Baby Eggs

Our Baby Chickens, from Easter, are no longer babies!!

Here you can see the head of Lacey (red colored), most of Maran (black with white) and Dini (white) around the "water cooler" trading the gossip and Lacey bragging that she has been the first of the new girls to lay an egg!! A whole month earlier than I expected!
















It was quickly (the next day) followed by another. The one on the right is actually the 1st egg. It was SO cute and tiny. It was about 1 inch. The one on the left is the next day (or someone else's)














The picture below is of the two baby eggs with a Scarlett Pink egg (freshly washed so it still looks wet in places) between them so you can see the size difference.
















The new eggs are a really dark brown. I can't wait to see Maran's eggs as she is the "Chocolate Egg" layer...and the comets look pretty close to chocolate already! The four babies, Arica, Buffy, and Scarlett are all producing now so we get, on average, about 4-6 eggs a day now. Muffy is starting her molt so we aren't getting much from her, and we still have 3 babies that have yet to start laying. I'm hoping the white chickens will lay white eggs, just to add more colors to the egg boxes!

Now we are looking for another Americauna, so we can have a dozen chickens and get more green eggs. They are the favorite of the household, and of our egg customer's kids. Arica just can't keep up!

And as a teaser....I found something neat on Craigslist that is going to expand the homestead yet again.....more on that soon!

Peaches!!! YUM!

Nothing says summer like PEACHES!!














I got about 25 pounds of peaches and after we all ate about 5 pounds of them...



















It was time to start canning.














I had both yellow and white peaches and I think it made the jars look really neat.














We ended up with 7 pints of canned peaches in light syrup, and 8 jars (1/2 pints) of jelly. And this time I remembered to turn them right side up so they don't defy gravity like the strawberries!!














Onto the raspberries! And tomatoes...and peppers...and pears....and apples....oh and still more green beans!!

Back to Blogging....

Alright...I hope you are ready! I am hoping to do a better job at this. Tonight is not very busy at work, and I actually have my camera, and the "tail" so I will (hopefully) be getting caught up. And be sure to check further back because I will add pictures to the posts that needed them.

On your mark...

Get set...

GO














This is one of the "baby" chickens!

The weekend of endless Green beans!

So on Friday, the BOY and I drove up to Galion to someone's place that was selling bushels of beans. I went with the intention of getting 1 maybe two bushels to can/freeze. When we got there the man told me that they were going to pull up the beans and if I just wanted to bag up the bushes and take them home I could have everything on them. So, thinking this was a good idea, this is what we did. We couldn't see out the back windows of the Versa on the way home as we had 7 trash bags full of bean plants.

After spending the rest of the day on Saturday pulling of about 70% of the beans from the bushes, we ended up with this....














About 55 pounds of green beans (17 gallons). Then they all needed to be snapped / cleaned and the ones that were a bit "long in the tooth" we are shelling for "shelly beans". Like a bean that you use for chili and such, just it cooks in about 20 minutes instead of two hours.

Here the BOY is helping snap the beans.














We gave all the bushes to the girls to play with and eat the beans. They really had fun with it for a few hours and the coop looked like a jungle!



Here's the BOY petting Raindrop.













Now still after snapping and shelling 3 hours Saturday night and 2 hours on Sunday afternoon....this is the amount left to do....so what do you think I'll be doing today??

RIP Ms. Judy

Sadly, over the weekend, Ms Judy disappeared from the coop. We've been having a problem with raccoons, so I'm thinking they had a nice chicken dinner.

Man has now started his quest with a trap! No one gets a chicken dinner before him!

Ms. Judy Sunning herself with Arica:

State of the Garden Address....

I know, I know...I'm late! But only by a day (maybe almost two if I don't get this typed fast) The address was on the agenda for the 5th...

The garden is doing very well...surprisingly. Not as well as Dad's but he got his in two/three weeks before ours and loves miracle grow.

All four tomatoes have fruit. We should be able to enjoy some of the cherry tomatoes in the next week or so.

3 baby zuchinis...which is amazing as I always plant it and everyone else that does has zucs coming out their ears and I don't get any to set. This year may be a change.

We have shelling peas that will need to be picked today. And the limas are climbing everywhere. I planted corn for them to grown up (not so much for the actual corn, but as living trellis) but the corn is past knee high, so who knows we may actually get some. The green beans and wax bean patch (The BOY did all the work on this bed) is doing GREAT and we have 1 inch beans the size of string.

Carrots, onions are doing alright...radishes, lettuce and spinach did not...the seed was old, so it was a chance.

I picked up some 1/2 price brussel sprouts and acorn squash at the nursery and it is in. The squash and cantaloup (we call it "did-elope" as we did!) are flowering. The cucumbers/pickles have TONS of flowers and a few that are gerkin sized.

