Well, I realized tonight that I haven't updated my followers on my lovely Peacocks in a while... so here is the latest, including some photos of Mr. Handsome Houdini, as I affectionately call my Peacock.

In case you had no idea I have a Peacock, here is the short story on how I got him: I went to an auction and bid on two peachicks and a turkey (they were in the same lot). I won and was giddy to bring home my new peachicks, that was about 2 years ago. About a year after I figured out that I had a matching pair of Blue India Peafowl. I was SO excited to have a pair and was excited about hatching eggs in the future. (You can read a little about my Peacocks in these other posts!) One night a predator got into the coop and killed several of my chickens AND my peahen. I was devastated but relieved to still have the peacock. I put him in a more secure location and he faired well, until this year.

I made him a nice outside pen attached to his coop and he would come out for about 10 minutes a day. I figured since he was so shy I would open the pen an let him roam to yard for bugs...

Well, he took off on me. He went MIA for about a  WEEK AND A HALF! Then, then about a week ago I spotted him walking down the road in front of our house. I ran out and caught him (Side note: I got REALLY bad poison ivy/oak from chasing him into the woods, but oh so worth it). I put him in his coop pen and he attacked the sunflower seeds and Flock Raiser that I had set out for him. It was like he hadn't eaten the whole time he was gone (I know he ate, but he sure did miss his normal feed!).

Well, I had to run to town and shut him up in the pen. When I got back he was walking around the yard. It was dark so I didn't want to chase him to catch him and then loose him in the woods, so I herded him towards the coop and he roosted on the roof for the night. Then next morning he was gone. A day later I herd him in the trees down the road. I tried to get him but he was too far up. So, I left him alone and left his food out next to his old coop. The next day he was back in our yard hanging out.

It's been about a week since he came back for good and he enjoys relaxing by my turkey's pen by the woods, he seems to have taken a liking to my Royal Palm Tom. He will walk around the yard and eat bugs and weeds around 5:00PM every night and go down to the area around the coop to get his feed and then up in the trees he goes for the night. I was sure that he was GONE for good the first time he left me and now I am SO excited that he has stayed with me even though he is loose. I am planning a LARGE (more secure) coop and flight pen for him and I can't wait to get a couple peahens for him. I know he misses the peahen I lost a year ago.

I am SO thankful to God that he came back. I was praying that he was safe the entire time he was gone! I know it sounds kind of silly to pray for a peacock, but he is proof that God does answer prayers, even the silly ones! I hope to have MANY MANY more years with him, he is by far my FAVORITE bird that I own!

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Have a wonderful day dear followers!

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Earlier this week Big Sister and I decided to do a craft. I wanted to put up some Thanksgiving decorations and this would be the perfect solution! It was a simple craft that I had seen, maybe even done, when I was younger.

Supplies:
Scissors
Glue
Tape
String
(2) Sheets of Tan Cardstock Paper
(1) Sheet of Red Cardstock Paper (I actually used scraps because we didn't need a whole sheet)
(1) Sheet Orange Cardstock Paper (I actually used scraps because we didn't need a whole sheet)
Brown Paint
(1) Sheet Dark Brown Cardstock Paper (I actually used scraps because we didn't need a whole sheet)
(3) 2mm 9" x 12"  Foam Sheets (we used red, yellow, and neon green)
Glue on Wiggly Eyes

All supplies can be found at craft stores like JoAnn or Micheals.

First, we Painted our hands with the brown paint. Then we pressed our hands on the Tan Cardstock Paper. We let the paint dry, then, cut out the hand prints leaving about a 1/4 inch boarder around them. We cut tear drop shapes out of the Foam Sheets for my handprint since they were big and thin feather shaped ones for Big Sister's handprint, 3 per handprint and one of each color. If you don't have foam sheets you can use different colors of Cardstock, the Foam just gives them a little more dimension. Next, we cut out triangles on the Orange Cardstock for each handprint to use as beaks. Then, we used the Red Cardstock to cut out wavy shapes to use as the caruncles that are under the beak.Then, we cut out 1 inch long thin strips to make into feet for our turkey. After we had everything cut out we pasted everything in place, putting the tear drop feathers in between the four fingers. We used the thumbs are the head and pasted on a wiggle eye, the beak, and the caruncles. After we pasted on the legs, we taped the back all of the turkeys in a row to a string so that we could hang them above the sink. You can make as many or as few of the turkeys, but the more you do the more supplies you will need!




Big Sister enjoyed having her hand painted and helping me press down the wiggly eyes to glue them on, but that is about as much help as she was during this craft since she is only 2. If you want more involvement from your kids, I suggest trying this craft with older kids, especially ones that know how to used scissors safely and correctly!

