Papa's Gonna Get You!

Here is a short video of our new chicks.  The reddish tint is caused by the heat lamp we use to keep the chicks warm.

Spring Has Sprung

March is almost over and Spring is starting to poke up all around us.  All of our bulbs were showing their heads. All those except the ones still stuck under mounds of snow. Friday, after I got home from work, I went around and cut back all the old, dead foliage from last year.  So many plants are starting to awaken; it makes me so happy to see them stirring.  I trimmed back the holly bush in the front (it amazes me how much growth it gets each year).  After a quick bite to eat Ross and I headed out back to move the snow bank that was still covering our bulb garden we affectionately refer to as the Spring Garden.  The last thing either of us has wanted to do was shovel more snow, but it was either that or no flowers.  Now all our bulbs have a chance to show their stuff. On a side note, I planted two peonies last year and have been hoping all winter that they would survive.  Both are showing signs of new growth-yeaaahhh!

On Saturday, our church hosted a pork roast fund raising dinner which was open to the community.  Ross and I have recently started attending this church so this was our first dinner.  We had a lot of fun.  It was a nice chance to get to know the various members of the church.  Ross was placed on the serving line.  As I was sitting down to eat I kept watching him.  He had the biggest smile on his face.  I love to see him happy.  He made two homemade pies for the event.  They never made it out of the kitchen as they were eaten by the church members.  I told Ross later that he was just going to have to make double in the future!

Rhodie

If you haven't read Ross' previous blog we now have six new baby chicks.  I told Ross that this time we were not going to name them. Within four days I had already broken my rule, but in my defense I couldn't help myself.  Ross picked up three Golden Comets and three Rhode Island Reds.  One of the Reds had a bit of poo stuck to her little, downy feathers. It was really stuck.  I felt so bad for the poor chick which endeared her to me.  I named her Rhodie (from Rhode Island Red).

We were speaking after church with a woman who also has chickens.  She said we should remove the poo because if left it could cause a blockage leaving the chick unable to relieve herself, and the chick could die.  So after we got home I went straight after the chick and pulled off the poo.  I tried to be as gentle as I could but the poor thing lost some feathers in the process.  Her little chirps just broke my heart.  She so has me wrapped around her little wing feathers!

We took Max on a walk along our road today.  I took some pictures and put them on the slideshow to the right.  I love our road; the open woods and the forgotten stone walls lend such charm to it.  It was also such a beautiful and sunny day but still was a bit brisk for my taste.  I am hoping for a warmer April, but then again aren't we all!

The Stork!

Yes it is Spring time once again. We were dusted with a little bit of snow, but luckily the sunshine melted it away. Yeah sunshine! For those of you who don't know, unfortunately last year we lost three of our beloved Golden Comets. They were very near and dear to our hearts. It was tragic when they became dinner to bear, fox, and bird of prey. Thank goodness we have been making modifications to help ward off future attacks. We are soon going to put up an electric fence around the bee hives, orchard, and chicken run & coop. Tractor Supply has been one of our destinations for supplies along with Home Depot.

On to the blessed event! The stork dropped by today with six beautiful, baby chicks. They are light as a feather, and bring joy to the eyes and soul. Three are Rhode Island Reds, and the other three are Golden Comets. The pullets are a welcome addition to the family. Max (the Corgi pup) thinks they are funny little puffs. Cloe & Bootsy, the cats, just looked at them and then went on about their business. I like to think that Daisy is looking down from above giving us her blessing.

Evening is approaching, and time to get the homemade enchiladas in the oven.

Good Night all!

When It Rains It Pours

We got a lot of rain yesterday.  It fell throughout the night.  Coupled with the large amount of snow on the ground Ross and I knew we were in for some flooding.

I checked the basement before we started to settle in for the evening. The sump pump pit was filled to the top.  At that point it was raining buckets so it was just  a matter of time before the water overtook the floor.  We started a secondary pump which we had in the sump pit to help combat the threat.  By the time we went to bed, the water was already rising.  Ross was a bit upset. I told him there was nothing more we could do but ride it out.

I woke early and went to check the basement.  The water was ankle deep at this point. The furnace had kicked on and was blowing moist air throughout the house which was fogging the windows from the inside.  The water was just at the base of the furnace at this point but was over the motor of the water heater.  I shut both the furnace and the hot water heater off.  Ross got to spend most of the day without any heat.  A tech came out later in the day and cleared us operating the furnace.  We still do not have hot water as he said that we should wait till the water was completely gone and the motor had time to dry out before we turned it on.  That means we could be without hot water all week.  Ross is boiling water on the stove right now so that we can get baths.  He called himself my pioneer husband.

Besides the tech, Ross also had the local, volunteer firemen come over and pump most of the water out of the basement.  It was very nice of them to do that (I am secretly fretting that a bill will soon follow).  At most it looks like we had six+ inches of water. The guys mentioned to Ross that at their next stop the people had four feet of water; that's the shallow end of a swimming pool!  It's a nice reminder that even our most troubling times could be worse.

Symplocarpus foetidus

Don't be alarmed by the title.  I didn't just run my fingers across the keyboard to see what silly thing I could create.  The title is the Latin name for the plant commonly referred to as Skunk Cabbage.  It is common in wetlands and is one of the first plants to show itself in the Spring.  So why is all this so worthy of a blog entry?  Because Ross and I went on a walk to the stream that feeds the small wetland portion of our property and found the Skunk Cabbage rearing its stinky, little head!  (Look closely for the purplish pointy thing sticking out of the stream.)

This is one of those moments that we look forward to each year.  It's a reminder of the wonderful things to come such as watching the white landscape melt away to green, to hearing the sound of the peeper frogs bellowing from the fire pond down the street, to the moment when we can open the windows and let the fresh air fill the house, and to the moment when we can shed all the extra clothes and feel the heat of the sun on our skin.  Who would've thought that something called Skunk Cabbage could create such joy!

Our stream under snow

On another Spring note,  Ross and I got our first packets of garden seeds in the mail.  We ordered them from the John Scheepers' catalog.  We got the catalog earlier this year, and I am throwing this out there because the company is local (less than a 5 minute drive from our house).  We placed the order on Thursday and got the seeds today.  I joked with Ross that they should have saved the postage and just dropped them off on their way home from work.  We are looking forward to digging in the gardens.  This will be Ross' first year of having a vine garden dedicated to melons and squashes.  Of course this opens room in his vegetable garden so he is starting to plan where everything will go.  Here is a link to John Scheepers' website: http://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/index.html.  You can request a catalog there if you so desire our order directly on the web.  And on another side note, Google Maps has recently updated its pictures.  If you know our address, you can Google Map search it (you have to go two houses to the left of the pointer marker) and see the outline of the fence for Ross' vegetable garden in the back.  I am amazed at the detail.  Thank the Lord we didn't have our laundry hanging out to dry!