Sarge on sick leave

After a couple of days of looking sick and depressed, Sarge has been put in Intensive Care. (i.e., the laundry room.) We feared she was egg-bound the first of last week, but she seemed to perk up after a day or two. However, yesterday she started acting lethargic again and standing around with her tail feathers drooping. So this morning she received a good dose of medicine in the form of a liquid antibiotic and some electrolyte, and now is convalescing in private. Hopefully this will help her feel better soon... Sarge is my favorite green-egger and I would be very sad if anything happened to her.







On a happier note- my Dad surprised me yesterday with the news that he has ordered some honey bees for me! YAY! My dad kept bees for years but lost his hive about two years ago. I mentioned once to him that if he would teach me everything he knew about them then I would love to try bee keeping, so he not only ordered us bees, but also built two brand new hives! Since my dad is a carpenter, I have no doubt these hives are built very well and should last us a very long time. I'm so excited! He also gave me this wonderful book....



I've only had enough time to skip through it so far, but it has some awesome information in it- everything from how to maintain your hive to making beeswax candles!



Well, I'm off to check on Sarge again before I go outside and dig around in my raised beds.

Happy Monday, everybody!

Finally Spring!

It's finally here! The last couple of weeks have been busy for me- I've been doing some Spring cleaning as well as some outside projects- the warm days have been so nice....


All winter long I've been cooped up indoors trying new recipes- (this was Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower soup recipe... it was delicious!)

Sewing.....

And watching outside my window as the snow fell..... *Sigh*

But no more! Now it's digging in the dirt.....

And taking long walks in the morning with a few of my friends!

And of course this scene is being played out a million times....

And you know I can't resist the urge.......

Smokey loves Spring, too.... but does not like it when I put the camera up to his nose.




A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had won a couple of neat give-aways.... my package arrived from my friend Debbie at A Make-Do Life, and boy, was I surprised when I saw the other goodies she had for me inside.....

She made me a custom laundry bag! With my name on it! *SQUEAL*

And the little sachets smell so heavenly... it made the whole package smell great! Thank you so much, Debbie!

Well, I'm off to do chores... sorry I've neglected you lately, dear bloggy friends.... I promise I'll try and do better- but this time of year it's so hard to stay inside and in front of a computer!! Please know- I still love ya'll!

Dreaming of what will be....

Hubby and I have been planning this year's garden and deciding on what kind of veggies we want- we're hoping the weather will cooperate and we'll be able to plant early this year. Corn and beans are always staples of our garden, but which ones do we want to try? There's so many varieties to choose from.... *sigh*... Burpee, why do you keep sending me your glorious catalog and messin' with my mind?

The weather has been cold, but we're supposed to be having some warmer days on the way.... I'm ready for it!

The raised beds Hubby made for me last year worked great for our cucumbers, sort of okay for the tomatoes and peppers, but not very well for the sweet potatoes. The beds didn't have enough room to stake the tomatoes and dig the sweet potatoes when they were ready. I'm thinking this year we will use one bed for peppers, one for cucumbers, and one for my herbs, and put the tomato plants and sweet potatoes out somewhere more roomy.

The Silkies have turned their coop into a regular Melrose Place.... "broody" does not even begin to describe how they're acting right now. Eggs are popping out every day, nests are being guarded fiercely, and the hens are turning on each other. Clementine screeches and pecks Gertie whenever she's less than three feet from her, Gertie is picking on Belle, and my once sweet little Sadie is picking a fight with everybody. She even tried to peck the end of Smokey's nose yesterday. (And yes, you can imagine how well that went over...)

Poor Beau and Cecil are looking at each other like, "What do we do? I'm not gettin' on HER back!"

"You talking about me?"

No way, Sadie- not me!