Monday, April 18, 2016

Spring Storm

 I almost died when it started to snow.....
But then I looked at how beautiful it was and how blessed we are to be living here. 
I decided to not freak out.
It reminds me of our Arizona days when it was still 90 degrees in October, 
just the opposite experience.

Coop Cleaning

It was time to clean the brooder box with the chicks in it.
So we put them in with Alexander, who just woke up from a long winter of hibernation.
Alex didn't even notice them.
The chicks took turns standing on the rock with legs.
 These little guys are growing fast.

Lots of Looks

Kaleb thrives on funny looks from people which is why 
he didn't hesitate to return the seed flinger to my parents a mile away.

Morning Chores

One cold, frosty morning, I heard the garage door go up....
Victoria decided to ride her bike to the back of the property to feed her beloved goats.
 She was pretty proud of herself because she made it out and back by the time Kaleb did. 
She beat him to the back door.


Tuesday, April 5, 2016

New Chicks!

We decided that we would take advantage of having a this beautiful Rhode Island Red Rooster named Rosie (remember, we were expecting a hen)
Well, he did his job and about 21 days later we have new chicks.
We only saw three out of six actually hatch. 
The first three popped out of their eggs very early in the morning.
 Here this little one is unzipping her egg....notice I am hopeful that it is a hen.
Our first one was a rooster we named George. At least he won't grow up with gender issues having a girly name all his life.
 I have always wanted to hatch our own eggs, since I was in 
Kindergarten when I got to bring home a dozen chicks for the weekend. 
I was in love.
 We named this little gal Rita. Her mother is a Leghorn named Henrietta.
Yes, we name our chickens. Not very common around here but we love our pets.
 The first four did amazingly well. The last two weren't very good hatchers. They had pipped but not unzipped their eggs. They needed a little help after 30+ hours of being pipped.
 These are the two little ones that had the hardest time. Mary and Hattie. 
They are very pretty and didn't have much gumption to spring out of their eggs like the others.
They always say to not interfere but when they only have a pip hole to breath and the other only partially unzipped it was time to intervene. One of their membranes was getting dried out and was stuck to the poor little chick. I think if I hadn't been watching them closely they would have died.
So for now they are doing wonderful.
The little brown ones have a Golden Wyandotte for a mama named Hortense.
 George, the one with the white spot on his head, was all alone for a day and a half before he got a sister to brood with so we put Mother Goose in the brooder box with him. He immediately nuzzled under one of the wings. It was amazing to watch his instinct kick in. Now they all crowd around it and cuddle with the goose. 
These two have an Australorp for a mama.
 Gertie and Greta. Greta has one black foot and one yellow foot.

Little miss Rita looks all nice and fluffy now. 
Hopefully George is the only rooster....which I heard him attempt to crow this morning. 
It sounded like a wire on glass. I thought he would be too young to do that but I guess not.
We might have to give him away. We'll see. So for now he is already ruling the brooder box showing us what he is made of.

Happy Easter!

I love Easter more and more....
I love that we have a Savior so I can spend eternity in Heaven!
I also love being with my family and having fun.
We spent the day after church at Kathy's having fun!
Someone gave this awesome lawn mower to my Dad because it wouldn't run. So my Dad fixed it for a few bucks and gave it to Kathy! 
I am so happy for her.
 Now she won't have to use her push mower that takes three days to mow her lawn. 
She can do it in an hour!
How awesome is that!
 Who says you are too old to do an egg hunt?
Our kids still liked the idea mostly because we hid money in a couple eggs.
Not very much, a $5 and $1 bill.
They didn't care. Kathy dug out old Easter baskets and made the boys carry them around.
It was pretty funny.
 We hid 132 plastic eggs and one gold egg with lip gloss in it.
Can you tell we weren't prepared for for egg stuffers.
It was a spur of the moment occasion and proved to be the most fun part of the day.
 Blue searching with his froggy basket.
 Victoria determined to find the egg with the $5.
 Notice the pink egg she just ran past.
 These two were pretty funny.....of course.
Jared kept dropping his out of his little duck basket so Kaleb 
would run up and pick them up only to spill his. 
They make good entertainment.
 Sugar Booger (the dog) chasing bubbles.
 Her favorite. She does the same with snowflakes too.
She is pretty cute when she is being nice.
 A wind blown Daphne
 Kaleb found the golden egg!
and the lip gloss.
He gave it to Victoria.
Happy Easter!

Some Serious Egg Dying

 While there was some
SERIOUS
EGG DYING

and PURE HAPPINESS
SAM was having his own party!