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!

PASTA PASTA PASTA PASTA

Well - a couple of times a year - on a lazy day like today - we make pasta. The deal was - YEARS AGO - that David would be involved in this. So he is. Here are Ingrid and David rolling out the dough after it has been made, kneeded and rested a bit.
Then after it is rolled into sheets - it has to dry for about an hour. This is no meal for the impatient!

Meanwhile - Gretchen to the rescue - I make the filling. Tonight it will be tri-cheese with vegetables. The cheeses are true Italian Gargonzola (a MUST), Belgiorno Parmesan (Loredana will have my &$$ for not using Riggiano), and good ole american ricotta! Then I added sizzled carrots and shallot, and diced roasted red pepper. We've come up with this over the years after having Vege Ravioli at a favorite Italian restaurant (now defunct of course) while we were dating.

Finally the moment of truth is here. The sheets are placed in an archaic "mold", pressed for pocket to fill, filled, wet a tad to promote sticking, and the 2nd layer of pasta put on top.

A quick roll of the pin, and voila - Mortono Ravioli!

This batch yielded approximately 56 pockets (not all are shown here!) from 5 of our home-grown chicken eggs and about 2-1/2 cups of flour!

Let me have it Lore - what can we improve?

Other Late 2008 News

Here is Ingrid. She has mastered basic knitting and is moving on to fitted garments. Here she is working on a pair of gauntlets (fingerless mittens) for a friend. Ribbing is tough, and the thumb still takes a bit of Mommy-aid! That is fine with me. It is awesome to see the concentration, stick-to-itiveness, and pride in a project completed.




The chickens are doing great. Everyone keeps asking about them. They have NO heat, the water container has a heated base that keeps the water JUST above freezing, they continue to lay and we get 3-4 eggs a day (when Turkey isn't brooding - which she is now for the 3rd time). Here is David last week shoveling off their roof. The coop, after all, wasn't designed for a full snow load! NOTE EXASPERATION on my part here!!






David spent a goodly part of yesterday and Sunday working on this great shelf. It resides in teh basement stairwell. It relieves a lot of congestion in the pantry from my canned fruits, jellys, veggies and relishes.. YUM. OH - and there is room left over (for now) for Chef Boyardee and Campbells! A friend is going to start finishing the basement shortly. We are excited for more space for the kids and their friends. Bring on the carpenters!





Normie sent the girls clock kits. Using some cool softward and color printer, David was able to make unique clock faces for them. Here is Grace with, you guessed it, a doggie. Ingrid's has a more teenage theme - the Bengal Tiger - the mascot of Tamarac Elementary/Hi!






Santa, for once, really really came thru for Grace. She specifically requested pom-pom animals. SOMEHOW, Santa found a kit with SIX of them. Mommy burned her finger but good with hot glue yesterday on Mr. Monkey. Today was much less riskier - and no blood was shed creating the bear and the lion. Only 3 more to go!

THANKS for SUPER Presents!

Thanks to everyone for the magnificent gifts.
My friend Heather made me these truly AWESOME quilled snowflakes. They'll adorn my dining room chandelier for many a winter to come.








Grace got this new dog from Normie. Her name is SILKIE.

Here is Ingrid in a fancy gold dress I made LAST YEAR. She finally christened it on X-mas eve with these SMASHING purple shoes from Aunt Sugar. Imagine - PURPLE shoes!

My brother Richard cruised in Scandinavia last year. He got these awesome hats in Norway. We are ready for Nordic Bliss - BRING ON THE SNOW!