New life

We'll I think we finally have new kittens for this year. I've posted before how my cats have all been letting their kittens die off, and I think that is still happening, but I finally have a momma cat taking care of a couple of her kittens:) We found several more that hadn't made it, but momma cat did take care of these two. And they are so cute:) I had to move them that first day as she had them under a tractor that was outside and clouds were moving in. I took the kittens and momma cat to the barn and set up a box for them. This way they stay dry and momma is closer to her food and water and can leave the kittens where they'd stay safe.

I never thought I'd say we'd want more kittens after last spring, but it just doesn't seem like summer without new little ones running around. So far these two are it for this year, much improved from the 21 kittens we had born last year!!!

These are much more welcomed out here:) These two hens shared a nest of eggs, and are now sharing the chicks as well. They had 7, but one died. After we moved them to this caged in coop I went to throw out the leftover eggs and noticed one was cheeping. So I kept it in a box with hot water bottles and about 1 1/2 days later, it hatched:) I then gave it a couple days and put it in with the hens and other chicks and they all took to eachother.

This was another hen that was sitting as well. I didn't know what to expect from her as I didn't know how old the eggs she was sitting on was (our hens are REALLY free range and I don't always know where they are laying at). I noticed the hen making some noises this morning and so I checked and sure enough, there were little heads peeking out. I counted 3 or 4 before asking dh if he thought we should leave her be for another day or two, or go ahead and move them today. He said to let her sit for a little longer to make sure they are all hatched this time;) I decided to pick her up to see how many she had and I counted 10 heads!!! After I took this picture I went over to the nest and another one was hatching so she's really going to have her feathers full;)

It is so great to have new life all around us:) I love watching the chicks learn to peck the ground and flutter around. And who doesn't love a little kitten (hmmm, don't ask my dh - who is sick and tired of having cats around;0).

A Stitchy Post:)

It's been a while since I've posted and I thought (okay it was requested:) that I'd give a little bit of an update. This will be the first in a couple of posts that I hope to get up within the next couple of days.

I've been stitching up a storm this past several weeks. This one is for a Quaker exchange I am doing. I still need to make it into something before the end of June for it to be ready. I think the hedgehog is really cute:)
This one I started about a month ago and then haven't done anything more with it. It is called "Bless Our Home" and is by Country Cottage Needleworks.

I have been mostly working on this one and like it so much that I ordered the other 3 in the set:) This is the spring section of "Saltbox Scriptures" from Little House Needleworks. I will post an update when I get it done.

And finally, after a full year of working on this one.... IT IS DONE!!! I need to look for a frame for it and put on the buttons, but other than that, it is done. I am suprised that I still really like this one;) I got it for my birthday in 2008 and finished it ON my birthday in 2009.

Well that is all for stitching. I have some updates on my garden and what I've been learning about herbs to write about later this week:)

New discoveries:)

I have, for a while now, wondered what kind of weeds we have growing around the place. I know that a lot of 'weeds' end up being useful herbs and wanted to see if we had anything useful growing around here. However, I really didn't know where to start to find out what these plants were, so this spring I've gone around and started tasting anything that looked like it might be edible (don't worry, I do know what the poison ivy, oak and such look like:). I know dandelion leaves are edible, so I started there. They are pretty bitter, but I think they should be cooked. I've tried a few others as well, but still don't know what they are.

Today my dd brought me a 'weed' and asked what I thought it was. The cats were eating it, and that is why she noticed it. So I smelled it and it smells like mint. I looked for a while on the Internet and found that it is either cat mint or catnip. Some sites say it's the same thing and some say they are a bit different. Both are from the mint family and perfectly safe for humans. Now to dig some of it up to put it in the garden so it is officially an herb and not a weed:)
I also saw the birds that I look for each spring. They don't stick around here long, but are really pretty and as we have very few trees, we don't get a lot of the pretty, colorful birds around here. Mostly we get prairie birds which sing beautifully, but don't have much color to them. I also looked these up and found them to be Yellow headed blackbirds. Not an original name:) And they are LOUD!!!

Here is our last discovery. I found this little one's momma while she was giving birth. She dropped her baby and walked away. I tried to get the momma to take some interest, but she had already let the first born die and didn't want to be anywhere near this one. I knew we couldn't keep it alive, but the other cats were a little too interested in the baby (which when wet and brand new looked much too like a dead mouse or rat), so I brought it in. Yes, the poor thing died, but we gave it love and care for as long as we could:( The poor little thing was so ugly that it was cute:)

That is all for now. I have several more pics of 'weeds' that I want to research to see if they are anything useful, I'll post what I find:)

Some stitching

I'm finally getting around to posting about the stitching I've been doing:)

This first one is just getting started. It is from Brittercup and will have a horse and a kitty on it. I'm doing this one for my dd, as she loves both horses and cats.

