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The meaning of life is...
Peanut M&Ms.
Candy coated, chocolaty, peanutty goodness.
Yep, Peanut M&Ms are what it's all about. ***wishes I had bought some today***
Peanut M&Ms = no matter how hard our shell is, or how sweet we seem underneath the shell, we are all nuts in the center.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Bunny baby update
The little guys now have fur and are just cute as can be.
This is what a little cotton tail really looks like. Not like in the cartoons, huh? lol
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Why did the chicken cross the road?
*shrugs* Probably for the same reason she decided to see if she could squeeze through this cinder block. She didn't make it...she got stuck. Stupid bird.
Monday, April 14, 2008
When City People Move to the Country
ETA: If you are looking for real info about why we live in the country, see this post.This was emailed to me today. I got a huge kick out of it, mostly because I know people that would do this. lol
ETA: For those of you visiting this blog from outside the lower 48, this animal is actually a 'possum.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
We gots bebbehs!
Little Sis has had Bubbles for a couple of years now. She was given to her by a friend of mine on the condition that we don't eat her. Until a couple of weeks ago, Bubbles lived happily in the confines of the big bunny pen.
Little Sis recently joined 4-H, and Bubbles is going to be her pet rabbit project. Since that requires daily grooming, feed records, and the like, we moved Bubbles to a cage near the house. We knew she was expecting when we moved her, but not knowing when she was mated, we weren't sure when to expect the babies. They arrived yesterday...four of them!
Here's a pic of the nest, hidden in this high tech, very expensive nest box. *snickers* Yes, it's really a free box from Aldi. ;)
And a pic of the momma. Isn't she pretty?
I'm a bit put off by the 4-H rabbit project, though. We raise rabbits for meat, for our own use. Our method of raising rabbits involves tossing them all into a big pen where they hop around happily, digging and playing and doing what rabbits do best - reproducing. Our costs are minimal as we grow our own hay for feed. The only drawback we've discovered is that during heavy rains, we lose some litters; they drown in the burrows.
The 4-H method involves a lot of record keeping: nutrition lists from feed, how much feed each rabbit gets daily, etc. I suppose it could be a good learning experience for kids with no livestock experience, though Little Sis wonders why they want to complicate something that really isn't complicated at all. She hasn't minded filling out all the paperwork, though, and raising rabbits in a cage is new to her. We raised our first ones that way, indoors when we lived in the city, but she was too young to remember much about it.
It's just amazing to me that most people don't know you can raise rabbits on hay and fresh greens, that you don't need a lot of cages or expensive equipment. Rabbits live in the wild without pellets and cages, ya know. Our rabbits are healthy, happy, and give us as much meat as we want.
Little Sis recently joined 4-H, and Bubbles is going to be her pet rabbit project. Since that requires daily grooming, feed records, and the like, we moved Bubbles to a cage near the house. We knew she was expecting when we moved her, but not knowing when she was mated, we weren't sure when to expect the babies. They arrived yesterday...four of them!
Here's a pic of the nest, hidden in this high tech, very expensive nest box. *snickers* Yes, it's really a free box from Aldi. ;)
And a pic of the momma. Isn't she pretty?
I'm a bit put off by the 4-H rabbit project, though. We raise rabbits for meat, for our own use. Our method of raising rabbits involves tossing them all into a big pen where they hop around happily, digging and playing and doing what rabbits do best - reproducing. Our costs are minimal as we grow our own hay for feed. The only drawback we've discovered is that during heavy rains, we lose some litters; they drown in the burrows.
The 4-H method involves a lot of record keeping: nutrition lists from feed, how much feed each rabbit gets daily, etc. I suppose it could be a good learning experience for kids with no livestock experience, though Little Sis wonders why they want to complicate something that really isn't complicated at all. She hasn't minded filling out all the paperwork, though, and raising rabbits in a cage is new to her. We raised our first ones that way, indoors when we lived in the city, but she was too young to remember much about it.
It's just amazing to me that most people don't know you can raise rabbits on hay and fresh greens, that you don't need a lot of cages or expensive equipment. Rabbits live in the wild without pellets and cages, ya know. Our rabbits are healthy, happy, and give us as much meat as we want.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Peep update
Our peeps are about two weeks old now. We lost three of the bantams shortly after we got them. I think it was due to the delay in shipping and then grabbing them right after they came out of the box to bring them home. When we got them, we had to wait around at TSC for over an hour for the chicks to arrive, then we got the ones we wanted as they came out of the shipping container. If we hadn't, I doubt we'd have any now. The whole shipment was only about 30 of each type of bird, and they were all gone within about two hours.
Here's a peek at the bantams that are left. I think the biggish yellow one is going to be a Frizzle Cochin!! I've always wanted one. The biggish black one also has feathered feet but it's not frizzly, and I've no idea what the teensy chipmunk colored ones are yet.
This gal (below) has an interesting face. I think she may be a Wyandotte of some sort, but I won't be able to tell till her feathers all come in. That's the neat thing about buying from an assortment - you just never know what you'll get, but you can bet it'll be interesting.
