Two ladies came to visit...

Yesterday morning they appeared out the back near a hay bale...

Then in the afternoon under the oak tree....

Then again that evening in the front tree line...

This morning they were back? (still here) and spent much of the morning on top of the old barn...

They were hanging around the chicken house when I left for town at 2pm...Have not seen them since I got home...I hope they come back (stay?) tomorrow too.

Blessings Kelsie

Homemade Taco Salad, Heat and Health Update...

Let me start with an update on lil Sara...After spending Saturday evening at the ER and not really getting any answers...Her fever was still holding on Monday so back to her own Dr...Still really nothing much to tell me...Tuesday, still feverish and the Hospital calls to tell me her urine results came back with "abnormal results" and to go and see our Dr again...So Wed we are back at the Dr's office at 8.45am...The good news was the lab results were not anything major to be worried about...BUT her lungs are not sounding good so they do an chest X-ray and she has walking pneumonia...only took 6 days to get an answer *sigh*...So we are now doing a round of anti-biotics and the dreaded Orapred (steriod) that turns her in to a demon child...of course all this time I have been doing 4 hourly breathing treatments, tylonel and luke warm baths to bring down her fever and all that fun mum nursey stuff... and to be honest with you, I am EXHAUSTED from it all...Which is why I have not posted since Sunday, just no energy to think straight...Today though she is doing much better and tomorrow *happy mummy dance* will be going to daycare...meaning I can maybe find my house under a weeks worth of clutter and if I am really lucky get some doll work done (not holding my breath on that one lol)

Now on to more garden related things...

Dinner tonight was taco salad with homemade/home grown salsa...

The shell I made by simply draping a flour tortilla over a small (oven proof) cereal bowl and popping into a hot oven (400 degrees) for 15minutes...removed and allow to cool...I threw a good handful of iceburg lettuce in the bottom...warm shredded chicken was next then a good heaping of the lovely salsa (recipe at end of post) made from veggies from our own garden, sprinkled with shredded cheese and topped with sour cream...It was soooooo good.

Between Sara being so ill and the awful heat I have not been able to get out to the garden, we have had some heavy winds that took some branches off of the trees...Including this one from the pear tree in the back yard...the blue jays are not minding one bit...You can also see the melons in the field behind are now turning yellow...they are too far gone to pick and sell...I am just hoping they will come plow them under before it begins to smell bad...I know that today they came and removed all the pipelines for the irrigation system.

That's about it from here...Maybe tomorrow I can get out to do some clean up in the yard if it not too hot and gather some seeds from spent flowers...Hope yall are having a great week thus far.

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing this week:
Cottage Flora Thursday @ http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/
Flaunt Your Flowers/ Fertilizer Friday @ http://www.tootsietime.com/
Farm Girl Friday @ http://www.deborahjeansdandelionhouse.com

Garden Fresh Salsa:

5 ripe tomatoes - Diced and cored
1 small red onion - Finely chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno chile - Carefully seeded and finely chopped
1 good handful of fresh chopped cilantro leaves
Dash of Cayenne pepper to add spice
little salt
Juice of one freshly cut lime.

Mix in bowl, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or over night...Resist the urge to sit and eat it with a spoon because it is THAT GOOD.

Starting of new things in the garden...

Standing inside my living room I looked out to see one of my lovely parent birds singing a song of love from on top of the bird feeder hook...

The caterpillar I shared last week is now sleeping...I picked the branch of dill it was on and now have it safely in a vase in my kitchen...I so hope Lil Sara will get to see the butterfly that will emerge..

The flowers around and inside the suitcase are blooming...

Oh boy now both parents are outside my window making lots of noise...

This is the view of my faux stag horn and basket from inside my living room...

Peek-a-boo...can you see the baby bird peeking out of the faux greenery...

Oh boy...now the baby is on top of the basket...Parents are very excited now...Fortunately he did return inside to the nest...Not quiet ready to leave this day (Monday)...

However he was making much racket again this morning and by the time we got home from town he was gone...Just the smaller baby bird left in the nest now...I do hope mommy and daddy continue to return and feed this one until it is ready to follow it's larger sibling out in the world.

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing this post for
Outdoor Wednesday @ http://www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Cottage Flora Thursday @ http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/
Flaunt Your Flowers/ Fertilizer Friday @ http://www.tootsietime.com/
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/
Farm Girl Friday @ http://www.deborahjeansdandelionhouse.com

MIA and The Cockateils (Weiro for you Aussies)

I know I have been out of the blogging loop this week, between the frustrating blogger issues, my elderly neighbors being in a car wreck (they will be ok, Miss L is home but got cracked ribs, Miss A is still in hospital because of low blood pressure) life in general, and then getting ready for tonight when myself and Lil Sara have an over night stay at the hospital for her to have a sleep study...She possibly has sleep apnea, which would explain why at almost 3yrs old she still does not sleep thru the night...

