Tag Archives: Alaska

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Random ramblings

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Seems like I have so much to say but nothing fits in a category but still I feel the need to share with all this crazy life  I love.

The long days are back with it being light out until after 11p.m. and that is a good thing as there is so much work to do. There are gardens to be put in, another greenhouse to build and always more animal pens to construct.  Today was a day of overcast and drizzle. Not conducive to doing much of anything yet we stayed busy all day. The pigs are about halfway through tilling my next garden area and I must admit I am anxious to get to planting. My friend Robin sent out a bunch of seed potatoes that I want to get started. Some are heirloom that have been planted here in Alaska for many decades. I still have one more raspberry patch to plant but did get my rhubarb in and hopefully planting it in 3 different areas will ensure that it will survive. Here’s a pic of my kitchen garden area with the greenhouse from Dan and Robin. I love the gate dear hubby built. 

 My “wild” heritage breed turkeys were not informed they are supposed to be wild. Guess they never got the memo because they seem to think that stalking and peeping is what they are required to do. Seriously! They have to be following one of us around at all times and if we are in the cabin they are stretching their necks to peek through the window! 

   It will soon be weaning time for the little goats. They are eating hay, grass, grain, pellets and cat food (no I don’t feed them cat food they steal from the cats). The momma goats are pushing them away more and more so it’s a sign it is time.  

 Papa Fred is back out here again thanks to Dan bringing him out. The next step will be surgery as he isn’t healing correctly and we really need to find a way to get a side by side as the doc informed him he will no longer be able to ride a wheeler. Say a prayer for us if you would, I know God will provide but I believe he likes it when many are praying in agreement.

Here’s a pic of Dan with 2 of the kids. They kept trying to crawl into his lap. 

 Looking forward to getting the goats weaned and having enough milk to use my separator to get cream. Was just thinking how yummy strawberries and fresh cream will taste. Folks the separator I have is top quality yet half the price of others I’ve seen. There’s always a special going on so please go check out the website. http://www.slavicbeauty.net/cream-separators/separators 

Still loving my new boots! For those of you who haven’t seen my other posts I recieved a pair of Altai tactical boots to put through the test of our terrain. I cannot find anything I don’t like about them. Now I realize when reviewing a product you are supposed to point out what you like and what you don’t like but honestly I love these boots. My feet stay dry, they give support to my ankles over uneven terrain, they are light weight and just flexible enough to be comfortable when climbing. If there is one thing I have learned this past year is not all boots are created equal. Yes quality costs but when I was going through a pair of uncomfortable boots a month due to holes being ripped in them from the timber that we go through I am sold on these. Check them out for yourself! They have a cool contest going right now too where you can win a free pair of boots! http://www.altaigear.com/ 

 I am very excited for the latter part of the week to get here. My friends Tracy and Ken are coming to visit!!!!! Was such a nice surprise when they told me but now I really can’t sleep. I’ll be sure to post pics as they will love it here I’m sure. 

Oh almost forgot to share this-my friend Kimberly is now the owner of a piece of raw land she will be building her homestead on. Ladies if you want to do it then go for it! She is living her dream and you can too! Just look at her smiling face! 

 Once again I will leave you all with random pics of the farm. Keep the faith all, keep praying and know HE is always with you.

   
       

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Yes I wear combat boots!

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Oh happy day! My boots arrived from Altai boots and I absolutely love them! I have to admit when I felt the box (it was very light) I had some doubts about the durability but let me just say that those doubts are gone! First of all I have to point out that we live in a very wet area where the terrain changes from muck and mud to timber and I have to traverse all in my daily routine. Not once did I slip and not once did I do the flamingo stand-you know where one boot gets sucked into the mud and you try pulling it out only to come up with a sock covered foot and the boot stays in the mud. Yes many times I’ve had to attempt to stand on one foot while retrieving a boot from the muck!  No more!!!!!  I might add they are pretty stylish too-for combat boots! I can’t wait to see how they feel tomorrow after the grueling tests I put them through today.  

   www.altaigear.com

We had a new arrival today. Our last nanny kidded until we start the next round in June. Another beautiful little doeling who dear hubby named Doris. 

