And then the chicken said....

whatchutalkin'boutwillis?

Well, it was inevitable......

Okay, I realize that anyone who has known me for a really long time is probably thinking I have gone completely crazy. Where did the Mall Rat Teresa go? Long fingernails and makeup??? Cute sporty little car (sigh). Honestly most of those went to the wayside after having kids (and maturing some too). I was on the phone with my Mom last night trying to remember if/what I used to say about when I moved to the country. Was I just going to get chickens? Was it going to be chickens and goats? Can't remember.

On Wednesday I answered an ad on Craigslist for baby Nigerian Dwarf does (that's girls to you city slickers - LOL!). They were available to reserve as they won't be weaned and ready to leave their Mama until the end of April. EUREKA! We can be ready for goats by the end of April, right?! Well, we'd better be because 2 of these babies are coming home with us!

The little white one on the left is ours.

The buff one on the top of the wooden thing (I'm sure there is a techincal country term for it, but I don't know what...) is also ours. Some other people came to look at the babies while we were there, which put me right into decision mode......
Here are 2 of my brood of 3. Maren is on the outside of the fence because as soon as we walked into the pen the babies all stood up on us. The one in front of Teagan liked hair and chewed holes in my new Banana Republic shirt..... Hey, I can't *look* like a country girl. I knew full well that going to look at goat kids (that's baby goats for you city peeps) wearing ballet flats and my new shirt were potentially dangerous. I don't get out as much as I used to......

Ummm... look at that face on the one looking at the camera!!! I wanted her too, but she was already spoken for. I'm going to call the guy who has them today to see if/who the people after us took. I would hate for there to be just 1 left or something.....

I imagine you're all on the edges of your seats...

awaiting the latest news from Green Acres. Truth be told, that it is a lot of work being a chicken farmer. LOL! With daylight savings starting (or is it ending?) it seems like before I know it, it's 6:00 and I haven't even given dinner a thought. The kids have been inching their bedtimes later and I've been inching mine earlier. Ultimately I hit the hay right after turning their lights out. Early to bed, early to rise on the farm.

I promised to add the pictures of Declan reading on the local radio station for Dr. Seuss's birthday. He read, "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." The girls and I wandered around Georgetown and I bought a "Pasty" from a little shop there. I was looking forward to eating it for dinner for that night as Greg was out of town. Otis got it while I dropped Declan back off at school (in under 43 seconds). That was officially Otis's last ride in *my* car.

On to the topic of Otis... He has had separation anxiety since we moved to the new house, and I have been unable to leave him home. At all. When we did, he chewed the door trim on the laundry room door. The next time we didn't confine him, and he chewed the frame on the front door. So, I have been rarely leaving the house and when I did, I brought him. That all changed when we got Jack Jack (yes, I guess we're keeping him named that). Now the boys stay in a nice big dog run in the barn. Yay! Now I am no longer captive at my house. But believe me, going anywhere with 3 kids in tow is enough to diminish most thoughts of going anywhere. At least it's not 3 kids and a DOG.

The chickens are approaching teenage-hood. They are amusing to say the least. I'll hear some big crash in the cage and go to see what is happening, when I get there, they are all 4 standing there looking at me like, 'what?' They are feathered piranha's though, eating anything they can get in their beaks. I kept feeling like 4 wasn't going to be enough chickens so last week I went and bought 4 one day old peeps. Yes, now the proud Mom of 3 kids, 2 dogs and 8 chickens. What the hell happened to me? We're going to wait on the goats.....

This past weekend I turned old. I think I'll be 37 and holding for awhile. We had nice weather, which is good because now that I'm old, stuff hurts when it's damp out. I'm going to continue to work on my planter beds out front and enjoy the weather for as long as it holds. The added excitement is to be on the lookout for baby rattlesnakes. Apparently they like the nice springlike weather too. I'm going to have to get good with the shovel, unless anyone has a better suggestion that does not involve relocating them.

We went out for lunch and Greg made Maren some custom Bendaroo jewelry.

I've got to get running to Take D for his allergy shots. Thanks for stopping by!

