January Chicks and finished Afghan!!

So, I realized that I never shared pictures of the two lone chicks that I managed to get hatched out in January. I'm not exactly sure what breeds were mixed together to make these two, but they certainly are adorable. Well, I know that the father was either a Rhode Island Red, or an Easter Egger, but it's one of them. Just not sure who the momma's were.  It was so funny, when I looked at these guys after putting those adorable little chicks in the chick nursery, because these guys just suddenly looked huge to me. It's amazing to me just how fast chicks grow.

I finished that Afghan that I was so determined to complete!!! I wasn't so certain that I would have it done by today, but I did. The boarder worked up really fast. If you didn't get the link I posted to the free pattern on Red Heart, the pattern number is LW1575 If you want something that's going to make you think while you work on it, this is the pattern to do it!!!  I have my next Afghan lined up to work on. It was an afghan kit that I ordered from Mary Maxim. I'm really excited about getting started, because it's one I've been eyeballing for a couple of years now.

Cadburry has been working really hard on her nest. I have a feeling based on the way she looks, and has been acting, that she will have those babies on Thursday for sure!!! I'll keep you all posted on that.

Chicks and my WIP

Good Morning!!! At exactly 6:00 AM this morning my phone rings...I'm sleeping really hard...it's the post office, and a very cheerful mail man...Good Morning, I have a shipment of chicks here for you...we had missed the email saying that they were on their way, and weren't exactly ready...but ready or not, they were here!!!! So, Frank gets dressed and goes out in the falling snow (yup more snow) to go and get them...and I start the rush to get the brooder and the brooder heater put together, and have everything set up and a pot of coffee going and ready for when Frank got home with our package of cute little fluffy chicks. We ordered these from Ideal Poultry out of Texas, and let me tell you, we are never disappointed with the chicks we get from them. In fact, or first Rhode Island Red's and White Leghorns came from them.

I still have a few rows left to assemble for this afghan, but it's coming together really nicely, I'm thinking that yes, I probably will enter this into the fair this year. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm very pleased with the way this is coming together. (Ok, Toot Toot)  With this being a snow day, I'm thinking it's the perfect day to finish putting this bad boy together so that I can start the edging.

Catching up with you all

Hello there!!! It's been a really busy month here, but that's truly no excuse for my negligence. We have had a lot of snow this month. I think we've gotten more snow this month, than we have all winter long. This last snow was deep enough that it caused me some difficulty in walking.

Other than the snow, I've started eating gluten free, and shopping for that takes a bit longer, and more patience. I will say, I feel a whole lot better since I've gone gluten free. I look forward to sharing my adventures with you all, and lots of new recipes. 

I've also started working on another afghan. I've been working on my craft room a bit, and have been sorting patterns so that they are all in a good order. While doing that, I came across one of those free pattern sheets that Walmart used to have out all the time. I was always grabbing those for the someday when I learned to crochet better, while I was learning. Well there was this one, that I fell in love with, and knew for sure and certain I was going to make, well, the time has come, and I have been working on it. If it turns out good, I may enter this one into the fair. (I've decided I'm going to enter an afghan into the fair, I have a bunch of them lined up to make anyways, and one of them, not sure which will be entered this year.)(it will be my first fair entry.)

We are pretty certain that Cadburry, that cute little black bunny we brought home last Easter is indeed pregnant. Pinkerton, that cute little fluffy white bunny we brought home when we got her, is the father. Her dewlap has gotten huge, her sides are starting to bulge, and she's slowed down a good deal. She is due on March 5th, which is pretty awesome, because that's Frank's birthday. I figure though, that since this is her first litter, she will probably go on either the 4th or the 6th. I have her nest box ready, it's never been outside. I'll be getting her some hay here in the next week, and will start doing the hay test with her to see when she's ready to start building her nest. Some bunnies are early nesters, and some are last minute.  I'm also fairly certain that Betty took as well. Her dewlap has grown, and she's not as friendly as she was, and has been giving us the stink eye pretty good.

I will leave you with a link to the pattern I'm working on http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/floral-bouquet-afghan  and some pictures!!! Hope everybody is keeping warm, and safe!!!!

Finally!!!

On Friday, we finally got Betty to lift for Fred!!!! We ended up having to leave her in his cage over night so that she could get his scent, and hopefully be very interested in him. So, Friday morning, we went out, and put her with him again, (Oh, we put him in her cage, can't really leave bunnies together like that). That morning, she lifted, and he had one really good fall off!!! That evening about 7 or 8 hours later, we put them back together for the second breeding, and she lifted twice!!!! Now, hopefully she took!!!

That evening, when I went out to do the evening animal chores, this is what she did to me. She was mad!!! As soon as she saw me coming, she automatically turned her back to me. She made sure to keep it to me the entire time I was feeding and watering. She still hasn't let me love on her, but she did accept a little piece of banana from me. I'm hoping that in the next few days she will be my sweet Betty again.

We do have a not so nice doe. She is the daughter of Fred and Ginger. We double checked her the other day to make sure that she was indeed a she, and I named her Alice. She is in her own cage now, because Ginger was starting to get a bit overly aggressive towards her. I am really worried that she's not going to let Bob breed her, and that she's going to do some damage to him. Frank is convinced that we can calm her down, and make her a sweet doe...I'm just not so certain about that. But we shall see.

It's super cold out today!!! We have snow on the ground, and high winds. I'm not loving this winter weather at all!!! I'm hoping that we are coming to the end of this snow and crazy coldness we have going on.

