Getting the hang of it

Well,our chicks are 19 days old today. We started off with two houses worth of chicks in one house (double brooding). Thursday a catch crew came and moved half of each house to the house next door. We had birds in houses 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10 and now we have birds in all ten houses. It was a lot of work getting the odd number houses ready to receive birds and the even number houses ready for the catch crew to have room to work. Patrick and I worked from 4 am to about 7 pm two days in a row, but now that part is over. The really great news is that double brooding was an experiment. All the other, experienced growers absolutely hated it and so our boss has decided it wasn't worth all the work. This means our next flock should be a lot easier.

At any rate, we have been able to get done with our main chores by lunch, which gets me back in the house with the kids where I want to be. It has also allowed Patrick the time to finally finish painting the girls' room. Today we stared bringing in all their things and as I type they are nestled snug in their very own bed quietly reading books. I will post pictures of their room in the near future.

We have also robbed our camper of its couch and two recliners for our living room. It's all coming together. Patrick needs to make some bookshelves for our massive library, then we can get the rest of our boxes unpacked. We just talked tonight about doing something rustic (i.e. cheap and easy). We sure wish we still had access to Glen and Bill's mill.

The weather has been cold, but not bad. We have had a few mornings that the temperature was in the 20's (once it was 18). The wind is the killer. If the wind isn't blowing we have found we can tolerate it so far. The temperature in the chicken houses is about 80 degrees. We bundle up in layers and our Blizzard Pruf (that's how they spell it) jackets and then shed them just before we enter the chicken house. Depending on what we need to do, sometimes we end up getting so hot we sweat and then the cold air outside feels good for a minute and then we bundle up again. It's really like having a cold Oklahoma winter with a touch of Florida, smelly of course ; )

Well, I just wanted to post an update. It has been a while since our last one and I wanted you all to know we are doing well. We love and miss you all.

Tired

I have returned our teeny, tiny family picture in its proper place. So my last post won't make any sense to someone who hasn't been following the saga. Oh well.

This post will be extremely short.

We are tired! We helped with the sell of the last flock and have been getting things ready for our first flock which arrived today. This morning, we were met outside by our neighbors (the couple who have been working the two farms). They helped us unload the chicks and get our computers set to monitor the houses. What a blessing! They have been a tremendous help to us and we are grateful. If all goes according to plan, this flock will be sold just after Christmas and then we will have a week off.

The Lord has blessed us with the purchase of a used (extremely used) and inexpensive (in comparison) four wheeler. It has also been a tremendous blessing in getting us around and has saved us a lot of walking.

It is 9:30 pm and everyone is in bed and I should be heading that way myself. I just wanted to touch base since it had been a week since my last post and also get the picture of the old car labeled as "Our Family" changed back to normal ; )