Random babbling

Whew!  What a couple of days.  Yesterday I left home at 635 am (my usual) and didn't get home until after 8 pm.  Blah.  I had to serve at a soup supper.  It was fun but tiring.  Today, work was just brutal and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow since we had lots of discharges- leaving many empty beds which usually means a whole bunch of new referrals.

But, J16 finished her trial run dress last night and wore it to school today.  In order to meet school dress codes she had to wear something under it but you can get the idea:

 Her actual prom dress will be in black satin with the contrasting band at the top in an eye-popping red brocade.  It should be great. (and, can you tell by looking at her pink nose and cheeks that the pollen count is up ?)
And, thank goodness for southerly winds today:

Our dairy neighbor to the North/West is cleaning out his barns after the winter and spreading the deep bedding/manure on the pasture just to the North of us. While I don't normally mind the scent of cow manure, it's a bit intense. There is manure spread only 30 yards from the house.  I'm glad it's raining lightly now so it may settle into the grass a bit more.  I'm also glad he didn't spread it on the slope yet or it would be washing down into the creek.  But, I must say, I'm pleased that he is using sustainable methods.  He harvests multiple cuttings of hay off this field every summer so it's nice to see those nutrients going back to the soil to continue the cycle.  Much, much better than chemical fertilizer!  Some day I'm going to have to try to have a chat with him.

And it is finally beginning to feel like spring.  Oh, we have another month or so before the last frost but the temps have been warmer.  I'm planning to set my little cabbages, kale, broccoli and cauliflower plants out on the porch soon to begin hardening of before planting them out.  Also on my list for the next few days is transplanting all my little tomatoes.  The peppers are growing more slowly and I should be able to wait a bit more for them but the tomato and eggplant seedlings are getting desperate.

Tomorrow night, J16, V and I will be going to the opening reception at the Chait Galleries for the Next Generation Juried Art Show.  J16 is one of 65 young artists from the area featured.  If you're in the area, stop in sometime to see the show.  It runs at the gallery until May 6th. There should be some excellent art there.  J16 is one of 14 students from City High.  The art will all be judged by a panel of gallery owners and the top artist gets a $350 prize.  There are also several other $100 winners.  All of the art will then be  offered for sale with the students getting half of the proceeds.  It's a great way for young artists to get started and we're quite proud of her.

The chicks continue to grow.  Soon we will need to put the hardware cloth on the outside of the dog kennel so we can take them out of the cardboard box they're in.  They seem to think they need to try out their new wing feathers and I'm afraid one of them will make it out of the box and not be able to get back in.  Not only would they be without food and water but they would be an easy mark for Spaz who continues to be fascinated by them and seems to think they are tasty morsels meant just for him.

V got news this afternoon that his Aunt Yvonne has died.  She has been battling cancer for 10 years and we thought she was doing well but it evidently spread to her bones and moved quickly.  He isn't sure yet if he will be going out to PA for the funeral and to see his mom and sisters.  He would like to but he is feeling so stressed with deadlines for work.  And he has to have all the images for his book ready by the end of the month.  EEK!

Now, I've gotta go.  I've got 50 things on my list and only time for 20 tonight.

Two in one night

It isn't finished and she had to hold it together in the back because she doesn't have the zipper in yet.  Or the contrasting band on the top.  But here it is.  Not the best picture.  There are tiny quarter inch tucks in the bodice front.  The pattern is strapless but for everyday wear she will be adding straps.  It has a full circle skirt so it twirls.

And if you couldn't tell from the grin on her face- she is quite pleased with herself!

Meet the chicks

 I thought I'd share some new photos of the girls.
First:  Micah, our Barred Rock

Next up comes Buffy, the Buff Orpington:  She is the friendliest and likes being held.

 Then, our biggest chick:  Claudia- a mystery breed.  They were labeled as 'Rainbow Layers'  I'm thinking maybe an Easter Egger??

 Last and smallest but definitely the most adventurous:  Eddie   She is also a mystery breed rainbow layer.

Eddie doesn't have the chipmunk stripe down her back as Claudia does but she has a little dark streak down her head and a darker patch on her back.  But it does look like her feathers are coming in a buff color.

