Hubby's Christmas Gift, Early!

Paul couldn't wait to give me this year's Christmas gift, and I'm so glad he didn't! It's a non-electric Singer Treadle Sewing Machine! I've been looking for one and had downloaded instructions for building one. We even had a cast iron base just like the one in the photo. What a blessing for Paul to find one for sale locally and at the right price. Now if I can just learn to pump and sew at the same time!

Our babies are three weeks old!

They're all here and doing fine. Our last few eggs were duds so we have just four chicks. One looks just like the mother (pure Ancona from a green egg with an Ancona father) and 2 of the others will look like Anconas, too, one with a possible Buff Orpington mother. The fourth is black with a white chest and will most likely look like a Black Australorpe, just like Smokey Mountain Mama!


We try to handle them a lot but they continue to be skittish. We had them in the house for a couple days because of inclement weather and a loss of power. The cat, Moochie, likes to sit and "bird watch" but sometimes runs when we come into the room. We assume she is feeling guilty for having bad thoughts about birds!

We've finally moved them to the porch again and out of the dog pen. They have a boarded off corner all to themselves and a heat lamp for these cold evenings. We hope to give up the heat lamp at the end of this week and move them outside in another week. So sweet! It will be hard to put them out into the big scary world!