Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Our Little Princess


This is just a quick post to put up the latest picture of our biggest AdventureGirl. She just started pre-ballet classes at the YMCA, and of course is thrilled with the whole proceeding. I on the other hand feel like a duck out of water. Not known for my physical grace, not a dancer myself, and having never taken a dance class (thank goodness for my own kinder-gymnastic experiences at the Y or I would be completely hopeless!), I was shocked at how seriously most of the moms are taking this class. The age range is 3-5 people! Come on!!! Luckily M is oblivious to it, and we are meeting our goal of her learning a little more "mind over matter" when it comes to coordination :-) We'll see where it goes from there, but it certainly isn't worth an ulcer.

Not much else has happened of late. We all got hit with a double dose of the crud, and are slowly ridding the household of it. We also learned an unfortunate lesson about Dora (the dog, not the cartoon) and chickens, so now I am in the chicken-nursing business and Glenda is missing a lot of skin off of her back. No eggs for now, and I will be surprised if she recovers, but stranger things have happened. Luckily Cheep, Peep, and Banana are doing well, so there is hope of more eggs in the late fall.

AdventureDad also started putting together the second raised bed for the hoop house, and I am chomping at the bit to start my spring planting. We got a crop of turnips and greens over the winter, so I have high expectations for the summer !

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Big Red



So, the AdventureFamily has recently acquired two red things that will have an impact on our lives. The first is Glenda (the good chicken), named of course by AdventureDad. Glenda is a Rhode Island red who was an excess hen on a friend's farm. She has since moved in here, and is faithfully laying us a delicious brown egg every day. Of course we couldn't stop there, and we also have 3 chicks in the basement that are rapidly growing. Cheep is a Wellsummer chicken, Peep is a silver-laced Wyandotte, and Pep is a light Sussex. Talk about a mixed flock, and if they all turn out to be hens (there is a 50/50 shot on both Cheep and Pep), we will be drowning in eggs. Doesn't sound too horrible to me!
The other item is "Big Red", the "new" tractor. Several decades newer than Jimmy's antique, it is a bit more powerful, more reliable, and has a bucket on the front, all of which should make our life on Nine Trees a little easier.
We made our first trip out to the farm last month, and succeeded in getting the truck firmly stuck in the mud (yes, it was me). Thankfully our neighbor Rod is a lifesaver who happens to have an astounding collection of equipment, and he quickly rolled up in his bulldozer and pulled us out like it was nothing.
Since then, AdventureDad has had surgery on his elbow. He had an old injury from his first deployment that has slowly been worsening, and finally had to go in to have a collection of bone fragments removed from the joint and the nerve re-routed to a spot where it will get pinched less. I'll post the gory pictures later, but the poor guy had a purple arm from shoulder to fingertips. He's healing well now, although very frustrated at the slow progress (we're coming up on the 3 week anniversary), but it should pay off in the end.
We are now in the "pre-hay" season, starting to plan our trips out to the farm and figure out a timeline for getting the weeds sprayed, the hay cut and baled, and the seeds and fertilizer put down for next year. On top of it all, we are starting to tease ourselves with the idea of starting construction on our house this summer. A bit earlier than the original plan, but we are hoping it will give us time to do a bit more of the work ourselves. We shall see!