Chicks at two and a half months - new big cage

 

Mark and Esme had put together these fence panels to make a new larger cage for the chickens.  We had needed to go to town and get more chips because I didn't have enough left from cleaning the cage last week to fill the bottom of this up.  We put them in and they are quite happy, especially with their new longer perching stick - but hope it will be warm enough in the garage for them at nights.  They are now two and a half months since we bought them at probably less than a week old.  They have really feathered out and changed colors - originally there were five 'yellow and brown chipmunk' colored ones and one dark grey (maybe not the same breed, we are still uncertain if she got put in that bin by mistake).  So far, it still seems they are all hens, as they were sold to us.  We have the thirteen hens and two roosters out in our big coop outside - but these will need to spend maybe another month or so inside before they are big enough to compete with those out there.

 Charlotte dog still has to watch - she had to be calmed down a little because she got very very excited and was beginning to whine.  Esme petted her ears and then we told her it was time for her to go in the main house.  She has been out there a few times, when we have, to check on them.

  

Esme calming down our blue heeler mix, Charlotte, who thinks all baby chickens should be hers to herd

 

  

 Melody goat and Minion cat

This morning I put some new garden soil in one of the raised beds, and checked on different things.  The strawberries are beginning to have berries on them.  Melody goat and Minion cat were sunning themselves on the edge of the fenced yard - and I interrupted them.  I have kale and beans and beets (growing for the greens) and sweet peas coming up, and have transplanted my summer squash plants out to the bed where a few more and some cucumbers were finally germinating.  I want to get some marigold plants and then some tomatoes and peppers.

 We went through all of our spices today - there were one or two that I had been holding on to that weren't any good.  I threw the tarragon out months ago after it had sat untouched for most of a year - and the starter for cleaning out the rest today was that I had ordered some samples of a place's spices that included tarragon and a few other things.  Out of everything there is now one box of things I rarely use but don't feel need to be thrown away, a box that only I use but not often, a box of things that are mostly only used by me but are used commonly, and a small section of shelf of what Mark and I both use on a regular basis.   

I've been studying mostly French - and started Portuguese from French on my phone.  The last few nights, I've dreamt some in French or been asked to translate some things into French.

 

I'm still having some trouble with the jaw on my left side hurting where they took out teeth years ago, made to pop up again perhaps because the denture plate is causing some pressure and infection in the upper plate area.  It isn't anywhere near as bad as when they first gave me the plate, though - for weeks my face was too painful to touch - all over the cheek and nose etc.  

 

Now, it hurts a little here and there and quite a bit right in that jaw place which has no pressure from the denture plate.  The one thing I can't quite get myself to do is to not sleep on that side - the denture plate is out and in a cup for the night so that it doesn't cut - but with hEDS just the pressure of sleeping hard on that side - and for some reason I do sleep HARD on that side when I do - makes anything else that is wrong with those tissues worse.  

 

I've been taking an ibuprofen or two a day and that helps some - and eating as much anti-inflammatory as I can, along with the fat needed to process it.  I will say here though that I have also lost some weight in the past 6 months, not that I probably didn't need to - but it is noticeable enough I have to wear a belt with these jeans now or I am pulling up the pants all day long.   There are many things I just do not want to even try to eat anymore - which again, isn't all that bad mostly.  I just have to watch it that I don't let that get unhealthy.

Easter eggs

 Even though Esme has graduated high school, or very close to soon, I asked her to dye a few eggs with me.  Our eggs are already 'Easter Egg' colors, from having Americana chickens, but that just made it a science experiment which brown, green and blue eggs would change what colors.

 The yellow one was nearly purple-brown to start with, and the pink one was a pale green egg.  The left-most green egg was naturally green, and the one on the far right was brown to start with.

 I've done a little work in the garden, mostly checking on things, some sorrel and kale planted, seen beans that are coming up finally again after that freeze killed the other ones etc.  There are some cucumbers and squash plants and I planted another few seeds of zucchini.

