Is it really the third week in June already???!!

I can't believe how fast time is flying by!  Ariel has been here for almost a month.... and will be gone in 5 weeks.  Summer is going too fast!

We haven't been able to float or swim in the Spring River this year.  There is an e. coli notice, and all the public swimming places are closed.  We've had so much heavy rain. I guess the runoff from the farms and such (or some dasterdly town's sewage treatment facility leaked).  Anyway, we've been hoping to go floating with our friend Gena Stout.  We're scheduled to go float on Saturday, June 27th.  I hope we can.  Here's a picture from last year's floating adventure.

That was a fun day!  April, Karna, me, Gena and Beth.  Ariel is in front.

Summer projects around the homestead are finally getting started.  With all the rain, we haven't been able to work on the workshop roof.  Or the slab for the carport we ordered.  Or the siding on the addition we finished last fall.

The carport slab is supposed to start today.  This will mean big trucks, gravel, a cement truck.  I think I'll keep the dogs inside today...  The don't need to be in the way out there.  That's just a recipe for trouble.

Chickens.  I lost another bantam hen last week.  I think a snake killed her.  She didn't have a mark on her, she was just lying dead in the nest area.  That makes me sad.  She was a nice hen.

We moved the Rhode Island Red hens into the smaller section of the chicken enclosure.  I suspect they are eating the other hen's eggs.  Or maybe the rooster Hexter is the culprit.  We've gotten 1 egg each day from them... and the Brahma Cochin hen's egg was broken, and she's still in the larger portion of the enclosure.

Either way... I need the rooster.  I want to hatch out chicks.  I would prefer that he NOT eat eggs though.

I'm going to have to decide how to divide and contain our 10 bantam chicks.  And  the 3 RIR cross chicks.  Those 3 chicks will be getting to big for their cage soon.  I'm thinking I will put them in where the bantam rooster, Ashe, is.  He's alone in that cage since the hen died.  He will go in the enclosure with the 2 RIR hens.  Once those chicks are large enough I can put them in the main enclosure. 

Exactly how I accommodate the bantam chicks is still up in the air.  They're alright for now.  They're 3 weeks younger than the RIR cross chicks, so I still have some time to work that out.

I finished knitting an alpaca shawl, I'm very pleased with the way it came out.

Summer fun in the making

My son Joshua and I traveled to Ellijay, GA to pick up my granddaughter Ariel.  The trip there and back were uneventful (which is how I like my driving adventures).  We had a good time visiting with my daughter Tammy (Ariel's mom) and her partner Ricky, and Pete the wonder dog.  Tammy and Josh's mom Margaret spent some time with us.  That was good, because Josh hasn't seen her in a year.  We had a nice seafood meal.  Crab and shrimp.  Yummy.

We're back home in Williford now.  We had some more bantam chicks hatch out while we were gone.  I was talking to my hubby John one night on the phone and he told me "your banty hens sprouted extra legs today.  One has 8 legs and the other 10"..  And I was totally baffled by this!  "WHAT"???  "More chicks hatched out Penny."  Duh. 

So now we have 10 bantam chicks, 2 maran/RIR, and 1 cochin/RIR.  I hope they aren't all roosters!

Here's some baby chick pictures to make you smile.

A little bird has built a nest in the dashboard of our golf cart.  Tiny little speckled eggs, 3 I believe.

Ariel, Cricket and I walked down to the spring yesterday.  It rained quite heavily a few days ago.  Now we have a large oak tree down over our lane.

Our good friend, Joe Barnett and his son Matt, also cut down a dead and leaning hickory tree for us.  It was beginning to threaten our workshop.  They also brought us 2 nice cedar logs.  I see lumber and firewood in our future.