Sunny sunny days.

We broke the snow record over the Easter weekend. We were out of town (so we didn't need to shovel :) and I really will post some photos of our trip to warm and green Kansas.)
But now the snow is disappearing at an amazing rate since the days are longer and sunny with temperatures in the mid forty's (above zero in celsius speak).
We've switched from snowsuits and snowboots to rainsuits and rainboots.

in an effort to catch up...

No, the snow did not suddenly disappear... these are from October.
A field trip to the fire station and...


A walk on the boardwalk at Potter's Marsh.



Better late than never!

back in time...

March 2007

March 2008

March 2009

February 2010

March 2011



















February 2012

At least March is sunny...

except these snowy pictures are from January 12, 2012. So you can see how much snow we had on our roof then... never mind the driveway.


The painting photos are just from last week. Oh, yeah... I stopped bothering with smocks. I find skin cleans up much easier.







You can tell it's March by the beautiful sunlight. Hooray March!!!

worth blogging about...

So far, as of last week, Anchorage needed 9 inches to break the 1954-55 record of 11 feet (133 inches). Somehow, this feels worth mentioning. We just had some help clearing off our roof, which was a good 28" deep of dense, settled snow. Often, late March delivers another load of snow, usually 8-12" and heavy and wet. A number of roofs have collapsed around the city throwing everyone into a bit of a panic about it all. Now we have a literal mountain of snow, which I call the castle, behind the house with 4' deep pathway surrounding it. This could be exciting, because before the roof was cleared we were playing gophers in the snowbanks next to the road in front of the house. We even managed to build a tunnel with a pop up hole. Who knows what we'll do with "the castle".

Chicken COOP!

The chickens now have an outdoor coop (and we have the garage back - they were living in a dryer box on it's side in there) They are officially 6 weeks old and plenty hardy enough to venture outside in all weather. The box is closed in for now, but they have access to the yard from the front door which will be closed at night, and will have access to a fenced in run from a back door. And we can maintain and access them from the roof and side door - without having to go into the run. Matt is glad he bought a contractors box of hinges. Gates and doors abound!
We decided to put them under the deck to A. provide a protected, snow free run area that gets great east sun. B. Close to the house and utilities = easy to maintain. No excuses! C. Southern exposure for all.
We'll see how it goes! It's exciting... isn't it?
Good workers.
Nest box access.
Demonstrations.
Adjustments.
Good work.
Access door.
Under the deck! It's pretty heavy but it's got wheels, baby.
Finishing touches...
Jacko and the birds!

Everett and his chicks - 4 weeks

So here they are again, adorable and awkward all at once. They enjoy the outdoors and they aren't too hard to catch. They stay really close to where you drop them, and for the most part, always stay together. If they get separated, they peep for each other. Brothers? and sisters... awwww.

Everett and his chicks - 2wks

This was when we let the chicks in the backyard for the first time. I was paranoid that they would be hard to catch, but in retrospect it would have been fun chasing them around a bit. Good for them - they better get used to it... :0

Birthday Party!

Meeting the chickens..
Boss
Louise
Monique (the Splash Blue)
Buttermilk
and P'cheek



Yellow is my lucky colour...

Cake!

Presents!


Thank you dear friends for coming to our party..
I need pictures of the Sack and Egg-spoon races!