Guinea Egg Incubating Update....

Thanks you so much to all of you who chimed in with advice!! :)

I candled tonight and I am happy to report that all 15 babies are developing, alive, and wiggling around in there! All air sacks are present and accounted for, blood vessels look good and healthy! WOO HOO!! :)

I still am not sure on their hatch date. They have been in the incubator for 17 days now. One of them I labeled in crayon with a number 1...he looked bigger or further along than the others. The rest all looked about the same.

I am sad to report that we are missing 5 ducks! Gone without a trace. The creek had gone up due to rain and flooding, so I am hoping they got swept down stream and are living happily ever after. Maybe they'll come back! I am not getting my hopes up, but it still doesn't hurt to hope!

School is just about over for the summer, my middle child will be a teenager as of next weekend, we are car shopping for my oldest, my new carpet gets here next Thursday, and yes, the Guineas will be hatching! The garden is in, save for the melons, squash, and green beans. Kittens are 3 weeks old tomorrow and are beginning to act like toddlers, starting to walk around the house already! Life is good. :) How's it going in your neck of the woods?

A Surprise In The Coop...

And a pleasant surprise at that! The Guineas have laid their first eggs! :)

We have 2 females and one male. They have been roaming the farm and roosting in the trees at night, so we weren't really sure where they'd lay them. We were prepared to start scouting out their nest. But today there are two eggs in the coop! So hopefully they are planning on laying their clutch there. That is where we would have moved the females and the eggs and nest had they laid elsewhere. We are hoping some will hatch!

I'm so excited! :)

The ducks have been enjoying the creek and greening grass and bugs during the day. A few weeks ago hubby opened their gate and let them out of their play yard. Now they play in the creek during the day and they go back to the coop at dusk and we lock them in. They are loving it! We have seen a coyote in the pasture eyeing them. So far our black lab has done an excellent job of scaring him off. And the coyote has not managed to make it through the fence around the pasture. Hopefully he won't!

Gorgeous sunny day here today after a weekend of SNOW! It is pretty much melted off now...hopefully Spring is here to stay now! :)

Fertility or Infertility. Another Duck Egg Link.....

I found some more detailed info about how to tell weather your eggs are fertilized or not at this site.

As much as I believe that we do not have any male ducks or fertilized eggs, I gave another friend some eggs and told her they are not fertilized....after she cracked some this weekend she said she thinks the eggs are fertilized. She did like eating them and commented on the bright colored yolks! ! :) I'm in the process of finding out what she is seeing and thinking. Until then, of course I am doing more Internet research and egg cracking to compare pictures!! :) I am certainly no egg expert, but I was really confident that they aren't fertile. I may attempt incubating just to be super sure. It wouldn't bother me if they are fertilized...they are still fine for eating, but then they could also be hatchable too - I'd just like to know so that I can tell people if they are or aren't and be sure about it! I thought I was sure, now I am not so sure! LOL :) Story of my life.

Yesterday I hard-boiled some Duck Eggs....oh man, were they delicious! The kids loved them! Going to try making deviled eggs with them soon!

Those Naughty Dirty, Dirty, Divas.....And Everything You Wanted To Know About Duck Eggs...

Or you can call this post "Yes, we have NO bananas". (If you have read the book 'Eat, Pray, Love' it just made that banana reference even funnier. Sorry, I'm in a good mood and thus my warped sense of humor shines through)

There is not a drake one in our flock. That is, not unless he does a VERY good job of female impersonation. No one has a darker head. No one has any curved tail feathers. No one has anything characteristic of a boy duckie. They all look just alike, even the one that sounds a little different. I know what you are thinking...but the pool surfing and the weird egg thing.....Yes, let me tell you what I have learned!!!!!

Over at The New Agrarian under the section of Raising Ducks: 4 - 5 months They reported this from their female duck experience....."More new behavior: when the ducks get into the pool first thing each morning, they hump each other. It seems to be the same ducks every day, but it doesn’t correspond to what we thought was the pecking order. It began just after we found the first eggs, and the ducks we believed to be laying first were the ones being humped, so our best guess is that the ducks who were less sexually mature were a bit confused by the new hormones in the flock. But the morning ritual continues now that everyone is laying, and so we really have no idea what is going on."

