More Photos of the Air and Space Museum~

You can see how far away they are keeping folks, guess I can understand that......
Since the Discovery has been up in Space the most frequent.

One of the suits used when they explored the moon.

Very cool Satellite just above the Space Shuttle.

SR71, another impressive Aircraft...

 My Favorite Military fighter, the Corsair.

The Enola Gay...

 Just one end of the massive 3 bay hanger.

An old elegant PanPam, next to a Concord....

I can feel another painting coming on.....

Space Shuttle Discovery ~ My photos

First Impressions, imposing presents, revealing itself out of  the dark.

Then I stood there for awhile adjusting my dying camera's settings, because goosh darn it... I was going to make it take photos of the shuttle!

And the Camera adjustments, while not perfect, did not do half bad, considering how dark in was in the hanger.

The Shuttle is massive and very  hard to capture all in one shot. 

I did take a panoramic shot but it will take me a couple of days to piece together.

The most close the family and I are ever going to get, to see the inside of a Space Shuttle. 

Here are a couple of close ups of the Shuttle nose and thrusters. You can see the scorch marks of reentry..... which to me, is seriously impressive. I am very glad they did not clean the Shuttle up after it's last mission.

Can see the damaged tiles.

Trying to get DH and DS's photo, without either of them making a face.... not easy. (rolling eyes)

A top view of the shuttle from the walk way above.

Very nice museum, lots of cool stuff to look at. Highly recommend you coming to see this.

 Early morning is best to beat the crowds.

However, if you are handicapped, all they offer is wheel chairs.

 Doesn't seem like this side of the country knows what scooters are?

Space Shuttle Discovery video ~~ A Grand day out

I am trying to beat Hughsnet free time allotment, so I have posted a couple videos of the Space Shuttle Discovery, first.
Have always wanted to see this take off to Space, sadly, that is no longer possible.
This is the next best thing.


The Air and Space museum did not disappoint and the highlight of the day was the shuttle.
Yes, it is very impressive to see in person.


Over the next couple of days I will be adding more photos, as my internet allows.

What goes into building a Hen House you ask?

We are taking great care with this Hen House, as we have built a few. Every predator loves chicken and chickens are pretty spendy now a days, so it is worth it to make sure they are safe as possible.

In the above photo, I had DH staple heavy duty 12/" by 1/2" hardware cloth over the windows. The window screen and window still works. But nothing can chew through this stuff, so it will allow us to keep the windows open on the very hot nights we have at the new place.

DH put a small kick board in, so if we have the main door open for some reason, or if for some reason the chickens kick the shavings over to the door during the night, we won't end up with a large amount of shavings out the door.

The chickens will have their own sized, locking Door soon.

  The Hen House yard we used heavy duty 2" by 4" wire.
 Then to keep predators from digging under the fence, we used 1/2" by 1/2" heavy duty hardware cloth, folded in half, part placed on the fence and part placed on the ground. Then gravel over the part on the ground.
Some folks dig down along their fence to do this, and then put the dirt back on, but we found the way we did it above, a lot less work.
Had DS wire it to the main fence to make sure it stayed secure.

The only chicken wire we used, was inside the Hen House yard and around the shed to keep the chickens from going under there, so they don't have to go into their Hen House at night.
I won't recommend chicken wire any where else, as many predators can chew through it.

DH's home made gate, nice and sturdy.

Roosts inside the Hen House.

Along the bottom of the Hen House, that is outside the Hen House yard.. we again used 1/2" by 1/2" hardware cloth, folded just like on the back side of the Fencing, to keep the predators out.

We have a couple more things to do before everything is buttoned up like we want.
Here you see that we have the 1/2" by 1/2" hardware cloth folded, but we still have to put the gravel on it.
I will also be putting up some Hot Wire around the top and bottom. Should be getting this done before the chicks are fully feathered out and in the yard.

There is also a good chance we will be putting netting over the top of the run, to keep the birds of prey off them.

Know it seems like a lot to do, just, for a Hen House, but being able to sleep through the night without worry, is priceless!

Update on the Chicks ~ and news...

We have the chicks running in the whole hen house now and they love all the extra room.
Because of the heat, most days they do not need their heat lamp on.

 They are feathering out quite nicely. The two surviving RIR chicks are doing well too, Thank goodness. If you look to the far right of the above photo and third chick in is one of the RIR's.
Others are the Easter Eggers and production breeds I bought from Tractor Supply.

This shot, shows how tiny they still are.

Counting the days until they are fully feathered out and old enough to start eating bugs!

Other news...

The Fruit Orchard is doing very well, and with some of the trees, we should have some fruit in a couple of years.

Had a neighbor kindly offer to till me a garden patch.....
And seriously thinking about a small kitchen garden, as I really want my own, fresh organic food but I am pretty much at my limit for now, with things that need to get done around the place. That and how hot it gets here in the summer.
 Rather torn with this decision, but I think I am going to have to pass this year.
Now next year is another matter.

Would like to have us produce most of our Veggies, Fruit and Eggs by end of next summer.

I might get a whiskey barrel and do a small herb garden for now.
 If DH gets some time, would like two raised beds for perennial veggies near the house, like Artichokes and Asparagus.

A number of the larger oak trees are dying due to bugs and they will need to be taken down before next winter. Other wise we chance them falling on the fencing.

