Little bit of this, little bit of that!

Its summer time!!! Kids are ok with it. Jacqueline really misses school, Nathaniel does too. Trying to keep them busy to keep their mind off of school, well, unless I have them do school work.
Update on the kids and there teeth! The kids did wonderful with the surgery! Nathaniel had 8 caps put on. The ones in the back are silver caps and his front 2 top teeth are white caps! He has a beautiful smile once again!! Jacqueline had 5 teeth pulled, 3 caps and sealant put on a few too.  Jacqueline is going into her regular dentist tomorrow to be fitted for spacers, since some of the teeth pulled were no where near ready to come out and they don't want her to have an issue with crowding.
Now my garden!! I have been waiting for this one!!! We expanded the garden this year! At the time when we made it bigger, we were eventually were wanting to get chickens and maybe some pigs too. And were wanting to grow extra stuff just for them.  Right now, it is mostly all planted, I still have somethings to still plant.  I'm dealing with transfer shock and have lost my zucchini plant and cant find it anymore (everyone is sold out). So no zucchini this year.  I lost both of my butternut squash plants from a hail storm the other weekend, but I did get more (the last 2) and did replant them! Some new things in the garden this year are cantaloupe, Brussel sprouts, red cabbage, kohlrabi, eggplant, sweet potatoes, kale (a few different varieties) cauliflower, salsify, radishes, and garlic! I have sunflowers growing in the garden too! I read somewhere that it helps making cucumbers sweeter! I got my berry patch done, and have strawberries planted and a bare-root blueberry plant (not sure it will produce this year). I also have Nan-King cherry bushes too!!

What is already tilled, was the garden last year

All new space!

I will get pictures of the garden when it is all put in and of my berry patch too. With all the rain we have had lately, a lot of veggies are popping up!!!!

So, the most exciting thing, We got chickens!!!!  We have 18 in total. Most of them are turkens, kinda ugly but cool looking at the same time!! They are my thing, I take care of them, with the kids help (mainly Nathaniel, Jacqueline is a little afraid of them). I was kinda proud of myself, I fixed their run and even expanded it by myself! Pounding in the t-posts were the hardest part.  They lay different colors, I get brown, a blue-green color and white!  

He is my biggest rooster, I'm calling him Handsome.

Left: another rooster, Electro.  The hen is Sasha, she is a little feisty thing!!

Almost all of them!

I have some work to do inside the coop, more roosting space is needed, there is also another little spot to the right.

There is no shade in or around the run, so I made this, they really do love it.  We are going to make more and maybe even get some young trees and plant one inside the run.

 Oh, we got Kelo back from the trainers and he is now at the house!! Kevin hasn't gotten on him yet, we have some more work to do before we can begin to ride him.  The trainer did ride him.  With Kelo's past, him and Kevin need to bond again and do more ground work.  He really has come along ways since last year!! I can go into the pen and halter him no problem, spray him with fly spray, and brush him! Kevin even got to trim his from feet! We are hoping that with working with him more that Kevin will be able to ride him within a month.  Kevin is impatiently waiting to ride him! He still blows up with the back cinch, so we are working him with the saddle on, and messing with that area to reduce the sensitivity to that area. I'm working on him learning patients, by brushing him and doing his mane.

This is what is left of the braids I put in!

He is a very happy, fat horse!

So, those pictures were taken on Sunday, yesterday, he jumped that barbed wire fence.  It was raining from most of the day, and I didn't have Chena tied on the chain, just let her in and out of the house.  Well, we think that one of the times that she was out, she was in the pen and chased Kelo resulting in him jumping the fence.  I didn't go outside until about 4 and noticed that he was missing.  He cleared the fence, and he wandered for some time. Kevin walked about 4-5 miles through fields following his tracks before I spotted him.  He was a mile from the house when we found him.  He doesn't have a scratch or any sores, and he walked perfect!! We were definitely saying 'Thank you Lord for keeping him safe' So, we are going to keep Chena tied up and/or watch her very closely and teacher her not to go in the pen. We are also going to make the fence taller with a hot wire on the top, hopefully this doesn't happen again!

Today is looking to be a beautiful day!! The garden is calling my name, Have a great day!!!!