Spring Cleaning Starts 2009

[10 eggs today, so far]   The chickens are enjoying the sunshine today!

- click on the photos -

This is a very wet Morgan, yesterday, drying

and warming up, after being out with the chickens

in the rain running through the wet leaves.

(I am usually a day behind blogging.)

Morgan looks so sad, like she did something wrong.

She doesn't care if she gets wet.

I can't wait to get to the stove area

and clean up all the debris.

Hauling in dirty wood, kindling, and dropping it

and ashes, etc., makes for a winter mess.

Keeping the house warm comes before cleaning.

I could spend all my time just taking care of this area.

So, I just deal with the big stuff.

Sunny days are coming and this area will

be all spic an span for the summer!

This time I remembered to put foil in the bottom

of the pan and then the metal steamer.

These sweet potatoes baked on top of the wood stove

with the lid on.

I promised some photos of the loft.

This is the guest bed area.

I strung one of the clothes lines across so it would show.

The box at the end of the bed is a

light/fan that will be installed to replace

the inadequate light that is there.

It is beautiful, and I need to give it back

to my brother and sil, 

she made it out of stained glass!

That is another post.

There are wind chimes on the rug, too,

waiting to be dusted and for a place of their own.

The cloth bag hanging on the railing

is full of clothes pins.

That is a bookcase being used as a headboard.

There are still lots of cobwebs.

There are Christmas lights strung

along the bottom of the railing.

They make a great night light.

I did hang a wind chime/bell on the beam

to warn against cracking your head

on the beam when you get out of bed.

Tricky business, beams are...

Things are coming together!

These are some of the bookcases

we carried up, and books.

Kristine used to have a used bookstore!

So, we have lots of books.

We are only about half way finished with

the loft... and then we start on Kristine's room.

More loft photos tomorrow.

Kristine had to leave today.

Poor thing had to meet someone for lunch!

How sad... hee, hee.

Well, while she is away

I get to do what I want, so I'm moving stuff around.

We can always change it back if she doesn't like it.

I'm having fun.

If only my migraines would take a hike,

I would be even happier.

I wish I could find the off switch.

Well, they will go away eventually.

And my sewing room will be done eventually,

and I will be able to quilt again!!!

Yea!

Be happy!

Smiles

Chickens in the Rain

                                 [6 eggs]

Empty loft!!!

Lots of cobwebs!

Today we get to arrange furniture and make a cozy, fun place for Kristine to hang out and read, watch tv, do school work, etc.

The Christmas light strings that run along the bottom of the railing still work! They look kinda cool when we turn them on at night. Better than a night light, well... prettier.

The quilts are being washed and the one on the right is now on a bed. Things are moving along! The white thing on the ceiling beam is a wind up clothes line that we use for delicate things or stuff we just don't want to put in the dryer. We have two of them and the clothes dry very quickly up in the loft because the warm air all collects up here. And we have use these lines (there are two) when the electricity goes up and the weather is bad outside. I want to set up clothes lines in the spa house again. It is called the spa house because it used to have a hot tub in it. But now the hot tub is in Arizona!

It has been raining, but it let up for awhile, so I let the chickens out to run about. Happy chickens!

Our chickens are all Heritage chickens. Kristine chose them especially because they do very well as free range chickens and to help preserve the breeds.

Starting in the front, Light Brahma, Australorp, (left) Wyandotte, (right) Orpington, Dark Brahma, Buff Brahma, (on the right an Australorp and a Light Brahma.)

The hens were eager to get out in the wet leaf litter and scratch out areas into the wet dirt and find yummy somethings to eat. As I said... happy chickens!

All these chickens are camera shy.

As soon as I want to take a photo they all take off in different directions. I'll have to bring some corn with me next time.

Come back! The camera won't hurt you...

Look on the side bar for links to click on to see photos of the hens as chicks and as adults.

And if you are interested in learning more about Heritage livestock or endangered livestock, click here to go to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Kristine used this site, among others, to chose which chickens we would raise. Yesterday, we were talking about eventually getting another rooster/s and having the hens raise some chicks. But that is a few years down the road, unless we have a predator attack. Right now we have enough chickens! Ducks...? Maybe, some ducks? And/or goats? We were talking about how much we would love to have some goats again.

When the girls were in 4-H we had a dairy herd. I loved the goats. They were like big dogs! Sweet girls. Maybe we could get two does. You need at least two because they are herd animals and are seriously not happy if they are alone. I am still deciding if I want to get into the twice a day milking, dealing with raising meat kids (the bucks,) and building goat proof escape fencing. Goats are monkeys when it comes to getting out of pens, and they would have no trouble getting out of the fencing we have now. And they would need predator proof housing too. Chickens are a lot easier to care for. But I do miss the goats... sigh...

Smiles