they grow up so fast

Our little guineas are growing up so fast.  They're getting their big-guinea feathers already and are more than twice the size they were when I pulled them out of the incubator.

 

 

With 4 curious kids in the house,our birds get picked up and carried around a lot, which makes for more tolerant and tame birds once they're adults.

That's not to say we don't get this look from them now and then though...

 

We have guests coming in to town today so my presence here will be spotty at best for the next week or so.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. See you soon.

I'm not glorifying busy, I'm just... busy

 

Some new work to show, a handful of landscape brooches and one completed stone.

 

A palm-sized stone with pebbles trapped in its stitches.  One more on my worktable waiting for my attention.

 

9 growing babies in the brooder, enjoying their days out in the yard and their nights in the guest room.  7 more eggs in the incubator, because apparently 9 baby guineas just isn't enough.

 

 

4 birthdays in this house in the span of a month, an unexpected party to host, expected (and eagerly awaited) guests coming to stay, a festival to attend, traveling to do...  Not to mention the day-to-day stuff, the working, the gardening, the chasing of the children.  And don't even get me started on my plans to summit (the ever-growing) Mount Washmore.  It's enough to wear a girl out.

I plan to find a little peace in between the busy parts.  Not sure how, but that's my plan.  Right after I weed the tomatoes and bake a cake.

And feed the chickens.

And mop the floors.

But right after that, peace!

Hope you're finding some too.

we made guineas!

They made it!  Not 7, as I originally had hoped, but 9 little fluffy guinea keets to add to our flock.  There are a few more eggs in the incubator that haven't hatched and we'll give them a few more days, just in case, but I'm thrilled with 9 babies in the house.

We've hatched chickens before and last year I hatched out Goose the duck, who is now a big handsome boy (who still loves his momma), but this was our first experience with guineas.

 

There's always that one guy who stands in the food dish.

 

They'll be in our makeshift brooder (a plastic bin with rags and grass in the bottom and a stuffed animal to cuddle under) in the dining room for the first few days before we move them out to the brooder box in the garage.  That will give me a chance to keep a close eye on them and give them a chance to thrive in the crucial first few days.

 

Hey dude, someone's peeping on you.

 

It amazes me how quickly instinct kicks in.  Even before they were fully dried off they were wobbling around the brooder, pecking at the bits of grass.  Just overnight they went from wobbling to running and that's the only way they travel, no strolling for these guys, run, run, run.  In a few days if the weather is warm enough they'll get to spend time out in the tractor (a moveable cage we pull around the yard so they can run in the grass) and then the hilarity will really begin as they try to catch bugs and learn about the world.

There's always something going on around here.  The kids have already started gathering eggs from the chickens to hatch next.  Maybe Kit was right, maybe I am the Keeper.

Happy mid-week, everyone.