The real reason guns are popular in the South

Today was an eventful day. Flomar discovered a four-foot long copperhead snake sunning itself on the blacktop of our driveway. She barked and alerted us before someone came upon it and got hurt. I'm so thankful for that dog! I'm also thankful that we are a gun-owning family, and that my 14 year-old son can shoot just as well as his father, who happened to not be home at the time. (Sorry, no picture, I was too freaked-out to think of it at the time.)

birds, blooms, skinks, and dogs chewing gum

Our dog, Flomar, found a piece of freshly discarded gum on the ground today and proceeded to chew it. I watched her chew and chew and chew-- she didn't eat it, just kept chewing it. She may still be chewing it now. I've never seen a dog do that before. Flomar caught a skink today also, and I got it away from her before she killed it. The tail was off, but the little girls made a nest for it in a small bucket and are planning to rehabilitate it.

The black locust trees are blooming and exuding an intoxicating scent. Our little road is lined with them.

Remember those cute little chicks? Here's one with Grandpa's dog. (He's a special dog, as you can see.)

And here are the chicks now, about half grown. We have three reds, two whites, and two barred rocks. We lost a few to a fox, so we have been making improvements to the portable cage.

llama wool

Shearing time is fast approaching and I still have the last two years' worth of wool sitting here unsold. If you know anyone who spins, felts, or crafts with wool please direct them to this post. I have about 8 pounds of raw llama wool in gray, black, and white and I will sell it cheap!

Car Accident

An older man passed out while driving around the curve in the main road in front of our house. His truck went into the ditch and hit a tree head-on, which probably saved his life and that of his wife, as there was a fairly steep ditch they could have rolled into. We called an ambulance for them, and helped a little. They weren't hurt seriously as far as we could tell. Anyway, it made quite a commotion on our little drive.

Baby Chicks

There have not been chickens on this farm since our small flock was massacred about a year and a half ago. So we are finally starting over with 8 chicks from Tractor Supply. They are Rhode I. Reds, and probably all roosters, but we are hoping for a few hens. They are living temporarily in my laundry room in an old laundry basket.
We gave our old homemade portable coop a remodeling. We stripped off all the old plastic wire, tightened and repaired all the joints, repainted, rewired, and added a new door. This was a family affair, as you can see in the first picture. This coop is very light, and will be moved to a new patch of grass every day. We will put a nesting box in when the chickens are old enough to lay. I can't wait for those fresh eggs! Next-- fresh milk. Stay tuned...

Down time

It's been a long week. I've got a bad cold that won't go away, and haven't done much school with the little ones. But this "down time" has given them a chance to do some neat things on their own. C brings books to my bed for me to read to her and we've had lots of nice snuggle time. Little R has been reading extra books to ME. And she came up with a book-making project all on her own. (She's eight years-old.) She wrote a story using the computer word processing program and then took pictures with my digital camera to illustrate it. Then we downloaded the pictures onto her writing and printed it all out on my color printer. She was very pleased with it. She's waiting for her big sister to get home from shopping so she can help her make a cover for the book. I know she wouldn't have been so enthusiastic about it if I had MADE her do it as an assignment, so maybe down time is part of God's plan, too. (wink)

Easter Dress

For Easter, I made a dress for Ella Mae out of some left-over bridal satin. It is trimmed with white satin ribbon and pearls. The wrap is completely removable. Now C wants me to make the same dress in her size-- ouch!