A Very Rewarding Spring Saturday

A couple of videos which may interest you from the YouTube channel....posted Saturday.  The story of the 15 new arrivals.....and a recounting of our many Saturday projects. 


Michael opted to stay home rather than drive the hour to Anchorage. He planned to get a head start on the projects he had planned. At this point I wasn't 100% sure what they all were. I knew I was going to get a compost "spot" staked out and begin collecting "stuff" .....there had been talk of getting the greenhouse up.... Alex was in bed when Nolan, Stacia and I left for Anchorage. Nolan drove and I shot video clips.

Stacia kept the chicks on the seat beside her for the trip back to the Valley. 

We introduced these 15 to our 3 and made sure they were safe. I neglected photos - but check out the video if you want to see their introduction to our home.  Below is our Yuuki alarm. She is a beagle, a bird dog. I tried to show her a chick and appeal to her maternal instinct. She tried to eat it. She then spent the day pointing below their box. Michael built the brooder with screws to attach the top and bottom. It's secure, we don't think she can get in - but she may try before we get her trained to leave them alone. If she tries - the cow bell will make noise. 

With the chicks safely home, it is time for us to begin some projects. First, a picture of these two....Arielle and Cory.

Benny is 5 months old!

I didn't know this was on the docket for the day - burning a stump out. We have several that need to go. Izaak brought out a 10# can of bacon grease and THAT finally got it going. 

Michael ended up building a compost bin. He wasn't satisfied with letting me simply stake it out. He used pallets we got last week, wafer board the previous owners left, and hardware cloth leftover from the brooder.  There are video clips of it at the link above.... and now I got to put the pitchfork to use. I moved old grass clippings and food scraps which had been collecting over the winter.

We have three horse pastures that have several FEET of horse poop covering them. Izaak and Alex helped me break some from the frozen ground and we added a wheelbarrow full to the compost. I also collected the piles of moose poop for the compost.  I'm hoping for a "hot pile" that will produce some usable compost by the fall. 

Meanwhile, Stacia played with chickens.....

...and watched the canning for me, so I could work outside. I put up 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce. 

We all kept coming in to sneak peeks of these darlings. 

Thus begins our family pastime of chicken watching. 

We got a lot done today. It felt good to be outside and accomplishing things we've discussed. As one of the boys said, "It's rewarding." 

Friday the 13th

The morning began with two appointments for Michael.

We enjoyed lunch together, followed by a quick trip to Lowes. We picked up a variety of needed tools for upcoming projects.  This pitchfork has become a symbol of permanence to me. Who would ever buy such a thing if they were living in an apartment or moving every few years????  *I* own one now. Michael picked this one to work well for me....I've compost dreams.  Yeah, I know. I don't  know who I'm becoming - but I'm loving it.

We had just enough time to make it to Michael's third appointment.

I got a text while at one of the appointments...."Can we set up the trampoline?" Spring is here! 

Nolan and Michael finished up the chick brooder when we got home. I helped too. OK, Michael did 98% of this project, but we all pitched in as we could see how to pitch in. LOL This was his vision. 

The top part is hinged for easy access and viewing. 

We moved Golda, Rosie Proudfoot and Novio (formerly known as Diablo) into the brooder. Yes, by this point Diablo was winning Stacia over. She comes running when she hears Stacia. 

Look who I caught talking to the chicks.

As Michael and I walked around the yard, planning upcoming projects, I couldn't help but notice all the POOP in the yard. It is NOT all from Yuuki!  We've been working on that. As the snow recedes we are finding lots of moose nuggets.....

And there is FRESH HORSE POOP! We don't have a horse.  We live in a place where the neighbor's horse runs through our yard and leaves a gift. Shaking my head! ::snort::

Tomorrow, we pick up the 15 other chicks in Anchorage. We also have a list of other projects to do  - praying for a nice day.

The Rest of the 12th

 Other things happened on the 12th of April.....first, aren't these two darling? I've not posted enough grandblessing photos and must remedy that. LOL

Such a charmer

The 12th was Bella's second birthday! She's becoming quite a young lady. We celebrated her birthday on Sunday, but she came in today to meet our three new chicks.

The UPS man drove up this evening. He told us to get one of the young men on the property to come help move these boxes. Cory worked with him over the Holidays.  We are impressed! Last Sunday, Josiah and Michael decided I needed a greenhouse. I've known I'd want - but we weren't going to get it this year. I was going to make do. I was also going to see if I could keep anything alive - I have a  notorious brown thumb. They decided I needed something now. Home Depot had one, but they would ship it to SEA and then put it on a barge. They said it would take at least six weeks. Costco had the same one - it cost more - but they said it would be here in 2 weeks. I did NOT pay for express shipping. It got here in THREE DAYS!

Michael spent much of this day making a chick brooder out of two kiddie swimming pools. I plan to get him to sit down and talk about it on video one of these days.

Eight Years of Prayers Answered Today

Back story: There once was a five year old girl who somehow down deep in her soul desired to have CHICKENS. Her daddy was an Air Force Chaplain and she must have become enamored with the chickens the Japanese farmers had around her home.  Her parents explained praying for chickens would not change military housing or frequent moves. The little girl confessed she wouldn't pray for chickens then, she'd simply pray for a house where she COULD have chickens. Mommy and Daddy agreed, though they thought the notion a bit crazy, if there was a home that allowed chickens, they'd allow it to.

