Chickens love cherry blossoms

Yes, our chickens are eating the cherry blossoms that have fallen off our ornamental tree.  I know that cherry leaves contain cyanide (did you), but hopefully the blossoms aren't tainted.  If they are, I have my next blog post!!!

Speaking of a post....


I actually thought it had been eleven months since my last post; at only ten, I'm encouraged!

Well, about that truck......
The transmission was fixed, and Andy has been driving it.  I got a 'neused' truck via Craigslist because the Escape was having other issues.  As of last weekend, it looks like the engine is losing compression (whatever that means ~ there is a bunch of oil all over the inside under the hood).  We'll keep driving it; there's always the other truck for a backup.

So many things change in ten months!

Bobo and Coco joined our family, two wethered  goats.  They were supposed to be pasture-mates for a dairy goat, Lilly, who joined us in February.

Unfortunately, Coco couldn't be kind to his new friend and had to find a new home.  So he left with a nice family from Goodview.

Lord willing, Lilly will kid in mid-June, and we're looking forward to goat milk and late-spring kids!

The girls are plugging away at co-op, school and church.  Speaking of church, we've joined a church just up the road As far as our garden Burnt Chimney ~ and are glad to be active there.  We're also involved in a Bible study with some other homeschooling families, strengthening relationships and encouraging one another in our parenting journey.  So thankful for the relationships there.

Lesseee, Andy survived a bout with MRSA after a scratch from a branch when he was cleaning out the woods behind our house.  While it was scary for a couple days, once the antibiotics began to work, he's well on his way to recovery.  We're so glad it didn't have more serious, long-lasting effects.

I had considered not blogging anymore.  Time is scarce around here, what with schooling, keeping up with the house and animals and doing whatever it is we do.  But I enjoy reading others' blogs and keeping a sort of record of what is going on in our lives.  So, I'm going to try and start back again.

One problem was that our desktop computer is in the basement, away from our day to day activities.  I've been using the laptop which allows me more freedom to move around.

Another problem has more to do with privacy concerns.  I'm still not sure where I stand on that.  When I log on to the Internet, do a Google search and pull up my name, my kids' names, my parents' names, where I've lived, my political views, etc., etc. on just the first couple pages of my search, I wonder if blogging is such a good idea.  Notsomuch for "bad guys," but for the government and REALLY bad guys.  And as I grow older and my kids grow older, I find myself having really radical ideas insofar as the mainstream is concerned.  Nothing wacko or crazy, but just momma-bear conservative.  I dunno.  I'll have to think about that a bit as I decide what to write.

Anyways, look for more garden posts and chicken posts and goat posts and family posts.  November marked our first full year in this home and I'm starting to get the hang of seasons and cycles here.  Its going to be a great year!

The Coop, Part 2

With the basement beginning to develop a faint odor of a poultry pen, it was time to do something about that elephant in the room coop, which, though solidly and heavily built, was poorly placed on the property.  Pooh.

There were tears, some yelling, some retching in the woods wringing of hands, and apology heaped upon apology, some rationalizations and justifications....but for the most part Andy just patiently ignored me and got right down to the business.

Prepwork.

Ok, so the first plan was to take those three [differently size and tapered] found telephone poles you see sticking out on the right there and give the coop a ride, Fred Flintstone-style, stopping to switch poles out and pegging them into the ground with crowbars and stakes after each shove.

I think this method only works in cartoons.  Not only was this method potentially deadly, as the coop teetered and tottered on the mismatched poles, it was SLOW and HOT.

And I did a lot of screaming and hollering as I was convinced the coop was either going to fall backwards and flatten Andy into the hard ground or topple the other way and leave me dangling up in the air with a crushed pickup bed:  Andy said that only happened in cartoons, which was not very reassuring as it just made me think that he had gotten that whole pole-rolling idea therefrom....but I pointed out that this was just the kind of thing to get us on the funny video show, except I was not laughing (and we weren't filming).

It is relevant for me to pause here and note something that might at first seem to be off topic:  

I am going to share with you one of my "grammar pet peeves," and you will see why it is indeed relevant in this situation, and if you don't believe me, just ask Andy.  

I [we try not to say 'hate' in front of the girls, so let me just say ~] very strongly dislike it

when someone uses the word, "literally" if they do not mean it as did Webster.

  

As in:

THEY: "I literally died..."

ME:  "Really?  Then how can you be here, literally making my ears hurt with your incorrect grammar??"

So, now you can know that when I say I literally had a conniption fit, you can picture -accurately- that I was alternately hysterical and panic-stricken.  See that blue rope?  It was tied around the base of the coop and to the ball hitch on the Dodge pickup, and I was in charge of moving the behemoth up the hill at a rate of 6-8 inches at a time, all the while watching it rock precariously on its unstable locomoticants.