Humping....surfing....po-ta-to...po-tat-o. :) Apparently this is something that girly ducks do. They are ornery like that, you know. Why do they do it? I have no clue. Maybe I'll become the Duck Whisperer and we'll find out. Or maybe you are a Duck Whisperer and you can tell me?!?!?!

Eggs....Consider this your crash course on duck eggs. While I didn't get to see the egg that my hubby's friend thought was fertilized, I have seen two from ours that I think may be what they saw. Mink Hollow Farm has a great page about duck eggs. There I learned about Meat Spots.....

This is a meat spot. (Photos courtesy of Mink Hollow Farm)

This is a Meat Spot visible through candling.

So what is a meat spot? Mink Hollow Farm says that "Meat spots, while unappetising, are generally considered to be harmless. They are thought to be what's left of some tissue that has been sloughed off during or shortly after the yolk was released into the oviduct. The most likely explanation is that the meat spot is a piece of the follicle that once held a yolk. Sometimes a bit tears off. Another possibility is that a follicle that is no longer functional breaks down and 'falls off' from the ovary.Eggs containing meat spots are generally considered unsuitable for hatching. The meat spot can usually be easily removed."

So the presence of a Meat Spot does not mean an egg is fertile. I have begun candling all of our eggs to spot anything unusual and I have had two that contained a meat spot. I suspect this is what hubby's friend saw too.

Next egg fact...the Chalazae. Go here to hear that word spoken. I did, but I still can't say it right! The Chalazae is the white cloudy looking stuff. See it? Bottom left? Sometimes it looks like a tiny squiggly pig tail or a teeny tiny umbilical cord, which it pretty much is, and anchors the yolk. It is a normal part of an INFERTILE egg. It is perfectly natural and normal. It's presence also means your eggs are FRESH. As the egg ages, the Chalazae shrinks and becomes less noticeable. So they are really noticible in our eggs!

And the next egg one...you can almost barely see it in the picture above (top center of the yolk, not the bright camera flash spot on the bottom right) but our duck eggs tend to have a tiny noticeable light dot on the yolk. This is called the True Egg. For an egg to become fertile, it must be present, but it's presence does not indicate an egg is fertile. It is just a normal part of an egg and means it is a good egg.

Last but not least, the shells are thicker than a chicken egg shell, so you have to make sure you give them a good hard bonk on the side of your cast iron skillet.

So, there you have it. No boy ducks and lots of crazy egg info! I'm sure I have left something out that you are dying to know, so any questions? Ask away! :)

Ladies & Gentlemen...I Think We May Have An Impostor Among Us...

Well, an impostor among the Dirty Divas, that is. I think one may very well be...A BOY! Well, a drake, technically, but a boy nonetheless. What makes me think this? Two things. Three actually. Wait, four.

Number one....remember this post about our first eggs when I said we noticed some odd duck behavior in the pool? One duck was surfing on another's back and hanging on to it's neck feathers with its beak? Faith from over at Lemonade Adventures commented and said that she thought it was mating behavior. At the time I thought it was funny, because they are all girls! Right? RIGHT? I'm not so sure now!

So...number two. We had this one egg that we found in their play yard instead of in the coop. It was different than the others. It was darker, kind of splotchy looking. I thought maybe since it sat outside for who knows how long it was just a bad egg. Since we are new to this whole duck and egg thing, I marked it with a black X with the intention of looking into it further. However, I went ahead and put it in a carton with other eggs until I could get back to it, because you know I am a busy mom and all, and my husband gave that dozen to a friend of his! Which was lovely, but then he found out that when they cracked that egg with the X there was an embryo in it! Or so that is what they think it was. Since I didn't get to see it, and probably wouldn't know what I was looking at if I had, I have no clue if that is what it really was. Man, I wish I could have seen it!

Number three...there is one duck that does not sound the same as the others. It never has. I never gave it much thought...until now!

Number four...we ordered a straight run of 15 Khaki Campbell female chicks and they threw in an extra chick, as hatcheries tend to do, so perhaps number sixteen IS a boy?

So my suspicions are heightened and I have a lot of observation to do to get to the bottom of this foul mystery!

Can you spot the fake...I mean Drake?

Me neither. But I'll keep you updated on this investigation!!! Oh and one more thing, if there is a boy, I will be absolutely thrilled! I had planned on getting a couple this spring! :)

Some Very Egg-citing News!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Dirty Divas have laid their first eggs! These three were in their house today. They laid them on the floor...not an egg one in the nest boxes.

