Tagged

I'll try to make it interesting...
4 places I go over and over-
to my to-do list because I can't remember what I'm supposed to be doing without looking at it, to Craig's List and KSL.com classifieds, to the garden (water or weeding), D.I. (my friends got me addicted to bargain hunting here)

4 favorite places to eat-
Aguila con el taco (authentic Mexican that hasn't made me sick yet), Subway, Little Caesars (for the crazy bread) and my all time fav when visiting SLC is RUBIO'S for fish tacos.

4 places I'd rather be- visiting family, someplace where they speak Spanish, working in the garden with my man after the kids are in bed, or hanging out with some girls, yakking away

4 tv shows I watch all the time- tv life would be better with a DVR, but for now our top four are American Idol, Wheel of Fortune, The Office (we're all caught up thanks to netflix), and I'm becoming a fan of PBS's news hour with Jim somebody.

4 people I tag (but only if you want to)- Flutterbug, Meggan, Chandra, and Mel

Adios Duckies

I'm all for learning through trial and error. I will swallow my pride and admit that the ducks were an "error," on my part but a cute one at that. Last week I took the ducks out to the canal behind our pasture and turned them wild. I'm sure they will wander home from time to time, but I doubt they will want to leave their water oasis for a permanent trip back to the chicken coop.

Originally I hoped that the ducks would be a great alternative to pesticides in my garden because they are major bug hunters. I hadn't realized what stinkers they would be...literally! Bless their cute little hearts, they are just gross! Their instinct for water causes them to swim in the water dish, which isn't a real neighborly thing to do when they are sharing with the chickens. Anyhow, I feel happy as I lay in bed at night and hear them quacking in sync with the crickets and frogs. A happy ending after all.

p.s. if you're interested, I've heard that guinea fowl are great garden grazers - they eat the bugs and not the garden

So true

I had to laugh when I saw this - not so much for the picture, but the caption which read:
"This must be child number 2 or 3 because mom grabbed the camera instead of the kid"

Drumroll please...

After 3 working days and a flash-flood rainstorm that only impeded progress slightly, we have finished the rock on our house! I have to admit that this project robbed me of some of my equity-building addiction, but that's probably healthy. As usual, I wondered what caused us to undertake such a project - somewhere around lunchtime on the first day. However, like childbirth I forgot the pain after a few days and am ready to rock a hundred more houses (I really must be sick in the head, eh?) Here are some picts for those who have been as anxious as were to accomplish this project...

YES, that IS A SIDEWALK and DRIVEWAY! Our good friends surprised us with this while we were on vacation - it was a great treat to come home to.

Still here

So I guess I'm not what you would call a consistent blogger. It probably has a lot to do with the weather outside. Anyway, a quick update on our whirlwind days and weekends. Being the "do it yourself" freaks we are, we have about a gazillion projects going on - rocking the house, landscaping, sprinklers, grass, fencing the pasture, replanting the pasture, tilling a garden spot, building garden boxes, planting the garden, painting my kitchen, drywalling, caring for all the new farm creatures (just to name a handful).
Here's some picts of the temporary coop we built and one of my experimental square foot gardens (built with 100% girl power). Hopefully it will be a lush garden in a few weeks.

See my blog post "everything I need to know I learned from my garden" for more info

Yes, the animals are doing well. The ducks are sure stinkier than I expected, but very cute. It's quite a stress reliever to watch them waddle around. One of our baby chicks got pecked to death by a hen and another had a huge hole pecked in her back (but she's a champ and is pulling through). I quickly learned that you don't mix chicks and grown hens - I cried about it all night. Our goats are sure friendly and sweet and are more pleasant than we expected...man, can they jump! However, the poor things are ALWAYS getting their horns stuck in the fence so they're scheduled for a dehorning at the vet.

Anyways, I'll be in and out over the next little while. Check in from time to time to read up on our latest adventures.

Funny Forwards

Sometimes I get some funny forwards. I thought this one was pretty interesting...

Cna yuo raed tihs?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid. Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i'st hrad to blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghi t pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Duckies & Chicks

The duckies and chicks are here! I know I always blog too much info about all this stuff, but how else are all you city folk going to get a country education? Some bloggers oooh and aaah over their kids, but I choose to take a bit of a different route - education of the masses :) I'm proof that anyone can raise an animal thanks to the info provided via the internet.

So we've had the chicks for a week now and I'm amazed at how fast they are growing. They were all fuzz last week, and already they're growing their "big girl" feathers. We have Rhode Island Red hens which will lay a brown egg, and two Araucanas which are known as the "Easter Egg Chicken" because they lay blue/green tinted eggs. Chicks are cute, but I'm really looking forward to when they're hens and can run around my yard (so picturesque!).

The ducklings came today and are much cuter than I expected! One of my neighbors has the same type of duck (Indian Runner) and can't say enough good things about it. They are awesome at eating bugs and are loyal to humans when raised by them (according to her). These Indian Runner ducks are pretty amusing to watch too, they look a bit like a penguin on speed when they run around. I will have to post a video when they get bigger.