Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[lorihadams]

Thursday

Just laid around the house today. Really achy all over and my throat still hurts. Chad was a doll and took the kids out for dinner to give me a couple hours to relax. I took a quick shower, ate some tomato soup, made some tea and took some ibuprofen. I feel a little better but still a little puny.

Thanks, Kel, I'll have to try the acv and honey tomorrow.

Baby chicks are doing well, garden is doing fine, tomatoes are finally getting there and I am overrun with cucumbers. Anyone got any good cucumber recipes?

 

[lorihadams]

Friday

Well, today has been interesting. I feel a little better today but now Tyler is stuffy and coughing a little. I ate a cucumber with lots of acv and salt before I went to bed and my throat feels much better!

So, I get up and go outside to feed/water everyone and decide that it is time to clean out the rabbit hutch. I pulled out the tray that contains their straw (to keep the wooden floor from rotting and makes cleanup waaaay easier) and shut the door.......forgot to latch it.......walk across the yard to the shed where we keep the straw........turn around to walk back and what do I see? You guessed it, the door is open. So now I run to figure out who, if anyone, has gotten out of the hutch. Bambi #1, check. Thumper check, Bambi #2 gone. Dang! So now I am looking around the yard like a mad woman trying to find my little white, flop eared bunny Bambi #2 (my kids are very creative with names )

Well, she keeps running around the kid's playground and back under the hutch. After an hour of trying to catch her, getting my hands on her twice and getting scratched to high heaven, I finally bait her with some fresh lettuce out of the garden in a rubbermaid container and bingo! Got her back. I was exhausted and sweaty and disgusting by the time it was all over. Madelyn kept saying "you leave my bunny lone!"

So, I made another tote bag this morning to relax while the kids played and I have a loaf of bread in the oven now. Chad wants to go into town tonight to home depot to get a few things for the duck house/pen so we can get it done this weekend cause we should be getting our ducks next week!!! He was supposed to go fish in a tournament this weekend with his mom down in NC but it looks like they are going to cancel it due to impending storms forecasted for the whole weekend. Supposed to rain here off and on, in fact we just got about 2 hrs of steady rain which we really needed. Hopefully it will clear enough for us to get everything done that we need to this weekend.

 

[lorihadams]

Thought I would share a few pics
Here is the broody pen we built with crates

Here is the frame for the duck house that we built, also from crates

Here is Tyler with our first carrots from the garden

And here are the 2 new babies that my little red sex link hatched out Sunday

 

[keljonma]

Great pictures! Looks like some great poultry housing from recycled crates - wonderful!

Glad to hear you are feeling better.

Anyone got any good cucumber recipes?

Here is my mother's recipe for Hungarian Cucumber Salad. It will help you get more acv in ya!

For 6 people you need

At least 2 large cucumbers
1 cup of Hungarian Salad Dressing (below)
1 T chopped dill

Slice cucumbers paper thin - a potato peeler works well.
Put them in a bowl and let them sit at least on hour or overnight covered in dressing. The slices will be limp.
Top with dill before serving.

Hungarian Salad Dressing
Makes 1 cup dressing

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Dash freshly ground black pepper

Blend together in a large glass bowl.

This salad dressing is also great on greens and lettuces.

 

[lorihadams]

Saturday

Busy busy day today. Got up and got moving, made banana chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, got cleaned up and told the kids that we were going outside, no excuses. Hubby went to Home Depot to get a few things to finish up the duck house. While he was gone I let Tyler and Maddie drive their gator around the yard and look for lizards. I cleaned out the dog pen, filled their swimming pool, stocked up their dog food bins, fed and watered all the critters, and then filled up the kid's swimming pool for later. I then decided to pull weeds from the front patio for a while and then decided to do some real gardening. I cleaned out my beds, got rid of the remainder of my mesclun greens that no one is eating, pulled up the remains of the cilantro except for 2 or 3 plants (got some dried last week that should last a while), put in some new soil/compost and planted broccoli and spinach.

When Chad got home we spent the rest of the day finishing up the duck house and planning the run. Apparently we were not on the same page cause he didn't get the fencing today So, that will have to be done monday after he gets home from work. Sharon is going to candle the duck eggs tomorrow and we should get our ducks in about a week, I hope.

Got the duck house done, he decided to put shingles on the roof instead of the tin that we already had....grrrrrr. It looks nice though, he also picked up 2 gallons of barn red paint so that he can paint all the critter cages to match our shed. He's not happy with the gray that I painted everything with. Whatever, let him paint it. I did it last time.

Next project, a tractor for the meat chickens that I want to order the end of August. I think chad is going to get some more crates from work for that one and we should have enough hardware cloth for it. That one shouldn't cost us anything except for a couple of hinges.

The kids were so cute today! They played all day long. Maddie was so tired she fell asleep at the dinner table. I put her in the bathtub and she fell asleep in there. Woke her up to dry her off and get her dressed and she fell asleep while I was drying her hair, no kidding, I had to get Chad to come hold her so I could dry the back without her falling over. Poor thing, that is what happens when she doesn't get her afternoon nap. Tyler and Chad are playing golf on the wii. He's very good for a 4 yr. old!

I will post a pic of the duck house/run as soon as we get it all "prettified" with paint and everything. Gonna go see Nanny tomorrow morning and then we have a birthday party to go to in the afternoon. Lots of running to do so we are relaxing tonight.

 

[lorihadams]

Sadly, Nanny is not doing well. Chad just got a call from April and she couldn't walk this morning. When we went to see her yesterday she was really swollen. She is on fluid pills to try to get rid of the excess fluid retention but she isn't even urinating like she should. She is so swollen and puffy in her legs it is awful. Tony (April's husband) thinks she may have a circulation issue that they could have missed at the hospital. I don't know. All they did the 5 days she was in the hospital before was pump her full of saline. We were supposed to go over there today and go to Tony's friend's field and pick corn. All the corn we can pick, silver queen, for FREE!

I don't know what is gonna happen, I asked Chad if they were going to send her back to the hospital and he said that April was calling her personal doctor to come make a house call and take a look at her. He's very upset.

The kids are outside letting the toads get some "exercise" aka chasing them around the back yard. I am in limbo until I hear more from hubby. Everybody say a little prayer for us.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Will definitely be praying!

 

[Henrietta23]

Certainly will.

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks guys!

 

[Dace]

Hoping for the best!

Nice job on the construction...did you make those yourself?