ANIMALS!

Aren't they cute?

Yes I am hatching out more baby chicks.

Its addicting, besides they are so cute.


I got them moved out to the hen house.


Ms. Boss's babies


Ms. Boss and her babies enjoying some pumpkin.


The brown-legged horn chicks and some of Sassy-Pant's babies.
They all have gotten so big.

After butchering all of the turkeys three days before Thanksgiving, this is the only one we kept. Kaitlin has grown attached to her.
Okay, I have too. 

Check this out. 

That's right them ducks are in the pond. I have finally got them to do what I have been wanting them to do. And that is swim in the pond. They are in it 90 % of the time.

They are lovin' it!

And so am I.

Cuddles is just a mess!

I am not sure how this happened but that is spray foam on her.

Tim had the bottle and was using it and the next thing I know she has it all over her. He doesn't know how she got any on her.

Funny!

Alex

Phantom

Squirt AKA Caramel

Update on the two kittens we kept.

We had to give them up. They were killing and eating our young pullets. That is just something we don't want on the homestead. We found them a very nice home where they don't have any chickens. They will be spoiled. 

Our new rabbit, Amber.

Well, Kaitlin's new rabbit. She plans on breeding her with Greyson.

Amber is a Rex and Greyson is a American Blue which both are duel purpose. That means that both are good for meat and fur. Their demeanor is very gentle and docile, meaning they make a great pet.

Her plans are to get a male Rex.

Hope

And now them new puppies..........

They both are doing great.

We all were real worried about bringing them home for the first couple of weeks. You remember our last puppy Hope got parvo from our property. She was very sick and we almost lost her.

You can read more about that here.

The puppies are going in for their 3rd set of shots this week and, they are still doing good. We have taken special measures in caring for them. We called the vet before bringing them home. The doctor talked me through what we needed to do.

Scout

Shadow

 The puppies have found the pond.

They love it!

 It was such a nice day that Kaitlin took the Kayak out.

The puppies wanted her so bad.

Check out the video:

ANOTHER LOAD OF FIREWOOD!

Good Morning!

Or evening, or whatever time it is for you.

We gave the chickens some after thanksgiving leftovers.

They sure were enjoying it.

While the girls and I were gone for the day.....

Tim went and brought not one load but.....

two loads of fire wood home. A friend did some clearing and had offered us some of the wood. So, Tim spent most of his morning and early afternoon cutting wood and putting it in the truck.

The girls and I came out to help him when he got home.

Tim did the splitting, while the girls and I stacked them.

It took Tim two days to get it all split.

Got that load done!

But, there is still more he can get.

HELPING SOME FRIENDS!

Tim went over to ours friends house to help dig some trenches to run a water line and electrical lines.

The morning started out rainy and cold. Thankfully the rain stopped but it was still cold.

A couple of hours in this is the progress.

This is for the water lines. 

Kaitlin checking out the two goats. More coming next week.

The water line is going on the left side of this picture to the right side of the barn.

 The septic is in the far right side. 

To the left of the septic the electrical line is being ran to the barn.

Tim had to dig out some big rocks that was in the way.

Now they (Tim, Aaron, and Tony) are having to hand dig.

This is so they don't dig and bust the water line they are hooking up to.

This path is made for the electrical line to be ran to the barn area.

The electrical line will run from this side of the house.

This electrical line goes on the other side of the septic area.

Getting the water line ran.

Filling in the dirt to hold the line down.

By the time we left the water was running.

THANKSGIVING PREP DAY!

Two days before Thanksgiving .........




Skylar brought in the turkey we butchered just a couple of days ago. It's time to get him brined.


First, I had to get the brine put together and cook it in a pot.
This smells amazing!

After it cools.........


We add it to the cooler. This big boy weighs 25 lbs. Usually I put in a 5 gallon food grade bucket. Not this year, he is too big. So we pulled out the cooler.


Now we got the brine added, I will add ice in bags. I don't want to water it down. I will also need to flip the the turkey several times before he is ready to cook.


THE DAY BEFORE
~~~THANKSGIVING! ~~~

Flipping the turkey the next morning and several more times today.

Making some Oriental Slaw.
This is the some of the ingredients that can be prepared a day ahead of time.

The sauce is ready and I will refrigerate it until tomorrow.

Cherry cheese cake!
Tell me who don't like cherry cheese cake?!
Kaitlin got the filling mixed up.

While I got the yummy crust in the dish.

We will add the cherries later.

Now on to this delicious whiskey cream sauce.

I got it all cooked on the stove and then added the whiskey.

Now to bottle this up and put it in the refrigerator.
This is so good on apple and cherry pie.


In the meantime, I got two pumpkin pies baking in the oven.


Getting the eggs hard boiled.

Can't have thanksgiving without deviled eggs.

 

Using some homemade relish for this recipe.

GENIUS!

Pies are done!

We took the turkey out of the cooler rinsed him good and patted him dry.

Seasoned him up real good even with real butter!

And we slowed cooked him over night.
The smell of this turkey the next morning was amazing.

We spent the morning getting the rest of the cooking done.

Menu this year was:

Turkey
Ham
Mashed potatoes and Homemade Giblet Gravy
Green Bean Casserole
Corn
Yams
Oriental Cole Slaw
Deviled Eggs
Dinner Rolls
Relish Tray
Pumpkin Pie
Cherry Cheese Cake
Apple Pie
 Cherry Pie
Mini Cheese Cakes