Franks says HI on this stunningly beautiful fall day. It was in the upper 50's, sunny with nary a breeze. We were both in shirtsleeves as we cheerfully went about our outside chores. He spent quite a bit of time putting up 14 strings of lights not including inside the barn and our horse/carriage winter scene. We still want to put lights on three smaller trees out in the yard, and maybe get another lighted thing for the yard too!
The day was so lovely the chickens were leisurely sunning themselves, getting up only once in a while to scratch for bugs or eat some vegetation. Egg laying has slowed WAY down as they are mostly in molt. Good thing those new girls are producing or we'd have to go somewhere else to meet our needs. No more store eggs for us!
While the chickens were out, I tackled cleaning their coop. It is actually a room just off our shop/garage that the previous owner had converted to a bedroom with insulation, sheetrock and electrical outlets. It makes an excellent, warm and safe coop for the girls. But it does get stinky! So I took everything out and stripped it and put in new pellets under their roosts (where they poop the most) and shavings over the rest. They'll spread them out for me!
While Frank was still working on lights, I cleaned the barn and then put up a few decorations. I think I might have to rethink the placement of some of the decorations as you can see below. Leave it to Miss Daisy to check everything out!
The donkeys got two stockings on their stall this year. While Daisy was a baby, I let her share with her mom, but she's a big girl at two and a half now so she gets her own! (Side note: you have no idea how many shots it took for me to get a picture with all four ears forward! Sheesh!) Momma Lily is on the left and Daisy is on the right. I know I will always be able to tell them apart, but it's getting harder for everyone else!
Bailey gets a giant stocking, of course. Those are 2x6's on the front of his stall, so you can figure out how big it really is! He was giving me a hint what he wanted me to put in it. MORE HAY MOM!! Bailey eats with his head hanging outside the stall quite a bit of the time, so I'm constantly forking hay back into his stall. He's such a good boy I can't really complain about a little thing like this.
I was at a store the other day and found this stocking that I just couldn't resist for Yak's stall. In case you can't read it in the picture, it says, "Dear Santa, SUPERSIZE me! You'd have to know him to see how well this fits, because in his heart, he IS as big as Bailey! He always charges Bailey at the fence line (which Bailey ignores) and when we take Yak on a walk in the neighborhood, he gets all puffed up and prancy when we walk by actual full-sized horses! He's such an wonderful little guy; maybe in pony heaven he'll be as big as his heart desires!
Well, as much as we didn't want it to, the bright, sunny day came to an end. We came in and ate turkey leftovers and pie. I paid bills and Frank got caught up on some school work. As the sun went down on our wonderful day, we caught this amazing sunset over the Olympic Mountains. We are so blessed to have been given this property and thank God every day for the riches He has given us.
Once it got dark, I went out to see if I could get a picture of Frank's hard work. I tried not to move during the slow shutter speed, but I think you get the idea. On the chicken run you can see where he wrote NOEL. (The neighbors behind us want to know why we put LEON up!) Also note the long grass. It has been a warm fall and our grass is still green and quite long. It probably does need to be mowed, but, come on! Who mows the grass in December? Not us!!
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