GARDENING DAY AND BABY CHICK PLAY

A beautiful morning to wake up to and admire all the springtime beauty around the yard.

This old fashioned Snowball bush is loaded with snowballs this year.

My herbs are starting to bloom as this Sage and Chives put on their edible blossoms.

My old climbing Rose that we planted out of the pot it has been recovering in for a couple years is showing it's appreciation with a load of sweet smelling rose blossoms.

Right outside my back door these huge Iris have started blooming.

After clouds moved in about mid morning we watched the midday news cast to see what the afternoon was bringing. Thankfully the clouds passed over without any rain fall today and the sunshine returned by the time we finished our lunch.
I carrried all the plants out into the sunshine to help them get accustomed to the direct sunlight before transplanting them into the garden. The plan was to get that done today but after the 33 degree morning today and more cooler mornings later this week we changed that plan and will transplant them next week.
We are still going to plant garden seeds today as they won't come up until all the cool mornings are over.
We got started planting green beans, cucumbers, squash, okra, dried beans and some cabbage plants .
I  had some very good help show up and I patiently let them help place seeds in the rows.

I think it is very important for young folks to know early where their food comes from and have the knowledge to raise their own food.
After we finished the gardening their was time for some baby chick petting and all three of the girls were interested in the soft fuzzy little critter.
RL is a "chicken whisperer" and always has loved everything chicken since she was very small.

IR has never really liked being around chicks and was afraid of them when she was little. She finally warmed up today and talked about how soft and cute the little chick was with some encouragement.

CA wasn't sure what to think about her first chick experience but was very curious.

 I love being able to introduce all of my grandkids to the wonders of nature.

These 2girls have such a special relationship and I pray that they always are best friends. I call them "sister cousins".

After they all left hubbie and I got chores done and picked another bundle of asparagus from our patch.

I smiled as I entered the front door and saw these dirty handprints on the door glass.

Couldn't let this day go by without saying happy 11 month birthday to this little sweety CA is such a happy , curious baby and is a joy to watch grow.

Thankful for another blessing filled day.
God Bless and Good Night

NEW INCUBATOR, GARDEN PREP, MARSHMALLOW ROAST

Up to get chores done and start deciding what to do about incubating all the guinea eggs we found  yesterday.
It is a beautiful morning but still cool and windy but not as bad as yesterday and the wind is supposed to stop around mid day today.
After breakfast I called Tractor Supply to see if they had the incubator I saw online and they said they had 2 of them right now . Hubbie and I headed out there with our mask on we felt safe as there were very few customers in the store.
We got the incubator and it was even on sale and we also got a bag of diatomaceous earth and some suet cakes and watermelon seeds while we were there.
We came straight home and picked up RL on the way so her mom could have a virtual meeting with her school staff.
She was her usual comical self when she found some sticker books. And no these stickers were not supposed to go on her face.

Daughter brought lunch in and IR got into the sticker face antics.

After we all ate hubbie sat with all the girls for a little while before he headed out to get the garden tilled.

After all the kids left hubbie went up to get the garden ready for planting some things tomorrow and I got the new incubator set up. I have a new decoration on the living room woodstove !!

We did chores a little early and then had supper early before all the kids came back to have a marshmallow roast around a warm fire which felt really good on a chilly evening.

The kids all really enjoyed this and ate an entire bag of marshmallows, roasted and sandwiched between graham crackers.

It was a fun relaxing evening and a great family activity.
Hubbie and I got out after we listened to the late news and covered all the raised beds as there was a  frost warning for our area and the temperature was dropping pretty fast to low 40's already and we usually see a 10 degree overnight drop.
Thankful for the wonderful blessings of this day and the family God blessed me with.
God Bless and Good Night

MORE BLOOMERS AND CHICK UPDATE

One of those lazy Sunday mornings that I greatly appreciated today as during the night last night I evidently for some unknown reason tried to sling my injured right knee sideways which immediately woke me up in excruciating pain.  After the pain induced sweat dried and the pain eased up I still couldn't find a position that wasn't painful and comfortable enough at the same time to be able to get back to sleep for quite sometime.
My late feeding time for the chickens wasn't noticed because it took a while for the dense fog to left this morning after the overnight rain left another .3inch of rain in the gauge.

However by mid morning the sun had won the battle and it was a beautiful day but windy which seems to be our new normal these days.

After breakfast hubbie started making his tamale pie for lunch along with corn on the cob and new potatoes. I decided to pull some onions and use the lettuce that Deb (d-in-love's mom) brought me Friday along with some I gathered from my raised bed to make the season's first wilted lettuce.

 I had a couple pounds of frozen bacon in the freezer. I thawed one pound of bacon and fried it on the grill.
Everyone was glad to see the wilted lettuce on the table today.
#1 son's family, #2 son and Tif  and daughter and her family all made it lunch today and we all enjoyed the food and visit.
After everyone left I sat all my tomato and pepper plants outside and mixed up some Aphid spray to douse them down with to hopefully kill the pest that are trying to feast on the plants.
I also put away some laundry and then hubbie and I walked down to #1 son's house. We were planning to all get back together here tonight and roast marshmallows over an outside fire pit but the wind is blowing so hard we couldn't find a spot that wasn't windy at eight place or dauhgter's house so we decided to postpone that to another day.
On the way back up I walked around the yard to check out all the different Iris that are now joining the two tone purple that started blooming. This is another two-toned purple that is more drastic than the first ones.

These tan and maroon colored ones are pretty this year.

And the plain yellow ones are bright.

This Weigela is pretty this year.

Hubbie and I have been watching the guineas each day when we here a cackling in the bushes on the hill in front of the house and figured the hens were laying eggs there. After an extensive search and when I was actually turning around to get out of the briars and brambles and give up the search I saw the nest filled with eggs tucked safely under some of the larger saw briars.
There was 20 eggs in the nest. I took 17 out and left 3 marked eggs in there in hopes the hens will continue to lay where I can find them.

I don't have any setters right now and am not having great luck this year with hatching percentages under the silkies so I am probably going to buy an incubator tomorrow if I can find anywhere that has one. I have an old one downstairs and last resort will get it out and see if it stills runs.
Speaking of Silkie hatching percentage I was very disappointed in the last hatch that happened over the last couple days. This white hen only hatched these 3 little chicks from 7 eggs that were under her.

Update on the other hens......
This is first setter who had the best percentage of 5 out of 7 eggs hatched and these 5 chicks are doing very well.

Second wasn't as good as this hen hatched these 2 little black silkie chicks out of 5 eggs but these 2 chicks are doing well.

The fourth setter who was and still is a crazy little lady is still sitting on 2 guinea eggs and 1 silkie egg that are due to hatch Wednesday.

You can see why I don't have a lot of confidence in the mama hen setters and it is a bit strange that some of my best mama's have not attempted to set yet this season. I did put 3 wooden eggs into one of the silkie house nest tonight to see if that might encourage a setter in case neither of my incubator ideas pan out.
I was glad to get to sit down tonight and put a heating pad on my aching knee. I will changed to ice when I get into bed tonight to see if they both will make it feel better so I can get a good night's sleep to make up for last night.
Thankful for family and all the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night