The flock

The rescued flock is fitting in and doing great along with our original flock. A couple have died, one was seemingly healthy and was giving us a blue egg everyday. We found her dead for no apparent reason. The old one with an infection in her eye recently died. She had other issues, she was loosing weight and tipped over frequently. She was otherwise very happy, ate, drank and stuck up for herself with the others. She loved to be held and the week before she died all the horse kids spent a lot of time snuggling her. The day before she died she sat on the big swing with me and our friend Ritchie. She died peacefully and we are happy that her last couple months were spent free and happy.

Our twins...inseparable.

from the rescued flock, fat and healthy now.

Amazing blue eyed Orphington.

all the rest have yellow eyes.

Momma to the black baby

The black baby..looks much like a hawk when you see her.

The rooster has all his feathers now, daddy to the black baby

She is finding the feel

Lately Scout is very interested in ground work. I try to let that flourish by always giving her the opportunity to work on it. We took Tonto out for grass and Scout, as usual, got her brush and groomed her pony. Then she wanted to take her for a walk. We headed for the trails behind the house. Scout leads, holding the end of the lead line. Tonto and I follow behind her. Scout decides which trails we will take. As she marches along she is saying "Tonto walk", "Tonto come", "good dog", "whoa", "Tonto kiss me" (after Tonto nuzzled her check). I noticed 2 fabulous things on this walk. First, Tonto was not trying to walk over the top of Scout. She was patiently walking along with Scout's pint sized steps. Second, Scout has developed a feel. She never looked back at Tonto while walking. However, if Tonto slowed to nibble something Scout, without slowing down or looking back, would bark out "Tonto walk" and forge ahead. I was really surprised by it happening so young...but extremely delighted!

Beach Day

Today seemed like a great day for the beach. Scout and I took the dogs and headed to the beach for a walk. Scout did not want to go into the back pack, she wanted to walk. First she walked Ace, on his leash...she loves walking the animals. Then we looked for treasures. Today there were lots of crab shells and claws and lots of stones. We stopped so she could throw stones into the ocean and then get down on her hands and knees to rub her hands in the huge piles of stones.

It was a great time to talk about footprints. She could look behind her and see her own, and mine and then we searched for Ace and Seamus prints. She saw the tire tracks and said "jeep". I love seeing her face when she is discovering something new. You can just see the information soaking into her brain.

We saw gulls and terns and...

SEALS!! They were traveling along the shore. Heads kept popping up as we traveled down the beach. The weather was great and the dogs were happy to be able to run on the beach again. LIFE IS GOOD.

Winter is coming

The mornings are getting colder and thoughts of snow are on our minds. Winter fun will be here soon. Here are some great shots to get you in the mood.

Lizzie and the boys.

Little, the watcher

Our Lizzie...we miss her.

Satinka, the queen

Takoda, the clown

Family fun

Fall Harvest

Winter is coming and we are putting the gardens to bed.  This is a sample of our last :( harvest. We are so proud of the LONG carrots. This is the first year we have accomplished it. Success certainly is attributed to the new deep raised bed we made this year. We also got a trash can full of potatoes. They were an afterthought, we just tossed some potatoes that began to grow eyes into the trash cans and put in some compost! We picked several gourds, pumpkins, cukes and still in the ground are beets, swiss chard and eggplant.

We are spreading are beautiful compost on the bare spots in the yard and planting grass. We are cleaning out all the pots and putting away the lawn furniture. The chicken coop is getting winterized. Zach finished shingling the wood shed we built (out of discarded pallets and stockade fencing). We Have 2 cords of wood split and stacked under the protection of the shed so far. Winter (and skiing!) will be here soon and we are prepared! Life is Good.

Explorers Day

Last Monday (commonly known as Columbus Day but we know he did not discover America) we all had the day off together so we went for a paddle in our newly acquired canoe. We have discovered the barter section of Craig's list and have been able to trade a couple things we don't need/use for 2 canoes that we have been wanting! We hope to go canoe camping next year.

Scout helps daddy launch our canoe. We went to Great Pond in Eastham. We chose it because it would only be a 2 mile paddle around the edge and we could shoot right back to the truck if Scout decides she isn't having fun. To our delight we discovered Wiley park directly across from our put in. There was a beach, playground, bathrooms and picnic tables. The perfect half way spot for Scout to get out have lunch, potty and play. Great Pond is the largest kettle pond on the Cape.

The canoe gives Scout a lot more room to move then the kayak. Scout and Michelle had the front. We cut a soft cushion out of a pool float that we found at the dump (brand new). Then we added some items on strings, a net, a "paddle" (actually a tiny hockey stick), a small boat and a bucket full of rocks and pine cones. This provided lots of entertainment as well as the bird watching, which she always enjoys.

And finally we had PERFECT weather for a perfect day.

More Music Class

You have seen them before but we just LOVE our music class. Scout has always loved it and is now participating much more (before she ran around the room, paying attention but mostly doing her own thing).

Class always starts with the drum.

bang with little fingers

wind

she plays the drum now instead of sitting on it.

"bye drum"

jumping

clapping

shaker eggs

down dog

she is interested in books now

picking up

scarfs...always a favorite

Cowgirl

Scout loves her horses. They are everywhere! Her real horses, of course, in the back yard. And all the others everywhere else. She set up her 3 little stuffed ponies around her breakfast plate this morning. She chatted away with them while she ate. She has a couple with reins that she "walks" around the house during her training sessions. There are the big "inside" ponies that she rides. She also has the little plastic kind that she will set up and is always trying to give her bears a ride too. We are so happy her imagination is so vivid!

Pretend play

There is so much pretend play in our lives now. It is so much fun to watch her creativity, enthusiasm and vivid story telling. She is such a sponge...learning from everything around her. We will nurture that love of learning so it will always be there.

"walk",  "sit" as she mimics leading her little horse around the house.

playing with Sam's shoes.

Scout, Sam and Zach

watering the tomato plant. Yeah...she doesn't like wearing pants.