When she was eight years old orders came down and the family prepared to move to California. The chaplain Daddy was replacing offered to lease his home to us - and he had chickens. In the end, we did not move into that house as it sold before we arrived from Japan.

The little girl continued to pray. It looked like it would be after Dad's retirement. No, the family was going to be living in a Japanese apartment - that wouldn't work. She continued to pray. Plans changed, the little family lived in an RV for two years, finally re-locating in Alaska - where many other family members had ended up.

Yes, we DID look for a home which would allow chickens as we looked at homes. Wouldn't you have done the same? She'd prayed for seven years at this point. We closed on the home too late in the year to get chickens....but much research and planning has been going on. The girl is nearly thirteen.....15 chicks were ordered to be picked up on the 14th.....

Checked the list four or five times

Thursday - I still haven't shopped for the week's groceries. Armed with knowledge from a gal from church about where to locally buy chicken feed and such....Stacia and I left to run errands. I thought she'd enjoy being part of the chicken shopping and then we'd get groceries. Michael was staying home - he was building a brooder so we'd be ready for chicks on Saturday.

We saw a $30 little brooder, sent Michael photos and conferred.  We also noted there were live chicks in the store!!! We would have bought them here if we'd known they would have them....but we have 15 on order in Anchorage - paid for.  We decided to buy the brooder and save Michael some work. This one was smaller than the one he was planning and it maxed at 15 chicks so we would not be buying any of the darling Polish chicks.  Stacia was beaming and really enthralled with the chicks. The gal who had been helping us asked if we were going to get chicks. I called Michael again, "If we put the brooder back ($30), we could get 3 chicks for $12 and save $18. 18 chicks will fit in the brooder you are building."

Stacia was EXCITED just to have the Shavings & Feed

Michael said he could hear the smiles in our voices. He told us to go ahead and do that if we'd like. We still had to go grocery shopping and it wasn't wise to buy chicks and go on errands.....so we stopped by on our way back by....unfortunately, all the Polish had sold...but Stacia really wanted the cute Buff Orpington and we also got a Cochin (feathered feet) and a black one that we suspect is a barred something or other but they said to watch and see.  Michael is teasing us about Chicken Math, a real thing. Shame on you who thought we just did what we wanted without talking it over with Michael.

Nearly eight years later and she sees the answer in her lap

First time to hold a chick(en)

They must all three sit on the food - I don't know. 

They must have names, at this point...the yellow one is Golda, our first chick, named after Golda Meir the first female prime minister of Israel.  The black one is a bit mean and is being called Diablo at this point. I'm not sure that will stick. The one with feathered feet needs a hobbit name - and we're having trouble finding a female hobbit name we love.

Yuuki, after all, is a bird dog. I dreamed of her loving the chicks....but she's more in pointing stalking mode, so she had to stay outside until they were safely settled. I tried to hold one close to her and it was not a good scene at all. 

There's the story of how chicks came to our home 2 days early. These three will be joined by 15 more on Saturday.  Eight years of prayer fulfilled today. I felt a tad bit guilty about the fact that WE answered the prayer for her. I mean WE bought the home that would allow chickens, and WE researched and ordered the chicks......and then it hit me in my quiet time yesterday.....WE planned to be living in a Japanese apartment for the next 15 years....we had little to do with the plan of being in Alaska at this time and in this place. The power of a child's prayer.

Now *I* pray they don't all die.

If you'd like to hear and watch the fun - here's a link to the vlog. 

This and That

Michael had six appointments this week. He has eleven on the calendar for next week. To say we're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the pace is an understatement.  Throughout the Winter we've had Tuesdays and Thursdays "at home" most weeks. The last couple of weeks those days have been filled with appointments. The neurologist sent a referral to another PT who specializes in Parkinsons. This is fantastic - we're just tired. We'd thought the therapies would stop in Feb. Now, we're thinking maybe it will slow down by the end of May? But slow down means back to this week's pace. LOL We are blessed  only one of the appointments next week is in Anchorage.  HOWEVER, in all the driving back and forth we saw this stack of pallets. We have a variety of projects waiting and we're always looking to save a buck.....they told us to take as many as we wanted. 

Gideon and his cohorts are always bright spots in any day.

Gideon - 10 1/2 months

First Kill of the Year

Today is MOPS day. That means its Bella Day at Gemmas. She showed up in darling rain boots and I promised to take her on a walk.  Tuesdays are one of my two laundry days -  we got some laundry sorted and started, picked up a bit, and then I could put her off no longer. Arielle and Benny decided to come with us.  

FIRST KILL of the season. The walk began with me rescuing Arielle from the first mosquito of the season. We need to get those mosquito magnets....must get on line and scope them out. 

The lure proved to great and Cory joined us for our walk around the mile loop. Bella had a blast....and showed off her boots in great glory.

  Here the four of them chill....Michael and I were busy.

We got serious about planning out where everything is going to go....some of the things we have in the dream stage - a guest cabin - won't be here for  years, but we'd like to have a plan so we don't end up moving things from place to place.  Michael and Alex spent some time chipping a path through the ice. 

Benny seems a bit worried about Mama's homework. 

He really loves the bananas....

I topped the day off with women's Bible study. We have a great group of ladies-  fun, authentic, caring....and the study is good too.