Chicken Update

I know y'all are *so* excited to hear more about my chickens, but, believe it or not, a friend asked! These are the adorable little black and yellow fluff balls that were in the blue cage with the dogs gawking at them. They're all grown up and looking pretty fine. My Brahma hen is in the center. She is named Buttercup. I don't think she is laying yet. The white rooster is named Bud. He's one ornery old cuss. He keeps ALL the birds (and Wayne) in line!

This is my Black Australorp hen. I don't believe she is laying yet based on appearance. I have not yet checked her bones to see, though. We are getting around five eggs a day. I have another B.A. hen, named Sissy, who keeps to herself. She roosts in some secret hideaway, and we only see her early in the morning, before the other chickens are released.

These are some of the "gang." They are old enough for the freezer, but we haven't gotten around to that yet. They keep things in a tizzy around the yard, always fighting and chasing the girls.

I have two Silver Laced Wyandotte hens. (I call them both Sylvia - can't tell them apart!) I do think they may be my best layers. I think they started laying first, and I also think they are more consistent layers.

This is a side view of a Silver Laced Wyandotte hen with Bud at her side.

A Tour of My Classroom

This summer our director repainted my classroom and the hallway of our school. I am so excited about how nice my room looks. It used to be a periwinkle blue, which I loved, but it was sorely in need of a fresh coat, and she wanted something different, so I asked for sage green. It's so nice and fresh and clean feeling. I have ten students this year, ranging from first grade through third grade. It's a challenge teaching a multi-age classroom, but I enjoy it tremendously!

Sugarpie Honeybun

This is our first professional portrait. We will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary in a little over a month. When we were married, our pictures were taken by the pastor's wife with a 35 mm camera with intentions that we would have a few blown up. We have still never progressed from the proof book sized album we started with.

When we'd been married about three or four years, Wayne told me to get dressed up for a surprise date. His surprise was to take me to this photographer's studio that was upstairs from the most expensive salon in town, and her packages started at around $300. I about came unglued! You must understand. My parents bought some Olan Mills portrait a year package when I was a baby, and my momma dressed me up and made me up and marched me in annually for the portrait that had to be SO perfect, and I have issues with having my picture made. When you add in that this surprise is going to cost me at least $300, it ceases to be a pleasant surprise. Needless to say, poor Wayne never tried to get me to have pictures made again.

Our church is putting together a directory, and that entails portraits, so we dutifully had our pictures made. It turned out to be quite therapeutic for both of us in different ways. I think our marriage is better for the experience. I am happy that we have a nice picture of us that we can hang on the wall and give our parents.

These are the first eggs from our little hens we raised from chicks. It's so gratifying to see the fruition of our labors!

Another Hole In My Head

I needed a new pet like another hole in my head! Last night while I was walking the dogs, I heard a kitten crying. It sounded like it was coming from the pasture to the east of our house. Glutton for punishment that I am, I went looking. I found her in the sumacs near the cemetery that is across the road and down a bit. She's a calico. I am calling her Ornery Matisse. If I can find her a GOOD home I will probably give her away, since we already have too many critters, but I can't bear the thought of her being mistreated. She is a very sweet and snugly kitten, though quite vocal!

I've never been much of a cat person, and never thought I'd have one, but I always said if I did have one, it'd be a calico. She's just about perfect...