Improvements

I am such a slacker when it comes to blogging! So many things have been going on, and the weather has been *mostly* getting nicer, that by the time a have a moment to write, I would rather sit and do nothing that requires thinking.



But, we have so many fun things happening right now.  

Where to start...  I think the first thing we finished up since the last post was our chicken coop.  Well, I wouldn't say it was finished, but it is getting better.   We took the chicken run from our big chickens, and drug it over to the side of the barn.  It didn't fair well during the move, and we ended up taking a lot of it apart, and kind of re-doing it, but we got it up. After it was up, the boys and I worked on cutting out a small hole for the chicks to use to get outside.  We made it so that when the door opens it becomes a ramp for them to walk down.

It is so fun to watch them the first time you introduce them to the outdoors.  They are completely afraid of it.  A few of the braver ones peek their heads out, but it took a couple hours before they even ventured out onto the ramp.   Even the slightest noise will send them right back in again.  It has now been over a week, and they are just now starting to go our farther then a few feet from the barn.

Because we are not yet sure how we want the final layout of everything, we didn't make the run permanent, in that we didn't put the corner posts into the ground, but just have the whole thing sitting there so it is easily mobile. This is good, because even now we have decided to change it around a bit, but doesn't leave it looking very impressive. lol  That's ok.  We are more about functional right now then decorative.

I guess i don't have many pictures of the chicken run, but if you look to the right of the barn, you can tell it is there :) and on the roof is Katie, helping her dad out with the shingles. I love watching my kids help there daddy!

Another Improvement we have been working on is there to the left of the barn in the picture above.  

We fenced in that area and along behind the barn in preparation for this little guy. Meet Chocolate Chip, or as Heidi calls him, Chip:

 Aren't they both so cute!

Only one problem. Chip can jump over the fence!  Yup! But thats not even the whole story.  

The first day we brought him home he slipped though one of the holes.  We spent over 30 min chasing him around our otherwise unfenced property trying to get him back in.  If you have never chased a goat, you have no idea how quick and nimble they can be, especially at this age.  He would dart past us and take off toward whichever direction we were not. We tried standing still and calling to him, we tried food bribery, we tried waving our arms around and making loud noises to scare him in the direction we wanted him to go.Nothing was working very well.  We would just about get him back to through the gate, and he would take off again.   He was determined to figure out where we were hiding his mommy, and was non to sure about these new people of his.   After dashing back and forth and finally recruiting the help of every kid available (even william) we were able to herd him back to where he belonged.  That night, because we were afraid he would get out again, and until he became familiar with us, he spent the evening in the barn in our big dog kennel.  The next day, we went to work on the fence again.  We put up more panels staggering the wholes to cut their size in half.  We also wrapped chicken wire around on the inside to make it harder for him to squeeze through.  We thought we had it. He was more friendly with us now, so we brought him out to the pen, and watched as he ran around a little, and then settled down to munch on his food.  YEAH!  Or not.  He is fine in the fence, as long as a human in in there with him.  As soon as you walk out the gate, he starts crying like he is dying, backs up a bit, and takes a running jump right over the fence.  Oh well. at least he is friendly with us now and doesn't try to run away anymore!  So he spends his evening in the dog crate in the barn, and during the day gets to run around with the kids.  I am hoping once we pick up these cuties next week, he will be happier to stay in his pen.  

If anyone wants to bottle feed a baby... these will be bottle babies for a few weeks.

One more addition to our farm family has been made, much to Kristi's absolute delight.  Meet Checkers.

She is going to be our barn kitty.  We picked her up from my parents, and the really fun part is that she should be having kittens any day!  She is an absolute sweet heart.  She already is friendly with the goat, and doesn't mind Penny much at all.  She leaves our chickens alone, and just sat and watched the ducks today when we put them out.  LOVE HER!  Kristi has waited years for a cat, so she is extra special to her.  This morning she went out early and hadn't returned by breakfast.  I sent Matthew out to find her, and he came back saying she was fine, and that Checkers had fallen asleep on her lap, and she didn't want to wake her up, so was just sitting out there petting her.  

It is the moments like that that make me love farm life so much.

Oh, speaking of ducks, since that nice new pen isn't being used by the goat, we decided to move our ducks out there and put in the swimming pool for them.  They weren't too sure about coming out of the barn at first, but after we caught them and put them in the pool, they had a blast!  It is so fun to watch them as they play and dive and splash in the water.

Oh, and I almost forgot to introduce you to our newest chicken friends. Meet Gizmo, Stripe, and Mohawk.  

(sorry, my picture wont load right now. I will update it soon. but i promise they are cute!) 

I think that is about all the farm excitement lately. On another note, if you could pray for my father-in-law that would be great! He ended up in the hospital for the last month due to a fall. He suffered a spine injury and nerve damage. He is improving and should be coming home on Thursday, but it will still be a long healing process. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time... blessings to you!