How many ducks can you fit in a kiddy pool? Sixteen!

We also noticed some interesting duck behavior today...when they were all in the pool one was standing on another one's back and holding onto it's neck feathers with it's beak! Some kind of odd duck surfing? :) These are the three duck eggs on the right and a regular store bought chicken egg on the left. Only fitting that the Dirty Divas lay dirty eggs! :) LOL

And last but certainly not least...the Guineas! Aren't they cute? I should have taken pictures last week...they have more than doubled in size and are getting feathers already! Orschlen had chick days going on last week so I came home with eight of these babies. We lost one to a nasty case of what I think was pasty butt - we tried to save him but it didn't work - luckily they replaced him so we still have 8. We got three Pearls, three Royal Purple, and two Lavender.

They are talkative little fellas! One of the first things I noticed is that they chirp non-stop when they are awake.

A tiny little pumpkin update...the squash bugs got the main vines, but not until after we had harvested a lot. The neat thing is that on the back side of our house in the pasture we have volunteer pumpkin vines growing from pumpkins we tossed out there last year! So this means we WILL have more pumpkins for Halloween! There are a lot on the vines and not one squash bug in sight. I hope those dirty beggars stay away!

And Then There Were Fifteen....

Well, for a few minutes anyway! One Dirty Diva accidentally flew over the fence while I was changing their water! They all took off for the opposite side of their yard when I walked up to them, a couple of them flying, and she flew right over the fence! She looked a little stunned, out in the tall grass, and went directly back to the flock, but she was stuck on the other side of the fence! She bumped into it a time or two and I went about dealing with their water and feeding them to see if she might make her way back over. All the while she stayed right next to the flock and in the flock, only separated by the fence - they kind of looked at her like they knew something wasn't quite right, but they weren't sure what it was. She continued to do whatever it was they were doing, but when they all started to abandon her for the fresh pool water, I went around and lifted her back over the fence.

It was definitely interesting! They truly are one unit, the flock. They only thing she knew to do was to get back near her sisters! :) Even if she couldn't quite make it back to them. She could have made a mad dash for the creek and showed off her freedom, but she didn't. Oh, and the black lab was nearby and saw her and left her alone. That made me happy!

Feeling Out of Whack.....

Summer is a double edge sword. I enjoy the lack of routine, yet the lack of routine also drives me insane at times. :)

We had a death in the family, so have been busy and have had a lot of family in town. Rest in peace GG Pop. We will miss you! We have also had some other family members in town who stayed with us. Always fun, yet chaotic!

Garden is growing, most things are doing wonderful, but the tomatoes look terrible. We had a ton of rain and I don't think they liked having their feet wet for so long. Maybe they will snap out of it. I have picked a few yummy cherry tomatoes. And have eaten a few sugar snap peas off the vine. Oh yum! :)

I dug some red potatoes for dinner last night and they were so delicious!

I am about to pick our first Zuchinnis. I have also been hand picking and squishing squash bugs and searching the leaves for their eggs and smashing them too. Other than that, no major garden bugs yet.

The ducks are doing wonderfully. We need to get their nest boxes built sometime in the next month.

I have been knitting. I made a trip to a Hobby Lobby and drooled all over the yarn isle. I bought yarn for gifts I am making for Christmas. I got one of the newborn hats done for my sister's twins-to-be and have started on a pair of matching booties. It kind of amazes me that I have acquired the needle and yarn stash that I have already! And I have so many projects going on at once. I am a "bouncer" though...I work best when I have a lot of irons in the fire instead of just doing one thing to completion and starting another.

I have been working on some organizing and cleaning out and getting rid of stuff. Where does all of this stuff come from? I think the Stuff Fairy must sneak in at night. I am filling up the back of the van to make a trip to the Goodwill for a drop off.

We are all healthy and happy and life is good. How are you and yours?

Canning Jar Quandry.....and Garden and Dirty Diva Duckie Updates

Hello everyone! Today my laundry is being dried by the gracious sun and I am cleaning out the pantry. Ugh. It never ceases to amaze me how easily it gets out of hand. In the process I am taking inventory of my canning jars. I currently have amassed....

