Arbor Day Part 2! #CubScoutWorldConservationAward

Our Arbor Day tree planting was a success!

We found a place for all 20 trees around the property and Aiden has been out to water them already today.  (Even though it is a rainy day it's just been a drizzle and we want to make sure they don't dry out! Plus he's grounded and this is a way to earn point to get out of being grounded...hehe)

We have a small troop, but we still managed to have every Cub Scout Rank from our young Tiger...

...up to the Webelos participating in our conservation project...We even had help from the Assistant District Commisioner...some of the parents...

 

...and me, the Wolf Den Leader...even with a mad ITB (some tendon in my leg)... I still got out there and dug holes, pounded stakes, and tied protective pipes around the saplings...I did leave the watering to the boys, but they were having fun with it!

Shhhhhhh...don't tell my brother I got a picture of him helping... I was threatened with the hose when I put up my camera...hehehe...but I managed a picture without getting wet....hehehe...

I was very impressed with how well the boys stayed on task and how much they enjoyed this project!  I am going to do my best to keep these trees growing and I will do my best to document their growth and share pictures as I have them!  If anyone would like to share their own pictures of Arbor Day fun I would love to display your projects too!  Just send them to me at MyCreativeFamilyFun@yahoo.com!

Happy Arbor Day! #CubScoutConservationAward

I hope everyone is enjoying nice weather like we are here.   Though the humidity is rising with the temperature, I love the evening thunderstorms that come with that mixture.  So far our forecast for today is partly cloudy with a high of 80 according to The Weather Channel and I hope that holds true, but I look forward to the rain next week is bringing to help me keep these little trees watered properly!

We are celebrating Arbor Day 2016 at the "Something Special Homestead" in Moneta, VA and planting 20 saplings with Cub Scout Pack 30  and Boy Scout Troop 540 from Goodview, VA this evening.

We have 10 Blue Spruces to put out by the road along the top of a hillside to help create a noise barrier from the road and we have 10 flowering trees as well.  The 10 flowering trees include three American Redbuds, two Sargent Crabapples, two Washington Hawthorns and three White Flowering Dogwoods.  We are going to place those along the driveway adding to the fruit tree orchard that we have been working on and around by the chicken run to give them some extra shade as the trees grow bigger.

Mom and I each got the free Membership packs of trees from the Arbor Day Foundation.  They arrived in two bundles with a hydrating gel on the roots.  Each bundle had to be carefully separated so as not to damage the roots.  Then each tree needed to be placed in a separate container of water to soak for 3-6 hours before panting. To give our trees the best chance for survival I opted for the 6 hour option and have them ready and waiting for the Scouts this evening.  This is going to be a Pack conservation project and will help them to earn the "Cub Scout World Conservation Award".  They do have to complete a few other requirements detailed in the link above or here. 

For now I have to get back to preparing for this afternoon and making sure my phone has enough charge for taking some photos to share.  I hope to be able to post about our fun a little later this evening or tomorrow morning! 

Update on our Flock! #RaisingChickens&Ducks #MuscovyNests

The baby chicks are growing up fast and very curious just like every human child I've met...They have jumped the gate to go visit Silver and her nest...Surprisingly, Silver didn't seem to mind at all, she didn't even offer to nip at them or anything...

Lucky on the other hand was not so forgiving...She left the nest to get some food, water and fresh air...and when she returned all nine of the chicks were checking out her crib...she quickly counted her three eggs and made sure the chicks knew they weren't welcome...then she proceeded to sit on her nest and "tell me about it"!

"Bog Boy" went to bed before Lucky again tonight and when she returned for the evening she found him sitting on her eggs once again...I've never heard of a rooster sitting on a nest before, but our birds are "Special"...lol...

 

It doesn't take her long though and she convinces Big Boy to give her that corner back...His two buff hens came back to the house tonight and were lucky enough to convince Lucky to let them spend the night!

 

I doubt that Lucky will continue to let the hens and rooster share her space for too long...at least Big Boy's tail feathers are starting to fill in pretty good so maybe we can reintroduce them back to the rest of the flock soon... Having more than one rooster is tough...three can really be a challenge, so it has been kinda nice having one separated... Maybe just maybe Lucky will bond with him and they can stay roommates...Plus as much as the hens and the rooster seem to like the baby chicks, they do not like going to bed with them at all...I guess I'll have to cross that bridge soon enough, but for now I am going to get some rest for our Arbor Day celebration!

Trying something new! #CakeWithFruitFilling #Yum

I have an order coming up for a cake with fruit filling... something I haven't tried to do before... so of course I had to test it out and see how well it worked.  Since we eat dinner at church most Wednesdays I thought it would be the perfect place to take a test cake so Mom and I didn't have to eat the whole thing...Everyone that tried it loved it and I was super excited that the cake did not get soggy at all with the jam in the middle.  That was my biggest concern and I am glad to set my mind at ease knowing it won't be a problem after all.

