Hump Day

Spring Break--two beautiful words. So far I've spent four days in bed and taken lots of long hot baths--sounds good so far, doesn't it? Just wait.

My allergies somehow got way ahead of me. All I've generated so far this week was a Puffs Plus-filled trash can next to my bed (so sorry, no photos). I went from sneezy to sore throat and drippy to stuffy and wheezy, all mixed nicely with aches and pains from sleeping sitting up or not at all. Thank heavens for my friends Aspirin, Caffeine and Tussin plus liters and liters of water to drink.

If I wanted to whine I could tell you about wasting vacation days rather than using sick days and the grey skies and a family that thought I should cook for them. But truthfully, I had enough bursts of caffeine-induced energy that I can't really complain about cooking or caring for the livestock (I'm referring to the chicks and pooches, of course, not the family).

I decided that I might live yesterday afternoon and was certain of it this morning, especially when I saw those blue skies. I now have a nicely-mowed and edged lawn--if that wasn't going to kick off my hayfever again, nothing was--and a large garbage can filled with rosebush prunings.

I put another coat of paint (apple green, even if it doesn't look like it) on my shutters.

 

They looked so pretty drying propped up in the violets, which are currently blooming wildly, that I just had to take a photo.

And I put the finishing touches on my new ironing board cover and treated her to a nicely-wrinkled white cotton shirt for her maiden voyage.

Love the ladybugs! Love the daisies! Love the polka dots! Love the green! Love my trusty vintage iron!

I'm not planning on running any marathons, but it's nice to feel more like myself!  And I still have four more days of vacation to enjoy myself.

Hopefully yours,

Guideposts--Week14

A laugh is the shortest distance between two people.

--Victor Borge

Even if someone fell and slightly damaged the camera shutter so that it doesn't always open.  Through many up and downs,  we still enjoy each other's laugh and sense of humor.  It's what attracted us in the beginning and it's still working more than a few years down the trail.

Happy Sunday, Happy Week, Happy Spring!  Thanks to A Cottage Industry for linking us up.

Four Classy Dames

Our Buff Orpingtons have lived with at Meadowsweet Cottage for ten days now. This was Day One.

And this is now! Taller, heavier, more feathers...less cooperative, but still very sweet.

 

Time to name them!Thank you all for your suggestions which helped me narrow down my choices. As of today Brownie, Beauty, Platinum and Chipette (how I've been differentiating them) have names.

 

Given how heavy they will be when fully grown (ten pounds) I decided to go with buxom movie stars that would also be familiar to the Queen Mother.

Say "hi" to Sophia Loren, the brunette; Carole Lombard, the platinum blonde; Rita Hayworth, the popular one; and Marilyn Monroe (MM or Norma Jean), the sweet belle.

 

You can see they've grown wary of the paparazzi. At least I promise not to try to herd them into the bunny basket which is too small for one (much less four) ever again.  In fact, I'm adding a playground accessible from their brooder and beginning to plan their future residence.  I can read the writing on the wall (even if it's chicken scratch)--they're not going to be babies much longer.

Why do babies have to grow up so fast?

Alien Night Light

When you have a chick brooder in your home, there's no need for a night light.

 

Our high tech brooder consists of an old rabbit cage surrounded by aluminum foil and cardboard, warmed by a hundred watt bulb with a pie tin reflector topped by an old cookie sheet.  Our chicks are currently at a toasty ninety degrees. They get to stay in their cozy brooder for another month and a half or so, until they have fully fledged (gotten all their feathers).

I'm not sure chicks get bored, but they have certainly begun to play games like queen-of-the-hill with their water jar and chase-the-chick-with-the-paper-scrap.  That is, when they're not napping or pooping.  I'm changing their paper three times a day now and they've begun to recognize the door as an escape route.  Obviously we handle them a lot and I've also begun to offer chick scratch feed in my hand regularly.  (Chick pecks tickle!) We want them to be well-mannered hens who associate only positive things with human hands.

These chicks miss NOTHING.  When they roam our kitchen, they remind me of the raptors in Jurassic Park.  I know they're bird brains, but when they get "that look" in their eye, stretch out their neck then dart like predators...let's just say I don't want to be an insect invading our yard this summer.  Maybe I could hire them out as organic bug exterminators for big bucks? They are very soft and cute, but food really motivates them!

I'm loving the names you're coming up with for my four girls who are destined as egg layers.  Four hens,  each laying one hundred fifty eggs per year (conservatively), would mean we'll have six hundred (or fifty dozen) eggs.  I can still eat and enjoy chicken--but it feels a bit odd with our four little peeps just a few feet away from the table.  Thank heavens I'm not on a first name basis with anyone at Foster Farms!


Warmly,

Four Hot Chicks Need Names

Although all four girls are Buff Orpingtons, they look different enough that we can tell them apart.

This one with the bold stripe is the queen of the coop and head of the pecking order.

And we could tell within the first thirty seconds!

This little gal sports more brown tones than gold, definitely the brunette of the bunch.

She's also growing fastest which is surprising considering she started out as the shyest of the bunch.

Say hi to the Twins. It took us a bit longer to distinguish between these two honeys.

One has a platinum blonde stripe and a brownish head.

The other has a goldie stripe and a yellowish head.

She's the beauty of the bunch (not that the others aren't as cute as can be).

That's our little flock.

So...now that I don't panic every time one of the chicks lies down for a nap (please don't die, please don't die), it's time to start thinking of names.  I'm looking for four girl names that stick with a theme--film stars, old-fashioned girls, cartoon characters, heroines, favorite authors or ????

You can probably tell I've got a few ideas for names brewing but I'd be thrilled to have some fresh ideas to add to the mix.

Remember that these little girls will grow up to be Buff Orpington hens--big, golden, classy, and mellow.  I'm interested in seeing if the grown hens' plumage mimic their chick coloring.

They will be a week old tomorrow already. Their wing feathers grew so fast you could almost watch them sprout. Yesterday I remarked that their baby bums were looking peaked and sure enough, today we can see the beginnings of tail feathers! It might be my imagination but I think I'm seeing their combs start to develop. My babies are growing like weeds!

Guideposts--Week13

Morning has broken like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for them springing fresh from the Word

Sweet the rain's new fall sunlit from heaven

Like the first dewfall on the first grass

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

Sprung in completeness where His feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light Eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God's re-creation of the new day.

--Eleanor Farjeon

I think of this as the Cat Steven's song that we used to sing in church, but was fascinated to learn about Eleanor Farjeon's life and works.  Shy, not a healthy child, encouraged to write by her father, never married, staunch friend, wrote poems and stories primarily for children.  What an unexpected benefit of producing a weekly Guidepost--I plan to learn more about her life and read some of her children's stories.

Linking up with Notes from a Cottage Industry

Happy Easter from

The Easter Bunny Made An Early Delivery

Four lovely little ladies...

Our Buff Orpington babies, only four days old...

 

Currently residing in their brooder...

 

Being cute and sweet and entertaining. (No wonder I haven't posted anything recently.)

They will be needing names soon.

 

Yours, with a silly smitten smile on my face,