Guns & Roses...er, Chives

These are just some things we've been doing around here lately. Stacking hay, shooting guns, firewood, working in the garden, etc. For the first Spring in 3 yrs I have been able to work with my flowers. Oh, how I have missed them. I kept up with the veggie garden...sort of...but have had to bypass my flower garden. I repaired the rock wall I worked so hard to build 10 yrs ago, transplated lillies that were crowded, weeded & mulched. Sweet satisfaction!

Did you know riding helmets have many purposes? We found these in a stall that we stack haybales in. I wondered where the hens were laying their eggs.

Here's a couple of the kids helping with hay. Susanna was not able to move this bale of hay very far, but she tried hard and that is all I ask. :)

Here's Jonah-he's got a work ethic that rivals many adults I know:

We had an evening of shooting trap over the weekend. That is shooting clay pigeons(orange discs) being flung into the air with a spring-loaded thingamajig). It's a lot of fun. Pat & Jonah are very good at it. Hannah had never shot a gun before and didn't want to. But, I was a meanie and told her it was part of her education and she had to. She was afraid to pull the trigger & none of us knew she closed her eyes until we saw this picture. I didn't realize I pressed the button at exactly the moment she shot the gun. I love this!! After that first shot, she was hooked. She hit the target & even hit a clay pigeon once. Now she can't wait till we get more pigeons. I knew she'd like it. It's a good thing I'm mean like that sometimes. :)

Here's Jonah shooting w/ my dh close by:

Here's Hannah working the pigeon flinger. I want to get a pair of thick oven mitts to tie over her ears like in the movie, "Second Hand Lions." We LOVE that movie. "PULL!"

Susanna kept very busy playing with the shell casings.

I even shot a couple times-been a long time since I have. The kids were a distracting audience. Susanna said, "Mom's gonna shoot! This'll be funny!" But, I showed them-I hit a bullseye both times. But they laughed because after the first shot, I loudly said "whoa!!"

It was fun. Now we need more pigeons.