Planning on making Esme something we haven't tried before - artichoke hearts, with a little bit of gruyere cheese baked on top - with egg omelets and Mark is making a bit of beef that be bought at the store.  So, waiting for that time to arrive to start making things.  We brought Grandma some chocolate for Easter but we weren't planning on making a full big holiday meal, just sort of a hodgepodge experimental type meal.

The artichoke hearts :  1 can of artichoke hearts, drained, and then put in a glass bread pan with olive oil sprinkled over the top, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, oregano, and then cooked in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the very edges begin to brown - sprinkle with shredded Gruyere cheese and bake longer until the cheese melts well.  Serve with omelet and Italian bread. 

 

I've been playing some more Minetest and working in the research mode to earn a few of the materials as 'creative' or free play items.  I'm sure you can see I've gotten this wood as one finally, and also the colors of stone that the houses are made of, sand and glass.  I've mostly stayed playing this world because the mining distribution has impressed me - and I've even been finding some things like fire opal and pink tourmaline that I have not found before in the years I was playing it.

Studying French mostly, and French from the Spanish interface on the other platform. 

 

Not a bad little village to hang out in, catch fish, rotate the crops etc etc.
 

chicks - 1 month

 

 

They are a month old now - and will need a bigger cage soon  Mark and Esme are deciding what to do for that.  They can't go out with the other chickens until another month or two, because our roosters are very big and all of the big chickens sleep in a pile up on top of the house six feet off the ground.  They are starting to look so much like 'little chickens' now though, roosting and sitting on the ground with their feathers all arranged.  We've heard a few whistles and a cluck - no crowing, but up until that they mostly made little tweety chirp peeping noises, so we've noticed the difference.  'Goose' is the dark gray one, 'Spot' is the white one, 'Stripe' is the golden colored one (who is hiding behind Spot), 'Duck' is in the bottom left, 'Prairie' is in the top left (those two are trying to be twins now, but Prairie' has a silver back) and 'Pheasant' is the one with the yellow cheeks and brown body looking directly at the camera. 

chicken progression

 Enter the chicken time machine... where we start at four weeks old (today) and go backwards.  Keep your wings and feet inside the vehicle at all times...

 Same type of side-eye, one week later (now above, 3 weeks old below)

   

and a week and a half... 

 

 

about a week in
 

after we had them for four days...

fresh from the big box store (above)

 

we have no pictures of eggs... well, of these chicks as eggs. **ha** 

Baby chicks and our dog Charlotte

 

Charlotte is still quite happy to have babies - although she whines when we check on them.  They are eating and drinking - the light and heater are keeping it about 80 degrees or a little less during the night and it is warming up during the day.  They are active and seem happy.  We still think we got five Americanas (as ordered) and one of something else.  The Americanas were also supposed to be all hens.  We'll see.

I need to kick myself up and go fix a hose outside and then drag a bag of new dirt to the main garden and put it into the beds there.  There will probably be another frost here before March is out.  I have ordered some seeds from Sandhill Preservation center a week or so ago and they should be getting here sometime... trying to keep my fingers from itching to buy other seeds - I do have some kale and mesclun greens to plant, and have also went and harvested a little bit of dandelion green from that bed I had gotten that started in a few years ago.  None of the italika rossa (italian red-stemmed) dandelions have survived, but the other native ones I put seeds in there from have - and I did that so I would have a clean source to enjoy some of that in the Spring.  I also have two bean plants that I sprouted last week and they need to go out in one of the beds.  They are 'Alice Whiting' green / dry dual-purpose beans I ordered a few years ago and have kept replanting.

 

 

Baby chicks 2026

 

Americana baby chicks, six of them.  Mark got most of the brooder set up with the heat lamp and now they have eaten some food and drank some water.

Eggs and lentils

 

We finally got the first egg of 2026 - they hadn't laid any, or the opossums had eaten the rare one they had laid, for many months.  We had went all around the fence tightening things and putting bricks up against the fence any place it was loose.  Perhaps that has helped, some.  The day after the first egg I would have been surprised to see even one more, and there were two eggs that day.  We are still looking at getting more chickens, hopefully more like Speck, our golden chicken above - which I've asked the internet and been told that she was probably something crossed with a Crested Cream Legbar, to become the Olive Egger she was sold to us as.  She lays the more blue egg in the bunch, and we've gotten two of those the last two days and a more green one, as well.  

