The Teeter Times: Off to a great start, February!

February has been pretty good! ...a bit windy, weather-wise, but our average highs have been in the upper 40s, woot!

Brook and I went out for a Mom-Brook day.
She had some money and wanted to spend it at the aquarium.

A visit to the zoo!
As we were walking out of the aviary, we noticed a couple of peahens. When we looked to our right, we saw Mr. Peacock in all his glory, trying desperately to get those girls to look his way.
They were more interested in scratching in the dirt, but we loved his display!

Has anyone seen Sam???

"I'm under here, planking!"

I surprised the kids with some neat books I found on Amazon.
There was a Minecraft chapter book, a My Little Pony (MLP) chapter book, a MLP comic book and a MLP drawing book.
We all got right down to it--Brook with drawing and Sam and I curled up reading his Minecraft book.

Russ bought a new shovel, as a bonus, the box (which Sam claimed the moment I stepped into the house with it) was fantastic.
Side note: We bought the "world's best shovel" that came with a lifetime warranty (Russ tends to go through them...). He went to dig a hole and the dang thing totally bent. He finished the hole with our rickety wooden shovel, but he was pretty bummed.
Finally got our new one today! ...here's hoping the first was an abnormality.

Ducks!! This is their first day with us.
Unfortunately, we lost 2 of them that night.
Damn coyotes.
No worries, we've laid booby-traps for the coyotes (cactus anyone?) along the outside perimeter of the fence and moved the ducks closer to the house.

Yay!! It's finally time to start working on seeds!
These three (Rosemary, St. Johns Wort, Purple Coneflower) all need stratification for a couple of months.
We've also gotten started on other sprouts as well--cilantro, basil, dill, lettuce (leaf), kale and collards. I am having to take them out to the greenhouse each morning and bring them in at night, but it's worth it seeing how fast they're sprouting!
Tomorrow we are getting started on cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage!

We brought a ram home!
We got him for meat, and figured he could just run around in the backyard until the following day, when we would do the deed. I figured there wasn't much for him to damage.
Wrong.
He found my fruit trees rather quickly. Oh well.

Brin, who very much would like another dog for a friend, thought this lamb was his BFF.
After this video finished, Brin was focused on something else and the ram nailed him in the ribs.
Brin wasn't so gung-ho on playing anymore after that...

The following night, we had the most delicious rosemary lamb chops!
Thank you, little ram.

Jelly bean math!

Brook wanted to make cookies.
Russ wanted to eat cookies.
It was a good arrangement.
...there may or may not have been 3 batches of them made that week...

We got our sheep!
Originally, I was going to get just a few pregnant ewes, but I fell in love with them all, especially this big boy.
This is Travis and is the sweetest boy...just don't turn your back without a fence in-between you both!
He really has more personality than any of the other sheep, he is so much fun.

And so darned handsome.

He has yet to decline a head scratch.

The rest of the sheep! All but the one in the middle are pregnant, 3 of which are due any time now!

Brownie. <3 br="">She's more than happy to be my friend, as long as there is grain involved!

Valentines Day!!
We aren't big on the flowers and chocolate, but are big on fun stuff!
A friend mentioned that she'd gotten her harmonica out for her kids and I thought, 'Ooh! We don't have a harmonica yet'
Russ decided to try and learn how to play "for real"...it was harder than he thought!

Sam had found these neat straws online a week or so before and was begging for them.
I knew I'd found his Valentines gift!

Oh! I forgot to put what Brooklyn got. Actually, I just forgot a photo.
We got her one of these kits, recommended by a friend, which are AWESOME.
I want some for myself!!

Later, we decided to head out and dink around the yard.
Sam said, "Can I trim some trees?"
This prompted us to break out the chainsaw and cut this juniper back, as I really want to plant all sorts of deliciousness underneath it, is it's right outside the back door.

Oh, S'mores. What am I going to do with you??
She sits at the door or windows and yowls NON-stop while you walk about outside.
One day we'd had it and I confined her to the deck, or so I thought...
Made me super nervous...I've grown to quite like her and would be sad if she became coyote food.

Hello, friends!
This is our view (albeit a bit limited as it's through a camera's lens...) when we walk out back.
Travis is back over to the left, the big tree that Sam and Russ pruned for me is directly to the right. The garden is behind that big tree, and the chicken coop is to the back right.

"You got grain for me, lady?"
That hanging tire thing is his toy, which I need to get a video of him using--he gets that thing flying!

I really, really like this sheep.

Russ has been throwing pruned branches in there for him to munch on and mess around with.
Well, when he put this big one in, Travis rammed it.
Russ ended up tying the top of it to the pen so he can keep ramming it and scratching against it.
Well, the next night, Russ grabbed the end that sticks out of the pen and Travis ran and rammed it. Those boys had a lot of fun, competing with each other!

Hello, girls.
Can you see how big Brownie (a Barbado) and Pep (a Black Hawaiian) are there on the left??
Soooo big.

I was sitting with the sheep, watching Russ work on the tree, watching the chickens scratch for grain, watching the rabbits bounce about in the hutch, watching the ducks frolicking in the pool, listening to the kids giggling on the trampoline...
This is my meditation. :)