Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[keljonma]

We have the last two Christmases with my mom and dad. At the time, on video tape; but have been converted to dvd.

Last December was 18 years since their last Christmas. We pulled the dvds out during our big family get together and had a great time watching them. It really helps the grandchildren who were not around to know or too young to remember them.

 

[lorihadams]

Here's a picture of my chicken and dumplings lesson with my mom and granny

 

[lorihadams]

Wednesday March 18

Well, still missing my baby girl but Granny says that she is a little angel and hasn't given them any trouble at all. I told my BF that it was just too quiet around here.

I registered my hubby and me for a local homeschooling seminar in June and it is FREE for parents of preschoolers!!! I am still nervous about it but I think that we have decided that this is what will be best for our children.

I sat down with Tyler today and we worked on finding items that were same or different. He was doing well until I asked him why something was same or different and then we had to figure a few out together and you could see the "light bulb" go off in his brain. He could tell me then.

We took a nice long walk in the woods this morning with our two cats following behind and found 2 snails and a centipede that we put into his "habitat". We do ongoing habitats every summer and usually change out the bugs or small frogs, etc. once a week. It gives them a chance to observe different stuff. We are planning on expanding the worm farm too, our old one is too small...we have tons of worms from last summer.

Doing laundry today and hanging all but one load on the line...ran out of room... so the whites will go in the dryer but they shouldn't take too long.

Got to go to Walmart tonight to get anti-virus software for the laptop as ours just expired. We had a virus on our old desktop before and I do NOT want to go through that again!

Still waiting to get the durango back and then we will be able to go get the soil and peat moss and horse manure for our raised beds and then we can get the fence up and a few trees cut down and plant! Our neighbor down the road always plants in late April and he always has a good crop so we are following his lead. We should be able to get everything done by then and we have the compost going with the rabbit pellets/straw and chicken poo/shavings as well as our veggie scraps and egg shells. Right now we just have a pile but proper bins are also on our to do list.

Our hens are sooooo much happier now that Big Boy is gone. They have been laying better in the days that he has been gone too...granted it has been warmer but I like to think that we did our part by removing some of the stress due to Big Boy .

Well, Tyler wants to go try out the new baseball bat he got for his birthday so off we go! Too pretty to be in the house....upper 60s and sunny with a light breeze! Yay!

 

[Beekissed]

Lori, you culled yer meany, huh? I'm doing mine this Friday and hope to have the same results that you are having in regards to egg-laying and happiness of my hens.

I think one rooster is enough for my flock, if he is strong but sweet.

Good for you for doing the deed! I often wonder how others get by suffering a tyrant roo....I can't imagine!

BTW, I love the pic of your dumpling lesson....its very good to see one generation teaching another! Good SS pic!

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks Bee.....we got 3 green eggs today and yesterday and I only have 2 EEs! 6 eggs from 2 hens in 2 days! Soooooooo eggcited! So glad the meanie is gone! My little banty roo Buddy thinks he is just hot s*** now! Walks around all day with his chest puffed up and crowing for everything he's worth (which is really funny cause he hiccups when he crows!)

Chad is thinking about going and getting 2 more red sex link hens this weekend. Our local feed store has hens that are near laying age. We also visited TSC and let Tyler see the baby chicks, ducks, and rabbits. He looked at me today and said "Mommy, I want a cow and a goat and a sheep and a pig and a horse!" I asked him if he wanted to live on a big farm and he said yes. Then I told him that Mommy did too He said he wanted lots of baby chickens but he didn't want them to get bigger. Don't you just love 4 yr olds?

Got our Norton antivirus software $60, ugh, but worth it. Also got some more seeds for the garden, peppers and spinach and basil and cilantro and some catnip for the kittys!

Tyler took some of his birthday money and bought some new sand toys, molds and shovels and stuff. He needed them anyway for his sandbox and we have a week at the beach planned for June so they will be used. He also bought a 2 footballs, one for him and a pink one for Maddie.....so sweet! I'm so glad that he loves his little sister...he's really looking forward to going to Granny's tomorrow and seeing her. I miss her too.

 

[keljonma]

Thanks Bee.....we got 3 green eggs today and yesterday and I only have 2 EEs! 6 eggs from 2 hens in 2 days! Soooooooo eggcited! So glad the meanie is gone! My little banty roo Buddy thinks he is just hot s*** now! Walks around all day with his chest puffed up and crowing for everything he's worth (which is really funny cause he hiccups when he crows!)

A couple years ago, one of our friends lost their roo to a fox. We had two roos. Ike, a Single Comb Brown Leghorn, and Sam, a Golden Campine. We gave Ike to them because Carmella grew up with Leghorns and loved them.