 

We will need to bring the brooder inside, it has sat outside since last summer but it looks in good condition - the lock and door might need to be looked at to see if there is any rust etc.  And we need to fix the footer barrel it used to sit in.  This is the big handmade cage Mark and Esme made from hardware cloth and a plastic 55 gallon barrel for our hamster and rat years ago but has been used as a brooder for two sets of chicks, as well, since then. It still might be a week or more before we actually look to buy chicks, but then we will be ready and not in a hurry one night to make a place for babies.

the first eggs

Esme and I were experimenting with lentils - red lentils a few weeks ago and I had her try some of the brown lentil vegetable mix I made last night.  She said it was nice - and that she couldn't really tell that much of a difference between the two types, spiced up as I had them.

 The recipe last night was :

1 cup of brown lentils, rinsed

2 cups of water

bit of olive oil, celery seed, black pepper 

minced clove of garlic, and a bit of minced ginger

chopped raw carrots from the freezer

bell peppers and onion from the freezer

half a can of diced tomatoes with italian spices

and after it had boiled for a while and was about half-absorbed, I added a teaspoon of paprika

 I served that beside a typical packet of Spanish rice, so she would have something else to eat if she really didn't like the lentils, but that made a nice combination, too - three quarters Spanish rice to 1/4 lentils mix.  The last time I made Biryani spiced red lentils for her with garlic and ginger and carrots - I served it over rice.  That is supposed to make a complete protein, so it is very good practice.

Mark also made two hamburger patties and split the second one in half so we put that with our meal and French bread.  With meat being so expensive I want to make sure Esme learns to cook the way I did in college and can stretch things and keep dry goods like rice and lentils.  Also, it is a good way to add vegetables and she will eat a lot of them prepared this way.

I put the other half of the lentils mix into a clean quart jar and put a lid and a ring on it, and when it was cooled some, I put it in the fridge to blend up into lentil soup for my lunches this week.  I ate the pea soup all last week with extra vegetables and spices each day and it was some of the best soup I've had in a long time. 

I have a few beans coming up in the windowsill to plant outside when the first frost has passed - and I have been upping my levels on the languages in Turkish and Chinese, German and French.  I haven't touched the Lithuanian all week... a break here and there helps to know what you really know.  Just like the German, it's been years since I actually did many lessons, and I had to re-orient my grammar in it which I have had that specific issue with it before. 

work weekend over, now for the week

Well, as far as I know, I don't have to work tomorrow.  Did mostly French the past few days, and played the game (Stardew Valley) in French, as well.  Have been trying out some of the new things there, meadowlands ranch etc.  Hoping for a more quiet and restful week before school starts.  

I was enjoying using the new soap I had bought at the farmer's market and a cleanser sample I picked up at the store.  I haven't finished the bag, but am still working on the dishcloths.  I'd like to put the bags and new windspinners up on some sort of clothesline thing at the market, but I haven't figured it out yet.  Last night I dreamt I worked at a store again, but it was a cross between the craft store and the hardware store again -- they both had red aprons --  but the merchandise was definitely much more the craft store this time, the layout of the store was a cross though, between the Michael's Store in Fargo (before it got moved to West Fargo) and the Lowes store.  It is quite weird how much my brain retains in details and then builds out while I sleep - it's 'real' -feeling all through the aisles, the signs, the products in the shelves, all the way down to the price tags, but the UPC numbers and the paperwork and the computer systems always seem off enough that it breaks the 'mirror'.  I woke myself up trying to log into the computer on time with the proper password that is always so annoying.  

I was scared a bit by a large cow that jumped up out of a ditch in the twilight of dawn - I thought it was a garbage can but then it got up on the road and looked at me - but I got around it and hoped it got back in it's fence okay.  It's not the first time I've seen a cow there - but it definitely was one of the larger ones. 

