A busy week!

Whew!  Not many times can say I'm ready to get back to work so I can relax - but this might be one of those Mondays. Charlie has been home one week, after working a one and a half month outage at a nuclear power plant in Bay City.  Spring is a tough time for him to be gone, because that's when ALL the activity happens around here - not just among the animals, but including storms and wild weed growth.  :)  I thought I'd send a few pictures of what we did this week while he was home.

First - we got a couple new puppies.  We had a friend who was giving away a litter and went to pick up one.  They were having such fun wrestling with each other, we couldn't take just one - so we grabbed two and brought them home to meet the clan. Ringo is on the left and The Colonel is on the right. (Don't ask - I stay completely out of the naming process.)

The first day, Maddie stayed at the back of the house the entire time. I think she was protesting yet ANOTHER puppy she was expected to raise.  But like all moms her caretaking instinct took over and she began grooming them.

Charlie has always wanted a pickup dog.  We drove these puppies from the pond up to the driveway.  They screamed the whole way.

But it was Maddie to the rescue again . . .

Annie isn't much mom material.  I thought this was a cool pic of her just hanging out by herself in the shade.  She's gotten huge, huh?  Good thing she's a teddy bear!

Just as a reminder. . . this is her exactly a year ago - with another set of new goslings!!  This was from the weekend Mom and Dad were here last spring.

Anyway - next order of business.  We had ordered some ducklings and goslings through the mail this season. I had tried to hatch some - but for some reason had no luck.  You can get the temperature off by one degree and totally mess things up (Wow, God's creation has it down PERFECTLY).  The post office calls you the minute they come in (around 6am) because you must come pick them up there - they don't bring them around on their trucks  These came from California and had been in transit from Monday until Thursday. I think the storms delayed them a day.  Here's a few pix of the experience:

I like this picture, because you can see a little eyeball peeking out a hole in the box.  Believe me, that was a noisy box!

There is a minimum of 10 birds per order so they stay warm. We bought 10 ducklings (Indian Runners) and 2 African goslings (like the geese we already have.)  3 ducklings didn't make it.

And my how we've grown in 4 days! The runners are standing up straighter, too.  They are so soft.  Their real feathers will begin coming in in  a couple of weeks and they feel more stiff.

BTW - this is what the Black Runners will look like when grown. I also bought blue, fawn and chocolate.  Oughta be pretty in about 3 mos.

We are halfway through. I'll keep the rest shorter!

. . . Charlie has been working 6 and 7 days a week, 12 hours a day for weeks.  Today he left for 3 more weeks in San Luis Obispo, California to work another nuclear power outage. This one is 7 days a week for 21 straight 12 hour days.  As the fruit of his labor, he finally got a tractor that actually runs and continues to run until the job is finished. He was mowing on Friday with a smile on his face. :)  He even mowed part of the neighbor's place.  Here's his new baby - delivered on Friday.

That's another mower in front of his on the trailer.

Anyone need their lawn mowed? :)

About an hour after the tractor was delivered we had to run to Quinlin to meet a traveling fish farm that stopped at the feed store for 45 minutes. It was fun and interesting.  We have stocked the pond with catfish, copper-nose blue gill, and minnows.  We were needing more of the last 2.  This was a family operation from Arkansas.  At least everyone smelled the same at the end of the day. :) 

Here are the bags of fish acclimating to the temperature of the pond.

This is a baby copper nose blue gill.

And last but not least - here's our new male goose, Gandolph.  Isn't his orange knob pretty? Robin and I are going to First Monday for the 3rd time next weekend to try to find him a mate.

Thanks for listening. :) Since I rarely get to see y'all I have to find some way to share with my family and buds. :)

Psalm 96:12 
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
       Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy

Psalm 98:7-8
Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands,  Let the mountains sing together for joy;

Psalm 148:

Praise the LORD from the earth,
       you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
       stormy winds that do his bidding,

 you mountains and all hills,
       fruit trees and all cedars,

 wild animals and all cattle,
       small creatures and flying birds,

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
       for his name alone is exalted;
       his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.