I'm still here......

It has been so long since I have written anything that the new format is very strange to me.  When did all of this take place?

I've had a really busy summer and there is no other excuse.  I did have a stress fracture in my left foot that slowed my down for about 6 weeks with a walking and was taken out of it Oct 12th and today it is finally feeling better.  I was beginning to feel like I would live the rest of my life with a bum foot. 

The chickens are doing well.  I am going to find a home for Wilmer my remaining rooster because he keeps attacking me when I go into the coop to feed or water them.  Now I know that he is only protecting his hens but I don't wish to have to watch him every second to make sure he is not going to do his kung-fu move at me.  So he is going to go bye-bye.  I get an average of between 5 to 6 eggs a day.  Right now I am selling about 2 dozen a week.  I would love to have enough hens that I could get a dozen eggs a day but that will have to wait.  We put a light in the hen house when we built it and we now have it on a timer so they have heat a night.



Our daughter Jennifer came to stay for 5 days this August when she came home for her 20th high school reunion.  This is a picture of she and our daughter Sarah.  They are the best of friends for which I am thankful.  It was so good to have her.  I hope she gets to come with  the whole family next time.



I have been sewing up a storm this summer also making an Amy Butler Birdie Sling Bag.  So far I have made 16 and have my 17th cut out and ready to go.  I tried to load picture of them but I only seem to be able to do one picture.

There have been so many things that have gone on since I've been on here that's its hard to tell you about them all.  I will go for now and hopefully not be so long next time. 

P.S. Can anyone tell me if it's supposed to take forever for pictures to download on Blogger? I only seem to be able to do the one picture.  Thanks so much 

EGGS!!!

I started getting eggs last week. I have been so excited and I go out to the hen house about every 2

two or three hours to check to see if I have an egg. I usually get one in the late morning. So the one on the left is the one from today. It is significatly bigger than the last five. They all seem to be the same color so I beieve it is either Lucy or Ethal, one of the Rhode Island Reds that is laying. I give them all a pep talk after I collect the one egg and tell them thank you and please would the other girls start laying now?

I only have nine hens and one rooster now. Thelma turned out to be a rooster and she went to live at my friend's plant nursery. Wilmer now rules the roost for the time being.

So now that I can publish posts I seem to have hit the wrong button and hit the button too fast. So I will close for now with more to follow later. Tata.

My Beautiful Granddaughters

I am going to see if I can post this morning. For some reason I have not been able to post for a while. I will have a great post written with pictures and Blogger will not publish it. It has been very frustrating.

I have been having a great time with my granddaughters who are visiting from Idaho. They are Elizabeth and Samantha who are almost 19 and 17.

They are so much fun.

Talk to you soon.

Frustrated........

I am having an issue with Blogger and am wondering if anyone else is having the same issue. I have tried for two days to get on and comment on Lilac Cottage Blog and have not been able to stay signed in. I will sign in and when I comment in puts me on as Anonymous and kicks me off of being signed on. So frustrating!!!!

The other issue is since I got my computer back the last time a week ago I haven't been able to download any new pictures.

So many things have happened in the last couple of weeks The first thing was that our smallest pug Lola was attacked by the two big dogs next door. I won't go into all the details because it would take too long. She ended up having surgery on her leg and neck. A week later she was back in for more surgery because her neck wound fell apart from infection that was still in there and so had to go through all of that again. She is doing much better and the hard part is trying to keep her from scratching the incision and restricting her movements. She wants to run around the yard with her big brother. So she has to go outside with a makeshift harness that won't touch her stitches. But she is on the mend.

The neighbors paid a big portion of her vet bill and are in the process of putting up a much more secure fence on their side of the already existing fence.

The other thing is much happier. My son Chris moved from our house back into his home with his wife Jen and their two children. This is SUCH an answer to prayer. God is SO GOOD. All the time.

The garden is looking so good. I wish I could show you. The chickens are doing well and getting big. I hope big enough to start laying eggs in about a month.

I pray everyone has a good week. I'll say tata for now.

Morning in the Garden and Willow Creation

Wednesday morning I got to play in the garden for about an hour before I was off for the morning. I walked through the garden taking pitures of the flowers that are starting to bloom and here are just a couple of the blooms.

This is a small iris. They were so pretty with the dew drops on them.





A good friend Linda gave me a bunch of Solomon's Seal last year and they are blooming so well.

This was a plant I bought at the Master Gardener's Plant Sale this year. The name of it is on a tag in the next picture.

This next picture is my new willow creation that my brother Randy made me. It's sitting in front of the chicken run and it has a tub with sweet peas, basil and lemon verbena planted in it. I love it. We had such a good time making it together.

Here it is sitting in the middle of the grass with two bunnies.

