Hodge Podge

It’s been awhile! Again! Where doth the time go? This may be a hodge podge of a post. Today, The Blacksmith and I wandered off to a “draft horse and related items” auction. We saw many antiques and beautiful buggies, and more!

I did not take my ‘real’ camera, but instead used the camera on my phone. I’m slipping!! But, truthfully, these turned out better than I thought they would.

Here -- there are many items shown: an antique v-belt pulley (turquoise) that for some reason I fell in love with, White Vis-à-vis (carriage), original spring wagon, antique seed cleaner, antique incubator (I SO wanted this for a coffee table!!), brightly painted horse drawn mower, numerous old wheels… and so much more. Also, please note the Amish boy riding the “trike”… I really liked his mode of transportation.

We truly enjoyed our time at the auction, although we didn’t purchase any of the vintage treasures today. There were a few vendors in attendance. My Blacksmith bought me some lucky horseshoe earrings which I love. And I bought this hoodie. If you’re looking for some cool donkey & mule designs (isn’t everyone??)… then I must recommend these nice people. Their company name is Aardvark Graffix and the phone number is 219-267-4799 or toll free 1-888-582-3513. Website coming soon, so they tell me. They also have some beautiful horse designs.

After the auction, we shopped till we dropped in two different towns. My Maytag gas range has died (for the second time in 5 years or less), so the shopping began for a replacement for that. Then it was home to chores.  And butterflies. They are so elusive!

How has your week been so far? Missed all of you!!

Chicken News and More

Mind + Body = Drained. But hey, Life is Good!! There has been much going on here, and I’m sure the same is true with all of you as well.

The chickens are moved into their big Happy Home and big run  (Thank you, my Dear Mr. W for all your hard work!!)

Flight netting is in place over the run. Take that, Mr. Hawk! :)

Girls chillin’.

Shotgun Red makin’ trouble
(the rooster formerly known as “Reba” – this was the “extra” chick who turned out to be a HE). Hmmm… two roosters… let’s just say it’s been interesting so far!

Sappo, #1 Rooster, mid-crow.

There are a few loose ends to tie up on the chicken project – finish painting the coop, finish the interior, *decorate* the interior :), and fix up this vintage nest box before the girls begin laying their colorful eggs.

 

Oh yes, there have been other happenings besides chicken activities.

Flowers to enjoy.

Garden produce to pick every few days.

2+ gallons of Garden Pickles made using Linda @ Prairie Flower Farm's recipe. Delish!

Gracie & Ruby… waiting to be tucked in for the night. Each night, they are locked up in their stall (with “screen” door) -- with background music from their radio, hay and tiny bit of grain and water.

Now to get some rest to make it through the remainder of the week. Hope all is well with my friends!

Nighty night!

A Succulent Old Chair for the Garden

“What???”… you may ask?? I turned an old chair with a worn out seat into a container for some of my favorite plants: Succulents.

A Succulent Old Chair. See??

I’m going to pretend this is a real tutorial, but truth is, I did this a couple of months ago and didn’t take any before or during pics. I was inspired by a post I saw somewhere. I am 99% for certain it had something to do with Donna at Funky Junk Interiors, and perhaps some inspiration pics she posted on Facebook (although I can’t find it now!). I’ve always wanted a Succulent Wreath, but this Succulent Chair was much more doable. For me, anyway. It took only a few minutes to complete.

I began with an assortment of succulents from our local greenhouses. Our Lowes also had some different little cuties I threw in. I already had eyed an old chair with a worn out seat down at hubby & father-in-law’s machine shop. I had just enough potting soil left over for this project. And also a scrap of hardware cloth (from the big, huge Chickens 2010 project.. hehe), and burlap, plus a trusty staple gun.

I knocked out what was left of the seat. The hardware cloth was turned into a very crude bowl formation and placed in the area that was the seat . Gloves work well for that task as hardware cloth can be a little wicked to work with at times. The “bowl” was covered haphazardly with burlap, which I scrunched around and stapled to the chair here & there. Then the potting soil was added, the plants, and finally I threw on a little mulch & some pebbles.

Voila. An almost maintenance-free little garden, sitting in an old worn out chair.

It takes very little water. I keep it under the shelter of a porch much of the time to protect it from the occasional torrential rains we’ve had this year.

I simply can’t do a post without at least throwing in a little something “chicken-y” (since this is the year of the Chicken here…), so I must show you our big run, still in progress. We still need to add some boards along the sides, the cover (flight netting to protect from hawks), as well as some hardware cloth around the perimeter about two feet up (to protect from raccoon and cat’s paws). Special thanks to the Fiddler for helping on the Run project over the weekend. It has been incredibly hot here and it’s not pleasant to be out in very long!

It is 97 degrees here at 5:30 pm and I’m headed back out to refresh the cool water for everyone. Almost makes me wish for Fall!

Hope your week is going well!

p.s. Thanks for all the nice birthday wishes!!! :) :) :)

For the first time ever, I'm linking up with a party. My friend Andrea over at Rural Revival hosts Thrifty Thursday. Check it out! You won't believe the fabulous thrifty treasures! In Andrea's words - "Recycling, up-cycling, reusing, re-purposing. Whatever you want to call it, it's being thrifty and walking with a softer footprint."

I.am.alive

Please excuse my unplanned absence. Somehow life got in the way. Thanks for the well wishes and concern! I’m really just fine, just a bad blogger these days! I’ll try to do better.

Several things have transpired around here:

1) We have new, faster internet as of today. Yay.

2) I turned 50.

