MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

We’ve been busy getting the little chicks new home ready for them.  They are growing so fast.  They have outgrown their little coup and are in need of a bigger home.  We decided this building would work great for them.    It was a metal shed we built several years ago to store the lawn mower in.  It needed planks on the inside to keep it warm in the winter.  The girls and I put them up Friday evening.  Then this morning, we all went out and got started fixing the front.  It now has a nice door and a window and is fully enclosed.  All we lack now is making some nests for them and putting up the fence and building the gate.  Okay, so that sounds like we lack quite a bit but we are one step closer now than we were yesterday.  You can see one of the old hens in front of the house.  They were so curious as to why we were blocking off the shed as it is one of their favorite places to take a dust bath. 

Today was cool here.  Temperatures were in the high 40′s-lower 50′s.  We wore light jackets all day while we were working.  We came in and ate supper.  I knew today would be a long day outside working so this morning I put some pork in the crockpot and some pinto beans in another crockpot.  All I had to do when we came in was fry some potatoes and make cornbread.  I then decided to build a fire as it was about 60 degrees in the house.  We are nice and warm now.  There is just something very comforting about a wood fire.  So relaxing.

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless. 

I thought I would show you ladies what happens when a cinderblock falls on your toe. Thankfully, I was wearing boots or it would have been lots worse. I must tell you all though, I really hesitated about showing you this picture. I did not realize I had such strange looking feet until I took this picture. Oh well, they are what they are, I guess.  It didn’t get me out of work though. I had to go with him this morning to texture the ceiling on the sheetrock job. That job is finished now so we can go back to working just the remodeling job. He has been going to the sheetrock job in the mornings and the remodeling job in the evenings. Doesn’t that sound wonderful!!! 2 jobs at one time. We are so blessed.

 Our temperatures did warm up some today. I think we actually got to about 50 degrees. It is supposed to be cold again tonight. I just finished building a fire to keep us toasty warm. I kinda thought we were finished with fires for this season but I guess I was wrong.   I hope all this cold doesn’t destroy the fruit harvest.

 I hope you all have a great evening. God bless.

Our grapevine is coming along nicely.    Remember last year we cut it back too much and didn’t get not one single grape from it.  We are hoping for lots and lots of grapes this year.

We have been busy this week with school and other miscellaneous things.  Nothing too big.  We went to help Hubby yesterday.  The room he is working on needs lots of work on the floor.  It is sagging very badly.  He has to take the floor up and get under the house to jack it up.   It had little linoleum squares on it that had been put on with some kind of heavy duty glue.  We had to take the heat gun to each individual square and then use a shovel to get them up.  It took most of the day. 

We are having a little cold spell here.  We call it dogwood winter as the dogwoods are in full bloom.  We have been in the upper 20′s at night with frost.  Yesterday’s high was low 40′s with lots of wind.  Chilly but today has been nice.  Sun and temperatures in the low 60′s.  I like that much better. 

Well, that’s about all that is happening here.  I hope you all have a wonderful evening and God bless.

We went down to Jessica’s today and I finally got a few pictures to show you all-thanks to Grace. 

Sam was saying “cheese”. 

Miss Katie.  Hasn’t she grown?  She had a well visit check up today and she weighed 15 lb. 

We went to work with Hubby yesterday.  I will try to get some pictures of his progress next time we go.  Tomorrow after school, we will be going to get Grace’s new glasses.  I am so glad.  For those of you who do not know, Grace has worn glasses since before she was a year old.  Last year, when she got a new prescription, I noticed she was wearing them down quite far on her nose.  I questioned her and she said they hurt her eyes if she wore them up farther.  I should have taken her back but to be honest I guess I thought she had just got in the habit of wearing them down on her nose.  WRONG!  They had put her bifocal up way too high in the glasses.  So I know she will be so glad to get her new ones. 

We had a tremendous amount of rain over the weekend.  Lots of areas close by had large amounts of hail-3 to 6 in. I’m very thankful we didn’t have any.  Temperatures dropped considerably after the hail.  This morning it was 28 degrees with a heavy frost.   I think I will have to build a fire this evening.  It is fairly chilly inside the house. 

I’m not sure if this worked or not.  I was hoping to show you all a picture of the hail at the  shooting range nearby.  This is where Hubby and others from church go to shoot clays. 

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

Our rhubarb is coming up!!!  We love rhubarb.  This variety comes in early in the spring.  We have another variety up in the garden that comes in  later in the summer.  Today has  been a nice day here in Floyd.  Sunshine and temperatures in the mid 50′s. 

Jess had to do some more work on our soap.  We did some research and tried something called rebatching.  We think (hope) it is going to work.  I wanted to let you all know I really like the orange cleaner I made.  It smells really nice and cleans good.  I have another batch making now. 

