Hey folks,

Hope your week is going well. Our new incubator arrived on Monday so it is now up & running with 24 chicken eggs in it. It is SO different from the last one but already so much more reliable.

The piece of equipment on the side that you can see is the humidifier. With the last incubator we had to guess how much water to put in, this one does it automatically.

There are a variety of eggs in there - brown, white, green & bantum (small). Life on the farm continues to be interesting. Daniel & Hannah have let the lambs out 2 days in a row so yesterday the lambs called the front door step home. Quite interesting when the FedEx man came & wanted to drop a box off - guess who came in also

Jackson is now 4 weeks old & becoming more interesting. Daniel is very good with him but Hannah just grabs him so we have to be careful.

One of the chicks drowned in the water bowl yesterday so that wasn’t good. This afternoon I went out & saw Mrs Bantie & the other two chicks on the other side of the fence - not good. I bent down to feed the other chickens & when I looked up she was gone. I searched everywhere - no sign of them. I was totally aghast. Richard came out & helped me. I finally climbed over the fence & started looking when Richard saw her hunkered down in the grass - it was a miracle I never stepped on her. She was in fox territory so we quickly picked her & the chicks up & put them back in their pen.

I have never heard the foxes as much as we have this year. I had to laugh last night as the cubs were just yipping away which set our dogs off barking & I could just imagine their mother saying to them, “BE QUIET! Don’t you know that your father is trying to catch dinner at the Pomeroy’s!”

Rosco & Penny have decided that they are going to sleep in the chicken house at night now & nothing will persuade them otherwise. When they plonk down there is NO moving them.
Weather is gorgeous - a nice breeze which is keeping the mosquitoes at bay. Michelle has arrived in Guatemala & is painting somewhere in the orphanage. She says there are a variety of ages there & last night she played cards with one of the girls. Thankfully she has only seen one mosquito. Like me, she hates mosquito repellent but over there it is essential due to the malaria so she is wearing it.
Tomorrow Richard & I celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary! WOW! It is also the 11th anniversary of being here in the USA. We are truly blessed. We could never have dreamed up the life we are so privileged to live. Are we going out to celebrate? Well we are going out but it’s not exactly romantic. The PRCA (Pro Rodeo) is in town so tomorrow night is RODEO night. It’s pretty incredible that the tiny town of Chinook gets to host the PRCA each year - another great thing about living where we do.

With the price of gas at the moment I am SO tempted to get a pair of draft horses & a buggy then we could take the mail to the Post Office in style. Yes that is one of my dreams - one day!

Anyways enough of my rambling - enjoy the rest of your week,

Liz

The terrible threesome! LOL! It’s a good job we have a large couch.

Lisa, Becky & Kim got to press some rubber today. It was quite hilarious but they enjoyed themselves.

Tonight we are planning a big game of Spoons so that should be fun. Last night Lisa taught us how to play Pac-A-Vit (sp?). This is a game of speed & it was FUN! I whooped everyone so it was an extra good night for me.

If you haven’t heard, we had some technical difficulties last night when we changed over to a new server meaning no one could access our site. This was totally unexpected so we apologize profusely to any of you who were inconvenienced & to make up for it we have 10% off of EVERYTHING for today & tomorrow (Sunday June 22nd, 2008)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Liz

Happy Friday everyone.

Becky & Kim got in about midnight on Wednesday so we didn’t chat for long before heading off to bed. Yesterday morning we took a long walk down through the fields & into the “wildlife” area. Due to all the rain it is really overgrown so it was hard to even see the path. The weather was perfect though - bright blues sky, in the 70’s & a nice breeze.

On our way back we checked in on Mrs Bantum & her new family.

Unfortunately the dogs scared them so all the chicks scattered & we lost one. Kim is here holding the two whilst Lisa & I are searching the grass.

See how blue the sky was yesterday:

Lisa finally found it & so all were reunited.

