Pryce Frederick | 1st Birthday Invitation Design

How do you celebrate a little boy's first birthday?

Donkey rides of course.

Too bad it was too cold and windy to ride donkeys. Maybe next year.

Friday Ku-Tip: The missing egg

In the past few weeks, Brady and I have gone from two chickens (Larry & Gary) to three (added Harry) back down to one (lost Harry and Larry), and just this week, lost our last surviving chicken (Gary). We had Gary and Larry since last fall and they had learned to roost, lay and survive the elements, but when we got our new friend Harry two weeks ago, that's all he lasted. Larry went missing not too long after. We were really bummed about that, especially since Larry and Gary were best friends and had lived in our barn together for almost a year. Poor Larry. And, then on Tuesday of this week, Gary went missing. My mom thinks it's a bobcat. I'm thinking raccoon. Brady thinks stray dogs or cats. Guess we'll never know.

Back to my original reason for this post. We wanted to teach our chickens to lay their eggs in one spot instead of going on an egg hunt each time we went to the barn. So we placed a nesting box in the barn, filled it with hay and laid a fake ceramic egg in the middle. I have not seen that fake egg since.

I like to imagine a poor, dumb chicken snake with a huge, fake egg stuck in its belly. Kinda like in the cartoons I found below:


Ku-Tip: I guess chicken snakes can't regurgitate. I guess chicken snakes don't know the difference between a real and a fake egg either.

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Parenting Tips from Dad

I was too young to remember, but I've heard the stories. When Kendra and I were young'uns and Mom needed to run to the office or to town, she did what most parents would do — leave her little baby girls at home with their dad.

And, Dad did what most dads do. He made sure to keep us safe and sound until Mom returned. Since we lived in the country and Dad was always in the shop working on farm equipment, welding or fixing something that was broken, he felt the best way to keep his little girls safe and sound was to lock us in the livestock trailer.

So, there we would be when Mom returned. Dressed in our pink, frilly dresses covered in dirt and poop with huge smiles on our faces — I mean, Dad was smart enough to at least lock us in the trailer with our toys.

Well, Dad must have left an impression on me because a few months ago when I needed to find a safe place to keep Pryce while Mom and I banded some goats, I knew just what to do. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Thanks Dad for the awesome parenting tip!

Pictured above: "Maybe I can bite my way out."

Pictured above: "If I look real cute will you please rescue me?"

Pictured above: "I surrender."

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Pryce Frederick | Birth Announcement Design

It is hard to take pictures of babies that squirm and pee. But I did. And then I made this.

And only posted it a year and a half late.

Friday Ku-Tip: A new peeping tom

Pictured above: The Lazy K Ranch courtesy Google Satellite.
Yes, we have a muddy pond.

Have I told you how much I like Google Satellite? I mean, how cool is it to see your home from a bird's eye view. Brady and I googled our address a while back to see if Google Satellite had caught up to the changes that had been made to our place since we bought it back in 2007. And, lo and behold, it finally had! We could point out our house, our new barn, our jeep parked right outside the barn (we must have been working that day) and our new muddy sinkhole from the wet winter we had.

Then I noticed what I finally realized was our trampoline. How cool is that? But once I started thinking about it, I realized how thankful I was that these new Google Satellite pictures had been taken during the winter. Why, you ask? Because during the summer, I have a habit of laying out on the trampoline to soak up some rays — in my birthday suit.

Now it makes me wonder even more the kinds of things that Google Satellite captures in that one still moment across the globe. But at least for now, it hasn't caught me in the nude...

Pictured above: Our trampoline sans me. Thank goodness.

Ku-Tip: It's not safe to lay out on your trampoline in your birthday suit. Google Satellite may be watching.

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The Glorious Water Bottle

If you've ever visited our little ranch in Franklin, you'll soon discover a bountiful supply of water bottles in not one, but both of our refrigerators. And I'm not talking about the new, sealed bottles of water. I'm talking about the reused sport Gatorade bottles that we refill each and every day from our faucet.

Why? Because Brady and I hate getting cups dirty just for a glass of water. And, we're also not very good at keeping ice on hand. And, with two refrigerators full of water bottles, we never run out!

Well, our love affair with water bottles has proven to come in handy time and time again. I guess the fact that we live in BFE and are connected to small town water lines is cause for numerous water outages. Our most recent water outage — last night — and of course we didn't discover it until we both had to get ready for work this morning.

So, in honor of the glorious water bottle that has saved our butts on more than one occasion, I'd like to present my Top 10 Usages for the Water Bottle.

Top 10 Usages for the Water Bottle

1. Washing your hair (it helps if you have a loving spouse to pour it on your head while you wash; oh, and straight from the refrigerator can give you a brain freeze!)
2. Brushing your teeth
3. Washing your face (make sure you pour it in Tupperware first and microwave for a few seconds so you don't freeze to death)
4. Cooking supper (it just takes longer to boil)
5. Filling toilet tanks (we all like to flush, don't we?)
   
6. Filling the cats' water bowls
7. Watering my indoor plants
8. Shaving your legs (this also helps if you have a loving spouse to squeeze the water out while you soap up)
9. Shaving your face (I recommend microwaving first or else you may hear a few cuss words from your husband's bathroom)
10. Washing your hands (this proves difficult; my suggestion is to hold the water bottle between your upper chest and squeeze so you can get both hands wet at the same time)

So, there you have it. Why we love our water bottles for 10 reasons other than drinking water. I might also add that our pond has come in handy for obvious reasons as well.

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