Memorial Day in review?

     I Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day. It's nice to have a three day weekend but when it falls on a day of remembrance sometimes we tend to let the day drift by without remembering why we really have that "extra day" off of work. What's just as sad is the amount of people that don't even realize for whom or why we have Memorial Day. It's not just a day for the recent men and women that died in battle for our country but for all of the wars past and present. I pray each day for our soldiers here and abroad and for their families. It takes a lot to be a soldier. To leave home and go to foreign soil, to help another country while still holding on to ours.  I remember when my husband would have to go away I would get comments from people that "they could never leave their family like that". But looking back now, the person that said that to me doesn't have a giving heart like my husband had or still has. Yes, it takes a special person to be a soldier. It also takes an equal person to be here at home making sure everything will be alright for when that soldier returns home. And it takes a country to be here for the family if God forbid the soldier doesn't make it back home. Sometimes I feel like our country has lost the enthusiasm it once had, the proudness, the unity to stand undivided, or even if it is divided, just to stand. 

This is why I don't throw things out:-) This little peep was a late bloomer, the other babies hatched out over a week ago. The twins had given up on hatching the rest of the eggs (4) because the babies that were already hatched were too much to keep up with for one little hen. This little one stayed in the bator over night after hatching. I put her out with the other six siblings the next day. She was wobbly at first and I was afraid that the moms wouldn't take her in. They pecked at her off and on for a bit but it wasn't hard pecks it was more like a cleaning peck. Anyway, by afternoon you could barely tell her from the rest of the peeps. 

We have been having a lot of rain. But we did have one day with some sunshine, that was a yard and bee day. (I'll get into our bees in another post).

As I was cutting grass out by the patio I saw the grass moving and I was hoping it was a glass snake. I love seeing these in my yard. They are really lizards and eat insects. When frightened or captured they will break off or shatter their tail, in an attempt to escape, only to regrow it. Hence the name "glass". I presume they are also called snakes is because they are long and slither like a snake. If you google glass snake it has some interesting things to say about them.  
This one posed really well for me to snap some neat pictures. They remind me of a zucchini squash with their colors.
These girls are doing a lovely job! I am so thankful! I would much prefer a hen to raise biddies than for me to do it from an incubator. They seem to grow so much better. I love to hear them call the babies when I go out to feed them, it's such a sweet sound with their low cluck,cluck. Then when they get something they start a fast low clucking sound. Come to think of it that's how roos call to the hens when he finds a treat to eat ;-D

Bee Natural/Bee Youself/Just Bee

TTFN!

Julie

The nature of things

When I decided to start this blog I wanted to write about things that I care about. Things that I know other people care about as well. I may be a little on the extreme side from time to time. Or as I've been told many times.........I think a little to deep. Taking that into consideration I may spark a bit of insight with the way you think or you might just think I'm a nut. That's okay just remember you're probably not far from either thought:-) 

I love life and that includes everything. Most people don't like the fact that I also like snakes, frogs, worms,bees and pretty much every creepy crawly thing that's around. BUT, don't get me wrong....just because I like these things does NOT mean that I will randomly pick them up or let them freely crawl on me:-) I just mean that we should respect them and let them Bee. They have just as much of a right to be here as we do, besides everything is here for a reason........right? Just think about this for a while. Why did God make that?????(pertaining to whatever it is you want to annihilate at the time)

My husband knows how I feel and he has come to except me and my way of thinking over the years;-) an example of that was the other day he came to me and told me that something awful has happened and that I should come look........I went into panic mode and started my questioning routine. Is it one of the chickens????? "No, but I think right now it's worse".....Worse what could be worse???? Then I did panic.....one of our Son's????? The dogs????

"No...no....just come see"

(pause time) Most of you might think "why didn't she think of Her Sons before the chickens"....well our "young men" are grown and out on their own now and given the circumstance of the way my husband approached me, he had no phone and we were both outside working in the yard.......so thought #1 chickens;-)

(I apologize for the side ways picture. My picture program won't let me rotate.) 

This poor snake was climbing the tree and got tangled in a piece of netting my husband had hanging in the tree. He was going to cut the lead out of it. The snake was already dead when he found it.
He seems to think it was this snake, but I don't. I went to collect eggs a few days before the "snake in a tree incident" and when I went to put my hand in the last laying box something caught my eye and I quickly drew my hand out and screamed....yes screamed.....after all I am a girl. With my heart pounding I ran to get my husband, not to kill the snake, just remove it. It was curled up with an egg in it's mouth. (I want to pause here for a minute) I'm a person that believes everything happens for a reason.......here's an example....a few days before this, my husband (Joe) was using my hoe and it broke leaving just a hook.....now how convenient was that! I grabbed the now hook and gave it to him and it worked perfectly! As you can see the snake got to keep it's now egg in the throat meal and was set free....to probably be back another day, unless........ it was the one that got tangled in the net;-(    Most of the snakes around our place are non-poisonous, but I usually don't take chances....I just run;-) They are just as scared because they usually take off the other way too. I try to explain to people not to kill them because they do help us...they eat things that we don't want in our house eating our food. Also the owls, hawks and other birds of prey feed on the snakes as well. When we kill off everything that we are afraid of or don't like it throws things out of balance. I have lost allot of eggs and chickens to predators but it is my responsibility to protect them as best as I can without harming the wildlife. After all we moved into their territory and took away their hunting grounds and food. While I can't or won't watch it happen............I understand. 

