Just some updates!

Well, things have been sorta eventful around these parts the last week or so. DH had been gone to Florida for work, so it was just the kids, the animals, and myself.

This past week seen another Tropical Storm. This one was pretty good! Still nothing major, but, it sure did leave lots of rain and plenty of wind! The ducks were LOVING it tho!

They sure have gotten big since we got them in March and early April!! Stacy is definitely a drake, and Candace is a hen. I'm also pretty sure that Phineas is a hen and Ferb is a drake. Woohoo! One of each! I'm excited about that!

We had been waiting for what seems like forever to get our chicks we ordered from Meyer. We originally didn't think that we were going to get them until mid July, but, it turns out that they had an over hatch and we were able to get them this week! Apparently it wasn't a very good week to get chicks via mail. When our 8 chicks arrived, only 3 were alive. The other 5 had gotten themselves outside of the matting and stuck between it and the box and were more than likely too cold and died. :( I called the hatchery as soon as I got home and they said that they would give me until Monday to make sure those 3 were going to make it, and they would replace them. Unfortunately, unless they have an over hatch, they may not have any chicks until August! I really don't want to wait until August to get the rest of my chicks! That would mean that I would need to give up my bathroom THREE times! LOL I think in about 3 weeks I'm going to get the chicks enclosure made up, and then they can go outside. It should be plenty warm enough that they don't need a heat lamp any more.

Here are the remaining 3 chicks tho!

From left to right we have Nugget, Bonnie, and Louise. I was going to name them Thelma and Louise, but DD had other plans. Of the ones that were gone when I opened the box, 2 were yellow, 1 was grey, and the other was chipmunk like Nugget and Bonnie. The other chick was a "meal maker" free chick and I'm pretty sure it was a black Australorp. I hope that when we get the new chicks that they're not all chipmunk. I'll update on Monday and let y'all know if I'll be getting chicks next week, or in a couple months. :/

Annie went to the vet this morning. She's getting SO big! She got her 12 week shots, and weighs 17 pounds.  She's gained almost 13 pounds since we got her. How crazy is that?!?! She's pretty much outgrown the crate that we have her in. We have a bolster bed in there, so if we took that out, she might still fit, but there's no tray to the bottom so I would feel bad about not having a nice squishy bed in there for her! Here's a picture of her in her favorite sleeping spot... under our table!

How could you ever be mad at that face? Even if she does have your $80 tennis shoe in her mouth! ;-) She's actually doing really well with the whole chewing thing. She mostly uses Lilly as her chew toy. Of course, lots of barking and hilarity begin about that time as well. :-)

Alberto

So... not much to report in on here at Ivy Hill. I've been pulling a steady handful+ of strawberries every day tho. Delicious ripe strawberries! YUM! The eggplant and peppers are starting to get the beginnings of flowers, and the tomatoes and beans HAVE flowers! Just thinking of sinking my teeth into a vine ripened tomato makes my mouth water with excitement!

The ducks are doing really well in their enclosure! They really like it out there! They seem to enjoy standing close to the fence when the dogs come out. The only one that really seems to get worked up any more is Dusty. She would stand there and bark at them for a good 5 minutes before giving up. Of course, when they get riled up and start running around their pen, all the dogs start to get riled up! Minus Annie of course. She doesn't really seem to give any thought to those ducks at all.

I think I might have made a big mistake when ordering our chicks. We ordered from Meyer Hatcheries. They had what was called a Meal Maker. I didn't really bother looking it up, because I thought it was just something that you put in their food or water when you get them. It was free, so I ordered one for each of the chicks... 7 in total. The other day I was checking on our order, just being curious, and I decided that I would look up what a meal maker was. IT'S A FREE CHICKEN! GAH! They say that they give these chickens away so that you can either donate the eggs, or slaughter the chicken and donate it to someone less fortunate or a soup kitchen or whatever. What am I going to do with 14 chickens?!?! We only wanted 7... we can't do 14! LOL Maybe I will give some to the neighbors. I don't know WHAT I'm going to do!

We did have Tropical Storm Alberto pushing in on us, but overnight he decided that he wanted to stay out to sea and not come visit. Thank GOODNESS! Tropical storms aren't too bad, just like a bad thunderstorm really. I'm just glad that we don't have to worry about it right now. Official hurricane season begins in June, so, we're just a bit early.

Anyways! That's all I got for now. :-)