Beautiful!!!

Time for Some Spring Cleaning

Coming up is a three-day weekend and it's gonna be warm ... this means it's time to do some spring cleaning. We'll start with the animals. The horses are filthy from rolling in the mud and the dogs smell like horse poop. The water trough and grain buckets need a good scrubbing and two of the stalls need some serious attention - the rubber mats need to be pulled out and cleaned and the poop scraped off the floor. The halters and leads need to be put into the washer. My neighbor, Yves, will hopefully be able to come over with his tractor and clean up the paddock - it's been too wet to do anything in the paddock or the pasture. I'm hopeful that the rain will stay away long enough to get the poop out of the paddock. It's getting pretty stinky out there.

Oh, I guess I should probably clean the house a little, too. But it's so much more fun to work outside!

My World Is Green Again

Lake Champlain hit record levels a few weeks ago, and is still passed flood stage. Route 2 off the Islands was very near impassable - the kids were sent home from school early one Thursday and all of us stayed home on Friday. The water across the road was just too high to pass through with my little car. One more reason I need a truck... The lake levels have calmed a bit but there are still many houses that are no longer lake front properties - they are in the lake. So, while the Mississippi was spilling over down south, Vermont had it's own state of emergency that wasn't reported on the news. I never see Vermont in the national news. Isn't that interesting? It's like we don't exist up here!

We had quite a thunderstorm on Friday evening. I was doing some work in barn while Kaiya was playing with her chickens when the booming started. Lots of lightening and incredible downpours. The garage flooded - again. The pump isn't working - I think it's been overwhelmed :)

It's 8am, the temp is 59, the sun is shining and there's a nice breeze. Brian, my mechanic with the awesome Island accent, is suppose to be by today to look at the tractor mower. Hopefully, it's an easy cheap fix because the lawn is getting out of control. I'm thinking about just letting the horses out into the back yard!

Silly Chicken

Woke up again to loud birds singing their very loud songs - emphasized by the open window. But the sun was shining and the sky was blue and there was not a snowflake in sight. Gonna be a good day...

6:30 am, coffee brewing, feed the cat, mud boots on, no jacket!, let the dogs out to pee, let the horses out of the barn, check on the chickens...one chicken missing. Oh geez. Kaiya and I (after a very long bout of crying for her chicken) set out in search of chicken: in the barn, in every stall. in the eves, in the paddock, in the pasture, in the yard, under the porch, in the road, across the street...only to find little chick back with her sister in the barn. Geeez!!

The boys and I passed the practical today. We are officially cleared to get a hunting license! Officer Fontaine was our practical instructor. He reminds me of my oldest brother...through and through.

Kaiya likes to put the chickens on her head. She so loves these chickens!

One Step Closer

Monday night Jake, Riley and I all passed our hunter safety exam. Yay! Part two of the exam is field day - which we'll be doing this Saturday. I've really enjoyed this class, and have a whole new respect for those that hunt and know how to handle a firearm. I'm even more impressed with those who know what to do with a deer that they've shot. I'm hoping my brother Danny (hint hint!) will come up to Vermont this fall during deer season so we can all go hunting together. The idea of learning how to stock my freezer without having to go to a grocery store...sounds like a good thing to know how to do! Jake and I wish we had a shotgun - lots of those wild turkeys are living in our backyard.

A big thanks to our instructor, Michael MacDuff! We enjoyed your class and awesome instruction. The boys and I learned some valuable things that I'm sure will be put to good use. We'll be back in a few years when Kaiya is ready to learn the fundamentals of hunter and firearm safety.

This picture is one of the chicks riding on Laney's back. Silly chicken...

Pony Rides Are for Chickens, Too

Wow, I am exhausted. The garden prep is complete and the carrots are planted. The garlic that I put into the ground last November is starting to come up. I've started a bunch of things indoors in peat pots: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peas, bell peppers, habaneros and peperoncinis. Next weekend I'll be planting the other early spring stuff like lettuce, spinach, radishes...

Jake and I moved a bunch of horse poop from the paddock to the pasture right behind the garden. By this time next year, it'll be nicely composted.

My baby chicks aren't babies anymore. They are very tame though and well behaved :) I couldn't resist putting one of them on Zazu's head and taking a picture. Zazu is such a good sport. Not much bothers her (except Laney).

The boys and I have our hunter safety written exam tomorrow night and field day is next Saturday. Wish us luck!

A Day Off

It has been a long hard first winter for the Southern transplants. This winter was a very cold and snowy season, even by Vermont standards, with record-breaking snow totals and cold temps that didn't seem to want to let go. And actually, it snowed yesterday - just flurries with no accumulation, but still - it snowed and it's almost May. The ice out on Lake Champlain finally broke on April 11th and is now a lake again instead of a giant ice skating rink.

I decided to take this day as a vacation day from work and make it a long weekend - and a good choice of days: it's bright and sunny with a clear blue sky - forecast high of 55° - finally!! Lots to do this weekend: clean stalls, finish prepping the garden area, clean out the flower beds, bathe the horses, wash the car...and that's just today's list.

Jake and I have been walking the horses down the road, getting them ready to be be ridden again. We walked down to Henry's place to return his drill and then continued a little further when Laney noticed them: the cows. Zazu didn't care about them one bit, but Laney did not like then in the least, and freaked out when the bull took a few steps toward us. She clearly didn't recognize the fence that separated her from the cows. I thought she was going to bolt! Glad we decided to walk instead of ride. Being on the back of a horse that gets spooked isn't a whole lot of fun.

Anyone need any horse poop? Free fertilizer for your garden! Pauley, pictured above, thinks it's pretty tasty.