Have fun and enjoy Dear followers!
Kelsey

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Well, I just can't take it anymore! My digital camera is dead! The flash went out a couple months ago and I've resorted to either using my cell phone which doesn't take very high quality photos and produces mostly blurry pictures of my babies because they move around so much OR borrowing my mother in laws camera, which she uses on a regular basis so that is problematic in itself. I haven't been in the market for one for a while and I've never really researched digital cameras very much. Here is what I need in a digital camera:

1) The ability to take good quality photos indoors and outdoors.
2) The ability to take photos of moving objects (my kids) without parts of the photo coming in blurry.
3) The ability to take good quality videos with sound.
4) A camera that isn't going to break my pocketbook, has to be reasonably priced.

Anyone out there have any suggestions? I'm getting desperate! Little Sister is already 4 months old and I don't think I have even 1/3 of the amount of photos of her as I did Big Sister! There are so many moments I want to capture and right now I'm just SO limited! Please give me ideas!

Or if you are from a digital camera company or sell digital camera and need a reviewer I would be MORE than happy to test one out! PLEASE help me!

On a totally unrelated note, something has been killing my birds! I've lost all but 2 hens, a rooster, a Peacock, a Royal Palm Turkey, an African Goose, a Pekin Drake, and a Rouin Duck.  This is So not fair! I need to build again and make them varmint proof somehow! Ugh, this has been a rough Spring/Summer for my birds! To top it off, my Swedish Duck was laying on 11 eggs, they are all "half baked" and I put them in with my Goose hoping she will adopt them, but we will see. I'll keep you posted. After we lost our farm dog Joey, it seems like my birds are just not safe anymore! Good farm dogs are hard to find and hard to replace! RIP Joey we miss you!

Thanks for the help dear followers and have a GREAT weekend!
Kelsey

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So, March 21st I did some "Spring Cleaning" out in our barn. I hadn't been out there so quite a while, since before sometime in October I believe. My dear sweet husband has been taking care of the animals while I've been out of commission. While I was still taking care of them myself I had started letting my chickens free range outside of their coop and run, but I would pen them up over night. Well, my dear sweet husband just let them run loose ALL winter. They seem to have tried roosting in EVERY possible spot in the barn, leaving a nice big mess EVERYWHERE, but I can't blame him he  a great job keeping them fed and watered all winter. Since we've been having warm days I been itching to clean up around the barn. I've been taking Big Sister for walks and recently decided to do a little cleaning here and there when I could find time to get out there on my own.

On the 21st I was able to get out for a long period of time. I bathed our pony, both miniature horses, fixed one of the auto waterers so that it wouldn't leak everywhere, distributed salt and mineral blocks, cleaned up the duck area and filled up their kiddie pool. I'm not sure why but I have an obsession with poultry and ducks/waterfowl are my favorite! Unfortunately, the other day I lost my Pekin Duck, however I still have the Pekin Drake, a Black Swedish Duck, and a Rouen Duck. I know this is probably going to sound odd, however, my African Goose and my Royal Palm turkey tom also live with the Ducks.

After I finished filling up the kiddie pool the ducks and the goose were extremely excited and jumped right in. Normally, I empty the kiddie pool before winter so the bird don't get stuck in the pool and free to death. So, it was like I had given a child chocolate after not having it for a long time. Here are several photos of the goose that I took with my cell phone!

3/21/11

3/21/11 - Female African Goose

3/21/11

I just love watching them play in the water!
Hope you enjoyed the photos dear followers!
Kelsey

On another note, Project Pete is doing great. Every day he seems to have more and more personality. He went from just existing to living with purpose. Tonight he was even pawing the ground while I was putting his hay in the hay net (I had to start using one because he was spreading it all over his stall and pooping on it). The hay net is working out great and he isn't wasting the hay anymore.

Went to the office at the big barn today and bathed some horses, what an adventure. Ponies are not my thing normally. Miniatures, I love, Mustangs, I love, Regular Horses, I love, Ponies, not so much. They just seem to want to give you a hard time on purpose. The all seem to have bred to be mischievous! Anyways there were ten to bathed and move and ten were bathed and moved.

Well, last night I was really bummed. I had REALLY wanted to join the Twitter Party #GetRealDiapers hosted by @EcoMomMedia and several others. I was hoping to win some cool prizes or at least learn something new about cloth diapers. Well, I get everything set up and and ready. I figured out the Twitter Grid and everything was great. THEN the internet decided to hate me. For whatever reason it started bouncing from connection to no connection. I tried for over an hour to get connected to the Twitter Grid. Finally I gave up and went to bed... but it was SO disappointing! So, I'm hoping to be able to at least do the next Twitter Party... we'll see...

Today is my Wedding Anniversary. So far its been, well, pretty good... I can't complain. I feel good, I feel right where I'm supposed to be with the man I love and our perfect little baby girl! Life is Good! Life is Great! Thanks be to God! ;o)

On that note, I'm going to head to bed, its been a    l    o    n   g    day dear followers!