Tree Skirt Progress

I had hoped to have the tree skirt done by the time I wanted to use it... haha.

I had planned on quilting during Thanksgiving weekend

but I didn't get much done since I wasn't feeling well.

I am making progress.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

My new (more realistic) goal is to have it done by Christmas.

:)

So for now, just a few pictures to tease you.

Thankful

Once again I have been neglectful of this blog.

Oh well.

Life goes on. :)

I had every intention of making a blog post last week.

But then I managed to get a cold.

Wasn't bad, just annoying.

So our Thanksgiving plans changed.

Instead of heading to Dwayne's parents house for some turkey, we stayed home.

Since we were sick, I made homemade chicken and noodles instead.

So our Thanksgiving meal consisted of mashed potatoes, soup, and sweet potato pie!

I'm good with that... actually it was very good.

These are homemade duck egg noodles.

Every time I use a duck egg, I'm incredibly thankful Connor can eat them.

Sorry, no pie picture.

We always get it eaten before I remember!

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On to the duck coop, because I know everyone wants to know how it turned out.

It's green.

I'm not a fan of green.

Yes, the old chicken coop is green too.

For both coops I shopped the clearance paint.

Apparently the only exterior colors that get messed up are green.

There was a beautiful blue but, alas, it was interior paint.

So now we have not one, but two green coops.

We painted the inside and outside of the drawbridge door.

It needed to be weather proof.

What I didn't count on was that this paint made it slick.

The poor ducks can't climb up the ramp.

It's more of a slip and slide.

(We'll remedy that in the spring.)

We decided to add a door on the north side to limit the wind and rain coming in the south door.

Hopefully this will also prevent the possible egg thief we might have.

We haven't actually caught her in the act but

it's funny that our fake egg went missing.

I'm wondering where the dog buried it.

(Fake eggs are placed in the desired nesting place to make the hen want to lay there.

Otherwise they may lay their eggs somewhere else... and then the egg hunt begins.)

The ducks are doing really well in the yard.

The two brown ducks were raised together with two of the chickens and not the white ducks.

Sometimes the brown ones escape the yard to be with their chicken friends.

At first we had to chase them back into the yard.

The goofy things seem to know they should be in the yard and now go back in

with no effort on our part except to open the gate.

If we could just figure out how they're getting out!

We put the turtle pond away for the winter.

I think it's safe to say that they miss their little pool.

This duck in particular likes to hog the winter water pan.

There's hardly room for one, let alone two!

She finally got out so someone else could take a bath.

It's quite often that that brown duck is in the water dish though.

The Quack Shack

What have we been up to?

Our elbows in eggs.

Yes, that's 8 cartons of duck eggs and 5 cartons of chicken eggs.

I've made an angel food cake, noodles, brownies, and lots of cookies since then.

Our egg surplus is very manageable now.

We're discovering that duck eggs stay fresh a long time...

like 5 - 6 weeks.

That is our largest duck egg to date.

We weigh the biggest eggs.

And we're strange enough to keep track of them too.

This egg weighed in at 102 grams (that's 3.6 ounces)!

As you can see, it didn't fit in the carton... wouldn't even touch the bottom,

let alone close the carton lid.

And yes, it was a double yolk-er.

After weeks of slowly working on the duck coop, we've finally finished it! (Well almost.)

As I told my father-in-law, it's enough to keep the good critters in and the bad ones out.

(We're working on the shingles and shopping for paint.) 

We moved the ducks into the yard Saturday.

We finished the coop that evening.

It took three of us to coax the ducks into their new home.

And it took two nights of that.

By the third night they went in all by themselves!

We put a nest box on either side of the door.

We didn't get any eggs the first morning.

This didn't surprise us because we relocated them and interrupted their routine.

However, by the second morning we had two eggs.

:)

It's been fun watching them wander the north side of the yard.

They haven't ventured too far yet.

We moved the turtle pool even though we'll be putting it away for winter shortly.

They're a crazy bunch but we like them.

We're so thankful Connor can eat their eggs.

And in case anyone was wondering what Pepper thought of all this...

She doesn't bother the ducks at all.

I have seen her sticking her head in the coop looking for, um, snacks.

This picture was taken immediately after the one above.

I love how she's sitting there as if nothing happened.

That's what's left of her last Lambchop.

She's been unstuffing it of late.

Now I'm wondering if I can train her to herd the ducks.

That would be cool!

You can laugh with me, it's OK.