This cake was a french vanilla cake with strawberry/banana jam in the middle and vanilla frosting on the outside.   Mom made the jam for me to use in the cake and she will be sending the extras to the Strawberry Festival with her friend...Though we are taking orders for jams and jellies.  They cost $4 for half a pint and currently we have strawberry/banana jam, strawberry jam, violet jelly, coffee jelly, strawberry/kiwi jam, champagne jelly, lilac jelly, and a floral blend....and of course if you like what you see above these cakes are available to order and I would be happy to make one of these delicious treats for you as well!

Things are coming together! #FarmLife #Gardening

I had gotten behind a couple of days on blogging and in my effort to catch up I have forgotten everything I've done in the past couple of days...but I am tired enough that I know I have been working pretty hard at least.  I did get the last of the second load of manure unloaded and distributed.  Some of it went into the compost pile, some went into the last garden bed and some was used to make strawberry and rhubarb beds.

Unfortunately it is supposed to rain for the next two weeks and that is going to make the third load of manure much heavier, but from the looks of things one more load should take care of what we have going on this year! 

Of course I needed help catching all those worms and keeping them out of the garden....lol...At least there were plenty to go around!

The strawberry beds are complete with mulch and ready for the season...we are planning on capturing the shoots in small containers so they can be replanted where we want them and otherwise all this garden should need for the rest of the year is watering, minor weeding and harvesting!

The orchard is completely mulched and the kids are glad to be ungrounded...though they didn't help as much as I would have liked them too...sometimes it's just easier to do things ourselves though I do feel like an terrible Mom when I let them off easy...I just keep telling myself this was a big punishment for a small infraction, but then again following directions is one of the things my kids struggle with the most....so what am I teaching them...anything?...I hope so...I keep trying anyways and that's more than some parents can say!

These are our rhubarb beds, we planted three plants and are still waiting for them to sprout.  One of the tubular roots was pretty ify looking, but I am hopeful that we will at least get two started this year!

I am sooo excited to have this project almost complete and ready for planting...today we finished mulching the path and with any luck I will be able to get the rest of the cement blocks I need and another load of manure to finish it off in the next two weeks just in time to get past the worry of frost!

 

Our mulch pile is quickly shrinking... The picture on the left was what we started with yesterday and the picture on the right is what was left after today!  There are a couple of low spots in the yard that we want to fill in with the remaining mulch and then hopefully I will be done mulching for the year too!

Snowy will be sad to see the mulch pile disappear as she does enjoy playing in it, but then again she lost a mouse in there...lol

Got the Hubby sent off!!! #AmericanAirlines #DestinationNH

It only took two trips to the airport on Sunday to get my DH off the ground and on his way, but we managed to get him to NH.  As you can see he has ended up flying American Airlines again and again things haven't gone as planned...We seem to run into issues with the Pilots showing up for work when we are supposed to fly...but we did eventually get him to where he needed to go.

As you can see...it is really boring waiting for someone else to board a plane...and I was told it is even more boring when you have to wait for it to take off.  She was too busy being bored to see Daddy trying to wave on his way to the plane, but she did eventually turn around and see him just before he got to the steps!  She really wanted to go with him, but settled for going and getting Tiger Butt, our cat, with me instead...he is staying with us while my DH is doing all of this traveling since he is almost 16 years old and he gets upset if he is left alone for eight to nine hours let alone four to five days at a time!

It was very exciting to see it take off though!  We watched it start gaining speed from the Cafe on on side of the airport and ran across to the other side to see it come off the ground!  Em was super excited for that part!

...Up, Up and away!...

 

DH got a window seat but didn't have much of a view...poor thing... at least it wasn't a long flight to Charlotte and then a longer flight to NH.  His  luck didn't start out too good with his first flight being cancelled, a snafu with the rental car (he even walked to work on Monday morning...SMH) and a snafu with the hotel room, but things have gotten straightened out and he is settling in.  He said things are a lot different up there, but he has jumped in and went right to work.  From the sounds of things he will get his J-standard certification this Thursday and then he gets to fly home after work!  I always miss him during the week, but when we are states apart I miss him even more!

Scout Day at D-Day! #CubScoutsRule

It's been a busy couple of days and I have several more coming my way!  On Saturday Josh and I got to spend some quality time with just our son for a few hours.  We went to the D-Day memorial in Bedford County for Scout Day and had lots of fun!

The Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts enjoyed taking their military assessment test and going through a mock enlistment process...

...Aiden was recruited for the Army as an electronics engineer!

Even though we got a later start than our Pack, we still got to see a few boys we knew...The boys thought the ship anchor was pretty neat and really "huge"!

Aiden got very excited when he got to see a plane from WWII...he was expecting them to be more triangular and have sharper edges like the more modern fighter jets we see today!

