More pics of Blanche and Rose

One Way and I set to work last night on building a more permanent and better chicken coop. He really did all the work. I just did the coats of lackre (sp?).

Great way to spend an anniversary!

Here is their temporary coop:

And since I don't have ENOUGH chicken pics ... here's some more:

Two years = two chickens

Today is our two year anniversary. Two years ago, we woke up on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica in a bungalow. And two years ago, at sunset, we married underneath an arch of heliconias and other tropical flowers.

To celebrate the occasion, we got two chickens, Rose and Blanche (the Golden Girls). Rose is a Rode Island Red and Blanch is a Buff Orfington. They are not mature yet, so no eggs. But they are incredibly cute!

Blanche:

Rose:

Apparently the Street Family is all fowled up, because for the last couple weeks, some bluebirds have made our backyard their home. They have built a nest and as of today have 5 light blue eggs! Of course, those are not to be eaten ... that's what chicken eggs are for! I can't wait to get pics of the babies that should hatch in the next two weeks.

Here's the nest. It is very hard to get a good angle to get a pic of the eggs. But they're in there! 

Welcome to the family, West!

Congratulations to Wesley and Hannah on their baby boy. We can't wait to meet him.

Pictured is proud grandparents Aunt Gaye and Uncle Ralph.

Hello, I'm a Mac

... And we killed the PC. (yes, I'm in a bath robe, and, yes, I have no shame; picture snapped with our iSight camera built into computer)

One Way surprised me this afternoon with a new computer!!! After a harrowing couple of weeks of dealing with a computer on the brink of Armageddon, One Way got sick of hearing me cuss and fight and huff about the old PC.

To be fair, it was a good PC and served us well. But the last six months have been hard on the little hardware. I can't say I'll miss it, but I can say I was grateful for all of its hard work over the years.

Good bye, PC. Hello, Mac!

Buttercup goes to the beach

Though it was One Way's birthday yesterday, we were unable to celebrate it since he's on a cruise of the eastern NC coast. So, yesterday, Buttercup and I went to the beach at Emerald Isle to celebrate. The above picture is a candid shot of Buttercup's reaction to the very scary waves.

She was a good girl albeit very excited. I turned her loose a couple times and we hauled across the beach in record time.

After galloping, she slowed to a canter, and eventually we were able to trot and walk.

All-in-all, it was a fabulous way to spend a Saturday! The only thing that could have made that day better was if my husband was home to spend his 26-year birthday with me.


Video:

Ana loves Afghans!

It's no secret: Ana loves a handful of things in life.

These include: strange people, familiar people, walks, being outside, being on grass, going through puddles, and extreme snuggling.

You heard right. Ana is the master of the extreme snuggle. If it were an Olympic sport (2012?) she'd beat out the snuggly Hyenas of South Africa for sure.

Well, Mama Karen knitted us a beautiful Afghan for our living room. It is gorgeous! Of course, it has been quickly confiscated as "training material" for our very own extreme snuggling champion.

Here's a pic of Ana "practicing:"

Decorating the 'man cave'

Good Ole One Way has re-decorated his "man cave." It took him nearly a week to lay down a new poly floor, paint over the goodness-to-gracious awful racing flag wall, build a work bench (too tall for Street Mutt), and reorganize.

It looked great ... until I parked my car in there.

Here's a pic of the progress. I'll see about taking a picture of the final product once it stops raining.Here we see the lovely racing flag wall to the left ... a very handsome, crafty One Way tapping the floor ... and also the work bench to the right.