Fluffy Butts, Chickens, and General Life....

What a gorgeous day we are having here in Orlando!  The dogs (our big girls) are lying around just looking happy, the chickens (the little girls) are happily clucking out in the yard.  I sat out with them for a little bit this morning.  Our backyard is really taking shape, we planted some rye grass because it's fast growing and it's really looking nice.  We planted a bunch of herbs and flowers out there, so the chickens can have them and so it looks nice out there when we spend time out there.  I am DYING to dig a garden bed out there, but everything is a process around here, so I haven't started that project just yet.  

These are our ladies.  Aren't they beautiful?  They are usually so good at avoiding getting their pictures taken that these are the only good photos of them.  I just adore them, and they crack me up like crazy.  Yesterday we added onto the coop, building a lovely nesting box for the girls.  When I say "we", I mean that Devan did all the work and I watched and fetched tools and sat in the shade and generally thought about how lucky I am to have married this man.  We've been spending a lot of time out back because the chickens are so entertaining.  I've learned a lot about chickens at this point.  For example, fluffy butts are a good thing--it means that they are healthy.  Hopefully mine will start laying in a couple of months (my CHICKENS, obviously).  

Devan and I started this new thing--we actually have started collecting something together.  Little figurines of "Me and Him".  It started with these....

Devan is a curmudgeon.  And I'm happy and talk to anyone.  This is so us.  Then we found this one....

And finally, we found this one.... which is for Thanksgiving....

So now we are on the hunt for them for the other months.  

I'm having lunch with my friend Marybeth today--can't wait.  So much news to share and she went on an amazing trip last month that I want to hear all about.  Gotta go get ready.

  

I'm BAAAAACCCCkKKKK!

Okay, here I am again, after 10 months of marital bliss and setting in together, I am ready to take up my blog again.  My whole life has settled down so much that I am feeling very blessed and ready to start a new adventure (okay, it's not EXACTLY new, since I've been blogging awhile, but I'm ready to get back to it...poetic license, okay?).

I have no pictures to post at this time, sorry--but I have a lot to talk about.  

1.  My life has taken an interesting turn.  (At least I think it's interesting!)  I have become a CRAZY CHICKEN LADY!!!  I finally made the leap and got five adorable chicks (photos later, I promise).  Kaleigh got me a gently used chicken coop for my birthday, and we cleaned it up, did a few modifications (thanks Hubbs!), and jumped in with both feet.  We planned on 3 chickens, but that just didn't seem like enough.  They crack me up!  They are all trying to be so bossy with each other, they grow so fast, and even the dogs are fascinated by them.  And by fascinated, I mean they stand at the gate, salivating over what I can only assume looks like the best chicken dinner ever.... Kaleigh is madly in love with them--she considers them hers, and we will probably never eat any of them, as they all have names, but we will enjoy the eggs for sure.  More about the chickens to come....

2.  After a long gardening hiatus--I was a newlywed after all!--I have thrown myself back into gardening with a vengeance.  We had cleared out our little backyard (it's only maybe 12' deep X maybe 70' wide) because it was horribly overgrown, and it was pretty much down to dirt.  I found it overwhelming to start anything, but once we fenced off a third of it for the chickens, it was looking weird, so Kaleigh and I went on a shopping spree to the garden center, and spent a "little" money, and now we have planted rye grass, which won't last, but will get us through the winter with some green, mint, marigolds, lavender, oregano, rosemary, some lettuce, and a few other herbs out there.  Just here and there, mostly for treats for my girls.  I also moved a few things from the front where I usually do my gardening out there--tomatoes, and my meyer lemon and peach trees (they are in pots).  It's looking really good out there.  We also laid out a path of pavers to the chicken gate, and have plenty left to make little paths between the veggie beds I'm going to put in (they will obviously be small).  I am just going to layer the beds with organic matter (leaves, cardboard, etc.) and get them ready for the spring.  I'm hoping to get (make?) some kind of hoop greenhouse to start seeds early there.  I am also going to ask for a composter (the rolling kind) for Christmas.  It turns out that the chicken's bedding generates A LOT of compostable "stuff", shall we say?  So, I think the fast composter is going to be the way to go.  Lots to think about.

3.  Sigh.  This part is going to be hard.  But I do want to share what else is happening.  I feel I NEED to.  Devan and I just returned earlier this week from Detroit.  We went to visit my daughter Hillarie, who graduated from a year-long intensive program called Life Challenge.  It's an amazing program helping addicts find God and a better life.  Whew.  I know there is going to be judgement out there, but my daughter has done so well, and has come so far, I feel that she can do anything.  We had a nice trip and a lovely visit with her.  My husband had never met her and he adores her now, as does everyone who knows her.  I was so proud of her--she seemed like such a leader among the girls in her group.  Maybe I will talk more about this at another time.  I'm teary-eyed already.