You know you've gotten a lot of snow when...

Your porch looks like this....

Your front yard looks like this...

And....after getting the driveway to look like this...

The snowblower engine looks like this.

Yup. I broke the snowblower. REALLY broke it. Good thing this was one our our finds off Craigslist's free page, huh?

Kinda sad, though....we just got it running yesterday...just enough to decide we'll give it a go tomorrow. And then. Boom. Dead. Gone. No Workie.

At least it held out until we were ALMOST done with the driveway. So hopefully we can find a rebuild kit, and see just how good JB Weld is.

On other fronts...everyone's doing well here. We've 20 baby bunnies in the barn...

...that are thankfully being kept warm by the diligent attention of their moms. The 20 babies are from three of our does, two of whom are first time mamas, and for Amber, the third, it's her first live litter(she lost her first litter due to a bad batch of feed). They're doing great, despite temps in the teens and windchills well below zero, and we're quite happy with our girls!

The chickens are doing GREAT! Our three newest hens(the ones hatched by our mama hen this summer courtesy of eggs from my friend Vanessa) have started laying! We've been getting between 3 and 4 eggs a day from the six hens now, which is just phenomenal considering it's winter. We're not sure when to expect the new batch to start laying, but once they do we'll be flush with eggs once more!

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!!

Assessing new furniture

Willow has a a set way of examining new arrivals to her domain. First, are pieces that allow her to be as close as felinely possible to her chosen human, Mike. Well, that would be the new recliner, so she tried out both arms, the back, and the footrest within moments of the new chair's arrival in the spot previously occupied by the old one.

Arms are wider - point in its favor, as this allows her to lay next to Mike more easily, as well as providing a nice platform to land on. When vacant, it's more than adequate for full body lounging. The recliner was quickly given Willow's stamp of approval.

Now...on to the second piece of new furniture. Mind you, both chairs were brought home Monday - but, as the other chair took up a previously unused spot roughly ten feet from where Mike usually sits, it took a bit for her to get around to her examination, though we did sniff it occasionally while walking through the living room.

But, last night, she finally did her evaluation. So, please, allow me to present, Willow's assessment, in four movements.

I believe the final decision is that, while it's satisfactory for waiting for her favorite seat to become available, it's far from her choice. The arms are too narrow for anything, and the back, while delightfully tall, offering a wonderful panoramic view of her domain, is impossible to lay comfortably upon.

Falling behind

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...everytime I sit down to work on an update, something comes up, or I think..."Well, I should wait until after...[insert reason here]. But, ah well, life happens, right?

So, here's the rundown on life here in Western NY. :)

Rabbits - Cocoa, Amber, and Josie are pregnant, due in three weeks, Lily's three week olds just decided to pop out of the nesting box, and the eight teenagers are freezer camp bound this weekend. We did get the last of the cages done, and now have three double cages and two singles hung in the barn now, with a spare single as well.

Chickens - Our broilers and pullets are roughly 5 weeks old now - the pullets are fully feathered and looking cute, the broilers are getting HUGE, and due for butchering in about three weeks. The hens are laying eggs sorta kinda steadily, though Jackie, our one remaining easter egger hen, has decided she's done for the season, so I think she'll be stewpot bound when we deal with the broilers.

Kittens - Well, it took some doing, but two of the kittens were adopted by a family Sunday evening, and I think I may have a home lined up for Ghost as well. Sparky may become part of the family, but that's still up in the air, at this moment.

Garden - well, it's done. We had a pretty good frost last week that did in the rest of the garden, though we've been gleaning a few tomatoes and peppers from the plants. We'll be working on prepping the garden plots for spring, so hopefully we'll have an easier time of it getting stuff going come spring.

And, to help with that venture, we added another member to our team. Mike hasn't decided on a name yet, but I think he looks like Gossamer...what do you think?

In addition to getting a riding lawn mower for $150 cheaper than what we paid for our push mower, the guy threw a little trailer in as well, so between the two, firewood, the garden, and other miscellaneous chores should be much easier!

We had a pretty nice weekend though - beautiful weather, crisp and clean, with the leaves turning into the full Autumn show. Oh, and yesterday, on the way home from work, I spotted a couple of chairs sitting out by the road for free. So, we scored a new(to us) forest green leather recliner and a wingback style chair(though that definitely needs reupholstering - I don't care for the color, but the construction is nice and solid).

So, that's the doings here. This weekend in the opening of the Fall turkey season, and we're hoping to get to go out and take a shot at that :) Other than that, and sending rabbits to freezer camp, I'm not sure what else will be on the agenda. Might work on taking the pool down :)

Rabbits and chickens all around...

It was a pretty quiet weekend here, but we got quite a bit of work done on cleaning and rearranging the barn, making room and arrangements to move the three week old pullets and broilers from the office outside. The pullets now occupy a small enclosure under the unoccupied side of the new growout rabbit cages, and the broilers are in a setup just inside the main barn door.

