Happy 4th of July!!!

I want to wish everyone a wonderful 4th of July! Ours has been wonderful so far. We have slept in, eaten, and popped firecrackers so far. We plan on going to the water park this afternoon and then off to the fireworks show. Can't beat that!

On Wednesday I found this great second hand store in town and found some treasures. My favorite treasure would have to be the straw hat I only paid .50 for. It is the kind that curls up on all sides. If you know Maryjane Butters you know what kind of straw hat I am talking about. The one I found has a black and white check material around it with a sequenced dog in the middle. I absolutely love it! I took it home and sprayed it with Lysol and let it sit. I think I will put a band of fabric in the hat just to make me feel better. I was quick to put it on though!!


Then I found a stack of pictures and started flipping through them and found a great horse one. I had Alissa look at it and she flipped, she just had to have it and it only cost .50. It is in an ugly frame so I will try to find a clearanced frame at Hobby Lobby or garage sale and redo it. She loves it.


Then I found a carafe. I fell in love with them when Brad and I first started dating. His mom would fill 2 carafes with water and set them on the table and when we were done with our water there was nice cold water waiting for us in the carafe. Very country and useful. Again only .50!!! So in total I spent 1.50, boy did I feel good with my treasures in hand and not spending much!!


Around here: I finally combined the 2 flocks together in the new coop. It seems to be okay. There is still some pecking to show who is in charge but it is less and less each day. I am a little cautious though because I have combined my banties with regular sized chickens. The regular sized ones have been establishing their rank and I am hoping that the little ones can show their authority. When Zoom is around (regular chicken from the banty flock) she really sticks up for the banties. So we will keep an eye and see how it plays out.

The bunnies are growing very fast. I have marked one in the ear. This is the one I plan to keep and get it use to being held. They are all so sweet!

The garden isn't doing so good. The tomatoes are looking very thin and not showing many blooms. The green beans are looking nice but only putting off 1 or 2 beans. We have enjoyed one good helping but don't have enough for another one yet, but they sure are delicious. The pumpkins are coming along and the squash is looking great. They have produced some fruits but they have fallen off. The onions are great. Not very many but soooo good with a sandwich on a hot day. Cucumbers plants are growing but no cucumbers yet, hmmm. I can't think of anything else so I guess I will get going.

Have a great 4th and be safe!!!

Wow its hot outside!!

Well is it June and it feels like August!! I can not believe how hot it is. It seems like we have the water running around the clock, whether it is the well or the water we pay for! I know the air conditioning is running like crazy. We have it set at 78-79 and it runs all day. I am NOT excited to get that bill!! Making supper has been a little challenging. We bought a roaster that you plug into the wall at Thanksgiving time and we are using that in the garage like I would use the oven. We have baked potatoes in there and even meatloaf. Everything I have put out there has done wonderfully. The max temp. is 450. When we had company I put 10 potatoes in it at 450and they were done in 2 hours. All without heating the house, woohoo!

Girls are at VBS this week. This time is allowing me to get the house back in order. We went to church camp for one weekend and one would think we were gone for 2weeks, lol. I have finally caught up on the laundry, dusting, and floors. Now to tackle the closet I had to dig sleeping bags out of, agghhh!!

The garden is coming along nicely. I picked my first tomato today and it was yummy. I have picked enough green beans to serve for one dinner. I steamed them and poured a white sauce all over them, YUMMY. It was a simple white sauce: 2 Tbs butter, 2 Tbs flour, and 3/4 to 1C of milk. Added salt and pepper and they were gone in no time.

