Red Cliffs Recreation Area

We went to a pretty cool place today, Red Cliffs Rec. Area. I got a full body workout playing on the bolders and rocks. 

On The Road

A road trip to southern Utah and back. Why drive? The time trapped in a car lets you work out all those ideas in your head, the ones you don't give much time to at home because of all the distractions, plus you get to see things along the way... like the back of a trucker!

Over the hill and through the desert to Ma and Pa's we go. 

Ma and Pa's back yard doesn't look anything like our back yard... er, except for the tulips maybe.

The next day we decided to hop in the car for a day hike in Zion National Park. Lucky us, Ma and Pa live very close.

There were so many other people there, you'd think we were at the mall.

Of course we had to stop at the tourist town before heading back to Ma and Pa's for some hot tub time.

While we were in the hot tub a stray snuck in the door to visit us, we call her Tumbleweed.

Tumbleweed is very friendly. 

Stay tuned, were up to something today too.

Lest We Forget... The First 15 Months

Happy First Day of Spring!! 

It also happens to be our 3rd anniversary. Upon reflection, this last three years seem unusually LONG! Usually, time goes by faster and one finds oneself wondering where it went. So, where did it go? Well, the last 2 years are all here on this blog but, there are 15 months that happened before the blog started...

In the beginning...

... August 2010, we bought a house and it was good. 

Ya, good and delpitated.

There was a bit of work to be done and don't think for a second I can squeeze everything we did into one post... that would take a book. We did have a vision.

I think it started with mowing the lawn.

That's much better!

Ya, we wish it went that fast, lets go back a little bit.

Original Chicken Town started attached to the shop. We needed a home for the chickens pdq and this was the option. We also had wild peafowl running through the woods... er, just kidding, that's the neighbors welcoming committee.

The first day we put the fence up, a bear sat on it, ate the chicken food and bit a hole in the waterer. If you've been following the blog and ever wondered why we had a small pen inside Goat World, it's because it was the original chicken pen.

Our first winter in the new place! Isn't it gorgeous!

January 2011, we started a new chicken house. There's a back story to why we built an enormous new chicken house but, its long.

There was an old tree house we didn't have a use for so we pulled it down with the tractor and used the floor (the only thing that stayed in one piece) for the start of new Chicken Town.

Chicken Town is being born!
BTW- Our first dog, Zeus, lived in Chicken Town before the chickens did. We only had Zeus for 2 weeks and that, also, is a long story.

We might have gone a little overboard...

This is the water storage system. Water is collected off the roof to the green barrel and then to the red tank. Not pictured is a ballast water tank that is attached to the green barrel. Each tank has it's overflow at the top so sediment falls to the bottom and clean water moves to the next storage tank. Ya, it's a bit much but... there's more!   (yes, it still all works!)

We knew we'd be building a duck pond in the spring and the overflow from the red tank leads to the duck pond to flush it out when it rains. Cool huh!

The ducks say its way better than their kiddy pool pictured in the background.

Of course that wasn't enough for us... had to add a water fall. hehehe

We also added Mesa that spring, on Chelanne's 16th birthday to be exact. They've both grown up.

Later that summer, the most amazing critters found their way into our lives. Huckleberry and Banjo.

Huckleberry and Banjo as babies! Can you stand the cuteness!!!! I can't believe how tiny they were, they were 4 months old when we brought them home. We didn't have a place for them to live so we put them with the chickens.

It was intended that they should live in the Duck House but, they prefered the new chicken house under the nesting boxes. Yes, Duck House has a back story too... it, also, is long.

The madness of taking way too many photos of my goats started here. 

One of the other things started that summer was garlic. If all else fails, we always grow garlic so I thought it worth a mention.

A month after we got the boys, we brought Lucy home. She was only 5 months old when we got her... OMG sooooo tiny! hehehe

It's hard to imagine they were that little once.

Remind you of someone? The apple don't fall far from the tree.

Lets back up a gain and look inside the house when we bought it. This is the "den" that was built onto the double-wide mobile in the 80's. From the outside pictures, its the "Tower" that is attached to the mobile. This is what it looked like when we bought the place. We knew right way it would eventually be our home.

A year later we began the planning stages to eject the mobile and move into the "den". The rest of the story starts at the beginning of this blog.

Awwww! I can't help it, one more goat picture!! Really, can you blame me?

(yep, original brooding house also has a back story, they all have a story)