Hi all

I'm really not ignoring the blog, but I've been having trouble posting pictures.  Nathaniel's going to look at it for me, but he hasn't had a chance yet. 

I have a picture of poor Katie.  My in-laws' dog ripped Katie's left eye out of the socket while we were visiting for Thanksgiving.  The vet sewed it back in, but she's wearing a cone to keep her from scratching it for two weeks.  We are hoping it doesn't get infected.  Katie hates the cone, but she loves getting her medicine in hot dogs.  Overall, she's handling it better than expected at this point.

The boys' church Christmas play is fast approaching.  I hope it's going well.  They know the songs, and I think they are really starting to get their lines.  We listen to the CD at home to help it all sink in.  Lydia's going around singing the songs, so that's a good sign.  (She has her own songs to sing for the program, simpler ones.  That is going to be cute, too.)

Our chickens have been confined to the small yard, since the hawk is still about.  We only have 3 hens and 1 rooster now: Crest, Leaf, and Squatch (the barred rock, also called "Squatty") are the hens, and Puff is our rooster.  I think we'll buy some chicks in the spring, unless one of the hens surprises us and goes broody.   That would be ideal, but Leaf and Squatch have never went broody before, and Crest is at least half Leghorn, and they typically don't go broody, so I don't think the odds are good.

Illness and dead chickens

The last week didn't go so great around here, which is why I haven't posted in a while.  I was quite sick for most of last week, and didn't know for sure until Friday if we'd make it to my mom's Thanksgiving.   Luckily, we did, and that was so nice.  I'm almost back to normal, but still lacking in energy/endurance. 

Our chickens had an even tougher week.  Last Thursday, Elijah found Sol dead.  That is particularly catastrophic to everyone because she is the mama hen.  She hatches the chicks for us, and we were planning on her hatching a new batch in the spring.  Unfortunately, she was killed by something.  We weren't sure what, and were thinking maybe dog, until today.

I now am certain of what killed Sol, because it just killed Angel.  It was a little hawk.  I just buried the remains of Angel.  The hawk didn't even bother to fly off until I was just 4 feet away from it.  I guess it really likes chicken.  Now I'm going to have to tell the kids that we lost another one, and worse, I'm not sure how to protect the flock right now.  Sigh.

On a happier note, Elijah did draw the hedgehog:

Lydia's Porcupine

The other day, Elijah was drawing hedgehogs and porcupines.  Both animals are very popular with all of my children.  Today, Lydia drew this porcupine on her chalk mat.  This is even more impressive, because Lydia typically just scribbles or draws circles.  The porcupine's head is on the right. 

Tomorrow, I'll try to have Elijah draw his hedgehog for me to photograph.  It's really cute, too.  Malachi draws all the time, but mostly angry birds and TNT boxes.   I'll see if he'll draw me an animal, too.

3 Roosters

We are certain that 3 of the 5 "chicks" are roosters.  The one above is Foghorn.  He's pretty noisy, but he looks really cool.  Below is the black rooster alongside the black and white little hen (Angel).  It's not a great picture, but the rooster is on the left.

 

The third rooster, Puff, is the one we are planning on keeping.  I don't have a good photo at the moment, but the hens all prefer him.  He seems pretty laid-back compared to Foghorn.  Nathaniel is afraid that Foghorn will turn aggressive later, and I think he's probably right.  Foghorn isn't well liked by the hens, either. 

 

No slaughtering date has been set.  There's no big hurry, since none of the roosters has caused a real problem yet.  Plus, we would like to make sure we end up with one rooster for at least a few months, so we can hatch again when Sol gets broody.  In order to ensure that at least one survives for a while, we're not in a big hurry to cull yet.

 

Also in chicken news, I saw a gorgeous hawk sweep across my driveway yesterday.  Although I enjoyed seeing it, I hope it doesn't stick around here.  It might notice the chicken buffet in my backyard, and who could blame it for trying one?

 

Family Bike Ride

The boys have loved riding bikes for some time, and Nathaniel got a seat for Lydia to fit on the back of a bike.  He had it on his, but it really didn't work too well.  I haven't had a bike since I was about 10, but Nathaniel changed that a few weeks ago when he got me a cruiser bike off craigslist.  Lydia's seat fits well on mine, and all 5 of us went on the bike trail today. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time.  Lydia said, "This is the best bike ride ever!"  We'll have to do that again soon.

In other news, we have been helping the boys learn their parts for the Christmas musical.  It lasts close to an hour, and it's the first time the boys have had to memorize speaking parts as well as songs.  I think it's going pretty well with them.  We'll see soon enough!

Online Again

Well, after having no internet access for a couple of days, I'm glad to say that it's fixed.  Nathaniel had to go buy a new modem for us, since the old one stopped working. 

So, I'm back.  We're having a pretty good week.  The sun is shining, the kids are happy; it's been a good day. 

Meet Max

This weekend we met my new nephew, Max.  The kids adored him, especially Malachi.  Malachi was particularly impressed that Max has dark hair and dark blue eyes, like Malachi did as a baby.  (In the face, Max looks nothing like Malachi, but I didn't point that out.)

 

It was fun having a newborn around.  It's been a long time since I've spent much time with a baby that tiny.  I hold babies every week in the nursery at church, but they are usually at least 4 or 5 months old.  (Note that I'm not complaining about holding older babies!)

 

The boys are excited to have no school tomorrow.  In Kentucky, it's a state law that there can be no school on election day.  Interesting.  It means I'll be taking all 3 kids with me to the polls, but oh well.

Halloween

I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  We sure did.  My trick-or-treaters lasted longer than ever before, despite the cold.