We have a skunk that managed to get in around the house but doesn't want to go back out, due to the hot wire.  It is living under the hay shed for now. Will try to leave the gate open tonight and see if it leaves on its own... I hope it does......

That is it for now...

Caspian the Lamb ~

The Lambs are growing up and doing very well with their halter training. Caspian has the most soft coat, I have ever felt.

Just had to show his really neat looking striped hooves. Art in nature!

Chicks arrived and it wasn't good ~

The Blue lace Red Wyndottes and RIR's we have been waiting months for arrived on the 6th. All the Wyndottes and all but 4 of the RIR's were dead. Dead as in, dead for at least a day from the look and smell of them. Of the 4 RIR's two weren't looking very healthy,  lost one a few hours later and this morning, we lost another of that lot.
Of all the years I have been ordering chicks I have never had this happen.  Needless to say we were a bit upset.


So I went to Tractor Supply and bought some of the production chicks they have, Golden Comets and Easter Eggers. They are not the breeds I want but we really need something to eat ticks around the house.
They are doing well and feathering out nicely.


I have re ordered the chickens I wanted, and they will arrive the last week of Aug. 
If this the Postal Service messes up this badly again, I will know there is someone in their employ, about a day away from here, that doesn't like chickens or is just plain cruel.  There is no excuse they can give me... for why this happened.

On a happier note, Nari enjoying the morning...

Sheep on a Spring day

 He's been fleeced! Here is the photo I promised to show you. Yesterday I sheared Apollo, or tried too. Just used my Lister Lasers with the medium blades, as I did not want to take a 
chance of cutting him. Needless to say with his size at 250lb's and how much he wiggled, 
didn't
quite get all of him sheared. LOL At least he is cooler. Good for some comic relief!

 Caspian is doing very well. They are now in the horse pasture, until they grow large enough to put in with Apollo.
Their halter training is coming right along and they really enjoy going for walks and being itched.

This is Charming....  he is a little more stand-offish than Caspian but he is coming around.

Charming and Caspian ~

                         
  Meet the two new wether's being tamed down, halter trained and will be future buddies to Apollo.
Only place I had to keep them, is in the Hen House, but they should be tamed out before the chicks arrive.


   Will not be putting them in with Apollo until they are close to Apollo's size. 


 They are a little younger than I wanted but being in an area with very few sheep..... 
 Both two months old, the black and white one, Caspian, is 50lbs already! He is half Dorper and the other half is St Croix/Katahdin. 
The white one I call Charming, is Katahdin. He is soo cute, when he doesn't want people near, he stomps his little hoof at me. LOL  If I don't go away, he hides in the corner.


Halter training is well on the way and they are doing great.

Fencing the front of the Farm~

DH Can get DS to use the tractor.... LOL

New fencing going up on the front side of the property. Is the normal Woven field fence we normally put up, is just a little less spendy than the cattle panels. However it does take a lot more work. 
I hope to have this area fenced in by Fall and have a few sheep running in it. 
Then next spring we will get it set up as a hay field. Another, "I hope", anyway.

Having to Body Clip the Icelandic's... in March,,

Seriously, in March, that is crazy but the poor Viking horse's were sweating just standing in the pasture doing nothing.
So now I have naked but Happy Icelandic's.

 Got fur?
Will have to keep them clipped all summer to help them acclimate to this climate.
Dyfra was very happy to loose all  her thick but soft downy fur.

Nike Swish anyone? This is what Stjarna has hiding under her bushy forelock.

Apollo and Maggie ~

 Apollo has been roaming around the house for the last month or so. He was getting too frogy with the goats and learned out to get out of the round pen. 
And people say sheep are stupid. 
Now I have a 250lb+ yard sheep and he seems to be pretty content, though I know he wants other sheep to play with.
Sad thing is... I have been looking and what sheep breeders there is, are 2 1/2 hours away and their prices for wethers.... weee.... is incredible. 
Just hope I can get a couple of buddies for him, soon, before he looses his sheepy mind.
Was hoping to sell him to someone with a flock but same problem applies, no one in this area, has sheep.
If I knew this was going to be this much of a problem, I would of left Apollo in Oregon.

 I was worried he won't shed out, being a Katahdin and all but he is just starting on the top of his neck.

Maggie and Apollo out, eating the good stuff.... ok.. well mowing.

New Hen House Roof and Fruit Trees

 The Akane apple tree is already flowering, so I guess it is spring here in VA.
And if Spring temps are 70 to 80*plus..... I will be spending most of my time indoors this summer.

 Finally, the inside of the Hen House.  Floor painted for easy cleaning and white walls to brighten the place up a bit. Roost ready to go. 
The back shelf is where we will have the nest boxes once they are old enough.

And last but not least, the new Hen House roof and Vents. The old black roof started leaking and that is not something we needed to happen, so we had Bucky the Contractor put a new roof on for us.
I picked the lightest shingles I could find and something with a little more character to it. 
The lighter shingles and vents, means the Hen House stays a lot cooler and in this clime, that is very important. Last thing we need is baked chicken, at least with this method.
So now the chickens will keep nice in dry and cool, in their Home.


Two weeks and counting... for the chicks to arrive!

The snow of March 4th ~

 I have been a bit remiss on keeping up with the Blog, for a couple of reasons. First is... getting this place up and running from scratch, all the repairs that are needed and how slow my higher end HughesNet is. 

This is the snow we had March 4th, very pretty and makes it easy to see the 2"by4" heavy wire, figured that was much better than chicken wire.