Here's a better shot of it. The girls were all in a twit over it being in front of their space. They soon got over it. Just more to look at.

We've had some great days that have been wonderful for being out in. The beds are getting weeded and everything is starting to bloom.

I recieved my "Mennonite Girls Can Cook" cookbook today and have hardly been able to put it down. It has many great recipes and the stories from all the girls are heartwarming. If you've never gone to their blog before, there is a link on my sidebar.

I am waiting for my daughter Sarah to come and pick me up and we are going to go the the "Junk Salvation" show tonight. Our friend Tinell has a booth there with one of her friends and we will find lots of vintage items.

So I'll sign off and say tata.

Mother's Day, Chickens, Borders and Blessings

I hope all of you had a great Mother's Day. I know I did. Two of my three children were here to celebrate with me and my husband b-b-cued and they all made me feel really special. My oldest daughter called early in the morning to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.





I know it's been awhile since I was on here so here goes with some catching up. This is my son Chris holding Wilma/Wilmer. We're not sure yet if she's a she or a he. We'll know if she starts crowing. Chris really likes the chickens and checks on them almost daily.

Here some of them are with me in the run. Every time I go near them they all come running to see if I have brought them anything to eat. The great thing is that whenever I weed I just throw everything into the run and they get to go through it and pick and scratch whatever they want. Then I will take it all out and put it in the compost pile and it will make great compost. It's a win-win deal!

Here is our grandson Landen holding Laverne or Shirley. He really likes them too. Just like his dad, who when he was about 2 1/2, we went to see my mom and step-dad who lived on a walnut ranch. They had chickens and Chris decided he wanted to hold one. He went out into the chicken yard with just his shorts and some cowboy boots on and chased them until he caught one. He had a scratch on his chest and the biggest grin on his face. He was so thrilled that he had one.

This is our granddaughter Hailey who likes the chickens also. She is a very beautiful girl and we love her dearly. That day she happened to be wearing a pretty blue flowered raincoat.

I was going to have pictures of the plant exchange that I had on Saturday but the computer says it can't find my picture program. It can however find the pictures that are already on the computer. I want to thank Karen, Carla, Donna, Carla, Denise, Janet, Betty, Linda, Sharon, Yvonne, Paige and Sarah for all coming and making it a great time. Even though it rained during the garden tour there were many great plants here and a fun time was had by all. Leanne, we really missed you.

I have a bigger garden area and Mark has tilled up a new border for me that is 40 or 50 feet long. I was able to fill it with plants from the plant exchange and from other places in my existing borders.

Last but not least I will not complain about the weather or anything else when I see the devastation from back East with the tornadoes and the flooding that's going on and the drought that Texas is having. So we are having a cool and wet spring. I can deal with that when I still have my home and family. We're so blessed here not to have to deal with those events. Robin over at "Robins's Nesting Place" has some very good posts on what's been going on in some places. My heart goes out to all of them. So I count my blessings and will not complain about a little cool weather.

I hope you are all having a good week and I will say tata for now.

Happy Easter

May the joy of the Lord be your strength today and always. HAPPY EASTER!

Almost Done

Here is the front of the chicken coop. It's almost all wired in and the chickens were out
yesterday but back in last night.

Here is a is a picture of a birdhouse my dad made me. It's all lnatural wood and there is moss all over it. I love it.

That's all I have time for now. Tata.

A Quick Update

Here are a few pictures to update you on what's been going on. This is the front of the coop. It will have two clean out doors and two windows and a chicken door. Here is my husband Marvelous Mark painting. We did the body red and the trim white. It looks so cool! And he did almost all of the painting. He's so marvelous.

Another view. The three openings are the nesting boxes. It has a door that will open from the outside of the run so I won't have to go inside of the run to collect eggs.

Yesterday while it was beautiful outside I took some of the girls out for some sunshine. Boy, did they love that. From left to right it was Lucy, Louise, Thelma and Wilma. We think Wilma may be a Wilmer.

Here they are again. Becoming a little more adventuresome.

These chickens have taken over my heart. I really love them. They are so much fun. I would tell anyone that they need to get some chickens just for the pure enjoyment of watching them.

Well, that's all for now. Tata.

Computer problem, cookies and painting

Good Morning everyone! It's supposed to be about 59 degrees today and sunny! As soon as all the marine layer goes away it will be wonderful. I spent 3 days this week baking 250 peanut butter cookies to take to church for Good News Club for an after school program on Wednesdays when our kids get out of school early. I did eat a few! They were soo yummy! I tried to turn on my computer this morning and it wouldn't turn on. I'm on my husband's computer upstairs and I can't put my pictures on it. We are getting the coop painted!!! So far only the trim has primer on it but since it's supposed to be so nice today I'm hoping to get most of it done. I also have to take Bing to the vet's this afternoon for an ear infection. Poor guy! I know it's really bothering him. Well I better make hay while the sun shines. (Hopefully soon.) So tata for now.

