This post may not have that many words, but I have been advised to use at least that many to make up for the lack of photos. My camera died a while back, so until a new one is purchased (hint to David that this would be a great birthday present next month!) there will be no more photos.
So, the first thing to tell about would be that our new chicken coop is complete! It is beautiful! David built it off the north side of our barn. It is 16 x 12ish, has a new set of nest boxes (that makes 20 nests total), a spiffy set up for roosting, a 5x5 brooder pen awaiting a gate, and a 300lb poly hub feeder so that we no longer have to fill chicken feeders. Instead of storing feed in trash bins and then refilling feeders daily, this holds just as much as our storage did, eliminating lots of work! My mom has given us over 30 of her hens, so now we have 80+ chickens, 3 of which are roosters. David made some beautiful gates for the coop as well. Now, the only dilemma is that the dogs are able to go in and steal eggs, a treat they enjoy immensely. So, we will have to develop little chicken doors and keep the main door closed. Which means, I suppose, that it is not really complete yet. My refrain these last few years has been that there is always something to do on a farm. One of these days, I'll quit stating the obvious!
Shiphrah began taking ballet lessons a few weeks ago now. Her instructor is Mr. Espinoza. Ballet class is the highlight of her week. :) She loves putting on her pink tights, blue leotard, and getting her hair spiffied up in a bun. Hair spray is her favorite! We all load in the van and drop the boys off with Daddy and then head to Nashville. Shiloh and I hang out in the waiting room with a bunch of other mothers while the girls are taken back to the studio. At Shiphrah's age, they still get to play with ribbons and wear crowns, which she finds to be delightful. They also skip rope which I never imagined would be a part of ballet class, but I think it's good for them--coordination and cardiovascular training and all that. I think they've learned how to run (like a dancer, not a runner) and how to tendue, but I'm not sure what else. Parents are only allowed to observe during observation week at the end of the semester and Shiphrah, as much as she likes to talk, doesn't do the best job of explaining the details of ballet class to me.
Yesterday, David took the boys to a mixed martial arts school while the girls and I were in Nashville. They were going to check out the possibility of lessons. We came home to an empty house and when the boys arrived, Samuel and Solomon were wearing white uniforms! They are most excited about "fighting lessons" :) Samuel told me that he was afraid he would smile too much. I said, "Is smiling not allowed?" He said, "No, it's not that, it's just..." I said, "You're so happy about it that you want to smile a lot?" He said, "Yes, and that's..." I said, "a little embarrassing?" He said, "Yeah." Sweet boy! I told him there was nothing wrong with being happy and smiling and to not be embarrassed. I am pleased that he's so pleased. He asked if it was something he could do until he was grown up. I suppose that means he'll breeze through the 6 week trial period! :) Solomon is more matter of fact about it. Me: Did you like it? Solomon: Yes. Can you help me take this (uniform) off? :)
The other really exciting thing is that our bridge, which was damaged in the flooding, is now fixed! The old bridge support walls were used as part of the form for building new supports. It now has wing walls and guard rails. The driveway between the bridge and the road was also redone in concrete. Some of the fill rock has settled under the driveway, which makes me a bit nervous... we need to bring about 20 tons of fines (small gravel/manufactured sand) over it to line our barn floor, and I pray it doesn't break the driveway there!!! The wing walls also need some more fill rock behind them, but we have plenty of that. It is good to have a place to dump collected rock!
Other than homeschooling, music lessons, and tending to the animals, that's about it here. We've not done any more on our indoor projects yet. It is the start of goat breeding season and hopefully, our first doe got bred yesterday. We will see in about 3 weeks if it took. If so, there will be babies in 5 months! Oh, I guess that isn't all... Since seeing some photos of myself taken in late June, I decided that I was really and truly going to make an effort at losing weight. I am now down 30 pounds. I'm right about where my doctor said I should be, but I'd still like to lose a bit more if I can. It's very slow going at this point, though. A 30 pound weight loss necessitated a shopping trip, and I just happened to go to Goodwill on the first Saturday of the month, when everything was 50% off. I bought 13 pair of jeans, 4 pair of boots, 7 skirts, 7 tops, and 2 dresses for $108.90. I may never go clothes shopping anywhere else!
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