Lunch Bags

Sabrina and I have started to bring our lunches to work.

And there's just nothing fun about bringing food in a WalMart bag.

So we needed something more fun to carry it in.

This one is for Sabrina.

It has sparkles.

And ruffles around the handles.

So does this one!

It's a little bigger in case she needs to bring extra stuff.

And mine is the little Panda guy.

(I made a striped one too, but forgot to take a picture...)

These are such easy bags.

I bought a bunch of little girl t-shirts on the clearance table.

Turn then inside out.

Stitch across the bottom.

Cut off the sleeves.

Cut around the neck.

DONE!

Monster

This is a MONSTER.

It was on the light outside the garage when I got home from school tonight.

It is bigger than my fist!

He used to have a buddy who lived on my patio.

Luckily that one moved on.

Or got eaten.

Or something.

But it used to make me nervous.

When you have a frog that big,

I just KNOW it's going to jump on my head.

And on that note,

have a nice sleep!

LOL

Random Ramblings

Today I ran out to grab some lunch

and this pulled up beside me.

I've never seen one before!

This is the "half pipe" trailer they rescue Manatees in.

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Hey Arizona!

We got snow too!

Ok, so it's really foam from the fire trucks.

But it LOOKS like snow on the side of the road.

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The new girls got to try out their new paddock.

They enjoyed getting out, spreading their wings,

and eating some bugs.

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While Rod was beefing up the fencing, I looked up.

The sky was beautiful tonight!

Looking East. 

And looking West.

Not Again!

They were supposed to be doing a controlled burn

on the other side of the preserve today.

But it got a little breezy, and it jumped their break.

Ended up in our woods at the end of the street.

The same area the arsonist burned a couple of months ago.

Only more on the other side.

So now about 80% of my trails I ride all the time

are burned.

Luckily it's spring.

It should start to grow back quickly.

As soon as it stops burning.

Lots of smoke in the air.

The girls were thirsty.

Oh!

And I found 7 eggs in the old girls' coop tonight.

There are only 7 girls in that coop.

I checked this morning when I fed and there was nothing in the nest.

Eggs take 24 to 26 hours from start to finish.

So it's not likely somebody laid two today.

Which means Old Red might have FINALLY laid one today!

(We've had her for a year... about time!)

And whoever is laying in the new girls' coop gave us another one today.

A little bit bigger than yesterday.

Super Cute!

One of my new chickens seems to have nice red

comb and wattles.

And today I got a little (VERY little) surprise.

A first little egg!

See?  Little.

And these were the other eggs I gathered today.

Isn't my little baby cute?

So tiny!

Semi Retirement

My new employer has changed our hours to 7:30 to 4:00

Five days a week.

No flex time allowed.

Which puts a serious cramp in my teaching schedule.

So.

I'm "semi" retiring.

I'll be training a new instructor this weekend for a review class.

In Green Acres.

Seriously.

LOL

The following two weekends I'll be training my replacement 

for the Boynton Beach class.

And the next weekend I'll be teaching my final Orlando class.

I'm now the "gypsy" instructor,

which means when they need a substitute, 

I'm who they call.

But I no longer have my own schools or a set schedule.

It doesn't make our bank account happy,

but I'm really looking forward to spending some time with 

my family,

my husband,

my horse,

my chickens.

I got off work today at 4:00 after an 8 hour day.

I generally work at least 9 or 10.

It felt like a half day.

And then Kyle and I went for a nice walk in the woods.

Tomorrow we might go for a bike ride.

I'm looking forward to doing some kayaking.

Taking Andy for a ride 

(as soon as his boo boo heals)

Taking more walks in the woods.

I'm also unable to use my phone or the internet at the office.

So I'm back to blogging at night.

I'll TRY to stay current.

But in the meantime, if I'm not around much,

Know that I'm having fun!

Happy Valentines!

My darling husband gave me roses a couple of weeks ago.

Always ahead of the trends, that guy!

He's been doing a run across the state every night for the past couple of nights.

Which means he doesn't get home until 6 am.

(POOR GUY!)

So this morning when I got up,

this is what I found.

I know, hard to read.

But it says Happy Valentines Day

I added a bunch of hearts as my contribution.

We had a conversation about Valentines at the office this morning.

The consensus was,

none of us like to receive roses.

Too much $$$ for too little bang.

But most of us like those little "posie" bundles from the grocery store.

And I'm not a big card person.

Hey!  I'm listening to Glenn Beck and "Keith from Palm Bay" is on.

He's a regular caller on our local talk radio.

He's FAMOUS now!

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On an unrelated note.

Kyle went and pick up 20 new chickens for me yesterday.

And then we hurried and "finished" the coop.

Not FINISHED, but "finished".

Enough to put the birds in there.

And then we let them out of the crates they were in.

But by then it was dark and they were asleep.

So they didn't WANT to get out of their crate.

But they were mashed in there like sardines.

10 birds to a crate and not tall enough to stand in.

So I dumped them over and then had to pull them out one by one.

And then I had to lift them onto the nest boxes one by one.

(Didn't want them on the floor overnight and we haven't put up the roost bars yet...)

Once they were all settled in (with food and water)

we brought Bison and Ozzie out to spend the night in their fenced area.

To protect them from night predators.

(The neighbor has been losing chickens to a bobcat.)

(Kyle has seen the cat a couple of times at dusk...)

(He now carries his 22.  Just for protection.)

(yeah, right.)

This morning when I went out to feed, they were ALL doing the quiet, happy chuckle.

Not a real "cluck".

Just a quiet chuckle.

And having, probably their FIRST dirt bath.

Happy chickens.

We need a light in there.

It's pretty dark.

But here's a first glimpse at the new girls.

There are 14 whites and 4 reds.

They are all production birds.

The whites are a Rhode Island Red / White Rock mix.

The reds are RIR/Barred Rock mix.

They are bred to be prolific egg layers.

They lay a large brown egg.

And they lay 350 eggs in a year.

But they only lay for about 2 years and then they are pooped.

So I'll be rotating in new babies every year.

But this time I bought "nearly" point of lay.

They are about a month out from their first egg.

I have a customer who wants every egg I can sell them

As soon as I can sell them.

So I needed to get online as soon as possible.

But I'll be getting 20 new babies as soon as we have a brooder set up.

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So, at work when we were discussing Valentines Day and what we like and don't like to get.

I don't like roses (for Valentines - I like them other times though...)

I don't really love cards.

I'm trying to cut back on chocolate.

So one of the girls said "So Collette, what DO you like?"

I said....

CHICKENS!

(And love notes on the mirror from my darling!)

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope YOU got what your heart desired.

I did!

LOL