Springing into Summer

What is it about April and May that makes us crave the summery sunshine? Maybe it's the constant mood swings of Mother Nature, you know temperatures changing from 92° one day to 32° the next, or maybe it's because it's finally warm enough for bonfires and evenings relaxing on the deck. This "almost summer" is the perfect weather to get me in the mood for camping. ⛺️

Every spring we make big plans for camping and it never fails, we only end up following through on one or two trips each year. This is the exact reason we continue to hang on to our old, circa-1983 camper. It's big, dry, has tons of storage and fits our needs. It seems like every spring we get the itch to look at new campers and by mid-June we realize it's pointless. When you live half a mile from a lake, or in our case a big pond, why would you want to pack up and leave for the weekend? Speaking of lakes, when we moved to Minnesota we learned The Land of 10,000 Lakes should more accurately be called The Land of 10,000 Lakes, Ponds and Drainage Ditches. Every single body of water is referred to as a lake, don't get me wrong, we love our little lake. It's perfect for paddle boarding, tubing and playing on the Paradise Pad.  

Elsie loves the
paddle board

The dads frequently take
over the water mat. 😆

The last few summers we have spent our weekends on the lake as much as possible, but in May that water sure is chilly. This is likely why we camp a lot in the spring/early  summer and spend the rest of the summer on the lake. If we do go camping, there's a strong probability that it will rain most of the weekend. Our friends have come to terms with this fact and continue to camp with us, even if we bring 2" of rain and storms. Since we are already predicted for storms all weekend, we have decided to not camp this Memorial Day weekend. I know we'll miss it but I'm sure we'll find plenty of other things to do.

 

Our neighbor's wonderful view

A serious game of Kan Jam

Glow Bocce

In anticipation for the camping season, we opted to "pseudo camp" last weekend in our friends' backyard. We got together to celebrate a birthday and decided to play it safe so we brought the camper so the kids could go to bed when they wanted and we didn't  have to worry about driving home  late. The evening consisted of yard games, good food, drinks, a fire and night games. We played bean bags, Beersbee (Polish Horseshoes), Kan Jam, and Glow Bocce.  Check the Amazon links on the sides of the page if you are interested. Matt made our own set of Beersbee, but if you're not craft, they sell it pretty cheap on Amazon. We forgot to bring the yard dice or there might have been a game of Yard-zee or Farkle played, as well.

Bailey stands guard to
make sure the layers
stay in the fencing

After a night of typical camping like activities followed by an afternoon of golfing and more games, it was an early night for us all. When I got home from work the next day, Matt had given the chicks an opportunity to see what life is like outside their brooder. The broilers appeared to enjoy the space and they are big enough that most of them can't fit through the holes of the chain link fence. The layers, on the other hand, could run in and out of the holes freely as if they decided on their own to be free range. I'm just afraid the cats might think otherwise. 😼🐤 The goal for this coming weekend is to get their coop built, line the fence with hardware cloth to keep the layers in and any predators out and then move them out to their permanent home. I can't wait to get them out of the garage and away from the pine shavings. Those little buggers are constantly kicking the shavings into their water, making it a necessity to change it at least 3-4 times/day.


After the most beautiful few days, we spent Sunday afternoon doing what we love most. We enjoyed the day on the water. It was a cold day for the swimming kiddos but it didn't stop them from getting. We kicked off the season with the first, of many, Sunday Rumdays of the year relaxing in our friends' pontoon. Hopefully we can get our boat and pontoon de-winterized this weekend so it's ready for the next warm day. With only 4 days of school left, I look forward to a summer filled with ball games, lots of memories made, great times on the water and new adventures for our family. Summer hasn't even begun and the calendar is already full. 

What am I getting myself into?

Most of our acreage

Chickens...what? Are you serious? Ever since we bought our acreage, around four years ago, my husband has been talking about getting into livestock. You know, just because you have 5 1/2 acres, doesn't mean you have to use it. In addition to that, I'm not a farm girl. Sure, I grew up on my friends' farms and hung out at my parents' friends who had farms, but I didn't do daily animal chores or deal with the veterinary side of things so the idea of farm animals kind of freaks me out. My husband was the farthest thing from a farm boy, which is probably why he's all for the idea. When I think about getting chickens, I instantly assume that means I'll be doing the bulk of the chores, which doesn't sound like fun. Instead, I figure this is the perfect learning experience for our kids. Everyone keeps saying that chickens are the gateway animal and before we know it we'll have goats and cows and everything else. I may have to eat my words later, but NO THANK YOU.

Excitedly picking up
the chicks

So why did I finally agree to the idea of chickens? If you had any idea how many eggs we go through on the average week, you'd understand. I'm pretty sure my family would eat eggs every day if they took the time to make them. We are omelet, sunny side up, fried, hash (eggs, hash browns, peppers, mushrooms, onions, etc.), one-eyed jacks (aka-toad in the hole), hard boiled, soft boiled and egg bake eaters (say that in your best Bubba Gump voice). We didn't go out and order 15 egg layers because that sounds like a lot of egg collecting, but we did order 18 broilers for butchering and 7 layers. If we are lucky, we'll end up with about 20 chickens in the end because it's pretty common to lose a few when they're young.