But in the meantime I thought I would share a couple of my pets with you...Incase I don't get back later today to post the pix I took in the garden this week.

These are my "baby" birds...Each day we wheel their cage out on to the front porch and each night hubby brings them in...not sure what we will do once we are too old and grey to get it up and down that step since these guys can live for 25yrs...The cage is taller than me at 5"6'.

Hey Ma' whatcha doin'?

This is "Boy" and he is our newest, we got him to keep Schnitzel company after Spunky our original male was killed by on owl this past Christmas night...hence why the cage comes in each night now...

This is Schnitzel ..She is not so up close and personable as Boy but she is a little loopy and totally sweet...Her name suits her personality to a T...She is also the only Female I have known that can woof-whistle...Something she learnt from our dear departed Spunky.

Boy again...I have about 20 photos of him up close because...well, Boy likes to get up close to you...worries me since he was doing it to one of the cats the other day...Boy was hand reared by the lady at the rescue center were we got him a couple of months ago.

Blessings Kelsie

Peeking out the window....

This is the view through the window about 5 minutes ago (well technique the french doors)... We started watching the birds on the feeder but then noticed the tractor in the back ground...

This week they started breaking the ground behind the house to get ready for planting watermelons....They will turn the dirt a few more times before they start laying the plastic rows and irrigation...The rows directly behind the fence will not get planted with watermelons, but will serve as my veggie garden this year...I need to start thinking about what I will be planting there, how much and when I need to get it into the ground...

By the time they are done planting it will be a rough total of 74 acres of watermelons, combining our land and the land adjacent....minus of course what I use for my veggies.

Just a little peek at live on "the farm" for you

Blessings Kelsie

Don't forget to visit

Boxing Day update....

So Spunky barely made it thru the night, and alas after calling about 20 vets within a 1oo mile radius, could only find 3 that see birds...Good news is one of them is local, bad news is the specialist is only there on Wed and Fri...The 2nd one is about 45minutes drive away but again the specialist is not in on Mondays *sigh*...Finally at 9.30am I was given a number to call by one of the vets for the University Of Florida's small animal hospital, they could see him at 11am and it was about an hours drive from here...

At this point I was not sure he was even strong enough to make the trip as he was sitting in the bottom of the cage and was too weak to even grip my finger with his feet...I settled him down on a soft cloth under the heat lamp and made the decision to take him to the local cat and dog vet and just have him put to sleep...It was a hard call to make being he has been my little buddy for over 5yrs.

I called a friend to sit with Sara while I took him to the vet, by the time I got myself and Sara out of our PJ's Spunky was taking his final nap...Poor little Schnitzel is in the cage calling for her lost mate...I am not sure if I will have to find her another companion or not...Right now I am in no place to even want to replace Spunky.

This video was taken last Dec in our old house right after the birds got their new cage...Spunky would just not stop singing after I put them in it.

Not such a good day...

It must be Boxing Day because I feel like I have gone 3 rounds and lost to Mr Rocky Balboa himself.

My sweet little boy Cockatiel Spunky, was attacked thru the bars of his cage last night and has some serious wing damage...Maybe even a break, with it being Sunday and us living in the sticks I have to wait until tomorrow before I can start phoning around to find a vet that see's birds...The one Avian Vet in the area that I knew of retired last April :(....In the meantime I have been keeping him warm under my photo lamps and found the right dosage of aspirin to administer to a small bird via his water dish...This discovery btw was made at 6am while letting the dog out for a tinkle and discovering the poor Cockatiels had been left on the front porch over night.

Lil Sara seems to have fully recovered from the Strep Throat, but alas the antibiotics have not been kind and tomorrow we have to go back to the Dr to see what we can do about the side effect...This side effect leaving her extremely irritable when ever she tinkles...Poor little tike...The cold weather is still aggravating her asthma, so the Dr has her on a course of steroids as well...These make her even more irritable, so needless to say she is being a wee bit of a Cranky Puss Princess ATM.

And then round 3, was how cold it was here today...

Now I want to remind you Northern folks that I live in Florida, the sunshine state, the shorts and t-shirts for Christmas state...Well it was C-O-L-D here today...Cold enough that just 10miles up the road they had honest to goodness snow...THAT IS CRAZY...But how is this round 3 I can hear you thinking...Well today hubby works until after dark and I was alone here with a super cranky whiny sick toddler and could not go out to close the chicken house before dusk...I figured it would be ok, our dog is outside enjoying the cold weather (she is part Chow and loves the cold)...

