Tai and the egg

Every time we gather the eggs from the chicken coop the dogs jump up trying to see what we have in our hands. I suppose there is a smell or something on them. 

Last night I was planting some flowers and found that one of the chickens had gotten into the flower bed and laid an egg in one of the day lilies. She tore half of the plant out as well trying to make her nest.

I'm not sure why she decided that was a good place to do it, they have nice cushy nest boxes already!

I put the egg in one of the plant trays until I was done planting. I went around the edge of the house to plant some more, and I could hear a noise on the deck. I came back around the corner and Tai had the egg out of the tray, and was pawing it around the deck. He was very gentle with it, he was just rolling it around. I went into the house to get the camera, but by the time I came back out the egg was broke.

Both dogs were then just trying to figure out what this weird thing was.

Goofy bad dog!

Critters around the house

I love this time of year when it's getting warm, the grass is green and the leaves are on the trees. This is also the time that the critters around the house come out in full force.

One day last week we looked out the living room door to see a nice buck deer in velvet. He was just moseying along eating everything in site. Notice the wire that you can see in front of his face? That's to TRY to keep them out of our yard and out of my gardens. (doesn't work very well, but we try).  The chickens are just ignoring him, eating everything in site that they can. (Today we put up little fences around all the flowers beds to keep THEM out as well)

The next morning, we looked out to see a tom turkey and two hens. We haven't seen any little turkeys this year yet, but last year we had two bunches of them around most of the spring/early summer.

 

The birds are still coming to the feeders in droves. We see orioles, and grosbeaks along with the normal ones, but this year we also have an Indigo Bunting that has decided we make a great lunch. We usually see them in the summer around, but they don't go to the feeder very often.

The geese have hatched their eggs and the fuzzy goslings are running around.  Usually by this time they are on the big lake, but there were so many people in the park this weekend, that they moved back up by the house.

Yesterday afternoon we had a tree-frog on the deck. He just sat on the railing for an hour or so. He was so small, Al put a penny in the picture so you can see his size. Every now and then you will see them crawling up the windows. They are kind of creepy, but neat to see up close, too.

Spring is also the time that the bats return. I really don't mind them because I'm sure they are one of the reasons that we don't have many mosquitoes in the park, but they have taken up residence in our siding on the house.  They go into the siding during the day up at the top of the wall. Every night around dusk you can hear them start to squeak and scratch around trying to get out to go eat more bugs. They fly down a little bit as they come out, and if you happen to be sitting on one particular chair on the porch, they will swoop just over the top of your head.

I caught a couple pictures of them coming out last night. They are a bit blurry because it was getting dark but they are still pretty cool. There were 5 that left this little tiny space. I did have to stand there for 10 minutes or so and take tons of messed up photos to get these. 

I know, I'm a dork. But how many of you have photos like these? Or, truthfully, how many of you really want a photo like these? Probably not many. :)

An update: we have two new buck fawns born this morning. They are sooooo cute! These are the first babies for the park this spring.

 

Mother's Day....

Now that my daughter is a mother, Mother's Day is a bit more special. It's not just about me being a mother. It's about my mother, my grandmother, and now my daughter and grand-daughter.

Since my mom is so far away from us for Mother's Day, I usually send flowers (usually lilies) and call her. This year, however,  I did something a bit different. I had an idea it might be taken very well, and I was right!

I took two Altoid tins and made a keepsake for my mom with pictures of all of us, including Grandma Sara who is no longer with us as children, and another one for Sarah for her first Mother's Day.

Needless to say, mom LOVED it (and Sarah too)! Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

(You will have to forgive the fuzziness of the photos,  I couldn't seem to get all of them in focus.)

The chickens are back!

We went to a bird swap meet (which is a whole 'nother story! It was pretty strange), and bought 20 or so chicks last spring.  We kept them on the porch for a few weeks, until we couldn't stand them in the house anymore, and then moved them to their new home. The dogs got along with them (for the most part) and the stink that everyone said would happen, didn't.

We let them run around the yard and go wherever they wanted, which was fine for the most part, except you really really really had to wipe your feet before you came in the house! They would jump up and eat right out of your hand, and just were always there. They went back in their coop every night, we just had to lock the door to keep the critters out .  Every morning the roosters would crow when they heard us let the dogs out because they were ready to be out for the day. I think they would have even come right into the house if we let them.

Then came January.

Snow and cold. Fancy chickens with feathers on their feet don't like snow. Or cold. And we don't like trying to keep their water thawed out.

We took them up to the bird pen for the winter. It's heated and the guys feed the other birds for the park everyday anyway, so it was a good place to put them for the winter, and we had someone to take care of them when we were gone.

When we got back from Texas, there was an electric skillet at the shop. Al's assistants were cooking the eggs from the chickens for breakfast in the morning before work. Good idea, right?. They would just go to waste if they didn't eat them anyway. Although truth be told these eggs are only 1/2 the size of a normal chicken egg, and they only lay 5 or 6 a day, so they weren't having big feasts for breakfast, but what the heck.

They are now back at the house, in their 'summer home'. We bought a couple more this spring, we have the room, might as well have a few more eggs, right?

These two new ones lay blue/green eggs.

We also inherited a Bob-White Quail from the bird pen. He now thinks he's a chicken, although he won't come out of the pen. He has a foot that's hurt or something, he limps around most of the time, but seems to do okay. 

The dogs and the chickens forgot that last year they were friends, so it's going to be a learning curve for the dogs for a couple weeks. I let them all out in the yard yesterday, and Tai chased one and it flew into the side of the house, and two more ran out of the fence that we (Al) had to chase down. Roxie went into the pen and chased the quail. She likes to eat the bird food and he was near it. I think it must be sweet or something, but she loves it (and then promptly pukes!).

