Current mood: pleased

Ok well not in the soup yet (and perhaps never). BUT they are in the dining room for the time being.

Yes there have been a few additions to Casa De Loco. We picked up 6 Mallard Ducks and 6 chicks the other day.

Sadly we lost 4 of the Mallard's (I suspect they may have gotten too wet before they should have from playing in the waterer, can't seem to keep them out of it) but the other 2 are doing well and are starting to feather.

As for the chicks, they were doing well for a while and then something happened and we lost all 6 of them within an hour start to finish. Not really sure why but suspect some sort of toxic thing because they went so quick after being healthy the whole time.
SO we've started over with a second batch (3 amber sex links and 3 golden comets) and so far so good with them. We'll keep fingers crossed and hope for the best while taking active protection measures. Meanwhile I've got a chicken coop to build along with all the other fun things here that scream to be done. LOL

The dogs are doing as best they can be. Lacey is getting on in age and has started having trouble hearing I think and her eyes have started to really cloud up a bit as well as her getting much more lumpy with time. Dog is still dog. FAT and lazy. Tough for him to get around these days but he still manages to pretty well.

The cats, well they are the cats. LOL

The horse made it through yet another winter! I wasn't too sure this year at all. I've been wary the last couple years but I really thought this might be the year. BUT despite being 36 years old and starting to have weight loss problems she continues to act like a 2 year old philly at times.

The deer continue to get braver, last week one was in the back yard about 20 feet from the house (about 12-14 roaming the pasture from what I've spotted).

Like the old reliables they are the bats are back this year and seem to be doing well (so far none in the house).

I lost one bee hive over the winter but the other seems to be doing well and they are out and about.

The pond is still full of turtles but I'm hoping to do something about that this year, or at least start to.

The beaver seems to have moved on to greener pastures and hasn't been spotted this year.

All the other incidental animals (groundhogs, raccoons, birds, foxes, ants, wasps, ticks, etc) are of course thriving as usual.

In addition we added two more dogs over the winter, Blizzard (an american bulldog) and Nikita (a lab/pit mix).

On the plant side of the spectrum the second (longer) grape arbor has been cleared and fixed, the grapes on both arbors are growing like mad, and I'll be forcing jelly on people again this year I suspect.

I'm slowly working on saving the cherry trees from the ravenous honey suckle vines so we should have a decent crop this year.

The pear trees seem to be doing ok, even the ones in the back yard seem to be recovering from long term neglect and vine strangulation.

Got some raspberries in the ground (gold and red but the red ones bit the dust while the gold ones have flourished).

Put a blueberry bush in and might even get a couple small berries from it this year.

Sunk a plum tree into the front yard but the jury is still out on that one, doesn't seem to be any growth yet but the branches are still "elastic" and have buds so I'm hoping.

In the process of resurrecting the second grape arbor I took down one of the two mulberry trees in the back yard but it was pretty bad off with disease and vine damage so it was an acceptable loss. The other one is doing well despite some disease damage and I've found what I suspect are a couple of others at the edge of the pasture that I'll be keeping an eye on.

Despite my best efforts at eradication (well attempts to bring them under control actually) the blackberries are doing well as always.

The green apple tree in the front yard is still going strong even though it looks like a pin cushion from the wood peckers and I expect it will fruit again this year. An added pleasant surprise is that the other apple tree in the front yard that I thought had died and cut all the limbs off of in order to pull out has sprouted all kinds of new growth, so I will watch it closely to see what it decides to do.

Things continue to get done around here. Brush is getting cleared. Fences are being mended. The yards are being reclaimed. Boxes and sheds and vehicles and trailers are being gone through and things donated, rescued, or gotten rid of. The house is getting worked on and cleaned and the like.

The kids now have their learners permits and I'm a nervous wreck sitting in the passenger seat.

Me, I'm finally looking at going back to school and getting a degree in professional photography (I'm hoping to take advantage of the new post 911 GI bill).

So all in all things are progressing I guess and Casa De Loco continues to improve. Day by day. I'll try and get some new pictures up when I can.