Trying to Catch UP!

It has been a busy Winter/Spring for us. Thus - no blog posts in over 4 months! I'll try to do better for awhile here! So - trying to catch up here. I think there are at least 5 new posts including chickens, 4H, Easter & projects! In March Gretchen rented this HUGE cargo van and drove to Kansas City to help her Mother move to an assisted living apartment. It was a whirlwind trip - 2 days out - 3 days there - and 3 days back! The girls thought it was neat - and wanted to go along to play dog catcher. No dice! Gretchen made the trip to KC and back solo.
Here she is a week later - after we unloaded all the things she brought back from Kansas City and was en route back to the airport to return that &*($#@ van.

A few weeks later it was feeling like spring. We've decided to stay close to home and enjoy some of the sites nearby. One Sunday after church we went to see the Vanderbilt mansion. WOW - talk about the Guilded Age! Not our taste - - but the grounds along the Hudson River are gorgeous.

The front of the Mansion! all 54 rooms, and 30,000 square feet! And of all the Vanderbilt grandchildren (some 40 of these mansions were built) this is the SMALLEST ONE! However, it is pristine - having never been sold to another family - and has been in the NYS Parks Service for the last 50+ years. You can make out the girls on the "porch"!

Grace being sassy! She's getting pretty good at that!

4H Group

The girls (all 3 of them!) are really active in the 4H group - Rensselaer County Thrills and Skills. We do all KINDS of things. Here are 10 of the 16 kids involved after the Fashion Show just yesterday. They tie dyed the fabric & shirts to match, cut out patters and fabric, and then sewed their own shorts! We are really proud of all of them. They did a great job making the outfits and modelling them at Jo-Ann's Saturday.

A friend of another leader sent these cyprus bluebird house kits. Boy did we make a lot of noise in the school that night.
In February we made Refrigerator Rising French Bread. We did all the mixing and forming at the meeting - then each kid took one home to bake the next day. VERY YUMMY!

Here is one of the girls working on her shorts! Lotsa Concentration!

New Chickens

Well - this was TOO cute not to add to this page, but it belongs at the bottom. The new chicks are 9 weeks old. We are worrked about the established flock picking on them. So - - we built them a little sanctuary UNDER the next boxes! They have their feeder in there - and are close to the water. Turkey & Blondie don't seem to care if all these little ones are down underneath! David even put the JAIL BARS on hinges so it would be easy to get the feeder in and out and to rescue a chick if need be or clean out the chips! These dumb chicks don't know how pampered and lucky they are!

These chicks were hatched in TEXAS on St. Patricks Day. They arrived here 2 days later. David picked them up from the post office, returned here around 5:30. The PEEPING woke all of us up! The 10 black ones are baby ROOSTERS - they were quickly DISPENSED with - - we gave them to a friend who raises birds for meat!
Here is Ingrid in the enlarged chicken yard with the babies. They are about 5 weeks old here. By this time they had been moved OUT of the mud-room, and into a larger brooder in the garage. As I write - they are 9 weeks old - and it is time to get them OUT OF THE GARAGE and into the coop with the rest of the flock.

More from 5 weeks old - outside.

This pre-dates the new chicks. None of our 7 chickens seemed to have any problem with the winter weather. We did keep a heat lamp in the coop for extremely cold weather.

And, there are plenty of the WILD variety of birds around here still. Here are turkeys in the front yard stealing spilled seed from under a bird feeder!

Easter

Here the girls are before we left for church.
Ingrid has started to be an acolyte at church. She does a lovely job!

The church does this really cool cross during Palm Sunday - with palms natch! Then on Easter all the kids decorate it with flowers. After the service they put it out along Route 7 for everyone to enjoy the pretty flowers. Is the sweater PINK enough?

Miscellaneous STUFF

We've been working to finish the basement. We've made some progress - but still aways to go. Here is David working to add some circuits. There was only one spare - so we added some doubles to make room for a couple of outlet and lighting circuits in the basement. $30 - 20 minute fix! Yahoo!
While David was working on the new fence for the chickens (see further down) - the girls decided to make some fence posts of their own. Pop would be proud of how his great-grandaughters weilded the tools!

And - holey cow - they're even working together and NOT fighting!

Here is David expanding the chicken yard. The new chicks will need some more space. He got 12 used pallets from work - FOR FREE! As he says, "free, my favorite kind"! I think it looks pretty spiffy - - -and actually, from the house you can't even see it!

Over February break, Gretchen and a couple of friends took a bunch of kids to the NYS Museum. They also took the elevator up to the top of the Corning Tower (the tallest building in Albany). Whatta view!

In February - Ingrid's class sang the National Anthem at the Albany River Rats Hockey Game. The picture is HORRID - but she is on the near end somewhere with her friend Eliza!

And - we did SOME skiing this year. It was very cold for a good part of the year - very icy - and just not enough snow for our taste! Shucks. Better luck next year!

Winter Projects

Well - here is the last batch 0f photos since JANUARY! Here are Grace & Gretchen working on Valentines. They are crimping little papers - with chocolates inside. VERY fun!
A good friend of mine adopted a little girl from China. She is 3. I decided to take up smocking again in January. Here is a little dress I made for her. I can't wait to see her in it! She is pretty little - it may be awhile yet!

Ingrid is doing great with her knitting. The school has a project to dress bears for a handicapped kids ranch up in the Adirondacks. Here is one of our bears with a sweater and hat Ingrid knitted. She'll get to help dress the 600, yes SIX HUNDRED, bears at school next week.

So - to keep with the smocking idea - I made this nightgown for my Mother's 85th Birthday. Now - maybe I'll have to get a pleater and do one for myself one of these days. It looks pretty comfy for a hot summer night!

These mittens are a Nordic pattern. They are wool - and VERY WARM and Comfy. I'm hoping to enter them in the fair this summer!