New pets

Okay, so the family members have been discussing acquiring chickens for several months now. Sunday, my youngest called and said they were coming over to pick me up. We drove to Sturgis to Campbells. Brodie, the kindergartner, choose two ducks. Kennedy, the second grade student choose two chickens that lay white eggs. I bought four brown egg layers. I wasn't a happy camper because they didn't have any that lay colored eggs. So we drove to Spearfish to the Mercantile. I then purchased six more hens... colored egg layers. We learned the ducks have to be separate until they all loose the fluff and get their feathers. Jay just happened to have two cages [from the guinea pig era]. So here are some pictures of them. Jay has a 'real' coop lined up. They just have to move it to their property. He has 4 acres, so there is plenty of room. I think James, my middle son, is going to buy some bantams to add to the brood. So they will start laying at five months, which puts it in November. Yeah, like they will lay profusely in cold weather. We may have to run a line to the coop so we can use the heat lamps.

Power Rake

I have learned another lesson. [Old dogs can learn new tricks.] Last fall I did not mow the grass short thinking it would be better for the grass. I have since found out that you should mow it short. So this spring, the grass was about 4 inches long and bent over. Didn't know how it could be mowed. We decided to have it power raked. I can't believe the difference. As I drove up to the house after dropping Sis at the airport, I noticed the difference right away. Now if the sun would just shine and the weather would warm up, the grass would grow and I could start watering.