We have a voluntary pumpkin patch from where the chickens wintered and had harvest pumpkins to eat in November. Also we have about 8 voluntary tomatoes. They are growing just not very fast as it's not a very sunny spot.

We are getting raspberries out of the patch planted last spring, strawberries are pretty much done now. We got one bowl full.

I will get the pictures posted soon!

Happy 4th of July

With the way our government is right now, I don't feel like this is much of an Independence Day, but it's a great day for parades, picnics and fireworks!

The BOY and I rode our bikes from home over the dam to downtown...6 miles. Yes, cudos all around...and then after the parade, rode the 6 miles back home...hot...and mostly uphill. There's where the kudos should be! We did it!





















Then Mom and Dad came over for an indoor picnic (it was raining!). Followed by fun on the driveway including sparklers, pop-its, and watermelon.

Then off to my work to sit in the parking lot for front row seats to the local fireworks! It was a great spot!!! Until the 45 mins to 1 hour to get OUT of the parking lot.

Happy 4th of July to YOU!

back to work...

Yup...I'm back... I was so nervous. I didn't need to be, it's like I never left. Except the new faces that think that I am new. :)

I'm still trying to get things done at the house, too. We've powerwashed the deck. And, had concrete work done to try to stop the water into the garage. The new garage door has been ordered. And MAN had someone come to get the logs that we've been wanting to get milled out of the front yard. It will keep some family warm this winter. There are still quite a few that need cut up, but they are not right in front of the door so it's not as urgent.

I found a house that I like that is at the top of our price range, but with the way the market is, we can't make an offer until we have an offer on ours. We're up to 24 showings so far. Yeah!!

T minus 6 days.....

6 days before I rejoin the workforce and become a productive worker. *snort, giggle* No really. I am planning on working hard when I get back...but that would imply that I am not working hard now...wouldn't it?!

So we ended up with 5 showings on Thursday instead of 4. 1 on Friday, 1 on Saturday. But we haven't heard ANYTHING yet.

Today I put my schedule into overdrive...I have so much I want to get done in the next 6 days. It doesn't sound like much but I worked all day on the Boy's room. He has the huge storage closet that runs the length of his room and a step up. It's our "attic" storage. It was FULL! I took the crib and changing table out for the yard sale and it's been in the shed while I waited for a serious flake to come pick it up. Finally I reposted it on Craigslist last night and a guy that works for Rolls Royce came by this morning and bought it and the dresser (so of course I'm frantically tossing all of the Boy's clothes OUT of the dresser as he was on his way! So since MAN is working on building his first dresser for a customer and BOYs is next, I had to find a place for all that stuff and all the jazz in the closet. I ended up spending almost 8 hours in his room today!

Then I went to pick up a computer I bought for him on Craigslist (I haven't mentioned in a while how much I heart Craigslist...) It was a screaming deal $50!!! And it has XP! WOOHOO! Came with the monitor, mouse, keyboard too. Plus, he gave me another one for FREE. He said "give this one for the kid. You keep the other!" So maybe I will be able to upload pictures soon!!! (If not on the new computer, then maybe when I get back to...no...I will be a good productive employee!)

The I planted 3 more plants in my Mother's Day Topsy Turvy. We now have 3 tomatoes, 1 green pepper (sorry, cole! Need it for salsa) Cilantro, and Parsley. Also, the funnest thing happened...where we wintered the chickens has become a voluntary garden! All winter we dumped straw and sawdust in to keep their feet dry. I also feed them pumpkins from harvest time. And leftovers. We have about 12 voluntary tomato plants, and about that many pumpkin plants. And they are doing great. I put one tomato in the Turvy. And put 3 into pots (so if we move we can take them along) and I planted one pumpking into a pot.

The BOY and I moved two bales of straw from winter over to the potato patch. We got 3 eggs today. The peas have blossoms, and we have two huge Zucchini plants. We've been nibbling the strawberries and raspberries as they've been getting ripe, but don't have enough to "do" anything with them.

I cleaned the oven and put up new curtains in the downstairs bathroom. With all the showings, this is the longest our house has been this clean. Oh, had I told you that after my massive yard sale (the best one I've EVER had) I had to buy a vaccum. Yeah. I killed the other one...decisively! Ping POW..something broke on the...umm..man told me what it was. Oh well. So I have a new one that everyone "fights" to use, which considering we have been showing on a daily basis...it's already well used.

What else, went to the grocery store. I will be running out in the morning to pick up about 500 square feet of sod from a guy from...say it together...Craigslist. I just got off the phone with him. Another out of control deal! Oh, and I'm picking up training wheels from a lady on Freecycle. Why training wheels you ask...we're going to put wheels on the coop to make it move easier!

