eeks!

weeeellll, I did it, I took the plunge and bought a really nice incubator/hatcher set up. I figger if I am gonna be hatchin' these Call Duck eggs successfully, I better have some good equipment. :) Now I can't hardly wait for it to get here! lol!

A beautiful Christmas Season

Winter Solstice Morning. A BEAUTIFUL full Moon to bring the light :)

Greens around the house, in and out.

and Lights everywhere!

Olden Ornaments treasured.

Snow globes

And kitty cat kisses...

a quarter Moon plus Venus shine bright early in the morn...

and Yule Logs to ring in the New Year.

:)

ROOSTERS ROCK!

Meet Sir, our little Flock Master and King of the Yard. (he is a Serama, so he is small and mighty) He does a splendid job taking care of his ladies. He proved just how observant he is just the other day.

I have two 4 month old cochin pullets out in the main yard right now.. One of them "Quinn" was not immediately apparent at bed time. She had done this before several weeks ago, and popped out of the hen house in the morning. I figured she had tucked up under one of the older hens for extra warmth and in the low light of the house I just missed seeing her. Well, THIS TIME she was a no-show in the morning and I thought... "oooh noo, she is actually 'gone'. " So, I kind of looked around for feathers or other evidence that something had happened. Finding none ~~ I didn't know really what to think. She is too young to go broody--like Black Bird did--a definite case of bird-napping I thought. Meantime, Sir is out in the yard making his alarm call pretty much non-stop, hopping in and out of the hen house, not letting ANY of his hens into the house, calling IN the hen house and basically making a very large ruckus. Nathan asked me if I had very carefully checked in the house, looked EVERYWHERE. I said I thought I had, but I would go look again. Because the hen house is not insulated, I have pushed cardboard in between some of the 2 x 4's to provide some sort of redneck insulation for the chickens. ...Wellll.. Somehow Quinn had gotten down behind one of those and was stuck. She made a rustley noise as I was in looking that final 100th time. Sooo.. out she came and into the yard. Now we had a quiet rooster. All along he was telling me to 'HEY STUPID--LOOKIE!! IN HERE!' Who says chickens are dumb? ;)

random winter wanderings in the yard

a little cedar is tasty

quinnie

fluff ball or How To Stay Warm

size difference. Juliette (a Serama) and Black Bird (a non-typy Araucana)

more size difference... Voltron the Serama rooster and Big Bird, a Standard Light Brown Leghorn.

Gnu-our newest Butterscotch drake.

keeping the webs warm

Amaranth-- one of our Hobbits. ;) We have two hens like this, they are a MFC/Araucana cross and very interesting looking.

This is Mirabelle, the other Hobbit. (notice the cobby cochin body and furry feet and Araucana 'look'. cute.

Goat bliss. (itching the sweet spot--on the chest)

weird frozen ice formations.

*~*~*~First Snow 2010~*~*~*

So, of course, the chickens were very alarmed at this White Stuff all over their yard when I let them out this morning. The brakes came on as the first hens popped out, while the hens behind were pushing and shoving to get out. There was much scuffling and squawking! And the ducks are happy. The nastier the weather, the more they love it. They were actually scooting around in the snow, and 'washing' in it -- a snow bath-- sort of. The goats most definitely prefer it over rain, but have yet to do much venturing out of their barn. ;)

Raven doesn't quite know what to think....

***Happy Halloween***

Despite the rain, we are getting some fabulous Fall colors happening. And I hear there is already snow up in the mountains, and the ski areas are preparing for a great year ~yay~

Hope this Season finds you all warm and cozy!

Here is Tiger.... She wishes you all a Spooktacular Halloween weekend

And Artemis wishes you Happy Hauntings with your friends and family.....

...Falling Fall leaves...

The blueberries always turn such a brilliant color

The dogwoods are looking a little more wintery as well, beginning to live up to their name ~ Red Twig ~

Garden Bug n Slug Patrol is out and busy

Lil baby garlics coming up--these are my favorite variety ~ Inchelium ~

A few weeks ago, I made these silly little cloches, I have never grown lettuce thru the winter, and I thought we should give it a try, so don't laugh too hard because....

...just LOOK at these lettuces!!! :D

Garden Bug n Slug Patrol figures they have worked hard and deserve some delicate lettuce for snack! (No Way!) ;)

Take care, have a safe Halloween!

Happy Fall Y'all!

...some Fall moments from earlier today...