Be excited friends and family... very excited. I used my gift certificate from my awesome husband to buy (most of) a new camera; since somebody (who shall remain unnamed) broke my old camera :( So, Grammy, I have not been ignoring you, I just haven't taken the time to figure out how to download pictures from my phone to the computer, and they aren't as good as my new point and shoot anyway!
Since a lot has happened since my last post (including a very short visit from Daddy), I'm just going to stick to the house projects that we have done. "We" really means "I", but I figured I should have some humility *wink*.
First picture is of Smaug, we are headed out to feed the animals for the night. Please notice our brand new dirt. During January, we had the privilege of spending a lot of time with our plumber... replacing our well pump, and then the dozer tank to our septic system (he got an education when a natural spring popped up right where we didn't want it), and then crazy ants (they exist, google it) cutting off power to our new pump (again, another lesson... J says, he should be paying us for all the schooling he has been getting)! Anyway, we will be adding more dirt in later, and maybe some grass seeds, but for now, it's just dirt.
Isn't Smaug cute? We have been having a few warm days (after an abnormally cold Florida winter)... however, Smaug still thinks that he should wear "Me Hat" when we got out to take care of the critters. Right after I took this pictures he stopped, said "Me Boots", turned around and headed back in for the things. When he came back out, he had on TW's right boot and Mr. E's right boot... his are missing (apparently).
I just liked this scene when I walked up on it :)
This is Suzy Q, I call her Suze or Black-Eyed Susan. Sorry Grammy, she came with that name :) She is our new milking goat... her mama was a Nubian and her papa was a Saanen. She is very loving and gentle, even if she has a tendency to kick once she runs out of food (I try to make sure she is well stocked come milking time). All the kids enjoy trying to milk her, but the kiddo in the photo is the best at it ;)
Since I was outside, I took a picture of this crew. The white chicken in the forefront is Rooster Sam... he was given to us. He likes the ladies. He does not crow very often. He likes the ladies. He likes to peck toes. He likes the ladies. He belongs to TW.
Since we had so much rain in January and it was so abnormally cold, I discovered that we needed another wall in the goats stall, to act as an insulator and to keep the straw a bit drier. So, I built a partial wall. I want a half door put in "and stuff", so before I ripped down another piece of wall board, I decided to wait for J's return. There were some arguments with the already-there-wall and the screwdriver during the assembly process. In the end, I decided to follow J's philosophy... when in doubt, add more screws!
We also, built our very first garden boxes... they are enclosed in the pool area. Wouldn't you know it, right after we planted the lettuce, someone left the chicken gate open (yes, they can fly over the gate, but when it's closed, they seem to respect the barrier), and both pool gates open. The silly Chick Chick's came in (four of them, wearing all black, clucking Mission Impossible theme music) and ate the leaves. I realized quickly that I needed to build covers... So far, we have some bibb lettuce, a lot of onions, some potatoes and some carrots. We picked up supplies for more boxes today. For the record, I have a brown thumb... so we will see how this goes.
Way back in early January, I painted the dining room, painted the molding, replaced all the electrical outlets and put up a chair rail (which, shhh, is about 1 inch lower than where my chairs hit... I did measure!). J will scrape the ceilings, replace the lighting and then paint the ceilings next winter (or whenever).
The first picture is more the right color... this picture makes it look neon :)
Oh, and we got our new baby chicks. We lost a lot pretty quickly. The hatchery thinks they might have gotten a chill during shipping. I was paranoid after they mentioned "chill" and brought the chickens inside in a big tub. Smaug, over loved a chick one morning, it passed on within 5 minutes (sad face). We headed to the feed store shortly thereafter and picked up this rabbit hutch (No, TW, we are not getting a rabbit)... We have not lost a chick since... but my house has the aroma of stinky old dog, stinky old dog pee (I need to find wherever that accident was and attack it), and chicken poo. Sorry Sister, when you visit, just plug your nose!
Well, I think that about covers it. Maybe now that I have a camera, I will be more faithful in the blogging!
P.S. My editor is out of the country (literally), so please accept my grammar/homonym/tense/spelling, etc. errors as another sign of my vast humility... plus, we are only up to third grade grammar, I'm still learning :)
In Other News: TW has had a low fever today, so we watched two movies while I worked on my newest project. And now S has curled up on the floor beside me and is snoring... hmm, I wonder if he has "it" too!
