The Week in Review

At AWANA this week they had vegetable character night.  I thought this was an amazing likeness of DH.  

My niece was over and Miss President was proud to show us where she had missing teeth.

Car was a pleasant guest as well.

Elizabeth was excited to see that they brought spare clothes to change into.  She then made sure they had to use them.  She took them out to play in the mud.  They had a grand time!

Friday was spent down in Amish country.  It rained a lot in the morning.  I stopped at this farm to get eggs.  The lane looked compacted and drivable, most of the mud was on the edges.  I wasn't planning on driving all the way, just up to the crest.  Halfway up, I decided to see if I could back out.  I couldn't. The covering of mud on top was slippier than ice.  As I backed up the rear wheels slipped into the edge and got stuck.  I was embarrassed to have gotten stuck.  I should have known better than to try it.

The poor farmer had to hook up his heavy team and bring them out to tow me out.  Poor guy!  He got a bit muddy doing it, but he didn't complain.  He appreciates my business. Nice guy!

Looked out and saw five deer in the back.  I was able to get out and get close enough to take a picture.

When they saw me they took off running.  It was fun to watch them go.  

All they left was their prints behind them.

Elizabeth and I took a walk/hike to the back of the property.  She was showing off her creek walking skills.  The creek flows through the field.

There is a lot of clay in the fields.  The kids had fun building dams in the creek. Yes, they get filthy dirty playing out in the creek.

Can someone tell me what this is?  There is a clay wreath around the top of the hole.

The hole is about 3/4" across and is neat and straight.  It looks like someone pulled a pole out of the ground, but obviously that isn't what happened. Who made the hole?

It has been a good week.  We are enjoying the warmer weather.  There is a possibility of snow on Tuesday and then the weather hopefully warms up for good.  We have a lot of work to do on the gardens.  Got to get them built up.  Looking forward to the growing season.  I have also ordered more chicks and some turkey poults.  The farm has to earn it's keep!

Second Batch of Chicks at the Farm

Spring is supposed to be close by.  It is chick season.  The high today was about 60 degrees and sunny.  So nice!  There is only snow left in the ditches, shadows and plow piles.  We are enjoying that warm sunny feeling.  T-Bob even washed the vans today to get the half inch layer of salt off.  Gotta love Ohio.  Did I mention that the low temp on Wednesday is to be 7 degrees and the wind will be blowing 30+ MPH out of the north?!!! Yep and bringing along  6-10 " of snow.  Whoohoo!  If you don't like Ohio weather stick around a day or two and it will change.

Last week, we picked up 16 Black Jersey Giant roosters.  15 survived and are thriving!  I wondered what would happen when we introduced the big batch of  little hen chicks.  On Saturday my DH built us a BIG coop for the chicks.  Something that we could use with 60+ chicks in cold weather (See above)  It may be awhile before they can be on grass.  I moved the roosters to the big box yesterday afternoon.  It was so funny.  They all ran wildly and flapped their little wings and jumped.  Then they started the chest bumping and play fighting.  Trying to be tough.  Finally they settled down and rested.

We put the little hens into the coop and they started running wildly.  They started running as pairs at the bigger roosters and pretty soon almost all my big guys were hiding their heads in the far corner.  The little day or two old hens had bossed the week old roosters into submission.  Maybe there is some farm sense in the old saying about somebody being a 'hen pecked husband'.

I am a total newbie when it comes to chickens.  I have done a lot of reading in the last couple months, so all my choices were based on other's opinions and what I like.  First off, I am looking for egg production and so I listened to my brother and bought some white leghorns to lay lots of white eggs.  Then I bought some of his other suggestion, Golden Buffs, to get lots of brown eggs.  (See I do listen to you, bro!  At least some of the time!)

 One thing I have learned is that I like to watch our chickens.  It is relaxing and fun.  I like variety as well.  Our first batch we bought 2+ years ago was mixed.  I really enjoy seeing them range around the backyard.  I like to see different kinds of birds foraging in the back.  I picked some Barred Rocks, and Black Austrolarps.  Both are hardy and good layers.  Most afternoons I take a quart of corn and toss it into the bottom of their deep bedding layer of their coop.  I watch them dance and till up the bedding.  The barred rocks are excellent tillers, the white leghorns, not so much.  The other characteristic I was looking at was amount of meat on the bird and cold tolerance.  I don't want to go through the work of butchering, only to end up with barely enough meat for a sandwich.  I  did order 10 'brown layer assortment'.  That will give me some variety to watch.  It is a bit of a mishmosh, but I am OK with that.

How big is this new coop that my DH built for us?  It is HUGE!  That is Elizabeth, who is about 5 ft tall sitting in the coop with the chicks!  He used doors as the long sides and some plywood on the ends.  I think it is about 4 ft wide.  We have the far end tarped to minimize drafts.  We have 3 heat lamps on the open end.

The chicks seem comfortable and spaced evenly, not just under the hot spot of the lamp, so I assume they are warm enough.

Elizabeth had a friend over today to enjoy our new chicks.  They had a good time.  Elizabeth is on her way to becoming a real farm gal!

Elizabeth's Special Morning

Writing this post Sunday eveing with lots of wind and weather outside.  Tornado watch until midnight.