18 Quart Jars
29 Pint Jars
3 half-pint jars
A million saved glass jars that are for storage and refrigerator pickles, but not canning

So, how many canning jars does one need? I have no idea. How many do you have? Is it enough? Where is the best (best meaning cheapest) place to buy them? How many do I need? Can you tell me? How and where do you store yours when not in use?

I have been working on some "canning goals" and going through that fabulous Ball Canning book and picking out the recipes that I plan to use. I figure that is a start. Is that a start? Is that a good start?

My camera sucks cow butt so I have no pictures right now. But will soon!!

The garden....is overall doing very well. I do need to weed and plan to do that this evening. We used hay (straw?) mulch around everything. One and a half of those GINORMOUS round bales to be exact. So far so good.

Successes include....

Tomato seedlings
Pepper seedlings
Cucumbers
Popcorn
Sweet Corn
Zucchini
Squash
Radishes
Carrots (have just recently made their appearance! I was so excited!)
Beets
Potatoes
Pumpkins
Strawberries
Green Beans
Peas
Melons - I am leery about the seedlings, so I direct planted some as well.
Stevia is still in pots and doing well
Recently planted Dill in the garden and Rosemary in pots. Will wait a bit longer to plant some Cilantro because last year by the time we needed it it was bolted and spent. I do have a volunteer Cilantro coming up. I let it grow. Just in case we need some sooner.

Iffy Things....

Sweet Potatoes - some of the slips are growing so we'll have some
Onions - the dozen or so I got in the ground early and then waited on the rest because I thought the soil was too wet are actually doing very well. However, ones I planted later are so-so and not a lot are making it. Even the green onions are having issues.
Lettuces - Some are coming up, but I think they needed to be planted earlier and will try a fall crop and use the cold frame
Okra - I was inspired to plant a few (thanks Mrs. S!) but so far they aren't doing so well. I am going to try re-seeding to see if we can't get it going.
Watermelon - Looking puny. Remember I tried seedlings? I went ahead and direct seeded to see if those would do better.

Total Failures...I think due to planting late

Cabbage
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts


The Dirty Diva's got a little rearranging. As I have said and anyone with ducks knows....they are THE messiest little things when it comes to water. Their set up had their food feeder and a 5 gallon waterer inside the duck house, with their pool outside, and we'd let them out in the mornings and they'd put themselves up in the evening and lock them in. Well, they were emptying that whole 5 gallons overnight, and a lot of it (most of it!) was ending up on the floor which is essentially dirt covered with straw. The problem is that it was stinking to high freakin' heaven, to the point that I couldn't even clean it out, hubby had to do it, because I was gagging horribly! It was also becoming a breeding ground for those annoying little gnats.

So we (meaning hubby...I watched!) got the inside scooped out and cleaned up and laid down a nice thick fresh layer of straw. It is now their sleeping quarters only. Their their food got moved outside next to their pool in their play yard. When they go to bed at night, we do not shut the coop door in case they need to eat or drink overnight. Do they eat or drink overnight? I have no clue. But I do know this is working out very well and they are doing just fine. We are thinking of ways to improve the inside of the coop so they can have a waterer in there. But this will do for now. I have contemplated cutting our flock in half. My original plan was 6 or 8, but to get this kind (Khaki Campbells) we had to order a minimum of 15. No way could I eat them, they are too sweet, but I could sell some. Hubby thinks we should just keep them all. We'll probably just keep them, we'll see. Sixteen ducks is A LOT of ducks.

We are thinking about moving the majority of the garden up to the yard next year in the spot where his grandparents always had their garden. Hubby brought home a gigantic roll of thick black felt that they use under bridges. If we do, I think we are going to lay it down to (hopefully) kill off the grass over the summer and then we will remove the felt and till in some leaves to compost over the winter. But then again we may just stick to what we have been doing and keep the garden on the edge of the soybean field. We go back and forth. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