Well when hubby got home he closed the chicken house first thing, but alas we are short one chicken...I am fixin' to go all Ma Kettle and sit on the porch in a rocker with my shotgun handy...2 weeks ago we lost our other duck...Now we are down to just a Rooster and 3 hens.

I think I am going to go get a hot shower and count my blessings, like hot running water...
Ma Kettle Out...

For the birds....

I put halved oranges in the trees just outside the back door for the birds to enjoy...It also allows me to enjoy watching them...The hanging seed feeder is also visited daily by a family of cardinals..You might remember in the spring me sharing images of Daddy bringing in the babies to feed for the first time. (see post here)

The funniest part about this picture is what you guys do not see...and that is one of our cats Pretty Kitty stretched out on a table about 10 feet from the tree waiting for her breakfast to be served lol.

Do you feed the birds in your area? If so, what do you put out and what kind of birds does it attract?

Blessings Kelsie

Early Birds on Laundry Day

This morning I turned from filling the washing machine and glanced out the laundry room window, already there were birds at the feeder that hangs from the pear tree. So I ran and grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of photos thru the window.
(all the images were taken in 10 minutes..I love my pear tree)

As you can see in the background of this shot we are starting to see some subtle colors of autumn creep in, if it is only in the uncut hay field...It is decidedly cooler this morning and I was able to open the windows to get some fresh air thru the house...About another hour and I will have to close them and by lunch time the A/C will be kicking in again.

Mother and baby Cardinal sitting on the BBQ next to the pear tree. I was not able to get a shot of the red male as he was to busy chasing away the intruding gray bird in the previous shot.

We also have a very young blue bird that likes to come and enjoy the pears...

This is not a very good shot, as this guy is always on the move and very hard to photograph, but he stops by often to hammer on the old part of the stump and occasionally the fruit...

As you can see we have a unique way to enjoy the fruit from the pear tree...since it is to high up to pick and I do not have time to be canning right now, we leave it for the birds to enjoy, even our own chickens and ducks love to come forge under the tree for the fruit the squirrels drop.

Other birds we have seen visit our yard this week included 11 quail passing thru and stopping to take a drink from the birdbath dish that is laying on the ground below the pear tree, and a HUGE hawk, that though we were in awe to have it so close, having it on the front porch hanging from the side of my cockateil's bird cage was less than ideal...My poor babies are now confined indoors until I can figure out a safe way for them to be on the porch.

Look who came to visit

From the dining room table, we have a perfect view of the bird feeder hanging in the pear tree, just outside the french doors...Eventually we will also bring the bird bath over and place it in the middle of this small group of trees.

Daddy Cardinal brought by his babies for their first breakfast at the bird feeder this morning.

I just wish I had a better camera to take these photos...especially since I am forced to take them thru the glass doors, so as not to disturb the wild life.


Yesterday lunch time one of our "often visitors" stop by for a pear...With 20 something pear trees on the property we do not mind sharing with our fury friends.

Settling into our new home...

I can't believe it has been 3weeks since my last post...As it always does, moving and settling in has taken longer than I had hoped it would...I had grand dreams that I would be finished by now and just adding tiny touches to the interior decorating....Oh I am so silly and optimistic...I do not even have curtains in the living room yet lol.

So besides moving furniture and packing and unpacking boxes we have started working on some wonderful new memories in the new house.

Here is Sara taking her first nap in the new house.
It is hard work being this cute and getting underfoot :)

We were so happy that Mic was able to leave for Prom from here,
even if we did only slide in by 3 days....Doesn't she look gorgeous..

We have also had a couple of award nights at the school...She made A/B Honor roll for the entire Senior Yr....Last night was Band awards and she received her Senior Plaque, her pin and School Letter....Tonight will be the last time the seniors perform with the School Band..

Only 10days till Graduation night.

These next couple of pictures were taken thru the glass from the back door and the quality is pretty bad....But I had to share....The other morning while making coffee I looked up and saw 6 turkeys making their way across the hay field...it was 5 hens and a gobbler, as you can see he was putting on quite a show for his ladies with his tail all sprayed out.

This picture gives you an idea just how far from the house they actually were....Sadly I have not seen them again since, I am hoping it is just a timing thing and that they stay on the property so come Turkey Season they will not end up in someones freezer.


Only 4 days left until Mum and Aunt Nina arrive to visit with us from Australia...I can't wait...Though I hope they don't get to bored out here in the sticks.

Kelsie

PS: As I have time and feel inspired I will do a room by room review of the house (and the contractors work) now we are living in it.