We had the luck to pick up ten bales of really nice timothy/grass hay for a great deal, and took the time to do some cleaning and rearranging in the main barn section, clearing enough space to stack all the bales right inside of the door, and finding enough space to lay everything out in a much more organized fashion.

The picture below is what you see when you first open the barn door now. In the foreground on the left is the space the broilers now occupy - they'll stay here for a bit over a month before being butchered. To the right, just out of sight, is where the hay is stacked. Also on the right is where the feed is stored. Directly back are three of the current seven cages - Buck, our new blue otter doe, and, in the corner, is Amber. We'll be constructing another six foot long double doe cage here shortly, and it will replace Amber's current cage, and add another cage to the mix.


The cage just visible in the lower right corner of the picture below is the edge of Buck's cage. The main space of the barn makes an "L" shape around the chicken's area, and this is the short leg. Cocoa and Lily reside in the double cages along the right, and the cages along the left, where a couple of little curious buns are peaking out, is the new growout setup we installed last week. Cocoa's litter of eight is in there now(7 weeks old), and it's under the back section that our pullets are brooding.

And, here are our newest additions to the herd. This is the blue otter - she has a temporary reprieve - as we've decided to hold off making the final decision to send her to freezer camp until after we get a litter from her. We haven't named her yet, but she's an absolute cutey! She's fourteen weeks old, so we'll probably see about breeding her when we breed Lily back next time.

This is our newest addition - she's what's called a broken blue, and her coat almost looks like she has wings on her back.

And, last, but far from least, here's a shot of Lily's litter. Believe it or not, there's ten little kits in there. There's three black ones and the rest look to be castors.

I think that'll be all for this post. We've been up to alllll sorts of stuff, including canning more than 18 quarts of applesauce...and that's with a full bushel left to process! I'll try to post more later in the week :)

It's a grind...

Thanks to our wonderful local Pennysaver(that Mike reads cover to cover nearly every week), we are now stocked with grain for at least the next year. We met a local farmer who sells grain to the public, and we now have 100 pounds of wheat, 150 pounds of corn, and 50 pounds of oats. Cool, huh? Since all of it is in its natural form, we'll mix in some food grade diatomaceous earth to take care of bugs, and store it all in food grade buckets, courtesy of the local bakerys. at $7/50#, you can't beat the price, and in the inflationary market current gripping the country, it doesn't hurt to be prepared!

So. What are we going to do with all this stuff, you ask? Well, I've been wanting a grain mill for years, but never could find a source for the whole grain that was reasonable. So...now that we can get the grain, we got a grain mill. Here are some shots of Mike and I giving it a test run Tuesday evening....

First pass of corn through the grinder. You have to crack it, before you can grind it.....

After the second pass...a somewhat coarse cornmeal. I might have to pass it through again for some recipes, but that'll be a matter of trial and error.

And here's a couple of cups of fresh ground wheat flour. That wasn't bad at all. The grain mill we chose is a "Family Grain Mill", and is german made. It's incredibly easy to turn(we're manual for the time being, but will probably mechanize the process at a later date). The mill is incredibly versatile, and we ordered a flaker attachment to work with it as well, so we can make our own oatmeal. Of course, before we can do that, we have to figure out how to hull the oats!!!

Arrivals and Departures...

Well, we've had some arrivals and departures since the last post. We butchered our second litter of rabbits(Lily's first litter) this past monday, and her second litter arrived Friday evening. Her first litter was 6 - this one is 10!! She's very proud, and happy to be unpregnant, and we're very happy with her! We won't know colors or anything until later this week, but once their fur starts to come in I'll take some shots of them. Cocoa's second litter of eight is growing well, and they'll be graduating to the growout cage later, and we'll be breeding her back this coming Wednesday.

Other arrivals are these little fuzzballs! They're nearly two weeks old now(the pic is from the day they arrived), and are peeping, pooping and eating!

Yesterday was a day for running errands, today, for chores and tasks. We got the new chimney cap on - a LockTop Damper, that will hopefully help us battle the amazing winds we face living so close to Lake Erie. While up on the roof I took care of a piece of the trim that was a vicitim to one of our early spring storms as well.

We also took care of getting two grow out cages built for the rabbits, and hanging them in the barn. Cocoa's litter of eight will be moved into it when I go out to feed them this evening. All told, I think it took us more than two hours to build the cage, and probably an hour and a half to get it hung in the barn. We had to do a bit of rearranging/renovating to put them were we planning, but a pleasant side effect is that the chicken area is not much more secure, and looks much neater.

Now I'm off to work on apples - we were lucky enough to find a guy looking for people to take care of all the apples on his five trees, and came home with two 50# feed bags full, as well as a box full. So...applesauce, applebutter, and all sorts of other things apple are on the way!