The Chickens are Here!

Our new chickens arrived yesterday.  However, instead of the six we were planning on, we upped the number to eight.  They are all so cute and tiny.  It makes the 50 pound bag of chicken feed look a bit to the extreme.  They had to be taught to eat and drink which only took about an hour.  They are pooping machines!  So far, three of the eight have names and they are Charlotte, Splashy and Zelda.  Our granddaughters will be naming the rest.  Their home is a lovely really large cardboard box in the garage with a "red light" district to keep them warm.  They seem to like about 82 degrees.  So, next up is building them their chicken condo.......

Spring Has Arrived!

Today is the first day of Spring - although spring weather has been here for a while.  We have started cleaning up the yard from the "winter" winds and old foliage.  The cherry trees, Bradford pears, azaleas and forsythia are in full bloom, as are the daffodils.  The crocuses - both purple and white are already finished.  It is beautiful here.  Temperatures have been in the low to mid 70s and mostly sunny with occasional showers.  Perfect!  We have most of our seeds purchased for the vegetable gardens, pretty much we just have to get the tomato plants, peppers, sweet potatoes and patty pan seeds.  It is still too early to plant the gardens, but we are having just the weather to get the soil worked with Black Cow and peat moss.  Canning has already begun, though.  The Florida strawberries are so sweet, so today we made 4 1/2 pints of strawberry preserves.  We hope this will be a good summer!

Inside Projects

After a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, we have been BUSY with some of our inside projects.  I received a beginner's cheese making kit for my birthday and we have tried, unsuccessfully, to make Mozzarella cheese - only to find out, it is probably the hardest cheese to make.  It looked easy, but we couldn't get the curds to join up right to make the stringy cheese texture.  So, we're going to try some cheddar next.  Curds stay curds, just pressed together tightly.  Will keep you all updated!  Then on to home improvement projects.  Mom's bedroom has been painted a really pretty light green shade and it looks GOOD!!!  The last week and a half, we have been remodeling our guest bathroom.  New tub, new tile in the tub area as well as on the vanity and a paint job of the old vanity.  (Plus plumbing, rebuilding the shower walls, sanding and all the stuff you don't see by just looking).  It turned out pretty good looking.   Husband is SO GOOD and talented to do all the destruction and reconstruction.  In the meantime, in the evenings when we are exhausted from all that construction, I have been working on more sweaters; one for Kirby and one for me, just have to get that last skein of yarn for Kirby's and it will be done.  The back of mine is about half done.  Should be finished by summer - so we'll probably not get to use them until next winter.  Sophie is glad we are done with the remodel - she's tired!!  No naps in her afternoons as she felt she had to keep an eye on what we were up to!!  Superbowl was fun.  We made flat bread chicken bacon ranch pizza, semi-spicy wings and fried up a few "nachos" from our low carb wraps - all turned out pretty good.  Go Giants!

Happy Holidays!

We have been busy here in Cowland.  The holiday baking is almost finished and the neighbors' cookie plates will be going out soon.  Fudge, raspberry truffles, snickerdoodles, almond cookies, Italian holiday cookies, toffee bars, zimsterne and I forget what else......  Still have chocolate whoopee pies, black walnut cake and pecan rolls to go.  The rest of the Christmas Day menu - savory stuff - is all planned out.  More cooking to go!!!  We did have a couple of brief visits with children - very nice!!  We did find time to come down off the mountain and go to Dolllywood to see the Christmas decorations - the last visit on our yearly pass.  We took this lovely picture of Dad while we were there.  Hope you enjoy it!  Our Christmas shopping is 99% done, just two little items to pick up. Our Christmas tree will be up soon, just have to wait to decorate it until Mia and Elizabeth get here.  That will be great fun!  So, Merry Christmas!!!!! 

Visitations

We had visitors this past weekend, both of the human kind as well as bovine kind!!  Our human visitors were Sandra and Bennie from Alabama and we had a really great time with conversation, food and a great 4 mile hike on the New River Trail.  (Hopefully we burned off a few calories!!)   The weather was perfect for a walk which was marvelous to do in November.  We tried out a new sun-dried tomato chicken dish and with a little tweaking, it will be fantastic.   We aren't sure of the name of our bovine visitor as he or she didn't stay very long, but just had to see about that grass!  He/she did finally go home - back through the barbed wire fence.    Hunting season for deer is now underway and wouldn't you know it, no deer in sight for a couple of days now.......although a couple of very young ones appeared this afternoon under the Bradford pear trees.  The creative work has gone well lately.  I did finish the Mabry Mill quilt as well as a hat, scarf and matching mittens plus another set of mittens - watch this winter be really mild.....  Next project is another afghan.  This one is for Sandra and Bennie.  They are finally going to be settled in their new apartment in Alabama.  Next, we'll be preparing for Thanksgiving dinner and more visitors.  It's going to be great!  Two of our boys and families will be up for the weekend as well as my brother and sister-in-law.  Lots of turkey and lots of pie!!  So, Happy Thanksgiving to all.........

More Deer

This morning's drama in Cowland was two bucks trying out their antlers under the Bradford pear trees!  They fought a little, seemed to alert to a noise and then went back at it; quite a sight from our window....
A  lot of leaf raking went on today also.  The driveway is once again cleared of leaves and pine needles and one of the gardens has been tilled with the mulched leaves.  So, the fall chores are whittling away!

Fall Activities

We have our fall chores under control!  The gardens are tilled and the back garden has been enlarged to nearly triple size as the original garden is now too shady - tree growth, go figure!!  We have yet to rake and mulch the leaves into the gardens, but they are STILL falling!!   While waiting, we have been baking a new bread recipe - sourdough batter bread.  Just mix, let raise, turn into the loaf pan, let raise and bake!!  Really good and, so far, foolproof!!  The Mabry Mill quilt is half finished; it is looking pretty good.  Have finished two afghans, knitted a hat and almost finished a scarf and my sister has sent a pattern for mittens.  Also I have done some sewing but still have lots to go. Good thing winter is almost here, maybe stuff will get finished!  We have had some company lately, my sister came from "up north" and also Dan and family.  Did a lot of fun shopping; herbs, crafty stuff and the like.  By the way bought a new car, a Fiat 500; NICE!!  Will miss the Jeep (after all it was 10 years with us), but this is so like the Festiva we used to have!

Woke up the other morning to this beautiful site under the Bradford pear trees - the deer really like the little tiny pears the trees drop in the fall and we love seeing them!