Tuesday Twaddle

My last hen hatched all of her eggs yesterday. I went out last night to collect eggs and she had six little chicks. She is the white Silkie I bought last spring.

I have 13 chicks now. I think I have enough. I think I will have to have a new coop. Still I am pretty excited about all of these chicks.

I washed windows and blinds yesterday. Washing windows is a piece of cake. Washing blinds is not. I didn't have the nerve to take a before and after picture of my blinds. Lets say I forgot they were white. I have a few more days of this but my house will so clean. I like that. I did tell the boys that today they are cleaning the upstairs landing. I have this plant shelf and I just hate jumping from one side to the other to clean it. I am not tall enough and it is at the top of my ladder that I have to balance on the top of the stairs. The boys just jump and climb and never worry about falling. I have never been very graceful.

I have been working on rugs. Not finished but I did think I would show some progress.

This is fun to do I am even getting used to all of the antique black.

Still not wild about the colors I chose for that bird.

I started working on this one to finish it up. I don't like to start other projects until I am all finished. This one will be nice once I get some back ground hooked in soon.

Can you see that whale. I am going to finish this whale. I hook and hook and it just never seems to get any where. I think it will look neat if I ever get it finished.

I was working on this part and my son walked in and thought I was hooking Eeyore. I thought that was so funny and it made me wish I was hooking Eeyore too.

Well off to do school for today. We finally made it to the sixties. We started at the Civil War and so now finally getting to the Civil Rights Movement is really interesting. Peter is my one student that I have been able to start from In the beginning God and I hope by the time we finish the year we will have made it to today in History. He will have had a whole complete look at world history. Just because he likes to learn funny things, he can now recite all of the presidents and vice presidents in order. He has his favorites and ones that he dislikes very much. I found this picture that I just love. It is a photograph of President Truman playing the piano with Lauren Bacall sitting on the lid. I don't think he was president yet. I will find it and see if it will scan. I really want him to study the Vietnam war. I am running out of time. One thing I am glad that I have done is to have taught them history this way. I will put in a plug here. Hands down by far out of the curriculum I have taught and I have taught so many, the best history books in the whole world is the series called Mystery of History.  The author is still working on Volume lV and I will be finished teaching. I will buy it anyway. Her kids grew up too before she finished. My kids really enjoyed them too and that says a bunch.

Okay lots of Twaddle today.

Off to do school and read out loud to him To Kill A Mockingbird. I will miss reading out loud too. 
Have a lovely day,
~Kim~

Running Toward May

My birthday is this week. EEK!!! My age equals ten when you add the two numbers together. How can I be this old, well I am not yet, not until Thursday. Double number years have been epic years in my life so this one is no exception. Not a fan of birthdays, nor Mothers Day. Nor any of those things. When my step mother said the year I turned 12 when she found me crying on our front porch. ( I was crying because I missed my birth Mom so much.) She assumed I was crying because I didn't get a present I wanted. " She said, " Kim the sooner you learn the world does not revolve around you the happier you will be."

I keep trying to learn that, to think of others more highly than myself, too walk a mile in someone elses  shoes before I judge and keep trying to pull that enormous log out of my eye before I try to see that little splinter in my brother's eye. Every year after  I got married, my Dad would call on my birthday to remind me that, I was born on the hottest May ever. The store he worked in was having a grand opening. I was six week premature. So he had to leave to take my Mom to the hospital. Then I was born so tiny that they had to go home and leave me there. Then there was the bill for me. It was 268 dollars. He said, my Mom was crying because she didn't know where they would get that much money to pay for me. My Dad was a gambler. He had been gambling some where and he said, "I had exactly 268 dollars hid in his wallet from my Mom". Then he would say, " You cost me every single penny I had to get you out of the hospital and you have been costing me ever since."  Then he would laugh.

Every single year. Until he died. Now I hear it in my head every time my birthday comes around. I hate my birthday. This year, I am going shopping and out to dinner and I am going to laugh and be happy and not work. This year, I have made up my mind I am going to have fun and eat birthday cake and blow out candles. It is time to stop the sad things that haunt me and be happy because I have such wonderful people in my life.

So this year, I will be...but one thing I do , forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before. ( Philippians 3:13)

All of us are on a journey and as I let go of the old things, I will keep pressing on toward the new things. Life is way to short to be living in the past.

Laughter is easier than tears. Thank you for reading along.
Have a lovely Monday,
~Kim~

The Last Sunday in April

Today is the last Sunday of April. What a month it has been. I am sure May will be just as action packed and full of life. I really do not know what I would do without flowers. I was walking around with my camera and I think flowers and plants just make my world just a bit better.

