Autumn

We've been having a beautiful fall here - plenty of warm, sunny days and a nice big yard to play in.  

November 4

 These kids LOVE their kitty!  She had an accident last weekend and we were worried she'd broken her jaw.  Matt and I hardly slept that night wondering how our kids would handle the loss of their precious kitty if we had to put her down.  Thankfully she was doing a little better the next morning and continued to improve.  A good thing, because not many cats would put up with this rough-and-tumble boy for long!

Seriously, this cat puts up with almost anything.

Having a pretend birthday party for Nora in the playhouse:

Nora rides her bike, November 10.  56 degrees and sunny makes for great biking weather!

Clare's been taking swimming lessons on Saturday mornings this fall.  They're her first official lessons and she seems to be enjoying them, although... "I'd rather stay home and play with Karl and Nora."   But, it was definitely time for her to learn how to swim from someone other than us, so here she is:

It's supposed to be another beautiful weekend here, so we're looking forward to more time spent outside before the snow flies.

In chicken news, we adopted a Buff Orpington from friends of ours whose other chickens were all killed by a predator.  She's been content to hang out in the coop, which is good because our more mature hens make sure she stays there.  When our new girl ventures out, like she did today, the Orps or the Reds will chase her quickly back in.  We're thinking they'll soon get bored of patrolling the newbie and let her be.  At least, we hope that will be the case.   Otherwise what are our hens going to do next spring when a potential 16-18 chicks join the flock?