Signs of spring

Ward and I can hardly believe it, but the grass is starting to green up. There are buds on the trees. It's very exciting. And without much rain. There is forecasted rain this afternoon and we are crossing our fingers. Our friends in Oklahoma have received theirs today and are thankful. I'm hoping we'll be as lucky.

The chicks are about ready to come out of their brooder and live a big coop next week. I'll take a picture then to post. I have more 40 more baby barred rock chicks on the way. They will come today or tomorrow.

We have a busy calendar for the next few weeks. Couple of different nights of friends coming over. We're going to the Mounted Shooting Competition on Saturday. I'll try to get a few pics of that. Our friends and neighbors Terry and Connie both compete. It is exciting to watch.

Did I say we were down to two goats? I sold three of them, and we had one processed. We kept the two smallest ones to help mow and keep the poison ivy in check.

I've had luck touching and petting (a little) the donkey. She loves the apple and oat horse cookies, so she will come up to us and eagerly follow us around. My first goal is to get that horrible harness off, and the second will be to have her hooves attended to. I have no idea how long it will take to be able to lift up her feet.

We've been having great weather

Our weather has been fantastic, other than we really, really could use rain. But the temperatures are perfect in the 70s and low 80's. Ward and I ran the Austin 1/2 marathon yesterday with our daughter Melissa. It was her first and she did fantastic! Today, Ward put up his hammock that Melissa had bought him last year for his birthday. I looked out my upstairs office window and could see he was in the hammock, with the chihuahua in his lap, the black lab asleep by the tree and the the goats lounging in the yard. Through the screen, I was able to take this picture. I wish i could have captured it better.

A note on Perle our chocolate lab

Our convalesence turned into hospice for our 12 year old chocolate lab Perle. She had something terribly wrong we humans couldn't fix, no matter how hard we tried. She was a brave dog to the end like she was in life....putting her all into everything she did. May you find a field so big you can chase balls and run forever, may there be ponds to swim in at every turn and may the sun always warm your soft fur.

Update on the chicks

Drumroll please....Presenting little chicks at 3 weeks and 2 days old.

Round 2 of artic air

It's hard when the weatherman is saying "record lows" and "never so many days in the 20's". But I'm hoping this is over for the year. I want cold to be 50 degrees now. We do have some nice weather on the horizon for this weekend and into next week....70's are on tap!

We have been struggling with our 12 year old chocolate lab perle who has been having seizures. They have become more frequent. She has been to the vet twice and is currently on medication. We are not sure it is working. Ward has been sleeping on the couch to help her in the night. It was bad timing to have this cold snap at the same time, because we are forced to be indoors with a convalescing dog. At least we hope at this point she's convalescing.

We had a goat processed at the beginning of the week. I've tried to clear the freezer as much as possible. I have no idea how much meat we're talking about. Hopefully, it will be ready today and I'll have more information.

My goal for today is to take a picture of the baby chicks. They are seriously funny looking when they are part fuzzy, part feathers. They are getting big, only one more week under the heat lamps.

Our neighborhood

It's a bit of misnomer, but it feels the same as our Bothell neighborhood. Except the houses are quite so close! Our closest neighbor is 1/2 mile away on one side and maybe 1/4 mile the other way. One evening when we first moved here last fall, a couple of gals roared up right before dark. They had a flyer and invited me to a ladies of the neighborhood meet and greet. I attended that saturday evening and met a bunch of lovely women. we exchanged emails and phone numbers and resolved to have another. I hosted the second one at my house last Friday. There is nothing better than knowing your neighbors, and several friendships have developed from them. One of the ladies started a local chapter of MaryJane Farmers which several belong to. Many walk together in the evenings, do projects together. And several of us had couples nights where we get together and play board games. We are blessed....

The continuing cold.....

If you were to hear us complain, you'd think we lived on the tundra. Got 2 inches of snow on Friday. Here's a few pictures from our cold snap. I'm happy to say that the warming trend back to 60 today is more than welcome. I don't care if I see freezing temperatures again ever. But the weatherman is pointing towards another system next week. Yikes!

The Wizard of Oz Wind

This morning Ward and I heard this storm come in like a freight train. One minute it was quiet, then the next the sound got louder and louder until it was howling. The first thing we did was get up and let the dogs inside. The area where they sleep on the porch was in the direct wind, and within minutes the rain came soaking them. Then we returned to bed and wondered what could possibly get blown away by the wind? The tractor port has tar paper but no shingles, so ward was worried about it. The goat shed isn't anchored down, and also he mentioned the chicken coop. Strangely enough I said "that chicken coop is too heavy to blow over". Eat my words this morning when the thing was toppled and leaning against the fence. All 21 chickens have survived, even though they ran to the door to tell us of the coop's demise and ask where they would sleep? We made them a temporary shelter and ward brought the tractor around to right the coop. It's didn't fare too well. Quite a bummer since Ward put so much hard work into it. At least it will provide better shelter for the hens and a place for their eggs. Once it was righted....a hen was in the egg box laying on the plywood. I put some pine chips in for them. I hope they're not too tramatized!