To embark on this adventure, I've been doing lots of research in the best place possible (Pinterest!) because these are actual people who have failed and succeeded at raising chickens. What better source is there? I have seen some crazy chicken coops that look like something Ma and Pa Kettle would have had and I've come across some Taj Mahal coops that are bigger than my house. Let's just say this is our "trial" year so we won't be constructing anything too fancy. I'm lucky to have my extremely talented husband who will likely build something more elaborate and functional than I can dream up. I have also learned some great things from other chicken bloggers based on their trial and error, such as The Chicken Chick, Backyard Chickens or Hansen Woodland Farm. When I peruse Pinterest, the bulk of my pins and most informative articles are from these three sites. If you have any interest in procuring chickens in your future, check them out. They are a wealth of knowledge.

So as we excitedly awaited the arrival of our new flock, we planned and prepped accordingly. We set up a brooder in the garage (that's chicken talk for a small holding/warming area for baby chicks) consisting of totes, pine shavings, waterers, feeders and heat lamps. We have a few plan ideas for the coop, nesting boxes and a run but we won't have to worry about that for a few more weeks. Again, that Pinterest has some great ideas for cheap projects. Thanks to some friends we have old milk crates to use for nesting boxes and we have access to a lot of pallets for anything we can dream up.

Bailey is so curious

As far as the chicks, we ordered them from Krause's, a local farm supply store, who uses the Hoover Hatchery out of Rudd, IA. Jim Krause is another invaluable source who has provided us with a great amount of knowledge. Due to a back order last week, we were afraid we weren't going to get our chicks for two weeks, but we were pleased to receive the call we impatiently waited all week for, "Your chicks are in." After work/school Matt and Elsie picked them up and brought them home. They went directly into the brooder to warm up and get a drink. From all our reading we learned it was important to show them their water and make sure they were drinking. In our batch, only a couple needed to be encouraged, the rest flocked to the water and began drinking immediately. Not only were we excited to bring the chicks home, but Bailey was enamored with them. He spent all evening in the garage and had to be forced to come in the house to go to bed that night. 

Bailey won't leave their side

I can tell that this new endeavor is going to be a learning experience for all of us. The kids have been great about changing the food and water multiple times each day. Man those chicks can stir up a lot of mess in their brooders. This morning their watering dishes were so full of pine chips that they had absorbed all the water. Now I don't expect the kids to be as diligent about caring for them in a few weeks but so far, I am impressed. In addition, against our recommendations, Elsie has some creative names for the chicks such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Buffalo Wings, Wild Wings, Chicken Strips, Chicken Nuggets, Spots, and Fake Spots. Riley chimed in with a few of his own including Chicken Tenders and Jonathan (even though they are supposed to be all females).  

Gone too long...

Two and half years, seriously? I can't believe I haven't written in my blog for two and half years. I have one word to justify it all...student. I have been a full time student for the last two and a half years (not including the two and a half years of community college and other classes I took immediately before this program) in addition to all the other motherly duties, working full time and maintaining a busy household. Well, the last two and a half years (aka-hell) are finally over and I am counting down the days til I can say I'm done with classes and all I have left is my student teaching. How many, you ask?----- THREE!

Yes, I have only three days left! By 8pm Saturday night I will finally have a life outside of homework assignments, discussion posts and projects to complete. A life where I'm not logging into Bemidji State's website on a daily basis, a life where I don't have to wonder if my next professor is going to spend the semester coming up with a bunch of ridiculous busy work to do or hoops to jump through, and a life where I'm not confined to the office, or my preferred place of study, my bedroom. In case you didn't know, I'm a signicant sufferer of focus problems. Yep, focus is my weakness. I have no doubt in my mind where my son gets his focus problems from.  So for others who have similar problems and think, going back to school just isn't for them, trust me, if I can do it, so can you.

As a middle and high school student, I flew under the radar, just low enough that my grades weren't a concern (except maybe that one D+ I got, missing a C- by a tenth of a point). I was typically a B honor roll student but I honestly believe I just got lucky some of the time. This is why I didn't finish college the first time around. I struggled in school, I was a horrible test taker and I couldn't focus to save my life. Now, I've learned how to work with my weaknesses and find ways to stay focused. I use Spark on a daily basis to help me focus. What's Spark? An Advocare product that enhances mental energy and focus, better yet, it's sugar free and only 15 calories. If it wasn't for my Spark, I'd get brain fog instantly and spend all day avoiding my homework. My son is also a Spark drinker.

So why do I love Spark? I'm sure many of you are coffee drinkers and get your caffeine fix that way. However, Spark has over 20 vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in addition to being chock full of amino acids. So now that I've plugged my Advocare business, something I've been a huge fan and user of for almost five years. I can also say that since I've been back in school, I've been on the A Honor Roll and will graduate with honors.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I promise there will be more exciting topics of discussion in the future like running, biking, Ragnar training, and I'm sure a lot about education and my student teaching. Now that I have time to breathe and not think about school (college) I'll be spending the rest of my life thinking about school (classroom), It's kinda funny how things work.

As long as I mentioned my training, I thought it would be good to have a little accountability check for myself. So far this month I have run 34 miles, that's 11 more miles than last month and no where near where I should be. I am going to shoot for 45-50 miles next month.