Chicken Ninny

This is Chicken Ninny. Chicken Ninny came to our house because one morning JD was at Tractor Supply and the worker asked him if anyone could save the baby chick that was going to die if left in the baby chick cage. He called me and I agreed to take him. He had the worst case of splayed leg ever and everything I had done in the past for baby chicks did not work. After about three days of holding him to eat and drink every few hours because he couldn't stand and the leg braces weren't working, Chris and I You-Tubed serious baby chick leg issues and found some videos on therapy jars. 

This is Ninny's first jar. He spent two days in it and since he pooped in his felt chair, he had to be bathed fairly often and have the cloth changed.

Then he moved to a part time therapy jar that forced him to stand, he would get tired and sit down and we would stand him up again. He only spent a few hours a day in there.

And finally, he was able to stand on his own and poop on the floor on his own! Exciting progress for the little chick!

Chicken Ninny is the term Oliver uses for both chicken nuggets at Chick Fil A and baby chicks; it's a good name so we went with it. The issue with Ninny is that he is so much smaller than the other chicken ninnies outside, so they will bully him, so he has to continue to live in the dining room for now!

He appreciates the quality time with Oliver I'm sure!

Basketball Lines

We paved the first side of our driveway back in December to create a basketball area for the kids. This last weekend, we installed a net to keep the ball from falling down to the lower driveway. Yesterday, JD and Elijah used a stencil we ordered to paint basketball lines on the driveway.

Oliver and I just hung out while the guys worked. 

Oliver has his own hoop and  takes the game very seriously. 

I think my lens got dirty so these look foggy....

While we enjoyed our farm, Selah headed out to her first day of working at a horse farm with rescue horses; she was pretty excited when she got home!

Lady's Triplets and Farm Help

I was going to just load the picture of Oliver feeding the babies at the end, but realized I never told the tale of our most difficult goat delivery ever. Two Saturday mornings ago, Lady clearly went into labor. She was pretty miserable and ready as evidenced by this photo - 

Her first sac broke and she pushed and carried on for over an hour; I was getting more and more nervous. At the hour mark, I called my friend the vet tech; she was out of town. I called my friend that has assisted in many goat difficulties, but neither of us had ever dealt with this situation. She and I called the vet by the 1.5 hour mark, but he was 1.5 hours away. I then called my friend's husband who has delivered sheep. He came, struggled, and suggested another vet; the phone went to voicemail. At that point, he worked really hard to rearrange the baby and found hooves. (I failed to mention that at this point, all three of us had taken turns pushing the baby back up because the hooves were stuck, and we couldn't loosen them. Once he got the hooves out, the first baby came quickly. I was emotionally prepared for her to not be alive as she had been stuck for over two hours. Thankfully, she was alive and well and we barely had her cleaned when her two sisters shot out within minutes. Triplet girls and we were all thrilled to have an alive momma and healthy babies. 

Baby Fern needed a boost to lay eyes on the new babies in the fence next door - 

Montana loves the baby goats, but the momma goats aren't nice to her if she is near their babies, so Selah had to sneak one out for her to meet. 

Since there are three, Selah is feeding them two bottle feedings a day to supplement Lady's milk. They are taking to the bottle pretty quickly; sometimes it is a complete struggle for a full week. 

It isn't hard to figure out who my dedicated goat companion of the family is!

Selah and I had some help from Oliver during chores today; everything is faster and easier with a toddler's help! He loves the baby goats though and likes to visit them frequently. 

Oliver and Elijah - almost 2 and pushing 13! 

Speaking of farm help, we have all kinds of exciting farm progress happening. I have a tree guy taking down some dead trees and chopping them into firewood. I have another guy clearing for goat fencing in the back area so Duke and Hans can live farther from the girl goats. JD and my son-in-law spent today laying another row of retaining wall to build up the driveway and camper parking area. I spent the day weeding and raking out all the front garden beds, but it was a beautiful day and I am very happy with all our spring progress. 

Have a blessed Easer tomorrow - 

Plural Trips

Doesn't feel too springy outside today, but it's been spring break for us. Alyssa, Tori and Oliver flew to WA State to visit Gabriel and family.  Oliver is a month away from turning 2 and Samuel is 2.5. They had a great time together! 

Toddler picture overload - 

Tori is an excellent photographer so I had to request a picture of her with the boys. Samuel fell asleep in the car on the way to this outing but it's finally a picture with Tori and Nathan along with Oliver. 

Gabriel and Alyssa in the beautiful northwest. Gabriel and Alayna love the area and it's not hard to see why. I'm anxious to make my trip out, which was delayed until May.

While they were gone, Elijah and I made a trip to Lynchburg, VA. His state basketball tournament was in Richmond two weekends ago, and only one parent was allowed in, so I did that one. We were hoping for two parent attendance at the Lynchburg tournament, but it was zero parents, only staff. I quickly assumed the role of "team manager" and was able to attend the three games. They came in second in state (homeschool teams) and we placed fifth in Lynchburg, but it also included NC and TN teams. 

The college we played at was about 30 minutes from Liberty U. but our hotel was right on the edge of the Liberty campus. Since three of us have attended Liberty online, I was pretty excited to see the campus. We saw three colleges that weekend of playing and Liberty is by far the most gorgeous campus, with the mountains and the buildings. We hit up the bookstore for some Liberty gear. 

Historic home that was on the property when it was bought and turned into the chapel. 

The sun was in Elijah's eyes, but here he is - 

 

The divinity tower was closed, but it has a platform to overlook the campus and far beyond. 

Being sports motivated, Elijah was excited to see the stadiums and the traveling team that got off the bus to play Liberty last Saturday.

When Alyssa dropped Tori off at 1:00 a.m. from the airport, Oliver was upset that he didn't get to come see everyone, so they came the next day. By afternoon, he was so tired that he was requesting to go to bed. He slept from 6 p.m. to 9:30 the next morning; jet lag is rough coast to coast on a toddler. It is good to have our baby goat visitor back to duty though. 

This is Gabriel and Elijah exactly 11 years ago - he looks a lot like Oliver to me.