The Last Super, Secret Wednesday Adventure

...actually occurred on Monday.

I plotted ahead with Mrs. Hey to borrow her kids. Then I had Rose Bud help me haul all the sleeping bags and the tents out of the attic. While I disappeared with the van "somewhere" the girls unpacked the tents in the back yard.

When the Hey kids and I returned, my kids jumped up and down saying, "We KNEW that was where you went! We KNEW you were bringing them over!"

So a good time was had by all.

The kids---

put up tents
arranged their sleeping spots
made pita pizzas on the fire
rode bikes on the trails
swang on the swing
played a rousing game of T-ball
ate s'mores
played hide & seek in the dark
caught fireflies
played kick-the-can
looked at the moon through the telescope

and generally had a rousing good time.

Pictures to follow

Do your boys play house with chickens?

MINE do.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Here is an old picture of Banana Boy from Spring. Nonny took it and emailed it to me and I just never got it posted. Isn't he adorable?

Here is our new tire swing. Rose Bud was swinging on it about a month ago and the rope broke. Mr. GT and I finally got to the hardware store to buy a new rope. Then when JayHey came over, we rigged up a hook on a piece of line and he threw it up and over the branch (it only took about a dozen tries. Rose Bud and I were impressed) The hook got stuck way up there--it wasn't heavy enough to pull the line down. Rose Bud then rigged up two thin pieces of wood to make a pole tall enough to hook the hook. She lashed them together with some more rope she found and tied another hook on the end. This branch was seriously 30 ft. up! Together we hooked it and pulled it down, then tied the actual swing rope to the end of that line and pulled it over. Ta Da! New tire swing. We were really proud of ourselves and we let JayHey have the first turn, since without his stellar pitching arm, we never would have succeeded.
Daisy doesn't look like she is having fun, but they all loved it. Pepper (don't have a picture) is especially cute. She kicks her little 8 yo feet in delight when I push her high.Rose Bud giving JayHey the first ride.


We borrowed this man's chocolate-covered bacon for a photo-op at the State Fair last week. No way were we buying our own piece (2/$3.00) just for a photo. We eat a lot of things at the Fair, but chocolate-covered bacon is not one of them. Really, isn't it sacrilege to mix chocolate with meat? (he said it was only "eh," BTW)

And can you tell what's new about Rose Bud? She spent the night with two friends yesterday and came home all different. Look closely! (hint: if she had a different colored shirt on, it would be much easier to tell) Auntie, I bet you'll find it!

The Grass Is Always Greener, OR, What's Wrong With This Picture?

Hmm. Something seems odd, but I can't quite put my finger on it!



Welcome to my new chicken blog, BTW. I'm going to call it, Cluckings, Sandwich. Doesn't have the same snappy ring to it, does it?

I can't help it! Chickens are just so funny!

Today the teenagers discovered freedom. They've always been perchers. Three of them actually sleep up on the rafters in the chicken coop at night.

Yesterday when we moved them in with the big chickens, the first thing they did was go outside. The second thing they did was to fly up onto the fence separating their old outside pen from their new outside pen. The third thing? They all flew back down into their old pen.

So today, they all flew up onto the fence. Then they flew down again. On the outside. Now we've occasionally let the big chickens out to roam the yard, but not often. Apparently this will be the new normal. sigh.

As Rose Bud pointed out, "Dad! They'll poop in the yard!" Hello! Did you see this child barefoot in their filthy pen yesterday? What's the big deal?

Anyway, for your listening enjoyment, here are some more pictures of our wonderful chickens. Because I just can't stop. (Actually, Rose Bud took all these).

Two chickens, scratching in the dirt.

Boy, n. A noise with dirt on it.




Teenagers will try anything. Especially if their peers do it too.

Brick's Chicks

A chicken in a hurry.


Chicken Art

We Interrupt Your Chicken Coverage to Bring You This...

Happy Indian Independence Day! (it was yesterday, actually)

Check out this cutie singing Jana Gana Mana, the Indian National Anthem.



She was only 2 when she sang this. Banana Boy learned part of this song when we went to Indian Camp in June.

Dill is here!

That makes #6!!!!


Three babies, Uno, Sage or Basil, and Peppercorn

Sage, I think, and Peppercorn

You can see the first five here (from top: Chili, Peppercorn, Basil (the dark red one), Uno (with stripes) and Sage (in front)

Hell-o! World! (I just love the expression on this chick's face!)

And.... Here's my chicken girl, barefoot in the barn!

Here a chick, There a chick, Everywhere a chick, chick

Brick, separated from the other chickens so they don't bug her while she sits on her eggs

Our hen, Brick (she's a Rhode Island Red) began clucking about a month ago. Unfortunately, she had nothing to cluck on.

Our roosters (THREE of them, thanks to a straight-run purchase) are still teenagers and well, you know teenagers. They think they know what they're all about, but really they have no clue. They have been, as Mr. GT so succinctly put it, "messing with the hens," but they were teenagers as well, and they aren't laying yet.

Oh, and there was the small fact that the teenagers are still in a completely separate pen from the mature hens because the mature hens are old and crotchety and don't WANT to be messed with. They peck the young chicks.

So all Brick had to work with were the 7 daily eggs our celebate, spinster chickens laid.

Mrs. McClean to the rescue. Our good chickeny friend has roosters AND hens. Mr. GT and RoseBud made a fertile-egg run one day and put them under Brick. Eight potential new chicks.

So faithful Brick has been busily, err, boringly sitting on eight eggs for the past 21 days.

Today is day 21.

RoseBud was sure she heard peeping last night. She and Mr. GT were able to get Brick off the eggs briefly, but all they saw were eggs. Seven of them. (oh yeah. one egg mysteriously disappeared earlier this week. No sign whatsoever of it or any chick.)

Anyhoo, they decided the peeping was coming from within the eggs

This morning we distinctly heard peeping coming from under Brick. RoseBud staked out the nest.

It wasn't long before she came FLYING down the hill from the chicken coop. Yes, there was a chick. Then another. Then maybe another. Was it the second chick again? Or a new one? It seemed wetter and darker.

So here are the results as of 12 noon:

Uno, chick #1, belonging to RoseBud (of course)

Sage, #2, belongs to Daisy

Basil, #3, Pepper's chick

Chili, #4, Banana Boy

Peppercorn, who was going to be Spicy until we saw that it was black, belongs to Sunshine

#6 has not yet appeared, but if it does, Mr. GT's chick will be named Dill. Do you detect a theme here?

It would be so fitting if there were 7, one for each of us. I'm still thinking about names....

If you look really closely, you can see Basil over on the far left, just above the water dish.