New at the Zoo

We had a couple of new additions to our little farm family this week. Mid week our two new bee packages arrived. It was nice and chilly so the weather was perfect for installing bees into their new homes.

We went back to check on them over the weekend and both new hives were drinking the sugar water and building new comb, so we're cautiously optimistic.
Over the weekend, we had to pick up some chick feed for the baby ducks and chicks. While we were shopping, Cupcake found turkey chicks for sale. So now we are in the turkey bidness.

And the last new addition to The Acre were ferns. Cupcake does the front porch in ferns every spring, it's the un-official start to garden season. We get eight for each gap in the porch, and one extra for the table by the front door. Well, twenty four hours into having the new ferns, the Dudley twins got hold of the one by the door. Now we have eight ferns and one upset Cupcake.

And a Dudley twin related item, we started giving them carrots to chew on this week. You know, hoping they would choose something that they could actually eat and would taste good, over we don't know, ferns? And you can see how well that worked out for us.

Our pal "Fish" from Maine posted a recipe on the Faceplace a while back for strawberry rhubarb bars, and we said "hey, we have rhubarb and strawberries" so we gave it a try.

It was pretty good. We thought it would be more like a cheese cake, but we won't be throwing any of it away.
We ended the week with an actual nap for the first time since the twins arrived.
K&K

Dog TV

Dog TV was still a thing this week. We had a bit of 'keep us inside with the mutts' weather, so we tuned in to keep them occupied. Lawman may like the channel just as much as they do?

We try to spoil the Dudley Twins, but for all the comfort items we have bought for them, they still prefer to sleep in the floor during nap time. Spartan dogs?

The weather was a treat this week for us. Lawman spent all day Friday planting onions. We have five gardens so it took a while to get all the rows in, but we managed nearly 600 sets for this year. He had to work to beat the weather, then we woke up to this.

We don't think it hurt the onions any, it only stuck to the decks and a couple of high grass spots. It seems like the cherry trees and pear trees managed to keep their fruit, fingers crossed. But it just goes to show mom nature has a sense of humor.
A couple of food related updated for the week. One was home made fajitas. Lawman sliced up a couple of chicken breasts into thin strips, then sliced a leftover ribeye steak from earlier in the week, along with onions, peppers and our own fajita spice mix. This was as far as we got on updating the pics. After we fixed them we sat down and ate them with no thought at all of documentation.

The other pic worthy of mention was another trip to the Waffle House. We bought two more bags of waffle mix, but gifted one to the girl-in-law so she could make the boy breakfast one morning. And we picked up another box of bacon and split it up into freezer bags. Each bag will get us through a weekends worth of breakfast. This is one of three.

And to end the week, we mowed the grass here at The Acre. One thing Lawman wanted to touch on was how our very own government keeps screwing up the simplest things. Gas cans.
For 20 years in The People's Republic of Maryland, Lawman worked off the same gas can. It had the little hole in the back you opened up, poured the gas into your mower, refilled it when it was empty. It was simple.
When Lawman retired and moved back home, he knew he would need several gas cans to avoid trips to town every week, so he bought a few five gallon cans. They were the new and improved government models with buttons and triggers and no little hole in the back to let the air in. All done in the name of safety. They were a pain compared to the old cans, but we made due.
Now twelve years later, those cans are starting to give out. The little button and trigger have started to break off the cans, so we went and bought a few more new cans. These cans are new and improved over the older improved models. These cans have a little button to push down to unlock a big button you have to hold down to allow the gas out.

Older improved on right, new and improved on the left

You can see the old 'new and improved' model took in to account that a five gallon jug of anything weighs approx. 40lbs. Hoisting one up to pour the fluid out is at least made easier by the handle on the back side. The new, new and improved model has no handle on the back side, so you have to push one trigger to unlock the second trigger, then hold the two triggers in while hoisting the can and trying to pour it with one hand, from the top handle.
The US Government didn't do anyone any favors. It's a shit show to try and fill up a lawn mower now from the new cans. So, to make things smarter instead of harder, we empty one of the old cans, then take the nozzle off the empty can and the new full can, and pour the gas from the new can into the old can, so we can fill a lawn mower.
Yes, lets let the government take care of all our needs from now on.
We ended the week buying more Mason jars to store more food, because..Damn
K&K

Easter Drama

There was a bit of drama Easter Sunday here at The Acre. We were outside in the driveway when we heard an explosion and saw the power lines swinging. We still had juice here at the house, so we investigated further. A big oak tree that lightning hit a few years ago finally gave up the ghost and fell, crossing the nearby power lines and taking out a pole. The line fell across the road and fell into the woods in front of the house, which caused a small brush fire. Luckily, we have a fire lieutenant living in the house. They made quick work of the fire and Apco had the line back up in a couple of hours.

The day earlier we spent in the gardens planting potatoes. We got two rows in the new garden by the barn, and one row in at the house. With any luck, we will have plenty of spuds this year.
Before we got started planting taters, Lawman noticed a couple of turkey standing below the house, and it just happened to be opening day of gobbler season, so....

Turkey is on the menu soon.
On the menu related items, we found the local Waffle House was selling off extra bulk food since everything had been shut down. We picked up two boxes of bacon, hash browns, sausage patties, waffle mix and a gallon of syrup on the cheap. Saturday breakfasts are set for the rest of the year now.

And since everything is closed down, including barber shops, "The Boy" took drastic measures.

On a crazy farm note, we added more ducks and chickens to the flock this week.

And probably one of the funniest things we've seen in a while. Dog TV.
Lawman was scanning the channels one day and saw "DogTV" on the guide. He tuned in and watched an hour of programming for dogs. He mentioned it to Cupcake, so one night we decided to turn the tv on doggie programing while the Dudley twins were in the room. We were not disappointed.

Probably the best thing ever, was our dogs, watching a dog on tv watching dog tv.

If you have dogs, we recommend channel 562 on the Direct TV. Who ever does the programming is a doggie genius.
Lawman finished the new bee hive this week. Two new bee packages arrive next week.

Smoked brisket and peanut butter cookies round out this weeks update.

We ended the week with DogTV.
K&K

Bird Dogs

This week we learned OCD is transferable to dogs.
Every morning, Lawman takes the dogs down to the coop to let the birds out. It's usually around 7 to 7:30 every day. Friday was payday, so Lawman was paying bills and moving money around and went past the 7:30 mark. The Wonder Twins let themselves off the front porch and walked down to the coop on their own. Cupcake saw the mutts at the coop door, but no Lawman. This usually means an accident of some sort has occurred and Lawman is on his back, possibly bleeding. But we chalked this up to dogs telling time and knowing it was time to let the birds out, took it upon themselves to take care of it. If they only had thumbs.

The twins have quite the system going in the mornings. Willow lays back from the door while Augustus breeches the door and makes entry. Gus flushes the birds out of the coop and Willow chases them up the hill toward the house.

Both mutts have caught ducks, but they just tackle the birds and then let them go. Neither one has bit or hurt the birds, so we are very happy they play with the birds and have no killer instinct towards them.

One afternoon down at the ponds, they dug up part of an old shoe and took turns chewing on it. We thought they had found a body. Anybody seen "Uncle Billy" lately? He still around?

Non dog related stuff this week includes a scratch made carrot cake. This is the practice run for Easter.
Again, no box mixes here. Or as "crazy granny" says "It's homemade because I made it at home"

Sunday morning biscuits are just getting better and better with practice.

And we end this week with a picture of last weeks week ending meal. Chili beans on sketti noodles.
We got a nibble from "The Beamer" but no confirmation on whether or not it qualifies as a true three way.

We ended this week with pizza.
K&K