When Sam became the only roo on the farm, he went from "one of the girls - hanging out and chatty" to guardian of his domain! It was funny to see this little guy trying to keep an eye on all "his girls" while they were foraging our two acres.

 

[keljonma]

Got our Norton antivirus software $60, ugh, but worth it.

Yikes! I think I spent less than that purchasing online directly from Norton.

At least you were able to get seeds for the garden. I sure didn't get that from Norton.

 

[lorihadams]

Well, I got to granny's and wanted to cry. I pulled into the driveway and looked over at the old farm and they have torn down all but 2 of the pack houses and they are making my papa move all of his stuff out of the old tractor/equipment shed so that they can continue to rip up all of the old tobacco fields to put in a road. I don't want to be there when they tear down my great grandma's house....makes me want to cry just thinking about it. We went out with Granny and met with a builder and they found a piece of property they are interested in buying...15 acres. All I can do is imagine how many animals I could keep on 15 acres!!!! Granny loves to sit and watch my chickens and I swear I am going to build her a small coop and get her 3 or 4 hens when she moves. Papa wants to build a new house and granny wants to move their doublewide and build a pantry and a garage onto the house. Papa just doesn't want to deal with taking it apart and putting it back together. He is also concerned about granny's back later down the road (she has degenerative disc disease). He wants to build a house that is handicapped accessible with wider doors/hallways, etc.


On a lighter note....we are watching Crossroads on CMT--Shooter Jennings and Jamey Johnson. It is fabulous! I hope they make this into an album....we are big Jamey Johnson fans in this house. If you have never heard him and you are a fan of Waylon Jennings, go out and buy one of his cds. He has a really interesting sound and he is kind of like waylon. He also wrote lots of songs for other artists like "Give it Away" currently on the radio by George Strait.

We are going to try to get some old scraggly pine trees cut down this week to give the vegetable beds some more light. We have about 5 to get cut down. We also have to get fencing to put up around the garden space. Maggie has officially gone into heat and she is in the pen with Tonka so maybe we'll get lucky and have some lab puppies in a couple of months. We also mowed the yard for the first time this weekend...spring is here!

I'm reading All Flesh is Grass and I have to continually calm myself down. It is so exciting to read everything in this book. I just don't understand why everyone doesn't raise their animals on pasture. It makes me want to do it, though. But, gotta start small! I have to keep telling myself that

I also got some books from Barnes and Nobles this weekend with my gift cards. Cotton theory quilting and another on Quilted bags and purses. I have to go to the store and get a 1/4 inch foot and a walking foot, but I have a gift certificate for $25 off so it shouldn't be that much. I am so excited to get sewing again....all I can do is think of what projects I want to do!

 

[keljonma]

How heart-breaking, Lori! After my dad's mom passed away, the family sold all the land my grandparents and my grandmother's parents owned. My sister and I went back in 2001 - it is now condos.

I love all Gene Logsdon's books. I know what you mean about the excitement you feel while reading All Flesh Is Grass. I love his chapter on poultry...

 

[lorihadams]

Wednesday

Well today I got everybody up and moving early. Chad trimmed up all the limbs on the cedar trees in the side yard this weekend and I dragged all of them to the burn pile and attempted to burn it but they were just too green. I got them partially burned before I looked over and saw my 2 yr old running around the back yard barefoot in 40 degree weather. I popped her tail and told her to go get her shoes and she looks at me and says "Tyla did it", so I popped her butt again for lying. Grrrrrrr.

We went into town last night and got groceries, went by the library to get a book I had on hold "Small-scale Livestock Farming: A Grass-based Approach for Health, Sustainability, and Profit", then went to JoAnn's and got 2 new presser feet, needles, and bobbins for my new machine with the $25 off coupon I had--still spent $83 but I know I will use what I bought, also signed up for a class on how to use my machine.

Tonight we are going to our friend's house to take the tier poles from the tobacco barns and store them in his barn so they don't get wet and we can take my papa's trailer back to him. We'll probably do tomato soup and a grilled cheese for dinner....something quick and easy.

We are going to borrow another friend's chainsaw this week and get the pine trees cut down. Hopefully we can get the fencing for the garden done this weekend or next and get the soil for the beds. We are also going in with a neighbor and getting a dump truck load of mulch for our flower beds. We want to put mulch around the outside of the chicken coop/run cause when it rains it is just a muddy mess. Of course, they will scratch it up and dig in it so who knows how that will work out

We wanted to go to the local feed store and get 2 more red sex links but we may put that off for a week or two. After my hubby saw the prices for goat cheese last night at the store he is really considering dairy goats now......*evil laugh* the plan is working!