They keep getting older. And bigger.

Joe is six today. (Happy birthday, buddy!) I think he's grown at least an inch since starting school in the fall.

 The ducks are at least twice the size of the chicks now. It's hard to believe they were the same size only a couple weeks ago.

 The chicks are in that in-between stage... kind of ugly.

 And here (I think) is Rockstar. It looks like Rockstar is a rooster... The comb and waddles tend to grow faster on roos than on the hens. Rockstar better be a nice rooster. I would hate to have to kill a chicken the kids named.

Random

I am learning things out here on the farm. For one, turkeys (well, wild turkeys, at least) do not fan their feathers or gobble in the fall. They do this in the spring during the mating season. Another thing I am learning: a wild rose is the combination of two four-letter words. They might look quaint and pretty (for the day or two they bloom),  growing on the fence line... But when it comes time to clear them off the fence? Boy howdy. Feelings can change.

In other news, Fin and Z are sick. I thought that after Joe recovered from his bug last week, we were in the clear, but I guess not.

Last night Z was running a temp of 104 and was a little shaky. After giving her some medicine and sitting with her for a while, Chris asked her, "Are your hands still shaky?" Z replied, "Yes. See?" and lifted her hand up and shook it. Even feeling badly, she likes to joke around.

Yesterday, I overheard her caution Chris on his way out the door to work: "Be careful not to push the hammer on your finger!"

And one night, she was camped out on the couch and the other kids were in bed. She got up and told us that she was "going to check on the kids." What, does she think she's 30?

Back to the farm, the ducks are getting big, and the chicks are getting brave. I am hesitant to let them out of the stable, though, since I've seen several hawks around lately. I don't really want to give them an easy meal.

I planted potatoes yesterday, and although my tomatoes aren't very big, and the official frost date is still two weeks away, I'm tempted to put them out as well.

This morning, I climbed up on top of the chicken coop to plant some sedum and creeping thyme my mother so graciously bought for me. There are a few spots the soil is thin, and I need to get some more up there. It is also apparent some of the plants I put up there last year can't take it. The iris is getting ready to bloom, though, so I think I'll eventually put some dwarf varieties up there.

My Yearly Lament

It's happening again. Spring is hitting me full force in the face, and I am unprepared. If only I had a good plan ahead of time, I would have X, Y, & Z planted already and A, B, & C growing under the lights indoors. If only, If only...

I am cursed with a touch of perfectionism, and if it looks like I can't do it the way I envision, I get paralyzed for a while, until in desperation, I fling myself into it last moment, hoping to salvage my lost time. And usually, it turns out a little better than I anticipated.

I am trying to cast off my concept of perfection and wrap up in grace. It's so much more comfortable. It's so much more enjoyable.

Grace grows like a sprig of lettuce in the garden, coming up on its own, unexpected, offering unearned gifts.

Finley

I remember a couple years ago, when Finley was about 4 or 5, I was a little freaked out. I had ended up with a girl, who (at the time) only wanted to wear dresses and was really sensitive and I felt like I just didn't understand. In other words, she seemed to be nothing like me. I was kind of hoping that some one would come along side of me and explain her to me so that I could 'parent' her the right way... or something. But no one did, and I was just left to plead with God to give me a little insight.

A couple years later, I think I'm beginning to understand her a little better, but I really am beginning to  see who she is, and honestly, it blows me away.

Saturday was St. Patrick's day, and she went outside to look for four-leaf clovers. I have never been able to find a four-leaf clover. I don't know if it is my lack of patience, or what, but it is something that is extremely hard and frustrating for me. As is my habit, as Finley headed out the door, I warned her that it was hard and not to be too disappointed if she couldn't find any. It wasn't long before she came back in with one in her hand.

Chris said that he used to find them a lot, so I suggested they see who could find the first one Sunday morning. Right after breakfast, she took less than five minutes to find a 6-leaf. Later that day she found more 4s and a 5-leaf clover as well.

I don't know what it is about this girl, but she sees things that other people (like me) don't. And she is especially tuned to the beautiful, and can find it in places that other people don't bother to look.

 She made this flower arrangement for me a couple weeks ago. I loved that she used chicken feathers in the arrangement... Not your typical arrangement.

Last year, my brother and his wife bought Finley a birdhouse and weather-resistant paints to paint it with. After she was done painting it, she wanted me to put it outside, but for some reason never got around to it. A couple days ago, she started bugging me about it again. She wanted me to put it outside in a place where she could get to it to see inside of it. She wanted to be able to check to see if any birds were building a nest in it. Of course, I doubted that, with the wild paint job and the fact that it was not a 'real' birdhouse, birds would ever come near it. I (once again) cautioned Finley not to be too disappointed if the birds rejected her offering, citing the reasons why I thought they might not like it. But sensing the check in my spirit that said not to crush all her hopes, I told her that we needed to put it somewhere a bit harder to get to so that the cats would not bother it and the birds would feel safe. So yesterday, I mounted it to one of the fence posts while she was at school. She came home, thrilled, and insisted on putting some birdseed in the little 'yard' on the front of the house.

Today, I looked out the window, and about lost my jaw when I saw a little bird's face peeking out the hole.