Progress

The coop is coming along very nicely. The fourth day of work was quite fruitful. Mark had to work so my brother worked on it alone. Here is the inside looking out of the nesting boxes. The outside of the boxes will have a hatch that lowers so I can get the eggs from the outside without having to go inside of the coop. Here is one of two roosts they will have.

Here is the front of the coop. The windows and hatches are all covered with hinged doors and the chicken door still has to be done. The hatches on the bottom will open to the side so I can get in and clean out the hutch. This is also going to be painted red with white trim.

Here is one of the trenches we are digging our around the coop. We are so fortunate that our soil is soooo good here. I hardly dug up any rocks and digging down 12 inches was a dream. The trenches are to bury chicken wire so the predators can't dig their way in.

Here is one of the other trenchs.

Here is the door framed in. It's going to have self-closing hinges on it. It will open out and will be chicken wire.

Here is Randy explaining things to Mark.

Here are the chicks that really aren't chicks anymore. I have them in new temporary quarters that I will show you later.

This is quite the adventure. We are learning so much and chickavision is a hoot. Tata for now.

Third Day

Here is what it looks like so far. Love it!

All for now. Tata.

The Coop

I am so excited! Mark and my brother Randy started on the coop Monday after shopping for materials on Sunday. That was the first of so far five trips to the lumber and hardware store. They are both such troopers. Monday started out pretty nice with some sun coming out in the morning when they started. Here is where the coop and run are going. It's under a grape arbor so it has a frame to start with for the run.

Here are Randy and Mark.

Here is Randy sitting on the floor of the coop. It's about hip high for easier cleaning.

Here is Mark with the front wall. Very exciting!

Ok. Here is the coop at the end of Tuesday. All four walls are up and the frame work for the nesting boxes. is on. The end will have a door that comes down so I can collect the eggs without going into the run. Hooray for husbands and brothers!

More to come! Tata for now.

Louise, Thelma, Mega Moon and Birthday Wishes

Happy Spring! I'm so glad it's here even if in name only. Actually it was a great day on Saturday and yesterday was ok. I went looking for a refrigerator box on Saturday to put the chicks in and found out that there is only one manufacturer that boxes their fridges up any more. All the other ones shrink wrap them. Who knew? The chicks are quickly becoming teenagers. But they are still fun to watch. Still in need of a coop. My brother is going to help us with that.

This is Louise. I'm hoping she doesn't turn out to be Lewis. She is bigger than the other chicks except for Wilma who would then be Wilmer. If they turn out to be roosters my friend Janet says they can come and live at her house. Thank you Janet.
I really hope that won't be the case because I have become quite attached to them all.

These next two pictures are of Thelma. She likes the camera and she was standing on my hand in this picture. I try to put my hand in the tote a couple times a day with food in my hand so they will get used to it. The smaller ones do better with getting on my hand.

Did anyone else get to see the mega moon when it was out? Our skies were overcast but we saw it in the evening and again the next morning.

A couple of weeks ago I turned fifty-five. We went out to dinner with some friends on Saturday night and my friend Shannon who I have known for thirty years gave me this card. Only someone who knows you very well could get away with this. It just cracked me up. It's great to have a sense of humour.

I hope you will all forgive me for sharing but I just had too. I hope everyone is enjoying spring and getting able to do all the Spring things your heart desires. Have a great week and tata for now.

Plant Exchange, Greenhouse and Peony Bed

I had a much longer post planned for today but I could only get these pictures to download.

I'm starting to plan what I'm going to have for my plant exchange Saturday May 7th. Last year I posted about the First Annual Plant Exchange and we had a great time. Many plants were exchanged and we had coffee, tea and home made scones and cookies. So this year I am dividing up some drumstick primroses and here is a close-up of one. I am also going to divide up some of my coral bells. I also have a plant from a friend last year that has reseeded and I am going to try to pot some of those up. I don't remember names very well. This is a close-up of the primrose and it's really pretty when its fully bloomed out. It will stand 8 to 10 inches tall. I really like them.




The last couple of days when the rain has been pelting down I have been out working in the greenhouse. I have these two chairs out there so if a friend comes over we can sit out there and have a cup of coffee or tea. It's so cozy to be in there with a friend. Please know you are always welcome.




Mark bought me this dragonfly thermometer last fall because I love dragonflies. He's so good to me! When I took this picture this afternoon it was 72 degrees in there and it was raining and chilly on the outside. Love it!




Last summer I bought a collection of 10 peonys from Costco and I planted all of them into this bed by my garden room. This is also were I planted a peony from the gal that I was stealing irises from. The story is further back in the blog.




