Chickens, Roosters and a Tortoise

I was going to title this blog something funny with chicks and cocks...but then thought that may not be very G rated...oops looks like I still ended up using those words!

Our tortoise Deuce has become an escape artists. Last weekend when we returned home from camping he was gone. MIA. We searched every part of our 2.5 acres!!! He is a little hard to find being that he is only about 5 in long x 3 in tall and the color of dirt.....

Apparently we are getting very attached to this little guy because all of us were very sad for the rest of the day. "I wonder where he is?" "How did he get out?" "Did something get him?" Were all thoughts that were being said.

The next day, Caymus and I went out to get the mail in the morning, something I never do that time of day because the mail comes in the afternoon but I had not gotten the Saturday mail yet. When we were walking back we stopped over by our veggie garden, I was looking at my pathetic starts coming up out of the ground and saw something that did not belong. DEUCE!!!!! Caymus and I could not believe our eyes! We both started tearing up and jumping with joy! We found him!!!! Our garden by the way is about as far away from his pen as he could get and still be on our property!

He has spent the last 6 days in solitary confinement, we don't take escaping lightly.

Sunday was spent digging out the edges of the tortoise enclosure and laying chicken wire around the edges to prevent him from digging his way out. Then we put chicken wire over the top to keep him in. What a little stinker!!!

In Chicken news....we have 2 roosters now. Both our red hens have tuned out to be roosters. Dang and they were my favorite!

In our small space we can not have 2 roosters, they fight over the hens and eat to much. Our friends said they would take Paco and one of our hens off our hands. Thanks Cathy!

We also moved the entire pen to the field. The neighbors complained of the smell.....it is bad! And we decided it would be a good idea to move them a little further away from our yard as well. Not easy. Fortunately our neighbor decided to give us a helping hand with his tractor moving our debri pile (the location we were going to move the coop). This will give the chickens some more room and some more sunlight. This better yield is us getting more eggs! So far I get 3 a day. I have 5 hens, so we should be getting 5 a day! Some one is not contributing to the farm! If I knew what one she may be shipped off, but sadly I don't know and so she has been spared! Yes we are that kind of farm - do your part or your gone!!!!

In other news....Marshall is playing football on the Law Enforcement for Youth team. He has practices Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings. Then he will play in 3 games this summer. Should be fun and its for the children!

I signed the kids up for swim lessons today. 2 nights a week for 5 weeks!

My brother Bryce is getting married in a few weeks to his long time fiancee Desiree! I made the invites for them and got then out in the mail this morning.

The wedding plans are coming along very nicely!

Fun in the sun

Finally!!! We are finally getting some sun! It is wonderful and much needed!

Yesterday Lucy had a play date at a friends house, so I took Caymus out to get coffee and hot chocolate...he wanted cold chocolate instead. Then to the park for some play time. He is so easy. He just ran and played all by himself and had a blast. I am so glad because I am not a very fun play in the playground kind of mom. I am great at a lot of things, that is not one of them.

Lucy got some bubble gum at her friends house...fun!

Our weekend is shaping up to be a busy one...we decided we should just stay home and do some much needed yard work and house work....plus the weather is going to be great. Now on Saturday morning Marshall has football practice and we will be going along, then the kids were invited to a party at the park in the after noon. I also need to do my grocery shopping and was hoping to stop by the school for the swap meet! WOW.

So you may not hear from me for a few days...my guess is when you do I will be fully sunburned and sore!!!

Have fun in the sun!!!

Flash Back

Marshall at age 2.

Marlea at age 2

Lucy at age 6mo

Caymus at age 6mo

Here is a challenge to all my fellow bloggers - post a baby picture of everyone in your family! Looking at all that baby fat might even bring a tear to your eye!

Happy Mothers Day

Sunday morning I woke up to an amazing view out over the lake, so calm and peaceful! What a great way to wake up on Mothers Day!

We ate eggs, bacon and pan fried trout for breakfast, yummy! Then we packed up the camper and headed home.

Once we had everything put away from our weekend I got to work on my Mothers Day gift. 8 new rose bushes! I lost 5 of my roses to the harsh winter and now have replaced them and added 3 more to my rose bed! Very exciting!

I let the chickens out for a little while in the afternoon, they really enjoyed dusting them self's in the dirt!

Everything is blooming right now and it is so exciting. When we bought the house it was late August and we did not get to see the garden in full bloom. There are tons of rhododendrons and other flowering shrubs all over. The mix of color is wonderful and every day I find something new that is in bloom!

Camping

Saturday morning around 5:45am I heard Marshall get up and head out...I knew what he was up to. Fishing! He was out there for a good hour drinking coffee and fishing on the dock.

The rest of us got up around 7am... We had a great breakfast and packed up to head out on the boat for the morning. We fished and fished. Not much luck though.

When we came back in for lunch there was a kid on the dock who had to have at least a dozen fish. We asked if he was using crack and he said no. But he did say he was using white corn and power bait and the fish would bite almost every time....

We tried that, with not much luck. Marshall did end up catching 3 keepers all from the dock using left over pieces of corn that kid left and some power bait we had.

I put a movie on for the kids and they passed out! All that fun of fishing and playing did them in!

Our friends Justin, Cathy and Kavika all came out for dinner and some fishing. They brought white corn hoping that might work.....we did not have the same luck that kid had. Oh well.

We enjoyed a great BBQ of beef not fish and hung out by the fire.

This campground is our new favorite! Right on the lake, 40 min from home! Doesn't get much better than this!

Happy Birthday Marshall

Today is my dear husbands birthday. So we decided to go camping for the weekend. We are at Detroit Lake state campground. We love the state campgrounds here. They are always nice and well kept. The price is the same and fair. This is our first time at this one and I must say we LOVE it!
It is right on the lake, so is our site!!! And its only 40 min from our house!
After putting the boat in the water and parking it at the dock that is right in front of our camp site, Marshall and the kids threw their poles in the water! They love fishing!
The weather is great and tomorrow should be a fun full day!!!

Right now we are all snuggled up in our bed watching a family movie! Do we know how to camp or what!?!

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More of nothing

I really don't have much to blog about so I am going to blog about nothing.





For Caymus' second birthday I made him a really cool superhero cape. I spent months knitting it. He wore it once. It has been hanging up in his room since....that's been over 2 years now.


I finally was able to explain to him how important it was to me that he wear it once and awhile. And how hard I worked on it.


So here he is wearing it....to the grocery store, home depot and out to lunch one day. Lucy made herself a cape with her initials on it also. Those are pipe cleaners attached with "sticky tape".











We hung up our hammock swings we got for Christmas from Ned and Norma. They are so unbelievably wonderful! I think we will spend our entire summer in them. We hung them on the back deck and with the height of them we have a great view of our field and the mountains in the distance.



Marshall got a new toy. It came not put together, so he and Caymus spent the day together yesterday being grease monkeys. They did a great job and Caymus even got to use his tools! He was so proud! There is nothing I love more than seeing my boys do things like this together. I L.O.V.E it! And so do they!
Its called a Doodle Bug.....

We are going camping tomorrow for the weekend. Its Marshall's birthday on Friday and then mothers day on Sunday, so we thought it would be a great way to spend the weekend. We will be bringing our boat and doing some fishing. Hopefully we will catch something!

The weather is also supposed to be good so that will be a real treat!