Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Odds and ends.

Saige has been a question asking maniac lately.  It is a non-ending barrage of "do you like pink? Do you like the letter c? Can grandpa read? Did grandma invent story time?  Do you like to eat at Conrads?" And more.  I can barely answer one question before she is asking the next!  I hope all this information gathering is going to pay off someday!  I was extremely amused one day when I told her to get her jacket so we could go to the post office.  She asked me if we could stop at city hall because she had a question for her dad.  I said sure.  When we got to Jim's office she gave him the puppy eyes and said "do you want to eat delicious food with me at Conrad's today?"  Guess what?  It worked!  ;)
She does love story time....she likes the reading but absolutely loves the crafts!  
Preston's class has been attending Starbase.  My older kids did not especially love this program, but Preston says it is fun and he likes it.  His friend's mom sent me this sweet photo of him and one of his best buds.  Always together!  I have had conferences this week too.  Tonight was Preston's.  His testing is off the charts.  His teacher was laughing about writing something on the board and having Preston say "Mrs. Smith, I believe your grammar is incorrect."  She said he was very sweet about it and he was correct too!  He is really liking the gifted program so far as well.  
Harper has enjoyed some unit they are doing where they are building shapes out of marshmallows and tooth picks.  She says it is fun and they get to eat their mistakes!  Preston was sure to point out he would be messing up every single time!  
Mallory works at a school in Topeka on Wednesdays and then comes home and teaches a Religion Ed class.  Tonight when she came in, she said there was a road kill armadillo down the hill from where we live.  I know it seems weird to load up your kids and go on a road kill viewing trip, but I did.  There were reasons. First of all, I honestly didn't know we had armadillos in this part of the state.  Secondly, it is my understanding that they carry leprosy, so similar to how I have shown the kids multiple rattle snakes, I wanted them to know not to play with one.  Knowing what it looks like is good. So why the pictures?  Well, that would be because I am married to Jim!   
We ended up with 8 chicks.  One had a sort of bad leg, but Quincy Has named it and is holding out hope for it to end up ok.  We will be keeping 4 of them.  We moved them out of the incubator this afternoon. But not before I made a big error. The Internet site we have been reading said to leave the chickens in the incubator for 24-36 hours after hatching to allow them to get stronger.  It also said they don't need food or water during this time.  This morning however, I could see some of them panting and thought they must be too warm.  I could hear my father's voice from my childhood "you NEVER EVER leave an animal without water."  And so I put a little shallow dish of water in the incubator. I dipped beaks the way my mom and grandma taught me, and seeing them all drinking and quiet, we all left for work and school.  When I got home at lunch time, all of the chicks were sopping wet and holding their wings at weird angles. The dish of water had caused the humidity to become high and they were in an incubator sauna. Panic!  Jim held the babies in a box while I cleaned all traces of moisture out and we put them back in hoping they would dry out and end up ok!  It took 4 hours for them to dry and fluff back out.  You do not want to see wet baby chickens.  They look terrible!  I am thankful that they seem ok this evening.  They are eating and drinking and the crippled one seems like he is trying hard to get around.  Have I mentioned that despite trying really hard, and Quincy being completely dedicated, we are sort of bad chicken farmers!  

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