Chickies Have Landed! UPDATED

21 days ago I set 12 eggs under my broody hen, Mama.

One of them got cracked and I'm pretty sure she ate it.

Then a week or so later, she decided the blue egg wasn't viable

and she kicked it out of the nest.

I let the rest of the flock have it.

So then we were down to 10.

Today was the day I was hoping to have babies.

When I checked this morning, there was nothing new going on in the nest box.

But when I got home from work tonight...

Mama had moved out of the nest box and down to the floor.

There were a bunch of broken eggs in the nest box.

1 egg was pipped and the baby was partially out.

Peeping like crazy, but the membranes had dried

and she was "shrink wrapped" in them.

Without help, she would die for sure.

So I pried the membranes off her.

Hopefully she'll be ok.

She was pretty weak,

but peeping and peeping.

She was determined.

It took her about 30 minutes, but she 

FINALLY made it under Mama.

Introducing - the babies!

There are 2 eggs left in the nest.

Not much chance they'll do anything....

So - we have 8.

I hope.

They are a variety of breeds,

so they all look different.

I'll be anxious to see what we have.

What breeds.

What sexes.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

All 8 are looking spunky this morning!
"Shrinky" isn't even identifiable.
Yea chicks!

And I have another black hen who looks like she wants to go broody.
I'll watch her for a few days to see if she's serious,
but this morning I got in touch with my egg lady
to see if she will hold back a bunch of blue eggs for me.

I'm gonna get me some Easter Eggers YET!

Company!

We have a house full.

YEA!

Unfortunately, my friend from Arizona

(originally from here)

lost her Dad this week.

So their entire family made the trek down here.

Mom and Dad and youngest daughter drove

down from their new place in Michigan yesterday.

Oldest daughter flew in from Arizona, last night.

Two sons and their wives and kids drove in…

arriving at 4 this morning.

Rod got home at 3.

So it was a busy night.

We have the NOISIEST door on the planet.

It swooshes across the tile floor.

It’s kind of annoying.

Especially since we have folks sleeping on the couch.

Josh, his wife and 2 kids under 2 are in our room.

(The biggest room, the biggest bed, the darkest room…)

Carol and Dayle (Mom and Dad) and youngest daughter

are across the hall in Jim’s old room.

They have the futon and a mattress on the floor.

And a window A/C unit.

Kyle is in his room.

Older daughter and daughter-in-law are on the couch.

I have no earthly idea where her husband is.

Maybe he slept in the van???

They were going to stay at Jim's but it was so late/early...

Rod and I are on blow up mattresses in the office.

We left the gate (electric) open last night

so folks could come in as they hit town.

Which meant, for the first time in YEARS we actually locked the doors.

And my truck.

It was weird.

LOL

There’s breakfast casserole in the crockpot.

(well, maybe not anymore… lol)

3 gallons of milk and some SunnyD in the fridge.

And they brought doughnuts.

(Love company bearing doughnuts!)

I’ll call Rod in an hour or so and have him

put a pork roast and some BBQ sauce in another

crockpot for some pulled pork.

I hope to get to see them sometime today.

I have to leave this evening and head south to teach.

I won’t get back until 9 Sunday night.

But I think they are all planning to head home Sunday

after church.

I didn’t take pictures last night,

But really, after driving for 18 hours

and visiting with grieving family,

who wants their picture taken?

But maybe later today?

Naturally, we have Tropical Storm Chantal

heading in tomorrow.

She has been downgraded,

But will still bring lots of wind and rain.

But in the meantime,

The sunrise was AMAZING this morning.

I love pre/post storm weather.

The sky is so gorgeous

(And the humidity is generally lower).



Florida Living

I love living in Florida.

I love the tropics.

I love the sun.

I love heat.

I even love humidity.

I know.

What you might not know is

just across the river from us

is a little town we used to live in.

It used to be (years and years ago)

a pineapple plantation!

This is a great climate for pineapples.

Last year I bought a pineapple.

And just for fun I put the top in my garden.

It grew a lovely green plant.

But that was it.

I was disappointed.

And I ignored it.

Last night I happened out the front door.

We are backdoor people.

We NEVER use the front door.

Mostly because it’s broken.

We don’t have a key for the lock.

And even if its unlocked, you can’t open it

from the outside anyway.

If the front doorbell rings,

you know it’s someone you don’t know.

And likely don’t want to see.

But now that we have electric fence

around the entire property,

even THAT doesn’t happen anymore.

(We are SO friendly!)

Anyhow.

I happened out the front door.

And look what I found???

 

Also… just for fun.

Here is a gratuitous photo of the sunrise

this morning on the way in to work.

 

Pretty, eh?

Looking out over the river

not the ocean.

The ocean is another mile east.

