Wednesday, October 17, 2018

BABY CHICKS HATCHED!

I had two broody hens sitting on eggs. One of them got up because of all the rain we had. Her area got wet and cold. She was done. I rebuilt her area back up to see if she might sit on them again. By the second day she buried them and the eggs were cold.

So we still have one more broody hen on two eggs. Been checking her and she finally had them on the coldest day. I put a heat light in her stall just to help her keep them warm. Got her some feed. 






TONS OF RAIN!

Coming back from Minnesota we received a ton of rain. 




This morning I received a text from our daughter. It was a couple of pictures and a video.



EmilyMae loves mud puddles.
The next few pictures are what we sent her standing in puddles.

Big puddles everywhere.

There is mud everywhere.

This is the overflow from our pond.
At one point our pond was drying up over the summer.
Look at the flow now.


Video of the pond overflowing.

The water is just rolling down to the hen house.

The ground is so wet the water is just standing.
Poor hens!

I didn't have a chicken tractor ready for these roosters.
Poor things, their food kept getting wet and clogging up.


Our pool was so full and standing water all the way around it.
I plan on shutting it down. Just waiting on the pool cover to come.
Last year the cover didn't even last 4 months before it was shredded.

GOING TO MINNESOTA!!

Tim and I planned a trip to Minnesota.
It happened to work out that Skylar and Kaitlin could come with us. Now we are making a family trip and we decided to get a RV so we could spend time together.

While the girls still had to work, Tim and I picked up the RV. He brought home the trailer from work last night.
We worked on loading up the items we would need on our trip.

The girls made it home and loaded up their bags.
I think we all are excited to spend some time together. Since the girls started college classes and are gone more and working too, we just haven't had much family time.

So Tim and I are making the most time we can with our beautiful daughters. They are growing up fast!

The RV is very spacious.

Most of the drive was in the rain and hit some traffic and lets not forget the road construction.

It took right at 5 1/2 hours.
I had made dinner before leaving home so all we had to do was heat it up. Yummy chicken noodle with mashed potatoes.
It was much colder in Minnesota. Just the day before we left we were having 90 degree weather. We did pack for colder weather.

~~~ SATURDAY ~~~
 
We camped at River View Campground in Owatonna, Minnesota.
We arrived in the dark so this morning we are checking out our site.

We arrived in the dark and now that it's morning the sun isn't even out. We have a big day planned. Tim's sister Rebekah who only lives 8 minutes from the campsite is coming to pick us up.

Tim is making all of us breakfast before we leave.
Eggs and bacon = Yum!


Enjoying some coffee while breakfast is cooking.
The girls are getting ready for the day. No outside chores today.
We have a wonderful neighbor and his family caring for all of our animals.

💖
We kiss a lot!

This is what the RV backed up too.


Enjoying our breakfast.

Rebekah picked us up and we are heading up to Red Wing Minnesota. Tim's other sister lives there.

Tim and I.

Kaitlin, Skylar and Aunt Rebekah.

Rebekah, Keturah, Skylar, Krystal, Tim and Kaitlin.
We are standing out on the balcony of the floor she lives on.

Keturah has quite the view from the balcony.






Keturah gave us a tour of the building she lives in.


Afterwards we took a walk through the downtown area where she lives.
(and yes it is cold but not bad)



This was a window display.

Red Wing Shoe Company

This boot is huge!!

This is pretty cool, we got to have our picture taken.

One of the first machines they used to make boots with.

Check out the groove that holds the scissors.
After years of using them and putting them back, caused the wood to wear down.

Where Keturah works, she assembles the boxes and put these exact items in it. That's pretty cool.

Stage one of making boots.

Stage two of making boots.

Stage three of making boots and then they go in the box and ready to ship.
We walked around the upstairs museum and it had so much history.
There was a letter from a customer who bought boots for $4.50. 

We stopped in the Caribou Coffee Shop to warm up.

Apparently each store is given a boot to decorate with.
Here a couple that we saw along our walk.



We stopped and ate at the Liberty's Restaurant.
They offered a buffet or you could order off of the menu.
I would say order the pizza from the menu. It tasted so much better than from the buffet. 


Everyone warming up and enjoying some food.
It was so nice to be able to visit with these two beautiful sisters of mine.


Happy Halloween!!
The town is ready for Halloween.

We can't resist a bookstore.
We have so many books. I finally pulled out all of our books as they have been boxed up for years. No exaggeration!
We had 2-3 of the same books. Now we know what we have and don't because I have put them on the shelf.

We drove up to Memorial Park.

A scenic skyline drive.

Myself with Kaitlin and Rebekah.
Not sure if she should take her eyes off the the roadway for a picture.


We stopped to take in the scenery and some photos.
It is a big cliff behind us.


My beautiful daughters!!


Tim and his sisters.

Kaitlin and Skylar with their Aunts Rebekah and Keturah.

What an amazing view that photos don't capture.







Well it was time to take Keturah back to her apartment.
We had such a wonderful time visiting with her. We are so proud of all her accomplishments. Thanks for showing us around and visiting with us.

We headed back to Rebekah's hometown.
We stopped in at Applebees for some dinner.
Celebrating lots in our lives.

 And this would be why we are celebrating!!!
Skylar and Kaitlin just bought a car.
Which explains why we traveled to Minnesota and had an empty trailer behind the RV. Also why Rebekah drove us around.
The last part is because she loves us.

Them girls are so excited!!!
Hard earned money bought this.

Aunt Rebekah, Kaitlin and Skylar


After dinner we gathered up some wood and headed back to our campsite.

What do you get when you have a campfire, graham crackers, marsh mellows, and Hershey's chocolate bars???

A S'more's night !!!!

What a beautiful way to end our evening.

~~~ SUNDAY ~~~
We are heading back to Missouri today. But, before we leave we head over to Rebekah's for breakfast. 

Her cat Gwen.
It's her favorite cat. In her favorite place.

A couple more quick photos before hitting the road.








The girls and I packed away items and Tim got the outside stuff ready to go.

Got the tanks emptied out and now we are ready to get the trailer we had to unhitch the first night.

Strapping down the car on the trailer.

If you are ever in this area and want to stay somewhere, this place is a very nice camping place.

Now we are off to our homestead.
It's been nice being with family. We don't get to get away often. We are hoping to come back next fall to visit.