I was also faintly dizzy yesterday morning- like a water compass in the back of my head wasn't pointing correctly, or taking a very very long time to point correctly compared to what it should - walking back and forth across the office while I sorted mail I could feel the 'tilt a bit sideways, and then you stay upright' response kicking in.   I stopped on my way out to the route and bought an extra drink and some peanut butter cookies and took it easier than I normally would for a time, and by about 10 am I was feeling much more manageable.  I had already eaten a breakfast and drank coffee before I left in the morning - sometimes you just don't know what the issue is, possibly barometric pressure this time overall, but I thought having the extra things with me was a better idea than not.  POTS is not fun - and still sometimes, as I have mentioned recently, it lets me know it isn't gone.  But I'm glad I have a better idea what is going on than I did when I was younger.

c'est la vie du poulet

We had a chicken in the yard that needed some assistance, one of our four Sapphire Gem hens, and Esme came in from feeding and watering them to tell me she saw the hen having trouble walking.  So we went out and were lucky enough to be able to catch her up easily - she really was having some trouble for us to catch her without a fight.  We gave her a warm bath on her rear and made her a separate cage in the garage and are trying to do what we read she needs for a clogged vent.  It still might not work, but it's better than not trying anything.  She already took some antibiotic water from the hanging water bottle, which is a good sign.  Will try to check on her again through the night and if the treatment works, it says it could be up to a week of keeping her separate and clean before she is ready to go back with the others. We've been needing to make up some sort of isolation system for a good long time but never had a full need to do so until right now.  It is still something we do need to do more permanently so we can pull one or two out.

 

après des,  après des ça: after this, after that - something I usually say in place of 'oh boy' or 'here we go'... we're gonna get this done, and think again whatever was annoying or worrying me after this gets done

 

Made the jasmine brown rice and used some in fried rice for dinner tonight (before we heard about the chicken from Esme).  I made the rice the same way as my regular natural long grain brown rice - washed twice, then put with a bit of salt, a bit of olive oil and a bit of rice wine vinegar in the water, and 2.5 cups water to the 1 cup of washed rice.  After it had been boiling, I turned it down to low I let it go thirty minutes, then turned off the heat, and let it sit for nearly another twenty cooling down, and put it up in a glass container in the fridge until I was ready to use a little bit in this fried rice. I'll try frying some up with the garam masala another night - just used peppers and onions and porkchop seasoning and soy sauce in this for Esme and I tonight.  The week looks pretty clear - except for possibly the farmer's markets, working on the budget and I've got something planned to do on Tuesday.

French : I am in Section 5 : Unit 14 on Duolingo on my main account, and Section 3 : Unit 6, on my phone.  The phone has speaking exercises and a few other things that the PC account does not have, plus I use it to fill time often when I'm doing other things, like sitting with the chicken while the washing machine spins to make sure she didn't take offense to that (she didn't).  In Spanish, I am at Section 4 : Unit 19 and Section 3 : Unit 10.  I was thinking a little earlier that I wondered what the French lessons would be like once I reached section 5 - because I was looking at someone talking about something on their phone that I had never seen yet - and realized I was in section 5 already, just not on the phone.

Snow 2024 : Episode Three

 

 

The crochet floor rug I'm working on, the other one is still a big hit downstairs but there isn't enough of it.

 

Today was Too Much Adventure, as I call it.  I was called in yesterday to do the full city walking postal route, and I did, get it done, and got home with only some fishtailing and 'hold your hat' over the hill, but I did not enjoy it.  And today, they called me and told me that kid was calling out again, and so I came in - delivered the packages, and it was only two and a half hours, but it had begun to rain and then it was due to freeze again.  

 

I tried three times to make it back up the hill to my house (after the highways were clear, but our side road is NOT.. and it was 29 degrees and people were sliding all over town even on clear highways, I saw the reports).. and the truck was smoking, and I decided to call it 'it could be worse - let's not have it worse' and park it in a neighbor's turnaround with a SORRY note sticking out the window with my phone number on it.  It didn't block their drive - but I'm sure it was 'what, why?'... but the other option was keep trying as it kept getting icier and maybe end up upside-down in the ditch.  The second and third time I tried to get up that hill I was sliding on the return towards the ditch also... and it wasn't fun at all.  

