Sometimes I forget.

Sometimes I forget that some people don't get to wake up to someone who makes them coffee and asks how they would like their eggs today. Sometimes I forget. 

Sometimes I forget how excited I was when you came my college graduation. Sometimes I forget that I've known you for almost thirteen years! I forget those stories from the early days of how we would stay up all night talking or how on our "first date" you brought me soup because I was sick. Sometimes I forget how skinny we were! ;) Well we were! 

 Sometimes I forget how loving you are and how you treat each and every animal with love and care from our dogs, down to our chickens. :) Sometimes I forget how much you take care of our family and all the times you feed the animals when it's really my turn.

Sometimes I forget how selfless you are, like how you always take care of me when I'm sick or how you made me a potting bench when I was away on vacation! I asked for a potting bench for months and the first chance you had to make it was when I was gone on a girls trip! I forget how surprised I was when I drove up in the driveway to see you working on! 

Sometimes I forget how caring and patient you are. 

Sometimes I forget how hard working you are. Sometimes I forget that you changed the course of your life and your career to help me with mine. Sometimes I forget that my dreams became your own.

Sometimes I forget that not everyone gets to live with a comedian and laugh all day long. Sometimes I forget just how funny you are.

When I stop and think about all of these things it overwhelms me! Sometimes I forget how lucky I am that I found my best friend. I hope I never forget all of these things about you! 

Happy Birthday to you, Buie! I hope the next 40 years are the best 40! 

Update on the Buie's Brood

I thought I'd do a little update on our crew. Back in the Spring, B & I took the big leap and bought chickens and two cute babies ducks just happened to hop in our cart too. I mean, I figured what's two more, right? (story of our lives) I seriously cannot believe how fast they all grew! Their cute little baby phase only lasted a few weeks. They went from this...

to this in just a few short months. 

One of the baby chicks was growing faster than all the others. The people at the feed store told us all 5 chicks were hens but one was a week older than the other 4. We instantly noticed that this one became the boss of the other four. We named her Big Red. If you watch Orange Is The New Black then you'll know why. Big Red ran the roost, bossed the other hens around, fought for her food... and could sometimes be a bully.

I snapped this pic with my iPhone on May 27. Our two Rhode Island Reds look almost exactly alike in this picture. One is slightly bigger but since I was told one was a week older, I just assumed that was why one was bigger than the other.

Fast forward about 2 months and this is what Big Red looks like now.

Big Red is quite clearly not a hen at all. Crazy what two months can do, huh? I vividly remember hearing Big Red crow for the first time. I actually got it on video but unfortunately I didn't save it (since it was on InstaStories). {Follow me on Instagram @cbbuie for all kinds of shenanigans.} I thought we had 5 hens until I heard that crow and knew I had never heard a hen sound like that.

Now that I KNOW what a Rhode Island red looks like, it is so obvious. And now I'll know what to look for in the future. 

These are the two Rhode Island Reds now. They clearly look so different. I'm pretty sure this hen is broody now but that's a whole other lesson! I love learning about these creatures. They are so fascinating! 

 And here are our baby ducks! All grown up! We grabbed two babies at the feed store on the day we went to get our chicks. They told us they didn't know if they were male or female and that we would have to wait until their feathers came in. We took a chance. I love duck eggs so we were really hoping for at least one female but of course, they were both male.

They went from cute little fuzzy baby ducks...

 To this - two beautiful male ducks with the most awesome green feathers on their heads. They really are good natured and so fun to have around, even if they will never provide us with eggs. We called them Ruffles and Ringo.

Our hens just started laying eggs! yay! It was a happy day! Well, actually only one is laying that I know of right now - our other Rhode Island Red, Sweetie. She gets up in the rabbit hutch usually mid morning and has been laying one a day for the past few weeks. I grabbed my camera and snagged a pic of her in her nesting box.

We are having fun with this new adventure! I feel like we are learning something new every day. Most days I find myself googling things about chickens or looking it up in our big book about chickens. There is so much to know and learn! They really are fascinating creatures! And bonus, we get free breakfast every day! Hopefully the other hens will start laying soon too! 

Losing my marbles...