All the chicks seem so big! I will be glad when they can go outside, though. Peeww they are stinky! I'm changing them every day now, though, and that's helped a lot. DH built an outside chick nursery for me, but they need to get in a few more of their real feathers first, just to be safe. Of course they'll have the heat lamp for a few more weeks, or at least until the temps even out here, but for now they are safer inside, especially with a low in the 20's expected this weekend. *rolls eyes* I do enjoy the peeping, anyway. It sounds like I live in an aviary. lol
Here's a peek at the bantams that are left. I think the biggish yellow one is going to be a Frizzle Cochin!! I've always wanted one. The biggish black one also has feathered feet but it's not frizzly, and I've no idea what the teensy chipmunk colored ones are yet.
This gal (below) has an interesting face. I think she may be a Wyandotte of some sort, but I won't be able to tell till her feathers all come in. That's the neat thing about buying from an assortment - you just never know what you'll get, but you can bet it'll be interesting.
All the chicks seem so big! I will be glad when they can go outside, though. Peeww they are stinky! I'm changing them every day now, though, and that's helped a lot. DH built an outside chick nursery for me, but they need to get in a few more of their real feathers first, just to be safe. Of course they'll have the heat lamp for a few more weeks, or at least until the temps even out here, but for now they are safer inside, especially with a low in the 20's expected this weekend. *rolls eyes* I do enjoy the peeping, anyway. It sounds like I live in an aviary. lol
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Is it really spring?
The weather has been wonderful! Sunny and warm, peepers peeping, trees are starting to turn green, the grass is growing; it must be spring! Of course it can't last: we are in for temps back into the 30's over the weekend. The daffodils are blooming, finally, and I've announced that the girls can pick as many as they like. Last year, I only let them pick a few, thinking it would be nice to enjoy them in the yard for a while. But we got a cold snap that killed them all, so no one got to enjoy them, inside or out. I won't make that mistake again this year. Besides, there's just nothing sweeter than Little Sis singing to herself as she picks flowers. :)
I've been very very very (well, just picture a LOT of verys here and you get the idea) busy. I've started digging up garden beds and putting out the seeds that can go out before the last frost.
This year's plan is to have something edible, for us or the critters, growing in every available spot. It sounds like a great idea, especially since I won't have to mow this year (I loathe mowing), but it really does entail a lot of work to get things started. Some of the beds will be no trouble to get started; I had black plastic down in several places to kill the grass. I have discovered one secret: carpet works best! An old throw rug or piece of carpet placed where you'd like to have a new garden spot works wonders. The rain can seep right through, but the weeds all die from lack of light, then the worms come up to munch on the decaying vegetation, and voila, you have some excellent garden soil. I think the places that I don't actually get dug up to plant will get a layer of carpet for next year.
Thanks to all the digging and outside work, I've been too tired to blog. I'm fortunate, though, to have two great helpers. Big Sis prefers housework (though she will haul firewood without complaining) and Little Sis loves to garden. That works out well, since Big Sis can help me keep up with the housework and Little Sis has the perfect sized hands to plant tiny seeds.
I bought seed potatoes today. This will be our fist time growing potatoes. We eat a lot of them, so the work will be worthwhile. I bought 20 lbs. at a local greenhouse. They had a much better price than Walmart or TSC, where seed potatoes are at least $1a pound. I suppose my rainy cold weekend will be spent cutting up seed potatoes and getting them ready to plant.
The guy at the greenhouse told me there's a new way to plant potatoes. He said you cut them up, then wrap them in tissue, like Kleenex, before you plant them. I asked if that helped keep them from rotting in the ground, and he said no, but it keeps the dirt out of their eyes. ;)
I've been very very very (well, just picture a LOT of verys here and you get the idea) busy. I've started digging up garden beds and putting out the seeds that can go out before the last frost.
This year's plan is to have something edible, for us or the critters, growing in every available spot. It sounds like a great idea, especially since I won't have to mow this year (I loathe mowing), but it really does entail a lot of work to get things started. Some of the beds will be no trouble to get started; I had black plastic down in several places to kill the grass. I have discovered one secret: carpet works best! An old throw rug or piece of carpet placed where you'd like to have a new garden spot works wonders. The rain can seep right through, but the weeds all die from lack of light, then the worms come up to munch on the decaying vegetation, and voila, you have some excellent garden soil. I think the places that I don't actually get dug up to plant will get a layer of carpet for next year.
Thanks to all the digging and outside work, I've been too tired to blog. I'm fortunate, though, to have two great helpers. Big Sis prefers housework (though she will haul firewood without complaining) and Little Sis loves to garden. That works out well, since Big Sis can help me keep up with the housework and Little Sis has the perfect sized hands to plant tiny seeds.
I bought seed potatoes today. This will be our fist time growing potatoes. We eat a lot of them, so the work will be worthwhile. I bought 20 lbs. at a local greenhouse. They had a much better price than Walmart or TSC, where seed potatoes are at least $1a pound. I suppose my rainy cold weekend will be spent cutting up seed potatoes and getting them ready to plant.
The guy at the greenhouse told me there's a new way to plant potatoes. He said you cut them up, then wrap them in tissue, like Kleenex, before you plant them. I asked if that helped keep them from rotting in the ground, and he said no, but it keeps the dirt out of their eyes. ;)
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