2014's Hatchlings

A few days ago, I walked outside and noticed Rockstar was out of the coop where she had been sitting on a clutch of eggs. I went over to check on her, and found four, little fluff-balls dozing in the grass next to her. She had hatched out two black and two multi-colored babies.

 That got me wondering about Isadora. I couldn't remember exactly when she started sitting, but figured her eggs should be hatching soon as well. Sure enough, a day or two later, they did. She ended up with two yellow & orange chicks, one brown, striped chick, and a gray. Although I can tell which kind of hen laid three of the eggs>chicks, but I am not sure where the gray one came from. It will be fun to see what it looks like after its feathers come in.

Notice the chick poking out of the feathers on Isadora's back.

I could sit around the coops all day watching the new, little chickens. Unfortunately there are other things I have to do.

Living in a Children's Book

If you have never read The Cow Went Over the Mountain, written by Jeanette Krinsley and illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky (one of my all-time favorite illustrators), just go ahead and order yourself a copy now. I don't care if you are over nine years old and children never frequent your home, there is something about that book that could bring a splash of joy and beauty into anyone's day.

Every once in a while, I am wandering out back behind the house, catch a glimpse of the calves meandering through the thick grass and clover, and almost expect to find a frog and a pig rolling around next to the calves, laughing because the grass is so munchy and lush right here at home.

 Isadora, who I thought had abandoned a clutch of eggs over a month ago, decided to give it another shot and has been on this nest for a while now. Since I didn't notice exactly when she settled in, I am not sure when the eggs are due to hatch. When I check on her every day, I have been listening anxiously for the telltale peeps of chicks.

Not too long ago, I noticed Rockstar, another one of our hens, limping around the farm. I don't know if she pulled a muscle in some chicken calisthenics, or if some predator got a hold of her briefly, but I decided to keep her locked up while she recovered from the injury. With nothing else to do, she got broody, and has been sitting on some eggs as well. The excitement for all these potential babies (that I don't have to care for!) is growing daily.

On a sadder note, Lizzy has gone missing and, although no trace of feathers have been found, is presumed to have become fodder for some predator. Chris is especially feeling the loss.

My tomatoes are doing well in spite my my neglect. The rest of the garden remains unplanted. Aside from the focus on the house, the lack of fencing and daily rains have been quite the deterrent. Even if we don't get around to planting Finley's eggplant seeds this year, I really do need to get that fence up. I may never forgive myself if I allow the chickens access to any ripe tomatoes.

 At least the girls' trough garden is doing well. I had them harvest their radishes last week, but failed to tell them to only pull the ones that looked big. As a result, there were only a handful of edible radishes, and quite a few tiny red nubs.

 And Zivah has finally lost her first tooth. The tooth fairy's wife set an alarm this time so that the tooth fairy would not forget his duties. Dressed in pink wings and tiara, he tried to sneak into the kids' bedroom, but was discovered. From here on out, the tooth fairy is determined to be more cautious.

Summer Begins

The kids have been out of school for almost two weeks now, and there is one thing I am thankful for.

 The pool.

Honestly, having an above-ground pool is not something I would prefer. There is nothing beautiful about them.  It kills any sense of aesthetic I had for our new back yard, and I see it as a big, ugly blight I am already looking forward to getting rid of someday. But for now, there are some good reasons to be glad we have it. There is nothing like a pool to keep the kids happy for long stretches of time. They (we) are getting some good exercise. They are not so anxious to be snacking on something all the time. And it has worn them out enough that Z has been sleeping in until 7  instead of the dreaded 6 a.m. she had been waking at.

As I watch the kids swim, I have been sweating it out on the deck, trying to get it sealed.

Sealing the deck is one of those things I hardly want to spend time on, since it doesn't seem necessary to achieve the prime goal of moving into the new house, but it (kind of) is. It would be wise to stain it before we moved the patio furniture from the trailer porch to the deck. And the patio furniture needs to be moved before we can tear down the porch. The porch needs to be torn down before we can dig the trench for the main electrical line to the house. We can't move in until we have electricity to the house. So sealing the deck, it is.

Once the deck is sealed and the patio furniture moved, there isn't a lot I can do while keeping an eye on the kids in the water, so if anyone wants to come sit in the shade and drink mint juleps (or something) with me, feel free to come on over.

In other news, Finley was standing out side in her bare feet when something stung or bit her. I didn't pay much attention to the fact until two days later, when she woke up with her foot looking like this:

The picture doesn't do it justice, but the underside was all swollen with a raised line extending from the sting site up through the arch of her foot. She is now on antibiotics that make her more sensitive to the sun. (Just what she needs with the new pool.)

