A different life

We have lived out here on the very edge of Chicago land between suburbs and cornfields for nearly eight years. While there are some things I miss about living in an urban setting (my children being able to use public transportation to get themselves around without me driving them... good grocery stores... ), for the most part we are very happy here. Every so often, though, I am still brought up short by how very different our lives are now. This afternoon was one such time.

First, I spent 45 minutes searching for somewhere I could buy some chicks that wasn't going to be outrageously expensive. (You think eggs are expensive? The price of chicks, well female chicks, is nuts.) We also didn't want 15 again which then triggered the hefty small order fee. What we wanted was very specific. After some research we decided to try Buff Brahmas which have a reputation for laying through winter and we only wanted four or so. (We really don't need 25 hens.) And I didn't want to have the chicks arrive until the weather was warmer because I don't brood chicks inside anymore. Everywhere I looked, with all the added fees, I was going to be paying around $25 per chick. This seemed a little outside the realm of reasonableness even with the cost of eggs. Finally, after sesrching the Internet for a very long time and abandoning a great many shopping carts, I found a hatchery with slightly lower costs. The only catch was that I needed to order five chicks instead of four. That seemed reasonable since I ended up paying only about $14/chick and getting five instead of paying $25+/chick and getting four. The chicks are due to hatch on June 29 and will ship on June 30. 

And yes, I know I could order from the feed store and save all the shipping, but it would still be too cold to brood them outside when they would arrive. I've learned my lesson. 

The other thing that kind of cracked me up today was the excitement a new feed store can create. We got a flyer about the grand opening for a new family owned feed store opening very near where J. works, which means he could grab things on his way home from work. What was particularly exciting was that they will be carrying the ration balancer that the ponies eat which means I can ditch my Chewy auto ship order. And it seems that they will also be carrying sheep supplies which would also be helpful. We might head over to check it out on their grand opening because they are having some really good deals on items we routinely buy. Ten years ago I wouldn't have imagined that "Go to feed store grand opening" would be appearing on my calendar.