We've adopted!

That's right, we have 6 new members of our family! They're only 4 days old, and just as cute and fuzzy as can be!! They are Rhode Island Reds to be precise and we have yet to name them (it's hard to come up with names for so many girls!) so we are hoping for suggestions from family and friends.

Cora and I went to the farm supply store with the intentions of looking at the new baby chicks. Well, let me just say that it didn't take too much work for the employees to convince me that we needed to bring some home with us. Besides the fact that Cora is getting really good at that face that you just can't say no to! So we got up to the register with our 6 chicks, a 25 lb bag of feed, food and water dishes, a heat lamp and bulb, and a bag of sawdust (ma'am, that IS the small bag!). As the guy was ringing up my grand total, I was getting out my wallet to hand over my debit card, only my debit card was not there. Oh crap! I knew I was out of checks because I just wrote my last one the other day and then reordered, and I never have cash. Well thankfully we know the owners of the store, so after I finished blaming my no method of payment problem on my card-stealing husband (pretty sure he had gone to get milk for me the night before, teeheehee) we took our free-for-now chickens and chicken paraphernalia home. Of course we returned later, as promised, to pay up.

We have been having a lot of fun with our new charges. Greg only makes fun of me a little bit for the fact that I can just sit for an hour and watch them. They are so entertaining! They are already starting to grow their feathers on their wings, and I'm sure before we know it we will have to move them into a bigger home (howtobuildachickencoup.com?). I'm posting a video so that you can all enjoy the latest antics of our chickies! Cora loves to pick them up and for some reason today, my favorite chick (the chubby one) was biting at the poor chick whose legs were left dangling by Cora!

We'll keep you all updated on the progress of our chicken raising (especially when it comes time for eggs!).

Who "nose" what this picture is?

Our dog Jayda is extremely patient with Cora.

This picture is an example of Cora's idea of something fun to do with the dog. Not fetch; Tug-of-war is out; She doesn't even want to give her a good old fashioned tummy rub! No, Cora is much to creative for that!

Her other favorite thing to do with Jayda (when she's not burying her in a pile of blankets) is to pull her around the house by her collar. The entire time, Jayda's tongue is hanging out the side of her mouth as she gasps for air. When I finally hear Jayda gagging and coughing, of course I rush to her aid and she looks at me as if to ask "How much longer must I endure this torture?" or "can I bite her now?" Poor dog. I'm afraid that Cora's love will do her in one day!

Top of the Charts

Okay, my life seriously seems to be turning into a country song. Don't get me wrong, Country is one of my favorite kinds of music, but they do seem to sing a lot about certain things going wrong. The chorus to this song so far includes the following lines:

My dog just died,

the car won't run,

and the wind blows on and on.

So I already wrote about the passing of our beloved pet. Well a few weeks ago, we were visiting Greg's parents and their neighbor (a college kid) backed into the side of our car. Not too much damage done...at least it didn't look too bad. The quotes came back between $1,400-1,900! Dang inflation. So now this guy's parents have called and want us to cut them a break because their insurance rates will go up and they just lost a job etc. I told her I would call her back. What I should've told her is about all the times that we've been out of work. Or maybe that our insurance rates just went down below $100/month, but only after paying close to $300/month for years because of all of our driving mistakes. Now that our only car is in the shop due to mechanical failure (not from the backing incident), I feel like suggesting that she revoke her son's driving privileges and just give us his car...then we can call it even!

Last night poor Cora did a face-plant on the asphalt. It was so sad and looks even worse today!

Today the wind is blowing. No, seriously blowing. Gusting at 54 miles per hour! We live on a farm so there are severe dust clouds. I think we'll make the best of it and go buy a kite!

Crimson and Gray

Here are the pictures I promised to follow the Cougar game videos.

Here she is again with her superman eyesight. It's a Butch sighting and he's on the opposite side of the Coliseum!

Butch wasn't nearly what she imagined up close! She informed us that he is scary and she thought he would bite her, but as soon as we returned to our seats, she was searching him out again!

Anything to get a smile from his girl!

Some pictures of the girls.

Cora LOVES her grandpa!

In memory of...

Today while we were in Pullman (again), we got a devastating call from our neighbor and friend telling us she was afraid our dog Shasta had been hit by a car. It wasn't until 3 hours later, when we arrived home and confirmed the awful news that it really hit me. And boy did it. Thankfully Cora was sleeping so I could let it out, and figure out what I was going to tell her. When she woke up, I told her that Shasta was gone and that she went to live with Jesus. She wanted to know where Jayda (our other dog) was. I told her she was still here in the yard. After she knew where Jayda was she asked me, "Shasta with Jesus?" I told her yes and she said that was okay. I'm sure in the next few weeks we will have to remind her, but I am thankful for the faith of little children. Yes she was spared the details of Shasta's death (which is what really hurts me, thinking of her hurting), but as soon as she knew that Shasta was with our Father in Heaven and Jesus, she knew that that was a good place for her to be.

Many friends had the "privilege" of hearing me whine all the way through Shasta's puppy stage about the chewing and peeing in the house! Well it turns out that she grew out of that stage, and grew into a beautiful, sweet, and friendly dog. Shasta found a very special place in our hearts where she will always remain. Although her life was short, it was a happy life and she will be missed.

So here's to Shasta and the happiness and love she brought to our home. It's goodbye, but just for now.

Coug Kid

Just some cute videos of Cora at her first Cougar basketball game! Pictures and complete story coming soon.

In this first video, Cora has just spotted Butch the Cougar mascot on the complete opposite side of the coliseum! "He's over there!"

Cora must have gotten a little bored at this point. Either that or that booger was just really bugging her! Grandpa got her going with the fight song though.