Spring has sprung! In the 80's today, then tonight the thunderstorm came up and dropped the temp 20 degrees. The roosters  are busy showing the Hens whats what, tho sometimes the hens turn on them and chase them awhile. Our white Roo clucks and gathers his hens, to show them something good to eat, and when it is time to go in at night. All in all very entertaining!

I hope your Easter was Blessed!

Thursday morning

Friday morning

"we are so hungry!"

Traumatized Daffodils

The difference one day makes!

Snow again! Today is the second day of spring, and we got 6-10 inches of snow during the night. The Chickie Girls were very reluctant to leave the Hen House, so were served their breakfast inside.
Power out, breaking tree limbs, cars in the ditch on the way into town rounded out my morning!

When we brought home our first 6 chicks, DH made a little hen house out of scraps of boards, plywood,etc he had bee carefully saving. It was approximate 4'x8'. Of course we couldn't stop with 6, so the next year we brought home 12! So he built another 4x6 addition. Well, this is year 4 and we now have 25 Big and Little Girl, and even 2 new Little Boys: Roo 1 and Roo 2. So it was time for a better Hen House.
Now my husband does not throw anything away, and can proudly tell you where each piece of wood came from 20 years before!  He did buy some roofing and screws, brackets etc for our new improved version  this time.

March 1st -snow under the Oaks

Meanwhile it is slowly becoming Spring! Last week we had snow, and this week the daffodils are blooming. I have visions of plant pots and new perennials dancing in my head, and will attempt to get my DH to let me design the vegetable garden, but doubt that will fly. He is always suspicious that I will plant more flowers than vegetables!
We are also trying out putting an egg sign down by the road, when we have too many. I have also been baking Quiches, scrambled eggs, angel food cake ( didn't turn out the best) just to try to use up the plentiful Spring eggs! 

Well, our new little girls turned out to be 2 roosters and 2 hens. They are 8 weeks old and the little Roo's are practicing their crows. We needed to segregate them from all the Big Girls, as they are still eating the baby food. So using what we had, we converted an old dog house and some fencing into a little yard just for them. Now they can become adjusted to seeing and hearing the other big chickens, until they grow a little more. This is our first experience with roosters! We pulled up lawn chairs to watch for awhile, as the new babies got their first look at grass, dirt, and the big sky, along with watching other chickens run by. A whole new world has opened up!

Finally I have found my cord to download pictures! That is what I get for redoing the office. I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas! Here is a pictorial recap of our Fall and Christmas:

Japanese Maple October

Japanese Maple in front of porch

Oak leaves and more oak leaves

Making an RV out of a step van

Little boys and Christmas trains!

Christmas Eve sunset

I hope you will all have a wonderful New Year!

My day has been spent with canning 22 quarts of peaches,and 6 quarts of tomatoes. I intended to do up some green beans, but ran out of time. I know this doesn't sound like much, but I am glad to add these jars to the shelves in the garage. They look so pretty! I think I will try to can some winter squash, too. Of course, the past week, we have been picking blackberries and freezing them as we go, after a blackberry cobbler or so. I can't resist throwing some berries to the chickens as I pick, they are also excited to get the peach trimings and tomato skins! In Chicken news, I gave in and named the Baby Girls- the orange ones are Rosie, Roseanne and Bantina who is our only Banty Chick. The Barred Rock are The Three Barbara Sisters: Barb, Barbie and Barbara. They are identical, so you can't tell them apart.  The Barbara's are named after Barbara the Chicken , who's infamous tales are recounted on the Chicken Forum. http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=253158&p=1
Hope you are all enjoying the Harvest Days and counting your Blessings or Barbaras whichever the case may be!

First picking of cherries

summer baskets

Daisies , agastache, coreopsis

garden tool storage in mail box

Old oak overlooking the porch

rainy Saturday in Oregon

After yesterday's lovely sunny day, now it is in the 60's and raining most of the day! At this rate we will have a hard time getting the tomatoes to ripen.  Buckets of strawberries, and raspberries, lots of lettuce- but the corn is still not "knee high" and the beans are slow. However the potatoes are doing great, our first time growing potatoes. The cherry tree we planted last fall had a cupful or 2 of cherries - so tasty!
The Chickie Girls are doing well, the Baby Girls are making their way in with the Big  Girls with out too much chicken drama, altho I somehow left 2 out all night the other evening. However, they were there at the hen house the next morning, so I guess we don't have too many predators that can get thru the fence.
Such a blessing to be able to live out here in the country and smell the fir trees,honeysuckle and grassy fields. Hurt my bad knee and was "forced" to spend the day on the porch reading yesterday. After that lovely day, I feel much better!