But what I won't tolerate is someone letting their dog or cat run loose to come in my yard to kill.(I have actually lost more animals to domesticated animals(other peoples dogs) than to wildlife)I will and have gone to battle over that. But that's another story.

It's raining today again......most people are fussy about it but not me. I've got so much inside work to catch up on that I needed another day of rain. I tend to go from outside to inside getting so sidetracked in both places that I don't get what I want or NEED to, accomplished on sunny days. 

A prime example is I figured out this picture posting "where I want them to go thing" even though I still don't think it's user friendly but that's just me.

I'm also rendering bees wax today, along with some deep cleaning on this old house. 

I still have a lot of wax to render so I'll close for now.

TTFN!

Bee Natural/Bee Yourself/Just Bee

  Julie

The Joy of Having a Sister

The twins are raising their peeps wonderfully! I can't believe how sweet they are to each other and the babies love both moms equally. Six have hatched out of the ten, I brought the other four in and candled them, two look like duds, one has a peep in it and the other is still to early for me to tell. (I have raised chickens off and on for over 20 years and still can't get the hang of candeling. I have a fear of throwing something out that "just maybe has a chance". I'm like that with plants and flowers too) anyway.......I put them in the incubator so when the one I 'm sure of hatches I'll put "her" out with the others. 

The reason I believe that the peeps are hatching out at such a time distance from each other is because some of the eggs were bigger than mom herself and they kept rolling out from under her some of the time, no matter how much she kept tucking them under. Sometimes the eggs would be cold when I tucked them back under her and fluffed up her nest to hold them in. It doesn't seem to hurt the peeps when the eggs go through a bit of coolness, it just slows down the hatching a bit. But, I do know that if they get too hot it will hurt or even kill the baby chic. 

Maybe that's why her "sis" decided to help out ;-) 

When I thought about starting this blog I wanted to post alot about nature but I have to figure this setup out, the pictures don't want to go where I want them to go. So come back to visit who knows maybe next time I'll have something exciting or unexpected to see.

TTFN!

Julie

Two Moms

I call these two The Bobbsie twins, they have always been together. So, I guess it is only natural that they would want to be moms together. The box that they nested in is to high off the ground for babies, so my dear sweet husband helped me put together a pen for them. Actually, it was the transition pen that we had put together for baby peeps that I finished hatching in the incubator.(another whole new story) I spent most of last week putting up a new pen to move them in, so now I have a nursery pen as well as a transition pen.  I hope I haven't lost anyone;-)

I was really afraid that the twins would object to the move but as you can see they took to it very nicely.  Grey and the other baby peeps are not adjusting so well. Grey is the oldest of the peeps and she is very protective. She's always the first one to come running when she hears me and the first one to check to make sure everything is okay. You can see her coming down the flank when I went out to check on them before coming in for the night.

I'm not sure what kind of bantams the twins are....I traded some of my big hens for four bantams last summer. I've never been fond of bantams or so I thought. I've always had large chickens but I have to admit I have really enjoyed these hens. 

Well, I'm still learning how to do this posting and blogging thing. The pics didn't post in the order I had written about them, so if you have questions feel free to ask:-)

I have alot more pictures to post and things to write about, it's supposed to be rainy this week so maybe I'll get some computer time in........well, in between clouds :-)

TTFN!

Julie

Happy Mothers' Day

I would like to wish every female out there a Wonderful Mothers Day. Even if you don't have human children I feel quite sure you're a Mom to something! Being a woman we are born with an instinct to care, to love, to nurture.  It takes a very special person to care for life, to love life, and to make sure that things are okay. So if you have a yard full of animals (pets) or plants or anything that has life running through it's veins and you take care of it you are a Mom. So to all of us females I wish us all a very Happy Mothers Day. (And for you Fathers out there, don't fret your day is coming;-)

Speaking of things to care for I still have a few to see to, so til then.....

Happy Mothers Day!

TTFN!

Julie

Welcome

Welcome to my blog page, my name is Julie and even though I've read countless blogs I really don't have a clue of what I'm doing;-) I do know that I have a lot of ideas, experiences and thoughts to share. I am a work in progress and so is this blog so please bear with me. Any suggestions/comments will be considered but please be kind.......remember I'm a newbie;-)
A little about me:
I've been married now for a bit over 31 years to my soulmate, he & I have 3 wonderful sons.
We have a small plot of land here on this earth & there is always something more to do. We have honeybees, chickens and dogs to fill our time, when we're not busy with the yard & house.
I love life and all that nature has to offer me, I am also very thankful for what it has given me.
I'm sure you'll learn more about us (me) as the blog grows.
Until next time......TTFN!
Julie