 Everything is growing!!!! Last year I tried an experiment where I took potatoes that were beginning to grow eyes and not being one to waste I peeled them for a meal then planted the eyes. A few months later we were digging potatoes. This year I repeated the process and currently have about 40 plants coming up and that was 3 days ago!  I now have about 200 different plants growing in the greenhouses and outside with more to plant soon. We’re waiting on the piggies to finish tilling the next garden area. Soon my cold crops will fill one half of the fenced area and another greenhouse in the other.  

   The moose are really out now and we’ve begun keeping our eyes out a little closer oh and so are the Bears! My goodness I was a bit to close for comfort the other evening when I realized the grunting I was hearing was a huge brownie! I swear when he stood up he looked 12 foot tall! He truly was a big one though as his pads are as wide as my foot is long! 

 I buried my wheeler for the first time of the season and as it was getting late I called dear hubby and told him I was heading the rest of the way in on foot. He ended up going to retrieve the wheeler with the kids and I went to town. Had a wonderful time at my friend Maura’s and to be honest I enjoyed the girl time. The next morning I met Dear Hubby and 2 of the kids on the trail so the kids could go into town for some down time with their friends. Maura and I went to do a load of laundry (which is still in the truck) and get a few groceries. I had been on a search for Rosemary seeds but could not find any so bought one plant that I gingerly carried home. It was a fun day for sure but am still tired from hiking in with a full load. 

The kids went in today to their first shooting sports get together. Caleb did awesome but the girls still haven’t developed enough upper body strength and have decided they would rather watch for awhile and maybe try again at a later date. Caleb hit 10 out of 25 clay pigeons which for his first time skeet shooting was pretty darned good!

Our pig Charlotte is getting close to her farrowing time so tomorrow I will begin working on redoing the old goat pen. She’s going to be irritated that her buddies are not with her to use as pillows but she will love the not having to share her food!

Tonight I was feeling ambitious and made my Jalepeno popper chicken for supper so I’ll leave you all with the recipe if you would like to try it-my family including the kids love it!

Good night and I pray your all feeling as blessed as I am.

Jalepeno popper chicken 4 servings

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced in half then pounded thin

2 jalapeños split and seeded

4 tbsp cream cheese

4 thick slices bacon stretched

4 tsp Jalepeno jelly

Fill each Jalepeno half with 1 tbsp cream cheese and set aside. Lay chicken breast down place cheese filled Jalepeno on then roll up. Wrap bacon snugly place cream cheese side up in shallow baking pan. Repeat with remaking breasts. Bake in 350 degree oven 30 min remove and top with 1 tsp jelly each return to oven for 5-10 min. Or until jelly has melted. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.  These can be cooled and sliced as an appetizer too! 

 

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It’s the Bees Knees! 

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What a busy time here on Two Moose. We hived bees today and will be splitting them at a later date but am impressed that one of my 10 year old twins begged to help! She was quite the trooper and did very well even with thousands of bees flying around her. I felt good today as I only got stung twice instead of the 6 times like last year! 

   Hubby has been busy with Caleb building fence panels for my cool crops that I will plant outdoors and the girls and I are planting the “Kitchen Greenhouse” with herbs, salad mix lettuce and radishes. In a month we will have fresh veggies!!!! Kids are as excited as I am as they love vegetables of all kinds. 

   My turkeys are laying regular now and I do wish one would go broody as it would be quite handy to have them doing the work.  

 The sap is still running and I’m trying to stay caught up but it’s a job with everything else going on. We have a couple gallons of syrup now but will wait until the run is completed before I package it.

Papa Fred is nursing his broke wrist and getting antsy to get started on his cabin. He feels closed in here  as he’s a long time bachelor but I keep telling him be patient it’s only temporary.

Everything is turning green now and the days are long. It stays light until 10:30 and soon we will be light at midnight. I love this time of year! 

