May Days

As much as I have lamented over the never ending rain lately it has brought us the blessing of GREEN. I missed the fullness of the trees and the green hill in front of my house during the winter. It is always amazing to me that we can hand water a plant for months and it will drudge along and stay alive but give it one good rain and it flourishes as if it has been touched by God Himself.



We did have a clear day in which I tried to do as much as possible. The jungle of a lawn was mowed to a respectable length, the patio was cleared off, and I pruned back this bush. It started out to just be a clean up for the thing but when I got underneath it I realized that it was choking itself to death so I cut it all the way back. This pile of branches is to be my learning tools. I want to learn to wattle and thought about how pliable these are, the rain has kept me from getting to them too much and I am hoping at the same time it is keeping them from getting dry and brittle.

The work continues for turning the stall into a hen house. My original plan keeps growing and now we are renovating two stalls. One will be the hen house and the other will be a supply room/infirmary/holding area. They connect now by a door cut into the stall wall.

Dixie is not thrilled about all of the banging and tools but it does not stop her from napping in there when I am off doing other things. Here is her innocent look as she stretches on her way out of the Hen stall.

Here is Sunny standing down after a romp with the Barn Swallows. They irritate her as much as she irritates them but I am thinking both sides are now enjoying the chase and banter.

The big girls have had a bee in their bonnets with all of the rain. They try to stay to higher ground, like the outside roosts, in order to keep from being knee deep in mud. *note to self: fix the mud problem when re-doing this run for the babies.*

Speaking of mud, here is our poor drowned garden. Don't get me wrong, it drains well but the amount of water as of late just has not given it a fighting chance. The section we planted is doing well. Ok, the pretty rows I made are not so pretty now. The rain decided to move some of the seeds to other rows, it is a virtual mish mash now. *Sigh* I transplanted some lettuce that the storm last night decided to pound into the ground, we shall see if it can come back.

We are blessed. All of the rain and obstacles only serve to help us learn and grow. The babies are in their third week and are doing great. I will put up new pics of them and allow them to show off the new feathers and half bare bodies. What personalities this group has, we are in for a treat with this bunch. ; ) Have a great day and enjoy the bit of sun that has graced us for a few hours.

Rain had other plans

The plan was to get a lot done this weekend. The rain had other plans. I like rain but this is rediculous. The big girls are learning to swim and they are NOT happy about it. The baby girls are warm and dry and they could care less about water unless we are talking about the water jars in their tubs. This morning I awoke to find that tub 1 had moved their water to the middle and spilled it, crazy girls, don't they know they are not allowed to rearrange the tub without permission?

The kids are spending way more time with the babies now. Sarah carries her girls around with her and Daniel has found it beneficial to sing to them. Tub 1 is full of half naked birds, they are really starting to get their feathers and big girl attitude. Tub 2 is not quite there yet but they are so super cute.

I wonder with all of this rain in such a short period of time if the seeds I planted last week are even still there or if they are all going to rot in the ground. All of the things that we have growing on the back porch are doing well, even with the sun on vacation. I have lights going every which direction and they seem to be content with those at the moment but nothing is as beneficial as the actual sun that seems lost to us.

Stay dry and I will be back with pictures and hopefully an update about the break in the weather.