Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!

When Grandpa Pat and Grandma Suzie came to visit a few weeks ago, they brought a Big Surprise with them. Three new kitties have joined our household!

They are growing fast, and getting into everything!

Meet Charlemagne, the littlest kitty with the biggest name.

We mostly just call him Charlie.

This is his big brother, Moriarty. He is the biggest of the three, and the most mischievous.

We call him Mori, usually because he never sticks around long enough for us to get his whole name said.

And this is their sister Irene. She's just a bundle of cuteness.

(I'm looking forward to having fewer mice around here...)

Our Second Batch of Chickens

A few weeks ago, I went to our farm store to get dog food and found out while I was there that it was our last chance to get chicks this year. I went home and told my husband, and asked if he thought we should go back to get a few, since they had the breed I'd been wanting.  "Sure", he said, "get a few of the ones you want, and then get some other kinds too. Get a dozen." So we did.

(chicks in a bathtub, under a red warming lamp)

They grow SO fast! Today was nice and warm, so we locked the big chickens out of their run and let the little chicks run around for a while in it.

Just as we were getting ready to put them back into their crate, one met with a fatal accident when she darted underneath a descending foot, so we're down to eleven already. Life in the country can be tough!

The Two Become One. Kind of.

For years, I have maintained two very similar blogs. Both have been focused on our family, but one was private and one was public, and the public one was slightly more focused on housekeeping and living frugally. I'm finally admitting that it was too much. We got busy living life and I abandoned both of them for a very long time.

Until this weekend.

I spent some time yesterday cleaning up the private one in order to make it public, and changed the blog addresses to simplify things even further. The idea is that if I only have one blog to think about updating, I'll do it more often.

That's the plan, anyway.  In the meantime, please excuse the housekeeping dust!