A Wonderful Year!!

This year is coming to an end and it has flown by!! I will do my best to recap everything that has happened since the last post!

September:
September was a lot of fun, and we filled almost every weekend with fishing! We live next to a little river and we decided to find a good spot and fish it.  We had fun, until Nathaniel fell in the river, he didn't get hurt it just scared him. He was more concerned about his fishing pole that was in the river, then himself being all wet. Where he fell in, it was shallow and he was able to stand up immediately and there was really no current.   We did learn the importance of having steal leaders and a fishing net when you fish on the river! We did catch some fish, but they snapped the line with their teeth.  We did try catfishing, but it was a bust, and it was fun!! Looking forward to next spring and summer to try it again.  For my birthday I wanted to go fishing, and it turned out to be a very warm day too!!We had a little pizza party on the river fishing!  I caught a fish, but before we could get it in the net my line broke.  Then a little while later Kevin caught that same fish and it still had my hook in his mouth!! It was a fun day fishing and exploring the river!

Biggest fish we caught!

Jacqueline had fun fishing!

Nathaniel had more fun playing in the river then fishing

He was searching for empty clam shells

October:

We learned the importance of having electricity in the chicken coop! It took us two weeks to get the underground wire in and hooked up.  The easy part was using the tractor to dig a a line all the way to the chicken coop, the hardest part was using a pick-ax to dig through two levels of cement just to get close to the coop. Once it was hooked up the chickens all sat under the light! I knew they needed light, but didn't really know the importance. I do know! And they love the light! 

October 10 was the opening weekend of pheasant hunting and Kevin gave it a try this year, and he enjoyed it! We all went out together one day and had a blast! It is fun, and I am going to try it next year! We also tried it for the first time too. I did have to a little research on how to cook it. Its a little drier then chicken but tastes good!!

This is after we put the line in the ground, starting at the little shop all the way to the coop, and got it covered up again. 

Next to the coop, all of it was cement.

Inside

We found out that these lights are not a fan of the low teens or single digits, it either doesn't turn on at 4 a.m. but later in the day,  or it just doesn't turn on at all.

All content, 'light bathing!'

Added some decorations for the chickens!

Got one!! 

November:

The upstairs is finally ready for the kids to be moved up there!  Jacqueline's room is mostly painted, a bright dark purple and a light (almost white) pink.  I still have to do all the details, the corners, trim along the ceiling and the bottom. I haven't gotten to Nathaniel's room yet to paint, but I do have the paint. It will be a light green and either a brown or a blue.  Both kids love having their own room, and they are both doing a fairly good job at keeping it clean. I don't have pictures yet, but I will when I get them complete! The bed room (the one the kids shared) is now the office/spare room.  The computer is no longer in the living room and it makes the living room look bigger too!! 

Deer season opened the first weekend of November, we did go out, but didn't get anything. Kevin got his on Friday the 13th, right in the wheat field by the house!  It was Kevin's first whitetail deer! I got mine two days later! The kids where with us and where just as excited as me that I got my first deer! This was the first year that we didn't take the deer to the butcher, we did all the cutting and processing ourselves!  It was a lot of work but it was worth it. We got more meat out of the deer then we would have if we had the butcher do it. And we wasted less then they do too.

Kevin's whitetail buck!

My muley buck!

December:

For the Christmas concert at school, both kids sang in it! It was the first year that the preschool sang in the concert.  Nathaniel didn't sing, but stood with his class really good and had fun! Jacqueline did really good singing with her class! She practiced at home for weeks before the concert that I knew almost all the words by concert time!

So far this winter I have been dealing with frostbite and pneumonia with the chickens. The frostbite is minimal and there is not much I can do to prevent it, or so I've read. After Dad helped with mentioning what medicine to get, the pneumonia is almost all cleared up. Most of the California Whites were sick and quit laying but they are starting to lay again and are even acting themselves too!

Christmas was a lot of fun, full of family (Josh we missed you!) good times, great laughs and yummy yummy food! Kids got clothes and things for their rooms, which they are very happy about! Kevin got me a gift that, we as a family are going to enjoy, a puppy!! She is 15 weeks old, a heeler and husky cross! I named her Diamond! She is the most energetic and lovable puppy ever!!

Jacqueline at her concert!

Nathaniel at his concert!

We dressed up Kelo for Christmas!

Diamond!

She has one of each eye!

Earlier this year our Church bought a building, an old Church that needed a lot of work, and all through out the year it was gutted out and fixed up. It still needs a lot of work on the inside and is still a 'construction zone'. But as the Pastor said "The sanctuary, the heart of the building, is almost complete and ready for us to move in!" And we did move in and had the first service on the 20th!! It really does look beautiful on the inside!! No more services at the theater!!

I hope that you all had a great Christmas and will have a wonderful New Year!!!

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!!

Kelo, Jacqueline and the Garden!

Last time I wrote I said that we hope that in a month Kevin would be riding Kelo, well, a few weeks ago Kevin did just that!! He hasn't rode him outside of a pen yet, that is coming. It was great to see Kevin finally ride him, it was a year of waiting for it to happen!

Kevin did ride him a second time, but this time there was a little hiccup, Kelo bucked and Kevin fell off.  He didn't get hurt to bad, just hurt his knee and his neck and shoulder are still sore/stiff after a week. There was a lot going around Kelo that had his attention and wasn't the right time to get on him.  When Kelo bucked, it wasn't his power buck (we have seen that one) but it was still a buck. We work him whenever we can and he does really well.  We take Kelo out of his pen and walk him around the house, Kevin has even worked him out in the open too.  Since we have gotten this far, our goal now is for Kelo to be the best that he can be by the time fall comes when we trail cows!

Since we are talking about Kevin, this past weekend there was a parade in town and Kevin rode in the parade on his mom's horse representing our Church! He did a really good job! Next year we would like to do it together as a family whether its all of us on horses or doing a float with other Church members.

Jacqueline got her spacers put in yesterday, she is not to fond of it. It bothers her when she eats but other then that she is doing really well!! The spacers will come out when her teeth start growing back in.  Jacqueline really likes going to the dentist, it helps that her dentist is really good with her. She gets excited when she has to go to the dentist! 

A quick update on the chickens!!! They are doing really well, just not to fond of the heat.  I did build them another shade shelter, made it bigger this time.  They really like this one, and they use it more so then the other one I build them! I nailed upholstery fabric all around it to keep the shade in and to help stop the rain from going underneath.  Food stays dry when it rains and the water stays a little bit cooler in the shade then it does when I leave it in the coop.  

I did loose one hen. I'm not sure what happened but I do know that she wasn't laying.  She wasn't acting herself, I was able to pick her up (since she didn't want to get out of the nesting box) and I got the eggs, she went right back in and where I found her the next morning.  I am still learning with the chickens so I am watching my other ones to see if they are acting the same way. So far nothing!!

I don't have a full picture of the garden yet, but I will.  I am getting lettuce and radishes!! They are good!! I haven't had one radish yet that didn't have a bite of heat to it, yummy!!!!

They are really pretty, reds, purples and white in color!! I almost thought that I had turnip seeds mixed in, but nope!! Good bite of heat, no matter the color!!!

                       

Mixed lettuce greens!

Flowering kale, haven't tried it yet. Next salad I will.

Corn and sunflowers!! I read that sunflowers planted next to cucumbers, makes them sweeter! 

Brussle sprouts! Little tiny sprouts are starting to grow!!

That's all I have for now! Hopefully I will start writing more soon!! 

These ladies were in the front yard Sunday morning, so fun to watch!!! Hope you all have a great day!!

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!!!!