 

So, I threw on the emergency gear I had put in my seat each day this week for walking in this weather- big rubber boots (which, I actually wore on the route today as well as my good shoes got soaked yesterday) and an oversized parka over my normal parka jacket - and walked the mile and a half home.  I'm hoping to go out there (also dressed like this) in a few days when it is close to water temperatures again and take my plastic sled and a bin of salt with me and see if that will make the difference to get me the rest of the way home for the melt on Monday (when I'm scheduled again though, before the melt) **sigh**

 

A self-portrait of me walking in my big orange parka and rubber boots today

 

 

 

Melody, our mostly blind goat, enjoying some time inside (tied to the desk, because she singes herself) next to the propane heater

 

The heater is popular, here is Melody (nose showing only), Minion (cat), and Charlotte and Daphne (dogs) before they realized I had a camera and was taking a picture of them.

  

Chickens asking: Where is dinner? 

 

Charlotte going out with me to check on and feed the chickens.

Rudbeckia weeds loved by chickens, garden in April and hostas

Our Cherokee Rose bush will have white flowers in a few days.  This is what our goat was trying to eat behind the fence the other day.  When it blooms the flowers will be so fragrant.

  

Our little red chickens have been loving the 'rudbeckia' weed flowers I have been feeding them.  They are giving us four to six eggs per day, little brown ones and once in a while a bigger one.

 

 This is what they are eating.  I have called it 'white aster' in the past, but the Tennessee weed gallery I found a few weeks ago called it a relative of the black-eyed susan, or rudbeckia plant.

and this is what they look like from a bit back.. they are behind the area I tilled outside, so they are going to stay there and be good chicken fodder when I need a handful of something they can eat.

What the garden looks after my work yesterday

The 'Blue Angel' hosta

we have several of these coming up

The Frances Williams hosta, it will get a lot bigger!  

And Esme's lambs ear plant behind it.

The Blue Angel always 'gets up early' in the Spring.  The Frances Williams starts to come in behind it, about now, and the Aureomarginata won't wake up until the first week of June or so... and I am not sure why but it just is always a late riser.

Esme's dianthus plant from the Amish greenhouse, still strong!

My mom used to call the perennial version of this (biennial, I've actually learned) 'sweet william'.  That was in Minnesota.  We grew them around the side of the house in town, with lilies of the valley, blue grape hyacinth and tiger lilies.  She had bluebells on the other side of the house, and red Appledoorn tulips.  I was always so fascinated by gardens, even back then.

So this is actually a biennial - and then it reseeds itself every year from the first plant, and becomes 'almost a perennial'.  It is a fascinating little plant.  The edges can be fringed, like this one, or smooth - depending on the variety.  It can come in a wide array of pinks, reds, whites and purple combinations.

chickens moving on up

T

The chickens are moving on up to the bigger cage - the one that Esme and Mark built for the rat and the hamster.  They will be warm and safe here until they feather out and we can build something better for them outside.  For posterity : they are 'Cinnamon Queen' variety.

I've been busy today.  I went through Esme's old clothes again (because she just tends to hide them or stack them when they don't fit or are torn) and also moved up her bookshelf in her room with all of the new 'older' books we've been getting.  It fell once - and I had to pound the supports down into the standards on the wall and lighten the load.

Where the shelf was before was exactly at 'sit down on the couch and smack yourself on it' level.. and we needed it a little higher.  She has been sitting there tucking up with me to watch Welsh cartoons at night, and I hope we might get to reading again.

Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly was excellent - I read it on my Kindle today.  I'm reading her Wolves of the Beyond 'Lone Wolf' book by Kathryn Lasky, too - before she does.. and it seems like it will be a really good match for her.   I have 'The Hazel Wood' by Melissa Albert on my Kindle now, it was highly reviewed.

