End of week update

This week really flew by.  It's been so very hot here this week - easily 90 degrees every day with very high humidity.  Nothing really to do but stay inside and try not to wilt.  The plan was to read a little.   I ordered the book The Price of Salt off of Ebay but it hasn't made it here yet.  I've wanted to read this book for awhile because the reviews make it sound haunting and beautiful. Hopefully it will be here soon.  What better way to wait out hot summer days than with a romance novel?

I did manage to get the garage primed this week and started to paint it. I can pretty much get about an hour's worth of work done before the heat gets to me and I head inside.  It looks great and I'll keep chipping away at it.

Two ducklings hatched out of the incubator in the basement, making my hatch rate a dismal 20%.  I set 10 eggs and when I candled after the first week, saw that 1 was cracked and two somehow had air cells in the middle ( not on either end but in the center of a side).  From there I pulled infertile eggs and went into lock down with 5 alive.  Only 2 hatched.  Possible parents: Hen (runner or pekin) & Drake (pekin or mallard) I'll have to get pictures.  They're yellow with black spots.  We went for a drive tonight and I saw that a neighbor has a "baby ducks for sale" sign by the road (what are the odds?) so I think I'll stop tomorrow. I was hoping to put more ducks in the freezer than this come fall.

What else... listed some more things on Ebay and worked on some craft projects.  Little man turns 1 year old next week (!). We've been working on saying "how old are you? ONE!" and having him do this:

It mostly does not work, but we're getting there.

This is going to be just a couple of people and a "balloons and cake with sprinkles" kind of affair.  I am making a bunting for the party.  It seems like a lot of people suggest that you sew two triangles right sides together, turn them right side out and press  to make each one.  I don't have that kind of time.  I made a paper template and pinned it to two layers, wrong sides together, and sewed around it.  Then I cut them out with pinking shears. The triangles aren't sewn in yet, just laid out to look at the colors.  Notice Bee's tiny paw.

Also worked on little man's quilt. I've done two of each of these colors for a total of 8 blocks. Need to buy two more shades of blue to finish with a total of 12 blocks.  They'll be set 3x4. So happy with how this is turning out. 

Let's end the weeks with some poultry pictures.  Mr. Rooster and the lone ranger.

More chickens.  Two of Mr. Rooster's daughters and his son.

Turkeys with little man's stroller for scale.  We were doing our evening rounds.  I think I have a tom and a hen?

The banty rooster.  

Still sleeps in the pine tree but has been doing it alone for about two weeks.  Where is the hen, you might ask?  Good question.  I see her come by in the early morning each day to eat and then she disappears again.  Three of our 5 acres are overgrown brush and bramble and she, being the size of an orange and brown colored besides, could be anywhere.  No clue.  For those of you that may be mentally working out this equation:

banty hen + sorta missing + comes home for quick bite and sip then disappears everyday = ?

I'm right there with you.  I fully expect to see a clutch of chicks in our yard any day.