I also did another totally cool re-purpose! The kids have a swimming pool, you know those easy set pools with the blow up top ring and soft sides? 12 X 3 I think. They love it. Anyway, last year the black lab dog chewed up the chlorine floater thing. I looked at them at the store a week or so ago and they were a whopping $10! Saving money tends to get the wheels in my head going. So I decided to make my own. I used an empty 2 liter soda bottle with lid and a small sour cream container with lid. I tied a string tightly around the neck of the soda bottle. Then poked a bunch of holes in the sour cream container and tied the string in holes on each side. I wish my camera worked, I'd show you! I'm really proud of it. :) The chlorine tablets go in the sour cream container, lid goes on, and in the pool it goes. The sour cream container fills up with water and sinks, dissolving the tablets, and the pop bottle stays afloat to keep it floating around. I'm a freakin' genius! :) No, not really.....just a momma motivated to pinch pennies and squeeze George til he screams and who saves way too many empty containers. :) LOL Or maybe that makes me a Redneck? :)

Oh, I have been knitting too. More of those Knitted Babes. I knitted a newborn one for my daughter to go with her big girl, hope to get a picture up soon. And I knitted a big one for my niece's birthday and am going to knit her TWO newborns since her mom is pregnant with twins.

Well, I think I hear the pantry calling so off I go. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

The Suspicious Minds Of Ducks....

The Dirty Divas are suspicious by nature. It's a duck thing. Or maybe it's a Diva thing.

Anyway, they were VERY suspicious when I replaced their little cut off mineral tub spas with a kiddie pool. They wouldn't even come out of the coop. They would come up the ramp, see the pool, and then go right back in. And repeat. Finally, they got brave and came outside. They'd eyeball it, then forage, and move a little closer, and forage and eyeball it some more, and forage some more, and move a bit closer. And over and over and over until they FINALLY went to check it out and poke and peck at it.

Now, you know I had this little duck fairytale in my head that they were going to just love the pool, know exactly what to do, and jump right in. Uhhhh...yeah. Didn't happen. There was a lot of neck straining trying to reach the water for a drink. I felt terrible! Poor things straining to get a drink...what kind of duck momma am I? I told hubby that the ducks is dumb. I know! That was not a nice thing for a mother to say about her ducklings at all!

But then, then they FINALLY figured it out! I was so happy. They love it!

Like the ramp I built with a plank and some fire wood?

Hey kids, while were in the van want me to tell you a story? Great!

Once upon a time, there was a slightly odd woman who got 16 ducklings and named them The Dirty Divas.....

Oh, no. Please. Not THIS story again....... :)

Signs From Above....

Well, first the Weeping Willow got plowed over by the bull. And really, I had been thinking of moving it or something anyway because of our eventual plan to build raised beds in that area of the yard. Then yesterday evening hubby was mowing and FIL had just got done with his mowing and came and helped hubby finish up so he could take the kids fishing sooner. However, FIL did not realize that the foot tall twig sticking up in the yard was a Lilac bush to be that my mom gave me last year from her Lilacs. So he mowed it over. Darn it.

But no, I shall not let it get me down! I will just take it as a sign that we are destined to build raised beds for the vegetables. It would have had to have been moved too.

In other news, it is finally not been raining! Things are drying out and hopefully I will get some stuff planted. I did plant flower seeds in pots yesterday evening. I made a vow that I would not spend any money on flowers, so that means I used seed saved from last year. Zinnias and Marigolds to be specific. Today I plan to seed the rest of my flower beds. I also hope to get my seedlings planted over the next few days if the rain stays away. We have a slight chance each day after today.

The ducks are getting huge and they are definitely in an ugly duckling stage! They are getting feathers all over and are pretty awkward looking, but soon they will be beautiful. Their voices are also changing! No real quacks yet, but I am sure that will happen soon. They remind me of pre-teens. They are so fun to watch. I don't know what it is about them, but they are so relaxing and entertaining.

We hit a few garage sales Saturday morning. Since we are pinching pennies and squeezing George til he screams (I just really love saying that!) I am going to try get as much of the kid's school clothes for this fall as possible from garage sales/consignment shops. So far I have found a few really nice things. I also found some canning jars for cheap.

Oh, and the potatoes have sprouted!!!!!! Since this is my first time planting them, I was completely thrilled! And one of my tomato seedlings, a Sweet Million cherry tomato, is starting to get blooms. They'll be so happy to get in the ground.

The kids did catch a few fish yesterday evening so we had a yummy fish snack. They were so proud of themselves. I am very proud of them too. :)

I'm sure there is more to ramble about, but it is Monday morning and my brain hasn't fully clicked on yet. I'll get pictures of ducks and stuff up soon. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and have a Happy Monday!

