note I was out of town yesterday and apparently picking a time and date under schedule doesn't make blogger publish the post then. I sorry for any inconvenience.*
   If you recall we had two new arrivals: Tooie, and a hen. This is the hen's story.  She is part Turken, also known as a necked-neck chicken. I say part because she has some feathers on the bottom of her neck (Thank Goodness.) and all the Turken pictures I have seen show a completely bald neck. I have no idea what the other part is. Something that lays very dark eggs, I guess, because not long after we got her we started getting a very dark egg almost every day.





   "I will never complain about Abe again. Ok I probably will..."

     We originally put her in the new coop, but she was a horrible bully to the other hens. Sunday morning found her standing on top of Handful pecking her. We couldn't have that. I caught her and threw her in the old coop, with her victim's larger and meaner parents; hoping they would, 'fix her wagon'. The minute I put her in the run Pecky started a fight with her. Abe was having none of that. He jumped in and started mixing it up with her. A minute later the Turken was running into the middle of the other hens to hide. Unfortunately, for her, she chose to hide next to the boss hen. The boss hen started pecking the Turken with Mohawk backing her up. The Turken ended up hiding in a nest box, her brief reign of terror over. Not that she doesn't try to restart it from time to time. Abe has to keep a constant eye on her.
    
  Here is a picture of her amongst the older girls, as you can see she is a large hen. We ended up naming her Nancy. No word yet whether she calls herself Lill.

Friday is Chinese New Year, here's hoping for a bat-tastic year of the horse.

                 Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Horce Horse Jr.

   2014 is the year of the horse. It officially starts this Friday. Mom and I will be making eggrolls.

 
    I came up with Horace Jr. because I wanted to make a horse that could be displayed like my snakes. (We'll be leaving the snakes up because we'd miss them, and having a reptile in the home supposedly brings prosperity, so it'll all work out.)

   It took me 7 hours to knit the first Horace Jr.. Hopefully I will be able to get that time down. I know I spent a bit of it stopping to check the pattern's math and my assumptions and have a tendency to knit slower when I'm working on a new pattern. So, it might be possible.

  Right now I'm working on a solid black one for my Mom. She wanted one that would match her rooster ornament. It will probably become a variation on the listing with a photo.

I finished the head and body in one hour and thirty five minutes, but I still have to knit the I-cord legs, mane, and tail and sew it all together.


   Horace Jr. is a miniature version of my Horace Horse doll. He can stand on his own four feet.
Each Horse is 4 1/4" (10.795cm) tall not counting his ears when sitting up, 4" (10.16cm) on all fours, and 1 3/4" (4.445cm) wide.
 Like all of my work, each is signed with a small 'J' on the bottom.
A hook is not included.
 The yarn is 100% acrylic. Stuffing is 100% polyester. Machine washable with low heat on gentle/delicate cycle. Made in a smoke free environment. Custom colors are available; please ask before you order.
            Horace Jr. Ships every where.

Here is a link to the listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/176453282/horace-horse-jr-chinese-new-year-doll
   
             Thank  you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

New Chickens- Tooie

  On the second day of frantic construction on the new coop mom and I got a call from my Aunt. Her step-daughter who also has chickens, needed to find a new home for her three new chickens who were having a bad time with the pecking order. Mom asked if they could wait until the end of the week, because we were out of cages and the older girls are horrible about the pecking order. Plus one of the three was a bantam rooster; Abe would probably kill him. She said she could keep them in an old gerbil cage until then.

   By the weekend it was down to two, (nothing had happened to the other hen) but she started getting along better in the flock and was able to stay. The other two, not so much. So that Saturday my aunt drove up with a pet carrier containing a bantam half-Silkie rooster and a necked neck chicken. More on the necked neck next Thursday, today's blog belongs to the rooster. That's him in the door way, isn't he cute? We named him Tooie short for Cockatoo.

  At first he had trouble getting along with the girls. They were bulling him. Mom only half joked about keeping him in a birdcage in the house. But the girls stopped bothering him so much. So we're leaving him in there. Mom still talks about the bird cage though.

     He's a young boy, he hasn't started crowing yet. But it's only a matter of time. He's not a actual Silkie, he has true feathers, but he does have the extra toe, -weirdly enough it's right under his back toe-  a tuft on his head, blue-ish skin, and feathered legs that are characteristic of Silkies. He is a little fellow, so I'm not sure if he'll be able to father any chicks by the girls, maybe when we move we'll get him some bantam girls.

     He loves grass. Every time I see him eat some I swear he's going to choke, but he somehow manages to swallow the spaghetti like strands. 


  And that is the story of the new chicken coop's rooster.


Note: The USPS is raising the price of stamps on the 26th. I will be raising my cost of shipping then and adding the cost of a tracking number to all my items.   

         Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Heart of Hearts Earrings

  I finally learned to solder! (sort of) I'll solder one together in one minute and the next will take me fifteen. So I still need some practice. But I'm getting there and I only ruined two heart pendants practicing.  After ruining two pendants I tried just wrapping wire to hold them together, but it wasn't very secure so I went back to soldering. I liked the wire wrapped look, so I wrap them after soldering.

  I shape the metal using a plastic jig, but I'm probably going to end up making one out of a piece of scrap wood and some finishing nails. The plastic pegs have a tendency to fall out at inopportune times. I shaped my first prototype by hand using my jewelry pliers, but that took forever and was going to drive me insane. Not the good kind of insane like I am now, either. (Yes, this is the good kind.)

  As you can probably guess, I fund the sparkly beads first and came up with the rest of the earrings later. I love sparkly beads, but have a heck of a time taking photos that accurately  show their colors. The crystal ones are especially hard, because they blend into a white background and pick up colors from other backgrounds.
 

   Now I'm not really a cutesy heart kind of girl, but even I like these earrings. I'm thinking of making a necklace version of this.

  The outer hearts are made of silver plated copper wire hand shaped into a stylized heart. The inner ones are sparkly glass beads in your choice of Fire (red with green specks in certain lights) or Ice (Clear with blue, yellow and pink tones). And the ear wires are stainless steel. The entire piece is 1 3/4" from the top of the ear wire to the bottom of the metal heart and is 1 5/16" wide at it's widest point.        
Buy yours here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/175930177/heart-of-hearts-earrings-in-fire-or-ice?ref=shop_home_active_1

                           Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 

Frantic Constuction

If you recall my last couple of blogs for 2013 were cancelled due to Frantic construction. My mother and I were building a second chicken house. We had been putting it off hoping we would be moving  soon, but the girls couldn't wait anymore, so we finally got to work. We started on Monday and the following Friday night Possum, Barbie, and Handful slept in the house. The next day they were joined by Miracle, Quail, Ducky, and Lee. (The girls from the 'Surprise Chicks') 

    The hen house is a metal building out of a kit. The instructions were hard to understand, but with a couple of redos and a lot of swearing we muddled through. The run was made out of panels from Barbie's dream chicken house and some chain-link we stretched between two posts we buried. The girls are happy and have eaten every bit of grass from it. Barbie laid her first egg on the day after Christmas. 




Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!