Mrs. Tweedy

Those of you with older kids will know who that is. For those of you who don't she is the wife on the movie Chicken Run who has a check list of who is laying and who is not. Those not laying are turned into dinner, and those laying get to live another day.

Well, I have become Mrs. Tweedy.

We have an obnoxious rooster and a bunch of nonproductive hens out back. I love our chickens but it seems that we are going broke feeding animals that do not do us a lot of good. I spent the morning at the library digging up every book on how to kill and clean a chicken for food. The question now is can we do it? Can we really look into the eyes of our little pets and turn them into soup? Can we clean them with out making a mess of it and have to end up throwing out the meat? I guess you can tune in to see how it turns out.

See you next year.

Christmas Eve Fun

This is how my day started..... at 5:45 in the morning. Do you think they might have been excited? I will say that as a mom I am pleased with their use of safety equipment.





This is my living room before Dad got home from work this morning.









This is my living room with in 10 min of Dad getting home this morning !





We decided to take the boys sledding this afternoon for a little Christmas fun. Notice how both of my feet are safely on the ground.


Both boys wanted to ride with Dad, and some how they all fit on one sled.




They loved going really fast down the hill. I just didn't look!

Merry Christmas To Me

Let's start with ....

How cute is that Santa cake. It is actually made of cupcakes !

I love to order them for school parties. Yes, I am one of those awful moms that bring in all sorts of sugary crap for the kids. I am sure all the teachers and parents love me for it.

Now let me start with the fun morning I am having. I got up today and got everyone out the door and on their way. Even kiddo's to school with adorable Santa cakes intact. Then I discovered 1 inch of water in my main bathroom, and big rat holes where some thing wanted to come in out of the cold. What fun! I know, it could be so much worse. At least with a little clean up I can leave it all for my husband to fix when he gets home. Today is my last day of peace and quite as Christmas break starts this afternoon. I am looking forward to having everyone home and enjoying the family, but I am also trying to fit all my personal time into today. My fireman husband is off this Christmas FOR 3 DAYS straight. We are so excited because we get to spend Christmas like normal people this year. I can't tell you the last time that happened. I guess it could be argued that one would have to be a normal family to have a normal Christmas, but that is a topic for another day.

The Christmas Concert

Sorry the pictures are so dark, but I had to take them from a distance.


Our oldest had his Christmas concert tonight and yes, that is the entire elementary school on the stage. I thought our little one was behaving so well during the concert only to look over and discover him making faces at all the kids on stage. That kid is going to give us a run for our money when he is in high school. I guess it is just pay back ! Santa showed up and handed out treats for the kids. Our big guy, being a pro at this by now, meet Santa with a list of what he wanted but refused to sit in his lap. He just flat out told the man in red that he was to old and big for that sort of thing. We all breathed a sigh of relief when his list matched what the elves have already purchased. Our little one was terrified of Santa. One would have thought we were insane to even suggest something as crazy as sitting on some strange mans lap.

The Amazing New Chicken Tractor

Well, here it is the new and improved chicken tractor complete with 4 pissed off chickens and a very happy rooster. There is still a little work to be done. We plan on painting it and adding a door to let the little guys out every now and then but this is it for the most part. I don't think they did such a bad job considering all they had was one dad, 2 boys, a pile of wood, and some ideas off the internet. Now that we have a basic working design we plan on building a few more for the rest of the flock. We can then move them up and down the rows out in the orchard. Hopefully then we will have happy chickens, no bugs, and a fertilized orchard. I am sure I am asking to much.

Now Would This Face Do Anything Like That ?

I can not get pictures to load right now so scroll down to the shameless kid photo and ask yourself the above question.

I had a very interesting day today. I dropped off my youngest at preschool and headed into town to do what Santa does when no little kids are looking. I picked up a friend and we had a great time buying leg lamps, pretend tools, and candy. When I went to pick up my sweet little angel I was informed that he missed me today. Oh, how sweet right ... wrong. Apparently he decided he missed his mom and if no one would supply her he would just find her. Yes, my son left the preschool building and took a stroll around town. The teachers were franticly running around the school looking for him, and he was headed home. They finally realized he left the building and stopped him before he got to far. You can bet on Thursday they won't take their eyes off him !

