We've been so busy I can hardly believe it's been more than two months since I had time to sit down at the computer and write anything. With the greening 'o the grass has come a ton of other jobs that just can't wait. The chickens await new nesting boxes, Doug has been busy plowing a couple of acres for a real garden, and we got a new lawnmower...that means losing the guy that took care of our grass cutting last summer. Of course it also means another job for me.
I don't mind cutting grass so much. The mower is a cool zero-turn thing that you drive with stick-like things and is really like a big old go-cart. I can cut everything in a few days with only fifteen minutes or so spent at a time. So really an hour or two is all I need to clear up to do it all at once. But jobs just keep piling up. There is the new kennel leaning patiently against the shed outside waiting for me to get time to put it together, but first I have to figure out where to put it, if it will be used for dogs or chickens, and then I need an ingenious plan to keep Buddy from digging out of it (or into it, if I decide to use it for chickens).
Job after job, after job.
It's a lot of fun, just hard to find time for, that's all.
Jacob turned 8 on March 15th. School is still fun but we're both ready to throw in the books and trade it for dirt and sunshine. I can't believe my baby is already 8 years old. I don't understand where the time goes. He rides his bike and skateboard now with such confidence it is hard to believe that not even a year ago he didn't know how. Didn't even have a bike. Now he's out there riding down ramps and climbing trees with the best of the monkey kids and he seldom looks back to see if I'm watching any more. He used to look back. To see if I was watching - waiting for me to take notice of what he has done. My praise and assurances are hardly needed any more. He just moves along confidently, two large, black dogs keeping pace beside him wherever he roams.
I like taking my sunshine at the clothesline. The roosters have gotten so big over the winter and their favorite thing is to sit on the ledge at the window of the chicken house and cluck at me while I hang clothes. When I talk to them, they cluck away rythmically as if they could possibly be trying to hypnotise me. Sometimes they will make sounds that are almost like singing, with each of the nine little hens performing back up.
The hens have started laying. And along with the joys of chickens and eggs, comes the trials of figuring out how to stop the field rats from tunneling into the coop for egg thievery. One day I walked in and the center of the floor gave way in under me, suddenly dropping me several inches. Luckily, no rats came out. I'd rather have to catch a snake bare handed than do battle with a field rat. Snakes will run until they've no choice left, but I've seen field rats charge and challenge with nothing but open fields full of hiding places behind them. Mean buggers they can be.
We have a man coming in a couple of weeks to clear a safety zone of trees from around the old chicken coop and we'll begin (soon, I hope) the renovation that will give us a barn when we're done. The back 40 feet or so will just be propped up and turned into a shed for parking the tractor and implements, then we'll add a new back wall and begin the slow process of dividing up the remaining 140 feet for horses, goats and pigs. I'm still trying to decide if I'll move any of the chickens up there. There is a nice chick area set up already so I may put them there and keep goats in the building we're using as the chicken house now. The idea of soon having goats is exciting. I can't wait to soap some of that yummy milk.
The sun has been up for a couple of hours already and I'm trying to get used to the fact that if I plan to get all (or more than half) of the days work done, I am going to have to start a lot earlier than I've been at it. I enjoy being out early in the morning before the heat of the day settles over us.
I don't mind cutting grass so much. The mower is a cool zero-turn thing that you drive with stick-like things and is really like a big old go-cart. I can cut everything in a few days with only fifteen minutes or so spent at a time. So really an hour or two is all I need to clear up to do it all at once. But jobs just keep piling up. There is the new kennel leaning patiently against the shed outside waiting for me to get time to put it together, but first I have to figure out where to put it, if it will be used for dogs or chickens, and then I need an ingenious plan to keep Buddy from digging out of it (or into it, if I decide to use it for chickens).
Job after job, after job.
It's a lot of fun, just hard to find time for, that's all.
Jacob turned 8 on March 15th. School is still fun but we're both ready to throw in the books and trade it for dirt and sunshine. I can't believe my baby is already 8 years old. I don't understand where the time goes. He rides his bike and skateboard now with such confidence it is hard to believe that not even a year ago he didn't know how. Didn't even have a bike. Now he's out there riding down ramps and climbing trees with the best of the monkey kids and he seldom looks back to see if I'm watching any more. He used to look back. To see if I was watching - waiting for me to take notice of what he has done. My praise and assurances are hardly needed any more. He just moves along confidently, two large, black dogs keeping pace beside him wherever he roams.
I like taking my sunshine at the clothesline. The roosters have gotten so big over the winter and their favorite thing is to sit on the ledge at the window of the chicken house and cluck at me while I hang clothes. When I talk to them, they cluck away rythmically as if they could possibly be trying to hypnotise me. Sometimes they will make sounds that are almost like singing, with each of the nine little hens performing back up.
The hens have started laying. And along with the joys of chickens and eggs, comes the trials of figuring out how to stop the field rats from tunneling into the coop for egg thievery. One day I walked in and the center of the floor gave way in under me, suddenly dropping me several inches. Luckily, no rats came out. I'd rather have to catch a snake bare handed than do battle with a field rat. Snakes will run until they've no choice left, but I've seen field rats charge and challenge with nothing but open fields full of hiding places behind them. Mean buggers they can be.
We have a man coming in a couple of weeks to clear a safety zone of trees from around the old chicken coop and we'll begin (soon, I hope) the renovation that will give us a barn when we're done. The back 40 feet or so will just be propped up and turned into a shed for parking the tractor and implements, then we'll add a new back wall and begin the slow process of dividing up the remaining 140 feet for horses, goats and pigs. I'm still trying to decide if I'll move any of the chickens up there. There is a nice chick area set up already so I may put them there and keep goats in the building we're using as the chicken house now. The idea of soon having goats is exciting. I can't wait to soap some of that yummy milk.
The sun has been up for a couple of hours already and I'm trying to get used to the fact that if I plan to get all (or more than half) of the days work done, I am going to have to start a lot earlier than I've been at it. I enjoy being out early in the morning before the heat of the day settles over us.