We're still here...really!

Wow! It's been so long since I posted! The holidays were insane, then my computer was acting up, now we've been sick.

We spent Christmas with our families. It was nice to be around family, but everyone missed Jeremy. We had friends visit us for New year's. We had a great visit! It was just what we needed!

Amber's moving to Kahoolawe, Hawaii this summer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahoolawe We will all miss her so much, especially since we are all just starting to spend time together again! I think Bo and I are jealous though. She's at the perfect age and stage in her life to pick up and move half way around the world. What an adventure!

Besides that, we have no new news. All the animals are fine, the family is fine. I hope you all are fine and the holidays were nice time!

The Holidays

Belle playing with Ben and Nikko (Ben's cousin) in the snow.

Carrizozo snow the day after Christmas. About 20 miles outside of town the snow just disappeared. That was nice for our drive home!

Amber and Benjaman. It was so good to see you!

Here we are this Christmas.

Ben's snowman 12-16-08 with the neighbor boys.

Wordless Wednesday

Belle

Well, after Belle's stint in the county jail Bo put pieces of busted up concrete in the holes in the fence. He thought he had it all done, then we found one spot that needed more concrete. Belle snuck out before we could fill that hole. She got hit on the interstate and amazingly she survived! She's got a dislocated hip and an air pocket beneath her lungs and heart. She also has a few scrapes and lacerations that received a few staples. We just can't beleive she survived! She spent the night on the side of the interstate before we found her. The vet put her hip back in place, but is worried that it might not stay because it was out for so long that the tendons might have stretched too much to hold it in the proper place. So her leg is tied up and she's not supposed to walk unassisted for 7-10 days. How in the world are we supposed to keep this border collie down for that amount of time?! We are borrowing a cage from a friend and that will have to be her new home. She's already trying to hobble around on 3 legs. I took her outside this morning and laid her by the horse so she could eat with him. We are thankful that she's alive and are praying for a speedy, uneventful recovery!

Afghan

I finished another afghan. This is a shell stitch and is super easy even with all the color changes. It took me about 3 months.

Chickens

We're finally getting eggs! Right now I'm getting between 8 and 11 eggs a day. I have 16 new layers, but I don't know if they will all start laying this fall. Usually production drops in the winter because the number of hours of daylight tell a chicken what time of year to lay and when to go broody so she can raise chicks. A chicken lays an egg about every 25 hours unless something upsets her or she's sick. Chickens are born with all the eggs they will lay for their entire life. Once a chicken starts to lay there are always eggs in various stages of growth inside her!

I haven't posted pictures or the chickens in so long! The one standing tall is my rooster. The jury is still out about whether he gets to live or not. He attacks Ben every chance he gets and he attacked the neighbor boy. I'm trying really hard to tame him because I want the chickens to be able to hatch eggs this fall and raise chicks themselves. The chickens spend hours everyday on the back porch huddled up against the glass door. Sometimes they even peck at the door! I sure enjoy watching them run around the yard!

Wordless Wednesday 11-19-2008