Use and Reuse

I'm not at all a fanatic about recycling.  But I really enjoy things like having a compost pile, saving my food scraps for the chickens and using manure in the garden.  The horses and the chickens seem to be working together to recycle, too.

Here's how it works:

Chickens are not picky eaters.  In fact, they walk around eating off the ground constantly.  When I let them out of their house yesterday, there was some pushing and shoving because the first girls out had to stop and eat.

Horses are very picky eaters.  They want clean, dry, first quality hay.  In the bale they are eating right now, they have eaten a hole into the middle to get the heart.  Sort of like wanting the middle brownie.

And, somehow, they leave lots of clean, dry, first quality hay on the ground.  I can't stand it.  I have tried picking up the hay off the ground and putting it in their feeder, but they turn their nose up at it.  Such a waste!

SO, we pick up the hay and put it in the chicken pen.  The chickens need something on the floor of their pen and they love it!  It has spent some time in the dirt and must be full of all types of little bugs.  They scratch and peck, recycling what would have been trash.  Before we know it, the hay has been broken down into tiny pieces, and we shovel it out like dirt.  And that goes in my compost heap!

And one last thing.  Remember the hole in the hay?  It makes a really good hiding place!

Grandkid fun

This weekend we were able to spend time with all four of the grandkids.  Here are a few pictures of the fun!

I think Lily brushed her teeth 3 times.  

While Bella was eating breakfast, she started crowing like a rooster.  She's pretty good!

Taking a bath is one of their favorite things to do at our house.

More Ipod fun.

Lily feeding corn to the chickens.

Did you know that apples taste good dipped in ketchup?

It Begins

After getting this Ipod I downloaded some apps that I thought the grandkids would enjoy.  So, I showed Jonathan how to use DoodleBuddy.  It allows you to "paint" with your finger on the screen.  You can choose the color, the width of your paintbrush, you can add smiley faces and soccer balls to your picture, and the list goes on.  Jonathan and I talked about how to use it for about 60 seconds and this is what happened:

How do kids get it so quickly?

Red Sky at Morning

This is what it looked like outside the front door yesterday morning.  I just stepped out and snapped the picture.  The flash came on and caught the moss in the foreground, but kept the fiery look of the sky

 "This is the day the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it!"

Picture Practice

I got a new camera this week!  It's a Nikon D3000 and I really don't have a clue what to do with it.  Yet.  I have a lot to learn, but while I'm learning I am taking random pictures of everything around me.  I saw Twinkle staring out of the den window at the birds and asked her to pose for me.

She was happy to.

But, then she saw that I turned one of the pictures into a portrait.  And she is a different cat today.  She has been running around the house and being very frisky.  I think she is just happier today.  She feels special.  Maybe my camera will do that for lots of people.

Now if I can just get her out of my chair.