Creative

Just so you don't think that I spent my whole summer cleaning garden dirt out from under my fingernails......

Here are just a few new things that were created here at the farm....................... This was our 2nd batch of chickies. Both of these hens took on the job of mothering 4 chicks. Unfortunately both mamas and 2 of the chicks were victims of the noon-time bandit.... a.k.a. coyote.

This was my surprise yesterday!This was my surprise last week. I know you've seen pictures of eggs before. But these are special eggs. They're DUCK eggs!From left to right: Average Lemon, young duck egg, large chicken egg, Americana chicken egg, egg fart.

yes, you read that right. and yes, I know a lemon is not an egg, It's just there for perspective for sizes. A young duck egg is the size of a medium chicken egg. An adult duck egg is the size of the lemon. And on the end is the egg fart. It is really a "missed" egg. It is an egg without a yoke. funny to say....funny to look at....and absolutely useless.

But just so you don't think my critters are the only thing around here being creative.....I made chicken salad.

Actually this is the left overs from my garden after all the cole crops finally bolted. There's lettuce, cabbage and broccoli down there.
Here's my home grown black-eyed peas. It's about the only thing left producing in the garden now, beside cherry tomatoes.

You know, I never really, I mean really, got the concept of hothouse tomatoes. I mean tomatoes grow like crazy and practically anyone can grow them. It's one of the easiest things to grow, really. But this year I finally understood why we have hothouse tomatoes.

Lettuce matures in May/June.

Tomatoes July/August.

I mean, COME ON. How's anyone supposed to have a salad if these things mature in different MONTHS? Someone far wiser than me thought of hothouse tomatoes and I bow down with my dirty fingernail and sunburned head to this genius. Now I need a hothouse.

Huh? What's that?

You say that's still not really my creation?.........

How about THIS....

Before and After.

Just look at the nice sturdy fencing AND a gate surrounding the chicken coop. Not to mention the little duck house attached to the side.

Still not creative enough????

How about this?
Homegrown...Homemade...Home canned Dill pickles. Yummmmmm.

What's that?

You say it still wasn't creative enough?

Wow. Tough crowd.

Ok. Try this one.

A hand crocheted Barbie colored sweater for the Barbie Girl.

Am I getting any closer? Am I creative enough yet?!?

Well, here's what Barbie Girl created.

How creative is that? Huh? Huh?

Figures. I just knew she'd win.

Ups and Downs

The days are finally getting shorter..... and cooler....the chores are getting fewer... and I'm finally starting to find time for myself.

What are these all signs of?

The beginning of SCHOOL!

yes. It's official. As of Aug 16th, Barbie Girl is in 2nd grade. I can finally relax.

I can finally get something DONE again.

I can take some more pictures again.

I can...

I can...

I can BLOG again!

Now, don't get me wrong. Our summer was good. It was full of ups and downs....lots of ups...and lots of downs.

We started our summer with our very first batch of home hatched chickies. We ended up with 15 new babies. UP.

We lost 8 hatching eggs to the rain waters. We flooded pretty bad. DOWN.

Big Dog came to spend a month with us and showed up just in time to see a new batch of eggs hatch. UP.

We drove to Arkansas to pick him up from the airport. DOWN.

We stayed at Grand Country Square in Branson, Mo on the way back home. UP

We spent the next day playing every miniture golf course we could find in Branson. Our own mini PGA gold tournament. UP.

I won the tournament. UP.

We came home to a drowned chickie. DOWN

The Mama and another chickie turned up missing a few days later. DOWN

The other batch of hatching eggs started hatching. 3 new chicks. UP

We took the remaining hatching eggs ( after the mama quit setting them) and put them in our incubator and hoped for the best. We were able to watch 2 chickies hatch out of their shell. It was way KEWL! UP

My garden took off like wildfire. There was veggies coming up everywhere. The kids were able to experience where veggies come from and how to havest them. We had a blast digging up potatos. Everything tasted SO GOOD UP

We had a great time visiting with Big Dog. UP

We did some dight seeing in a near by big City. A big storm came in as we were leaving. We end up side by side with a tornado on our way home. VERY FREAKY. A bolt of lightning struck so close to our truck that we felt the heat from it inside the truck. SCARY!

This was very awesome and freaky so I give it a UP and DOWN.

Big Dog had to go backto So CA. DOWN

We drove to Arkansas again. DOWN

As you can see...Ups and Downs. This was, by no means, all of our summer.

Big Dog moved to Tennessee after he returned to So CA. He started High School Aug 13th.

Barbie Girl tried my last nerves and lost her swimming privileges.

Our male duck Cheeps finally figured out that the white things running around yelling QUACK were girls and suited him better for mating than the chickens.

Cheeps also figured out we have a pond and what to do with it.

A coyote showed up and hung around snatching chickens every afternoon for a week. I lost my favorite hen Lucy. The new Mama and 2 babies another 1st batch chicky and 2 more hens. I hope it choaked on a chicken bone.

R.I.P. Lucy

So, the garden is done. The kids are out of the house. Mama can finally get some rest. and get out and take some more pictures!

See you soon.

V