Chick Wisdom and other stuff

Chicken Wisdom #1:  Boxelder bugs crawling on the floor of the brooder box are fair game/prey. Boxelder bugs flying are scary things that you need to run away from! So says Buffy.
The chicks are lots of fun to watch.  They are growing quickly and are much more active and noisy this evening.  Their wings are feathering out nicely and they are just starting to get little tails.  Too cute.  I could spend lots of time watching them but I've got other things to do.
J16 is working diligently on her mock-up dress before she starts the real thing.  For the trial run, she chose a beautiful tan/cream/brown batik cotton with a darker brown for the contrasting band.  She is learning lots about clipping curves on the fitted bodice.  And it's a good thing I insisted on trying the pattern first.  It is an old pattern from the early 80's (it was the pattern used for one the bridesmaids dresses for one of my sister's weddings) and sizes aren't exactly the same now as they were then.  She discovered that to get this fitted dress to fit that she needs to take only 1/2 inch seams rather than the usual 5/8.  Ripping seams on cotton is seems much more forgiving than on black satin.
She also discovered that JoAnn Fabrics (where we got her fabrics) is having a sew your own prom dress contest.  She's hoping to enter.  The grand prize is $50,000.  She has to make the dress and one accessory. Not too bad.  They finally announced the date for prom so she has her deadline. May 7.  But it will be a busy month until then.  She has lots and lots of irons in the fire right now... but she's young.

Wonderful Weekend

 What a whirlwind weekend it was.  Between chicks and birthdays!
Today the children and I drove to my parent's farm to help celebrate my mother's 80th birthday.  My brother and SIL were also in attendance. We joined them for church this morning and then all went out to lunch

Of course, K11 has to ham it up for the camera.  sigh.  We went to a wonderful restaurant about 20 miles from my parent's home.  The Bonaparte Retreat.  It is located in the ground floor of an old grist mill right along the Des Moines River in a historic village.

 The food was plain but good and very reasonably priced.  We all had a good time.  Then we went back to my parent's for the afternoon.
You would think that at their ages they would start slowing down.  But they have been busy.

 Two trees that they have cut down recently.  A maple and a walnut- both old and damaged.  The maple was my favorite.  It was hollow in the middle and check out the way the trunk tried to heal itself:

 That is SO cool!!   The children had fun poking around all the hollow logs.

We even brought a section home with us (the big one in the middle) to use as a 'chicken toy' when we finally get the coop and run built.  Something for the hens to climb on and through and peck at.
The 4 new girls are doing well and growing quickly. And my parents were actually pleased to hear that we are going to be having/have chickens.
Now, I've got to get this posted- we have a huge storm coming right this way.  Stay safe and dry out there in this wacky weather.

She's a bad influence!

I had today off since I worked last Saturday.  So, among other things, V and I were off running errands.  We stopped at one farm store (a new one that we haven't been to yet) and picked up a few things for the chicks we're expecting.  V was fascinated by the ducklings so maybe we can add a few of those in the future.

We stopped at Jim's house to help him figure out where to put his garden. He bought his house last fall and is a newbie gardener this year.  Hurrah!   I also helped him identify the crocus, tulips and daffodils coming up in his flower bed.

Later, I took J16 off to the fabric store.  She is making her prom dress herself this year and I wanted her to do a trial run on fabric other than the really pretty stuff we got for her dress.  We stopped at the grocery store and while we were on that side of town, we stopped at the other farm store as they are having a sale on chick starter feed this week.

J16 is a bad influence....  look what we did....

 Only 4!  One Buff Orpington (henceforth known as Buffy), one Barred Rock (Micah) and two "rainbow layers" in other words- an assortment.  The one with the stripe is now Claudia and the other one is Edina (or Eddie).
We had all the supplies but didn't have the dog kennel set up yet.  V wasn't too happy with us as we didn't have things set up but it took about 5 minutes to get things ready.   They are still in a box in the middle of the kennel (the kennel is so big I'm afraid they would get lost in it!) and we still need to install the hardware cloth on the outside so kitty paws can't reach them when they are big enough to be out of the box.  So, now, instead of the 8 that we were planning on, we will now have 12.  OOPS!  I did ask at the store about having chicks of different ages (these will be about 4 weeks old when we get our others. She told me there wouldn't be a problem but we should be able to separate them if necessary.
Just so you don't think my entire day was a waste- we did get the cabinets installed in the pantry.  

The drawer base was repurposed from the old island (originally from the basement) and the other was an unfinished cabinet we stained to match.  The cabinet with shelves will hold small appliances like the crockpot, electric skillets and the waffle iron.  And we will probably designate a junk drawer in here.
Now, I've still got bread to bake... but maybe not tonight.  I gotta go look at chicks......

I give up!

I'm done.  Finished.  It's all just too much.  I'm feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.
So, this year, I've decided to forego the garden and buy all our food from Wally world.
The chicks- well, they've been ordered so I can't ignore them but they will make a nice soup when they get bigger.
And bees for next year- who am I kidding.
Maybe I'll even cut down the apple trees and just re-convert all the lawn to grass... mowing is so much easier when you don't have to mow around herb and flower beds.

And in case you hadn't remembered:



Happy April Fool's Day!