I KNOW!

Yea it's been a minute since I posted but I'll try to show you why...

The months of September, October, & November:

The construction of the barn

Large front garage door & the lean-to for tractors. Opposite side has a patio & an outdoor shower. 

Inside view before room construction starts. 

Outside wall of rooms with fresh rough cut pine. 

Cubbies in the hunting room. 

Door into the hunting room. 

Opposite wall from the cubbies. 

Nick with the beginning of the kids' tree house. 

Also during this time, this happened:

Yes, I now homeschool my 3 kids. That is a legitimate reason alone for my very late blog post, right? Oh, come on!

Bring on the holidays!! 🦃🎄

Family pics done by our friend Jessica. 

Thanksgiving in the barn. 

Christmas in the barn. 

Santa even came by the barn. 

Look what these kids did in the middle of DECEMBER!!

Our Christmas family day...I got a selfie-stick. Maybe I'll take even more pics for the blog. We make messes on Christmas and I ❤️ it!

We spent some of our holiday in Georgia with my side of the family. Ain't she cute??

A serious game of Bananagrams. 

Happy New Year...

Months January, February & March:

We adopted 3 cats. They are our barn cats. They are there to deal with our unwanted creatures, the mice. 

"Annie"

"Mal"

"Shelly"

Get it?

We are currently down to 2 cats. Mal decided he wanted to join the wild. At least that's what we think. 

We began selling a few eggs. Which caused us to want more chickens. 

We started with 15 chickens and are currently down to 10.  

We bought 20 chicks from a local hatchery & a couple days later 26 more arrived via mail from an online hatchery. 

That's right, 45 baby chicks. 

Dadoo constructed a brooder (a box with a heat lamp for chicks).

They grew quickly and it was time to move them to a coop. 

Nick turned the back portion of the dog shed into a chicken coop with a chicken run. 

Just this past week we adopted 6 chicks and they are currently in the brooder. 

We have an appointment to pickup 4 "ready to lay" hens tomorrow. Our flock will be 65 strong. 

65 BIRDS

2 dogs

2 cats...

That's the Sticks for ya. 

They have added full size bunk beds in the room behind the hunting room which is now referred to as the "Bunkbed Room".

So now we have room for all y'all!

We also had the flood happen. Yea, that wasn't fun. 

These are some other homes in Tunica:

So, do I have your forgiveness for my absence?

Life in the Sticks...it's real y'all...real busy!

Smoketember...

...That is the new name for September in the Sticks. 

#Post13

I am very intrigued and mesmerized when the farmers burn the fields. Ask anyone of the 7 of us who live down here...all daylight hours of everyday of September & in every direction you will see extremely large clouds of smoke. They are beautiful. 

For someone who has migraines that are triggered by smoke...needless to say I was very alarmed but for the most part it has not been an issue. The smoke tends to have a sweeter smell (to me). I assume that has to do with what is being burned. 

Nick and the kids watched a few days ago as a farmer set fire to his fields. He rides an atv with a tire being dragged behind it. The tire is on fire. The farmer drives in a "S" pattern setting fire to the field. Here are a few pics courtesy of Jaci. 

Nice camera work baby girl. 

Here are a few I took today. 

Ohhhh Sweet Lord!!!

#Post12

The Jehovah's Witness...

They will find you! Even in the middle of nowhere!

Seriously...they showed up at the front door out here in the middle of the Sticks. 

I'm in shock. 

Ninja & his girls

#Post11

Consider this your official introduction. 

Ninja is our rooster. He keeps all these hens in line.  You may have heard that roosters are mean. Ours is a sweetheart. That is mostly due to the breed we have. 

We have a total of 15 chickens. Last week I would have told you that we had 16. Things change quickly in the Sticks. 

Can we take a minute to reflect on the life of chicken #16...................................

She was good girl, never did anything to anybody & she was cut down (not literally) in the prime of her youth by savage beasts. 

Ok, really the dogs got a hold of her and were playing a little too rough. 😢

We got the first 3 hens when we adopted them from Jaci's Farm Club from her elementary school in June.  The other 12 hens and rooster were purchased in July 2015. They were already a few months old. 

Our chickens are free-range. We let them out in the mornings and they roam the property. They take dust baths and spend their time foraging. Ninja does a good job of warding off anything that would cause harm to the hens. Well except for the incident with dogs but you get what I am saying. There are a lot of hawks in our area and I am surprised that the number of chickens is not lower than 15. Roosters have been known to take down a hawk!

When the sun starts to go down they return to the coop. One of us goes out to shut their doors. 

Some of the breeds we have are Brahma, Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island Red. 

Currently, we have one hen laying eggs. She lays an egg almost everyday. Aren't they pretty? *See above pic. 

Right now, she doesn't lay it until around lunch time. I always assumed that hens layed eggs early in the morning. Oh, the things I am learning. 

We have seen evidence that another hen is getting ready to start laying. Can you imagine when all of them are laying. 

Who wants eggs??? Just kidding...I can't promise anyone eggs right now. 

We eat a lot of eggs. 

Here is the chicken condo:

They love it!

Also our rooster, Ninja, has just started crowing within the last week. It's so cute. No, it is not loud and annoying. Besides we are already awake & getting ready for school. 

Trivia Question of the Day:

You need a rooster for your hens to lay eggs. True or False. 

5am is a struggle

#Post10

For a 10, 8,& 6 year old to get up and ready for school. It has been a true test of patience - for all of us. 

The kids are at new schools with early start times. Their routine is all new but I am so proud of how well they are actually doing. It does not mean that there are not mornings filled with tears but they manage to get out the door when they are suppose to and with most of the stuff they need. 

Last week we closed on our house in Southaven. We are officially living in the Sticks. 

We spent all our spare time lately cleaning & moving out what was left in the house. 

Yea, it's kind of sad saying "bye" to the house you raised your babies in. 

Oh well, a new adventure awaits...