Knitted Babe, Tree Frog, Pickle Jars, Sun Tea, (and a Picture of Me!)...

This is the first tree frog I have seen this year! And he was hanging out on our picture window which made for an interesting picture...can you see him? If you click on the pictures they will enlarge.

I saw sun tea jars at the store the other day. I was tempted to buy a couple because we LOVE making sun tea! But really, we are pinching pennies and squeezing George til he screams (don't we sound mean? LOL) and on top of that, I have never had good luck with them because the spicket part always ends up leaking. And they do require more cleaning to keep the spicket and lid crevices clean. So I thought I'd come up with something at home and "make do". Let me tell you, it was fun to be creative and the pride for my accomplishment was much more satisfying! Not to mention money saved. I remembered I had saved these giant pickle jars, which turned out to be the perfect size for sun tea jars. The only problem was that I haven't found an effective way to get the lids to stop smelling like pickles, so using them was out. I didn't want to use plastic wrap because of the chemicals and waste. So I thought 'reusable' and sewed the edges of two small squares out of left over material scraps. I tied them up with some cotton yarn to keep them in place while outside and ta da! They work wonderfully! They are easy to pour from and are easy to clean. And they are pretty to look at sitting on the deck too - bright, cheap, and cheery.

I got my first knitted babe done and my daughter loves her! She named her Cassi after one of her sister's friends. I have three more to make at least...one for my other daughter and for two of my nieces for their b-days. I will probably make a couple for Christmas gifts too, I know a couple of more girls who would love them. I sewed her a little pair of undies and a quick dress out of fabric scraps. I still want to add more hair underneath the hair that is there, but my little one was anxious to love on her so she is good enough for now. And she drags her EVERYWHERE! And she buckles her in when she goes in the van with us. I just realized something so I have edited this to add that if you click on the picture of the doll sitting on the shelf, to her left is a picture of me with my husband! Since I have never posted a picture of myself, I thought that might get you all excited. ;) LOL The picture frame says "It's not the destination, it's the journey." I love that frame.

The Dirty Divas are doing great! The are growing fast and are loving their new home and yard. Herding ducks is not an easy task but it is funny....it took three of us forever to get them to go up their ramp! They are so neat because they move as a flock - so they'd go back and forth past the ramp then under it, and repeat. A time or two we have just give up and caught them and put them in...it was easier that way! Last night we went out late to put them to bed and they were already inside on their own. The nights we herded them it was earlier in the evening and we wanted to get them put up. I think we'll just let them put themselves to bed and then go close them in. We have been getting a lot of rain and they enjoy it. I am ready for things to dry out so I can get in the garden. And I am ready for some sunshine! These grey rainy days make me tired.

The Duck House is Done and The Dirty Diva's Have Moved In! (lots of pics)

This is the duck house and the junk out front on the left is the stuff I cleaned out of the two rooms we are using for now.





















This is my little helper dragging the hoe for me so that I could dig a little trench by the water pump to put rocks in to hopefully minimize a huge water mess.

This is the water pump. Thank goodness it is there! It would be a major pain to water the ducks if it wasn't! I didn't take a picture of the finished room, but I dug the hole, put the rock in, and laid straw over the rest of the floor. It looks great!

Uhhh...where did my helper go? Oh! There she is!



Can you see her now?




How about now?

We all love that creek.


Ok, so while she played, I worked. This is the cement pad in the area where the duck yard will be. I was thrilled it was there, it is a great place to put the swimming water to help keep down the mess they will make.





And the finished product. This is the yard area from a distance. BEFORE....

And AFTER....

Didn't my totally awesome and talented husband do a fantastic job? Thank you honey!! I love you!

We decided to fence and then electric fence around the fence. Can't be too safe with dogs, cats and coyotes around. The fencing and electric fence were all things that were already around so we didn't have to spend any money. Hooray for that because we have none to spend! :) LOL

The Dirty Diva's enjoying their new yard....

If you look very very close you will see that they are getting their tail feathers!!
And their new ramp to go in and out....

Wait a second...something is just not quite right about this duck....

(That there is farm fasion at its finest! :) LOL)

And here they are enjoying their swimming water. We'll probably give them an old kiddie pool that we have stashed when they get bigger. For now they are happy with these.

A view in their kitchen/living room/bedroom inside the house....