This year we were lucky enough to have straw given to us by the church. They bought it for the Christmas parade and it sat for a while in the yard. I asked and the preacher was more then happy to give it to us. The straw sat in our backyard for a long time after we planted the garden. Long enough to let the weeds grow to a nice and healthy condition, grr. I can only blame myself. I made a promise to myself to do better this year so I got my lazy butt out there on an overcast day and pulled me some grass and weeds. I was out there for 5 hours!!! Boy was I sore, for daaaayyyss!!! But I am proud to look out there now and see a weed/grass free garden. I made sure to put a lot of straw around the plants and against the fence. That is a spot notorious for grass creeping in. And now I find myself wanting to water it more and pull the occasional pesky weed or grass. The straw has also helped to keep the plants moist longer and that is good in this heat. We have had some baby squash growing.

The tomatoes are not looking as good as they did last year but they are already producing so I guess I can't complain. I planted one on the porch in a pot and that is the plant I was able to pick a tomato from. Instead of planting a bunch of flowers on the porch I opted for herbs and a tomato plant. I really like the look of it and it is practical!

We grew lettuce this year for the first time and we were pleasantly surprised at how wonderful and tender the lettuce was. But... it is starting to go to seed now. I am still feeding the leaves from plants that don't have seeds to the rabbits and they are not complaining. I am going to let them go to seed and try saving them for next year. Next to the lettuce are the cucumbers. They are growing pretty good too. No flowers yet but growing like crazy.

Well, I have spent enough time on here. It is almost time to pick up the girls. Hope you all have a blessed day!! I will leave you with some pics from our trip.

Chicken Coop

I have been anxious to show the coop Brad has built!! So here it goes. We went to the website backyardchickens.com to get some ideas. We found a really cute coop and went from there. The one on the website was a little smaller because they had banties and I think there were only 6 or so. so we decided to make it an even 14X4 feet and 6 foot high in the back and 7 foot in the front. First Brad built the base:

Then he built the walls. Instead of doing a door at the end I wanted it in the middle. I am only 5'2 and wanted to be able to reach both of the sides with a snow scooper to clean it:

We are hoping to add windows for more ventilation later when we find small enough ones for a good price.

On the under part he left them 2 foot to roam. Then he added the roof.

Then came the siding. We went to Lowe's and found some sheets of plywood that looked like barn siding. It was cheaper then the regular plywood and I loved the wood look.

On the backside he added the nest boxes. He made 4 of them and put shingles on them with hinges. The roof of the nest boxes lifts up with one piece of wood. I think each box is around 1X1/5 foot but I am not for sure. They look roomy enough for them to lay eggs and brood when the time comes.

On the inside we put in a bar so they had a place to roost. And on the other side is where we cut a hole for them to go out with a ladder. He hung a chain for the food and water but we ended up taking the water out and putting it below the coop. They kept trying to stand on it and water was splashing all over the floor. Plus it is hot and more accessible for them as they love to be outside.


Towards the top you can see a lot of space. We did that for ventilation. We still need to make rectangles with screen on it and nail it up there to keep the cat out and wasps. I picked the colors red and white because of the barn plywood and they are traditional barn colors and that is the look we were going for. He added some hardware to open and close the door.

Then we decided to add a run to it because the space under the coop wouldn't be enough for all of them to roam. He used a 2X4 and cut it in half lengthwise. He went out an extra 6X4 foot and covered it with chicken wire.

And they look pretty happy!!!

I hope you enjoyed this post. I am so proud and happy with the results. I have a white star that I am going to put on the side of it and pick things up here and there. Plus I want to plant a little more to add some shade for them.

Have a great day!!!

Growing up

Well the bunnies are growing fast! They are so cute!! Most of them are out of the nest box now and laying with mama bunny. I think they are even eating her pellets too because we are noticing that her food is disappearing sooner then normal. I know they like to nibble on the grass when we take them out. Mama bunny is doing a whole lot better now when we get in her cage. She isn't growling anymore and enjoys some petting on her head and back. They are all so sweet but I already have my favorite. We call him chunk. He is the biggest one and is a cuddle bug. He really likes to be held and is really calm. I am assuming that he is a boy but I really don't know yet. I am going to have to read up on the direction of the slit to see which is which.