This is another new one.

We are down to one rooster. The other one from last year was just too horney. As soon as he was out of the coop he was on top of every hen he could corner. We took him up to the bird pen, along with another hen that just wanted to sit on eggs and do nothing else (and she was a b**ch to the other hens anyway). Al will put some turkey, quail or chucker eggs under her and (hopefully) she will hatch them for the display pen.

The rooster that we have left is pretty protective of his hens.  I stepped into the pen to change the water the other day and he pecked me on the foot, hard enough to make it bleed.  Al said he had been chasing the guys when they went in to feed them up at the bird pen this winter. But he seems ok now, so we will see.

We still have the "Tai" chicken. I feel bad for her. I don't think she can see through all the feathers over her eyes. She's always the last one to find the treats you throw to her. She's the "special one", kind of like Tai is a "special" dog.

Tai chicken:

Tai (the only time you will see him without a shirt):

I know it's weird, but what can I say? I like my chickens (and no, I do not name them. They are chickens. When they die, they die, then I can get more!)

It's definitely spring....

All the apple trees and lilacs are blooming (and of course filling the air with pollen and making those of us with allergies miserable!)

 

The geese in the pond by the house hatched their babies this morning. They were so noisy! Mom and Dad were just honking and honking and chasing everybody else away. They were so proud that they had their babies. I didn't go too close, but I think there are 4 little ones. They will stay in this pond for only a few days, then they will head to the big lake for the rest of the summer.

For some crazy reason the deer are everywhere all day long. This picture was at 5:00 tonight. At noon they were there as well, I just didn't get a picture. It's strange to see them this close to the house this time of day. Several of them look like they are ready to have their fawns, they are all nice and fat. It's cool to be able to sit on the deck and be able to watch them with their fawns in a few weeks. When we first moved to the park (18 years ago!!!!!) you never saw deer this time of year.

But of course with all the nice things of spring, there are always the dandelions! It looks to be a record crop this year, I think.

47.....

Ok, I can go ahead an admit it.....I'm 47! I wasn't going to post the lovely pics, but Matt keeps bugging me, so here you go. I can't really believe I'm 47! Doesn't that sound old? I can remember when my mom was 40! It's weird, but I don't really feel much older than 35 or so. Except for......oh, never mind!

All the kids came out for BBQ, which was nice. I have to apologize for the pictures. They aren't great, but you get the idea. We had a great time and I'm glad everyone was there.

Matt & Kelsey

Craig & Sarah

Lauren (soon to be Mrs. Finke!)

And Joe & Al being Joe & Al

We had a nice fire on the deck, Ava even decided that she didn't want to miss out

And I received my first birthday card as a "grandma"!

(Thank you guys, I had a great time!)

Musings on Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri....

1) I learned a new saying in Texas: "I like yawl's guys' ...(fill in the blank)

2) Texas and Oklahoma has pretty varied road kill. Just ask Al, he doesn't miss any of it and tries to identify it all. Like armadillos and all the coyotes and the breed of the dogs. STOP! I don't care what it was! (it was a long trip)

3) I wish they had "pay at the pump" at the diesel pumps at the truck stops. It's a pain first off trying to find diesel when you are pulling a big camper, but then it's a pain to have to go in every time. And you can't just pump, then pay. You have to pay cash first or leave your credit card with the clerk, then go back in to sign.

4) peopleofwalmart.com is mostly from Missouri. Again, just ask Al about this one. Although I did see some good ones in Texas, as well.

5) I don't think there are dentists in Missouri (OK, to be fair, this was only Southwestern Missouri, so don't hate on my if you are from somewhere else in Missouri!)

6) It's interesting to think how different your life would be if you grew up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico instead of Wyoming, or Iowa. You would have such different experiences.  You wouldn't experience snow (usually), and you would grow up around the ocean and beach instead of the rivers and lakes. I know we had Glendo when we were growing up and the beach there, but it's just not the same. Even the type of grass and trees are different. There are no lilacs, roses or sagebrush, but there are palm trees, beautiful Live Oak trees and Fiddler Crabs that scurry away from you in the dark.  You would also grow up experiencing hurricanes, instead of tornados, both of which I could do without.

7) On a good note in Iowa you don't have to clean the sand out of your vehicle every week. Is that a good note? I think I could live with having to do it all the time. It's better than having to wash it to get the salt and grime off in the winter!

8) I love that you can go to bars and restaurants and they all have outdoor seating.

9) I also love it when you order a Sol, Dos XX or Tecate (probably a Corona, too, but Corona is icky) and they ask if you want it dressed. My answer is always YES!

Undressed:

 

Dressed:

10) Oklahoma does not like ethanol gas. They even have signs proclaiming proudly that they don't carry it.

11) In Texas it's evidentially okay to drive on the shoulder of the road. Don't be surprised if you come up behind a car on a two lane highway and they suddenly pull over on the shoulder to let you pass (all the time keeping their speed).

12) I still hate Dallas traffic. We did figure out how to by-pass Austin & San Antonio traffic, but still have to go through Dallas. And it always seems to be at the worst time (on the way back this time is was 4:30 pm on a weekday!)

13) I think the contrast of having both oak trees and palm trees in the yards is different.  It's like Mexico and Iowa backyards all mixed up together.

14) There are wildflowers everywhere in Texas this time of year. Along every road, in every field, in every color. It really gets you in the spring mood and lets you know that summer is on it's way.

We had a great trip, but it is nice to be home. The daffodils and crocus are blooming, the snow is all gone, the grass is green and the geese and ducks are back on the pond. The deer have been up on the deck (as evidenced by the little presents they left) and eating the day lilies that are coming up.  It's definitely spring!