We moved the coop a 'footprint'-length IN TWO HOURS.

Andy finally had enough of my hysterics, so he very generously consented to a switch in strategy:  skids swiped from the sweet Little's yet-to-be-reassembled swingset.

We've come a long way, baby!  Look where we are NOW compared to THEN!

 AND........it worked.  Rockin, but not rollin' ~

See that strong man?  He is lifting the coop into its final resting place with some sort of long iron pokey-rod.  Look at that nice flat land.  And it only took us about an hour because, with skids, we moved 6 feet at a time.

And, isn't that MUCH better?

Picture it stained the color of the house and with different-colored morning glories going up the side....

Looking like a home.  The tree in the foreground is a cherry ~ think pink blossoms and rich green leaves come summer.

And there they are.  The girls, safe inside their new home in its new location.  They're under a shelf that will (in theory, anyways) be where we'll store square hay bales, shavings and 5-gallon buckets of feed.  Above will be the nesting boxes (we're still months away from eggs) or buckets.  Andy designed the shelf to be able to hold either 5-gallon buckets we'll repurpose into nests (with 1/3 of the lid across the bottom to keep egg, straw and hen in).  It all depends which is easier to scavenge:  buckets or 2x4's....this project is decidedly not cost-efficient.

And, poof, its done.  Well, almost.  There's some caulking to block some drafts, and I want to landscape and stain the outside.  But now, the elephant has been moved and we can get to the business of raising chickens.

These girls have a lot of work to do, so I hope they are happy.  We will LITERALLY have to sell these their eggs for a dollar each order to, er, break even.

The Coop, Part 1

There comes a time in families when its just better for everyone if one or the other(s) moves out.  As we faced this milestone this weekend, and because we are not completely heartless, we made arrangements for the girls to have a secure and comfortable home.  Andy built it with the best discount lumber that Lowe's offered, including a rock-bottom-priced door and window ~ negotiated thus by our eldest.

Ah, yes, a new home for the girls, built on site from scratch about two weeks ago:

Well BUILT, Andy!

Inside - look at those studs!  And that floor!  S-O-L-I-D.  Nothing but the best for Our Girls!

Notice the location:  In the side yard of the north side of the house.  Notice that it is on a hill....this detail will be significant soon.  But, again, WELL BUILT!

And, just for perspective, here's the view toward the front yard and the front corner of the house...you can see the slope  a little better here.

Now, you've noticed that this post is entitled, Part 1 of 2, and now I am going to explain why there is a Part 2 and why I took these particular pictures, but most importantly, I am going to share

The Worst Thing I Have Ever Done To My Husband (maybe)

After he got this building erected right where I agreed it "would work," I looked it over, cocked my head, put my chin in my palm and said,

"uh-uh.  nope."

I think he handled it well:

To Do List

• put new batteries in alarm clock
• check email/Facebook/blogs/Pinterest
• find notebook to keep near computer
• rearrange living room furniture
• feed/water chickens
• clean out chicken pen in basement
• design compost bin
• rearrange living room furniture with homeschool stuff all grouped together
• finish sewing Hannah's bedspread and curtains
• hang Abbo's curtains on her closet
• repair Hannah's curtains where she cut them "because she just wanted something to cut"
• sew tiebacks for Hannah's curtains
• sew tiebacks for Abbo's curtains so she can "see all her dresses"
• paint front hall wall (Andy)
• buy paint (me)
• repaint hall wall more of a leafy and less of a minty green (Andy)
• build chicken coop (Andy)
• move all of LR furniture that is on the left of the room to the right of the room and vice versa
• teach school
• make list of curriculum changes for next year
• look up homeschool convention dates
• feed/water chickens
• look at chicken coop for landscaping plans
• break the news to Andy that I don't like where the chicken coop is
• organize kitchen cabinets/freezer/downstairs pantry
• make grocery list
• plan garden
• lunch w/Carrie @ 12:15; park with kids afterwards
• re-read Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel
• find or buy "I'm So Sorry"/"Whoops"/"kids do the darnedest things", etc. rubber stamps or stickers
• make card for Carrie
• feed/water chickens
• read Bible while kids have quiet/naptime
• make curtains for MBR
• look for the plug-in alarm clock
• feed/water chickens

Blogging - And Why I Haven't Been

I've been Living the Life!  I think about something almost daily to write about, but when it comes time...there IS none!  I've mentioned before how my computer time is usually in the evenings when Andy is asleep or trying to drift off.  My 'clicking' over here would be MUCH too distracting for him, so I try to do more 'mouse clicks' than keyboard clicks. (There should be a clever way to phrase that, but I can't come up with it now)....