List for tomorrow:
Powerwash deck and table. (DONE)
Powerwash front patio.
Stain deck.
Lay sod. (DONE)
Weed strawberry garden. (DONE)
Weed BOY garden (Flower garden with a statue someone gave us of a little boy, when BOY was born) (DONE)
Weed raspberry patch. (1/2 DONE)

And we are having a few guys out to grind out the end of the drive near the garage and put in drainage. Yes after 7 years of the garage flooding every time it rained..and making MAN crazy, it's finally going to get done. AND we have to get the garage door replaced. The garage door opener popped the center board of our rickety door off.

Pictures of BOY Powerwashing the deck!

Oh my....

So yesterday was wonderful! I reconnected with an old friend I hadn't talked to in a few years (!) and just as I thought, it was like the time had not even passed! Happy Birthday, girl!

No showings yesterday....one today that ended up rescheduling for tomorrow (blessing as I have a migraine) but the phone is just ringing off the hook! We actually have FOUR showings tomorrow!!! And one on Friday. Man and Boy will be going to Cleveland on Friday (and then Amish country) to do a delivery and Amish country to 1-Meet with our wood supplier 2- buy GOOD cheese 3-Go to Lehmans, the best store for folks like us trying to get back to basics. They're going to bring me a catalog!

Say a prayer for one of the lookers to become a buyer!

House Showings!

So we listed the house with Judy Gang, our realtor (the family realtor, really-she's helped my parents buy/sell multiple houses, helped us buy this one) on Friday afternoon. By Sunday morning we had a showing. Then another on Monday (that ended up changing their mind....after I ran around vaccuming and basically stash n dash). But it ended up being for the good, as the folks that came on Sunday came again for another showing last evening. Their kids played with Zachary and they looked for over an hour and then we chatted with them until the misquitos ended up driving everyone away.

We really like these folks and can picture them loving this house like we have. The man works with a contract group that supports the printers at MY work. And the wife works at the building right in front of mine. They have two wonderful twin boys that are about Zachary's age. So we have sent up prayers that we may get another--more reasonable--offer. She wants to live in the country, him the city..so this is a good compromise. Pray please!

well..

We did get an offer...a ridiculous offer! Basically $3000 less than what we still owe on it AND they want us to pay all the closing costs, etc. So we will be listing the house with Judy Gang today...and going on with the search.

What's gone on...

I can't believe I haven't posted yet in June...so much has already gone on! Let's see.

I joined Urban Active and have taken my first aquacize class. It went very well. And I really did work. My calves hurt for 4 days afterwards! Class again today.

Curriculum sale went well! I only bought $3.50 worth of stuff and sold about 1/3 of my stuff. (and gave a bunch away). So I came back with half. And was able to return all the dishes from the wonderful ladies that fed me and my family while I was laid up.

My sister is doing well. Still in pain, but recovering. I'll be running over to her house tomorrow to check on her. My grandma, however, just went into the hospital. SO I will need to run out to Riverside again to see what's going on with all that.

Man, Boy and I built a new tractor for the babies. The chickies are doing well and getting BIG!

Well, I FINALLY had my yard sale on Friday and Saturday! The only two days it didn't rain! And it was GORGEOUS out! Not too hot, not too cool, very sunny and low humidity! OK, I realize...too many !!!! But it went really well and I can't help it!!! It's my first yard sale that actually made $$$ The church about a half mile from us was having a huge rummage sale and tons of people were going to it, and saw my signs. Man made money, Boy had a cookie and pop stand and made money. I made money. WOW! About 1/2 the stuff left. I even put out the crib and changing table. A big step for me....admitting that there likely won't be another baby to put in it. It didn't sell at the sale, but since then I have been contacted by a girl who wants to buy it. I've also sold some of my curriculum since the sale ended! I took 5 boxes and 2 bags (including ALL my Mary Kay bags-another biggie!) to charity. I have 3 boxes to take to Once Upon a Child. And tons of curriculum that I am still slowly selling through Homeschoolclassified.com. And I put out a bunch of Scrapbooking stuff. I did sell a little bit of it, but ended up packing it back up. I don't have the heart to just "get rid of it". Maybe next time.

Oh, and I showed Man's beds to two families during the sale, and one of them placed an order yesterday. OH, and during the sale on Friday I was contacted by a realtor that wanted to show the house on Saturday to a couple from Cincinnati. So Friday night, I spent trying to put the house back together. I think the showing went well, as yesterday (Monday) they drove back up to see it again. Prayers going up, fingers crossed, etc. Their house is already sold, so they have to move fairly quickly. The realtor said it was between our house and one other. I hope they chose ours...but then we will have to move fairly quick and we still haven't found a place to move. God will provide. I had been praying that we would be moved before I had to go back to work....I go back to work in 17 days. So....

The garden is doing really well, I was going to do a "state of the garden" address on the 10th, but the garden may not get harvested by us!

Here's praying the house sells today....I'll keep you updated...then I might be having a MOVING sale!