My New Grandson!

After over 20 hours of labor my daughter Megan had a C section around 3:30AM this morning. Her family went from 2 teenagers

To two teenagers and a newborn! Meet Skyler. He weighs 8lbs5oz and is 21 inches long. I am told he has red hair.

Since 5AM Friday morning my daughter Maggie and granddaughter Gabby have kept me up todate on whats happening by Skype, texts, phone calls. It has been long 24 hours for everyone. Maggie now has a brand new nephew for a birthday present. Happy Birthday Maggie! Thank you for helping me be a part of this blessing though I am 6 hours away.

In Her Arms

She always has enough love for her growing family. My daughter Melody and her husband Joseph have 5 wonderful children. Though she works fulltime, goes to school, takes care of home, she always finds time to be there for and shower lots of love on her children. She also has love, attention, and a home to give to Joseph's nephew. There are family problems and Melody didn't think twice about taking him in. Soon (July 12th) she will be going to court so she and Joseph can become "Sissy's" permanent legal guardians. Melody, Joseph, and all the kids are so excited to bring Sissy home for good. Never a doubt that Melody has more than enough love and arms full of hugs to go around. So for now their family photos looks like this:

But very, very soon they will be having new family photos taken so this little cutie can be right in the center!

Love you Mel and am so very, very proud to be your mom.

Heat Wave at Hidden Haven

It's that time of year again. Frozen water bottles for the bunnies and nice cold melons for the chickens,turkey,and geese. Ducks won't eat it but are enjoying playing in their pools.

The heat index may have been 100F but around the homestead we know a few things to keep cool. Gotta run. Time to play in the sprinkler!

Wild Kingdom?

Think we need to change Hidden Haven to Wild Kingdom. This past week has been freaky with wild animals on the homestead. Not just passing through but actually making themselves at home. I was busy inside the other afternoon when Tinker and Bella started barking like they were trying to kill something. The chickens, ducks, turkey, and geese were all screaming. I took off running because I thought they were killing a chicken. When I got to the goat pen Bella ran to the gate to meet me but was still barking like crazy and Tinker was over at the fence near a chicken pen barking and trying to dig through. I figured she had seen the momma hen and  baby chicks so ran to the chicken pen to check on the chicks. Found the momma hen in her house with babies underneath. When I stood back up I noticed all the chickens were on top of the fence, in trees, on top of the barn, on their roosting poles. They were all way up high. Then I saw what I thought was a dog. I saw it from behind and wondered where it came from and how it got inside a 6ft fence. Not thinking twice I started walking toward it. It didn't turn around or run. It walked one step and as easy as anything jumped over the fence without even touching it and walked over under a tree and sat down. It sat there looking at me for a few minutes like it was waiting for me to leave so he could have dinner. It wasn't a dog. It was a COYOTE! The dogs were still going crazy trying to get to it and he finally walked off down into the woods. This all happened early afternoon. That night we heard the dogs barking again and William went outside. The coyote had walked from a neighbors across the front of our property. Last night William heard the dogs barking and a chicken screaming and took off with the shotgun. He never saw what got the hen but he heard her screaming all the way down in the woods as whatever had her was running. This morning I walked out to feed and saw some of the teenage chicks running across the backyard. Thought they were coming to greet me but they kept on running. Running right behind them was a young red fox and right behind him was Tramp (our rescue basset/beagle). The fox saw me stopped running until he saw Tramp, then took off for the woods. Tramp took off as fast as his short legs could carry him and spent the morning chasing him in the woods. We are missing Mr and Mrs Black (the rabbits that have run free on the farm for several years) and we are missing 30 laying hens and aren't sure how many young chickens. William is setting a coyote trap and we have the guns loaded and ready to grab. Another farm down the road has had problems with coyote for a couple weeks. Not sure how many are around here. Fort Bragg set out coyotes several years ago. Not sure why but they have moved from the middle of nowhere they were released in to populated areas. Thank goodness the  guard dogs are with the goats or am sure one of the baby goats would have been coyote dinner. Tinker and Bella would kill a coyote in an instant. We usually don't have wild animal problems except for occasional raccoon or opossum but seems like wild animals are getting a lot braver around people.
Wild animals haven't taken up all our time. We have still found time to climb trees.

 And go swimming.

Today finds me in the kitchen cutting corn off the cob to make cream corn for the freezer. Harvey is busy playing with his cars and trucks but always checking to see if he can help grandma. Just another day here at Wild Kingdom Hidden Haven.

New Farm Hand

After helping feed, water, and milk the new farm hand sat down to a hearty breakfast.

After breakfast found him helping put hay in the barn. He stopped long enough to tell me it sure was hot work. Think I am going to really enjoy the next two weeks with this new farm hand.

Summer Time

Things are starting to look and feel like summer around the homestead. The heat and humidity are back and flowers are blooming their little hearts out. The hydrangea bush is loaded with big blooms this year. I planted a pink one a couple weeks ago and hope it grows as big and full. Day Lilies have gone crazy blooming. They are everywhere and giving lots of color to the homestead.

Getting lots of green beans from the garden and will be making dill pickles over the weekend. William will be picking up Harvey(4 yr old grandson) tomorrow to spend a couple weeks with us. His daddy had surgery for colon cancer so he is going to visit while his dad is recovering. He loves being outside playing and helping feed the animals. Will be nice to have his smiling face around here. We picked up a 4 and a half year old goat named Mammy yesterday. I only have Buttons to milk and she has triplets so no extra milk. Mammy will give us milk to drink and milk so I can make soaps again! I have a batch going already. I went out to take a picture of her but the batteries died while taking flower pictures. Have them charging and will take one of her tomorrow. Kuma's mom and dad surprised us with a check and orders that it be spent on just us. No animals, bills, etc. To go out to eat or do something for just us. We went out to dinner and I had the most tender, yummy steak and William had fish and shrimp. It was heavenly! We put a little money with what was left and purchased a screened in canvas gazebo, I am turning my old one into a outdoor kitchen and the new one will have the patio table and chairs so we can eat outside. I will be able to can, make soaps, cook meals without heating up the house all while enjoying the sights and sounds of outdoors. Can't wait to get everything set up and going! These are just a few of the blessings around the homestead. Hope you are counting your blessings, no matter how small!

Goodbye Puppies

Puppies have new homes! We delivered 2 of her puppies

 to a beautiful farm ( thank you David and Terry) in Wagram, NC Friday night after dropping one off near the homestead where we sold another one. Another was picked up by a lady for her mom who lives in Wilmington. This morning had us up at 5:30 to get morning chores done so we could head to Sanford to a flock swap there. We sold the last of the puppies . One went to a farm family that has a Vet Tech mom. One went to a awesome family with goats and young children. One went to live on a 100 acre farm and another went home with a young farm family. I am very happy and at peace where each of Bella's puppies are now living. Sometimes when placing one of our animal family somewhere else I just don't feel right and will change my mind and not let it go. Every one that took Bella's puppies made me feel it was the right choice. Not only do the puppies have good homes part of the money went to pay off the last of Olivia's vet bill.  After getting home today we had time after feeding to trim goat hooves, rake, and clean up some of the mess in one of the goat pens after all the rain we have had. A lot of  things got done off the to do list and that always makes me happy. We have 3 of Tinker's puppies left which we are keeping one for Tramp, one is going to the lady we got Tinker from and one we will be finding a home for. No more trying to walk without stepping on puppies when we go out to feed. No more little puppy faces peeking under the gate waiting for their food. No more puppy breath. Going to miss the puppies but also going to enjoy having life in the goat pens with Bella and Tinker back to normal. Just a few of the many blessings around the homestead.