More Mystery Bird Pictures.

Patch Having Fun.

A Couple of G Pictures!

Reading books on my bed in the morning.

Playing outside before all the snow was gone.

Summer Has Arrived :) Sun Burn Anyone??

What a great day in the sunshine!!! 

Yup everyone of us had a 'bit of red' after our fun day in the sun on Saturday! 

I did oil them up with JenK's Burn and Rash Salve that night

 and the next morning we had 6 little brown faces :) 

I guess Spring decided to skip us this year and Summer moved right in :) 

We had great temps of 23 and 24C (mid 70'sF) for the last couple of days!! 

AND WE ARE LOVING IT!!!! 

The Calves Are Out On Grass :)

The cows think it's wonderful!! 

So cute to see two great big milk cows go gaga over two little cute calves!! 

The cows even sleep by the pen now! 

J, L and I set the fence up and then J and L held the fence up, turned off!, while Papa led the calves one at a time to the fence and I walked behind them as 'motivation.' Milton did quite well on the lead but little Patch fought and fought and fought!! When he finally did get in the fence Papa sat down and let him tire himself out on the lead rope until he stopped fighting it. J ran to turn the fence on and we watched while the calves learned electric fence. 

Milton checking to see if Papa had anything to eat. 

Yum.. green stuff!! 

Ah.. this is what we were looking for!! They are about a month apart in ages.. Milton being older. Patch is very small though for his age. I wonder if he will catch up! We shall see! He sure has attitude!! 

New Bird On The Place!

Seems to us this is a male/female set but we can't figure out what they are?? 

They make a funny sound... almost like they are throwing up (nasty I know) while sitting up in trees! (Mating call??) and there are about 12 of them around in a flock.

Bird Houses :)

Well this weekend we had a extra day and we got a couple extra things done! 

One was the bird houses got put up! YAY!!

L under the tree with his birdhouse. 

J3's bird house.. he was asleep when we put them up but he knows this is his. 

Each birdhouse has a letter on it.. J's has his name as it's short enough to fit :) 

E supervising Papa putting up her bird house.

J chose one of the last pine trees on the place for his birdhouse! 

One of the extra 3 went in this big old spruce tree beside the house! 

One of the few trees Papa and I want to keep around the house.

R wanted hers on the chick barn. 

There is also one on Papa's shed and another poplar tree right behind the house.

8 new bird houses! I was a bit worried we'd be too late with Spring all of a sudden showing up but there were birds fighting over at least two of the houses the next day!! YAY!! 

The kids are very excited to see if their bird house gets chosen and if the birds like the locations they picked! Time will tell :) 

I will HOPEFULLY keep you updated.. I'm able to sit for short periods of time these days but it's going to get even busier around here for the next oh.... 6 months :) lol. 

Chicks Are Here!! May 3/13

Papa's home with the chicks!! 

Trek to the chick barn! 

Waiting for chicks :) 

Empty brooder.

The new watering system! 

Hard boiled eggs, milk and Willards water. Good first foods for chicks!! 

Grit.. also know as stucco sand :) 

This years feed has CORN in it :) First time ever!!! 

G's first look!! Love at first sight!! 

Awww!!!! 

She was so excited she was clapping and squealing! 

They are EVERYWHERE!!! 

J had the job of keeping G sitting and helping her pet chicks.. not pick them up by the heads! 

My job was to pick up all the more lethargic ones and make sure they got a good drink. Man they are smart! Caught onto those waterers super fast!! 

Papa taking chicks out of boxes!! 

Figured that out right quick!! 

Happy kids holding chicks!! I love J3's face.

Chick jungle J!! The chicks loved his boots! 

R is in LOVE!! 

L loves the chicks too.. but as he mentioned.. 'they are so cute now, but one day we'll have to butcher them.. I don't like that part!' Such a soft hearted boy. 

G is surrounded!! 

Ok numbers, we ordered 400 unsexed Cornish giants and we received 416 chicks!! All were alive when they got here!! Only one looks a bit down and has a weird wing.. so we'll see how it does. They are also all pretty much the same size!! Maybe two or three that are a bit smaller. 

Thankful Thursday. May 2nd

Today's post is being written while I lay on my side in bed, the only mostly comfy position I can find. My back is protesting the lifting I did last week and I'm no longer lifting at all. Even lifting little G is hard. I'm not complaining, just explaining. Stretching and massage help quite a bit as does walking, but sitting upright is out and leaning back while sitting is better but still painful. My chiropractor helped quite a bit yesterday but I think mostly it will just take time.

Poor Papa is now doing all the milking; morning and evening, but I'm thankful that his shift allows for him to have the time to do the morning milking. It takes him about 35 minutes to milk alone and feed calves,  so he has to get up at 6:30 am to milk before work. (Those of you who know Papa know he is NOT a morning person and this a big sacrifice for him!)   I used to  wash milk stuff as he brought it inside and help that way but the sink is too low and its super painful now. When we were able to working together it only took about 20 minutes, and I'm hoping my back will get better enough that I can at least wash again.

I'm thankful for the training I've been able to do with the kids all winter as they are able to keep up on the house work with very little help from me. They also are amazing help with the lifting the littles, dishes, laundry and yard work! A lot of our fun training; things they wanted to learn and still enjoy, is really coming in handy too..like putting cookies on pans, slicing bread, putting mayo or jam on bread, picking out G or J3 clothes, washing baby hair in the tub, organizing the book shelves and more that aren't coming to my mind.

Papa has also taken the opportunity to start teaching J how to get Isabel on the milk machine and said both the boy and the cow did really well! I'm constantly amazed at how strong J is and what he can do! The other day he carried a box of school work that Papa said was heavy and it barely even fazed J.  Having a 9 year old boy sure is a handy thing!  J and L together took a small piece of our 'new to us' kitchen cabinets from the truck to the house the other day with no help from Papa or I at all. They are both fairly good with the wheel barrow and bring firewood, bedding and totes and things where ever they need to be. J's even learned how to take stuff out of the oven recently.. Quite a big deal for him as he's very leery of hot stuff. Yesterday he lit the fire pile in the yard all by himself. (Yes I asked him too and was supervising.)

So it is now several hours later and I'm sitting at the computer to finish this post. Papa is outside getting the chick barn ready for the 400 little yellow peepers that are in transit right now and will be arriving here tomorrow morning. Papa has taken the day off tomorrow to get chicks home and help me get every body fed, warm and happy in the barn.

My back has done much better this afternoon and I've barely had to rest it at all. PTL!! Maybe I will get somewhat back to normal yet :)

Anyway if your the praying sort and think of us; please pray that my back gets better, and that we find time to do all that we need to do; hopefully without stress :) Thanks :)

Oh and don't worry I will for sure take LOTS of pictures of the kids with the chicks tomorrow.... :) ;) and hopefully get around to posting them soon!!

Milton and Patch

Hanging out.