Chickens....eggs?

We did a little add on for the "girls" to have a little extra room. They love the addition!

Well we are still waiting for Eggs... but the chickens are growing and doing great. One rooster among so many hens!

The Garden

A few black eyed peas, squash , bell peppers and eggplant! We are so proud of our little garden.

The garden has been such a joy! Lots of hard work but it has been so exciting to eat something we really grew! Some of our crop was not as productive as others but it is a learning curve I am sure.

Russell Daylilies

Sisters: Marianne Russell (Pink with yellow throat) Marsha Russell a Hemorcallis President Cup winner in the 50's - cute little yellow. I also have Sammy Russell but he has not bloomed this year. This is the beginning of my Russell Daylily Garden. Thanks to Pop

Garden

This is a new picture of our garden. We are working really hard to keep out the weeds. Pop ran the tiller thru today and it looks great. We have one little bell pepper, eggplant pods and a lot of baby tomatoes.

Fishing

A day of fishing in the little pond! Spence caught this big one all by himself. He was really proud and Pop was amazed!

He can read!!

Max is doing a great job with his reading at school. The great thing is he really loves to read.

Amazing!!

Pop and I came home one evening to find dozens of ducks on our little pond! It was beautiful and amazing!

More springtime....

Baby birds just waitng for Mama!

Ol Gran would have loved this. I have a wall of old birdhouses and they are full of baby birds...

Springtime at 5 Acre Farm.

The garden is beautiful with its old gate. Pop worked hard and it looks wonderful, now to keep the weeds out....

This little section is my version of a "three sisters garden" Corn, beans and squash planted in a mound together. The corn grows tall, the beans grow up the corn and the squash protect the corn from bugs. Keep you posted.....

Chickens, chickens and more chickens!

The boys all have a special chicken. Jakes chicken "Rainbow" is a very cute orange chicken with white tips on his wings. Max likes the brown and black chickens and Spence has claimed all the "lepard" chickens (black and white). I think we will give all the white chicks to Isaac, they seem to be growing the fastest. I do have one "mystery" chicken not sure if that is the one that looks a little like a rooster, time will tell. They are all really growing and hopefully the ladies will lay eggs in another couple of months.

Look no teeth!

Max lost his first tooth last month and since then is minus one more! Can not believe how much he has grown.

Safari in Virginia?

In March went to Virginia to visit Kasey,Marty and the boys, we had a great visit. Wild animals and all! It actually snowed while we were there... can you believe it...left Houston in tshirt and flip flops and snow in VA.

Check out Jakes Giraffe boots!

This camel ate our feed bucket but we had a great time at the park.

Frogs, frogs and more frogs.

Little boys love searching for frogs. Frogs in the pool skimmer, under the water hose box or in the pool storage box. Finding the most tree frogs can be a challenge. Spence loves to carry his new friends around and then he returns them to nature for another day.

Wake up call. Every day I look out over our little field and I think "God you truly are amazing", what a beautiful day. Today was exceptionally beautiful. This is a veiw of our pond, early this morning.

Farm Work

Today Max and Spence helped clean out the chicken box. Nasty job! The chickens have really grown and are almost ready for the coop. The boys were feeding the chickens out of their hands. Spence really loves animals, any kind of animal. Spence claimed the "leopard" chickens, Max likes the red ones, so Jake and Isaac you can have the black and white ones. We have not identified the "mystery" chicken yet.

Tractor work.

Walker and Riley were not much help. Lazy Dogs.

I moved at least 3 tons of "stuff" today all by myself and I have a picture to proof it.

Moved the wood from the front yard, the white rocks from around the trees and the pavers were stacked at the side of the guest house. Now nicely organized behind the barn. Wow, I may never stand upright again.

The Garden!

Well the chicks are doing great and we should have them out in the coop in a couple of weeks. We started our garden today. Tilling was a big job but Pop was done in a couple of hours. I was a little nervous we might need 911 but all went well.

Ol Gran happy first birthday!

Today was absolutely beautiful. Thought about my Mom today and knew she would be happy I worked in the yard. She loved plants and digging in the dirt. Sterling and I spent the whole day working in the yard and we could probably work 10 more hours and still not finished but due to the fact that we are exhausted we have called it a day. We still have plants to plant and things to trim but there is always tomorrow. In memory of my Mom "Ol Gran", Sterling made "sloppy" chicken last night and we actually ate pimento cheese "foldies" today. Well, Mom we love you and miss you.

Kids love chickens!

Some things never change. Kids love baby chicks. Kidd was 5 and Kasey was 20 months in Magnolia Texas. Wow, Pop has learned a lot about chicken coops.

Spring of 1980

When you grow feathers ... You can fly!

Yep the chickens are doing great and they can fly. This little one thinks she needs to get above the crowd. She flys out, sits on top and chirps as loud as she can.

I am really hoping this mystery chicken is not a mystery rooster. Has a few rooster traits.

Rodeo Fun

Really big bulls!

Spence I do think the green Dino was the fastest!

Well this was a busy week. We took Max and Spence to the rodeo and we had a great time. Pop thought every little cowboy should have a black hat! I am not so sure Max thought the black hat was necessary. Max and Pop rode the ferris wheel while Spence and I waited to ride the green dinosaur. Loved the cows, I think the boys liked the cows with humps. We also had a great funnel cake, but decided Pops were better at Christmas.

Day 2: Baby chicks

Well the first day was a little hectic, but Pop has built a new brooder. Hopefully the chicks will be a little safer. The one weary traveler is hanging in there but it does not look good. The boys came to hold the chicks and take a few photos. Life on the farm is good .

Day 3-4

Too cold out in the barn, so in the house the chicks go. Back to a cardboard box safely in the pool bath. Pop really does not believe this is necessary but gave in to my whining. I explained the story I heard about a snake eating 12 baby chicks in one feeding, raccoons and the weather was just too cold. The chicks are doing great in the house. The weather has warmed up so maybe back to the barn in a few days. Although we sleep much better with them in the house. When they were in the barn I had a baby monitor in the stall with them, so we could run to their rescue if anything had tried to eat them. It is amazing the amount of noise a baby monitor can pick up in a metal barn when the wind blows.

Oh Cluck!

Feb 23, 2008 Today was an exciting day... new chickens arrive this week. We had spent weeks preparing for our chickens, thinking they were older. We had built a grand chicken coop, prepared the nest and feeders and protection from predators. Early today thought I would call and see if there was any idea of arrival date. Also wanted to follow up we had everything ready for our new little ones. After a short discussion I am sure the kind lady on the other end realized I did not know we were recieving day old chicks...... new game plan. I assured her there was some mistake I had ordered older chickens so I would not have to suffer the lose of small baby chicks. She pulled my order "Mam yes you ordered day old brown laying chickens and they will arrive today or tomorrow". Ok we can do this. No more had I hung up and the post office called to say the babies had arrived and would I please hurry down to pick up the little ones. So off to "Chicks r us " I go, the local feed store. Grap small waterers, feeders, new food and heat source. Run by the post office and pick up the babies. Leave babies in the car to keep them warm, set up homemade brooder of cardboard and duct tape, food and water. Finally time to open the box and see how many made the trip. Much to my delight they had all survived! One little weary traveler but I gave them a little pep talk and we are stating the long road to egg laying 101.