Fruit Orchard and Amy the Turkey~

Amy the Turkey, wanted to have her photo taken this morning. 

All the photos where taken this morning, except the one above, that was taken in April. One of the Japanese flowering Cherries, with not many flowers due to the late hard freeze we had.

Fruit Orchard looking towards the Kitchen Garden.
Can see the new trees if you look hard. 

Panoramic view of the wee Orchard, looking towards the Hen house. 

One of the new fruit trees, this one is a Pluot called, Flavor supreme.

Phi Theta Kappa induction ceremony ~

Speakers at the start of the ceremony.

Finally DS's turn to walk up front

Signing the Induction ledger

Quite proud of him, he is doing very well in College.

Plied the Gotland Yarn

During the Storm yesterday, I finished plying my Gotland yarn. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet.
Has been washed and is now being Set.

Storm ~

River across the Driveway....
First time I have seen this, granted this up and coming summer will only be our third year here.

Lots of strong wind, thunder and lightening. Sadie spent most of the day under her safety table, with the cover on it.

For the first time, Dyfra did not rear and spin, when the Thunder claps happened.

Pond and pond and creek running where there normally isn't one.

Thank goodness... no Tornadoes near us.

Pear tree doing its best to bend in half, during the strong steady winds. 

Blackbirds above and a Grackle below, seeking shelter during the storm.

Miss the more mellow weather of NW Oregon. 

Here the weather is just crazy.
Also makes me wish I could afford and F5 rated storm shelter.

The Garden and Orchard~

Beautiful Apple blossoms.

The late hard freeze, did not destroy all the cherry blossoms.Luckily there are a few left to enjoy.

The Peach tree lost all its blooms in the late frost.  So no peaches for this year. 

One of the Pear trees that survived last years bugs and disease. Is doing pretty good!

The Squash bed, did not make in, even with the row cover. 

The Bed of lettuce and broccoli did ok with a floating row cover over the top of them.
Using DE to keep the bugs at bay.

I had all but one Rose bush, that was coming back after the below freezing temps last winter. But sadly, with all that new growth, mother nature decided to throw a hard frost at us.
Now I only have one Rose bush coming back.  Rather depressing.

Also lost a Cherry tree and one grape vine. The one that did survive the winter... pretty sure, bit the dust with the late freeze, too.
So I will have to replace two grape vines, a cherry tree and 4 rose bushes at some point.
Steep learning curve to be sure.

A unique Pea Trellis, found no where else in the World. LOL  Should do the trick.

Luckily, the two Peony's seemed to have made it through the winter. Can just see them coming up.One is in the foreground the other near the top right of the photo.

Nest Boxes....

Our high Tec Nest boxes......
Need to figure out how to add more soon!

Because the Turkeys kept getting stuck in the small Nest boxes... we had to invent a bigger one for them.
Costco box does the trick! 

Plying my Gotland Yarn~~

Trying to ply my Gotland yarn..... with Mia helping.  She does keep my lap warm and purrs, so it is not all bad. LOL

The two different types of Gotland,  lighter one was from NZ... the other... not sure where that was from.
Hopefully, I can find someone to make a scarf or something from it.

Changed my spinning corner. The cats decided they liked watching birds from the other window, so I moved their cat tower.

Spring Flowers ~~

Beautiful Spring flowers in the House. DH missed having bulbs, so we bought a couple of containers of them to enjoy.
Had no idea what the colors were going to be...so it was a surprise.

Thank you Mom, for all the plants!

DH, took me to the garden center and then on to Lowes yesterday, as Mom, sweetly sent him some money so I can buy plants. Thank you Mom! The rain held off for me too.

You can see, Seymour, and just how tiny it is. Also slowly collecting plants that are green. When one misses the lush green of the NW, this is the only way to get a fix. ;) Really want to add a Doug Fir Bonsai.... to the collection.  (I already had the ficus and dinosaur moss)
Seymour below for a close up.

Spring Bulbs,,,  will plant them outside when they are finish blooming.

The Gardenia plant.... has a neat braided trunk.  Will make my Art room smell wonderful!

Bought some super bright flowers... can even see them without my glasses on. LOL

Pot of Strawberries... also bought a Lavender plant to put in the Kitchen Garden.

I love plants!

Beautiful Eggs~~

A Collection of beautiful eggs.  
You can see two Turkey eggs, along with all the Hen's eggs.
The Welsummer eggs are the dark ones, and continuing to get darker by the week.
They taste really good!

More Poultry and wild bird photos~

Took the Olympus out this morning to take some photos.
It handles the super bright snow glow better than the other camera..... well... as long as I do not want to mess with it.
Too cold out. About 10* now.

Hen house and one of the Buff's at the door... I do not think she wants to go out.

Pretty Speckled Sussex.

Turkeys coming over to see what I am doing.Because they must inspect everything. LOL

First Turkey Eggs~

 DH saw the Turkey Hen sitting between the garage and the cattle panels leaning against it.

So the next morning I went out and found three eggs sitting in the leaves there.
Sadly, they had frozen.

The main part of the shell is a little more white than the photo shows.Think they are quite pretty eggs.

More snow and lots of little birds~~

First day of the snow storm. Wasn't bad and the power stayed on, which is a plus.
At least the snow was lighter and more fluffy this time.

This Morning, after yesterdays storm.  Little birds are very happy to have food.  Made sure to put out extra black oil sunflower seeds for them to eat.

Photos of the birds were taken from the window.  They are still very shy around us and would take off if I went outside.

Mia, in her,  "I want those tasty tidbits mode". 

Young Pullets and Eggs~

Nice flock of birds, if I do say so myself.

We have the turkeys of course... but for the chickens, we have Buff Orpingtons, Speckled Sussex (those are the spotted ones) Both British breeds and the Welsummer, a breed from Holland.

Loved this shot... on the fly. LOL
Sure the Hen is say... treats,, treats,, she must have treats!

The size of the eggs are increasing.  The darker spotted one on top is a Welsummer egg.
Hope they darken up even more, as they continue laying wonderful eggs.

The Lighter eggs are from the Opingtons, Sussex and the two Golden Comets I kept, along with the RIR.

Turkey Helpers~

Turkeys making sure DH works on his Motorcycle correctly.... LOL
Love the look of that one Turkey.... like it is saying, "You missed a spot"!