Can I Share My Proud Moment??

It starts with her.

My Amazing firstborn child.  She LOVES her chickens. . .and her cats. . .

She loves any living animal.  She is a very kind soul.  Daddy was hoping at least one of his girls would show some interest in hunting.  No such luck.  They love animals way too much.

She knows and loves her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  She is an amazing daughter and the BEST big sister ever.

This child is so smart!!  This year, she was lucky enough to participate in a special program in her school called Math Olympiad.  Only the top math kids can qualify to participate.  They meet once a week and work to solve extremely difficult math problems.  Once a month, they had a contest and the results were used to compete with other schools nationwide.  The teacher who runs the Math Olympiad program stopped me last week at the science fair.  She wanted to tell me how much she has enjoyed getting to know Tara and having her in the program.  She then went on to tell me that she didn't want the rest of the kids to feel bad but she wanted me to know that Tara was the highest scorer in her group this year.  I was so proud of her.  Then she went on to tell me that she went back through 15 years of records, and in the 15 years that her school has been participating in the program, only 3 other children scored as high as her!!!!  It was all I could do not to cry.  I am soooooooooo proud of this amazing child.  She has blessed my life in so many incredible ways.

Your Horse Drawn Carriage Awaits, Miss Daisy. . .

Earlier this week, Tara and Madeline bought this from a local garden/store keeper where we live.  We love supporting local business when we can.  When we brought it home, we decided to let Daisy try it out first.

She wasn't totally fond of it, but the alternative. . ."jumping off into the snow". . .wasn't very appealing either.

Bawk. . .bawk. . .Well, this is quite a conundrum. . .

Bawk. . .A little help here please?. . .

Awww heck!  Bawk. . .sometimes you've just gotta take the plunge!

Which she gracefully did!  She pushed her way through the snow over to Tara so she would pick her up and put her back into her run.

Then the carriage came into the house for it's intended purpose:

Chickens In The Snow

Well, lets just say that they DON'T like it! 

Especially when the outside temperature is -2 degrees!  As you can see, Dixie was not a happy girl.

Jasmine and Daisy were not up for any winter games either.

Tara and Madeline tossed them into the freshly fallen snow, and they literally just sat there.  Looking at us as if to say "Are you KIDDING me?!!"  Pick me up and put me back into my heated coop!!

Chickens aren't like kids after all.  They don't have warm boots on their feet or fleecy hats on their combs.  Madeline was totally okay with laying on her soft bed of snow.

Tara, who's not feeling well at all (she's been running a fever on and off since last night and has a persistent cough), was totally fine in the snow. . .for a little while.

Even when Dixie had a little pathway to walk on, she just flapped her wings indignantly while saying "Pick me up!  Pick me up!  Pick me up!!"

Which Tara did. . .

And then she put her in her chicken run, while Madeline followed with Daisy and Jasmine.  All told, the chickens spent about 7 minutes in the snow and they Did. . .Not. . .Like it!!  But I can't blame them.  Dixie and Daisy are molting and with the brutal temps, how could they enjoy it?!

Snow is for kids, not chickens.

This is one of only a literal hand full of snowfalls we've had all winter.  It has been so unusually mild temperature wise as well as precipitation wise this year.  I can't even remember in my lifetime ever having such a mild winter.  The chickens have not had much exposure to snow and they clearly expressed to us that they prefer spring, summer, and fall far better than winter.   I feel the same way as them!