Well, not much going on here today.  I just wanted to let you all know about our rhubarb.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I took this picture this morning as Hubby and I were sharing our morning coffee on the front porch.  You all remember our glassed in front porch we worked so hard to redo not too long ago.  It definitely gets lots of use.  We have our morning coffee on it, the girls and I do school out there, we love it.

The Horn’s came over for a visit today.  I had to show Vicki our new chicks.  They are doing very well.  We were a little concerned the other morning when we got up our temperature was 17 degrees.  That was the actual temperature not the wind chill.  I went to check on them but they were all nice and warm under the heat lamp.   So I am hoping this means they are hardy little ladies. 

Yesterday was beautiful here.  Sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50′s.  Today we are getting some rain.  It is still warm though- upper 40′s.  I tried a new recipe for supper last night.  It is called Crockpot Teriyaki Pork.        I got the recipe from http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/    It was very good.  I will definitely be making it again.  Sorry about the print being different.   I’m not sure what is going on. 

Lunch is over and time for school to start.  Enjoy your day and God bless. 

The girls and I have been busy today getting Mr. Rooster’s coop converted to a chick house.  We have been planning on getting new chicks this spring.  Jess and David are going in with us to get them.  The girls and I went over to Tractor Supply the other day to get a new wheelbarrow tire.  The breed of chicks we wanted to get were already there.  We are getting Buff Orpingtons (not sure I spelled that right).  We also are getting  a few black chickens which I have forgotten the name of.  I thought they would give the chicken house a little different color.  We plan on putting them in Mr. Rooster’s coop for temporary.

The inside of the coop. 

This is the area the chickens from last year are in.  They will soon be moving into another house and lot area. (As soon as we get it ready.)  Then the new chicks will move into this house and lot.  When they get old enough we will combine them all together.

The day was absolutely beautiful here.  Lots of sunshine and temperatures in the low 60′s.  While we worked, as you could see from the previous pictures, we had lots of help from the chickens.  Sometimes even jumping up into the new coop.  Our ladies are very curious.  We also had these  visitors.  They did not come very close though.  We hope they decide to nest on the island again.  The mallard ducks have also been checking the island out.  Spring-I think- is definitely on its way.

We hope to get the new chicks tomorrow!!  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Grace took this picture of the maple buds last time we were down at Jessica’s. 

 Today has been a very beautiful day here with lots of sunshine.  Temperatures are in the upper 50′s and the wind has finally laid down.  Very nice.  We had planned on going to the Horn’s today after school but Grace is getting a sore throat.  So we decided not to go.  Hopefully, it is nothing serious and we can go over there on Thursday.  That’s the plan anyway. 

I have found a new curriculum for school and was wondering if any of you all were familar with it.  It is  http://www.clp.org/christian_light_education  It seems pretty good and I am thinking of going with it for math especially.  Their teacher books have the solutions to the problems, not just the answers.  I need that especially now as we are getting into geometry and alegbra. 

I think I will go enjoy some of this sunshine.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

It is Tuesday evening and we are home for the night.  The project is getting closer and closer to being finished.  Yesterday, we hung all the walls.  Today we got everything mudded and tomorrow we will sand and texture the ceiling and then the drywall part will be done.  After that, we have a place in front of the sink to fix, possibly replacing the sink and sink cabinet.    Then the new floor will go down.  YEAH! 

And now some pictures of SPRING!  Jessica’s temperatures are much warmer than ours.  Down where she lives, there are many signs of spring.  Her daffodils are just ready to bloom.   On the road down to her house, we see lots and lots of daffodils already blooming.  We are like kids in a candy shop, looking for them, trying to be the first one to spot them. 

The maple tree in her yard is full of buds.

The onion grass is huge.

Dandelions are already starting to bloom.  I thought you all should know that while I’m there its not all work.  There are flowers to enjoy, warmer temperatures and, of course,  GRANDBABIES!  I have a blessed life. 

 Well, I better get busy.  I had hoped to catch up on what’s been happening in everyone else life but it is late and I still have much to get done.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Grace and Sam are pretty big buddies.  She is usually his watcher and Julie has Daniel.  As you can see, Sam must be barricaded away from the construction zone.  He is just a little bit too much help. 

He looks a little sad, don’t he? 

The electrical is all done and the ceiling is hung.  Monday we will hang the walls and start putting the mud on (hopefully).  After that, the new floor goes down.   Hubby will be building her a pantry to go beside her new stove.  

The boys were very happy when they were allowed inside the construction zone to help.  They worked very hard pulling up the old tile.  Daniel would pull it up with his special tool and Sam would carry it to the trash.  Very good helpers.

Temperatures here are very cold.  Wind gusts of about 40 mph with an actual temperature of 13 degrees, putting the wind chill below zero.  Our wood stove has been working hard keeping us nice and warm inside though.  I hope you all have a great weekend and stay warm.  God bless.