Bird watching...

You know how some are people watchers? Some buy fish tanks, something about watching the fish just calms and relaxes you.....

Well, we like to watch our BIRDS! And it seems like we have all kinds of them....

Our guinea fowl

Guinea like to run around in a pack, making all kinds of noises. They are one of our hardest working birds here though, next to our chickens who give us eggs daily! They herd around our yard eating all kinds of bugs, including the dreaded tick. They also are supposed to be known for eating weed seeds, although they seem to not do a great job with that....I am ALWAYS pulling weeds!!! :)
We currently only see 10 together. We hatched a little over 2 dozen last year, but the winter predators proved a little too much for them, and now we have even less. These guys are now getting smarter and roost inside our barn at night. These are not the smartest of our bird friends....the females like to nest in tall grassy areas and after laying so many eggs, they sit on them for about a month, through the rain, storms, heat, etc. But sadly, they never seem to make it...they aren't known to be great mothers, they will leave the chicks behind or some creature will hunt them. So when we see a nest of eggs (which are extremely hard to find), we gather them up and put them in our incubator for "SAFE" hatching!

Here are some of our other birds that are fun for "Bird Watching"....

Our egg laying hens, which as of now consists of about 40

Our miniature roosters, we have 3. They don't really have a job, just like to strut around being the boss of the coupe!

 Now these are birds that I NEVER thought I would raise! Our beautiful PEACOCKS and PEAHENS. As  a child, I didn't even think you could! But they are so much fun and great for putting on a show! Especially when we have company over, it's like they perform on queue. We have one white peacock. Some call them albino, which they are not. These are an actual variant of the species. He is patiently waiting for us to find him a lady friend.....poor guy!

Felipe,  taking a much needed siesta in the shade

 Now Paco is our original male peacock. We inherited him along with 2 lady friends, which we have kept un-named. I know, that's rude, but we can't even tell them apart anyways..... :)

Paco being camera shy

Paco's young sons, getting so BIG

 Paco currently has 5 young sons that are beginning to look just as beautiful as he is! This week, they are starting to grow their long tail-feathers that these blue peacocks are so well-known for.

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT.....4 MALE ONE-YEAR OLD PEACOCKS FOR SALE!!!
Hopefully we can get them sold soon, the ladies have been busy laying eggs and will begin sitting on them soon. Anxious to see what the ratio will be this year....they hatched 5 males and only 1 female last year!

If you look close, you can see that they are getting their tail-feathers

After a long day of chores, cleaning, projects, or work...I am totally content just sitting on our back porch and BIRD WATCH....
Now if only I could get our wonderful kitty cats to stop eating all the other beautiful species of birds that visit us...we used to have bird feeders and would attract a few dozen Eastern Goldfinch at one time....but had to get rid of the feeders...because of this:

Jetta-Bella

She looks so mean in this picture, doesn't she? Poor Jet, she is getting a bad rap...she is actually extremely sweet and very lovey- dovey...if you are NOT a bird :)
~Kim

2 Fishing Holes

One thing that I do wish that we had at Irishman Acres is a pond....a lake.....a river....a fishing hole of some sort. Although I can't complain too much, we have access to so many around us. This past weekend was Memorial Weekend. And we decided to get in as much fishing as possible with the whole family!

And I took the opportunity to pretend to be a photographer! :)

 I love this pic of the three men in my life.....

I brought my 2 favorite outdoor quilts, we packed a lunch and a cooler of drinks...and off we went for day one of our fishing adventures....

and we saw a ton of these......

and these......

and caught a lot of this.....

See, I didn't grow up with any fishing experience...I still can't bait a hook, but I have gotten great at casting, reeling it in, and even tried my hand at de-hooking the fish, or whatever you are supposed to call it! :) It is so fun to see my children taking it all in. They each have their own specialty when it comes to fishing.

Gunnar: LOVES to cast...and once in a while, he catches one! The excitement on his face is indescribable!

Wyatt: My BIG-HEARTED boy does not like pulling apart a worm, "It's too sad". But he is great at catching the fish!

