Work Day!

We have some friends who are trying to sell a house for a friend of theirs that passed away some time ago. They asked for some help in getting the place "spruced up" a bit in exchange for donating some of the money from the sale towards the purchase of a much needed tractor for us at Feed Fannin. The house is really cute, is on a great piece of property and has beautiful landscaping and a creek. This place is gardening ready! We went out there for several hours and helped with cleaning, weeding and just general clean up. It's amazing how fast work gets done when you have a crew of people helping!

 Bill tending the fire.

 Wayne and our good friend Bert doing some yard work.

 Here's me doing a little weeding.

Easter

So, last Saturday my dad called me. This is how the conversation went:


Dad: Hey! Do you guys want to come over for Easter lunch?

Me: Sure! Uhhhh.......when is Easter?

Dad: Tomorrow!

Me: Oh. Oh! Sure!

Luckily, we didn't have any other plans so we were able to go! We had a great time and Nathan and Tiana were able to join us too. One of my dad's business partners showed up dressed as the Easter Bunny for all the kids!! The kids were SO EXCITED. This is my dad and my aunt with the Easter Bunny and Wayne with Miss Bella!

Our side of the family played a few hands of cards. I was SO CLOSE to winning it all! It came down to just two people - me and my dad's business partner (the Easter Bunny)! Unfortunately, I lost. But, at least I can say that I got beat by the Easter Bunny on Easter - haha!  :)

Stitches South

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting some pictures from Stitches South! We had an AMAZING time as always. It is always great to see good friends. Of course, the Scalini's dinner was totally awesome and I think we had a record crowd this year! We completely packed the banquet room and I think everyone had a really good time. Per usual, it seems I am always the one taking the pictures and never seem to end up in any of the pictures!

Here's our table. That's my son waving in the background there. Luckily, he and Tiana were able to make it this year!

Here is a shot of Nathan and Tiana

Here is the infamous Gryphon of Sanguine Grypon in her usual attire!

Wayne had a "kilt buddy" this year! This is Wayne and Hunter. It's funny because when Hunter first got there, he said he had tons of people coming up to him saying "You are wearing a kilt - do you know Wayne?" Hunter was thinking - I have got to meet this Wayne guy - he seems so famous, right? Well he did and I managed to get a shot of them together in their kilts. Aren't they looking "manly"? haha!

My dad came and was a big hit, as usual. We all had a great time. Same time, same place next year right folks?? Jen has effectively named this dinner "Scalinigate". Kind of catchy, don't you think?  :)

New kid on the block!

Remember poor Red,  our rooster that never really amounted to being much of a rooster? Red was our special needs chicken that just was never right. He had a good life with us until he ended up getting ill. As quirky as he was, we loved that rooster and he was very entertaining! Well, the girls have been without a rooster now for about 6 months and haven't seemed to mind not having a man around one bit!

The other day, Wayne went to the feed store and saw some roosters in there and felt sorry for them being all pent up in a cage. I can't say I blame him. So, he comes home with this handsome fellow!!

Meet Red Jr.!  :) We had a few fights going on when he first got here because the girls were really picking on him. If you know anything about chickens, you know that there really is a very strict "pecking order" and if anyone new is introduced they have to re-establish the order. Unfortunately, they do this by fighting each other and this is why you generally can't have more than one rooster at a time because the roosters will REALLY fight each other - usually until one of them kills the other one. This is no good. However, with roosters and hens it is not that serious, just more of an establishment routine.

We took all the necessary precautions (again, no hate mail about chicken fighting please) and eased the rooster into the group. We kept him in a comfortable size cage inside the pen until the girls got used to him and then we let him out with them the next day. There was a little bit of squabbling and Wayne and I were there to supervise, but they got things worked out rather quickly. Once Red Jr. realized "Hey wait a minute - I'm the rooster here!" all things fell into place. Now they are all one big happy family free ranging around the yard together!

He will look better in a few weeks once he has had good food and exercise and a happy life for a while, but isn't he pretty?? He is a Red Lace Wing Wyandotte. Our black and white chickens are White Lace Wing Wyandottes. I didn't know there was any such thing as a red lace wing but here he is! See how the feathers on his chest have that back edging around the red on the feathers? That's the "lace wing" pattern that gives them their name.

Welcome to the family Red! He is GREAT with the dog and the cats too so we really lucked out! I think he is going to be very happy here. I'm glad we can give him a great home!