Kitchen Visitor...A Snake!!

The story of the snake. May it by the only story I'll ever tell that begins with a snake in my kitchen!
On my day off, I was supposed to sleep in. I was woken up by the sound of breaking glass. Jason was getting ready for work and the cats were sleeping with me, so there was no one to blame for the sound. We crept through the house making sure the boggie man wasn't planning an ambush. We finally found the cause of the noise; a glass bottle sitting on the shelf had fallen and shattered. Both Jason and I bent down to examine the glass, and when I looked up, I was looking directly into the face of a snake!

Jason used a stick to get the snake into a cardboard box. It climbed right out of the box and onto the floor, but the wood was too slick for it to move anywhere fast. Jason used his stick and pushed the snake out the front door.

Once on the porch, he flicked the snake into the front yard. I had a shotgun waiting for him, and the snake was "taken care of."

It was about a 3 foot chicken snake, so it was not poisonous. We think it might have come up through the kitchen sink. We will be fixing that problem immediately! The End...I hope!

Babies!

We have had 10 baby lambs born in the last week. This lamb was born to a first time mom and was a twin. Her sister didn't make it, but this one is still hanging in there. She is so tiny; her legs shake if she stands up too long. Her mom seems to be taking good care of her. The chickens even want to take a look at the tiny baby.

Poor baby is so small. She has a lot of growing to do before she starts playing with the other babies.

These lambs were born last week. Even though they are only a few days old, they are already running, bouncing and playing. This little girl is totally black; we've named her Bah Bah Black Sheep.

Here are more babies with their mommas. The moms are supposed to look that hairy. They are still losing their wool from last winter. Since the days have been getting hotter in the last couple weeks, the wool seems to be falling out even faster.

Can you find the chicken?

Yesterday I went out to water the plants. To my surprise, this chicken has decided to make her nest in the flowers. She is sitting on about six eggs. It's quite a strange place to choose for a nest!

What a view

This is the view from my uncle and aunt's back porch. The Mississippi River snakes through the back of their property and provides a beautiful backdrop. Jason spent one morning on the mower; he enjoys helping around the farm when we go up to visit.

It's raining in this picture. June is a rainy month, but the rain didn't keep us away from outdoor fun. We went four wheeling and fishing in between the rain showers.

Fishing Fun

We always try to get in some fishing when we visit Minnesota. Uncle Jim and Auntie Let have a pontoon boat in the Mississippi River, so we spent most of our time fishing from the boat.

Jason caught two Northern Pike and I caught four Northern Pike from the river. They are very tasty to eat!

The last night we were in Minnesota, we went to the secret lake (sorry, I can't spill the beans about which lake it is) and caught 30 fish in about 30 minutes. The bait was only in the water about 15 seconds between bites. It took well over an hour to clean all the fish that night. I wish all fishing trips were that exciting!

Uncle Jim, Auntie Let and me with our amazing catch!

Red Rock Canyon

Last week we went to Las Vegas for vacation and to celebrate our 9th anniversary. We hiked in Red Rock Canyon the last day there. The weather was in the low 70s, so it was the perfect day for an outdoor activity. Even Jason said he enjoyed the hike. For a ugly desert, this was a beautiful area! I would love to go back for more hiking.

Matt and Molly went with us on our trip. Here we are hiking down a steep hill that was off the trail. It was a lot more fun to go exploring off the trail than it was to follow the path.

Garage Update 2

The garage is getting closer to being finished. The slab was poured on Tuesday.

Sweet Berry Farms

Last weekend we went to Sweet Berry Falls in Marble Falls. It was fun!

Garage Construction

We're almost done with the garage construction. Here are some pictures of the process.

Beasley's lazy weekend

Beasley loves the porch swing. He can see everything going on in the front yard without having to leave the porch.

Walking on thin ice

Jason and I had fun carefully walking out onto the frozen tanks. Thankfully we didn't break through the ice and get wet!

Ice on the tanks

Our friend told us to put our old christmas tree in our tank for a fish habitat. The tank is frozen, so we thought we'd push the tree onto the ice and it would go farther into the middle than if we just threw it into the water. Now we'll have to wait and see how long it takes the tree to sink.
The grass is frozen in the tank. I know it might be hard to see, but there are frozen beads clinging to the grass blades.

The tank has random areas with bubbles, evidence on some kind of create below the surface of the tank. The bubbles froze with the cold weather, so I'm not sure how the under water creature is fairing.

Bonfire

Jason and his dad finished taking down the old barn and chicken coop this week, and we had a lot of wood to burn. It was a beautiful day Saturday, so we decided to get the burning done.

New Year's Eve

Jason and I went out this year to celebrate a friend's birthday and New Year's Eve. It was a fun evening, but we were tired the next day!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 came and went so quickly this year! We celebrated with both families again this year, Christmas Eve with the Schroeders and Christmas Day with the Winklers.

New York Trip #2

I think I've finally learned how to get pictures off the memory card! I've got some catching up to do. Here are a couple pics from our second trip to New York in August 2009.