Easter (a bit late)

I know, I know, I’m pretty late on posting Easter, but better late then never, right?

We had all the kids and significant others and grandkids here for the day which was nice. 

I decided to try a leg of lamb this year……won’t be doing that again. I didn’t care for it.

We had the requisite egg hunts: one for the little kids and one for the “big kids”.  The little kids had plenty of help.

And plenty of pictures taken with 5 cameras going!

Al filled 50 eggs for the “big kids”. They were mostly camouflage or dirt colored to make them harder to find.

Al must have hid them very well, because we didn’t find 5 of them. (don’t you just love the ‘Easter baskets’?)

Just wait until next year when Trevor can get in on the act!

Trevor Allen Davis is here!

Last night at 3:21 am our grandson, Trevor Allen Davis made it into the world. He was 20” long and 7 lbs 5.6 ounces. What a great birthday present (ok, one day early, but I’ll take it)!

Mom and baby are both doing great.

Daddy was a bit tired from being up all night.

Grandpa said we should have brought a football. I guess you can’t start them too early, but I’m thinking we should bring a volleyball, not a football, right?

Just love those grand babies.

Spring Chickens

As most of you know last summer we lost the majority of our chickens to a band of raccoons:

http://alandfaith.blogspot.com/search/label/Chickens

We have been down to four since July. They are doing fine, but I miss the rest of them running around the yard. So this morning bright and early we went to Waverly to the Exotic Bird Swap Meet.  I was going to show you pictures of the swap meet, but I forgot my camera at home this morning. They sell anything and everything, mostly out of the backs of trucks. It’s like a huge garage sale with 150 vendors, all selling chickens, pigeons, goats, turkeys, miniature horses, puppies, cages, and anything else you might want.

We came home with 32 (as of this afternoon, it is down to 31) new chicks.

We have no way of knowing if we have hens or roosters as these are sold ‘straight run’ which means they don’t sex them, you get what you get. I’m figuring that half are more than likely roosters.  I only want one rooster because they tend to fight and wear the hens out with more than one. I like to have one though, because they do try to protect their hens when they are running around the yard from wild cats or hawks.  I’m sure we will also lose a few more chicks before they are big enough to go outside. We plan on ending up with 15 or so, which is plenty for the size of our coop.

But for now they are just so cute!

They are Bantams so they don’t get as big as regular chickens, and lay smaller eggs.  They won’t start laying eggs until August or September. We have a good mix of funky breeds: Marans (lay dark brown eggs), Polish (have a white top hat of feathers), Silkies (they look like they are furry), Frizzle Cochin (their feathers are curled) and Aruacana (they lay green/blue eggs)

I’m excited to see them in a few weeks when we can really tell what they look like. (Al reinforced the pen so hopefully we will be able to keep any intruders away and all will be well!)

Al turns 50!

Al turned 50 Sunday, so of course we had to have a big birthday party.

We had lots of friends and family show up and I don’t know about anyone else, but I had a great time.  We couldn’t have picked better weather for the beginning of April. It wasn’t Texas warm, but it was nice out.

Sarah forgot how big her belly is getting and decided to get stuck on the peddle tractor. Hopefully the next blog post I write is about our new grandson, she is due any time now!

Ava wanted to help grandpa open the presents, but she wasn’t too excited about them. There wasn’t anything fun for her in them.

He got plenty of the “old man” presents, and other good ones, too.

We had good food (pulled pork sandwiches and all the fixings) and Sarah & Lauren came up with ‘Minute to Win it’ games to play.

Even Ava tried to get in on the fun. She kept trying to stand up under the tables, though and kept bumping her head. So Al is trying to protect her from yet another bump.

The games were fun, and I think we definitely need to do this again. I think the best was watching Don and Al do this one:

I have a short video of them playing this one (watch for Al cheating!) that I couldn’t get to load right, if you are interested you can go to this link and watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3893wcHh98

Spring Break: The Morning After

Gulls fighting over a chicken bone

City worker cleaning up the trash. I think it’s going to take them a very long time…..

Looking for treasures with a metal detector.

A beer can tree and a gumball machine

Beach Finds 2

Mom and I walk on the beach early most mornings while we are here. We enjoy the beautiful sunrises

Watch the shore birds begin their day

The pelicans fly up the beach every morning.

Every now and then find some fun sand sculptures

And look for sea shells

But yesterday morning we found all of the above and more. There weren’t many shells, and there was more trash than normal, so we started picking it up which we do often. By the time we were done walking, we had picked up 6 grocery bags full of trash. Some of it was from the beach goers that were here this week, other things came in from who knows where.

It’s always interesting to see what we find. We have found shotgun shells, syringes, balloons, hardhats, shoes, large tubs, and anything else you can think of. We found a pair of men’s underwear, a glass jar filled with shrimp, and a big rope (that I called Al to come get) this morning. We found buoys and a condom the other morning.  Last year I found a quart jar filled with white rice that had washed up.

But the thing I hate to see most are the pieces of plastic washed up on the beach that the sea turtles have tried to eat.  The Texas Gulf Coast is home to many types of sea turtles. You can see them swimming along the jettys and canal, and occasionally they are washed up dead or sick on the beach, or can be seen nesting on the sand starting in April.  Several organizations that protect the sea turtles encourage everyone to call if they see one on the beach. 

From what I have read, the reason they try to eat it is because they mistake the floating plastic for jellyfish, which some sea turtles eat. This can often lead to death for the sea turtle.  For more information see this site: www.seaturtles.org

It is very evident when you see the bite marks on everything

They are the diamond shaped holes. Almost any piece of plastic that we pick up has the same holes in it.

One website I found said that as many as 1/3 of dead turtles found washed up on shore had ingested plastic. Many communities have started banning plastic bags for grocery stores which is at least a step in the right direction not just for the turtles, but for everyone’s benefit. I have many re-usable shopping bags that I keep in my purse and use them as much as possible. (in case you are interested I found some great ones at www.baggu.com!)

I’m sure tomorrow when we go out again, we will find even more trash and more plastic with turtle bites.

Pick up your trash people!