Happy 22nd Birthday Britt!

random thursday...

I'm not much for peppermint candy canes, so I was excited when I found these sweet tart canes.
I started knitting this hat Sunday night. I'm knitting it for myself, but I know that Britt or Kris will try and talk me into letting them have it.

A couple of pages from my art journal.
We have leaves everywhere! I love the crunchy sound they make under my feet.

from my journals...

snow, snow, snow!

I love snow! It started snowing around 8:30 this morning, so I wondered around out in the woods along the creek. The last picture is from my art room window.

happy 20th birthday kris!

Kris has been waiting and waiting for the word "teen" to no longer be attached to her age.

pages from my journal

Just a few sketches from my small Venezia journal. I have ordered a larger one and plan on adding collage as well as sketching in it.

it's that time...

This hen loves to peck on the top of my boot, the snap on my pant leg or my shirt when I'm squatting down. I was squatting down when I took this picture...I turned around and guess who was pecking at my shirt.
One of the roosters up close.
I can't believe the chicks are 7 weeks old now...we only have 17 left. DH processed 7 roosters and 1 hen this morning. He was suppose to process all the roosters, but I picked up a hen by mistake, so there is one rooster left. I told him he better enjoy having 16 hens to himself for the week.

chicken treat

I was going to eat this pear after I sketched it, but it was way to mushy, so I gave it to the hens...they loved it. This is a really bad scan...I couldn't get a good picture with my camera either.

chicken study

I like how Petunia's comb flops to one side of her head...she looks like she's wearing some kind of a hat. Venezia journal 4x6...double spread...gouache and pentel pocket brush pen.

playing with gouache

I sketched this apple with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen in my Venezia Journal (I love the paper in this journal) and then added gouache.

having the freedom to be a chicken

These chicks get to go outside around 6:20am and don't go back into their house until 6pm. They eat grass, bugs and whatever else interest them. They take dust baths, play together and soak up the sun. Chickens that you buy at the grocery store never get to go outside...they are cramped up in a building with thousands of others chickens...it is so sad. That's why we decided to raise our own chickens for food. We like to know what they have eaten, how they have been treated and how they are processed. They are 6 weeks old now and will we start processing them around Thanksgiving.

random friday

We have a couple of watermelons growing in our garden...the hens are going to love them!
Garlic.
Bell pepper.
Lettuce and carrots.

The chicks are now 5 weeks old...where does time go? This bottom picture is one of the roosters...he's not completely feathered out.

are you my mother?

I know some of you are probably tired of looking at chicken pictures, but I just love it when the chicks look over at the hens. This picture reminds me of the childrens book "Are You My Mother?"

chicks & mildred

We finally got some of the chicks to go outside this weekend. I want them eating grass and bugs.
Mildred impatiently waiting her turn. Petunia is in the box Mildred wants in...she use to lay in the box on the opposite end, but now she has decided she wants this box...Petunia has always laid in this box. Mildred just stands out there screaming for Petunia to get out!

sketchercising

After I walked at the park yesterday, I did this quick sketch in my small watercolor moleskine. I'm trying to get back in the habit of walking everyday, but not today, it's raining "cats and dogs." There is a group of sketchers that walk and sketch and they call it sketchercising.

butt ugly...

I was trying to get the chicks to go outside today, since they are 3 weeks old, they should be able to tolerate 75 degree temperature. I got some of them to venture halfway down the run ramp, but that was about it. As you can see, they are past the cute stage...they are butt ugly now! lol

weekend visitor...

Kris brought Riley home this weekend...she was dog sitting for Kyle. Riley is such a sweet boy! Chance wasn't very happy about the situation, but then he wasn't happy Abby was here either. Buckles was ok with him, as long as Riley didn't get to close to me...Buckles gets so jealous.

week 2

The chicks are 2 weeks old today. They are really starting to feather out. We took them out of the pool last Saturday...they were starting to fly out.

page of sketches

one week old

The chicks are one week old and have grown a lot! If you look close, you can see they have started getting feathers on their wings. I'm feeding them turkey feed for 2 weeks and then I'll switch them to chicken grower feed. The turkey feed has 30% protein, which is very important the first 2 weeks.

5 years old!

Today is Chance's birthday...I can't believe he's 5 years old!

new batch of chicks

This morning I picked up our day old chicks from the post office. We ordered 25 chicks, but they sent us 26. All of these chicks are broilers, so they will be in the freezer in about 6 to 8 weeks.

watercolor sketch

Kris loves shoes, so I sketched these shoes from a picture I saw on the internet. I'm hoping to paint a larger version of it for her room.

aggie ring day

DH and I had no idea that this cannon was going to be fired...it's an aggie thing!
The revealing of a very large aggie ring in front of the alumni building.
Britt and Kris getting a good laugh at DH and I after the cannon was fired. I thought we were being attacked by terrorist or something. Scared the crap out of me...I couldn't decide if I should duck or what! Go ahead and laugh all you aggies!
Britt inspecting her ring to make sure everything is perfect.
Here it is up close! Kris can't wait til next year to get hers!

i can't believe it's been 2 years!

Buckles is 2 years old today! I just love this picture of him the day we brought him home!

"green house"

We watch Renovation Nation every week on the Planet Green channel. Last week there was a house from Houston on the show. I couldn't believe it, so yesterday DH and I drove into Houston and found the house...it's mostly glass and metal...even the garage doors are solid glass. I wish I would have taken a picture from that side of the house, but I didn't want to draw attention to myself. It has solar panels on the roof and since it has so much glass, they get a lot of natural lighting. I wouldn't want to live in a house like this, it's too contemporary, but it was interesting to see. Afterwards, we went to Whole Foods and did a little shopping...it was just a couple of blocks from this house on Kirby. I wish we had a Whole Foods close to us!