Mid May Update...

There is a chance we might get to take a vacation this summer, and we could really use the break.

Chris and I have been busting our tails for the past few weeks, trying to get the house ready for the carpet installation. (In fact, we worked so hard last week, that I entirely forgot to watch the finals of the Jeopardy Tournament of the Decades!) When we scheduled the install, we thought we would have plenty of time to get everything done, but as things piled up for Chris at work and life happened like it always does around here, we knew we were cutting it close.

The incredible part of this whole process is that when we need it most, people come to help. If the painting seems overwhelming, or there is a ton of trim to install, or some doors and frames need to be fabricated from scratch, or whatever, the right friend or family member shows up and things happen.

With help and tips from Chris's friend Gabe, it didn't take long for the trim to go up.

Posts I wrapped in oak are ready for the upstairs railing.

Ralph, carpenter extraordinaire, built the handrail.

As I watched Ralph build the handrail, I thought maybe we should engrave his name on the side, or make up a little plaque to honor his work. We could have little plaques all over the house with the names of all the people that freely gave of their time and talent. Or one big plaque. Or maybe a monument in the front yard that people will see when they pull up to the house. Something that will communicate how much I appreciate them and everything they've done... 

So anyway, as we speak, there is a crew out in the house putting in some carpet, and I am taking it easy for change. 

Move in date is still a ways away. There is still a lot of work to do. (Hardwood, cabinets, HVAC, electrical, the list goes on and on.)

In other news, Zivah made it through Kindergarten, and "graduated" on Friday. She received an award for being the kindest student in her class, and that made me very proud.

 Joe and Finley have school the rest of this week, and then summer break will really begin.

Another predator has been ravaging our chicken flock again. I've lost five of my new birds, and Finley lost two of her chicks. Some evil raccoon must be the culprit this time. We thought at least Finley's birds would be safe in their pen, with the 2x4 welded wire over the gate, but, instead of using the perch I built in the pen, the chicks took to perching on the gate with their heads sticking through or wedged up against the wire.

Even though the birds can't squeeze though the fencing on their own, it looks like a raccoon reached in and pulled a Polish chick right through and ate it right there. Finley's favorite, a little black silkie, must have been perched near the bottom where the chicken wire kept it from getting pulled through. It was found dead right inside the gate with a leg missing. Extra measures are being put in place to ensure the safety of the remaining bird, and traps are set up in hopes that we can rid ourselves of this new threat.

Busy as Bees

It's been over a week since I cut and fit all the tile for the downstairs bathrooms, and the tile is waiting patiently for Chris to help me lay it.

 He has had other priorities, though. The trim upstairs is 99% finished and the floor has been sanded and cleaned of all the chunks of drywall mud. I have a couple posts to wrap in oak and the trim to paint, and all will ready upstairs for the carpet.

While Chris was busy with the trim, I took some time to get some things in order around the farm. Mom came over one Saturday and helped tear down some chain link fencing that needed to go before we dig the trench for the electric line from the pole to the house.

The chicks I bought the beginning of March needed to be moved out of their pen to make room for Finley's 4-H chicks. I used the top rail of the fence to make a perch for the chickens. I thought they would like it since that was where the older chickens would typically roost if we accidentally locked them out of the coop. The young birds didn't seem to like it, though, choosing to roost on the thin, wire fence I use to try keep them penned up instead, so I guess I need to come up with another idea. A predator broke in one night and killed 3 of the birds one night, so we set up a trap to try to catch the culprit, but I don't think the murderer has been back since.

Finley bought some seeds to plant a garden this year. So although I had abandoned all ambitions for a garden this year in order to finish the house, I figured I'd better come up with something. So I popped some holes in an old watering trough, filled it with some dirt and compost, and we planted spinach, carrots, radishes, and beets in a little "square-foot-garden" format.

 And then I tilled up a 20 x 20 foot section of ground against our new field fence and put some black plastic down in hopes I could kill off the evil Bermuda grass before I planted anything. It has only been down for a week or two, though, and I was just gifted with a beautiful flat of tomatoes that my brother started. They need to be put in the ground soon. I guess I'll just peel back a side, get as much Bermuda root out as I can, and put down a couple of layers of paper around the plants to help keep the weeds at bay.

Over the weekend, I abandoned the family to spend some time with a good friend of mine that had flown into town. Friday night, my brother and sister-in-law took us to listen to an interview with Wendell Berry. Full of wit and wisdom as he is, it was quite the delight and privilege.

Sunday, we spent the afternoon at Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art. I love this place. One of the current installations is a work by Patrick Dougherty. I think I need to build one of these on the farm.