We had our annual open house along with the Effingham official tree lighting ceremony. During the open house, we allowed children of many ages to unleash their artistic skills by coloring with chalk on the floors. Pictured is Megan’s rendition of a lion. (She is a future budding artist for certain.)

The tree lighting just outside our little hamlet of shops, is a town wide event where residents gather in the historic church, sing carols, listen to a concert and then walk down the street to an unbelievably huge tree. After singing a few carols and generally blocking all hopes of traffic passing by, a count down begins to the tree lighting. This huge monster of a tree can be seen in two states. (Of course it helps that it’s right on the state line.) It’s a great community event with a spirit that you just don’t find in too many towns.

Pyewacket and Puca had their first vet check today. They got their shots, and she cleaned out their ears. I guess they had ear mites. Something not uncommon in small kittens. They usually get it from their mother. They also had flea dirt. Something mom passes on as well. I have a feeling that their mother wasn’t as well taken care of as she should have been. Sad. I do hope the other adopted kitten gets to get a vet check. Otherwise, that home will be infested with fleas in a short time.

We picked up Puca (pronounced pooka) this morning. He is so cute, but not as friendly as his sister. When I picked him up at the store, he hissed, bit, and scratched at me. He ran off and hid behind the the stack of trellis’. Fiesty little fur ball he is. I got him settled into my jacket, and he calmed down. After a couple errands we came home and put him up with Pyewacket. It was as if she said, “hey I know you, you are my family”. they tucked away under the bed together and there they were for a good part of the day.

While in the big city of Conway today for Derek’s birthday, we went into the feed store to pick up some chicken food. I sat in the car. When Michael came back to the car he said, “they are giving away kittens in there.” Of course, I had to go see for my self.
The lady let me hold one, and I knew she was going to be perfect. She is a gray tiger, with white paws, and we were originally going to call her Mittens, but thought that was just too common. We remembered seeing the Jimmy Stewart movie Bell, Book & Candle. The cat in that movie was Pyewacket. Kim Novak’s character used Pyewacket to put spells on people. It was a great movie.
We decided that Pyewacket would need a friend. We knew that one her siblings would be the best fit. We called them back and she was willing to hold the last one. Great!
The only thing…I forgot to ask if it was a boy or a girl.

Halloween is by far my favorite time of year. Even though the kids have grown, and there is not yet a grandchild in sight, I still get to dress up every year.
This year we volunteered to help out at the childrens party at the library. Also, we brought our cider press to the PTO event at the school.
At the library party, I was dressed as a 1980’s rocker. Leopard print pants and all. One girl kept looking at me. I asked her why she was staring at me. In a puzzled look she said, ” I don’t know what you are suppose to be”. I had to laugh. I at first told her Pat Benetar, but that didn’t mean anything to her. I then told her a 1980’s rock star, and she said ” oh, I get it now,”. Her mother and I both chuckled. Her mother was about 10 years younger than I, so while I was having my night club adventures, she was having her high school adventures.
At the PTO event, I dressed as a ghostly witch. While most loved it, I actually scared many a little child in Effingham.

This morning, we drove to the Somersworth area to pick up some raspberry bushes. We found them listed on craigslist, and we had been wanting to add some fruit trees to our farm. Thanks to Jerry, we now have a few  raspberry bushes. These will be a nice addition to our life of self sufficiency. We can make pies, jams, jellies, and syrups. Plus, we can freeze some to have all next winter. There were some berries still on the bush, and they are delicous. Oh, how wonderful they will taste next summer.

Yes, George is a lucky rooster. He now has two hens to himself. We want to mate him with a white leghorn. When you mate an Araucana with a White Leghorn, their chicks produce pink eggs. So George and Henrietta’s children will produce pink eggs. Hopefully, this will happen in time for Easter. By then, we will have brown eggs, white eggs, and green eggs. The pink eggs will be a nice edition just in time for the Easter holiday. With Mother Nature working with us, we will have chicks as well.

Today, we acquired a beautiful Araucana rooster from a family that couldn’t keep him any longer. His name is George.
After letting George roam the pen by himself for a bit and get use to the place, we introduced him to Penelope. He fell in love instantly.  He chased her around the coop, and he danced around her like a teenager in love.  The next thing you know they were married, and planning a family together. It was actually kind of funny to watch them, and listen to them talk to each other. They cackled for hours.

Today, we expect to receive our new flock of baby chicks. We ordered 25 NH Reds from Murray McMurray hatchery a couple months ago. Plus, we get a “free rare exotic chick”. We can’t wait to see what that one is. It seems like we have been waiting forever for them to arrive. This will give us one rooster and 49 hens. By March, we should get around 50 eggs a day. By then, we will also have out goat, and possibly a pig or two. In spring, we will add to our flock to have a fresh supply of free range organic eggs, as well as the meat. We will not only sell the eggs, but the organic chicken by the pound.

I know it sounds silly to most, but we were so excited when I went into the coop and discovered this beautiful white egg. I had been looking daily for so long, I had wondered if it was a fake.
I know it is only an egg, but we are proud to be “grandparents”.