Progress Report: 1 Month

OK, so the weekly progress report on the chicks is getting a little old as they ... get a little old.

I shall henceforth provide monthly updates, which may still be a bit much for some.

And I'm a little late on this, as they turned one month on April 17th or there-abouts. But hey, I was out of town, out of state, out of my mind as usual, so I didn't gitterdun in a timely fashion this month. Hopefully you all are the forgiving sort.

In a nutshell
or shall I say an eggshell
they are doing quite well.

I am still at 100% survival rate which is an unprecedented feat for me. They have grown. A lot. But they are by no means full grown. They are still kinda gangly looking and seem to be all body and feet with little tiny pinheads.

I am about ready to break open their second 50 lb bag of start-n-grow, so yeah, they like to eat.

I brought them some crickets and hoo-boy was that entertaining. I opened up the crickets and let the hopping and the scrambling commence. At first my chicks didn't know what to do with them other than chase, catch, and run. But when you've got another chick/hen barrelling down on you and you've got a cricket in your beak and you run to a corner, you figure out pretty quick that you either eat the thing or have it stolen from you. Once the first couple crickets went down the hatch I could see the lightbulbs going off over the chicks' heads. And then they'd run off to see if they couldn't find them some more of these tasty hors d'ouevres.

Next time I'm bringing me a camp chair and a beer to watch the show.




Can you say Phyllis Diller?












Belly up to the bar.
















This is either Goldie or Puddin' or Chicken Little. Can't tell unless I see them all together.












'sup?










Progress Report: You still need to click this brown button. Yes, every day.
Thank you for your support.

So Ran-dummm

My kids say it all the time.

So ran-dummmm...

Today's goings-on could certainly be classified that way.

James and Shane had to get out to the pond this morning to do a little engineering. The bank of said pond has been slowly eroding away to the point that the water level has dropped about 2 feet. I think if we waited one more day for repairs we'd start to see the fish flappin. And sunnies don't make good eats so that's just a big waste of fish that could otherwise be caught and then released and then caught all over again.



The water from the pond had to go somewhere, and it's been turning the lowpoint of our upper field into a mudbath. Yesterday when Bella had to go fetch Annabelle to put in the barn for the night, she sauntered into this area totally unawares and found herself in a pit of quickmud. Her boots sank in so deep that the mud started oozing over the tops and all down inside.

She was stuck. Every bit of effort expended to attempt to release herself only mired her in even further. Lucky for her, Rosie was in the backyard playing badmitton with a friend, and heard Bella's plaintive cries for help. Rosie went barelling down the hill in heroic fashion, straight into the mud to join her sister, losing her flip-flops to boot.

They were both stuck. Rosie's friend, wisely, had stayed at the top of the hill to better survey the comic genius unfolding before her. She was able to run into the house (after gaining control of her laughter) and fetch the head of the household (I was, in my infinite wisdom, at CCD with James and Julie). Fred found a stout length of bamboo
who knew we had a stout length of bamboo???
and, staying clear of the mudpit, reached it out to them and pulled them out. Yes, just like in any movie with quicksand.

But that was yesterday.

Today I got pulled over by a cop in Lancaster. Rosie and I were driving up there to pick up an old friend. I tried out a new road that I had seen before but never taken. A short-cut to bypass the village of Strasburg. Guess I shouldn't have tried it today either. Apparently the speed limit was 25 mph and I was driving mumble-mumblemph. Mind you, this is a road that cuts through corn fields. There are no houses. There are no schools. There is a bank way at the end of the road and there is an old inn set waaay back off to one side of the road. Sum total. And for that I was supposed to drive 25mph? I think not.

Besides, I didn't even know it was 25. When I told the nice policeman so, he told me "You looked right at the sign, I saw you. You know when the sign has a 2 and a 5 on it, that means it's 25mph".

That's what he said to me, hand to God.

But I had to smile and giggle and act like he was so cute and clever and sit on my hands so as not to throttle him because he chose only to give me a written warning.

To my dear brother-in-law, if you're reading this, I owe you once again. That little gold card you gave me is sadly becoming careworn. I'm a good driver, honest I am, but policemen like to pull me over when I'm driving too fast through corn fields, for cryin' out loud. Seriously, I owe you a couple children by now, I think. Call me.....




This is a picture of the sunset that Rosie took on our way home from Lancaster. Pretty, right?



I know. The picture of the sunset is so...
ran-dummmm.



Know what else is ran-dumm? The #18. I don't like it. Click the brown button to change my number for the better.

Wordless Wednesday

Here's an old drawing of mine that I dug out of a sketch book dating back to a time of big, crimped hair and equally large belts positioned just slightly beneath our boobs. Anyone remember? Oh yeah .....






Not asking you to draw anything. Just move your mouse till your cursor is positioned over the button and .... click! Ta-da!

I'mmmmm Ba-ack....!

Got home last night from our little road trip.
If you'll recall, I had taken 4 of my kids up north to Massachussets to visit friends. Even with me leaving a couple of the kids at home, there were still 9 kids in the house, all of them teens and 7 of them from adopted from the same region in Kazakhstan.

Pretty cool.

The kids had a great time playing video games, watching movies, riding bikes, playing freeze-tag and musical chairs and going for walks downtown or to the local park. Some of these things my kids, living as we do in the middle of nowhere, usually miss out on.

We also got to be personally escorted around the nearby historical area, Salem. How cool was that?


Learned a lot at the Salem Witch Museum.












Got to meet the Easter Bunny. It was particularly frigid on this day and we were all jealous of his warm suit.












Souvenir shopping. Always fun.














Did a little grave hopping.











Little tiny tombstones.
For little tiny children.
So sad.










I don't know that my soul would be comforted with this image engraved upon my tombstone.










Checking out the "Friendship".












Checking out the friendship.











Who knew a bunch of teenagers could have fun playing musical chairs?








Dee and family, we miss you guys already! Thanks for such a lovely time....






People? I leave town for a few days and you let me fall into the 20's? Very irresponsible of you, very irresponsible. Click the danged button. I hate to nag, but honestly ....

Outa Sight, But Not Outa Mind

I will probably be mute the next few days.

I'm throwing some of my brood into my tank, plugging an address into my GPS, and heading north to visit some friends.

Leaving house and home and critters in the care of hubs, oldest, and youngest.

I am putting the care of the chicks in the capable hands of B the Younger.

They'll all divvy up the work of the dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, goats, frogs, crabs and bird.

I'm sure they'll all do just fine.

Right....?

As for me, if I can survive the 8 - 12 hour drive
depending on traffic, number of pit stops and number of times I have to pull to the shoulder to bang my head against the steering wheel,
then I know I will do just fine as well.

The kids will pretty much huddle together and entertain themselves.

I will pretty much huddle together with Dee and talk shop, vent, cry, and laugh. And drink a bottle of wine.

Or few.

But I probably won't blog again till I get home. It'll be good. I need to take a day or two off of writing from time to time, right? So I will make a concerted effort to Step... AWAY.... from the keyboard....

If anyone sees me wrapped in a motheaten blanket, sitting on a street corner in Massachussets, frantically scratching at my arms, you'll know I'm jonesing. Get me to a Starbucks with wifi and I'll be fine.

See ya'!



And if my Top Mommy Blog rating drops precipitously, don't worry, I'm a big girl and I can handle it. I won't cry. I won't wail or gnash my teeth.

Much.

Oh forget it, I'll die, I'll just die! Please click the brown button every day, please! Even if I don't write anything.

Please.....?













Graphics from Google clip art images
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTlqojcVCRkYlIqhqe2tritDSozaFnOTcdZ6r25xyWZsWTHhMot