3) We traded our dune buggy for a four-wheel drive farm truck. How’s that for practicality? We were both a little sad to see the buggy go though…

I have about 1000 pictures and other things I want to share, but first I promised Mr. W I would finally post updates of his wonderful chicken coop. This is his project and I think he should be very proud. I am! There is more to be done, plus the Aviary/Run has to be started soon. The coop will be red, just like my little coop. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. He also added the niftiest little chicken door today. I’ll have to post it later. Ok, no more chit-chat from me… here’s the coop from almost beginning to present.

And, the journey to the permanent location… which will be near the Donkey Barn.

I will be repaying the neighbor in eggs for quite awhile (once they start laying). He donated the wonderful, insulated tilt-out windows. Too fancy, and much fancier than what we have in our old farmhouse.. hehe!

Since I have a better internet connection, I don’t have that excuse anymore… so I DO plan to be back soon. In the meantime, a few gratuitous critter pictures.

And the garden ~ doing well, but oh so muddy.

See you soon!

We have a Winner!!

I am happy to announce that Rural Rambler has been chosen via Random.org as the winner for the CSNStores $50 gift certificate.

Congratulations, Rural Rambler!! She happens to be another Show Me State blogger, and one of my favorite blogs to visit. Her gorgeous photos of rural life captivate me, as well as her humor and wonderful posts. Now, if you haven’t visited Rural Rambler’s blog, now might be a good time.

Thanks and hugs to all for entering. Hopefully we can host another giveaway soon. Have a great remainder of the week.

p.s.  I have the cutest video of “Sappo” the little rooster crowing (so pitifully cute and squeaky), but I’ve been having internet problems and can’t get it uploaded. Internet issues are ongoing out here in the sticks!  Hopefully soon I can share some delightful chicken and donkey pics and stories and videos :)

The Holiday Weekend

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend. Happy Independence Day!

Here are just a few things that have been happening around here.

We vaccinated and banded calves this morning. Then Mr. W hopped on the tractor, raked the two fields nearest our house. When that was complete, he hopped on the other tractor and finished up the baling there as well. And then he had to go to work for 8 hours. Impressive, huh? Something tells me he’s gonna be one tired fella after this day is complete.

An update on our 2010 Purple Martins…

I am happy to announce we have had two families of Purple Martins in our martin house in the front yard this year. I’ve waited a long time for this. The yard and surrounding areas are filled with their beautiful music morning and night. Love it! Here are a couple of shots from last weekend… the young ‘uns learning how to fly.

A quick mosaic of a few of the blooms we have here now, our resident tree frog on the front porch (sorry, Patti), and a hummingbird nest I found today while blackberry picking.

Here’s a better look at that hummingbird nest. It’s empty now, but oh the intricate weaving the tiny birds did on this. I’ve wanted to find a hummingbird nest for many years… so this was monumental for me ;) Not being picky, but next time it would be super cool to see eggs or babies…

  

We plan to attend my hometown fireworks celebration tomorrow night -- small town… short and sweet fireworks display.  We’ll visit with family and friends while we’re there. What are your plans this holiday weekend? A Happy and Safe 4th to you and yours!

My Miniature Chickens

The chicks are one month old this week! And they truly have blossomed at this point. I spared them the humiliation of posting those awkward in-between pictures. Well, actually I just didn’t get around to it till now, but… now they really are pretty I think.

Don’t you think they look like miniature chickens at this point? Can you imagine how big they’ll be in another month?

Today I added a ladder (see above) that gives better access to the “upstairs” portion. Not that they really needed a ladder, because they are pretty good at flying now.  But I feel better about it.

Take a look at Roo (“Sappo” – named after my Grandma Winfree’s famous crowing banty rooster).  Can you tell he’s already sporting some rooster attitude?

As promised, here is a view of Mr. W’s latest creation… the Chicken Tractor, aka Portable Run. Made with PVC pipe & hardware cloth and our ever-popular galvanized tin. He also built them a nice Chicken Tunnel that gives them safe access back and forth to the Coop. (By the way, yes… it’s still sitting on the Barn/Cottage Porch… waiting on me to paint the wheels… <sigh>). The run portion moves pretty easily as it is lightweight. Note there is an “apron” of hardware cloth around the bottom to discourage digging predators. Yes, sometimes those pesky predators can even visit during the day. This Mama Hen is a worrier to say the least (just ask Mr. W).

The crowd awaits in the Tunnel…

Today while I built the ladder and a roost, and cleaned the coop, I blocked access to the coop with a board. “Peck, peck, peck” was all I heard as they “knocked” trying to hurry me up. Demanding little birds, they are :)

Here they are… hanging out in the “loft.” At this point, I’m really glad we have the upper area because they’re definitely going to need all the space they can find by the time the Big Coop is complete. I also opened up the Nest Box area a couple of weeks ago… for added space.

Cute Little Chicken Notes as of 1 Month Old:

• Favorite Treats: Yogurt and Quick Oats (they suffered no Pasty Butt.. could this be the reason?)
• Favorite Pastime: Running up and down the Tunnel. Just about any time during daylight hours you can hear the pitter-patter of little chicken feet going back and forth. So cute!
• At least half of them seem to enjoy cuddling, or is it just me?
• Names, so far: Chica (a very gentle and sweet soul from the beginning), Sappo the Roo, Bella, CoCo, Lucy. 

That’s all the Chicken News from FCF for now. I hope to be back in a few days with some Chicken video (after a technical difficulty is attended to). And probably some Ruby and Gracie video as well. My little donkey girls are feeling a little left out since the chicks arrived. I promise they are still getting spoiled a-plenty, as is everyone else around here :)

Have a great weekend!