Later it was time to feed Rosie Lee & here is Becky doing a great job.

Yesterday afternoon the girls did some stamping work & planning whilst I got on with some orders. Last night at about 10pm it was time for chocolate & cards.

Enjoy all the pics - I’ll have more tomorrow.
Liz

Evening folks!

Some very special visitors are coming here this week. The first one arrived this evening & the other two will be here shortly.

Guess who this is?

The one & only Lisa Strahl! (Mona Lisa Moments) She got the royal welcome from all the dogs.
AND Becky Olsen & Kim Hughes should be here in the next few moments.

This is very exciting for all of us as this is the first time they will have been to the farm. I’m sure there will be lots of pics in the next few days so make sure you read their blogs as well as ours.

Hugs,

Liz

Howdy folks!

How was your Monday? It was a gorgeous day here & I was able to spend quite a bit of time outside which I love but don’t do enough of.

Our Black Broiler chickens have been stuck inside the back chicken coup since we got them due to the fox & his antics. BUT now they are getting bigger they really need to be out in the sunshine so I decided to head on out & attempt some fox proofing. I started this morning but then when Hannah took a nap I really got on with it. Because the chickens had never been outside they wouldn’t go out! So whilst I was fencing Daniel brought alot of them out one or two at a time. The females are VERY docile. They let you pick them up & wherever you put them that is where they stay. He had a great time - they are very soft & cuddly. I haven’t quite finished out there but done enough for today. Needless to say when I went out to shut them in tonight they had not moved! So I had to carry them all back in.
Richard took the practical test for his EMS I99 course today & passed! WooHoo! He is very relieved that it is over, now all he has to do is his written test.

I know you are all waiting the results of the Paradise Found Giveaway. Well let me just tell you this: we had to invest in a new incubator 4 chicks hatched of which one died BUT all is not lost. I had read in Countryside magazine that if one of your hens is broody give them the chicks to raise. Our two little Bantums are ALWAYS going broody but have yet to hatch a thing. SO on Saturday evening I put a dog kennel in the bottom chicken coop & moved both Banties in there. I then brought down the chicks not really knowing whether the experiment would work or not but figured it was worth the try. I am happy to report that all three chicks are thriving. The gray bantie has taken all three of them & they are so cute to watch. Why no pics you ask? WELL… we gave our new camera to Michelle for her trip so have now ordered another new one. Once it arrives I will take a pic of the proud adoptive mama.

We really debated the new incubator but although it would be cheaper to buy new chicks now in the long run it will definitely not be as we incubate several batches each summer. It will be here next week & so we will then put a new lot on & see what happens.

SO after all that nattering who is the winner?

#20 - Trace who was closest with her guess of 7. Congratulations!

Have a great week,

Liz

As Michelle & I were driving to Great Falls yesterday we began to see snow on the side of the road. We couldn’t quite believe it but it became very obvious that there had been a snowfall earlier. When we met Michael for dinner, yes you’ve guessed it, at the chinese, he said that he had woken to no power & 3″ of snow.

When I filled up with gas to come home the temperature on the Bank opposite said it was 33F. 33F! No it wasn’t the middle of the night, it was only 6:30pm. For those of you are in the flood areas my thoughts are with you. It is still raining here but as we are high up we are in no danger of flooding. We desperately needed this rain but I can only imagine what the wheat farmers are thinking. This could well be destroying their crops.
I am SO thankful we are not doing swim team this year - it would be miserable.

Michael is starting to sound like Richard. He spent dinner time spouting all these medical terms at us. BUT he is enjoying it.

Michelle flew out this morning & so is on her way. She has taken the camera so now I am without one again.