Elizabeth has been struggling lately with a bad case of impetigo.  Not sure where she got it from, but it has meant that she has had to be in isolation.  No visits with her friends, and she had to stay home from church with Mom.  She has been a good sport and has faithfully taken her medicine.  I am happy to  report that she is on the mend.  With the help of family and friends we contrived to try and make her day extra special!

Michelle woke up early and made waffles for the family.  We let Elizabeth sleep in and when she woke up,  she took a shower and Mom made her breakfast. GF Waffles with homemade strawberry sauce, scrambled eggs with pesto and a hot cup of Earl Grey tea.  Yummy!!  She really enjoyed it!!!  When she was done, we worked on dishes together. Once the kitchen was clean, we moved to the family room.

I had her sit in her favorite chair and shut her eyes...

When she opened them  I had put a bag with a couple cards and a box on her lap.  They were get well cards and notes.

Then she opened the box.  A friend  had given her an American Girl Doll!  Something that she had really wanted.  She was so excited!  The Doll came with 2 outfits, a sunday/party dress, and an everyday outfit with a sports jacket.  Very fancy schmancy!

The jacket got tried on immediately!  It even has real snaps and pockets!

Meet Nellie,  The newest member of the family!

Here is Elizabeth and Nellie posing together. They look a lot alike!

This is Nellie in her everyday outfit.

Later in the afternoon, Nellie had her first piano lesson!

Thank-you to everyone who made this day so special!  We love you!!!

Mother Daughter Day at the Detroit Zoo

One thing about being the youngest is that you have missed out out on a lot of the family culture that occurred before you were born.  When we had lots of younger children we would have a 'friends of the Zoo' membership and go to the zoo regularly. Alas, I believe it has been about 4 or 5 years since we have been to the zoo. Elizabeth can only remember it through pictures.  She has been asking to go to the zoo regularly.  We finally had our chance.  We were in Detroit for a conference and had a day to do what we wanted,  just Elizabeth and Mom. We decided to go to the zoo!

 It was a perfect day weather-wise!

 We enjoyed the butterfly gardens at the zoo. It is all inside.  Actually,  we were held up in the butterfly area for about 10 minutes while they were chasing down a butterfly that had escaped to the transition zone.

 From the butterfly area to the bird sanctuary that was also indoors.  Elizabeth and I had fun 'hunting' the birds in the jungle like area with the camera.  We got out the telephoto lens and shot away.

 Then on to the reptile house.  They had some very large reptiles and some neat exhibits. I think this may have been the best photo of the day.

 This is the most photographed spot in the park.  Everybody stands in front of the fountain and has their picture taken.

 They did have peacocks running around loose.

 They have really pretty flower gardens in front of most of the exhibits.

 One of the neatest exhibits they had was the prairie dogs.  The children can go underneath the exhibit and then there are several places they can pop their heads up and be in the middle of the exhibit.  This little prairie dog was circling the spot where Elizabeth came up.  It was very cool to be that near the 'wildlife'.

 I think our very favorite exhibit was the seals.  For one thing is was air conditioned.  But really the neatest thing about it was the tunnel that went through the bottom of the seal tank.  You could sit there and watch the seals swim over your head and right beside you under water.  So much nicer than just watching from on top the tank.  

 Elizabeth took her turn with the camera.  She put it on paparazzi mode and took a LOT of pictures of me.

 We ended our day at the penguinarium.  It was a triangular shaped tank with penguins swimming around the tank on the perimeter and they  lived in the middle.  They had 3 different kinds of penguins.

 Here we are at the end of our day.... Elizabeth

and Mom.

My overall impression of the Detroit Zoo:  The zoo was rather expensive.  I believe for the two of us to park and enter was $28.  You can see the whole zoo in about 4-5 hours depending on how fast you walk and how long you look.  Many of the cages were empty.  There are rarely more than two animals of any one kind.  They don't have any elephants.  Everything you do outside of looking at the exhibits costs extra.  $4-6.  Our family has played a lot of Zoo Tycoon, the computer game.  I had the distinct feeling that I was walking through a life sized version of zoo tycoon.  Not sure if that was good or bad.  It just was.  I think the Detroit financial situation has impacted the zoo in a negative way.  They have a huge polar bear exhibit that is very nice, but only one polar bear.  Still, we had a wonderful day together!

Random Things and photos

I sometimes leave my camera lying around and I am always surprised at what I find when I download pictures...

This is Michelle with my youngest nephew, Isaac. This was taken at the family Labor Day picnic. I love their big blue eyes.

Apparently, one of my children , misunderstood the concept of money laundering and took it literally.

The camera is also used to tattle on someone who didn't get their dishes done on time or properly.

Michelle uses the camera to record beauty. These were some of the flowers that my DH gave me for our anniversary.

Thomas takes pictures of his Lego models. He is starting to grow out of the Lego stage, as he spends more time on his studies.

I took this picture of T-Bob. He made this hat himself on a circle 'knitter'. He worked on it during school hours. Michelle helped him by making the pom-poms. He wears the hat almost all the time.

Elizabeth lost her two front teeth this week. It sure changes her appearance. I love her cute little lisp.

That's the News from the Mangos.

~Mom