The chicks are growing pretty fast too. We are letting them out now to run with the older chickens we have. They have gotten curious about each other but haven't gotten too close. In my next post I will post pics of the new coop Brad built. They are not as friendly as our older ones but I think that is because we didn't hold them everyday like we did our first batch of chickens. Our older ones will follow us around and spot will even fly onto my shoulder. Which by the way is the funniest thing if Brad is back there. He freaks out and yells cover your eyes!!! Sooooo funny. I have probably written that in here before but it is worth mentioning again because it is so funny.

Well today is a rainy and humid day so we will be spending time indoors. I have made an edible play dough for the girls and that is what they are doing now while I am posting. The recipe is:

1C Honey
1C Peanut Butter
1 1/2 C Powdered Milk

Ashley loves it but Alissa doesn't. I tasted it and it isn't horrible but I don't think I could eat it as a snack. Maybe on some bread. They like to pretend they are on a cooking show and are being filmed. I guess I watch too much Food Network, lol.

Regrouping

Well, we have had family down for the last week so this next week we will be regrouping. Brads brother and his family left this morning. We had a great time! After we were all out there waving them off we noticed a tremendous amount of traffic up and down the street. We usually don't have that much because we live in a neighborhood with one entrance that shares the same exit. Brad decided to put the old washer/dryer set out there and sell it. Well, Alissa LOVES garage sales and jumped on the bandwagon and started bringing all kinds of stuff out there. So we ended up having a full fledged garage sale. I knew I needed to do it and have been making a pile in the garage and today ended up being the day. I am glad we did, we got rid of a lot of nick knacks, pictures and shoes that were all out in the garage. Now if I can get Brad to get his air compressor out of there and his big ole saw, we might even be able to park some cars in there!

I am happy to say that the baby bunnies are doing great and growing very fast. They are soooo cute!! Yesterday they opened their eyes. Mama is still very aggressive when I come around. I am thinking it is because I am the one who takes her babies out of the cage. She will even growl at me, hehe.

I have started taking note of how many eggs we get in one day and by whom. Lillian is our black and white chicken and she is roosting. I think that is what it is called. It is pretty funny. She stays in one spot even when I open the coop. I feel bad taking the eggs from her but there isn't a chance for babies, we don't have roosters. But she is still a good mama and is patient. She just lets us move her around and take the eggs. So sweet!


Going to spend some time with the family, my favorite part of the day!!!!

New bunnies

There they are all cuddled up together!! There are 7 of them. In this photo you pretty much are looking at their little ears. They are so cute!! And jumpy, lol. They jump in your hands even, so precious.

I read Peggy's response and I KNOW she knows what she is talking about so I am going to hold them every day. Mrs. Bunny did really good this time and Brad was even back there with me. He took this picture of me holding one. I really want them to be more friendly then Mr. and Mrs. They are both good rabbits but they do not like being held. They are like most cats and want you to pet them but NOT pick them up.

This one here fell asleep in my hands. He snuggled right in and was as still as could be.

We are all soooo excited about these babies. The girls came home and went through the front door strait out the backdoor. What a great experience!!

The girls had their awards day ceremony today and both girls did really good!! I couldn't be more proud of them. Summer break will begin officially on Friday at 10:15!!!! We can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Animal Grandma!!

Well... Today is the day!!! Mrs. Bunny had her babies!!!! I am not sure how many but they were squeaking and moving around. All looks well. She had pulled her fur and it was all on top and they were nestled in the hay. I was sort of afraid to handle them as to not aggravate her. She did really well until one started squeaking, hehe. She was a good mama and came right away to see what I was doing. I let her smell my hands to let her know I wasn't hurting or stealing her babies. She sure was sniffing them. I will take pictures and post them pretty soon!! The girls will be so excited!!

I wanted to share a fun website with you all. It is upchucky.com I received a forward email with different years to click on. When I clicked on 1977, the top 20 songs for that year played. It was so fun to listen to them! When you go to the website the years are on the right hand side under the music room. Enjoy...