Prehistoric Activities

These are our favorite toys lately - we are totally going for the "all-I-had-to-play-with-when-I-was-a-kid-were-a-stick-and-a-rock" type of summer. We have to thank Aunt Cindy for this one. For some reason, tying a stick to the end of a big feather makes the whole thing much more exciting. I've even taken to carrying around one of these when the boys are otherwise occupied - something about the way the feather catches even the slightest breeze is really entertaining. The boys have been calling the biggest feather an owl feather because of our latest owl sightings, though I think it is actually a wild turkey feather. The "owl feather" has become somewhat of a celebrity at our house. If it isn't clutched in the hands of my 3 year old, I am sure to hear desperate cries of "where's mine owl fedder???" until he locates it. I had a really hard time convincing him that the owl fedder couldn't take a bath with him. Yes, owls are water-proof. No, they don't die in the rain. No, you still can't take it in the tub.

We also made ice cream yesterday - the ol' shake-it-by-hand method. It was super easy and very quick; a really good kid activity when you want to do something that isn't too messy and doesn't take a long time. Just put 1/2 cup cream or whole milk into a ziplock bag with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Zip it up, then put that bag into a larger gallon-sized ziplock bag that has 6 tablespoons of salt and 2 cups of ice in it. Zip up the second bag, go outside, and shake it for about 5 minutes. Ta-da! And when you're done everything can just go in the garbage can. That's my type of activity!

Our chickens are always around for our various outside adventures - we can hear the click click of their toenails trailing behind us on the driveway as we head out. They are hoping for scratch and usually get bored as soon as they realize we haven't come out to feed them. This time one of our Buff Brahmas was very interested in our ice-cream making endeavors. Something about all the bag shaking was enough to distract her from her bug-eating long enough for a few good pictures. Isn't she cute? If you're ever in the market for chickens and want some that will be gentle and make great pets, Buff Brahmas are the way to go. I'll yak your heads off about chickens some other time, though.