Updates from the "farm"

Meet Jack Jack. A 16 week old Australian Shepherd/German Shepherd mix. Guardian of all things to eat. He patrols the kitchen in search of anything potentially tasty.

Greg got a quad last week, to help with the chores around here, and to run 4x Ote's wheels off. Otis runs along side the quad, like he is grateful for finding something he actually has to get his gallop on to keep up with! In this picture Greg is giving Maren a ride on the quad, with Declan and Teagan running behind. Jack Jack was bushed and taking a nap inside. Turns out he quite the napper. If I were a kid or a puppy, I'm pretty sure I'd love growing up here!
The kids wanted to have a 'show' so we drew on their faces and they had a BLAST! The girls are cats and Declan is a dog.

Maren is giving me a very authentic growl here. Ohhhh, scary!

When the weather is nice, we put the Ladies out on the back porch. I did clean up the coop last week and put the 2 Welsummers (brown ones) out there. They pecked and scratched around, but then one of then squeezed out of the wire and so the fun had to come back into the cage. I'm just not ready to free range my little checks yet. There are a lot of hawks around here, and I'm not in the buffet business......

They are real characters! The Marans are more timid, but coming around. They all love to see me coming! Treat lady!!! They have started to jump to get the bread I'm holding, or to jump at each other. I let them roam around the laundry room and they chirp at me to let them out.

Yes, I know you are laughing.

Here is Opal (or is it Pearl?), giving me the eye. Whatcha got for me lady??

I've got some pictures of Declan reading on the local Georgetown radio station for 'Read Across America' in honor of Dr. Suess's birthday yesterday. I'll have to do that in another post since it's lunch time and the girls are playing wild in the house.

The Maren Get-up.

Maren has been wanting to wear this princess dress every day this week. She starts stripping down and wants to get into right away. She wears it with a headband and Teagan's Cinderella blinking shoes, she even comes down the wood stairs wearing them - yikes!

Oh, and for the record, Maren *loves* the chickens. She checks in on them several times a day and wants to hold them. The ladies are so fun to watch too, they love to come out of the dog cage and run around in the laundry room. Maren will sit down with a towel on her lap so she can 'hold' one... turns out the country life might be for her after all!

You might be a red neck....

if you have chickens living in your laundry room, and you enjoy it!

Okay, finally...

I never did find the USB cable to my big camera, but I've taken several pictures with the little camera I keep in my purse. While I was at scrap camp a few weeks ago, I was on the hunt for little plastic floss boxes to make treats for the kids for Valentine's Day. I found them at Walmart at the last possible moment and then stayed up until 11:00 the night before making these for the kids. I got the idea from Jana Eubank. I think they turned out soooo cute!

The girls each got a ZhuZhu pet and Declan got a cap gun.

We made Declan's Valentine's for his class and they turned out cute, but they are on the other camera. I'll post them as soon as I find the cable.... =)

The *big* news around here is that we got 4 CHICKENS!!! "The Girl's" are 4 week old pullets. 'Opal' and 'Pearl' are French Black Copper Marans (black) and 'Ethyl' and 'Myrtle' are Welsummers (brown). Both will lay brown eggs. We will be working on sprucing up the coop over the next few weekends as they are too little to go out in the coop yet. Right now they are in a dog cage in our laundry room.

Teagan and Maren played outside yesterday afternoon, and 'the girl's' came out on the back deck to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air.

I found a really neat website for backyard chickens, where I've found out all kinds of useful info. Next we will work on the fencing and get goats! Maybe a sheep too?

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the work we've done outside around the house. We had some very spring-like weather last week and we were outside as much as possible. Greg cut down a large shrub/tree that was blocking the view from the kitchen nook window. Next we took out the bushes that were along the back deck and sidewalk.

I started working on the planters out front. There was nasty landscape paper that all the weeds were growing on, so that has to come out. There are also some rather pathetic rose bushes, haven't decided if they will stay or go yet. I won't have to worry about right now though, as we are going to be getting rain again this week.

Thanks for looking, and I'll continue to look for the USB cable....