It May Not Be Exciting, But It Is Our Life

Silly is sad. I don't just mean he is upset, he is the sort of sad that makes me think he just may lay down and die. We are very concerned and are starting to wonder how long to give him and what to do if he does not snap out of this. I know, I know what do I expect he just lost his girl but I am worried. We are starting to think we may have to get him a girlfriend or take him to live down the road with the other African geese. I say a month and we will know, but then again what do I know about geese.


On another note we trapped another raccoon last night. Boy is this one honking big! I really don't know how he fit in the trap. We are calling the game warden today because I am starting to think we just may have a problem with predators. I am sure he will love to take time out of his busy day to come out here and protect our flock of chickens and a sorry looking goose.

On another note I have great news. I found a dress , well a very special dress. As all of you know I am cheap. Yes, I own up to it. Well, I have been looking for 2 dresses to wear to my brothers high class country club wedding. I need one for the rehearsal dinner and one for the actual wedding. The thrift stores are my best bet at this point. One because I have time to look and two because I don't have a big need for dresses out here in hillbilly heaven. I was at the King's Treasure the other day and found a great dress on the 90% off rack and it fit me perfectly. Now it is long, black, and very sexy so if I gain a pound it is out. The best part of this story is that the dress was sixty cents. Can you believe that ! I am thinking that just might be a good deal. People have been asking for a picture of this dress and I would love to post one, but it does not photo well. I guess everyone will just have to wait until the wedding to see it.

The Long Dark Night

I have been up since 2 am and the news is sad.

I guess we should start at the beginning.

Last night my husband kept coming in from the observatory and say he smelt something strange and animalish out there. It had been a long day so we just ignored it. Then around two in the morning we were once again awakened by loud, violent goose screams. My man got up and ran outside only to find two scared geese. Right before his eyes one of them was snatched into the darkness. I am going to say I think it might have freaked him out just a bit. He ran inside to get a gun and I joined him. I sort of thought something had gone wrong when the goose screams went from 2 birds to one solitary animal. We went outside and found both geese, only the girl goose had no face........ Yes, you read that right she had no face. I will say that I was horrified. She was stumbling around and the boy goose was trying to comfort her. It was such a sad sight, and we had to shoot her to put her out of her misery. We loved that goose and it was such a painful thing to do, but her brain was hanging out and she had no chance. Now this is the worst part. When we shot her the boy goose looked at us and started to cry. He is wounded also, no doubt from trying to protect his girl. We hope he has a good chance of making it through but after a night like that who knows. We sat up trying to decide what on earth could do such a thing and have come to the decision that it must have been a bear. We are heart broken and will miss Lucy terribly. Now to break it to the kids.

Update

Thanks to everyone for sticking with me through the shameless kid photo. You know that we parents are required by law to do that several times a year. On another note Lucy is doing well. She seems to be healing up nicely and has started honking at us and acting very obnoxious again. We are all very pleased to announce that the culprit has been trapped and relocated. He now has a nice home in another canyon, and much to the disappointment of my children has not been petted. The chicken tractor is still under construction. The men around here took a short break from working on it in order to complete the award winning rocket but are now talking chicken again. I am sure we will have another lull in the construction for the completion of a pine wood derby car .. but they have a few weeks before that becomes critical. Christmas is in the air around these parts, and I am becoming more busy than I prefer. I look at the calender and all I see is ink. I love this time of year, but often feel as if I can not do all that is required of me and my family. Such is life........

Shameless Kid Photo

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner

Our oldest son won second place at his first Boy Scout rocket derby. He is so proud and so are we. The directions told us to " lubricate the rubber bands", so we did. I guess no one else read the fine print because the Scout master was shocked at the presence of vaseline. Let's just say that they were less than thrilled and spent a good deal of time washing their hands.


Oh, and so far so good with Lucy. She is holding her own and we are optimistic about her out come.

Just plain sad

My first post for December is a sad one. Last night ( when my sinus infected youngest child was sleeping for the first time in I don't know how long) something attacked one of our geese. We woke up to hear the most terrible goose screams and my husband ran outside only to find what we believe to be a raccoon on top of Lucy, our girl goose. Silly, the boy goose, was doing his best to protect his woman and it all amounted to a giant animal rumble in our back yard. Lucy is " hurt real bad" as my youngest son puts it, and we are all very worried. I am particularly worried that the raccoon will come back tonight to finish off the job. I hope she makes it through, I have become quite attached to that obnoxious animal.