Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Springtime at Raley Family's Farm!

Spring has come, and the weather has been just beautiful.  I can't remember when we have had so much rain, and we need it so bad!!  Texas has been in a three year drought, and hopefully, that's ending.

Changes abound in my own life, too.  My youngest child, Tommy, will be five years old this summer, and there are no signs that there will be anymore kiddos for me for a while.  We didn't finish up to renew our fostering license - we have a bit of work to do on the addition before that can happen, and it's been slow going...I would gladly take a prison baby or another family based safety plan baby.  But until something like that drops into my lap, I have been rethinking my life.

I love to baby things - people and animals.  So to fulfill that need for now,  I had to buy a baby:



That's a Quaker parrot, about four weeks old.  I have to feed it with a "pipette" every four hours.  We had one many years ago named Ichabod, which everyone but me thought was a horrible thing to name it.  That little bird was so fun to have, and it learned to say many words.  We are already working on this little guy!  Hopefully, he will talk, too.  I named him Manderly, after the estate in the book Rebecca.  Tommy said, "Name him something I can say!"  So we have been practicing:  "Man-der-lee..."

We've got lots of chickens as usual, even after Max and I butchered nineteen the other day.  That was quite a job, and NO ONE wanted chicken for dinner that night, so Max fried up sausage, eggs, and biscuits.  I always love it when someone else cooks, even if it is a stop-your-heart type of meal.

The incubator is almost full, and chickens are all over our yard

In my old dog pens:


In the chicken tractors Bill made:, but unfortunately, I just realized those picture didn't turn out!

In the chicken yard in the barn:


And my half grown pullets are in an old peacock pen:


I decided since I didn't have little children to care for this year, that in addition to adding more caged birds to our family, I would expand the rabbits.  We already had two momma bunnies and eight babies.  I visited a WONDERFUL little farm in Corsicanna, and bought four more.  I enjoyed the people there so much, and we stayed a long time and just talked:


Buying those new rabbits convinced my little ones that they HAD to have some of their own.  So I divided up the baby rabbits, and gave them each a few:

Angel-Leah's bunnies are in an old pen that I lined with chicken wire especially for the rabbits.  This has worked really well!



Luke's are in an old pen that Steven Landis found for me long ago when they still lived in Texas.  Those cages he and Max brought over have sure been a blessing to me!




Tommy's bunny's are in a cage inside an old pen, so that if the rabbits kick and fall out of his arms, they are still enclosed and won't get away.

And then we have dogs - and puppies:


Much as I love them, I was very thankful when someone came over today and bought three of them...

I have a nice herb garden which my big girl Rachael added too for Mother's Day:


And a pretty flower bed that Beau added to for Mother's Day.  That doesn't count the candy and perfume I got too, although the candy seemed to disappear whenever I turned my back...


I told Bill this morning that I would put my puppy money towards renting a tractor to mow the pastures, if he will match it.  He agreed, so maybe this weekend, I'll have pictures of our fields being mowed!!


See that white 18 wheeler back in the left hand side of the picture.  He's driving over the bridge that a body was found under, and the sight of many car wrecks, including two in the first two months of this year.  My boys also found a tomb stone in the creek that is lined with trees there in the back.  And Mary Susannah can't understand why I am nervous when she and her friend Sarah decide to have picnics down there...

Our farm also has this handsome young man who comes home at lunch time - son Beau!


And my beautiful Mary Susannah, who got her love for little children from her own mommy.  She and I wouldn't mind a bit having another baby to watch full time!  Maybe she should pray again?


So that's what is happening around our house.  I would love to hear what's going on at YOUR house!  Either tell me, or leave a link to your own blog in the comment section~~

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