So, K is at the building, and the kids are asleep, and I took a bath last night. So I'm watching the Office on Hulu and chillin' out. Verra nice indeed.

More chicken notes: the wee one is back with the others! Yay! Somehow survived two nights out and after much ado, I caught it this morning and dropped it back in the fold.




Yah, didn't go with this group. But they were sitting in the remains of the herb bed in the courtyard and I took a picture.

This one, however...



LAID AN EGG! She is a big bossy Barred Rock who laid as a great big brown egg on Sunday and we hope she'll do it again soon and her three peers will follow. Farmers tell me that young laying hens take awhile to start up-- especially in winter-- and it'll probably be spring before she's regular.

Still very exciting though.

We've been having some nice family times lately. K got our woodstove in, which means there's been a few evenings of crackling fires... not at all cost effective, considering it's an outside chimney and the bedrooms are on the other side of the house, but SO worth it. A fire just makes a house feel like a home.

And we were supposed to go to the rodeo last Saturday, but our sitter came down sick and our other one was out of town. So we're going out this Saturday instead, though alas... the rodeo has left town. I'm sure we'll find something fun to do anyhow.

In gardening news... the digging continues (I'm putting in a very long flower bed very slowly). I also planted some rose bushes, some more hydrangeas, and two dogwood trees. About twenty trees to go before I can rest easy, knowing everything I want to have growing is going.

And I'm freelancing quite a bit, which is nice as well. Tricky to fit in around everything, especially since I'm back at work on the novel, but... nice.

AND-- BIG NEWS HERE-- a mattress, fire-retardant-free, 6'' longer than a regular queen but the same width, and reversible, is being handmade by a family company in Texas and soon the air mattress will be thrown in the trash! (Since it really doesn't work anymore. We have to pump it up about every other hour or we wake up on wood.) YAY! Three weeks away and counting.

Hope everyone out there is well.