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{ about summer }
your t-shirt makes an eggs-cellent gathering basket when no other can be found
fresh cut flowers are like little happy faces looking back at you
rubber ducks really do love to hang out in the rain barrel
a clean coop + fresh bedding (made by Gordy) + dinnertime
always bring a roaring round of cackles from the ladies
And...
Mrs. Bush has been spotted at a local garden this summer!
Who knew that summer could be so fascinating in these parts?!
Tonight while I has outside Susie came racing over (they really do race) and insisted that we play a game of shadow puppets.
From what I can see she's very good at her bunny ears:
I'm not sure how she thinks of these things.
A little too much time in the coop today I guess.
Last week was like a flash in time which makes for long time since I've posted here. Busy and fast days make for a fast life and I prefer a different one to that. I was home over the weekend and it felt great. I've said this before but I really do love being home. I had piles of everything that needed tending to... laundry, bills, papers, dirt, dust bunnies... you name it... the pile was there. The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous and that makes me even more tickled (and content) to be at home. Yesterday we went for a late morning/early afternoon bike ride on the trail not far from us. It felt so good to have the warm sunshine on your skin and the breeze on your back. The scenery is turning greener by the day with the leaves slowly popping out on the trees. Those are nature's curtains. They hide us from the neighbors! :) Or they hide the neighbors from us. Yeah, that's it.
Speaking of neighbors, we've been noticing that when we leave the chickens out during the day they like to venture off through the woods over to the neighbors. For hours. My sister said they go over there to smoke and talk smack about me! Hmmm... possible ... but they just don't seem like the smoking kind of fine feathered ladies that we've raised. One day Gordy followed them on their little escapade. It seems that the neighbor has not one but TWO giant bird feeders in their back yard and the landscape vacuum cleaners chickens have been enjoying the smorgasboard like there's no tomorrow! Nice. No wonder why they aren't hungry when they get home from the all-you-can-eat buffet. After talking to the homeowner about the intruders chickens we come to find out that she *loves* when they come to visit each day and wonders what happened when they they don't drop by. The plump ladies gave me the "I told you so" look and I advised them not to wear out their welcome and always remember to use their manners.
They cackled back with "but... but... but..."
Fluffy bottoms are such attention getters, aren't they?!
:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
I'm off to celebrate my Mom's birthday with my two sisters. My Mom is 71 today. She's sweet as ever and full of love. The sun is shining just for her. We're taking her out for a day of shopping and some special one-on-one with her daughters. :) Happy Birthday Mom!
{ Enjoy your week! }
This past weekend we had beautiful weather for Easter. The forecast had predicted rain but somehow we missed out. Just a tiny sprinkle on Easter morning and that could hardly be counted. There was an Easter egg hunt later in the day at my parents and I think the adults have just as much fun as the kids do. My niece and nephews had a blast! Check out the loot and no I didn't eat their candy... but I wanted to!
I've also been noticing a few changes in the last couple of days with the warmer temps that we've been having lately. The trees are starting to bud and green is the new "in" color. The wood ticks are back and apparently they didn't get my eviction notice. Along with the mosquitoes. It's true I saw one. Please tell me if you have these where you live so I know where I can move to next! I'm serious. Oh and do you have Asian beetles at your house? I do. Tons of them. No joke. The chickens don't care for them either although they do like wood ticks and mosquitoes... that's when I pat them on the back and say go get 'em girls!
A friend of mine planted a few things in her garden already. It seems a little early but I think it's just my cold feet getting in the way. Right now this is what's happening in the garden:
worm hunters :: Silvie and Susie
It's all the rage with the fine-feathered ladies. They compared it to spaghetti only better.
This is Nugget singing about it from the rooftop of the birdhouse.
She also takes worm hunting very seriously.
And I wonder why I don't have my garden planted yet. Hmmm... seems to me I'm always getting sidetracked by my chicken co-workers.
Someone's been jumping on the bed (that was a straw bale) and no one is staking claim to their messy bedding! Instead I find all the ladies strutting their stuff down the boardwalk next to their newly formed riverfront property.
Since March made its appearance, the sun has been shining, the temps are above freezing, and everything is getting all wishy-washy around here. We still have loads of snow yet but the ladies always manage to find every bare patch of ground they can. Dirt baths are a favorite activity.
Oh, and so is this...
Swinging the comb in the sunlight. This is Nugget showing hers off.
She says the trick to keep it glowing and perky is to use Oil of Old Lady and drink lots of water.
Every day.
~xox~
This weekend we had a couple of overnight guests. Meet Ollie and Ivy. We met them while we worked at the apple orchard last fall so it was a real treat to see them again. One of the first things they did was check out the front door.
Ivy is deaf (she's the smaller one of the two) and Ollie kind of acts as her ears as well. We went snowshoeing while they walked along and every time Ivy got near the road I'd call for her (out of habit). The trick is to give her hand motions and that works pretty well provided she looks back. She did manage to sneak over the embankment by the road and once I finally got my fanny up the hill, I called for her and couldn't find her so I look at Ollie and asked him about his sister's whereabouts. I explained that we are responsible for Ivy and then wondered how fast a dog could vanish. Just then Ivy comes up from behind me and looks at me like hey, you looking for something?! Geez Louise. No one told me that dog sitting involved a disappearing dog act. :)
The chickens love when the sun comes out. In fact they like to refer to it as Chicken Fun in the Sun. They are clever chickens, aren't they?!
They like to start off with one of the fine feathered Black-Eyed Susans playing a game of Simon Says while basking in the glow of sun rays:
Simon Says hold up your left leg...
Good job Susie!
Next up we have the local dance instructor here to teach the ladies how to do the Chicken Dance on the sunny ballroom floor:
"A one-anna-two-anna... "
After all the activity they start dreaming of dinner and they never miss dinner time!
And that's when they start cooing:
"Hey, hey good looking! Whatcha got cooking?!"
Such sweet talkers, those ladies...
If you've ever wondered what Gordy does while I'm *so* busy taking pictures I thought I'd show you:
He's very patient. And he gets a lot of vitamin D.
With those frigid temps we've been experiencing over the past week I couldn't help but think of my sister. For Christmas, she received a very thoughtful gift from the middle-sister. It was obvious that middle-sister was concerned about her younger-sister's well-being in these cold Minnesota winters.
Imagine younger-sister's surprise when she opened that cute little flowered box to reveal it's contents:
And who says you can't find nice gifts at the local thrift shop?!
{ blurry photo compliments of a giggling photographer }
So after my last post you're probably thinking that I'm sitting around this week staring mindlessly into the Christmas tree lights while eating yet another box of bon-bons. Well as much as I like bon-bons (and thank my lucky stars none showed up at my house this year) - we've got a ton of snow here which means the snow blower made a special appearance this year for Christmas. Fresh out of storage and loved like a firstborn. The dusty snow shovels are shiny once again and will sport their stuff until about... oh, April.
And then there's the coop. There was a special request from the peanut gallery fine-feathered ladies about fresh bedding for their living quarters before New Year's Eve.
Apparently there's been a whole lot of coop talk about a poker party happening that night.
You know, full moon and all...
