WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

by Robin

White Ibis

Microscope Class

Telescope on Chicks

UPDATES:

The cutie below is my neighbor's daughter. She is really good to watch.

Back pain - Can't say it was from anything exciting. I went to bed normal Friday night and woke up in pain Saturday. I can only think that it was a fibromyalgia attack that gained momentum as the day progressed and weather starting moving through the area the next day. I used ice but that only made it worse (Sun).

Now..... FLOWERS!!! I captured some of the prettiest flower pics in my front yard on Friday. I've lowered resolution to put them here but the originals are just fantastic. I wish I had more wall space to enlarge, frame and hang everywhere. (Periwinkle flower - Thanks Patti & Holli)

Bird of Paradise (Thanks Patti & Holli for the name)

The orange and blue together make a brilliant combination. Very FL Gator-ish. Go Gators!

Again, another no name beauty.

This one has got to be in the iris family. Gorgeously dressed flowers.

Ok, this one I snuck in from the backyard. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

It looks like little fireworks to me.

I'm sorry this one is out of focus. I'm going to go back and get a better pic of this for tomorrow. It is a rose bush that has something like 22 buds on it. I've got to get a better pic for you to enjoy. I've never seen roses do this in 1 grouping.

I also have a gorgeous yellow long-stemmed rose about to unfold. More photos later.

If you know the names of any of these, please let me know.

BABYSITTING FISHERMEN

by Robin

After a little while, she found the Spiderman chair and loves it. Now, she is onto the stuffed animals on the boys' beds.

She sure is keeping the boys busy. Tv is not her thing!

She wanted so badly for me to lift her to see the mounted Mahi mahi on the wall but I just couldn't with my back being kinked up. I'm just so thankful to be walking today. I was looking forward to having a little girl in the house and doting on her but my health is really interferring. I'm so glad the boys are great babysitters.

BAD NEWS - sort of ....

I found out tonight (via google) that my 3 new chicks are Light Brahmas. Beautiful birds. Sadly, they're meat chickens. I don't have the heart to raise and then eat my birds. They're not good egg-layers according to one site. So, I guess I'm praying for my 2 Leghorns to be hens. As for the other 3, I'm not sure what's going to happen. My fishermen will be so disappointed.

More later........
PS: Renee, you'll have to stop calling them Nuggets. LOL.

CHICK TV

by Robin

This gives totally new meaning to G-rated Chick TV. I go out to the back porch, prop my feet up and watch chickens at any given moment. Family friendly entertainment. Needs no batteries.

Today, we adopted 3 more chicks from the other 4H family. We agreed to raise all 5 for the next month or so until somebody shows or crows rooster. Then, the roosters have to go. I will keep 2 hens for egg-laying.

Aren't they cute?

Here are their names

My Leghorns weren't too thrilled to share their home. After saying good-bye to our friends, Andrew headed back to the bin and found one of ours on top of the light. That has been remedied with a little chicken wire.

This one looks so grown up already. S/He is only 8 days old.

It will time to build a coop very soon. It is adorable to watch them scratch around for food and build little nests. I love how sacked out they look when they sleep. I wish I could catch a picture of that, but they're onto me everytime w/ the camera beeps.

GARDEN REPORT

by Robin

I tried to make a deal w/ myself that I would only do garden updates once a month, but I can't seem to stick to that rule. We have so many things in bloom that I had to share them with you.

(I'm going to keep the pics small and you can feel free to click & enlarge the ones you want.)

These are my Sweet Bell Pepper seedling now finally going into bloom. I have a bed of 17 plants that will be mixed colored variety. I put this bed right outside my bedroom window so I can enjoy the colorful view.

I also have approx 15 hot peppers on the end of my viney garden (above). They seem to be a week or so behind the sweet pepper garden. The biggest factor is lack of natural mulch materials.

Here are my tomato seedling that I started in January. They're somewhere between a golfball and baseball in size. We love big tomatoes so much that we didn't feel that 6 plants were enough. I bought a couple more at the store and put them in my main garden.

Big boys are better than Better boys. I love the larger size. Great for slicing on sandwiches or making wedges for salads. Sometimes I have Better boys that tend to mush after ripening. I don't like that. Better boy is a marketing ploy, imo. LOL

VINES

There are a long variety of cucumber (not pickling). They have a great yellow bloom and I believe those are the cukes right behind the bloom. Too cute. This is one you'll want to click on.

Crooked-Neck Squash bloom

The color is truly more magnificient than I could capture. It's somewhere between a canteloupe orange and yellow.

Probably 5 lbs worth of cherry tomatoes from the other day. One picking. I'm giving them away as fast as I can.

I have 3 citrus trees. My grapefruit and tangelo are very mad at me for transplanting them and haven't bloomed. This is my navel babies. See the green ball sitting on the yellow saucer? That's them. The blooms just fell off most of them.

