When the Dishwasher leaks, does that cause the Furnace to Die?

Well, this past week our leaky dishwasher received a visit from the dishwasher doctor. He said it may be terminal. In an effort not to be outdone -- the furnace decided to quit working. So, we placed a call to the furnace doctor -- he said all we needed was ONE simple part- a motor. Thus the part was ordered. AFTER the motor was delivered to Spokane, WA- it finally made it to the correct city (a day later). Upon the arrival of the illusive part the furnace doctor discovered we needed one other part. "I'll place an order for it." he said. So here we sit almost a week later without a furnace. Accordingly, this past week has been the first cold week of the winter. We are keeping warm with the fireplace, space heater, and pellet stove. Thankfulness for those three items can not be sufficiently expressed.

Our Chickens are giving us eggs!!

My husband has finally achieved his dream of being a chicken farmer. In April we bought 4- day old chicks from a local farming type store.Miraculously they made it to adulthood. Chickens don't lay eggs until they are around six months old, so this whole chicken thing felt like a drawn out food storage experiment. Around the 5 month mark we were horrified to discover that one of our 95% guaranteed hens was really a rooster. The kids came running in the house one day to report that Top (the non-hen) kept jumping on the other chickens and attacking them. Hmm, I thought. The next day Top was completely outed when he started crowing. I always thought that roosters crowed when the sun came up or maybe on the hour, but this is misinformation...or possibly Top didn't know the rules to good rooster conduct. He crowed constantly. Top's eviction from our backyard haven was guaranteed when he began stalking me and actually pecked me in the toe. One should be able to go into their own backyard without carrying a stick to fend off mental roosters. To every one's satisfaction Top moved to the country and now reigns over a bunch of ducks and guards the farmer's gazebo.
We are getting eggs daily from our chickens!! They are actually really fun. I never knew you could get attached to fowl. The kids have really enjoyed the three hens. Some day we might complete the coop. But until then they are "free range".