As I sift through the duck poop and wood chips and rinse off my grandad's collection of marbles, I keep saying to myself, "I have lost my marbles!" I bet my granddad, who was affectionately referred to as Pop, never imagined that his collection of marbles would be used in a duck water bowl. :)

I remember playing with my Pop's collection of marbles as a small child. He kept them in a wooden box in the top drawer of the dresser in their bedroom. My mom told me that all Seniors of Minden High School were presented these boxes when they graduated so this box could have belonged to either one of them. Before I was tall enough, I would ask for help. Either my MeMe or Pop would get down this box full of beautiful marbles and provide me instant entertainment. I was (and still am) instantly drawn to the colors and design. But lately these marbles have provided a much more practical purpose.

A couple of weeks ago, B and I and made a huge leap and purchased 5 baby chicks and 2 little duckies. I have always wanted to live on a farm, have a million and one animals and my own garden and chicken eggs. It is seriously a fantasy of mine, to wake up and go gather eggs for breakfast and pick out lunch in my garden. We have toyed with the garden idea and even started one unsuccessfully, thanks to a mischievous pup who liked squash more than us. So seeing as how we aren't getting any younger, we had a sort of "what are we waiting for?" moment and just did it! Now we had been talking and discussing for months now so it wasn't exactly a spur of the moment decision but when I woke up that morning, buying 7 more animals wasn't on my to do list.

If you have read any of this blog or know anything about us, you know how we feel about animals. I'm pretty sure we are way over the limit for most people but these little critters just bring about more joy to our lives, as well as a lot more chores! One of those chores is cleaning out their feeders and waterers every day. We learned quickly that the ducks are so messy and by putting marbles in their water bowl, it can prevent a little bit of the mess and can also keep them from drinking too much too fast! My Pop's marbles that had been sitting in a blue milk of magnesia jar for years were the perfect things for these our baby ducks! I wonder how he would feel about his marbles being used like this but it makes me smile thinking about how he would probably just be happy that they make me happy.

Besides, making us happy, buying these animals, is just one more step in the direction of living simply, eating clean and becoming more self- sustaining and aware of where our food comes from. While we don't exactly have a farm right now, we have hopes of eating yummy fresh chicken and duck eggs every day and who knows, maybe we'll have a farm one day. Until then, I'll settle for a small hobby farm. Since the purchase of several more animals (including more bunnies - that's another blog post), I've heard so many people including myself say that we're crazy! ha! And yes, we might be but we are living our dream! If that makes me crazy then I am crazy! I am convinced though that in order to pursue your dreams, you have to just throw caution to the wind! Don't let fear rob you! Just go for it! If you think you are loosing your marbles, then you are probably doing it right! :) So who cares what everyone else thinks, right? Do what you are passionate in and go for it, even that means adding 7 more animals to your herd!

Right now our chicks and ducks are still brand new. When we purchased them, most of them were barely 2 or 3 days old! We kept them all together for about a week in one large plastic tub to make cleaning super easy. The ducks have quickly out grown the baby chicks and if there is one thing I know for certain, it is this: ducks are nasty, messy, playful but oh so cute animals! So if you want ducks, then prepare for a mess! They are all just now getting their feathers so I'll have to get some updated pics once their feathers come in! I can't wait to see what the chickens feathers will look like. And the ducks feathers coming in is super important because we will soon be able to tell if they are boys or girls based on their feathers. I'm hoping for two beautiful egg-laying females. Will keep you posted! Until then, I'll just be here cleaning up poop and counting my marbles.

Mardi Gras & Friends

Mardi Gras has already come and gone and we are already well into Lent season. However, I couldn't let any more time pass without sharing a few pictures from the fun we had this year.

The past few years a dear childhood friend of mine and her husband have hosted a fabulous Mardi Gras brunch at their home in the historic Highlands area in Shreveport. The past two years in a row, B and I both had the flu and were unable to attend. Extremely jealous, I would look at everyone's pictures online and just say, "Well there's always next year."  This year we were healthy and able to attend!

our fabulous hostess and the yummy spread

You can't have a party in Louisiana without Louisiana hot sauce and your own personal paparazzi. 

With beads around our neck and a gluten free king cake in hand, B and I made our way to Shreveport and had a blast! This was Buie's very first Mardi Gras parade EVER! I found that extremely hard to believe but he assured me that this was his first. It was a tame one at that. The Highland parade is very family friendly and they throw all sorts of goodies from Moon Pies to sandwiches and hot dogs! I brought my big girl camera with me this time so here are a few of images of the day. 

  
my beautiful friend Melissa. I just love her shirt. It says "Caution! Baby Inside!" :)