The girls have made friends with a little girl who, along with her parents and older brother, moved in with her grandparents across the street.  She comes over 3-4 afternoons a week and my girls are thrilled.  They have never had a child live so close by that they could just show up, unannounced, without hitching a ride from a parent.  I love it, too ~ it reminds me of when Amy and I used to play with our friend, Diana, who lived down the street.  They're pretty content to play on the swingset, in the creek, in the carport and under the pine trees, AKA the Tearoom.  She's over here now, which is why I can sneak a few minutes on the computer!

All the same, I am eager for our house to sell so that we can move closer to Roanoke and more homeschooling families, events and activities.  I want the girls to get involved in 4H and ballet (Abigail), but I don't want to start here and have to change mid-year.  Of course, only the Lord knows the plans He has for us, and we could very well be here for another year.  I hope not,  because I don't like the idea of Andy driving 76 miles each way in the wintertime with snow and ice in the forecast.  Its hard to be patient... and yet, 1 Corinthians 13:1 lists patient as the first descriptor of love.  Hmmmmm....could my having patience about a move be a testimony to my love for God?  There's a lesson in there somewhere....

We've enjoyed being outdoors a lot this early Fall.  We've taken a couple quick family walks in the woods and two nice long bike rides down the (Rails To Trails) Jackson River Trail.  I hooked the "Wee Ride / Co-Pilot" tandem bike to mine and Hannah rides a new bike our neighbor gave her last year, and we trek away.  I hope to get over to the Greenbrier River Trail, too, pretty soon to take advantage of that as well.  Here in Callaghan there are few areas to really ride....its 45MPH in front of our house and that's the low end of the scale for the speedies who fly by.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the girls' adventures....

Keepin' on keepin' on!

A funny face after a long ride

"Wading" in the Jackson River at Petticoat Junction

Spring Beauties

Happy Easter! 



AAAAAAAAlleluia!



DaddyO and little ladies on the church lawn

 A birthday present for another spring beauty....

Sundress with matching hair clips

And....
Oh, wait...how'd that get in there?!
(Abigail in costume for live crucifixion scene at church)

Birthday

SOMEone just had a birthday. 

We celebrated by taking him fishing just below the dam at Lake Moomaw.  Although we didn't catch any fish, we had a lovely time baiting hooks and throwing them out and speculating about 'who' lived in the caves across the Jackson River. 

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That red sign reads, "DANGER - When you hear the siren, make your way immediately to shore...." (as water is going to be released from below the dam and the water level in the river will rise significantly and rapidly!)  This is the parking area, the picnic area and Gathright Dam.


There's lots of rocks in the water and Andy was re-stringing his line again...


Ahhhhh, fishin'



Ahhhhhh, fishin'



Uh-oh.  Here comes the Spoiler.  See the stick she's holding?  She was using it to "fish" and beat at the water.  BabyRot.





She won the fight for the pink fishing pole, you see.



Got it back again....



After awhile it was time to head home and enjoy kid-decorated birthday cake....notice the swiped area in front about the size of two 3-year old fingers.



On to the best part...just waiting for Daddyo to blow them out so we could DIG IN!

Happy Birthday, Andy!!!  We love you!!!

Detecting

Metal detecting at an unnamed location.  We netted $.87!



The girls occupy themselves while daddy detects and mama scoops at another top secret location.



Some girls get more into their building projects than others.  Note the air cast on her left ankle...she only had days left worth of wearing it.



After a tough day of walking the beach, it was time for a little R&R!



Local Travels

I wanted to get out of the house so badly this past weekend, but we just couldn't pull off a camping trip.  It was my fault, really, because I let the laundry get hopelessly behind and I had a few last minute things to get before we started school yesterday.  But we were at least able to get out for a drive over to Peaks of Otter to look at their nature center and walk on their trails a bit. 

Touch-me-nots by the stream

hmmm....the picture is of the moth, but I see a spot of bleach on his shirt, too....

Spitting apple chunks to the fish in the lake (?!)

One of the things I love about this area is that there are so many natural things to see....just being outside in a different setting calmed the girls who were being especially naughty on the trip over there.  We had a little "hike" which would have been longer had Abbo not been beset with blisters from wearing her sandals on the wrong feet the day before. 

Exploring an inviting climbing tree in front of the Peaks of Otter Lodge

The tunnel under the Blue Ridge Parkway and a lesson in erosion

Lincoln Logs in the Lodge

It was a good time together, nonetheless.  Again, though, many of our pictures didn't turn out well....

but some did!

the (play)house that daddy built

Not necessarily frugal in the tightwad sense, but saved for it and paid cash.....and who knows? maybe someday a selling point for our home....

or not......

They seem pretty happy with it! You're certainly invited over to play.....