This year, my field of dreams will be used for parking. So my field of dreams looks like this.

The only sign I will be putting up will be this one.

My tomatoes and pepper will be growing in the flower bed in pots.

As the weather man said this week, we haven't had a rain free year like this in a long time. In fact for us it is the fourth driest year since they started keeping records. So I guess it is good that this year I don't have a giant garden.

I do have a nice crop of artichokes this year.

The fruit trees are loaded and so are the berry vines. It will give me different kinds of work to do which might be nice this year.

I thought I would show you that the mud ball made it through the winter. The boys are back working on it again. The little bit of rain we had did make it crack and loose a bit of mud, but now it is all patched and ready for a new summer of mud. I have no idea how big they have in mind to make it. I was rather surprised when they had that on the agenda last week to start working on the mud ball. I am so glad. It is sort of an attraction. People come to visit and they want to go take a look at the progress on the mud ball. They of course, try to roll it.

This is how it looked this morning. My husband back there in the picture. He was working his way to his trees so he could do some more trimming and shaping on his Bonsai trees that he has in the ground. We don't do anything any more unless we first grab a hula-hoe and chop some weeds.

I turned my calendar in my planner this morning to May. As I looked at it, I was shocked at how much is already on it. Most of the month is already booked up. Oh well, June is coming.

I must work very hard this month at finding a daily place of quiet.

~ Kim~

For Kessie--- " Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 2:4 " Where shall I ever find the strength I need to get through this experience, this ordeal, this day, this week? The answer is Take it! Take it from the grace that is ours already in Christ Jesus". (From a Lamp for my Feet, pg 46)" Love is not merely a gentle touch or a pat on the head. It is a refiner's fire. It burns to purify." " And this is love; walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love." 2 John 6
I am praying for you. I love you, God loves you more.

Canning Jars

One of my secret things that I love, I mean I get weak in the knees about blue canning jars. You used to be able to pick them up for nothing but as people find more and more uses for them in decorating they are becoming more and more expensive. This year Ball has re-released it's blue pint jar for it's 100 anniversary. 
 My husband asked me what I was going to do with them when they arrived. I looked at him blankly and said, " Do with them?" He said, " Are you going to can with them or what?" I said, " No, I think I will just stare at them." So they have been in my box on my table. They are on my hutch.

 This next picture is a original 16 ounce canning jar. It is more green than blue. The glass in the original is quite a bit heaver. When my Mom moved into her house back in Oklahoma, the people before them left cases of blue canning jars in the garage. She gave me two. She was like I am with mine, I am pretty stingy.
 

 My DIL told me on Saturday. ( I did share with her.) That at our favorite hardware store, they have a whole end cap full of cases of them. I might just have to go there just to look at them. The problem with this hardware store is that when my husband and I go we walk around for a hour at least saying to each other, " "Hey come over and look at this?" It is so much fun.

This morning is a beautiful morning. The light  draws me outside. I find my eyes staring at the patterns the new green leaves make in the early morning light as the breeze continues to blow this morning. I just had to share with you today. I don't have time to sit today, and when I get back today the light will have changed.
Like life, it goes by so fast, and it changes so fast it is impossible to catch.

Have a lovely Thursday, I am so thankful for the light. Because it reminds me. " Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me." ( John 14:1)

~Kim~

Just Chickens

This is part of the flowerbed we have been working on, I really enjoy this part of my house. The quiet porch is what it is called and it is what is outside the office.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that the hydrangeas will be blooming in 26 days.  They all have nice little flowers growing.

My third bantam hatched her eggs on Sunday. I now have seven chicks. Last night I wanted my husband to see them and we walked out to the coop and I had a feeling yesterday morning that the snake was back under the chicken feeder but I just couldn't make myself lift it up to see. I asked my husband if he would do it and he told me that if there was a snake under it he was going to catch it and relocate it to a gopher hole in the front yard.
Sure enough, he lifted it and there it was, he quickly grabbed it and set the feeder down and left the back yard. That snake was more than happy to go down the gopher hole. Now at least it is out of the chicken coop. I just hope it doesn't have any family.

Here are a few of them. The Mom's were upset I was in there with my camera so I was disturbing them so much I couldn't get a decent shot. The interesting story I have today is about my two Mlle Fleur hens. They are mother and daughter. The daughter who has never gone broody before went broody first. She got her clutch of eggs and was as happy as a clam. About two weeks into the sitting on eggs, her mother beat the heck out of her and made her leave her nest then the mother took over the eggs. I felt so sorry for the daughter so I just took some of her eggs and moved them to another nest box. She sat on those and left her mother to the other nest of eggs.
The mother's eggs hatched first. A few days later the daughter's eggs hatched. Now in the coop, all of the chicks that hatched follow the daughter. All I can think of is maybe when the chicks were in the eggs they grew used to the daughters sounds. I don't know, but it reminds me of that verse that is in John 10:27
" My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me." In this case chicks. The mother hen has always been a chick stealer. I am so glad that the little hen has all of her chicks now.

