Jack meets Jill's little doeling.
Becky and one of the bucklings. He has the longest legs ever!
Jill, making sure I take good care of her baby. She is such a great Mama.
Hooray! At long last, Jill and Chip's babies have arrived. Jill delivered triplets yesterday....one doeling and two bucklings. All three are black and white like their parents and have blue eyes like their daddy. More pictures to come later today!
Over the past two months, there has been additional construction at Bee Haven Acres. Becky has been in the process of having her barn built adjacent to their log home. For the past 3 years we have shared our barn. Longing for her own dream barn, this year she took the leap and started construction. It is beautiful....with 2 stalls, a wash stall, a tack room and lots of storage. This front side pictured will serve as a run-in shelter for her dry lot. Beyond the barn is a fenced pasture. 
I ordered 5 Nucs from Bjorn Apiaries. These are already established colonies with their own queen that come with 5 frames of brood....so this type of colony grows quickly and can produce honey its' first season.
Now we have to keep our fingers crossed that the weather conditions for the summer cooperate with us for optimal honey production.
Sweet goatie kisses for me.......
Laughter always erupts......
Spider says...."How about one more kiss?".....
If you ever feel sad or lonely....plan a visit to Bee Haven Acres! Our goats can turn any grey day into instant sunshine!!
Besides a little play and a little napping, grazing is what comes natural...and we do it all day long!
Today our contractors are installing the pine decking (2 5/8 inch thick tongue and groove pine) that will serve as ceiling for the first floor and flooring for the second floor. Once this is complete, they will be able to frame out the rooms for the second floor. At the same time, the heating contractors are installing the geo-thermal unit that will serve as back up heat for our wood burning stove and fireplace.
Each day we are just a little farther along....and it is all so exciting...this building a log home.
It is hard to imagine that a 140 pound dog can be stealthy, but somehow Maddie is. Each time we walk to the barn on an errand, she sneakily leaves with one of the cat bowls in her mouth. Maddie knows she is being naughty, because she does her level best to keep her back to us so that we won't notice the plastic bowl, barely peeking our from her jowls. There is just nothing yummier than a little leftover morsel of cat food!
At least when she is finished, she brings the bowl back to the barn once again!
Winter months seem long. Even more so when I read friends' blogs from warmer climates. Here in Pennsylvania it feels as though Spring is still so far away. Most days are grey, the winds remain frigid, and snow showers sneak up on us when we let our guard down.
But still, we cling to the hope that Spring will sneak in early and get a foothold on our land...turning the greys and browns to green once again.
"Could you please hurry....I'd like another cracker!"
Sissy says "This stuff tastes terrible!"
Oh, so slowly, now, we see progress with construction. The roof is almost finished and the windows are finally complete. Now, most of the work is to the inside. The ductwork for the heating system is in and the fireplace has been installed (pictures to follow)... Oh, the waiting........
Here is Tom Tom basking in the light from the rising sun. He is frowning a bit today because he still has a case of the sneezles. He is sure that when Spring arrives, he will finally be rid of this nasty Winter cold that has plagued him.
Meet Gus. When Gus found out that Elvis had his very own posting, he tackled me in the driveway and insisted that he be given equal time. Gus is our one and only white guinea fowl. He is the only one of his flock that we are sure is a male. This we know from a particular behavior that he frequently exhibits....yes, and you can guess what that is!
Introducing.........ELVIS!!! And you thought he was gone forever. Elvis is our one and only Rooster. For the past several months we have assumed that Elvis was a she and that she was just an exceptional hen. That was until she crowed.....and very quickly she became he and he became ELVIS!!
We now have ceilings over the beams in the laundry room and the kitchen. All of the rooms in the basement and 1st floor are studded out. As soon as all of the ceiling decking is installed (this will also act as the floor in the upstairs loft) they will stud out the rooms for the second floor and loft areas. 
The solution to the problem? We moved a small house into the goat yard so that Missy had her own single family unit. Now Jill and Myrtle share the big house....that is until Jill decides that Myrtle "has to go!"
This has been a fairly rough winter for our wild feathered friends. Amazingly, they empty two thistle feeders, two hanging black oil sunflower feeders and a platform feeder daily. We also try to keep an ample supply of suet hanging in several locations. Constructions does not discourage these birds...as they flock to the feeders despite the hammering and sawing.
Here is a guine egg next to one of our chicken eggs. The guinea egg is on the right. They are tiny, but quite tasty, and....low cholesterol....due to their size!
This week we are getting windows and doors....as well as interior walls on the first floor. It's really starting to look like a house, now.
You might remember a posting a few weeks ago about the chicken in the center of this picture. "She" is one of our new hens that we started about 3 months ago from newly hatched chicks. As these ladies grew we couldn't help but notice that one of the gals was "special". She has grown head and shoulders above her sisters and has a much more pronounced comb and waddle.