 Hope your all enjoying spring as much as I am. May you be blessed with a happy heart.

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Long days have returned!!!!

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well it’s 10:30 pm and starting to get dark. I love Alaska in the spring! The days are longer,fiddlehead are starting to come up, the sap running and everything is turning green.

I’ve always loved springtime. It’s Gods promise fulfilled of new life. Everywhere you look there is something fresh and new. From the sprigs of grass poking through the soil that was just a couple of weeks ago frozen ground, to the new animal babies hopping and jumping around. Spring to me is a time of renewal. When the doors and windows get flung open to allow the ocean breeze to push the staleness of winter out and usher in the energizing scents of salty ocean air mixed with the aroma of the spruce trees, grasses and even the faint scent of manure that will fertilize the gardens. Yes I love spring!

The kids sure enjoyed the day today. It was 52 degrees out and the ran and played for hours. Sometimes you just have to skip school work and allow their imaginations to let go and be free.  There were hunts for moose taking place in the front yard with stick guns at the ready. After the game was processed, a feed sack “hide” was then made into “leather” knapsacks to carry their bounty back to home. Of course no good homesteader would be happy with just red meat so they caught their fish but a bear got it so they decided bear was next on the list. Then they had to defend the farm from some invisible force to which I’m not privy to as I am but a poor helpless civilian who needed protecting. Oh to have the imaginations of children. To find happiness with a stick and the freedom to be anywhere in your mind you choose but for this momma I am happy they chose home as their exotic place.  

 Mike returned home today and our wonderful friend Dan brought Papa Fred out. Papa Fred is indeed sporting a broken wrist so for now his cabin building must be put on hold. He will mend quickly if he just gives it time to heal. On a good note the doc told him he is as healthy as someone half his age. 

My dear hubby is so awesome. He spent yesterday running papa Fred to the VA and digging raspberries for me. He then spent the night with Dan and Robin and what a time they had. Viewing pictures, telling stories and enjoying good company. It’s so nice having great neighbors.  Robin is currently incubating turkey eggs for me. She calls them her kids and watches over them like they were gold. I do pray they hatch. More so for her than myself as I don’t want to see her disappointed. I thank God daily for putting such loving people in our lives.

As I mentioned before Mike dug raspberry plants and stopped to share them with my lady friends out on the road. Mary gave him a sack of rhubarb for me to split and plant which I was very excited to get but then gave him 2 huge pots for me! I can now cook 30 gallons of sap at a time! Yes we are truly blessed! 

 Today Mike disassembled the green house Robin gave me and then he and Dan loaded it on the trailer Dan pulls behind their side by side. The load was a bit much for these terrible trails and the trailer rolled. I was worried sick but soon he came pulling in the yard with a lighter load but no damage to his trailer or person so I said a quick prayer of thanks before getting steam rolled by 3 kids and a dog rushing out to greet him. Speaking of the dog-Missy was upset when she realized Dan did not have Robin yesterday when he came out and today she was just plain mad! She rushed out, seen no sign of Robin and did her grumbling/growl thing she does then went and pouted. Funny how dogs get attached to people.  

 Sunshine is in the forecast for the next week or so and that is good news! Much to be done and with the longer days we should get a lot accomplished. Tomorrow I will be busy planting rhubarb and raspberries-you can bet I will have visions of canning dancing through my head!

   
 Well that’s about all I have to report as not much excitement but enough to remind us we are very much alive. I’ll leave you all with a prayer of Thanks and a hope that the sunshine warms your face tomorrow.

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A simple life

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Another day is winding down and it’s quiet time for me once again. Kids of the two and four legged variety are feed and in bed. All is well on Two Moose Farm. 

Mike will be gone for the next couple of days as Papa Fred needs to go to the VA. He’s been stuck out here for weeks with his wrist bothering him so much he is unable to ride his wheeler out. A friend is coming out to retrieve him and hopefully the VA will finally do surgery and get him on the mend. With summer coming he has many adventures planned and isn’t relishing the thought of being stuck in one place.

