The Awkward Stage...

The Dixie Chicks are now 3 weeks old, and have left the cute a fuzzy stage behind. They are now sporting the "dinosaur" look as I call it. Their feathers are really coming in, you can certainly tell in the picture above the Black Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds are just that. Black and red. They have huge feet compared to their bodies, and they like to stretch their necks and peer at you with a quizzical eye...

The black one here is Blanche. She's my favorite (for now). She is the one that is the most demonstrative and the one that is always the first to try a new treat. The two in the back are Ida Mae and Goldie.


Here are the girls eating their plain yogurt. I originally recycled a cup of strawberry Greek yogurt Pyper didn't finish, and they LOVED it, but with it having artificial sweeteners, I figured it may not be good for my ladies. So, I decided to go with plain yogurt for them. I also figured if I wasn't going to give artificial sweeteners to my chicks, I shouldn't/wouldn't feed it to my human chick either. Sorry, Pyper, you're going to get plain yogurt with fresh fruit in it from now on...





This RIR that is facing the camera is Myrle. She is a hoot. She's always on Blanche's heels and is her right wing gal.





You may be wondering where I'm coming up with these names. A while back, I started naming my animals after family members whose names were quite....antiquated. That's PC, right? Knowing I'd never name one of my children Mable, or Elmer, or Nelly, I've decided to honor my relatives by naming my much loved pets after them. The Dixie Chicks will all be named after my Grannie Iney's sisters and then other female relatives.





My Appendix mare, Iney, is named after my Grannie Iney, and her signature color was purple. So, my horse Iney's signature color is purple as well.

Last week we bought 4 goldfish for our water troughs. These two are the only 2 that have survived. Gold Member and Goldie. Willie and Willamina died. Gold Member and Goldie are thriving, and we realized it's because the horses were using their watering trough the last few weeks, so we were adding water, thus Oxygen, to the tank. The others up top didn't have any additional water, or shade, so they essentially cooked. Lesson's learned. We will add water to the troughs whether or not we are using them.

This is Smelly Nelly. She was named after one of my Grannie's sisters, Nelly. I added the Smelly part because she used to have a problem with gas...that's all I'll say about that.

This is Hammish, or Shannon's cat. He named him. He wanted to name our future son (if we ever have one, Hammish). I was horrified by this name, and decided when we adopted this kitty HE could be named Hammish instead. Whew! Dodged that bullet. Anyways, Hammish is our garden kitty. He lays in the garden for hours waiting, and watching for any movement. He normally takes care of any pests that venture out there. Here on the back deck, he likes to perch, because he have a perfect view of the garden below.

Growing up...

Shannon prepping the rows with fertilizer. We used an organic compost last year which greatly added to the soil conditions. We didn't add any this year, but plan on putting compost and putting the chickens on the garden in the fall to add Nitrogen and have them eat some good bugs and grubs.

Getting ready to plant. Pyper is our foreman, and is available for consults.

Shannon found 2 moles in the garden right after tilling it. Disappointed in the lack of effort from Hammish, our wonder hunter cat, Shannon killed both moles. I was amazed at how big its front paws were and the design made for digging up our garden is astounding!

Pyper watering her garden

Pyper selecting potatoes for the garden. We told her to pick sections with "eyes" on them, and she proceeded to point to her eyes. She is one smart cookie. Well, that's what I thought until she took a big bite out of this raw potato. She's Shannon's child...

Abby is growing more and more every day. She has just turned 1, and I can't believe she is almost as big as her momma, Anna. Anna stands at 15.3 hh. I have a feeling Abby will be a bit taller. Only time will tell.

The Dixie Chicks are growing sooooo fast! In fact, yesterday when I was doing a daily once over, I noticed little tail feathers growing.

Their wing feathers are growing in, and they are getting bigger, over all...

It might be all the night crawlers and meal worms we're feeding these girls.

They are growing so fast, in fact we had to put up 2 ft chicken wire around the brooder to keep them contained. While playing with them today, one chick escaped by hopping and flying over the side of the pool. Pyper thought it was great fun to chase it all around the coop. This fence, has worked. So far.

Speaking of things Pyper likes to chase, here is our sweet Hannibal. Vicious Rottweiler, extraordinaire. He loves to play fetch, and Pyper loves to throw the ball for him. He is her ever-present companion, and faithful friend.

Spring Has Sprung!

This past Sunday, Shannon showed me this perfect nest with this cute little Robin's egg in it. I later noticed the Robin on the porch banister watching over it. When I went back on Tuesday, the egg was gone. The only thing we could figure, was one of our cats found our little treasure in the corner of the porch. Oh, well...
It was in the 70's today, so Shannon and I took advantage of the warm weather, and worked outside. One of the projects was planting our blackberry and raspberry plants. Shannon thought planting in front of the paddock, but behind the workshop would be a good place, with enough room for the lawn mower to go on either side...
Shannon dug up all the sod, laid weed cloth and put down landscape timbers to edge it.
Shannon took post hole diggers, and then planted each plant in the holes. It rained like crazy tonight, so they were watered just fine by Mother Nature.

I can't wait for my blackberries and raspberries. Near these plants, we have 2 blueberry plants. Lots of yummy fruit for my yogurt in the morning!!!