Will it ever end???

Well, another sad morning.  I noticed this morning that my 2 white silkie hens were missing from the yard.  There were no signs of anything, no feathers, no blood, no trail of any kind.  Of course, silkies are pretty small and would be easily carried off with no signs left behind.  We've had the silkies for 4 years now...this was their home and I failed to keep them safe.  I can't help but take responsibility.   We have to get better housing figured out to keep from losing more.

Truck Problems

Left work today and ran to the gas station.  I got a call from mom that Bessie was acting like she was in labor.  I went ahead and swung back by to check on her.  I jumped out of the truck, and left it running since Caitlyn was waiting in it.  A few minutes later I hear a big bang.  Caitlyn comes running around the corner yelling...turns out it was my truck!  It had overheated and blew a fitting between the motor and the radiator.  The big bang was a spring shooting out of the hose and smashing into the underside of the hood.  I got ahold of Zack at the feed store and had him come back and see if it was a quick fix.  Thirty dollars, a new fitting, coolant and about an hour of Zack's time and we are up and going again.  Unfortunately, we barely made it home before it overheated again.  We've decided it's the thermostat that needs replaced next...but it's too late to get one.  I'll be dependent on Zack for transportation to work tomorrow since Troy works.

It's another sad morning.  The spring predators are on the prowl.  While feeding I found a trail of black feathers leading from the side of the barn and over the back fence.  The black Foo-Foo head hen is missing (she's actually a Houdan Cochin cross hen that had a poof of feathers on her head).  I just hate it when this starts...  I didn't go search for her remains this time like I usually do.  It just hits me as too depressing this morning.

Mother's Day

What a great day! Actually a great weekend.  Saturday started off with Caitlyn going with mom and dad to look at a truck for her.  They bought it.  A 1983 GMC S-15.  It's a cute little thing...needs some cosmetic work and a little TLC.  It's a 5 speed, so I'm out on teaching her much...I never learned.  I have a fear of rolling backwards on a hill at a stoplight and hitting the car behind me...something I've never gotten over.  Sad, I know, you would think I would have outgrown that by now.  Caitlyn doesn't seem to be phased by fear of anything...I'm glad.  She'll get further in life than her mother who fears everything.

Troy, Kyle and I went and ate at Cafe Del Rio.  I had the realization that it won't be too long, with Zack and Caitlyn nearing 18 and 17, that it would be just us 3 alot.  Reality has a way of slapping you in the face sometimes...I don't think I'm ready for them to grow up. They aren't so old that they wouldn't fit in a round of miniature golf when they got home from Springfield...and...there's no way they would pass up frozen custard from Shakes!

We missed church this morning.  It wasn't the plan..somehow time got away from us.  Stacy called to figure out Mother's Day plans...we always plan ahead...at least a few hours ahead anyway.  We ended up at Cheddar's for dinner.  With 13 of us, we had a very long wait.  It was a bit stressful and way too expensive...but it was Mother's Day...and it was pretty good food too!

I finished off the day by doing the grocery shopping for the week...fun fun!

Baby Turkeys

While I was cooking breakfast this morning, I noticed that the 3 of the toms had flew in the turkey pen with the new momma and her babies.  Kyle and Troy went out to walk them back out.  Momma turkey had left her babies to get away from the toms.  Unfortunately, we had temperatures in the 30's last night and the babies were nearly gone.  As always, all cold babies go into my shirt. After keeping them close for nearly an hour, 4 of the 5 perked back up and were able to be put back with momma turkey.  We lost the 5th one.  We seem to have such a terrible time with baby turkeys.

New Babies

Our momma turkey has been sitting hidden beside our garage since April 1st.  Today, out of 11 eggs, 5 hatched.   Three pipped but didn't make it out of the shell, one died after hatching and 2 eggs were clear.  We've been in a rush today to get the pen ready for her.  I know, we've known for 28 days that we were going to have babies, but I always say we do our best work when we are rushed for time!  We ended up putting metal around the bottom where the goats had destroyed the wire and repairing some other places with netting and zip ties.  Well after dark, we located the momma and her babies in the field behind the house and moved them to the pen.  At least for tonight, they will be safe from whatever lurks in the fields.

My Boys