As I was desperately busy working out daily lesson plans today, Jude commented to me that he wished he and Noah were starting school at the same time as Jabin. (Originally, I thought we might wait until mid-September, a week or two after Jabin begins kindergarten in town.)

"Well, you're going to pretty much do that, now," I commented back, relating the change in schedule. "Why?"

"I want to get it over with," he replied. I choked back a guffaw of laughter at this unexpected response.

"Only nine more years, buddy... And that's just high school."

He didn't seem that phased by the number. Maybe, since that is longer than he has currently been alive, a scope of time that long has no meaning for him. Kind of like I can't grasp the scope when I say "a billion dollars."

It's just too much! Well, in Jude's case, it might be best to keep it that way for a while. No need to overwhelm the little guy.


"I wonder if Nala's pregnant?" I pondered aloud to Jason. I was doing evening chores, and he was outside building a compost bin. Nala was being very affectionate and hinting that she would like to go indoors. (She hints at that frequently. She hasn't yet figured out that she is now an outside cat.) I picked her up and noticed that she was starting to get rather thick in the middle--considering that she is normally a little raily, this is worth noticing. I flipped her over and felt around some more--swollen pink nipples, round abdomen. A quick Google search confirmed it. Pregnant.

I have no idea when she is due, but I'm guessing not for another month. So, uh... anyone want a kitten in November?


My 12 three-and-a-half-month-old chicks (10 Red Rocks, and 2 Ameraucanas that I just bought) all went into "The Big Coop" tonight with my older birds. It is just getting to be too much to move them and feed them as much as they require, and I am fairly confident that Koda will leave them alone, now. (Well, as long as he is tied up while they are out, as is his usual state in the afternoon.)

One of them has a gimpy leg as a result of getting it hurt during a move of the chicken tractor when she was 10 weeks old, and she limps around on the top of her foot on that side. I'm just glad she survived, but needless to say, she is at the bottom of the pecking order. I hope that she and the smallest Ameraucana (also low in the social order) are still alive in the morning.

I am thinking of moving two of my teenage "boys" into "the small coop" by themselves until I get to butchering them, so that my young and adult "ladies" aren't kept quite so busy (if you know what I mean), but that would mean they wouldn't be able to free range--which equals more work for me. And more chicken food that I have to pay for. I'm just excited that as of tomorrow, I will have twenty-two free-range birds, instead of only ten. And none to move around!

Also exciting on the chicken front (at least to me!), we are now up to six hens of laying age, averaging about four eggs a day. Considering our family usually consumes between four and six dozen eggs a week, it is pretty thrilling that these birds are finally starting to "earn their keep!"

Well, that's about it for today, folks. Y'all come back now.