Before They Make Me Run

Ya'll remember those 4 little chicks we hatched in the incubator? Well, here they are! They are not so little anymore. Those little craps are growing like weeds!! Sorry that you are seeing mostly their butts, but it's hard to get a decent picture of these hings; they won't hold still for even a second.

I love the little Barred Rocks because they look like little mini versions of the older chickens. Unlike some breeds, as soon as these start growing feathers they are the color that they are going to be grown. These are a handful I tell you. Very rambunctious and they want you to be out there with them if at all possible. They will just go sit int he coop if you go inside. I guess we have spoiled these a little. They expect a treat any time you go out there.

We integrated all the other chickens into the main big run so that the little 4 could have the extension to themselves. We were having to carry them back and forth to a separate cage, morning and evening. That got old quick!

Henny, Bertha and Little Bea (the big hens) are NOT happy about the hoard being in their run but we have started letting them out in the evenings to forage in the yard, so that helps their feelings a little. As you can see here in these photos, the big hens stay to themselves when let out. They can't stand those younger chickens! I have to admit though, I can't have blame them. We don't call them 'the hoard' for nothing. They act like we don't feed them but once a week or something instead of the multiple times a day we do. They just run all over Bertha and the others when we throw food out.. It's kinda funny though.

The garden has kinda gone to pot. Not literally though!! Don't want anybody from work to get any funny ideas! lol!! I need to clean it up a bit before I go but don't know if I'll have time.

I LOVE these Amish Paste tomatoes! They are wonderful for canning. I think I am going to cut my variety of tomatoes back next year to just 2 regular and one cherry type. Unless, I make more room. Maybe.

Well, I just wanted to assure you all that I would not just be posting about work from now on. The homestead will continue and I will continue to work on the house on the weekends, so there will be posts about that. I don't believe I can say a whole lot about work anyway. These days you have to be careful and I even had to sign a paper saying that I would not talk about people within the company "except on a need to know basis". I guess they do stuff like that on account of people getting on Facebook, etc and blasting their bosses and such.
I can tell you that I am going south to a major university (still in Alabama) and we are building an 8 story housing complex. Normally, my company subs out all the structural steel and we just do the miscellaneous steel, like handrails and such, but this time we got it all, so I get to play ironworker. I will have one other boy helping weld if they can get him certified. The building is mostly concrete but there is a large steel structure on the very top. Good thing heights don't bother me too much! I'll try to get a few photos, maybe. There are various other structural steel elements and then I get to weld together essentially 32 floors of handrails. (8 floors and 4 stairwells).
So anyway, I'll be back when I can. I have purchased a small laptop to take with me so I can post and email.