How to Feed a Praying Mantis

First you get some tweezers and a unsuspecting cricket  You then feed the unsuspecting cricket to the praying mantis You then watch the poor cricket get its legs torn off and eaten (eewwie) Stare with utter disgust at what you are seeing! Yum, yum, yum!

Lucy

 

For those questioning Lucy’s innocence…she was caught red handed in the middle of “destuffing” the bear. When I went for my camera she ran off to hide by Shelbie. She knew she was busted! She is a repeat offender by the way.

Schoolwork helper…or not?

 

I think not!

What came first? The chicken or the egg?

In our case it was the egg!

We were given 4 fertile eggs to try to hatch. We didn’t have an incubator so we pretty much had to wing it by putting the eggs in a aquarium with a heating pad under it and a light over it. Everyday we rotated them like the Mama would do and Poppet would pray…and pray…and pray.  She really wanted at least one of these eggs to hatch.  She was so diligent with her prayers that I told her that if one hatched she could have it.     Thursday night we noticed a tiny crack in one egg.

The next morning it was a tiny bit bigger. We watched it all day! After a few hours a little triangle piece of the shell broke off and we could see the little beak poking thru. After several more hours a sweet little chick emerged. This was one of the most amazing things we have experienced! The kids squealed with delight…okay, maybe Mama did too.  Duane ran to the feed store to get some chick started and also to buy a little buddy for this one so it wouldn’t be alone. Poppet is beyond thrilled and name her chicken Ducky!  We are still watching the remaining eggs but we really don’t think the others are fertile.  This was such a neat experience that we have decided to try this again in the spring.

Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow

We have the sweetest little neighbors on our back patio,  Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow.  Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow started building their cute little nest several months ago.  We loved watching them work so diligently.  We loved watching them lay their sweet little eggs and then watching those sweet eggs hatch and the sweet little chicks that came out.  We loved watching them teach their little chicks to fly and eventually leave the nest.  We just loved watching them!

Aren’t they just adorable?

Well, I guess Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow have not enjoyed us watching them so much.  Their three little chicks grew up and flew off a couple of weeks ago.  They immediately got busy remodeling their little home for their next little batch of babies…. O.K. We can take a hint! They want their privacy!

Omelet?…not

One of Poppet’s chores is to check for eggs everyday.  The other day she came in and was so excited over what she found in the nesting box. 

  We are wondering which one of our chicken laid this little egg.  It’s cute but sure won’t give us an omelet!

A visit with Maycie

Duane and I ran over to help Shyloh with something the other day and we took Shadd and Poppet with us.  They asked if they could go outside and play with Maycie, Shyloh’s dog.  Within minutes they were back in and Shadd declared that he saved Poppet!  Maycie had pinned her down and used poor Poppet as a door mat.  It looked much worse before we got home and most of the paw prints had dried.  At least she’s still smiling!

 

Puppy Party!

Last year on July 15th Poppet became the proud owner of a little, white Chihuahua puppy.  His name is Herbie.  At the same time Duane talked Uncle Micah and Aunt Lynette into taking Herbie’s sister, Haylee.  We absolutely love these dogs….I mean reeeaalllly love these dogs!

In September of last year Herbie came down with parvo.  We came very, very close to losing him.  I heard of a natural remedy for parvo and immediately found someone local to buy it from.  This product is very intense and you have to give the dog some every hour, even throughout the night.  I slept on the couch for a week with Herbie in his little box.  The timer would go off and I would stumble to the kitchen look at the chart to see what he needed (there were 4 parts to this program) and mix it up and go thru the process of forcing it down his throat.  Then I would clean everything up and set the timer again.  I would get about 30 minutes of sleep in between doses, and that was if I was lucky to fall asleep right away.

During that week I completely fell in love with Herbie and was determined to see him make it.  There were a couple days were were very doubtful.  We took him into the vet for fluid a couple of times since dehydration is such a huge part of parvo and I even had to give him enemas several times.  (Yes, you read that right!)  This was total commitment on my part!  I knew I had to do everything in my part to keep Poppet’s puppy alive and couple that with lots and lots of prayer.  It was all worth it.

