I was getting ready for work this morning, and suddenly the phone rang. It was the post office! So the chickens have arrived, and I’ve spent the day getting them settled in. I wasn’t expecting them until tomorrow at the earliest, so I wasn’t quite as prepared as I had planned, so it was a mad rush setting up the heat lights and getting a newspaper and lining the washtub with paper and shavings. They are all really lively and they’ve been eating and drinking and pooping like nobody’s business. I can’t seem to upload pictures to typepad right now, so go to flickr to see my new babies.

I hope this will work:

And that’s all I have for you today.

I know, I know, enough about the chickens already, but I’m really looking forward to getting my little babies. So I thought I’d share a little about the ones I ordered.

They’re all supposed to be good laying chickens. I thought it would be good to try a variety and see which will do well for us. I’ll be getting some Buff Orpingtons (top picture, above), which are quite large and supposedly have a very nice temperament. I think one of our neighbors down the street has a couple of these, and they are so cute. I loved the black and white feathers of the Barred Rocks (middle picture) and Silver-Laced Wyandottes (bottom picture), so I got a few of each of those.  I ordered some Araucanas, just for their pretty blue and green eggs, and the "old guy at the grocery store", as per Mr. Lucy, highly recommended Rhode Island Reds as the best layers out there, so I added a few of those to the order.  I’d better get to painting that chicken coop!

I went and picked up a chicken coop this weekend. And then I ordered 25 day old baby chicks. I’m not quite sure what I’m getting myself into, but I think it should be fun! They won’t be arriving until sometime the week of September 25, which is good, because I still have a lot to do. I cleaned off the coop, so I’ll be able to paint it next weekend. I also need to build some nesting boxes and put in a pole for them to roost. I’m not showing any before pictures until I can show some after pictures too. It’s just too ugly right now.

I packed up Lou, and she’s on her way to Washington:

Her new owner’s name starts with an ‘M’, so I added a glittery letter.

I wanted to make more monsters this weekend, but I started working on an outfit for my sock monkey, and didn’t have time for anything else:

Since she’s still a work in progress I’m not going to worry about the blurry picture, when she’s all done I’ll try a little harder to take some clear pictures. I think I will be adding her to the shop. Aren’t her puffed sleeves cute? And her little handkerchief apron? I didn’t get her little purple-ruffled petticoat in the picture, but it’s cute too.

My dad was attacked by a Chinese catfish. Yikes! He’s okay though.