Well, I shall close this up, it's time to get the inside house stuff done!!!
Hope everybody is warm, and safe today!!!

Gardening time is growing near!!!!

We go to lots of different farm stores here in Woodstock as you have probably figured out by now. The main two being Rockingham Coop, and Tractor Supply. Well, all of the seed displays and shelves have been filled!!!! At the Coop, they had the 1 lb bags of seeds, and I was so happy to see the green beans that I figured I had better grab up the ones we would need before they got sold out. I'm thinking about trying a couple of other types of beans if I can figure out how to fit them into our garden space. I have to be honest, I don't think our garden is big enough for everything I'd like to plant.
At tractor supply I found some seed tape, with carrot seeds. I decided that it would be fun to give that a try. It will only take up one skinny little row, so what can it hurt????  I'm fairly excited about getting the garden going!!!
This year, we are going to put some fencing up around it to keep the dogs out of it. Bella enjoys digging in it, Jasper likes to lay on it, and Sam likes to pee on all of the plants, pretty much so killing them. The plan is to try to put up a fence that is easily taken up and down, and we want to put it up before the man comes to till it for us, so that we can fill it up with Rabbit poop. We have no shortage of that. Then when we know he's coming, we will make the dogs stay in the house, and take it down. Once he's been and gone, we will put it back up.
This week, I plan on getting my tomato seeds started. I'm thinking if they do well, we should have tomatoes in June...hopefully.  I'm planning on making Pizza Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Salsa, Pasta sauce, and Chili. This will be a busy summer for sure, but well worth it.
Is everybody else getting ready for a garden???

Finished!

I remember sharing the start of this blanket with you guys a week or so ago, and thought I would share the finished product with you all!!!! I must say it turned out really pretty. I'm almost kindof sad that it's going up for sale. I'm putting it in a craft show that I'm doing in March. (March 7th at the Central High School gymnasium)

Right now I'm currently working on some really cute little bunnies that I found a pattern for. Wen I get a few done, I'll post pictures along with the link.

 

Frustrated

So, this morning, I decided that whoever came up with the term "breeds like rabbits" has obviously never had domesticated rabbits.  I was bound and determined that I was going to do my first breeding all by myself, without my hubby who can make just about any animal do anything he wants it to do. I was so proud of myself, I remember to hook open Ethel's cage to make getting her out easier, and so that I didn't get her caught on the door. I had the door to Fred's cage unhooked...so far so good...had on my gloves...got Ethel in my arms...so far so good...put her in the cage with Fred...and that's where things stop going good. She flattened herself out...so he comes over licks her ears, nuzzles her...plays it up, he's suave, and I almost thought he would have liked it if I'd lit some candles and put on some Barry White...So she gets up, and backs herself into a corner...*sigh*  So, I knew what to do, I'd read the books, and I'd seen Frank do it...I hold her front end, and gently take my hand and lift her back end...What does Fred do??? He comes and snuggles up to my arm...lays down and puts his head on my arm like hey there...how yo doin? So, I let go of Ethel, and he proceeds to get a fall off...on her face...so...after a good agonizing 10 minutes of watching Fred wear himself out trying to get the lady to let him love her...I take her out and put her back in her cage. (She gave me the stink eye all day long) I thought now look, I didn't waste all this time to not have a rabbit get pregnant today..so BETTY...Lets see if Betty will lift. She hasn't been bred yet...lets put her and Fred together...I get her out of her cage, and she just laid there...didn't lift, nothing...so I thought well lets try to help out my old buddy Fred...so I lift her rear end for him, and he cuddles with me...AGAIN...at this point, I knew the day was gone for trying to breed rabbits. By the time I would have to go back out to do the second mating, it would have been well after dark. So, I'm going to try again in the morning. I'm going to try Ethel with Fred again. If it doesn't happen, I'm going to leave her in his cage, and put him in hers and let her get his scent and then try it Friday morning. I'm not going to give up...I will make this happen!!!

Breeding Bunnies

Today, we finally Bred Cadburry and Pinkerton...remember the two bunnies we bought at Easter last year??? Yeah, we have finally put them together for the first time. I'm rather eager to see what Cad produces, She's NZ mixed with Unknown pet bunny, so it's hard to tell what we're going to get. I can tell you, that she only tolerated Pink for a really short amount of time...she let him fall off of her twice for the first mating, and then she tried to fight him, and then the second time she let him fall off once, and then Frank had to get her out of his cage quickly. So, in a month, we shall see what we get from her (hopefully she took)

Tomorrow I'm planning on putting Fred and Ethel together, and then this weekend, I'm going to have Frank help me get Betty and Bob together. Bob has a low sitting cage, and I just don't bend, so he will have to help me get that. We really do have to get Betty bred so that we can make sure she's going to give us babies. (We've had her for almost a year already) And then We've had Bob for a couple of months now, and need to make sure he's not going to be shooting blanks. So...Spring will come with Baby Bunnies!!!!

Worm Factory

For Christmas, Frank got me a worm Factory 360. I absolutely love this thing!!! As you all know, I'd been doing worms in the tub for quite some time now. This is a tray system, that allows the worms to move themselves up to the next tray as you add it. The best part is, if there is still food in the bottom tray, some will remain behind until it's completely empty. Plus, by leaving the bottom tray for a long enough period of time, all of the baby worms that hatch out will just move their hungry little selves up towards food, and you don't have to worry about baby worms in the castings. I'm hoping to convert  all of my tubs to the worm factory systems, one at a time. They aren't cheap, but they are made here in the USA, and they allow you to continue to be green with your composting!!!