June in March!!

It's not even the middle of March yet, (well, almost), and it was in the 70's and is supposed to be that warm for the next week at least!!

The dogs were out most of the day except when my coop builder man was using his nail gun. They are such "chickens"!! They just tremble and want in the house!

And ROCKY, you're a gun dog!!!!

Here Rocky is keeping an eye on the road.

He also lets Ellie bully him! She's is herding him away!

Some more progress on my coop today. We have two wall structures and a doorway and the start of insulation. I think my coop builder left to go play golf!

Rocky wants to know when the chickens are coming!!

I took a walk around the yard and everything is popping up fast!

My ferns never did lose their color and die back this winter!

Daffodils about to open. I love Spring!

This little spruce is in my front garden and isn't a good place for it. I've either got to have someone move it for me or maybe it will be next year's Christmas tree. It's about 4 ft. tall.

Here's Ellie keeping watch out front.

Hope you are having nice spring days where you are too.

Tomorrow I go to the barn.

Shirley

Progress in the Chicken Department

I'm linking up with "Outdoor Wednesday"

Because what could be more outdoorsy than chickens!!!

http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

I Took The Plunge!

I've ordered my chicks from MyPetChicken.

Being a novice, I didn't realize that I should've ordered earlier for the breeds I wanted so my chicks won't get here till the week of May 21st! They probably won't start laying till late fall!

These are the breeds I got.

2 Buff Orpingtons (brown eggs)

2 Easter Eggers that lay blue or green eggs.

1 Barred PlymouthRock (brown eggs)

And 1 Silver laced Wyandotte. (brown eggs)

6 little chicks in all

Here's praying that they will all be hens!

I'm buying chicken supplies a little at a time since I have till May.

Here's what I got so far. Feeder and waterer, a heat lamp for the brooder that I've got to make yet and a thermometer to make sure the chicks are warm enough.

Steve, a friend of ours who just happens to be a carpenter, is building my coop for me. I decided to put it inside my garage.

This is the progress as of today. The floor is double and is insulated as will the walls be.

Steve has never built a chicken coop before so this will be an interesting journey!

I have provided him with lots of educational material!!

Lucky he's such a good sport and laughs a lot!!

: ))

Shirley

Chicken Parmesan Bake

http://www.blessedwithgrace.net/

http://itsablogparty.com/delicious-dishes/

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

This week I'm joining Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Delicious Dishes and Foodie Friday with a recipe I found on Pinterest.

I didn't photograph the whole procedure because I will give you the site that has a video on how to put it together.

It's easy and delicious!

The ingredients are as follows:

Extra virgin olive oil 2 TBLS

2 cloves of garlic, minced

a sprinkle of red paper flakes

4-6 boneless chicken breasts

2 C Marinara Sauce

2 tsp Basil

8oz Mozzarella cheese (divided in half)

4 oz grated Parmasan (divided in half)

5 oz pkg of garlic croutons

Use a casserole dish large enough for you chicken pieces.

Put olive oil, minced garlic and pepper flakes on bottom of dish

Lay chicken breasts on top

Pour 2 C marinara sauce over the chicken & sprinkle with basil

Put down a layer of half of each of the each cheeses

Croutons go on next

Then top with the rest of the cheeses.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until internal temp reaches 155 degrees.

(After 30 minutes I covered mine with tin foil so it wouldn't brown anymore and let it cook for another 10 minutes.)

I served it with fresh steamed broccoli and it was delicious!

Here is the link to the site with the "how to" video.

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/02/end-of-chicken-parmesan-as-you-know-it.html

Try it you'll like it!!

Shirley

Thoughts While at Panera!

I ate an early supper at Panera yesterday. I always get practically the same thing every time I eat there! The Take Two with the turkey artichoke sandwich and one of their soups. I like all their soups. Never had one I didn't like! Yesterday I had French onion. Delicious. They were also having any pastry for 99 cents sale so I got a big (warmed) chocolate chip cookie. For my coffee, I mix half decaf and half hazelnut.

That's it, every time, the same thing, but I like it. I eat there quite a lot!

Anyway, as I was sitting there munching on my cookie with my coffee, I thought of the best things I could blog about. If I had a computer with me I could've had the best blog on here yesterday!

Of course, because I'm on the computer late in the evening, I can sit here forever and sometimes absolutely no ideas come to me. It's like my brain has already gone to bed and is upstairs just waiting for my body to follow.

I don't have a laptop right now, so I can't take one to Panera. Maybe I should blog earlier in the day!!

Shirley

Put a Sock On It!!

Monk has a big "hot spot" on his left back foot. It's like 2" X 3" and he won't leave it alone. It has to be able to dry out with the powdered medication I have for it to heal. But he keeps licking it when ever he thinks I'm not looking or when I leave. So yesterday I put a sock on it.

I first used paper tape but that didn't hold at all

So I switched to good old duct tape!

Let me see you get that off!!

No it's not too tight.

He's not too happy with this whole procedure!

Now if this doesn't work we may have to get a HUGE e-collar!!

I'd say about the size of an umbrella!!

There goes my house!

Shirley

Colic at the Barn

Echo Coliced Yesterday

My horses, Echo and Preacher, got their spring vaccines and blood drawn for a Coggins test yesterday in preparation to moving to a new barn the first of April.

Well, Preacher gets a reaction to tetanus where as he doesn't feel good and gets an elevated temperature. It's happened before so the vet gives him Banamine first.

Now, Echo has never reacted to any vaccines but yesterday within about an hour he was showing signs of colic. He wasn't acting himself and then started to roll in the arena. When he started to get sweaty I called the vet and she came right back. Gave him Banamine for pain and steroids to counteract the vaccine reaction. Although, a little better, he still wasn't feeling good. She gave him a little sedation and we put him in his stall. I watched him for an hour but he still wanted to lay down and groan so the vet came back.

She sedated him, did a rectal and then tubed him and put a gallon of mineral oil in his stomach. When he came out of the sedated state he felt better. I stayed with him till 10:30 last night.

He could have handfuls of hay scattered in his stall and walked every couple hours.

When I left he was feeling much better. Carol, the barn owner, checked on him and walked him during the night and kept me informed.

Now, I've seen enough colic to last me a lifetime! I hate it!!!

Here is where I sat next to his stall all evening.

Here is Echo today, acting completely normal!!

Thank you Jesus.

Preacher's temp was 102.2 at noon today. It was probably higher during the night. He was acting grouchy and cranky and didn't finish his 10 pm feeding. I gave him some Banamine today and he should be fine. He's acting normal now.

Horses are very complicated animals. Both their physical makeup, their digestive system especially, and their minds! They get stressed easily. You can do so much damage to a horse's mind if you are not careful. And they don't forget!!

Shirley

(And I'm not even talking about my stress!! I'm just sayin')

Ava's Birthday

My granddaughter just turned 5 years old!!

Already!!!!

I'm not posting a lot of pictures because none but the cake pictures came out clear!

(That's why I'm keeping them small.)

I just went over to my son and daughter-in-law's house for cake and ice cream and for the opening of the presents.

It was a fun evening.

My daughter couldn't come as she had to work or we would've had some good photos!

Shirley