I’m still cooking birch sap down, it’s something I am grateful only comes around once a year for a 10 day period. The weather has stretched it out a bit longer but it should wind down soon with warm temps and sunny skies in the forecast.  

It’s after 10 pm and just getting dark. The long days are upon us and soon we will have very little darkness. That is alright with me! I would love to be gardening at midnight!

Another rabbit just had babies. I am wondering what her attitude will be like. The little 7 pound lionhead cross finally had hers and her attitude got worse! The only way I can describe it is imagine 7 pounds of fluff, teeth and nails suddenly becoming Ninja rabbit. Nope-she’s not so cute anymore!

The mud is drying up a bit now. Hoping by weeks end it gets really dry as I need to go to town and pick up a few things. Most of you have never experienced mud like this so let me explain. Imagine hiking out 3.5 miles and the entire time playing twister. Yes it is just like that except instead of other people’s hands and feet your tangled up in its branches, willows, water holes and muck! Don’t get me wrong it’s not that I’m truly complaining but with a pack on your back full of supplies if you land wrong (which I do quite frequently) you end up looking like a turtle stuck when they are upside down on their shells.

Pretty excited that I will be in the grow mode soon. Dear hubby is going to help dismantle the greenhouse my friend Robin gave me and her husband said he would help get it out here. Praying this wind dries everything out as I want to get that in here and I have bees coming on Wednesday that my sweet dis Cathy got for me after mine died in the last cold snap. Lots of excitement for sure in the coming days ahead!

The wolves are howling tonight and there was a moose out a bit ago. It’s going to be calving time soon so hoping our little mama returns and hangs out close by again. She obviously is used to humans as she would just hang out by the cabin. We gave her a wide berth just the same as momma moose can be very dangerous. It is still nice to watch the little one all knock kneed jumping and playing. 

Well the sun is setting and I’ve still much work to do but I’ll leave you with some pics of the world as I see it. Good night and God Bless all. 

             

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Sprinter time! 

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Well it is supposed to be springtime in Alaska, it’s not 40 below like the old song says but it’s not exactly sunshine and roses either!  I have decided since it’s not quite winter yet not quite spring we need yet one more season and we will call it Sprinter! Sprinter will be that in between time that anything goes!  Here is what Sprinter looks like it’s snowing and 34 degrees out. 

       

The sap run has been interrupted by the cooler weather so it’s going to slow down completion of that project. Here is what birch sap looks like before it’s been cooked down to reduce then after when it is syrup 

   

The process is very simple but time consuming. The pint jar is what remains of almost 15 gallons of sap. 

Oh here comes the sun again! This weather is quite fickle. Last week we had torrential rains and hopefully it will begin drying up. 

Dear hubby is hauling lumber from the sawmill today on his back as it is too wet to do otherwise and we are hoping it dries out soon because we will be needing some supplies from town.the wheeler is out of commission again and has us stumped as to where the racket is coming from. Always something isn’t it!

Babies everywhere now as we have the 5 new ones, one goat left to kid and the cycle begins again in 2 months. We are getting quite a bit of milk now so hoping that I can figure out what is going wrong with my cheese. Never had this problem before so it is a mystery. Going to try my old granny stand by recipe and see what happens. I’ll let you know!

   

        

Well sun is out and I have raspberries that need planting and more seeds to pot so I’ll bid you farewell for now and pray  your day is blessed with busy hands and a happy heart.

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Birch trees, baby goats and 3 seasons in a day.

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you can definitely tell by our crazy weather that it’s Alaska! In the last 48 hours we have experience over 2.5 inches of rain followed by 3 inches of snow.  The sun did come out yesterday afternoon and that coupled with the wind melted the snow very quickly. It is now 2:00 a.m. 38 degrees and snowing once again! 

         

The Birch trees finally began running yesterday. Not full out running but a slow trickle so the race is now on! We will have 10 days or so of a routine that consists of gathering then slowly cooking the sap down for syrup. Yes this is a 24 hour a day job as the sap that is gathered must be cooked down and bottled to make room for more. 

