Another new member

Mike and I have been discussing getting another dog for the family. We have been strongly leaning toward a Boxer. But we had decided no new dogs until we make our move with his job later in the fall.

Our poodle, Margo, we got through rescue two years ago. She apparently had a very bad experience before we got her and she is very skittish with anyone in the family except me. So Margo is "my" dog. Thus being the reason we want another dog. One that likes everyone!

Katie (my grown daughter) got this little Maltese mix puppy from someone on FreeCycle about a month ago. She's just as cute as she can be, but Katie, as usual, keeps getting dogs when she doesn't need them.

Katie called me night before last asking if we wanted to have Bailey (the Maltese mix). I told her no, and just quickly "double checked" with Mike to confirm that no was our answer. (I asked Mike because I knew he kinda liked Bailey). He confirmed no. So we hung up the phone. Done deal, no biggie.

About 10 minutes later Mike started asking me questions about Bailey. Well, long story short, he decided that we, in fact, would like to have Bailey and add her to our family. I didn't really care either way. She's cute and great with all of us, but as I said, we had been discussing getting a Boxer later down the road.

So, may I introduce the newest addition to our family...

She is +/- 4 months old. Her mother is full blood Maltese, but they had no idea what the father was. She's cute as can be, minds really well and loves the kids to death!

Last night was her first night with us. She slept well in her kennel and only cried for a few short minutes when we first put her in there. Margo is now sleeping in a kennel next to Bailey at night.

For those outside of our family, here's "big sis", Margo.

Silkies are here!!!

I picked up our trio of Silkies this morning! Felicity wanted to name them. Their names (from top to bottom in this photo) are: Becky, Bonnie and Benny.

I've never been around Silkies before, but the make the neatest noises. Becky is the largest and is covered in her new soft feathers, though they are still on the thin side. Bonnie and Benny have skin showing (yes, their skin is black) but they are feathering in nicely.

As soon as I put them in their coop, they started scratching around. They haven't even explored their entire coop yet, they have been busy in the back part, which is the coop. The front 2/3 is the run. We sill have to put the lattice top on the run. Can't leave it open because of hawks. We will finish that up this weekend.

Here's the almost finished coop we built. We decided, since bantams are small, to keep it short, and make a combination coop/tractor. It has all the luxuries of a regular coop, with the ease of movement of a chicken tractor.

We created a track on the front of the coop end, so in winter, we can slide a "wall" with a door cutout over the front, to keep it warmer in the coop. The roof portion over the back of the coop is on hinges and opens for ease of collecting eggs. The top lattice will work much the same way over the run.

The windows will be finished with wood around them and will have attached shutters that will open and close, depending on the needs and weather. The nest boxes are along this back wall.

One more shot of the Silkies!

Our new chicken coop

Tomorrow we get our new Silkie chicks. Be sure to watch tomorrow for photos of the new babies! Here's a photo of Mike and Felicity working on the coop yesterday.

We are all so excited!

Happy Father's Day

To all the fathers, grand-fathers, uncles, sons, nephews, etc.

Happy Father's Day!

Go hug the men in your life!

Funky Chicken quilt

I have been an avid quilter for many, many years. However, about 5 years ago when I started my first online business, quilting fell by the way side. I've now made my break back into quilting and started a quilt today. I'm calling it the Funky Chicken Quilt. I cut and pieced the blocks today.

I hope to be able to get the top completely together this weekend and will post more photos when the top is done. It felt really good to be sewing for fun instead of sewing for business for a change!

Out our back door

Aside from the flat, flat (did I say flat?) landscape that surrounds us here on our 6 acres, there are many things we love to watch out our back door.

Sunsets to die for!

Adorable Prairie Dogs! Last count was 16!! They are cute and adorable, but really tear up the terrain. There are little hills all over the place. They have gotten so used to us that they are moving their hills closer and closer to the fenced in portion of our back yard. It's so fun, especially in the morning, to hear them chittering and chatting amongst themselves.

Let me tell you!!! The Jack Rabbits here are HUGE! They must weigh an easy 15 pounds full grown. Now, those ears. Nothing can describe those tremendous ears those rabbits have to carry around on their heads. They must be 6-7 inches long! The rabbits are also getting used to us being here and come closer and closer to the fenced portion of the back yard. Last count was, I think, 7-8 grown ups and a couple of babies.

Even though we don't plan to stay here past the end of our lease in October, we do enjoy the "scenery" out our back door.

Heat and wind

The wind here in the Texas Panhandle has been EXTREME this spring and so far this summer. Even the locals are in awe, it's been so bad.

Now, add to that, extreme heat...OMG it's absolutely CRAZY!

Right now, at 4:30pm, it's 103 degrees, 7% humidity and sustained winds in the upper 30 mph range, with gusts around 50mph.

EXTREME WEATHER, I tell you. EXTREME WEATHER.

WHEN WILL IT END!!!???