Giving Thanks

Mike and I spent Thanksgiving out at my mom's this year, and we had a great time. The weather threatened to keep us homebound, but cleared up enough that Thursday morning we got up and headed out, getting to mom's around 10:30 - leaving plenty of time for me to help mom wrangle all the sidedishes.

We got to hang out with my great grandmother and Mom's boyfriend Ed, and had fun talking and teasing and laughing. It's nice to get to spend holidays with family.

Mom loaded up the truck yet again - I swear, by the time she's done her house'll be empty and ours will be full! We planned to go hunting why we were there and ended up having to pass on that, as I started fighting a bug(still working on that). So, it was a nice few days of relaxation.

On the way back home we picked up a rabbit from the breeder we got our stock from - Mike's calling him Splotches, and he looks very similar to Josie. He'll stay with us over the winter to help get some outside bloodlines into the mix, then he'll go back home.

Here's some shots of the gang...rabbits, cats, dogs, and chickens :D

Blue loves playing in her hay!

"Hellllooo?"

Our new chickens :D

"There's supposed to be heat coming from that register..."

" I love my toy."

Look what I found under the bench!

Meet Sam...she's my mom's cat(formerly my gramma's) and boy does she know how to relax!

Look! Sam and her little sister Gracie!! We were flattered Gracie came out to see us :)

Yeah, I know...I know...

Ok...apparently I forgot to post this one...wrote it back on November 3rd...stay tuned for more recent happenings...working on those now!

I'm slacking. Really, I don't mean to!! It's just been busy, and when it hasn't been busy, we've been taking the chance for a little R&R. But...I know ya'll are just on the edge of your seats wondering what's doing up here...sooo.



My mom came to visit!! :) We had a great time, though I just realized that we didn't manage to take and pictures! Shame on me!!!!! Mom came out the weekend of the 24th for a bit of an escape, and celebrated my birthday with Mike and I. We went out to dinner Saturday and had carrot cake for lunch Sunday. Mom got to see all the stuff we've been up to since she first saw the house(which was gradually filling from the Uhaul as she left). I got to show off the chickens, and the rabbits, too. It was perfect timing, as we had three litters in the rabbitry that weekend - Cocoa's barely hours old litter, Lily's 6 week olds, and Cocoa's last litter at 11 weeks old, so she got to see the full range. And no, I didn't feed Ma rabbit - the freezer was empty!!



But, we did butcher the eldest of those litters last night - tonight I'll get it all wrapped up and into the freezer, and we'll be set for meat for a while! Lily's litter, the Lilliputians, were moved into the growout cage, and we should see some really nice growth on them now that they have to room to grow. Lily's happy to have her cage to herself again, though she'll be moving tonight - we're going to switch Josie and Lily, to have an experienced doe next to each of the new does. Hopefully our next breeding cycle will pan out much better. Amber did kindle the 24th - unfortunately, she had the babes on the wire, and it was much too cold for them to survive long - they were gone when I found them. She had 8, though, so we're really hopeful for the next go 'round. We'll be breeding Amber and Lily next week, I think.



Other than that...well, we've only one of the kittens left. Ghostie's still with us, and getting cuter every day! I swear though, she's like Fizzgig from the Dark Crystal...cute as can be but skittish and loaded with teeth! The rest of the critters are doing well...Idgy and Willow adore the new bench we built under the living room windows(pics later!). Mom helped me make cushions for it while she was out, and now, well, Willow is QUITE appreciative!



The chickens are doing well...we do have a rooster among the three that our broody Buckeye hen hatched, so he'll be freezer bound when we butcher the broilers, as will our last EE hen, Jackie, as it's been close to three months now since we've gotten eggs. Our new group of pullets are eight weeks old now, and I think here in the next couple of weeks we may ponder letting them out to meet the rest of the hens and start ranging the yard.



Let's see...not sure that there's anything else of note...just same stuff, different day!!