 

We are still waiting for the last goat to kid but Bandit doesn’t appear to be in any hurry. The big question is how many will she have? So far this year we have had 3 single births and 2 sets of twins from 5 does. We will keep the doelings (so far there are 4) and the bucklings will most likely become wethers and find new homes.  

      Sorry for the bad pics but snow rain and overly friendly goats wanting attention doesn’t make ideal photo sessions!

The names of our new kids are quite varied. Each one is named randomly and the big white boy pictured above is Olaf. Named after the movie Frozen my kids so desperately want to see. Hoping to make that happen soon!

Well time to stoke the fire and stir the syrup. I’ll leave you for now but pray blessings of plenty upon you all!

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Special times

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Today after the morning chores were completed Mike, Caleb and Papa Fred worked on the broken trailer axle. This gave me the perfect opportunity to have some girl time so us girls went on an adventure of our own.

Our outing started out by going to the creek and Rock picking so we could have rocks to paint later. We then began exploring parts of our property we hadn’t yet seen and even climbed a few trees.  Nothing truly exciting but the time we spent together was something I will treasure. I heard all about their dreams of “when I grow up”. 

 

The rest of the day was spent doing odds and ends, planting seeds in the seedling house and then checking our birch tree taps.  One is starting to drip!!! Yay it won’t be long now!

We ended the evening after chores were complete by painting the rocks we had gathered. 

         

 

Oh and look one of the free chickens we were given layed a green egg today! Yes it’s the little things that excite me!

Life here at Two Moose may seem boring to some but for me it is just perfect!

I’ll leave you with yet another amazing sunset from my front porch. 

  

  

  

  

 good night and God Bless  

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Playing in the dirt

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Finally!!!! Yes I got to play in the dirt yesterday. I guess you can never out grow or outrun that desire once you’ve experienced the feel of it between your fingers and inhaled the earthy sweet aroma. Gardening to me is really just an excuse to play in the dirt and now I have people encouraging me to do it!

Yesterday we recieved more care packages from Cathy up in North Pole and Steve from down south. Both included seed packets that I hope I can turn into a vegetable garden. Gardening has always been an important part of my life (I can’t seem to stay out of the dirt ever) but I have come to realize that there are many issues to deal with that are unique to Alaska. First off the soil is so rich in peat moss and so acidic most plants dislike it immensely-except for potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers that seem to love it. The second issue is it is too wet in many areas so one must get creative. I had planned to try straw bale gardening but breakup came to quickly so that will have to come another year. The mini greenhouse is complete and so far I have filled 146 pots with soil to get my plants started. I did go out at 11 last night to see if it froze because the temps dropped to 26 and ice on the outside of the plastic but inside was toasty!  Yay! Today I plant!

While the seedlings get there start we will construct the main greenhouse and the plan is to have it then a fenced in area on each side for cold crops and yes I must at least attempt to grow my sweet corn. Anyone who knows me knows that before Alaska I had huge crops of sweet corn every year-I will again even if it means building more greenhouses! I carried 5 pounds of my heirloom seed here that I harvested from our 2013 crop and have done a germination test its sprouting about 95 percent so I’m going to give it a try!

Poor bubbles was in misery yesterday, with twins to feed you would think she would be sucked dry but that isn’t the case. The twins are thriving and she still looks like a jersey her bag is so big and full. I milked part of her out yesterday and got a quart-no where close to emptying her so beginning today she will get milked twice a day. From the looks of her milk she will be a high butterfat content so more cream in our future! I have a separator now and will be putting it to use frequently. With 3 more goats left to kid we won’t have a shortage of milk!

Made 2 more pounds of cheese yesterday and it’s in the press. Going to make cream cheese today or perhaps tomorrow. Cati has been wanting to bake a cheesecake and we finally are producing enough cream and eggs to do it! What a great way to celebrate yet another small victory in our lives.

