Birthdays and Family

Good morning everyone! As you know, yesterday was my birthday. Yes, I am now 16 years old. Of course I would rather be 6 again. 6 was a wonderful year. But enough of that. I need to get on with the post that I promised a while ago.

Last May Matthew, Margaret, Walter, and Owen came from California to visit, and my other brother, Patrick, and his dog Lando came for a few days. On Saturday we had even more family members over and it was great fun. We had such a lovely time with everyone that, despite my darling mother's constant asking, I really didn't get many pictures. That's all right, though. There are certainly enough good ones to make a pleasantly long blog post.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures; I'll be back soon with lots more fun posts.

A Little Medley in Time for Spring

As I was sitting here browsing Facebook and sipping tea, there was only one thing on my mind: I should probably blog. For the past few days I've been thinking about how many interesting topics I have to write about, some happy, some sad. I suppose I ought to start with the sad part, since no one wants to end anything on a sad note, and the happier part is much longer than the sad part.

Well, you know how I live in a house surrounded by tall, beautiful trees? Heh. Not anymore. Our new neighbors clear-cut their property and now all that's left are stumps and slash piles. It makes me very sad to see the woods I used to walk past almost every day gone. To make matters worse, though, another neighbor is logging now too. Now, these woods were the ones I used to play in all the time. I went over there yesterday evening and looked at all the trees that had been cut down. I have many memories of those trees, and it pains me to think that I'll never be able to make more.

Now that the terribly sad, frustrating part of my life is out of the way, we can get on to the happier parts.

First, we have some wonderful newish chicks. We actually got them a few months ago, but they're still just as cute as they were when they fit into my hand. I have two very special ones in the group. At first I had planned on picking out one special chick to be my pet and naming her Barrow after one of my favorite "Downton Abbey" characters (yes, I still love that show), but then the smallest chick of the group, an Ameraucauna, was acting awfully sick. Daddy noticed her, and Mother and I held her and fed her and gave her water until we went to bed that night. In the morning we expected her to be dead, but she was fine! I was a bit funny, though, because I had named her Sybil after "Downton Abbey," and then she happened to be the chick who almost died. It was all rather appropriate for the poor thing. Anyway, Sybbie became very close to people because we held her so long and took care of her, so now she and Barrow are my two pet chickens and they always stick together like the best of chick friends. I'm afraid I don't have any recent pictures of the two at the moment, so here's a picture of when they were much smaller.

Sybil is now white with black instead of yellow and black, but Barrow has basically the same coloring (Barrow's a Buff Orpington). When they were little I had lots of fun setting them up with the dollhouse furniture. I do love to play with my little chicks.

You might remember that this time last year, my brother, his wonderful wife, and, of course, my nephew Walter came up here from California and we had a family reunion. Well, they're coming on Wednesday to stay for a few days. This time, though, I have two nephews to play with and take on walks down the (treeless) driveway. The last time they came, Margaret was pregnant with Owen, who's now eight months old. We saw him when we went to California in the fall, but of course he's completely different now. I'm sure you'll be waiting for me to blog all about their stay here and how much fun we all had, which I shall certainly do.

I'll be quite busy in the next few days, as one of my other brothers, Patrick, is coming home on Sunday, and Sunday happens to be Mother's Day. I must also do a great deal of cleaning this week. My room's just a bit of a mess at the moment.

I'll talk to you all in a few weeks!

Lovely Little Chicks

About a week ago, Mother and I went to the farm store to buy four black sex-links to add to our jolly bunch of chickens.  They're eleven-days-old already, and they have grown a good deal, but they are still so small and cute.  They live in my room where it's warm and there is Scarlet's light, and I have named all of them and can tell them apart without trouble now.  At first it was a bit difficult, but they each have markings by which I identify them.

This is what they looked like several days ago. 

The top left chick is Little Lady.  I named her that because she was the largest and the clumsiest.  She is the same size as the others and quite graceful now.

The chick below Lady is The Adventurer, because what is chick without a Rainbowlandian name?  Certainly not a Rainbowlandian chick!

The chick across from Lady is No Name.  She was the last to (not) be named, so I called her No Name and now that's her name.

The final chick, the one across from The Adventurer, is Vespera.  She is a very special chick: very special indeed.