Sierra: That girl CAN bait a hook, but doesn't really enjoy fishing, she likes to sun-bath...(teenagers:)

Emma: My GIRLY-GIRL is actually pretty good at catching, reeling it in, AND de-hooking the fish, WHO KNEW????? oh, but she doesn't bait a hook...you can't expect EVERYTHING in one of my children.

 Now, day two of our fishing adventures...this one was a little more remote, so this Mama had to wear tall chore boots in case there was a visit from a little slithery creature!

Some of the grass was taller than Gunnar!

These are my FAVORITE type of days.....

Oh, by the way, we DID actually catch some fish! All Sun-Fish, but our bucket was pretty full when we left each fishing hole....we re-released them into my brother-in-law's new pond....maybe we'll catch them again some day??? :)

The lazy days of summer have begun!!!! BRING THEM ON!!!!!

~Kim

Living the DREAM

When it comes to home ownership- there is ALWAYS some project that needs done, updated, weeded, planted, fixed, renovated, etc. But PRIDE in ownership and the love of our home and our land is our biggest motivator.

I keep a quote that I saw in a magazine that sums up how I feel:

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him"

                                              ~Abraham Lincoln

So, with that said......on to the NEXT project!

BaileyHusband has "voiced" that he is DONE WITH PROJECTS for about another 4 yrs....but on that same day, he decided to tear out some landscaping bushes that were becoming an eyesore. So that leaves this BaileyWife with yet another area to plan, shop for, and ultimately design...OUR BACK PATIO. 

Building our home and then our farm...one animal and one building at a time) takes time, money, energy, creativity, and passion.

For BaileyHusband and myself, there is no other way we like to spend a weekend- either working on our vegetable garden, yard work, or just working with our animals. When our children join in and see something positive in what they are doing- that is just the icing on the cake!

 I know when raising children, we only have the for a short while- spending time together are my favorite types of days. 

 Everyone that knows me, knows my phrase "I like all my chicks under my wings". But as one of my chicks is getting ready to flee the nest- I hope and pray that we've instilled a great sense of home and family that she will take with her in her heart and someday build a home and family that she too will be proud of....

Feeling REALLY sappy,

~Kim

THE PARTY

Well, she Finally did it! My little girl grew up way too fast and officially graduated from High School yesterday!

All the party planning and Graduation Renovation (as we all lovingly call it :) was completed just in time and the party was extremely successful on Saturday!! The burlap, denim, and daisies all came together and the morning of the party, I only had about 1 hour to set everything up before people arrived!!! I tried to get as many pictures as possible, but looking back, there are some that I missed :(.

My son, Wyatt, sitting at one of the tables which displayed a homemade denim quilt of 3 Generations of our jeans

One of the burlap display boards

A clothesline of some of Emma's denim pics

The "take-home" thank you's

 The great "COUNTRY GIRL" food we created:
1. Tuna and Chicken salad on mini croissants
2. Homemade corn dip and corn chips
3.Chips and salsa made from our garden's crop last year
4. Popcorn and M&Ms (the graduate's FAVORITE snack!!)
5. Fruit ca-bobs
6. Milk and Cookies
We opted NOT to have the typical food and graduation cake. There were so many parties this weekend and I figured most of our guests would have been "caked out". :)

Lemonade, Iced Tea, and Emma's favorite, Peach Tea

Fruit ca-bobs

Emma and one of her BFFs, Alyssa

Myself with 2 of my BFFs :)

 It was soooo extremely windy for a few days here....I was so nervous when the dark clouds came up over our heads that we would have to move the party INSIDE. But the sun came back out as quickly as it went away and the day turned out to be beautiful.

Proud Mama and Daddy

My BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!

Denim and burlap bunting made from her old jeans 

Denim, Burlap, and Daisies

Message cards for the guests to write a little note to the graduate

Our homemade sign..taken a little later in the evening

Whew! Now that this weekend is over....the after party clean-up begins....I don't think BaileyHusband and I will know what to do with our time now....hmm...I'm sure I can make a list! But, for now, I'm going to enjoy some DOWN time until right before our next get-together: 4th of JULY!
~Kim