First Day of School 2015

The kids have been waiting for this day for almost all summer!! I have heard "How many days until school starts?" just about every day! Then there was jumping up and down with excitement because school starts the next day! Both of the kids were equally excited for school, more then me.  I was hoping that summer would last a little bit longer!! I think that almost every parent hopes that!

Jacqueline's first day of school was on the 21st, she only had a half day. She wasn't a happy camper when she came home because she only had a short day of school and she thinks that she missed out on having music.  But she did have a good day!!

Jacqueline dressed herself, she was so proud of the shirt that Tante K got her that she had it set of to the side since she brought it home and told me that it was for the first day of school!!

Jacqueline wanted to take pictures with Kelo for school! It looks like Kelo loved the attention too!! Jacqueline loves this picture and it was the one that she told me to post on Facebook to show everyone!

Her new favorite shirt that Tante K got her!!

All of Jacqueline's favorite things and what she wants to be when she grows up!!

Nathaniel's first day of school was on the 25th.  He loved his first day and was excited for his next day!! He loves school just as much as Jacqueline does!

I asked Nathaniel where he wanted to take his pictures at and at first he said with the chickens then he said with Kelo just like Jacqueline!

All of Nathaniel's favorite things and what he wants to be when he gets older!

We had to step away from the fence, Kelo was trying to eat the paper and was trying to grab Nathaniel's hood! Nathaniel thought that it was a little funny!

For now Jacqueline is going to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Nathaniel goes on Tuesday and Thursday.  Neither one is to much of a fan to be home when the other one is at school, they both ask when the bus is coming and that they miss each other! They both run to the door when the bus pulls up to welcome each other home! It really is the sweetest!! Jacqueline is really looking forward to November 2nd, that is when she goes Monday thru Friday, that way she can eat lunch with Nathaniel and sit with him on the bus!

School is going great for both so far! Jacqueline is making new friends and so is Nathaniel! I know that this school year is going to be great!!

Have a great day!!

Chickens

The hen that I let sit on eggs, she did hatch them!

The first egg hatched on the 12th, a cute full of fluff half Leghorn and half Turken. (Hatched from a white egg, only hen at the time laying a white egg was the Leghorn).

Such personality at only 12hrs old!

The next 2 eggs hatched the next day, both full Turkens! Sadly one of them I knew wasn't going to last very long.  It wasn't healthy looking, looked a little deformed.  Had no fluff on the top of its head and I was not able to see the eyes. I think it was blind.

The 3 babies together, Middle one is the unhealthy one. I think the Turken ones were only a few hours old and the fluffy one was 24 hours old.

The unhealthy baby did pass when it was about 18 hours old.  I was in a way glad to see it go, as it would be difficult for it to live and survive without seeing, but sad to see one of the babies go.   

At the time of the picture taken, this cute fluff ball was 72 hrs old

This little unique one was 48 hrs old at the time when the picture was taken.

Sadly it was the last picture I will get of fluff ball. On Sunday morning when I opened the pen both babies were still in the pen with the mother. That afternoon, fluff ball was missing.  There was no evidents of the baby in the pen, almost like it vanished.  I figured a cat climbed into the pen and got the baby.  That evening, I measured, cut, and pinned together a trampoline net.  Just needed to sew it together in the morning and attached to the pen to save the last baby.

Opening the pen this morning and baby was still with the mother. I was going to get a few things done in the house and then get the netting sewn together and put up. I went to go check on them a few hours later and the last baby was gone. Again a cat got to it. 

No more baby chicks. I'm a little upset and bummed that they are gone. I am going to be better prepared for the next time that I let a hen sit on eggs.  

This whole thing has been a great learning experience and I have learned a lot.  The mother was a great mother.  She hardly ever got off the eggs and was so protective of the chicks when I went in to see how things were going.  I know now from experience that Turkens are very good setters and mothers. ( I did read after I let her sit, that Turkens are good setters.) 

If there is another hen that becomes broody within the next week or so, I will be letting her sit on eggs.  I will be picking and choosing what eggs I will let a hen sit on.  My new to me hens are just now letting the rooster come close and they lay white eggs, same as the Leghorn.  So all brown eggs (from the Turkens) will be under the hen as I know that those will be fertile.  I will put about 10-12 eggs in the nesting box for the next hen, only if it is this week or next.  That way when the eggs hatch it will be middle to the end of September, in time before it gets to cold and hopefully they will be old enough and can handle the cold.  If no hen is broody then, maybe there will be one the end of February.  Would love to have baby chicks in time for Easter for the kids!!

The last picture of both babies together.

Even though I am upset about losing both of the baby chicks, I am proud of myself for even getting to the point of the eggs hatching (well, the mother hen did that, but me caring and watching over them) And I am looking forward to the next batch of eggs to hatch whether it be this year (fingers crossed for this year, maybe an early birthday present for me!!) or next year!! I am ready for them and will be better prepared to keep them all safe!!

Garden update and Chickens!!

August has come too fast!! Summer feels like it just started! Nevertheless it has been a fun busy summer!! Kids go back to school in a week and a half. Jacqueline will again be in Kindergarten. At the end of last year she wasn't ready to advance to 1st grade, and if she did, she would be struggling to keep up with the rest of the class.  Now she will be at the top of her class and will be more then ready for 1st grade.  Nathaniel too will be in preschool, we were planning on him doing another year of preschool.  Jacqueline starts school on the 21st and Nathaniel starts on the 25th! They are so excited for school to start again!

The chickens are doing really good! I did just get 18 more hens a few days ago, and are doing great and getting along pretty well with my other ones!

There are 16 of the white ones, they are California Whites.

There are 2 of the the black ones and they are Australorps, I think!

They are 3 years old and they lay really good.  They were handled a lot more then the Turkens were, and we can pet these ones which is cool!! One of the Turken hens is becoming friendly, she will brush up against my led and kind of let me pet her! There is one hen that I am letting sit on eggs, she was really broody and after 2 or 3 days of trying to get the eggs an being pecked at, I thought that was enough and let her sit on the eggs and see if she does hatch any.  I moved her and the eggs to another shelter, started out as 5 eggs and now there are 4.  We are 4-5 days away from baby chicks!! So far she is doing really well, the kids are excited!!! Well, I am too!!

I put her in the cat carrier to move her and this is where she has stayed! She will even close the door too!

The garden is going really well! The turnips and the radishes are done.  Green beans are going good, my 3rd plot is flowering and I will be picking from all 3 within a week.  The peas are doing ok, I will be planting more, so I have a fall crop of peas.  Peppers are close to being ready, I have a few cucumbers almost ready, same with the honeydews!

Red tomatoes

Yellow pear tomatoes

Honeydew, it has now almost doubled in size!

Brussel sprouts!! 

Carrots are starting to pop through

We had a wind storm come through a few weeks ago and it knocked over most of my corn.  I did manage to stake it and tie it up and it doesn't seem to have affected the corn at all. 

The corn is covering all my peppers.

None of the roots came out of the ground, some were close!

Got the corn standing again!

T-post and yarn did the trick!!

Kevin and I found out a few weeks ago that we made it in the drawing for buck tags and we both drew bucks!! We are really looking forward to hunting season!!! We have seen some nice looking ones around here lately and hoping that they stick around come November!! We are going to try water fowl hunting this year and maybe even pheasant too!!! 

Hope everyone has a great Saturday and enjoy a wonderful Sunday!!