When All Else Fails, Play in the Rain

It has been raining non-stop here for what seems like months. We had a beautiful, sunny morning, but the girls waited just a little too long before going outside to take advantage of the brief respite and had to settle for playing in the rain. Our basement flooded for the first time since this house was built, 14 years ago. We didn't get a lot of water, but enough to cause some stress. Luckily, I got a nice new steam cleaner for Mother's Day that came in handy, and some friends loaned us a dehumidifier. After 2 rounds of pulling up water with the carpet cleaner, and emptying a full tank in the dehumidifier twice, I think everything has dried out and little or no damage was done. I've had my fill of all the fun Pennsylvania has to offer and quite frankly don't see myself ever missing it. Maybe I'll miss the blueberries...

Why We Use Antihistamines

The pollen has dropped with a vengeance in PA. This is what my car looked like this afternoon. No wonder I'm sneezing like crazy!!

Funny Birds

I went to feed my chickens yesterday and found them like this. Not only are they all snuggled up together (in 80 degree temps?), but they managed, with the exception of one rogue silver-laced, to sort themselves by breed. One of my buffs is missing from the picture. She was more interested in food than friendship at the time. Chickens are funny!!

Melissa's Birthday

Melissa turned ten last week. I now have two children in the double digits! It's crazy. She had a very perfect day. She opened her presents in front of the webcam, so the pictures are at a bad angle. She got the all-important pillow pet. It's an Easter bunny.

And because I am of the belief that no one should pay $100 for a doll (American Girl is robbing Americans), she got a Madame Alexander doll and has taken it with her everywhere since.
The cake has a suprise inside.

It's a rainbow! Happy birthday, my Melissa!

The Garden

Saturday was the last sunny day in our forecast for a week, so we worked all day in the garden. Jason hauled the mulch from the driveway to the garden one wheel barrow-load at a time, while I spread it all with a rake. I think I got the easy job. Our chickens love the mulch because it came with many, many white flies in it. Eat up, girls. Our blueberries are doing amazing and I'm looking forward to eating those in a month or two, along with my lettuce and spinach (if I can keep the rabbits out). I love my garden!!

Easter Girls

My five beauties on Easter morning.

The Chickens are Outside!!

It felt like the day would never come when we could get these chickens out of my house, but last Saturday, with the coop finally finished, and the weather taking a turn for the better, they moved out!! They create so much stink and dust it's amazing. They are so much happier now that they have room to flap their wings, and I'm thrilled to finally have my home smelling good and relatively dust-free again! In two months or so, we should see our first egg.

It's supposed to get to 80 degrees today, so I opened the little door to their run to let them play outside. They are all too scared still, but Buffy is brave enough to at least go this far. Sara is checking on her chickens. She loves them so much. Egg collecting will be so fun!