This was my first visit to the D-Day memorial and I especially liked the rendition of the soldiers coming ashore on the beaches and the water sprays mimicking bullets hitting the water around them and the statue showing how they marked the shallow graves of soldiers that need to be brought home and laid to rest.  I also really liked the Overlord archway and the flags representing all of the countries that were part of the Allies during WWII.  

My husband's favorite part of the day, by far, was getting to meet some of the WWII veteran's and hearing part of their story.  I only got  to meet the first one before Aiden popped back out of the tent proclaiming "It's too crowded in there" so I stayed outside with the boy while we gave his Dad a chance to meet them all.

Aiden even earned a patch for participating in three specific activities and he got to choose a special prize for answering questions about each of the stations around the Memorial.  All-in-All it was a great morning and we were especially happy with how well organized everything was.  Our visit even inspired Aiden to get out his plastic Army men and start playing war...Of course he always wins and his sisters don't quite like that, but hey it's all good...

Long day leading up to a Fun Day! #CubScoutsRule #D-Day #T-Ball

It's been another one of those long days for me... I got totally off schedule because of having to go to the Doctor, but I am feeling a lot better tonight than I was at this time last night so I am glad that I made the choice...I did finally accomplish a few things and then left Mom to prep for the Fiber Fair tomorrow.  The girls are staying with their Aunt and Uncle again tonight so that we can take Aiden to the D-day Memorial tomorrow for their "Prelude to Invasion" event.  We are going with our Cub Scout Pack and look forward to seeing some of the demonstrations they have planned. (The latest update showed that the British AB Pathfinder Impression Drill event to be cancelled, but otherwise the events are as follows:)

I am excited to get to spend Friday night and part of Saturday with my two favorite guys before the hubby starts going out of town for work.  My brother volunteered to let the girls stay overnight Friday and go to a T-ball game with them on Saturday since they are too young to get much out of a visit to a Memorial. Plus, they are excited to get to go cheer their cousin on and to spend the night. 

**Lets Go Logan**

**Lets Go** 

Okay....I give! #TimeToSeeTheDr

So I've woken up with this junk again...day #5 and I give!  I finally called the Dr's office and got a 9:30 am appointment and hopefully they can help me...All week I have had a congested cough, green snot, a mild fever (nothing over 99.9), and a runny nose...The cough is taking my breath away and as much as I hate to go see a Dr. it is that time again!  First Dr. visit of 2016 (for me) here I come!

**UPDATE**
Finally broke down and went to the Dr today.  They can tell me that I don't have the Flu and I don't have Strep...but they're not exactly sure what I do have... So for now we are treating me like a person with a sinus infection and hoping for the best...Lol...I did get my Augmentin antibiotic prescription filled (and took the first dose) and got a nebulizer treatment of Albuterol at the office...I have been drinking lots of water and that does seem to keep my coughing to a minimum, but still makes me kinda dizzy when I have a good coughing spell... I am ready to be back to my normal self!  C'mon antibiotics work your magic!

Things are always changing! #NewWorkOpportunities #Gardening #IStillHateBeingSick

It's been an eventful day already...The hubby has been given the opportunity to work at a different location for the next eight weeks...in Manchester, NH...today he started getting his itinerary information and it looks like he will be flying out early this Sunday and back on Thursday night...He is going to become a J-standard certified solderer and will have the opportunity to learn even more about the companies product line and how it all fits together electronically.

I am still sick and hacking up all sorts of lovely goo...but I must press on...I got up and got the kids ready for school...Mom was nice and took them for me and I napped until about 9:30, but like I said I must press on...there is lots to do... So I got up and watered the Quail, Rabbits, Ducks, Chickens,  Chicks and various gardens ...in the midst of which I got a visit from the local Sheriff asking about a loose German Sheppard that was bothering the neighbors, a call from the Market Place Appeals center letting me know that they can't fix their clerical error and now I have to have a hearing with a Federal Officer, and I found a baby chick that had gotten squished by a fallen crate...Of course it had to be one of Aiden's black chicks and I so don't look forward to having to tell him.  He has had so much heartbreak and loss lately and for an eight year old I'm surprised he holds it together as well as he does some days.

OK rant over... Next comes a nice lunch of corned beef hash fried with two duck eggs and served with water!  The water actually did help get me feeling a little better and this afternoon I finally got something done!

It took three more wheel barrels full of manure to finish filling the tomato bed at the back of the garden...of course at the rate Mom's growing tomato plants we may need a whole other garden just for them...LoL...she got a little carried away when she started her seeds...I am glad to have that bed filled and ready for planting....

...and to see the whole garden coming together so nicely...I even got some hay put down in the last bed today and we can start loading it down with manure and getting it ready for planting next.

I even made a new strawberry cage today and gave our injured Quail a home with a solid bottom...She has one leg/foot that is swollen and she flops around to move...it has been hard on her to eat and drink in her old cage so I finally got her and a friend set-up in a new cage where hopefully she can get better.