This one is getting pretty close to done. It is by Little House Needleworks called 'Heart of America.' I have been working on this since last June, so it's taking a while, but I just love it:)

I'm only working on this one on and off. I found this sampler at www.gazette94.blogspot.com and really like the red and white look. I'm doing this on 28 ct over one so it won't be as big.

This one I just started and finished. I love doing small projects that I can get done quickly. This one will be sent off as an exchange. Now my dd wants this one too:)

All turned out well after the storm. All the animals ended up safe and sound. Would you believe that we are getting snow AGAIN today?!?!? It isn't to amount to anything though, however the last snow isn't all melted yet. We do have the moisture we were needing though, so that really is all that matters.

More weather pics

Here are some more pics from the storm. I am thinking we are about done with it now. We have been lucky as a good deal of people are without electricity and we still have ours. The animals are fine and after a recount in the light this morning, it looks like we are only missing one chicken. She may still be in the barn, so I think we are okay.

These are not our cows. They belong to the man that owns the pasture surrounding us. They are okay, but looked misserable when I went out this morning. Poor things don't have any shelter at all out there.

Well, now on to clean up. You can see how high the snow is up to the shop. Dh is going to dig that out so he can get to the tractor and then he has to dig the blade out. Hopefully he doesn't get the tractor stuck before he can get to the blade. We are completely snowed in right now. I have no idea what the roads are like, but by the time we have our driveway cleared they should at least have major highways pretty good. Not that we are going anywhere. We are staying home!!!

Crazy Weather

We have had some crazy weather since yesterday!!! I took a few pics out our one window that we can see out of, and I'll take some more later when the snow finally stops.

This one is toward our lean-to. You can see that the inside is almost filled up with snow. I'm thinking that drift is about 5ft tall.


Can't tell much from here. Behind the trailor is the stock tank. Can't see it? That's because it is completely under snow now:) We are going to have to dig out the water spiket too to give the animals their water.

And here are our cars. They aren't going anywhere for a while. Our shop has snow up to the big door handles, so we have to dig the shop/barn out so we can get the tractor out to start moving snow around.

Not sure how the animals are doing. Everyone exept 3 chickens are where they should be. Either in the barn or coop. I went to put chickens away last night and only 12 of the 19 were in the coop. We found 4 more of them, half frozen wondering around and put them in the coop. They couldn't see over the snow drifts to find the coop!!! Couldn't find 3 of them, so I'm hoping they were hiding in the barn or in the lean-to.

Will put more pics on later when it stops snowing:)

Hope everyone is safe and warm.

Garden fun:)

I kept hoping to get a bit more done before posting, but I relized that there is still much to do before I'm going to be ready to plant, so I thought I would give an update for what we are doing. I've been wanting to play around with raised beds for a few years now, however it cost more to plant a raised bed than just directly in the ground, so we've never done it. This year we came up with the idea of using cinder blocks, so they will last and not draw termites being that this one is so close to the house. I am planning on putting my lettuce, carrots and herbs in this one. I'll be able to cover it on the cooler nights easier than if it were in our big garden bed too:)


Here is most of the cinder blocks with one of our cats finding the plastic wrapping quite entertaining:)


And here is our start on it, with more cats checking to see if it is level and straight (and if any mice are hiding in the holes:).

And here it is finished. It did take a lot longer to put together than I expected. I had not thought of the time it would take to level and square it. Actually, had it been up to me, I wouldn't have bothered, but those kind of things drive dh crazy:) So it is very level and square to the house, nice and perfect (until I go and plant in it that is).

No, it doesn't have dirt in it yet. This is the beginning of the things that still needs done before I can plant. You see, dh wanted a flatbed for his truck, and so far it has been far nicer than a regular bed for him, but it doesn't work for hauling dirt and such;) So he needed to get wood to build sides that will go off and on the bed. Then he decided that it would be great to have a sprinkler system for this raised bed, which he is right, but now we need sprinkler heads:) Then we need to go to his parents and get dirt. THEN we need to build an encloser for the chickens and not allow them to be so FREE (do you see the one in the pic trying to find something to eat?). But before we can cage in the chickens I have to clean a large area around the chicken coop so they have a nice place to be.....THEN we will need to get some T-posts (thankfully we have the fencing we need) so we can build the enclosure. I'm getting tired just thinking about it!!! At that point I'll be able to plant:)

But since I couldn't wait, I went ahead and started some seeds inside. They never do well inside, but I had to give it a try again anyway:) I planted these (ground cherries and sunberries) a little over a week ago and nothing has come up yet, but I'll keep waiting for a while. This is the 3rd year I've tried the ground cherries (they should be a little sweeter than a tomato, but in the same family), and if they don't grow this year, I'm giving up on them until I have a green house. The sunberries (just a bit larger than a pea, taste comparable to a blueberry), are new to me this year, we'll see if anything happens.

Hopefully in the next year or two I'll get my green house. We have some of the materials we want to use for it, but haven't had time to work on it. Most things we grow can be started outdoors, so it won't matter much anyway:)

I'll have a stitchy post in a few days:)