CUCKOO MARAN CHICKS ARRIVE

Well this morning got off to an interesting start to make it two "what the heck" kind of mornings in a row !!
After a pretty sleepless night, my fitbit said 4 hours and 8 minutes of sleep last night.,must have been that chocolate icing I licked off the spoon just before bedtime, I felt a little dazed making it hard to get started today.
As I started chores I got a call from the feed store that the chicks that were scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning were here today. Soooooo !!! Along with all the regular chores I had to set up a chick box with a light. I am going to put them under a setting Silkie but can't do that until after dark tonight. Thankfully hubbie was in the vicinity of the feed store and could run and pick them up. I waited for him to get here with them and we got them all set up with food and sugar water. They only sent 5 chicks instead of the 6 I ordered but oh well !! These are the Cuckoo Maran hens that lay chocolate colored eggs.

I was almost 30 minutes late for market and several customers were waiting when I got there but the day turned out to be an okay sales day. One of the orders got changed until tomorrow morning anyway so it all worked out. Whew !!!!
After market I ran regular errands and then walked up on Main Street to check out a resale dress shop. The street was surprisingly empty today. I didn't find anything I wanted in the shop.

 I also made supply stops at Aldi and Walmart and also made a stop at the strawberry farm for more fresh berries. This is a very hot afternoon and the clouds are starting to boil up like it might storm, it is certainly hot enough at 88 degrees.

I got home about 4:00 and got things unloaded and put away. I talked to daughter on the phone while I had a cup of hot tea and rested. She finished decorating g-daughter #2's nursery today and it looks really great.

D-in-love brought g-daughter up to see the baby chicks and she loved them so much she wanted to squeeze them !!!!  She wasn't the least bit afraid of the chicks like some of the kids around here have been

She pitched a fit and didn't want to leave those little new friends.
While I did chores I peeked in on the little red Silkie that I am giving the 5 new chicks to and luckily the 2 eggs I had put under her were both hatching this evening. How lucky is that ????
Just at dark I carried the 5 Maran chicks up and put them under her warm feathers with the 2 just hatched chicks and she fluffed up and settled right down covering all 7 chicks. The Maran chicks easily acted like they knew they were supposed to be under her feathers so hopefully this will be this easy. I will set an alarm for 6:00 in the morning at sunrise to remove a wire I put up to keep all of them in the nest over night.
Well it seems winter is going to take one more swing at the western states with a very late winter storm named Valerie that is dropping feet of snow in places.

We didn't get any rain today but the moisture in the air is surely increasing and storms are more likely tomorrow.
Thankful for all the wonderful blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night.