HERBS

Behind the thyme is the sage which doesn't look as healthy as it once did, but it is going into bloom. Maybe the plant is at the end of its life and so it will produce babies soon. I love the delicate purple flower.

Cilantro/ Corriander Forest. All those little seeds that came off the mother plant have created quite the healthy little forest. I will need a serious salsa recipe for canning at some time.

Good size mound of Thyme. This is one of my favorite spices in the garden to cook with. It goes well with everything but my guys tend to eat chicken or fish more than anything else.

Right next to this is the parsley.

Flat-Leaf Italian Parsley - big mound of it, trying to go into bloom.

I still don't cook with this much but I'm trying to incorporate it into mixed herbs that blend with flour for a nice frying crust on porkchops.

TERMITES!

In the back corner of my yard, there is this stump. I had a gorgeous woodpecker attacking it the other day. I figured he was out for ants and maybe termites.

Well, termites *was* it! They started swarming at lunch. The joys of FL living.

Don't miss out on enlarging this one. It is a closeup of the same photo. Each one of those white things is a termite.

(Renee, tell Jim that I need him!) I'm so thankful that they weren't swaming out of a part of my house. That would be terrible!

That's it for now. I'll probably have more garden pics in early May.

PSALM 77:16, 19

The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee;
They [sea] were afraid: the depths also troubled.

Your way was in the sea,
Your path in the great waters,
And Your footsteps were not known.

I love this verse for the fact that it reminds us how big God is. When we're feeling overwhelmed, as I did when I took this picture, we can cry out to God with our voices and remember His works and meditate on it. The psalmist refers back to God parting the Red Sea for the children of Israel, but it applies to anyone today who feels like they are drowning in this crazy world we live in. Although you may not see God's footsteps in every circumstance, He is there.

As for this photo, it was taken last week when we were fishing on Mike and Helen's boat. We were in a wave trough with a quick following wave behind us. I left the back of the boat in the picture so you could see that we were a good 6 ft below that wave. It was so unnerving that I stood up to watching it. I wish I had had this verse when I saw this wave. It is good to remember that He who created the waters and parted them, can also calm the storm in the sea of life.

Blessings & Happy Sunday,

Robin

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
My step-daughter turned 21 today! Wow. Where did the time go? I first met her at 5 yo. I was so scared at how she would take to her daddy having another woman in his life. Oh the anxiety. But she put me right at ease. She only wanted to hold my hand and shop for purses and pink things. She still loves pink as you can see.

She has bloomed into such a beautiful young lady, blessed with excellent athletic skills to boot.

We love you!

INDULGE ME, One more time

This pic isn't about the chicks. Look at the background.

They're first time getting to hold them.

Baby Got Back! (AKA Fuzzbutts/Fuzzbuckets)

Contemplating

Let's see if I can peck that silver thing she's holding.

This alien saucer tastes good. Keep attacking it.

DAY 2
Don't we look great all fluffed out?

They're standing so much better today and for longer periods of time.

Guess who joined us this morning.

Yep, another brother or sister. This is the one that tried all day to get out. Jack told me that he helped it early this morning. I told him how wrong that was but that I loved his tender ways. This chick does look smaller than the other bunch.

Three eggs to go... sitting so silently. Today is the true due date, so I'm hoping they will come healthy.

OBSESSED!!

LUKE 9:43

And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God.

I can't get a thing done today for all the excitement in the house. I am in awe at the whole chick hatching process. By lunch time, we had 2 chicks peeping like crazy. We have a 3rd who slowed down the process but still peeps a little from his shell. Maybe she/he will come tonight.

Here are a few more pictures. We ordered White Leghorn eggs.

(My favorite pic - below)

OUR 1st CHICK
It was so hard to take a pic. My camera was in shock with the humidity.

Two more on the way.

CHICKS!

Our White Leghorn chicks are peeping and 1 egg has a crack where a beak has broken through.

More to come........

Toffee Pecan Dream Bars
(Phyllis, this is for you.)

Base: 1 pkg Yellow cake mix, 1/2 c butter, softened, 1 egg

Filling: 14 oz can sweetened condense milk, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 c chopped pecans, 8oz Heath Toffee Bits

*optional: chocolate chips, which I did.

Heat oven to 350 deg. Grease 13 x 9" pan. Combine base and mix until crumbly. Press into the pan. In a small bowl, make filling. Stir and pour over base. Spread to cover.

Bake 350 deg for 25-35 min or until light golden brown. Center will look loose but will set upon cooling. (High Altitude -over 3500 ft - Add 2 Tbl flour to cake mix, bake 375, same time.)

I put fresh strawberries over our bars, but you can do without. Whipped cream also a possibility.

Very sweet & caloric!
Enjoy,
Robin