In other news, we have been having severe thunderstorms. Right now we are in a tornado watch. Since it was time for the seedlings to be out of the greenhouse, we moved them to boxes and put them on the deck so we could keep them outside until we plant, but that would also make it easy for us to bring them in when it storms. We put the greenhouse under the carport to keep it from getting torn up. It'll get stored until we need it again. Here are the seedlings earlier this evening.....

And as I was typing this the wind kicked up something fierce so they are in for the night. They'll be pleanty of time for them to get pounded by storms once they arein the garden. ;)

Ok, I have got to get some sleep! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

What Do I Know About Ducklings? What Should I Name My Flock?

Well, I am learning fast, that is for sure! We have had them for a full week now and this is what I know....

1. They poop A LOT!

2. They drink A LOT of water!

3. Between the pooping A LOT and A LOT of water mess they stink A LOT!

4. They grow FAST!

5. They are very sweet.

6. If you hold them near your ear they will nibble your earrings.

7. They have toe nails. Uhhh...flipper nails? Paddle nails? They don't really scratch but you can see and feel them. I had no clue!

8. If you have them in a cardboard box, their water mess will soak through it no matter how much bedding you use or what you do.

9. They enjoy field trips to visit preschool classes.

10. They are tolorant of being held, squeezed, poked, prodded, and dropped by thirteen 4 & 5 year olds. Well, at least 4 of them are anyway because that was all I could fit in the "nest box" that all 16 of them were mailed to us in. See #4 above.

11. If you brood them in the house to start, you will very soon be begging your husband to get the coop ready to get them out of the house!

12. They are really fun to watch.

13. If you stick them in the bathtub, the first thing they do is poop. Then they bathe themselves and they then get really daring and swim all around and dive under the water and swim!

14. When you reach into the box to get one, they all run to the other side of the box. When you go to the other side, they all run back. And repeat.

15. If you don't mind the poop and water mess, I think they are one of the neatest farm animals around.

16. We have NOT been pooped on. That is a plus!

17. Did I mention they poop...A LOT?

18. And did I mention they poop A WHOLE LOT? ;)

I am looking forward to getting their permanant home finished up in the next few days and getting them settled in and out of the house. And I am looking forward to seeing them continue to grow and hopefully begin laying eggs this fall.

So, what to name this flock of ladies? I am open to suggestions! So far I refer to them as either The Girls or The Dirty Girls. :) Mostly the latter. Then I thought about The Dirty Dozen Plus Four. Or The Dirty Duckie Divas. I am pretty sure whatever they are named the word dirty just has to be in the title. Maybe I should do a poll.

I am by no means a duck expert, but if you have any questions about how we are doing things, ask! :)

*Updated* Introducing Our (Unexpected) Bottle Calf.....

Darn it. I am updating to add that when I went out to check on the little guy just a bit ago, he had passed away. :( Such is life...but it sure sucks.

His momma is old and my FIL didn't even think she had been bred. Surprise! She's not doing so well and she had no milk. My hubby decided we should give it a go with this baby. He's small. He's weak. He's not a very good eater, but he is eating. So send him some prayers, if you are the praying type! If you're not, just wish him luck! We haven't named him yet.

In other news, the ducklings are doing excellent and they are growing so fast! I will post pictures again soon andf all of the things I have learned about ducks so far.

I am now on Ravelry and I am knitting these....

Thanks to Mrs. S for loaning me this book! :) My 15 year old daughter wants one of these dolls too. Actually, she wants hers first, before my 5 year old. :) LOL Sibling rivalry or something? I am having an absolutely terrible time trying to figure out how to Increase. Other than that, I am enjoying working on them.

We got our potatoes in the ground Friday. Yippie!

Anyway, it is a busy Monday, so I am outta here. :) I hope you have a Happy Monday!!

The Ducklings Are Here!!!

We got the call this morning from the post office....come pick up your box of peeps! :)

Andy puppy was excited to eat....I mean MEET them....

And just like any newborn when they get tired, they pass out! I thought we killed them because they would just kind of drop! Nope, they are ok. Just tired babies. Now I will be doing middle of the night "breathing checks" on 16 tiny ducklings....

And like other newborns, they love food! They caught right on to eating and drinking. And they LOVE water!

My youngest daughter has already named three of them. I have no clue how she will ever tell them apart....

But one thing is for sure....it is DEFINITELY love.....