cheep cheep

On top of our normal family busy, we are all dealing with the flu. Friday evening I thought maybe I had just eaten something bad, but when Charlotte threw up the next morning and then Dan yesterday there was no doubt that the flu had graced us with it's presence. We are all mostly feeling better today but Charlotte is still eating and drinking very little which worries me just a bit.....we'll keep an eye on it and once it warms up a bit more outside (it snowed last night) we'll head to the store for some pedialyte. Cold and flu bugs are just a part of having little ones, we'll get to enjoy this for years to come! lol

Before it snowed last night it rained pretty much non stop for 2 days so my garden is somewhere underneath a lot of water and now snow! I doubt we'll be able to do any work out there anytime this week which bums me out. I got half of my seeds delivered last week and I am itching to get my garden beds staked out and some of the seeds planted. My herbs that I started two weeks ago are doing really well. Everything but the rosemary has sprouted which doesn't surprise me at all since the last 2 times I've grown rosemary it has taken forever to establish. While we are out today I am also going to pick up a couple more "green houses" so I can start my tomatoes and peppers. I had one potted tomato plant last year and the poor thing tried to grow....no thanks to me.....I never remembered to water it. Hopefully this year I'll do a better job at starting and keeping my plants alive!


In other news.....we got chickens. Well, chicks really, but I've heard they turn into chickens. lol I have been wanting chickens for a while now, but Dan had always said no. This time around I did a little bit more research and that coupled with the fact that they are fantastic for gardens changed his mind. He's not super excited about them, but he has less negative feelings about them! He'll come around though. We got the chicks last week from a crazy farm lady in Zebulon. I say we rescued the chicks because the lady was seriously crazy....she had 700 birds.....a mix between chickens and ducks. And she had bunnies. Seriously a lot of animals and a LOT of poop. I guess she supplies chicks and ducklings and baby bunnies to farm supply stores, but I feel our chickens will be happier at our house than with her, so we rescued them! We got 4 Rhode Island Reds all hens so we'll have large brown eggs to eat and right now they are living in a box in our laundry room. They are currently about 3 weeks old and will be able to move into the chicken condo....I mean coop that Dan is going to build in a about 6 weeks or so. We plan on having the coop attached to the garden with a covered exercise area so that they can free range during the day and then go back in the coop at night. So far they are really easy, and once they are outside they will be even easier. But like any new Mama, I am overly concerned about them. I don't really know what is "normal" chick behavior so any new activity and I am worried that they are dying....that and the fact that one of Dan's coworkers who has a farm told us they would die doesn't really help. He said that they would either get sick, get picked up as hawk food, or get caught by dogs. Nice. Jerk. Anyway....the chicks are fun and provide lots of entertainment. Maddie wants to look at them every couple of hours and talks about them all the time. We haven't let her touch or hold them yet because they are so little and she isn't so gentle all the time, but as they get bigger and we transfer them into a larger home I think we'll let her handle them more. I'm sure that we will have more exciting chicken news as they grow....I'll keep ya updated! Till then, cheep cheep.