Long observation...

I spent the bulk of my Friday afternoon at my kitchen table. I was meeting with our Landscape Designer later in the day and wanted to at least appear organized.

I have a clear view of the coop from my kitchen window. I noticed that there was a gap in the temporary chicken fencing we have attached to the coop. This gap seemed to be the exact size and shape of my son CHRISTIAN, grrrr. I watched and watched waiting for the great chicken escape of summer 2009. I wonder if an IQ test has been created for chickens. I think ours are dumb as rocks!

Almost 3 hours later, I noticed the first chicken attempting an exit. Once she got out... she cackled up a huge racket and the party was ON!!

Freedom, whoo-hoo. Never mind it took them forever to even notice, they made the most of the mayhem. Actually, I hope to let them freerange during the day more once the area has additional prep work done. The coop is where we will shoo them for safety during the night.

Chicks gone wild. There rendezvous can NOT be termed quiet or sneeky!

And there is Mr. Roo, of whom I have a tad bit of a crush. Remember that he is a miniature? See how much smaller than the hens he is? Don't worry though, he has the 'little man' disease... which means he doesn't know he's dinky... and the hens let him think what he wants.


So after letting them enjoy some free time, I called Christian to inform him of his error in leaving the chicken wire gaping open. And told him to round'em up. He calls this ring around the rosies... chicken edition...

First you open the coop door,

He slowly walks around the back of the coop calmly flapping his arms,

And the chickens traipse right into the coop to avoid the odd fella doing the chicken impersonation.

There are no feathers ruffled in this process.

All are safely gathered and cackles have returned to a reasonable volume.

PS - still no fresh eggs, grrrrr. I called the hatchery this week and asked them a few questions. The window of time for egg production starting is much larger than I had first read. Seems it could take up to 4 more weeks possibly. Delayed gratification is not one of my finer points.

Got Milk?

We got another little goat this morning. Her name is Calli, and we look forward to spoiling her rotten. Calli's temperament, ears, and black coloring remind Savannah of our little baby goat, Madi, that we lost this past winter. Calli is part miniature Nubian and Oberhasli, we're hopeful she will be a wonderful little dairy goat.

Amelia should enjoy the company, once she makes sure that Calli understands Amelia has seniority, grin!

These animals are an absolute joy. I'm sure our other goat, Jack, will look forward to hanging out with these ladies in the near future!

Safe and sound... 1 year later!

My youngest Brother, Dave, married a total sweetie, Jessica, last summer.

I bought them a gift card to one of my favorite stores... hoping they loved the store too.

I promptly came home and put the gift card in a safe place!

This was such an awesome safe place, that the gift card... one whole year later... is still safely tucked away there. Because, I have forgotten where the gift card safe haven IS!!!

So this month, on Jess and Dave's 1 year anniversary, I have determined that I am truly overdue giving them a wedding gift, grin. So I went and got another gift card, of course adding a little to the gift amount in hopes it will grant me quick forgiveness, and I am thrilled to say the card is finally in the mail.

Happy wedding day AND 1 year anniversary!!!

Laughter

My boys can laugh up a storm! I'm talking loud, HUGE laughter.

Last week I heard such laughter at the side of the house. I must say I'm glad a simple garden hose and dirt can still provide tons of fun for these fellas.



Our yard is still so barren, at least it can be useful for a good mudfight!

Later that same day, Savannah and the boys went firefly chasing. Can a brag a tad and say I used to be an awesome firefly chaser!? Seriously was good at it... my kids need more practice... or a good lesson from their mom ;)

Does not qualify as a 'snow angel'

I was on the hammock on Saturday enjoying our unusually cool weather. Ty was playing in the gravel drive a short distance away. As moms do... I asked him what he was working on. His reply, " I don't know what to call it, I want to say snow angel, but its not an angel and its not in the snow!"

Of course that left me no other choice but to remove my completely relaxed body OFF my beloved hammock to go investigate.

Ty decided it was NOT a snow angel, I agreed, so he was quite excited when he told me later he had the right name for his creation... the gravel Ty guy!