 Don't these look like wedding bells? I think they are so pretty. I have never had much luck growing foxglove. I am so glad these decided this year that they would bloom.

I hope you have a great Wednesday. I hope to get a bit of hooking today. Just 10 minutes. Hooking is so good for my brain. There is just something about wool that calms my spirit.

Have a great day,
~Kim~

A Spring Day

How are you on this lovely spring day? I hope you are having spring and not winter. April is just racing by isn't it? I can hear the dove softly cooing in the tree outside my door. The quite murmuring of the the wind chimes as a soft breeze passes by. This morning for the first time, we were able to have coffee on the porch as we watched the morning wake up as the sun rose over the mountains. I always watch as that first bit of light reaches the summit and then pours light down into the valley. I am thankful.

The fruit on the tree is growing nicely. I am aware at how fast time does pass when you watch time from the view of the garden. When I first became a Mom, my focus on life started to change. As my family grew, I continued to change. As I now prepare to go into a different walk of life, I continue to watch my life so I don't miss an important lesson. God has brought a new person in my life. One whom is not easy for me. One that has me on my knees and I find I am in constant prayer and even putting my hand to my lips so I don't say what would be the wrong thing.

This is good for me. To have someone who insults me, embarrasses me and who brings attention to my faults. It helps me to see the blessings I take for granted. It helps me to focus on the truth that I might miss if not brought to my attention. God allows people to come into our lives for a reason. He shows me that He is the strength that I must call on and not act the way that would be easier. As I keep working to lay down those hurts and work to be kind and gentle and loving when every thing in me wants to shrink back. As I have said before that 2013 is a year of relinquishment. It continues to be just that.

I find as the trials continue, life becomes sweeter. The people I love become dearer. The friends I have more precious. The tiny little bits of kindness become feasts of joy. I have been given such a wonderful life, no matter how hard it looks, I am thankful for all of it. Without it, I wouldn't see God nor would I feel Him as He continues to come along side and comfort me in His everlasting arms.

Life is a journey. I met a beautiful woman, she had lived through far harder things than I could ever even imagine. She was sent to a prison camp. Her crime? Smuggling Bibles. As she told us her story in my living room and she shared how as a little girl being brought to the front of the class and every student was made to pass by and spit in her face because her parents were Christians. Never have I known pain and she is the most gentle and joyful person you ever met. I remember her when I think life is not what I thought and I am thankful my journey has been a very easy one.

I think life will always be full of surprises.

Thank you for stopping by today. You all mean so much to me.

~Kim~

Whew, It's Monday!

I can't believe today is Monday. The weekend was so busy and it flew by. These flowers are some trumpet vines that I have growing on the fence. I forget to check them most of the time. I was chopping weeds on Saturday morning and they were covered in blooms. I wish I had planted them up next to the house.

The wedding shower was great. Nik's family is lovely. A very nice surprise was one of Nik's aunts and I have known each other since before Nik and Emilie were both born. We were in a Bible Study together back in the 80s. Isn't that funny? We would run in to each other through the years so getting to see were were going to be related through marriage was awesome. I had a good time and I of course forgot a camera.

The weather man says we should hit 92 degrees today. It feels crispy already outside. It feels like late May and not April. In a way I guess, it will be good to not have a garden if the summer is going to be so hot. I am thinking I might just plant some tomatoes and peppers in my flowerbeds in the back yard. Just a couple.

I think I will start washing windows this week. After school. I am determined that school will come first no matter about the wedding. Ron will take off the week of the wedding so I am pretty confident we can do this. He has to build a dance floor. He likes building things so that is a fun thing we are looking forward too.
Do you want to hear a really sweet thing? The lady who is making the wedding cake and the cupcakes said yesterday that she wasn't going to charge anything. She just wanted to do it for Emilie.

I think that is what keeps my crying all of the time now. I have the nicest friends and there are the sweetest people who come into our lives. It is so over whelming to me to be surrounded by such loving acts of kindness. I keep learning that lesson over and over. You can never out give God and the more you try, the more He gives and then you just can't take in all of the blessings that just keep over flowing into your lap.

Like I have said before, life is much greater than I ever dreamed and I still go through life being pleasantly surprised all of the time.
All I can say, is I am so thankful on this Monday morning.

