Yogurt Omelette

Had to document the lovely "Yogurt Omelette" that Alex brought me for a snack!

Sad News, No Chicks...

We gave the eggs that had some promise an extra couple of days, and there were still no chicks peeping out. Kurt made a candler out of a bright bulb and an old metal part from the store that had a small opening. In the bathroom, it gave a pretty good view into the eggs. I don't know if it is because of the brown color of the eggs that made it difficult to determine the size of the embryo inside or our inexperience, but we thought we had seven viable. So today the kids and I opened them all. There were six that seemed they had expired at about 7 to 10 days incubation. They were tiny, and we aren't sure why they looked larger on the candler. We went back and can't pinpoint anything that happened at 7 to 10 days to cause a disturbance. Then there was one that had gotten to the point that it was just about to absorb it's yolk sack, it was precious, had feathers and you could see the egg tooth. Again, not sure what could have happened that day. The kids took all this in stride, although were disappointed as were we. We don't regret being mother hens for 21 plus days, and know that nature certainly does it better, but wanted to try. For now the kids have decided to go the route of just getting some tiny chicks or day old chicks. We decided to do this after we get back from our vacations in June. So we are hunting for a chick source for Dominique hens! Hopefully they will be grown and laying some before it gets too cold...

More Hurricane Creek

Alex informed me that he had found a way that it could actually be a good thing to put a bag on your head, even though you weren't "supposed" to put bags on your head. He was cold and figured out that if he put this bag on his head, but just on the top!, that it warmed his head and then his whole body from the cold creek!

Hurricane Creek Photos

Hurricane Creek

Today we went to visit Hurricane Creek with the roamschool group that have shown us some great adventures. I'll post some other photos of our time at Hurricane Creek on another entry as I couldn't get them all to load for some %*&$^#* reason.... Hurricane Creek seems to really tout itself as a place for mountain biking and rock climbing. If you like those two adventures, you should definitely check it out. The area is PRISTINE! As a matter of fact, I think that is the cleanest port-a-potty way out in the middle of the woods that I have ever seen! We got a lot of hiking in the day, but it was beautiful, winding behind a waterfall, creeping between rocks, saw salamandars and mushrooms and ferns, etc...The kids enjoyed playing in the creek above and below the little waterfall as well as making mud snowmen. I was so proud of Owen, as he hiked all the way back up at the end of the day, and that is the steep hike out! Alex, Emma, and Owen, especially Emma loved the rock walls back at the entrance. We got to take Ben (a friend) home with us to play for the night, and that was a treat for Alex because Ben lives so far away we don't usually get to do that.