Since Ty does not get many chances to make snow angels down here, I love his ingenuity!!

Grandpa Bill

Shawn's dad made a visit to our neck of the woods. The kids adore their Grandpa. Shawn is just like his dad in that neither of them can sit still... they must always be on the go. So the kids took him from one end of the farm to the other, and even over to the river too.


Shawn's mom and dad always had a garden while he was growing up. We hope to be able to can green beans as yummy as Shawn's mom did.



On Sunday, Bill ordained Shawn to the Office of High Priest... which was the main reason for Bill's visit. We so appreciate him making the huge effort to come with such short notice.

After church, they all played tons and tons of games. I think Grandpa found it humorous that the competitive Callahan gene is alive and well in his granchildren, grin!

Thanks again, Bill! This visit meant the world to Shawn and we loved having you here at the farm!!

'1st Annual' is code for...

Trial run!!!

We had our 1st Annual Family 4th of July party here at the Farm on Saturday.

Shall I say... lessons were learned. Several hours before family started to arrive, Ty ran into my room and asked, "when does the 4th of July fiasco start?" I think he meant fiesta or possibly festivities, nonetheless, I laughed!

But Ty might have been inspired because we had some funny little twists to the evening that could legally be termed fiasco, grin.

#1 - me, the hostess, forgot to take any pictures to document the event, grrrrrr.

#2 - one of the 4wheelers and the dirt bike got busted chains and pooped out on us.

#3 - mosquitos were very hungry.

#4 - this is the biggey, our grill decided it did not want to heat up past 200... burgers, kabobs, and hotdogs like much toastier environments to cook in :)

But through it all we laughed and adjusted. Might I add that my hubby was a totally wonderful sport the whole night!

Thank goodness for a wonderful family that is flexible, used to funny chaos, and to whom good company is the ultimate goal. Therefore, I grin and make the final declaration...

1st Annual Mayfield 4th of July Fiasco was a success!!!

We can only go up from here, tee-hee!

Missing: our Dairy Darlin'

Savannah is our resident milker.

She is off for the week at Young Women's Camp. Savannah has trained me as her understudy. I milk when she is just burnt out, or will be away from the farm during the morning or evening milk time.

This is the longest amount of time Savannah has left me to 'fill in'.

Pictured above on the left is how much Savannah can get from milking in one day... a generous 1/2 gallon. On the right is my best milking day... Savannah has no worries of my taking her job.

Milking can be exhausting. After this experience I may need to do a set couple days a week, cause my hands are whimpy. Seriously. Whimpy.

This is our milking canister. And I am ever so grateful it has a lid, because I have almost knocked this thing over several times after milking and I would have been so very angry over that spilt milk, whew.

I must admit though, the stroll out to the barn early in the morning and late in the evening have been wonderful...

Don't be alarmed...

This is NOT a torture device, it is our milking bench... looks funny huh?!

It works wonderfully keeping Amelia safe and stable as we milk her. And boy does she love her bucket o' oats. Amelia is a miniature nubian and a dream goat. We got her from our neighbors and loved her immediately.

She is an incredible mommy, got a little spunk to her but gentle... AND

her teets are smooth as velvet! What?! Too much info?! snicker, snort.

If she was a good girl, which she always is... she gets a few raisins after milkings for a huge thankyou!

Thank you Ms. Amelia for being patient with me this week, you're a deer... I mean sweet goat!!

And in closing I would like to add:

WHO?

WHO? Would leave a pair of nasty dirty socks on the hammock? Don't ever disrespect the hammock, grrrr.

Its a boy's sock...

is anyone surprised?

Nope, me neither.

Bad Timing

My sweet daughter... is at Young Women's Camp this week.

My oldest son... is at Boy Scout Camp this week.

My lil man... is hanging with his cousins.

Me? I'm home sick, real sick, like missed out on going to a water park with my lil man sick.

Here's to hoping this is a 24 hour bug... surely... pretty please!