But like my friend Janette said, " She was so tired her eyeballs hurt after her daughters wedding."  I am approaching that stage.

Thank you for visiting today.
~Kim~

Odds and Ends

Yesterday was a busy day. This is the bed of hubby's truck. These are part of the flowers that we planted yesterday. Lots and lots of petunias.

The other couple of flats are called lobelia. I love them and we planted them along the edge of the flowerbeds. Today hubby will go get truck loads of topping for the flowerbeds. That part will be finished.
We have a local nursery and they only grow flowers for our kind of weather. We are in zone 8 so things have to be able to take the heat and as we will be in a drought because of no rain this year, they are going to have to be hardy.

Today is Em's wedding shower. Before I go though I have to get one more flat of flowers planted before the mulch goes in. I think next week I will be able to start washing windows and screens.

Last nights count of hatched chicks was at four. The moms are doing great and the chicks are really cute and scared to death of me. I am sure the hens have given the chicks bad reports of this giant that comes in and picks them up.





Well off to get this day started.

~Kim~

Chicky Stories

I was thinking as I walked back in the house for the hundredth time today, I am not only driving myself crazy watching the chicks but I am driving the hens crazy too. I am going to do something else soon. I should have ran errands today. Did I do anything but stand outside the coop with a silly grin on my face. Nope, not a thing. The chick has learned that as soon as I show up to go hide. I only got these pictures tonight by lifting the hen and grabbing the chick.

It wasn't happy about being in my hands. It is a white Silkie Bantam. It has tiny furry feet. The other chick looks just like this one. I don't think any of the other eggs from these two hens are going to hatch. I am waiting until this weekend and if none have hatched then I will bury the eggs. Deep. Like with the tractor.

 This morning I put this black hen with the other setting hens in the coop that I have for my bantams. I guess it will be my nursery coop for awhile. I had my doubts if this hen would be a good mother. I gave her a chick once a couple of years ago and she had crushed it. So I have kept my eye on her. I think maybe that was why I just watched to make sure she wasn't going to hurt this one. At first, she was a little rough but as the day wore on her mothering instinct took over. I noticed how she would pick up a little tiny piece of corn and put in in her beak and drop it in a teeny piece. I watched her do that over and over.

I know I have seen this before but today it seemed brand new. The hen took the chick over to the chicken waterer. The chick stood real close to it as the hen put her head down  in the water took a tiny drink, lifted her head slowly, while the chick watched closely. The chick put it's little beak in the water and took a tiny drink just like it's Momma had taught it. I stood there mesmerized. I had brought some bread out and I had torn it into little pieces but the hen took them and tore them in even littler pieces.

 

I am not real popular out there among the hens. They poof up three sizes now when I show up. I guess tomorrow I will have to not check on them so much. Sasha has been pecked  hard five times today. She really has her feelings hurt. The last time she got pecked on the nose, she turned and walked up the hill to the house with her head down and  her tail drooping. I never saw such dejection on an animal before. The one thing about Sasha is her tail is always in a happy curl over her back. To see it like that really hurt me too. She is just like Fly in Babe. She always wants to mother things, from kittens to babies and to have a hen do that was really hard for her today.

I just thought I would share a bit.
Thanks for stopping by,
~Kim~

Chicks Today

Last night when I went outside to collect eggs. There is the hen who I least expected had hatched  the first chick. I think of her and how every spring she goes broody, and this year, I just grabbed 3 eggs from the other hen and gave them to her and she had the honor of the first chick. I thought it was odd when I walked in and there were other hens in the nest boxes waiting. Like something was happening and then I found the chick. So many lessons are here I think, when we least expect it and when we have given up all hope, a gift shows up.

Can you see her face. One of such determination. She wasn't happy about me being there but she put up with me.

Can you see the little white Silkie chick? It is dark and cloudy today and cold. It just wanted to stay under it's momma's feathers.

Then I went to check the other hen. I stole the black hen's eggs from this hen and there was this broken egg
in front. I didn't want to disturb her much she was much more aggressive. She had her new chick behind her so I left her alone. I have two chicks today. Which means there are 20 eggs left to hatch.

I thought at first I would take the chicks from the hens and raise them myself under heat lamps. So they wouldn't be as wild. I just can't do it. Here these hens have been so patient and have done such a good job of being faithful. I just don't have the heart to not let them raise their chicks.

I will try and get some better photos latter today when the light is better. Maybe I can get someone to help me hold one, yesterday when I got my husband to come look and I took the chick and put it in the center he  had made of his hands cupped together. The new chick just settled down and closed its eyes as if in safety.
It was such a sweet picture of how I wish I was all the time, safe in my Father's hands.

~Kim~