House Update

Friday we got news from the builder that they had finished clearing our lot. I new we had some bad weather coming this weekend so I had to go see what it looked like. I have been hunting this property for years and its always been so thick with trees that its hard for me to imagine a whole acre being clear. Eventually once we are all settled in i plan to continue thinning out the woods to make room for animals and outbuildings but with the baby on the way i  am sure that will be a slow process.

They also finished putting in the driveway. Here is a video of that. The dirt part is actually a layer of dirt over some crushed concrete. I don't know why they do that. I guess it helps it get packed better.

Finally things are moving along.

I've already ordered and received my seeds for this years garden which will be my first garden in a long time.   I may have gone a little over board with the seed purchase but I'm so anxious to get moved right now I couldn't help it.

We are also going to be getting some meat chickens in the next few weeks so that should interesting. I started the new chicken tractor today so hopefully I will have more of an update on that tomorrow.

Fishing Report

Check out this post from my fishing report blog.

http://bigcatguideservice.blogspot.com/2012/01/pamunkey-1-14-12-report.html

We had a great day last weekend!

Surprise!!!

For those of you that do not already know earlier last year we were expecting our first child but lost it at 10 weeks, but are now expecting again! I am currently 20 weeks along today and I'm blessed to say this pregnancy has been a dream come true! I had morning sickness during my 1st trimester, but nothing compared to the last time and as soon as I hit my 2nd trimester I felt great and have felt great ever since! I felt the baby for the first time at about 16 weeks which of course was just a flutter but any kind of movement is exciting! The first time I actually felt the baby kick and I mean kick hard was at 17 weeks and the next day the baby was kicking so hard my husband could feel it on the outside! Since then the baby has moved more and more and though it doesn't always feel pleasant I don't dare complain because I know it's a great thing :)

Yesterday was our second ultrasound since finding out we were expecting and also the day we got to find out the sex of the baby! Before the appointment I called to see if there was anyway to have the ultrasound recorded because we had both read about people doing that, but when I called they said they had no way of doing that. So we decided we would just bring a video camera and video it ourselves, but unfortunately due to hospital regulations we weren't able to do that :(

Anyways the ultrasound lasted about an hour and I must say that was the longest hour of my life. One: the ultrasound screen was faced away from me and the way they have it set up is either to me or the tech so of course I only saw 5 minutes of the whole hour while my husband got to see it all.

Two: The pressure of the baby kicking while the ultrasound tech is pressing down on my stomach was not at all comfortable.

Thankfully after all the measurements were done she revealed what we are having! Before the ultrasound had began we made one last guess. I guessed boy and my husband guessed girl. At first she was only 90 % sure but by time she was done she said she was 100% sure. She was having a hard time seeing because the baby was laying with its back to her so her only views were from the top of the head down and the butt which of course the baby's legs were crossed, but after all that time she was able to see enough to determine it.

After the ultrasound we got 3 pictures out of the million she took for the file which were all of the baby's face which just looked like a skull except it is our little skull. Then we saw the doctor for a minute and got to go have another ultrasound in two weeks. Thankfully everything is fine they just couldn't get the picture they wanted of the baby's heart because of the way it was laying the spine kept casting a shadow on it. So hopefully then we will get some more pictures and re-confirm the sex!

We wanted to tell our immediate family in a special way so I decided to have them over at my mother in-laws for dinner and cupcakes (which would reveal the sex in the center) later that night! I am no baker but here are the cupcakes I made:

Of course because no one could wait any longer so we ended up having the cupcakes before dinner! It was crazy watching some rip them apart while others took a huge bite, but all in all it was a fun way to get to tell them!

Even though like most men my husband really wanted a boy and I wanted a girl more, but personally a boy first, we couldn't be happier with the outcome and can't wait to welcome our precious baby girl in May :)

Chicken and Dog Update

OK. So were are finally settled in at the Tabs parents. We got the chickens and their coop moved and the dogs set up in a 10x20 kennel, they still come in at night though. I took an old dog house my dad had that he never used and set that up for them. This property is sort of set up on top of a hill so it can get pretty windy. They have a tarp across half of the kennel top and down the back side to provide some wind protection. I really don't like keeping them in there but so far they seem to like it just fine. I've got pine needles packed around the sides and underneath for insulation. I put a wireless thermometer inside the dog house and I have a wireless weather station set up at the dog kennel. I can monitor the temp inside the dog house and outside weather conditions. It was warm today but earlier this morning there was a 10 degree difference inside the dog house. Most days when its been cold it has still been about 5 degrees warmer in there. I think its probably warmer than that to them though because they have been getting in the dog house together. The chicken coop is pretty much set up the same as it was at our old house. I am still having a problem with one of the hens sleeping and pooping in one of the nesting boxes. I have tried blocking it off and nothing seems to work. It stinks because I keep getting poopy eggs out of that box. Even with the colder weather and short days I have still been getting 4 to 5 eggs a day.

Now that we are out of the neighborhood we were in we are able to let our chickens free range when we are home during the day. We still have to keep an eye out for the random roaming dog or the hawks but so far no issues.

This setup if working out pretty good so far... We will have to see how the tarp handles snow if we ever get any.

You can see their guinea pen in the trees a little in this one. Also now that Roostie has been gone for a while that hen on the right is the boss and sure enough today she tried to peck at me. At least the hens don't hurt. Also if you remember a while back I said I was working on teaching the dogs not to eat the chickens. Well today the dogs and I were in the yard throwing the ball and playing. After a while they laid down and chewed on some bones. While they were resting one of the chickens came over to check them out and walked right up to their faces and all around them and they didn't ever react to the chickens so I guess that means the training is going good.

and a final sunset picture across the field.

Also we got our building permit finally last week so we should begin clearing any day now.....

And some even bigger news coming next week.............