Growin’

The chicks are growing so fast!  I believe all of them had a few feathers when they arrived, but were slower and didn’t have that leggy, steady look.  Now they look taller, thinner, and more alert.  They are however, still cute as the dickens!!  I sure hope they like this tank because they’ll be in it for a while.  The wahoo will not be warm enough for them to live there; I’m guessing, for at least another three weeks, maybe four.  Oh, well.

By the way, last week we also brought the first of the pigs to the farm.  We have 18 in the pens thus far, and Eric figures we need another four or five to fill all of our requests.  Then, we need to get the sheep.  I had hoped to have one of our rabbits bred by now, but am so thankful!  It’s just too cold for a batch of little hairless babies. 

I haven’t been out to see any of these new additions…there might be pictures when it thaws!!

Science

Zeke, 4th grade, and Graham, 1st grade, are studying science together.  They both finished their other books early and were still wanting to do something science related…and they love when their older siblings do experiments.  So, they’ve been doing Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures by Apologia. 

It’s been a lot of fun.  In addition, I found a science lab kit that brought all the supplies they’d need for the experiments in one box.  Yes, the things aren’t hard to find and most are common, but it’s the time I saved looking for everything that makes the kit worthwhile.  The supplies are labeled by chapter, which makes it even easier. 

We start out with me reading a section or two and then I have each boy write something interesting that they learned.  I let Graham copy sentences from the book…he often chooses a picture caption.  I allow 10 days per chapter, but we’ve usually been completing the chapters faster.

Fun and easy for the teacher…fun, interesting and entertaining for my boys.  The pictures below are baby pterodactyl fossils made by each boy.  The fossils were painted with tea to create an ‘aged’ look.

More snow…

 

Regardless of the cold and snow, Bella loves to get outside and run in the morning when Eric goes out early to do the chores.  This mat outside our back porch door is her favorite resting spot during the day…she can see all the kids and everything that goes on in the house.  Spring will eventually come, Bella, and then they’ll come out to play!

Pics from our yard after the weekend blizzard and additional snow today.  Crazy weather.  Means I won’t have to water much in the Spring, right?

Just Suzie…

I am not sure when I will find time to blog consistently again!  I seem to lament about this a lot – not so much online, but in my own head.  I see I am not alone in this lament!  However, REAL life keeps me in the present and away from a keyboard.  Or, maybe it’s the fact that one more little soul in the house leaves less time for idle pursuits.  Yes, in many ways, for me this is an idle pursuit.  I didn’t set out to make waves or gain ‘friends’, or become followed by many.  While I am pleased, blessed and fortunate to have made friends because of this electronic pursuit (and make them ‘in-real-life’ friends), that just wasn’t my goal.  I DID, however, want to record my family life!  So, I suppose my priorities have changed, or in the very least, I’ve adjusted them.  And, that is good.  Besides, posts bulging with pictures are just my speed right now and they will do.
For now, blog posts are caught up to real life.    What better thing to do during a BLIZZARD.  The kids enjoyed playing their electronic gadgets; we ate leftovers when hungry; Eric was the only one to venture outside into the blowing snow after we came home from church this morning; Angelina gave Marcus a bath by himself – he enjoyed it immensely; Eric read to the kids and maybe we’ll be able to watch a movie…cuz we sure won’t be going anywhere tomorrow!  Thank goodness the electricity hasn’t even flickered.
The lower third of the state was covered in red closed roads?  Yes, we won’t be going very far out of the farmyard.
This Blizzard has been in the forecast and predicted and talked about for the last two to three days.  We were in the 8-10 or 10-12 inch range.  Most of us hoped that the weather people would be wrong or that it was a late April Fool’s Day joke.  It’s not joke and the weather forecasters weren’t wrong on this one!  I’m sure we’ve had at least 8 inches, but it isn’t done snowing.  The snow is heavy, wet and sticky.  Drifts are deep.  Clearing it will be a chore, but my husband just said, “However, it probably means we can get the snowmobiles out again.”  Yes, I see snowmobiling being in the plan for tomorrow.
Do we take a snow day from school??  I’m not as sure on that…the kids may drive me crazy if they don’t have something to do for at least part of the day.  I’d sure enjoy it though!
Good night, friends!

Chicks!

 

The coldest April I can remember in recent years, and this is the year I choose to have chicks shipped in April!  The first shipment arrived on Wednesday, April 10.  Fifteen chicks…7 Easter Eggers (green/blue eggs) and 8 Buff Laced Polish (lay small/med brown eggs).  They are as cute a the dickens!

In the above photo, the chick at the bottom is this huge fluff ball.  He/she is bigger than any of the other chicks…maybe it’s a day older or maybe it’s just the feathers.  Whatever the case, it’s darn cute.  The chick in the lower photo is a Polish chick.  They have this cute tuft of feathers on the top of their head…and they will as adults, too.

 

The second shipment of chicks arrived on Friday, April 12.  This shipment included 20 chicks total…10 California White Legorns, which will lay white eggs; 10 Welsummer (brown eggs) and 5 Speckled Sussex (brown eggs).  All the breeds are cold weather hardy and all except the Polish are Good to Excellent egg layers, meaning they’ll lay 250-300 eggs per year.

The chicks were a little scared and all crammed into the corner when I opened the shipping box.  Thankfully all arrived healthy and have remained healthy in these first few days.  I was worried about them this year because of the cool temps and because such a large number died during shipment last year.

We are keeping the chicks in the garage in a water tank.  We have to cover the tank when the garage doors are opened, but the house garage is warmer than any other building right now. 

Please let the May be warm.  We’d planned to move these chicks to move to the Wahoo in May because the broiler chicks will need the water tank when they first arrive!  The broilers ship the first week in May – that’s only three weeks.  Can all this snow be gone in three weeks??  I may be making a cardboard pen in the outside garage for the ‘laying’ chicks.  Argghhhh!  ND weather is crazy.

And we have a winner!

Remember me telling you about the grain/seed samples that the oldest three cleaned to exhibit at the Valley City Winter Show?  Well, all the barley samples are taken out and sent to the State Barley Show.  All three kids had samples that were judged in the Barley Show and all three exhibited samples that won ribbons and prize money.

However, Angelina’s Conlon Barley Sample received First Place in the 4-H Division and Sweepstakes in the Malting Category at the 69th Annual North Dakota State Barley Show.  Her winning sample of Conlon Barley is on display at the ND Barley Council office in Fargo.