Say Hi to Laddie!

Say Hi to Laddie!!!!

He came to live with us today. He's very skittish, not being around kids very much and all of our commotion so it will take some time. He and I sat on the swing for awhile tonight, watching the kids swim and I think he is going to be fine.

And of course I've been hatching eggs!

I chose mostly my Cuckoo Maran eggs because they are a beautiful dark brown. I also chose a couple of Americanas that were crossed with my Maran rooster. Two years ago I crossed Americanas with a Barred Rock rooster and got hens that laid really cool olive eggs and some even had brown speckles.

I hatched a couple of those too. Here are the empty shells that hatched. The two olive ones are from those Americans/Barred Rock crosses that I love so even though I only got nine to hatch I'm very happy.

Here's the first one hatching but it was upside down in the egg so I had to help it a little. It cried and cried til I opened it up a little. It was a little too bloody to open all the way so I was going to wait til the morning but when I got up it was out! Very cool.

The only bad thing is that now I can't tell them apart.

There is one that is definitely smaller so it has to from the pale blue egg.

Fishing Report!

Kevin started fishing in earnest out at my mom's lake and he has been catching some good ones. This was a really big crappie. At first when I saw the picture I thought it was a largemouth.




My BIL Tom caught this nice bass. The beer can is for a size comparison. Of course they took no measuring tape with them. The crappie was definitely a Fish Ohio fish.









Kevin caught this nice bass too. Don't know how big, again no tape or scale.

He was really surprised when he reeled in this northern pike. He didn't know that they have had a stocking program there for the last 30 years.

He, of course, didn't keep the bass or the pike or even the giant crappie but.....

He did keep some from the next trip last weekend. A nice perch, I made him put it back together so I could take a picture, he had already started cleaning it before I took it.

And I think he said that this was a black crappie.

Bunches of fish for dinner.

And if you notice, he is cleaning them on the table in the kitchen. Don't tell my mom or my sister. My mom thinks it is against the law to clean fish in the house and the table that he is cleaning them on is my sisters. He put down plastic and plenty of newspaper so there was no mess at all.

I think one time my dad cleaned fish in the house and he scaled them. The end result was a kitchen full of mess. Kevin filleted his so no resulting scaly mess.

Yummy!

Til next time,

Beth

PS. Hopefully I'll get off of my lazy behind and post more often. I have a post all ready with pictures of the rock wall progress but never got the energy to sit and write the words. Some of the pictures were out of order and it's hard to change them around so I got discouraged.

(Here's a picture of me that Kevin just took while I was working on this post, check out my helper.)

Spring and Hard Work

The first weekend in April and really nice weather means that it's time for some yard work. We're sore and tired this morning (Sunday)... maybe we'll watch TV all day...yeah right.

Moving some big stones from all the different spots around the farm, sure glad we have the 8N!

Plus these awesome forks that Kevin made.


The son waiting for the stone, notice he has his good school shoes on.




Oh, and here's his shirt, most likely still outside on the ground.

Moving the rocks into place made for some squashed fingers and hopping around.

Dad helps and together they moved them into place.

We are going to add a couple of more courses, leaving dirt pockets and spaces for planting, some trailing plants and strawberries and who knows what else will be added.

Took all day.

Our peach tree is getting big, hope we have peaches this year. (Some of the pictures are out of order but it takes too long to move them around so sorry.)

I spent the morning digging and moving day lilies. They get so big that I can't see the rock.

Here's my Americana hens, the dark one in the back is the one that I raised last year, she's beautiful!

They all came running, expecting a treat. I'm very happy that the yard is drying up. This was a mud pit a week ago.

Evil tom turkey! Does anyone want him? I'm serious, he is going soon, if not to someone who wants him then he is going in the freezer.

This hen turkey decided to lay eggs in a tub. You just never know.

The other side of the rock. When I moved the day lilies back I spread out my iris and moved a couple new ones in.

Kevin's dad (Hi Mike!) gave us some really pretty yellow ones last year that I planted by the pond but the uncontrollable weeds took over and so I moved some of them here. If I can get motivated today I'll move a few more.

Sweet Puppy! I took her to be bred a couple of weeks age but I don't think it worked... time will tell.

My followers everywhere.

I got a picture of the last crocus, on it's last leg but still pretty.

I put this forsythia in last year hoping for some yellow this spring.

I got some yellow but I have to look really close to see it.

I found this cute little daffodil all by itself, can't wait til it opens.

I bought some more fruit trees, blueberries and raspberries, now to find the energy to plant. Not feeling it today.

These are ever bearing strawberries. We'll put them along the new wall and maybe some.... uh, actually I have no idea where I'll put them.

A honeybee already found them. He's probably so happy to find an open flower.

My raspberries, yummy.

Here's the whole group. Notice that they are all up on a table? You may remember that I have a pair of geese that would love to nibble all the bark off of these trees.

Uh oh, look who found me, it Two Toes, my Rhode Island Red hen that loves for me to pick her up and scratch her.

She's happy now. That's actually a flower bed behind us that the chickens have decimated... need to get on that soon. First, I'll need a chicken proof fence.

Til next time,

Beth

New Homemade Benches

The picture below was my inspiration for a set of new benches for our large table.

(I don't know why it says "click to enlarge", it was on the picture.)

Our table is heavy pine and we needed something new for the benches. You see, this is what we are currently using.....

And we really needed something newer, ya think?

So... we got out the Kreg drill tool.


Bought some legs and lumber at Lowe's...



Some special hardware for attaching legs and sides to tables.





And this is how it turned out. It's ok but it is a little too low. We are going to make some adjustments, thicker boards on top and maybe an additional ball foot at the base like the table has. It would match better and make it a little higher. Then we'll stain and varnish to match the table. (I cannot get this font to change back to regular size, it's not supposed to be large!)



A Weekend Fun Lunch!


Start with this and some of ...



these and then....





brown some of this or just some regular burger.

Yummy so far.

Pour half of the chips on a big ole pizza pan.

Sprinkle some of this...

and then get yourself a couple packs of this.

Mix the powder with some cool water..

Then add it to some boiling water and stir, stir, stir then...

Add some real cheese, any kind you like.

Then pour some salsa and cheese sauce over chips and add another layer of chips..

And Pour cheese all over and you get this!

I would've added tomatoes, olives, lettuce and whatever else sounded good but I didn't have any.

Then hurry and get some or it will disappear fast!




Then after feeling so guilty for having junk food for lunch, (with Pepsi to drink)

You will make a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner.

Yummy too!

Then you will break down and make some chocolate cookies for dessert.

I searched the Internet for some cookies made with cocoa and found these, really good but would have been awesome with the chocolate chips that it called for, didn't have any of those either.

That's one big beater to lick.

Really nice and soft, a little crispy on the edges. All in all a really tasty weekend.

Til next time,

Beth