Happenings at the Castlebury Place

It has been a busy past several days, but they have been ohhhh so good!!! Yard saleing this past Saturday, talking with family while watching the chicks eat and play, attending church and fellow shipping with the folks there, practicing my horn, sewing, tending to household duties and getting caught up on the 'to do' lists, and watching the rain fall (read deluge; we received four inches in a little over twenty-four hours!) and form puddles in the yard and driveway while also seeing the pond rapidly expand, have been a few of the things that have kept my family and I on our toes the past several days!

The butterflies have returned!
This week promises just as much fun busy-ness taking place either in the garden, out with the chicks, or working on the 'refinishing' the porch swing project that I'm hoping to start in the next day or so! I spent about two hours of this morning out in the garden weeding and making feeble attempts at figuring out what is ailing several plants. I love spending time out there and the cool morning hours are perfect for it!
In the next few pictures, I'll be sharing some of the most recent highlights from today and this past week. Hopefully, you can see a little glimpse of what life is like here during the summer!

Sitting on her nest
About a week ago Sayre found this nest while mowing out near the garden...

The occupants
Inside it were three or four recently hatched babies. I was thrilled to see this as it is the same type of bird whose nest in my butterfly bush was ransacked several weeks ago; I am eager to be able to watch these little guys grow!

A weeks worth of growth
As the story of my life seems to be, I became busy and quickly forgot about the nest and the babies. This morning, as I was tying Lila up to this particular tree I was reminded about the nest and went to investigate. Momma was on the nest, but quickly flew away as I watched her. I was amazed at how quickly the newly hatched babies had grown! The nest looks like it will soon be outgrown! I would have loved to watch these little guys a bit longer, but momma bird was becoming rather anxious about her offspring and I thought it best to head on out to the garden.

Now for a glimpse into some of last weeks happenings.

Ummm.... yes?
We had Trevor and Thelma over for dinner and a movie last Thursday evening! We provided dinner and they provided a movie about the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea during their flight from Egypt. It was very fascinating and helped one imagine a bit better what took place.

Three year old photography
Sawyer loves to use my camera and he's becoming quite good at it too! We're still working on him not rapidly moving the camera while taking the picture, but he seems to be getting the idea. The above picture is a sampling of his large collection... Yes, that is his face on the left! I'm not sure how he managed that one! :o)

Speckled Sussex
The chicks have been here for a whole entire week now, but goodness, does it ever seem much longer! They have really begun to grow and I was noticing yesterday that the Australorps are begging to look more like ducklings that chickens!

Barred Rocks
As you can see, they are beginning to get their wing feathers as well as their tails feathers. The Sussex seem to be getting their feathers in much quicker than the other two breeds. With all of the growth taking place, it means that they have 'found their legs' and are using them allot. They have taken to jumping out of the pool that we have and it isn't unusual to find several out milling around the shop! Means we need to check on them more frequently! :o)

Testing Rex's taste buds...
Sayre, on a whim, decided to see if his steers (they really can't be called calves or cows, as they are neither of those!) liked corn chips. Rex readily ate all of the chips that were allotted to him while B-Moo only became interested AFTER he saw that the portion he had passed up were going to Rex! So, now we know that we can use corn chips as 'treats' for the boys... now we just need to train them to do something! ;o)

A new experience
Today, after lunch, Momma set up the sprinkler for Sawyer to run through. He had been eagerly talking about "spwinkwing aftuh wunch" and was raring to go when Momma gave him the Ay-oaky.

Avoiding the water
He didn't seem to keen on getting wet and began asking for dry clothes soon after getting slightly damp! Momma took matters into her own hands and started spraying him... I love his expression in the above picture!

It's fun!
Momma showed him how to run through the water, hootin' and hollerin' the whole way! After being sprayed and being placed in the midst of the water, he decided that he enjoyed it! The whole process was hilarious to watch!

Headin' out to check the rain gauge
Sawyer is such a sweet little man who is turning more and more into a boy each and every day. Before we know it, he'll be taking care of his own pets and playing in the creek by himself. Where have the past three and a half years gone?

Well, the first day of the week is almost over with and there is still some un-done things that I much 'tend to!