A Moment in Time: Morning

 A moment in time. The grass and flowers still wet with dew. 

Boys with shovels, pots and a plan. Their entrepreneurial minds at work.

A little girl smelling and picking flowers. 

And I am thankful that I get to spend these mornings with them. Together.

Mama Hen

 A couple of weeks ago Chickory went missing. The kids mourned her loss, assuming the fox got her. But 2 days later she came screeching into the yard, clucking and carrying on. Then promptly disappeared again. For a week she would show up every 2 days until finally we discovered her nest, safely in a corner of the barn. She was sitting on 20 eggs.

Now Chickory isn't a big bird. She's actually pretty scrawny. So I pulled about 9 eggs and left her with the rest, hoping it was a more manageable number for her to keep warm. I candled the eggs, threw out the non-fertile eggs and set the rest in the incubator. Yesterday was hatch day. We had one peeping in the incubator when we woke up and 2 more working their way out. A peek under Chickory revealed 3 chicks.

By mid-afternoon she had 7. And by evening, when all was said and done she had 9 little babies. And we still only had our 3 inside. We moved her into a safe, enclosed location- our "chick house" within the larger storage area of the chicken house. We slipped our 3 under her as well.

This morning we went out to visit them. Chickory is all fluffed out with her dozen chicks all crammed under her wings.

All but one so far looks to be half Brahma- fluffy feet and all. Only one little one- all yellow and no fluffly feet.

Annika is in love. She was sad to see the chicks leave the house. But is happy to be able to go out and spend time in the barn with the birds.

Here's our rooster, one of them anyway. A big, beautiful Buff Brahma who gave us lots of colorful little babies!

Motherhood and Then Some

Day 6 of Blogging Everyday in May. Topic: If you couldn't answer with  your job, how would you answer the question 'What do you do?'

I am not sure what my technical job title would be. When filling out paperwork I am forced to check the not employed or homemaker box (both of which I hate, by the way). So what do I do, exactly?

I am a wife. I am a parent. A mother.

I am a hairdresser. A mediator. A first-aid administer. 

I am an English teacher. A science teacher. A history teacher. 

An art teacher. A gym teacher. A music teacher.

I am a memory maker. A photographer.  A memory preserver.

I am a party planner. A travel agent. A maid. 

I am a baker. A decorator. A caterer.

I am a farmer. An animal caretaker. A animal midwife. 

I am a gardener. A cook. A food preserver. A seed saver.

 I am a writer. A blogger. And right this very moment, I will stop and be a story teller to a sleepy little girl with a Dora book in her hand.