Jealous yet?

LOL

Wart Away!

I am always amazed at the body’s ability to heal itself

when you give it the right tools.

I have a wart on the back of my hand.

I’ve had it for months.

But lately it became painful.

Like when I walk into my bedroom and slide my hand

around the door jamb to turn on the light switch,

I touch the wall with the back of my hand

and it feels a little like I got stabbed.

The first time it happened I thought I got bit by something.

It’s a sharp pain.

Sometimes it’s itchy.

But it HURTS to scratch it.

I actually thought it was a skin cancer for a little while.

But nope, it’s a wart.

And, of course, you have to have those babies burned off.

And that HURTS!

(I really wish I had taken a picture…)

Anyhow.

Two nights ago I soaked a cotton ball in some

unpasteurized apple cider vinegar.

Stuck it on the wart and covered it with a band aid.

And went to bed.

The next morning I took it off, dabbed it with a little

more vinegar and headed to work.

It was a little itchy during the day

But not more than usual.

Last night I did it again.

It woke me up a couple of times in the night.

It was ITCHY!

Like fresh mosquito-bite-itchy.

But I went right back to sleep.

When I took off the band aid it looked kind of mooshy.

As the morning went by, it dried out.

And the drier it got, the more the wart core

Was rising up out of my hand.

It was getting taller and taller.

And kind of bugging me.

So I pulled it off.

Now, instead of a wart,

I have a hole.

But it is 100% pain free!

Put some coconut oil on it (anti-biotic)

And by tomorrow I’ll be cured!

No painful burning.

No pricey co-pay.

No taking time off work to go to the doctor.

Amazing!!!

Anybody got a wart?

I wanna try it again!

LOL



Finished

Aaaaah.

The Sabbath is for resting, rejuvenating, recharging.

Other stuff too - but that's what I'm focusing on today.

They changed Rod's hours at work a couple of weeks ago.

Which is a good thing over all.

But makes it impossible to go to church with our regular ward (congregation).

Church starts at 12:00.

(We share our building with another ward - we are on the afternoon shift this year.)

He has to be at the truck by 1:00. 

And the truck is nearly an hour away from the house.

So we went to the early session.

We lived in this other ward for years and years.

It was the ward we belonged to when Rod was baptised.

We have lots of friends here.

It starts at 9:30.

We had time to feed all the animals

shower

dress

and still be early!

Then we stopped by Jim and Sabrina's on the way home.

Rod hadn't had a chance to see their new place yet.

So it was nice to stop by and get a quick tour and visit.

Then home for him to change while I made him a quick hot dog, 

baked beans and jalapeno potato chip lunch.

Then he headed off to work.

Kyle took a nap.

And I FINISHED the afghan I have been working on,

off and on, 

for MONTHS.

I actually finished it several months ago.

But then I found another skein of the yarn.

And after using it, I decided it wasn't long enough.

So I added to it.

And finished it this afternoon.

It is actually between celery and sage.

A very soft green.

See?

It's single wide and nice and long.

Wraps around my toes and all the way up to my neck.

Super soft.

I love it.

But now I don't know what to do with my hands.

Guess I could write blog posts...

Actually, I'm going to paint my fingernails

and then I can't do anything with my hands.

LOL

Hope you are having a wonderful, relaxing weekend.

This is my final weekend off before a short marathon.

It's also 30 days til we fly away for vacation!

Mom and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary.

And the first family reunion.

We are all very excited.

See y'all there!

Take That!

Kyle's darn dog got out again yesterday morning.

He is cute.

He is loveable.

He is dumb as a rock.

I guess Kyle decided he was tired of hunting him down.

When I got home from work last night,

he had built them a new dog run.

Complete with swimming pool!

The shade cloth goes up today (or tomorrow...)

Sorry guys!  But your roaming days are over.

THANKS KYLE!!!!!

Air You Can Wear

 We have 70% chance of rain again today.

We have 1,112% humidity.

We call it “air you can wear”.

It’s HUMID!

You need to carry a straw with you at all times.

So you can breathe.

It also means we have mosquitoes.

By the gazillions.

And a “Moses Plague” of frogs.

They are EVERYWHERE!

And lizards!

Sheesh!

Where did all these lizards come from?

There was one stranded inside the horse feed bucket this morning.

He couldn’t get out.

I couldn’t catch him.

Poor guy.

There was another one inside the water hose.

When I turned the water on,

He FLEW out!

Wonder how many tickets he had to pay for THAT ride?

Happily it wasn’t raining when I went out this morning.

Cloudy, with little bits of sun peaking through.

So I fed,

And worked out (on the patio)

And then I looked up.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera.

So this is only an artist’s rendering.

LOL

Make it a FABULOUS DAY!