Good News - Bad News

I'm not going to ask which you want first.

This morning we lost one of our little chicks. They all seemed to be doing great as of bedtime last night, but this morning Bud woke me at 6 to tell me that 'Fireball' was having a bad dream.

Fireball was the one & only chick that Bud seemed to be interested in. Yeah, he laughs at Big Mama, and takes notice of the cute things that the others do, but Fireball was his.

Sure enough, Fireball was not doing well when I made it into the kitchen. She did appear to be sleeping & dreaming, but I knew better. So I held her until the end. I am thankful for the life lesson that the Lord provided there. It gave Steve & I a chance to talk to Bud about a topic that doesn't happen to us everyday.

Fireball will be joining our past pets (Peanut the guinea pig, Gus & Sam the dogs, and Squirt my cat) in a burial ceremony later this morning. So please keep my kids in your thoughts this morning, as this is hard for them.

On a much lighter note.....
The barn swallows are home! Every year we keep our eyes peeled to notice their return. They arrived this morning, within 1/2 hour of me telling hubby that it wouldn't be long before the swallows would be swooping down on the cats as they strutted across the yard. Robins, barn swallows... Now we eagerly await the hummingbirds.

Herrrrrrrrre, chick, chick, chick........

I just realized that my chickens are one week away from calling my kitchen “home”. I have 15, day-old fuzzballs coming next Thursday, and you can imagine, I’m not ready.

I’ve come to realize that this is how I do things..... Examine options, choose, plan, fret, scramble to prepare, “the big day”, breathe a sigh of relief now that “it” is over. Lather-rinse-repeat.

Well, the chicken coop is semi-finished. Their yard is fenced in, the walls of the coop are up, and the door is hung, but there is so much left to tackle.

I do realize that they won’t even be in the coop for awhile, as they’ll be in the house. So I do have a little time to finish up out there. This week though, I need to get their temporary housing set up. Picture a plastic toddler wading pool, with a wire mesh ceiling. Did I mention we have 2 cats? Should be interesting.