The First!

We got a letter from Kevin yesterday!!! Yay! I have been waiting impatiently to hear from my Kevin since he left for Marine boot camp in San Diego. I checked the mail on the way home from work last night and there it was! I jumped back in the truck and barreled down the road to get home so I could read it with Derek. Really glad all the officers were busy elsewhere last night :)
He says he's missing us of course and that he had a wisdom tooth pulled (this was last Monday, the day I sent my first letter his way) and was on bed rest. And although he was supposed to be studying, he decided to write. So glad he did. He urged us to write soon, lol by now he's gotten at least three letters from me and various other people, I've sent three this week.
If anyone else that knows and loves us wants to write to Kevin, please email me and I will get the address to you. He needs all the encouragement he can get!
Now looking forward to the next letter, again with impatience lol

The New Girls at Work

I've been getting white eggs for a month or so now, that I am pretty sure are from my three older hens. Then I started getting a little brown egg every couple of days in the chicken yard, so I knew one of the new hens was laying and was confused as to where she needed to do it. Then a brown egg started showing up in the lay boxes, I thought maybe she had figured it out. Now I get three or four brown eggs a day, a couple white ones and I've been waiting anxiously for my Easter egger to start. And today....
Yay!
A nice pale green egg awaited me when I fed this morning, along with three browns and three whites. By the colors/patterns of the eggs, I'm guessing I have 3, possibly 4 hens laying brown eggs, possibly one of the white hens laying a white egg, and now my fuzzy cheeked girl has chimed in :)
Egg-citing! lol couldn't resist!

WOOL!

I just got this back from Morro Fleece Works, it is a combination of three CVM fleeces that I decided I would never get to process myself. I am selling so that I can pay for Gracie's fleece that will be back later this week.
Samples from left to right; two ply lace weight, three ply, two ply long draw woolen, cable (4 ply)

I am asking $40/lb, it is typical of CVM, very soft and downy. Shipping is FREE! :)

We heard from Kevin, they all get a phone call after they arrive, he is at MCRD in San Diego and I'm sure he's have LOTS of fun :)

One Day at a Time

I know I will survive.

I know this is what he wants to do to start his life and I am happy that he is taking the initiative to do it.

But oh my! It hurts really bad.

Kevin left yesterday to go to boot camp. I will get to hear his voice sometime today, in an emotionless phone call that he will be allowed to make to let us know he is where he is supposed to be and that he will be sending us a post card with his address, company and platoon on it so we can write to him.

It's the whole 'cold turkey' thing that has my stomach in knots and has me either refusing food altogether, or wanting to eat everything in sight.

Its amazing how many times I've thought of him just this morning since I got up, not just stray thoughts that he's gone but... well they are too many to go into. I've spent every day of the last twenty years thinking of his needs and his deeds, only to wake up this morning and find he is really gone.
He has been my baby boy, my comic relief, my helper, my shoulder, my strength, my rock. I miss him.

I keep telling myself its only three months, so I have decided that today I will feel sorry for myself, but tomorrow I will put my big girl panties on and face the day without my Kevin and do it with, if not a smile then at least with no tears.

Cock a Doodle Do?

Guess what I've got!?! A rooster! Dang it!
Roosters are gorgeous and I love baby chicks but I really don't want either.
Besides being colorful and sleek, and vocal, they can be mean.

These chickens came to me in a mix of standard sized breeds. I was hoping for mostly Easter eggers, but I only got one. Other breeds in the mix are Australorp, Jersey black giants, dominique, barred rock, buff Orphington, Rhode Island red, New Hampshire red, leghorns and a couple others that I don't remember.

My guy, is he a Jersey giant or an Australorp?


I have two black girls. Again, Jersey or Australorp?
Dominique or bared rock?
...pretty much sure about this one... another breed I would like to have more of.
Rhode Island red or New Hampshire red?
I've got two of these whites also, probably leghorns.

These guys look so great, they've really filled out in the last couple of months and I am eagerly awaiting their first eggs. One of my older three hens has started laying again, hoping the rest start soon, Joy and I are really tired of store bought eggs.