I need to get her 'The Mage' by Inbali Iserles and a copy of the Hello Universe but both of them are a bit high right now as they are new releases.  Have them on lists and alerts if one gets cheap.

Our plants arrive on Friday!  We had ordered hosta and day lilies and some other ornamentals from Gilbert H. Wild and sons.   And it is supposed to be nice this weekend.  yay!

Lucy thinks the chickens are hers to look after.  She has been sitting here with Esme and watching them.  She had to sniff every other one as Mark put them from one cage to the other.  She said they didn't smell right on the tail end.  *ha*  People raise strange puppies, apparently.

bits of here and there with rain and frogs

Esme with her pretend frog home jar.  This is a babydoll type night shirt I had finished for her.  It was made from the smock pattern I was trying out.  She had a real frog and grass in the jar yesterday - and we had her let it go just after sundown.  There was rain and flooding all through the area - but I made it home with only a little go-around and one area where the road was nearly washed out.  The sky was very very strange at 5:30 am this morning, with a greenish sunrise light coming through the thick fog.  So, I got up and started poking around doing things.  We might go to the co op today if the flooding has receded -- and there is a load of laundry to fold and things that can be organized to good use...

The smock pattern was not quite what I wanted - but I hadn't tried it yet.  It had a lot of circular yoke gathering... which makes it hang very loose by design... maybe a bit too loose for me.  I could alter it a bit and give it another go around or just go back to my go-to shirt for her and make several of those for going to town this summer etc.    She wants me to make a Mike green alien toy for her, but at one point last night requested a rag doll, too.  I've got some stuffing and one or the other of the projects could be done easily

I am trying out some cooking things today - a squash filled with pepperoni and cheese, a stab at using the old cornmeal mix, and maybe some French madeleine cookies later on if we don't get busy doing other things.  We have lots of eggs from the chickens to try using up, and dogs more than willing to eat mistakes.

I was reading a bit on a minimalist blog of getting rid of things -- but even though our house seems cluttered at times, I am still much more focused on creating things out of the things we have than simply making garbage or 'giveaway' boxes that never get given away.  There are some areas I can clear out paper clutter and such...  I would like to use the minimalist tendencies on the budget where I can, and learn some better cooking with things we have on hand... we have been making very good use of food on hand lately instead of buying lots of snacks etc.

Note.//  I had planned to plant my Mayflower beans in the corn but when I got out there the star sport from the Shackamaxon was all that I planted in four little places - it was dark black beans with a darker stripe over it and occasional yellow flecks - like a cross.. but I'm just not sure what happened there and want to see what comes of it.  They were planted by Rattlesnake beans and Hopi String beans last year - both of which have the stripe thing.

Made the French madeleines - although I used a muffin pan and papers in it.  The beating of the eggs and sugar together for five minutes or more was VERY long... and I think I should have let the butter cool a bit more.  We only have one muffin pan.  Next time I will try to make two runs worth instead of pouring the extra batter into a pie plate.   And I should have cooked them longer the first time - put them back in to see if they would form a crust and they did.  This will be a recipe I will try again to see if I can make it a bit better.. and it used up eggs pretty well.  Our eggs were so yolky that maybe putting in 3 eggs and 2 egg whites would be a better mix than 4 whole eggs.

Recipe :
4 eggs, mixed with 2/3 cup of sugar - beat together for 5 to 10 minutes
add vanilla before the flour
add 1 cup of flour in thirds while beating
add 1/2 cup (full stick) of butter melted and cooled (before you start step 1) in thirds
pour into muffin cups or a madeleine pan 2 tbsp at a time.
bake in our oven at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes instead of the ten in the recipe.

will be an eggy spongey cupcake like thing with a crust on top and bottom from the pan.

I'm thinking we can tackle custard next week - studying up on it!

We lost another chicken today - think it flew over the fence after standing on the garden hose like we had seen it do once last week... not sure, as we were gone to town when it happened.  That puts us down to four hens and a rooster... 

bits

Feeding the chickens greens out in their coop - they really love clover, 'headknocker' which Grandma says is the name for a certain sort of garden weed we have in abundance, and honeysuckle flowers.

