Chicken Fried

This is what happens when you give homeschooled children a camera and tell them to make a movie for creative writing class! Hope you enjoy it and find it as funny as we did! And yes, it's our children, our acreage, our barn, our poor chicken.......I am NOT responsible for my son's wardrobe!!!!

http://s292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/cloisteredhousewife/Chicken%20Fried/?action=view&current=ChickenFried_0001.flv

Mid September

..and things are getting cranked up! We have a new member of Terra Benedicta. This is not Britney's calf but the heifer that Jeffrey worked for this summer. She is newly weaned and in the barn bawling for her momma. She will be ready to breed in April so by next fall we will have another milk cow.

We have not decided yet what to name this one. I was thinking of something cute like May Belle.

Our deligent horse trainer is doing wonders with Bullseye. He is saddle broke and giving rides to the more experienced riders. The next thing for him is to be gelded. We are waiting for the cooler weather and the flies to disappear.

The girls got matching dresses for church from Mrs. Patti. They are so pretty and warm! The cooler weather will be here soon.

Sorry for the lack up updates. There is not much to report. The cow is not giving milk now since she is due to calf next month. We have been enjoying a vacation so to speak without having to worry about milking and school. One thing we did was go to the zoo which is where the photo above was taken. We have also had a lot of company the last month or two. We had friends from Arkansas come up and we have someone here now from Texas. She is a young lady that is breaking the horse for us. I will post photos soon.

We finally got some much needed rain. The garden slowed down so much due to the lack of rain and heat. We have actually seen some night in the 30s here the last week. Things are slowly getting back to normal so there will be more updates now. I will certainly update when we have a new calf! Exciting days ahead, no doubt.

Here is one of our favorite shots from the zoo. You know why, right???? GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!!

House Is Almost Finished

The house is finally almost finished. We are waiting for all new gutters and downspouts, painting the doors, a white screen door for the second door (behind screen), and painting the bricks on foundation/basement. But it looks great so far. Here is a before and after shot.

Roof was changed to a soft brown, siding is a light green called "Cactus" and all brown trim is white. The pictures don't show the true color.

Here is the backside after the storm and now. We have to paint the basement bricks and cover where the old shutters were. We also have a new sliding glass door in the basement. I have not decided if I should put shutters back on or not. I would welcome your advice on that.

Butter and Chicks

I've been making butter everyday. I use cream from several days ago that has been refrigerated. I take it out in the morning when we do milking and let is sit all day. After supper each evening it's put in a big jar and I shake it until I have butter! This is as it looks in the jar with the buttermilk before washing and working.

And here it is cleaned and worked. A little salt is added and worked in and then I store in freezer. I probably have a couple pounds always on hand.

We got 18 chicks from someone for free. They are all Leghorn roosters. They were shipped as warming chicks for the ones she ordered. These will be stew birds, no doubt. I don't need any more roosters. They are so cute when they are little, aren't they?

The Heat Is On

We have been very busy the last couple of days trying to get as much done before the hot, hot, hot weeks of Nebraska summer hit us full force. Today was the first bad one with temperatures over 100 degrees! The children have found a great way to stay cool!

We have our new roof on and they should be finished with the siding tomorrow or soon after. It will be nice to get the equipment out of the yard. The chicken coop is finished and a batch of chicks will be here tomorrow. It turned out as planned but I think it's a little heavier than I wanted. We will try a different plan for the next one we build.

Bullseye escaped twice yesterday. We found where he was knocking the fence down. He discovered which fence was hot and which one was not. So we put him in the back pasture next to the cow. And we are picking the last of the cherries. We had mulberry cherry pancakes tonight! The apples are looking nice and soon I will be doing apple butter.

My cherry pickers!

Our First Milking Day