 Here is the bird flying off, apparently to get more material for its nest.

Speaking of nests, that's another thing she has an eye for. She is always finding nests. She spots them tucked into the crevices of store-front signs, and plucks empty ones out of the brush around the farm. All the time.

And then there is her generosity. She is always giving people handfuls of wildflowers, pictures, nests she found, toys, cards she made...

Along with that is her caring spirit. Last 4th of July, her cousin, Laurel, burned her ankle. While her mom was running cold water over the burn, Finley was making her a get well card, talking to her, doing everything she could think of to help Laurel feel better. When she heard that our neighbor who had been fighting ALS wasn't going to last much longer, she wanted to go see him. And when Zivah hurt her hand last week, Finley sat next to her for a half an hour, holding an ice pack to her hand and 'taking care of her' while I was trying to get a few things done outside.

So although I might not 'get' Finley all the time,that's okay... She's pretty amazing.

Birds

I can count on one hand the different types of birds I remember around our house growing up: robins, cardinals, blackbirds, blue jays, and, more exotically it seemed, woodpeckers. It could be that I was just not too observant, but since moving out of Nashville, I've seen and learned about many birds I never saw before.

This winter, we've had Canadian geese and wild ducks visit our pond. I haven't been able to identify the ducks yet, since they scare easily and keep flying off whenever I try to sneak up on them. (Note to self: I need Chris to get his binoculars out.)

Other birds I've seen around the farm that I'd never seen before: blue heron, eastern bluebird, indigo buntings...

On the way to my Mom and Dad's house, I kept noticing some birds that would fly away from the side of the road as we drove past. I was impressed by their coloring as they flew, and finally got a good look at one and was able to identify it with the help of my mom's bird book. Reading up on them a little, I learned that they nest in gravel, so that explained why I kept seeing them on the side of the road where the gravel was plentiful.

Not my photo.

Last night, the kids and I went to church. When Finley and Joe jumped out of the van, we immediately heard a loud chirping. I walked around to find a kildeer, in a firm defensive stance, yelling her warning at my kids.

I tried to get a good photo, but the light was failing, and my phone doesn't take the greatest pictures. Edging closer, I could see she was guarding three eggs. They are so well camouflaged, they are really hard to see if you aren't looking carefully. You can kind of make them out in the picture... three roundish 'rocks' right beneath her body.

The kids were so excited, they dragged Pastor Doug over to see the mama bird, then Finley ran inside to ask Mr. Jeff if he could put up some sort of protective barrier around her to keep cars from parking on top of her nest. She wasn't met with quite the same enthusiasm, since people that have lived here for a while are used to the kildeer. Apparently, kildeer can be (understandably) mean, and most just find the bird's choice of nesting in driveways and gravel parking lots inconvenient and annoying.

When we were ready to go home, mama kildeer was no longer by her nest, so I don't know if she was off getting a bite to eat, or if she realized she hadn't nested in the safest spot and abandoned the nest. I'm hoping she chose to try a different location.

Ducklings!

Zivah and I just got back from picking up some ducklings... We now have 2 khaki campbells (one pictured on the left) and 2 rouens (one on the right).

Student of the Month!

Chicks and Trailer Life

This is Gimpy.

He has a bum leg.

 I am surprised that Gimpy is still alive. At first, I wondered if we should just put him out of his misery, but we decided to give him a shot at life (for a while at least. If I get that plucker built, well...). He used to get picked on by all the other chicks, but I haven't noticed them doing it lately. He still remains smaller than the others (notice him to the far right in the photo below) but I'm impressed at his determination. He is getting pretty good at standing on one leg. And, no, I don't really know if he is actually a 'he', it just feels right. Anyway, here is a picture of them all huddled in the corner like scared, little chickens. Oh, right. They are scared little chickens.

 The chicks' feathers are starting to grow out, they are getting bigger, and they are getting harder to catch, so the fun of having chicks is starting to wear off. But Chris has been wanting some ducklings, and will probably stop at Tractor Supply on his way home, so there might be some more cuteness in the near future.

Now, for a change of topic, I will introduce you to some of the joys of trailer life. If you know what you are living in is destined for the scrap heap, it gives you the freedom to do things you wouldn't normally. Like putting flaming duct tape down on your linoleum. I was tired of tripping over the edges of this old patch job, and when Chris saw this duct tape, he was adamant about getting it. Personally, I felt camouflage would have blended in a little better, but this works.

In our house in Nashville, it was definitely not okay to put stickers on the walls. Here, we feel free to do so. I think these two complement the old wall paper and cardboard-and-duct-tape-patch-job. They also feel appropriate due to the dominant farmer/blue collar demographic in our area. Other random wall spaces have been decorated with Spiderman stickers Joe got from school.

 A few of the things I will not miss? This is the bathroom door against a wall of our bedroom. (The camera does not quite do them justice. The bathroom is a bit more orange in real life, and the bedroom actually looks like the door color in the photo.) I very much dislike these colors, but don't want to waste the time, energy, and expense to repaint.

 And I love to have clean windows. There is nothing like a good, clear view out of a nice window. But I can't get to the upper glass between the window and storm window without removing an entire window. Things like this will make me appreciate the new house all the more...