I like the way the foliage looks as its coming out of the ground.





I hope to have some more pictures of the chicks on here tomorrow or the next day. Oops, I better not say when I'm going to do that. Then it will never happen. Anyway that's all for now. Tata.

I read this quote recently and decided to end today with it:

"Choices can change our lives profoundly. The choice to mend a broken relationship, to say "yes" to a difficult assignment, to lay aside some important work to play with a child, to visit some forgotten person-these small choices may affect our lives eternally."
Gloria Gaither

May I present......

Well, here they are. They are now about 12 days old and are so much bigger than this now. They are so much fun and I just love to go into the sun room and watch them. I will put some cracked corn in my hand and put it into the tote where they live for now and they will come and sit on my hand and eat and scratch. I love it! I am in love.

I have names now also. But only two have their permanent names. The two Americaunas are Thelma and Louise. They seem to be the most aggressive and the names just fit. There are two black Sexlinks, three black Australorps, two Rhode Island Reds and two Buff Orpingtons. I ended up with the three Australorps because there were only three of them left in the tank and I didn't want to leave one by itself. So those three will be the Dixie Chicks Shadow, Blossom and Primrose. (Shadow was the name Jacob my grandson wanted for one). The others will be Lucy and Ethel, Laverne and Shirley and Betty and Wilma. All fun names. I will keep you informed as to who gets what names.




Here is a picture of my grandson Landen holding a chick. He is in love also.




This is my granddaughter Hailey with a chick. She wants them to stay little forever.




Now that my computer is back in commission I hope to tell you all about the chicks. Mark and I were out coop shopping today. Still don't have a coop but will soon. So I close for now with promises of more later. Tata for now!

They're Here!!!

The babies arrived Thursday after I picked them up from Del's Farm Supply. I still am having difficulties with my computer so am not able to have any pictures up. But are they ever cute. And already growing! I can see them grow everyday. I can't wait to get pictures on here for you to see. And, yes, they have names at least most of them do. Oh, yeah there are eleven of them and I hope they are all hens. The gal at Del's they should all be pullets (hens) but once in a while a cockerel gets in there. We shall see. For now they are living in a large black tote that my friend Carla lent me and have a grow light on them to keep them warm. The dogs are absolutely mesmerized by them and go onto the sun porch as often as they can to look at them.

I worked outside for about two and a half hours today putting more prunings around the half moon garden. So I am more than half way done with the little fence. Its looking so cute.

Well, that's all for now. As soon as I get my computer back I will have some pictures of the chicks on here. Tata for now.

Technical Difficulties

Well, my computer is under the weather again. It was working beautifully and then it started acting up again and now it seems to be very ill. I can't have it looked at for a couple of days so I am writing this on my husbands computer which is very old and located in a different part of the house which is not where I go very often.

Just to let you know that I will be getting my chicks next week and am so excited! Hopefully my computer will be working and I will be able to put pictures on here and show everyone. I also went the the Northwest Flower and Garden Show last Friday and had a blast! Saturday morning was spent at a Feed My Starving Children food packing event at the Puyallup Fair grounds and that was great also.

So, just a little view of my world and what has been going on. Oh, and we've been having very cold weather. I will be back soon with pictures of all that's been going on. Tata for now.

Sunrise, Rainbows, Signs of Spring and Changes

There have been many things going on in my world lately and I won't go in to all of them but it's been a busy few weeks. These next four pictures were taken during this past period and I have wanted to get on here and post but haven't.

I had a very big surprise about two weeks ago when I was the winner of Sharon Lovejoy's latest giveaway and received two great books in the mail and some cards. What a treat. Thanks again, Sharon. You can find her on her blog which is listed on my sidebar. It's a great blog and she writes as fascinating on her blog as she does in her books.

This is a picture of the sunrise off our front porch and that is Mount Rainier.




We had a terrific rain storm one afternoon and were left with a beautiful double rainbow. A reminder of God's great promise to us.




A friend of mine had her husband bring me over some plum branches for a little fence around my half moon garden and I brought some in to see if I could get them to bloom and they did. What a treat!




Some of the first daffodils poking their heads out of the ground. Yah daffs! They are even taller than that now.




Our daughter and grandson who have been living with us have moved into an apartment close by and that has been a very big change. The house is very different. So much quieter. We still see each other all time and talk every day.

Our son Chris is moving in with us for awhile as he goes through some changes in his life. It will be nice to have him around.

Our schedules have gotten much busier at church and Mark is starting to work overtime again. We are planning on starting the chicken coop soon so the babies will hopefully be coming in March. I have ordered some chick starter for them.

I always say that I will be better about posting and then things come up and I am not able to so I will just say ta ta for now and hope to write again soon.