Hazel does not like me milking her front teats so normally I just milk the back ones out & leave the front ones for Sir Loin. Well today she was rather full so I thought I would be clever. I milked the back ones nearly out but then moved to the front to see if I could get some milk out. Yea right! Hazel was not going to let me near them so then I thought I would go back to the back ones. Hazel had other ideas. She lifted her foot & stomped right in the bucket of milk & covered me in warm milk! What a mess.
There are 48 eggs in the incubator due to hatch tomorrow. After the last bout of only getting 5 ducklings not sure how many will hatch BUT thought you might enjoy guessing to win a freebie. One little chick has hatched so the answer is not 0 but I can also assure you it will not be 48.

Take a guess & you could win the new Paradise Found Set by Kim Hughes which will be ready by the end of next week. I’ll pick a winner once the eggs are done hatching.

Thanks,

Liz

As I was on the phone to Lisa tonight having our daily “catch-up” talk I looked out the window & look what I saw

Sir Loin was eating his supper & Lilly was talking to Rosie Lee. We recently let the cows out in the yard as there is now plenty of grass here & they had eaten their pasture down. We can’t let them out in the main fields due to the other cows but they are happy out here & we have a big open area. I’d rather they eat it then us having to cut it.

The 5 ducklings went to a new home today. One of Michael’s friends is doing up their homestead & wanted some ducks so as we have plenty we were happy to give them to them. I’ll probably incubate some more once the chicken eggs hatch.

Hope your weekend went well. Richard is in the last stages of his I-99 training for the ambulance so he was gone for 3 days last week, got home Thursday evening & then left again last night & won’t be home until tomorrow late. Next week he takes his practical test & then the traveling should be over.

Michael started his EMT course last week. He is doing an intensive 7 week course so is away for 3 days & home for 4. He is going to be a paramedic which is a 2 year course.

Michelle leaves on Wednesday to go to Maryland. She is going to stay with friends for a few days before heading over to Guatemala on a missions trip. They are going to be working in an orphanage down there. She’ll be gone a month!

We continue to have a large amount of rain & temperatures are staying cool. It rained all night but the sun came out this afternoon & the temps are in the 60’s so no complaints here. The animals are loving it.

Jackson, the kitten is now 2 weeks old. He is very vocal but doing well. His eyes opened at the end of last week. This picture taken a few minutes ago makes him look like an alien rather than a kitten!

Take care,

Liz

That sounds like a book title, doesn’t it. On Saturday one of the restaurants in town was changing hands & were supposed to be saying “goodbye” with free hotdogs & burgers. The big guys were away so Michelle & I thought we would walk into town & get free lunch.

The weather was glorious - up in the 70’s. We have quite a long driveway so have to always tell the dogs to go home & not follow us. They all obeyed today apart from Bella! Bella would not go home & kept following us. Now Bella is a country gal so once we got onto the road she was a nightmare. I searched in the stroller & managed to find a black nylon strap - no idea where it came from but I was very thankful for it as we were able to leash Bella who then walked nicely.

When we got into town there was no FREE food in sight so we ended up at the grocery store buying fried chicken, donuts, bananas & grapes for lunch which we took to the park & ate.

Jackson, the kitten is now one week old & doing well. If you had told me that I would be spending several minutes of each day stimulating a cat’s bottom to get him to poop I would have laughed at you. He is a big kitten & eating very well. He started purring at about 2 days old. Of course he still has his eyes shut & will do for another week.

The fox is not giving up. Yesterday I just walked out the door to throw out the trash & was shocked to see him looking at me from the chicken pasture - I went out just at the right time! He was back again today but the chickens really start squawking when they see him & then the dogs bark & off he goes. Last week he broke into the bottom chicken pen but obviously figured that he couldn’t take a chicken back with him so left again. We have mended the hole.

Keeping turkeys is really hard. We have had several die this past week & not sure why. They were doing really well but now they’re popping off on a daily basis which is not good!

More rain is continuing to fall which is amazing for here. I think we will have to get out & cut grass this weekend for the first time.

The Scrapblocksâ„¢ just launched! These great stamps can now be purchased here for only $14.99. Still need some persuasion? Then head over to the gallery & see what they girls have been doing.

Have a great week,

Liz