 Our potato plants, seeded from some kitchen potatoes we had left too long in March - are doing very well.  I think the flowers are very pretty.  I had remembered Potato flowers being yellow, for some reason - bright yellow-green yellow, from my childhood.  I wonder if I was just mistaken or if this is just a different kind?  I really think I was just mistaken...as all the pictures I can find are purple or white, and that seems to ring some, too.

Washing and counting the eggs after she brings them in.  We had five, today. 

She said one for each hen, but not one for each rooster.  There were four lying in the box and one in the coop, and she was able to tell the hen to give her that one in the coop and not have it break.

We received a large box of fabric from a lady at work the other day - it was being passed down in her church to find someone to use it.  I am planning making some things for Esme out of it but haven't gotten started on anything more than washing a few pieces and going through patterns.  She has grown quite a bit since the last time I did this!  She is now in between the size 6 and size 7 patterns - which is just where she 'should' be... I should make a few for summer and then start on a few for next year.  There is a gorgeous royal blue with darker blue flowers fabric that is in many pieces - but I can almost see a long sleeved dress still coming together out of it.  The lady at work said she saw the 'patchwork' possibilities in the box - and that is the main reason she thought of my sewing style and Esme's dresses.  :)  There was also a big bag of a pretty green metallic yarn, which I am kind of thinking of as a random birthday present.  I was thinking about green yarn :)  Even though my birthday isn't until next month, I am looking forward to that day to have off, sit in the sun, and think.  So much has happened this year.

I took a long nap today - had a bad stomach event last night after feeling bad since Friday morning... trying to find a way back to feeling okay but in the meantime it means I haven't gotten much done.  We did give away several kittens... that was yesterday.  Esme is a bit bummed that I haven't played more with her.. but she is bopping around the house entertaining herself mostly.

 Pink primrose is very pretty, too. Oenothera
I have a pot of lavendar started in the house that I want to plant near this, and there is a volunteer Cherokee Rose starting there, too.  Our perennial garden is going well.

We went fishing for a bit.  It was humans 5, fish 1.  One of them took off with my hook after it got dropped/knocked out of my hand and got the string caught up under the dock where I couldn't get to it anymore.

chickens, eggs, a ravioli rug and archery

 Here are our chickens.  There are six hens and a rooster - and they are 'Red Star' type chickens.  They lay large brownish eggs and seem to be quite happy in their new home.  We got four eggs from them this afternoon.

Here is Mark showing them off

 We had the fencing and lumber already in the garage for the pen and the coop, so it was the price of the chickens, from a coworker, and buying some chicken layer feed.  Mark built an incredibly nice coop with the lumber on hand.

Our pretty multi-headed daffodils are blooming, as well.  I'm working on what I'm calling a 'ravioli' rug for Esme's room.. but it is also sort of like a zigzag pattern of little crocheted squares.  The white yarn came in a box from Mark's aunt and had cuts through it - but this is a perfect use for it.  The squares do not take very long to make.  Usually the tough part about making a rug that is a useable size is how long it takes to get it there.  By the time it is the right size it feels odd to lay that much work down on the floor to be walked on.  We will see how this one goes. 

Mark also dug out his old recurve bow out of a storage about a week ago.  We took it out today and practiced some target shooting.  There is a lot of muscle memory involved.  It has been about fifteen years since I had a bow of my own and did regular shooting with the 'same feel'... I had about two hours practice today and was able to get everything mostly on or very close to the target (a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of styrofoam on blocks).  We will do more practice later.  I was impressed how kneeling with the bow the memories came back of how to swing it over my neck to the side, how to counterbalance the quiver when I knelt and hold it to the side when walking etc etc... little things you don't even remember until you are in the same position again.

 Father and daughter getting ready to check for more eggs.

 A large brown one in the nesting box, and one more out in the yard.

 That was two more eggs, and that makes six for six.  They are happy chickens.

 Esme, practicing at being a chicken whisperer.  She talked to them for quite a bit. Then we all went and ran a new water pipe from the hydrant to the chicken coop fence, before dinner.