Lavender Roses

 

Roses anyone?

 

 

Madilynne found these beautiful lavender roses at Aldi's for $3.99 yesterday. I didn't think that was a bad price for 6 roses.

 

 

I couldn't pass them by(buy)! I placed them on the kitchen table and the room has filled with the scent of roses. I am waiting for our lilacs to bloom so I can put some of them on the table and in our living room!  I enjoy having fresh flowers.

Do you enjoy fresh flowers?  Do you keep flowers on display in your home?

Rainy Skies~Sunny Skies and the Farm

   Today is one of those days were the skies are busy.  I love to watch the clouds move across the wide expanse of sky. It has transitioned several times from rainy to sunny- very unsettled weather today.  The sky is a brilliant blue when the clouds go away.  I love to look at the sky when those gray clouds move out.  Spring brings these kinds of days frequently.  I took these pictures from my driveway this morning.  I just turned and snapped a picture. 

  
   On Sunday evening, Jeremiah and I were going to pick the kids up from a church activity and the sky was phenomenal!  We live on a mountain and as we were heading down the hill we could see a huge amount of the sky.  The colors were vibrant.  Yellows, blues, purples and pinks filled the sky.  We were able to see a storm front coming in and the sunset where the storm had yet to arrive.

   All this rain has been great for our yard and the fields.  We are anticipating the return of the cows from a local farmer.  He keeps them here on pasture for summer while they are growing up and getting old enough to milk. It is peaceful to watch them grazing across the fields.  We use an intensive grazing system.  They are moved through the fields instead of just turning them loose to roam the entire paddock.  This year we also plan on having some chickens follow to help with bug and fly control. Here are two photos of the cows we had last year.  I may have posted them before...

   Speaking of chickens...our little ones are growing healthy and strong.  They are getting bigger and feathering out.  They are adorable!  They are also messy!  Madilynne just cleaned their temporary home yesterday morning!  I will be so happy when they are old enough to be able to be outside in the movable kennel.

 

   This fellow has still been coming around the house.  His colorings are beautiful.  He has been staying off the porch though and that is a good thing.

Bits and Pieces- Madilynne

   Madilynne is having a birthday soon.  Several of her aunts and her grandma has been asking what to get her for her special day.  I wrote up a short email and sent it to them.  Madilynne saw the email and said it would be a fun blog post!  Here it is and I didn't even change the mistakes!

Ok, Madilynne is hard to buy for! Really hard! K already asked about gifts and I had no idea what to tell her. After pondering it some more since WE have to get something for her I have some thoughts. These are not actual gift suggestions but something to look for if you so desire. I mentioned gift card or money to K and that is still a strong suggestion but some things she likes are:

 Anything Vintage/vintage looking

Anything chicken related- she loves her chicks. I found a pair of rubber boots with chickens on them and she went crazy over them.

Anything recycled, environmentally friendly... She found a rug made of recycled material and just had to have it!

Anything vegetarian themed. She is loving finding pro vegetarian stuff!

If it's different, she will most likely love it

Amazon! She finds a lot on Amazon so gift cards to there is good!

Anything music themed

Cats! She still loves her kitties!

Again, don't worry if you can't find anything like this- it's hard. Go with money or gift cards. I just thought that since some of you like to shop, you may want to know some likes. She truly likes the odd stuff. If you see it and think "why would anyone want?" it's a Madilynne gift! LOL

And just to be clear- in our family it is perfectly ok to ask for money or gift cards.  No one will take offense at that suggestion. 

What Was I Thinking? 10 Chicks!

  

 

 We decided to get several chicks.  My thought was 4-5 chicks. I figured we didn't need anymore hens than that until we saw them!!  These chicks will grow up and lay eggs (usually around 18-20 weeks old) and I didn't think we needed more eggs than that per day but....the cute factor outweighed need!  LOL

 

   As all things go, we arrived at the feed store and looked at those cute, adorable little peeps and Madilynne fell in chicky love!  She picked out 6, Ryder (who didn't want any) picked out 2 and I got 2 for Pappy B.  They are so sweet! 

 

        The totals are:

        4 Buff Orpingtons

         2 Barred Rock

         2 Cuckoo Marans

         1 Red Sex Link

         1 Rhode Island Red

 

  These little chicks are adored already.  Watching the chicks grow is fun and they really are cute. We are enjoying our little additions!

 

 

 

This chick is Madilynne's favorite.  Her name is Egythba.  Don't ask for a pronunciation because I can't say it!  LOL  She will be known as "G"! 

She will fall asleep in your hands. 

 

Here G is almost asleep!



 

Now this picture was on the "I'm not sure I should post this but...." list.  I decided to post it anyhow.  If you look closely behind her little leg.... she left a gift on the car hood! 



Chicks?

   Madilynne has been debating getting more chicks.  We have been having discussions about purchasing them lately.  I am so torn.  I want the chicks because they turn into chickens that lay eggs but they are work and they do have an expense.  Madilynne will be the one taking care of them for the most part and Ryder will help when needed but it is still work.