On Thursday, exactly 1 year from the day we got these little dogs we had a 1 year old puppy party for them…okay, not for them but for the kids….and um, maybe for us too.  We bbq’d hotdogs, played pin the paw on the dog, hot potato with a blow up dog paw, and had a dog pinata. Lynette was very creative with this party and thought up all the games and even had a cake made with Herbie and Haylee’s picture on it.

I think it’s safe to say we all had fun and got a kick out of it.  The kiddos all had a blast and Poppet was tickled pink to celebrate her puppy.  If you remember this puppy was bought as part of a deal with her daddy when she agreed to never get married or move out but to live with us forever and ever! ;o) We’ll see how that goes down the line when Prince Charming shows up!  Until then we will take very, very good care of Herbie and make sure he lives a very, very, very loooonng life so Poppet won’t even think about leaving!

Poppet holding Herbie and Haylee at the place we got them from.  She was trying to decide which puppy she wanted.  Okay, the truth was we wanted her to choose the cute black and white one, but her heart was set on Herbie.  We are so glad she chose him!

 The girl and her dog!

They were so little here! Oh, the memories! lol

Aunt Nett with the puppies. By the way, we will always call them “puppies” no matter how old they get!

Getting ready for the piñata.

Some of our guests!

Lynette had the cake made.  Isn’t this darling?

Blowing out candles!

Opening gifts.

Happy Birthday Haylee and Herbie!

Good-bye Meko

Yesterday was a sad day for our family. We had to have our dog of almost 11 years put to sleep.

Meko was a “Walmart” dog. Someone was trying to get rid of her outside of Walmart and we felt we weren’t ready to love another dog as our other dog had disappeared just two months earlier. Meko was being tossed around by two little kids who were with their mom trying to get rid of her. We felt so bad we took her with the intention of finding a good home for her ourselves.

We never found that other home and she became the best dog a family could have. She was a lab mix with we think some pit in her. She was a wonderful guard dog and just fabulous with children. She was a gentle giant, but to strangers who didn’t know this just her bark would strike fear in them.

Yesterday morning we found her unable to walk. We knew we had to make the decision that we have been dreading for some time.

Meko was a part of our family and will be missed very much! I came downstairs this morning to see a verse written on the whiteboard in our kitchen by Shelbie….

“The Lord heals the brokenhearted, He binds up their wounds.”
Psalm 147:3

(This was taken 7 years ago)

(A few days ago)

Identity crisis?

Looked out the patio today and our chickens had once again "flown the coop". They were feasting on the dog food. Do they not know that the dog food has chicken in it? Shall I tell them they are chickens? They are a confused little bunch for sure.

A new family

You may remember our two sweet little goats we had, Ricky and Lucy. Ricky and Lucy now live out at the Brawley ranch with Micah and Lynette. The very first week they were out there the neighbor goat took quite a fancy to Lucy and eventually hopped the fence to come see her. I'm sure you can guess what happened from there.

Fast forward 5 months to last Wednesday and Lucy gave birth! We are all smitten! They are the cutest, sweetest little balls of fur ever! We were very concerned because the other goat was a bigger breed and we had been told that it could mean Lucy wouldn't be able to birth them and may die during labor or have to have a c-section. We were told that by how big she was that we really should hope she was having more than one baby as they would be smaller then and safer for her to deliver. We prayed and prayed for her and had sweet friends praying for her as well. The Lord is good and He really does care for His creatures. Not only did she have more than one baby, but she had three!

Lynette is thoroughly enjoying her new little family! She spends much of her day out holding them and sitting with them. They are jumping and running around already and even playing king of the mountain! Her little ranch really is looking like a ranch now with her cows and now a little herd of goats!

You can bet we will be spending as much time as we can out there this spring!