Kittens

Hello Eveyone. I really haven't been feeling the urge to blog lately. I am not really sure why but I have this slight sense of guilt. My husband tells me today that he checks my blog daily...so there is my motivation. How boring it must be to read the same post over and over again.

Anyway we had a litter of kittens last week. Mom was getting really big and then came to the house, Sunday or Monday, and was really skinny again. I left her alone for a couple of days until decided to look for her. Sure enough I found her with 5 adorable kittens. She has since moved them because of our daily checking. I followed her the same day and located them again. Kittens are doing well and are oooooo so cute. Two of them have been lovingly put aside for my dear Uncle Daryl...though he may not be aware of this plan until they show up on his doorstep. So if you hear of anyone wanting a kitten let me know. They will be ready to go in about 5 weeks.

Tough Natasha

My little Natasha bear is a tough kid when she wants to be. She can have a simple accident and send herself into complete, breath shortening hysterics. Or on days like today she can be so tough she has others praising her.

Natasha had two cavities at her last dentist appointment. Today she had them repaired. I really did not tell her much about the appointment nor did I make a huge deal about it. She was told the following:

1)She would wear a mask (with nitrous oxide) with air that would keep her relaxed.
2)One tooth would be capped with a "new tooth"
3)The denist would use a tiny drill to fix her other tooth.

I did not tell her about the needles (freezing) she would have to get has the word needle sends her right to worry world.

The dentist does not, generally, allow parents to come in as the kids tend to do much better without a parent eye present. We got to the dentist a couple of minutes late and they were waiting for her at the front counter. She went right in without any worry or look back. I was sitting on a chair with my legs bouncing about nervously. She was out within about 25 minutes and smiling. The dentist said "What a sweetie, she didn't even blink" then later said "She did perfectly." I WAS SOOOOOO PROUD. She was numb from the freezing for quite some time and kept biting at her lip. We then went shopping to TRU and a quick run to Costco before heading home. Natasha is proud of her new tooth because she is just like....Daddy. I explained to her cavaties aren't good to have and while she is happy now to be like dad we have to work hard to avoid more silver teeth.



Now the capped tooth was a bigger cavity which is why they cap it. If they choose to drill and fill it could have significantly weakened the tooth which could have broken apart years later. The tooth capped was a molar which she will have until she is 12 years of age and the cap should last until it falls out on its own.

For Jane

I tried to get a bubblebee picture but I was too slow or she was too quick. This little guy is quite small. I know it is not a bubblebee or a honeybee and it is smaller than a wasp. I figured my resident bee expert could inform me what I photographed. Everytime I see a bee on a flower I think of Jane from Escaping the City.

Moth

I found this beautiful butterfly today. I actually believe it to be some kind of moth. the girls thought it was beautiful and want to handle it. The wings are so delicate. If anyone can identify it please leave a comment.

Little Birdie-The Rescue

Adam was mowing the lawn today and called us three girls to the deck. When he was mowing he found this little bird on the ground and nearly ran over it. The birds were going crazy and closely followed Adam. The bird was found on the ground, near a tree and sure enough when we looked up we saw a nest. So I went to get a ladder and Adam set up to return the baby to the nest. On his climb he nearly fell but saved himself and with an outstretched reach returned baby bird to the nest. Now I have heard (and should confirm) that if baby birds (or nests) are touched by humans the parents will desert, leaving babies for death. So knowing that we would have never touched baby bird and we are hoping the parents are happy to have it back and continue to care for it.

Hail Storm

Two days in a row we were under a warning. Friday was a Tornado warning and yesterday was Severe Thunderstorm Warning. The thunderstorm warning brought large amounts of hail. The hail destroyed my tomato plants and all the lettuce. It wrecked a number of my flowering plants as well. I told Adam I would post pictures for him last night but I was tired. I am tired again tonight as we had a busy day and I was awoken last night at 1:45am to another storm. No hail with the second but lots of loud, house shaking thunder and lightning. Anyway the pictures are for my love you reminded me this morning that I didn't post them. Everyone else can enjoy them too.

Chickens

I am sure you have heard the term "Crazy Cat Lady". You know the reference to an old lady with no family but tons of cats living with her. Well while I like my chickens and enjoy them I don't think I would like to be known as a crazy chicken lady.

My mom and I worked last week to make better surroundings for my budding egg layers and my future suppers. We used some old fencing and weaved it through the trees to build an enclosure for the chickens. I want my chickens to get outside but I also don't want them finding their way to my flowers or yard or garden. We built it big enough to keep them happy and are they happy when they get outside. My broilers are getting really big and they don't do much except walk to find water or food. Some of them will be butchered while Adam is home because some he works with would like to buy some. The rest will be left to fatten up for another two weeks and will be done the next time Adam is home. Maybe I will be taking orders in the spring for home grown chickens?????

We have 5 roosters. Three little white guys and two black and white ones. The black and white roosters are named, Noodle and Pete. Noodle has emerged as the cock with the walk...the king of the castle. He is the bigger rooster and is just starting to try out his crowing muscles. The girls are so proud of him and I can't wait for his first Cocka doodle do.

I had an evening of drama with my girls. There are two little openings (6inches by 12inches) in which the chickens can get out of the coop. One entrance is contained within the fencing the other is not. I staples some chicken wire over the entrance of the one not within the fences confides so I could leave the door off and have some air circulation through the coop. When the chickens are out I have been tying up the dogs as I am sure they could make it through the fence if they wanted too and I just don't want to worry. Anyway I had put the chickens away but left to one door off so keep the air circulating. Johnny came inside with us and I, as usual, left Farley outside. Later that evening I went to let Johnny out for a pee and to feed Farley. I called and called for Farley and no one came running. All of a sudden my heart sank. I dreadfully walked to the coop and saw my fencing on the little door mangled. I opened the coop door expecting to see a chicken lost war zone but out came Farley and I saw no blood shed within eye sight. I walked through the coop and did a head count....about 15 short. I walked the dogs back to the house and locked them up. As I was walking back to the coop I started to spot some loose chickens. After two hours of rounding up, catching, chasing and counting all my chickens I retired with a full head count and a quiet coop. I am still thankful and somewhat in disbelief that Farley did not kill one chicken. The opportunity was there and I will never know what happen in the coop BUT I am happy he left them alone or they were quick enough to escape his jaws.




I have pictures of the roosters and broilers but they are poor in poor lighting. I will take some better pictures and post them soon.

Gaining Time....

From this....



To this....


Now I don't believe myself to be a complainer. Last year when we moved here the previous owners were kind enough leave behind their old riding mower. Now it did the job last summer and for the first cut this year BUT it was extremely slow with dull, uneven blades which cut but not nicely or easily. A lot of areas would need to be cut twice or three times just to ensure everything was got. As you can imagine, when cutting 3-4 acres of grass this can add hours to your time. We had been discussing getting a new mower this year and decided it needed to happen sooner rather than later. Adam came home yesterday and we headed into town and bought ourselves a new mower. We choose a bigger model than originally planned and I am glad we did. What once was an afternoon job can be done in 2 hours. Its like adding time onto your day. It is easy to operate, fast, big cutting deck....and according to Adam I look damn good on a John Deere.