   We have three hens at the moment but they are getting older.  Henny Penny is the oldest and I think her egg laying days are almost done.  We will keep her though because she is more of a pet than anything else.  ;-)  The other two hens are each laying an egg a day.

   IF we decide to get more chicks we have to keep the numbers low. I am thinking no more than 4-5 but we haven't made a decision on that yet.  I guess we will have to see how cute they are when we go to get them!  I will update with some pictures if we decide to get more chicks!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

 

I haven't participated in the Hodgepodge for quite some time.  Life has been busy and some of the questions lately have required more thinking than I was able to give!  :-) 

 

 

1. What does retirement mean to you? Are you planning for it, not thinking about it, looking forward to it, or dreading it? We are "sorta" planning on retirement but not really focusing on it.  As with everything in life it will be here soon enough!

2. It's International Guitar Month...do you play? Does anyone in your family play? What's a song you especially like to hear played on the guitar or a favorite song featuring the guitar? I do not play the guitar but Madilynne, Ryder and Jeremiah all do.  I do not have a favorite song to hear played on the guitar but I really like to hear the family playing together.  It's beautiful.

3. What's your comfort food? I like fresh baked bread and spaghetti.  Stand alone or together.
 
4. What's one activity or area of your life where you absolutely never procrastinate? Absolutely never those are strong words to a procrastinator! I have been thinking on this for quite some time and I can't think of one thing that I don't do at the last moment.

5. Who does the grocery shopping in your house? Does your local store bag the groceries for you or is it a do-it-yourself kind of place? Do you like someone packing your groceries? I do the grocery shopping for our family. It isn't a chore that I enjoy either. I shop at several different stores.  My favorite store is Aldi and I bag my own groceries with Madilynne's help.  We work very well together and have a system for bagging them.  We think it is very effective!  I do have to go to another store that bags the groceries for me in those junky plastic bags.  It is okay but they only put two or three items per bag. I am not a fan of those bags because several years back we were carrying in the groceries and a bag broke.  I had two jars of spaghetti sauce in that bag- both jars broke and was a mess to clean off the driveway! I started to take my own cloth bags to this store afterwards.  The cashiers aren't very friendly to those bringing in cloth bags. Apparently it is more work for them to put the cloth bags on the turn table....  I wish that all stores would go to a bag it yourself system. 

 6. What's the coolest thing you've seen in nature? A black bear or a fox.  However there are very few things seen in nature that I don't enjoy watching.  This morning I heard a Ringneck Pheasant in our back yard by the swing set. He has been around a lot frequently.  Last week he even visited our front porch. 
EDITTED TO ADD PICTURES:  SEVERAL HOURS AFTER I POSTED THIS THE PHEASANT VISITED OUR PORCH AGAIN. I GRABBED THE CAMERA THIS TIME! I TOOK THE PICTURES THROUGH THE WINDOW SO THEY AREN'T THE BEST BUT THESE BIRDS ARE BEAUTIFUL! 

 7. Share a favorite quote about home. Home is where the heart is.

8. Insert your own random thought here.  I have a very simple thought today...It's chilly outside and I am having a cup of tea thinking "Spring can't come soon enough. I am tired of cold!"

Quaint Cafe

   Madilynne was recently given a gift certificate to a quaint little café in an area about 40 minutes away from home. This establishment is known to be different from other eateries in the area (farm to table type) so we were very excited to try it. Upon walking into restaurant I found that it was very bright and colorful.  The proprietors  had it decorated with lots of lights strung from the ceiling along with many colorful origami pieces throughout.  The tables were all mismatched-no two tables/chair sets were the same but it worked.  They also had local artesian work decorating the area that you could purchase.

   The most important part is that the food was delicious! It was made fresh and with healthy ingredients.  I ordered a Bourbon BBQ Chicken Flatbread sandwich with coleslaw.  Mercy was it good!  Madilynne ordered a kale salad with quinoa, butternut squash and dried cranberries and a side of cauliflower "wings".  She reported that it was delicious. Ryder stuck with a basic- a cheeseburger.  It was made with grass fed beef and was nice and thick and also received a good rating.  My mother-in-law and my sister-in-law were with us and they both ordered Caesar salads with grilled chicken and cauliflower "wings". My SIL stated that it was one of the best Caesar salads she has had in quite some time.

   One of the tastiest things that we tried today was a blueberry soda.  Oh my! was it ever good. I am not a fan of soda but for some reason it just sounded good and it didn't disappoint!  We are all fans of that soda. The label was kind of confusing but I think that it was from Maine Root??? Not quite sure about that though. 

   I am so glad that we tried this restaurant.  It was a bit of a distance to travel but good food, good company and a bit of an adventure for our taste buds made it worthwhile. It is fun to try something outside the norm. My SIL listed a couple other restaurants that we should try sometime.  Sounds like fun!  I hope that they all turn out as enjoyable as this one!