There are still some who question our sanity. Living out where roads don’t exist, water must be hauled from the spring or creek and everything we cook or heat must be done with wood but each day I see my children growing in knowledge, discovering new things, using the gifts God gave them to tackle problems or designing ways to do things that improves our lives I realize we truly are doing what is best for them. They have knowledge of survival and reasoning way beyond their years. 

No posting in a muddy month would be complete without a bit on my latest gymnastic moves in the mud so I won’t  keep you in suspense any longer. Those who have followed my blog know when God was giving out gracefulness he missed me. I can take a simple 10 yard walk and turn it into something that would rival any Olympic floor event! While walking back to the cabin to retrieve more supplies for potting I tripped over a chicken-yes it is possible. Not wanting to squash the poor thing I attempted to hop onto my other foot that snagged in some unseen cranberry bush that I swear deliberately wrapped itself around the toe of my rubber boot. Trying to extricate my self from it while remaining upright ( yeah like that was gonna happen) I somehow twisted, turned, half leapt and finally landed in the opposite direction on my backside-in the mud-with Henny the bossy chicken between my legs ranting in chicken talk and I’m sure she wasn’t using polite words but who can blame her? I’d be upset too if a giant almost fell on me! Of course my goats heard the commotion and never want to miss out on anything so they had to make a scene running over bleating to the world (as if Henny hadn’t already made enough noise) and while Ginger, Snap and Princess Longhorn were showing genuine concern by nudging, nosing and licking me I swear Bandit and Bella were smirking and laughing! Thank heavens Jack the rooster heard the commotion and with a few flaps of his wings and much squawking dispersed the crowd enough that I could right myself.

Yes homesteading life holds many dangers but if I do encounter a bear it will probably be laughing so hard at my ungraceful moves it won’t have time to eat me!

I’ll leave you with a few random pictures of life on the farm and continued prayers that you have a life blessed by the Father. 

                   

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Insomnia again!

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was very tired after the big day yesterday and then the arrival of the new goat kids last night so thought I’d call it an early night. Crawled into bed at 11 pm and slept like a baby until 12:40. Eyes wide open and here I sit at 2:45 posting because sleep eludes me. I guess I will catch you all up on the past few days.

My youngest son Caleb turned 12 on Saturday. We planned a get together with friends for Sunday and met for ice skating and pizza afterwards. It was a great day until we came home in the rain through the mud and we’re all soaking wet! Regardless it was fun seeing friends and having the kids get some time to play with their friends. My oldest son Corbin even joined us for a couple of hours!

               

I was late getting chores done so as I hurried up to get the milking done the kids and hubby fed and watered all the other critters. As you all know we have goats that are kidding and no idea of due dates so I make my final checks each night around 9. Nothing really happening so I went back in and around 10 Mike had Caleb shut off the generator. He suddenly starts hollering for his dad and tells him “I think there’s a bear cub screaming for its momma out here” dear hubby chuckles and yells in to me-“Mom, better check your goats I think your herd just grew” upon closer inspection Bubbles who less than an hour before was playing and being silly had just given birth to twins. Mind you it was still raining and she was in the girls’ pen not in the kidding barn so with a bit of team work we moved her and the two babies, through the rain and into the warm barn. 

   

The smaller dark kid is a doeling we named Illiamna and will call her Illy and the larger light is a buckling we have named Junior. All are doing well and Bubbles will spend a few days with the kids before we separate her from them during the day.

The busy time is on us with the break up in full swing. Another week of these warm temps and it will be walking the 3.5 miles to the road as the wheelers won’t be able to navigate through the muck. I am anxiously awaiting seeds a friend gifted me from Denali seeds. They are supposed to be acclimated to our climate and growing season. Thank you again Cathy for yet another thoughtful and useful gift.

Chickens are laying now and it’s like a treasure every time we get an egg. My kids dislike store eggs so are very excited. I’m excited that the weather has warmed up and my friend Robin is incubating some Americauna eggs for me. Green eggs in my future-how cool is that!

Well our battery alarms just went off so it’s time to say goodbye before I lose the last of my charge. Praying your all blessed with happiness and peace.