Down Mulberry Lane

Fish... try number 2

On Friday, my daughter took my youngest out to get some new fish for the tank.  The first batch did not work at all.  All of them died, the last on the very day I had to go back and return them. 

This time Paige got Tiger Barbs.  3 have black stripes and 2 are albino and have white stripes.  They seemed to acclimate to the tank quite well.  The fish were swimming all over, much nicer than the guppies who stayed at the top of the tank and we had to bend over to see them as they sat right under the light. 

I had my midwife appointment that same day, so Dh and I were in a different area.  On the way home, we stopped and saw that this place sold fiddler crabs.  Dh picked up two for Paige's tank, a male and a female.  They are quite comical and like to crawl around things and under things and in things... Paige is enjoying them immensely. 

This afternoon, all the fish were doing well.  Tonight however, one is showing signs of sickness.  It is swimming vertical instead of horizontal.  Another is staying close to the light... ARGH!  The temp is right.  The water was checked after we lost the fish the first time and we made corrections based on that data... apparently it was slightly high with ammonia, but not tooo bad... likely why it took 15 days for the fish to die, instead of the normal 3-5 day when your water is bad.  

I guess we'll keep watching.  But it is frustrating.  We will be praying for our little fish... they are so fun to watch... this variety seems to fit the bill, being active, playful and bright colored enough to be fun to watch. 

~Melissa

Rainy Day Play...

We've had a few rainy days around here and Paige was absolutely devastated that she could not go outside.  She lives outside when it is nice.  The rainy days just were alot for her.  So Daddy went outside and brought in some wood poles and proceeded to make some Tee Pee's and Tents with the wood, bungee cords, and blankets.  Paige had a fun few days as we allowed the tents to stay around for about 4-5 days.  Below are some pictures of her tents. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Can we make Vio'et Jelly?

Yesterday, we noticed a few violets beginning to flower.  Paige was very excited to pick them and she wanted to make some violet jelly.  I told her we did not have enough violets to make jelly just yet.  She was determined though that we did have enough.  Steve and I had continued to unload the compost from the truck and she played out in the yard and eventually went inside.  Her sister came inside a bit later and found this...

She wanted to make violet jelly and she did as much as she could remember.  She got a canning jar out and filled it half way with water with her flowers and grass mixture.  It must not have looked right because then she added some pink lemonade mix to it to make it pink.   In the process of filling the jar with water, she used our drinking water which has about a 2 gallon reservoir.  When her big sister came in, that was still running all over the counter and onto the floor.  It was just dripping at that point, so she had emptied the reservoir of our drinking water.  I didn't get to see that as Chelsea quickly cleaned it up, while we were outside.  They did save the "jelly jar" for me to see what she had been up to. 

When I came in and saw it, I just smiled.  She hadn't meant to be naughty and she said to me, "Mommy, I was just trying to make jelly for you."  We blogged  (link on the word blogged) about our violet jelly making last year... and she remembered bits of it and I was pretty amazed at how well she figured out how to accomplish what we did last year.  I was also thankful for older sisters who were kind enough to clean up after their little sister. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Mommy, Let's play with the water sprayer...

My 4yo, thought it would be fun to play with water today, as we are outside, without a coat... it is about 60-65 degrees out.  I told her that it was nice to be in the sunshine without a coat, but it was NOT warm enough to play with water.  I told her it was spring, but when summer came, then we will play with water.  Well, I knew she didn't understand all of what I said, but I hoped the "WAIT" part would stick.  It didn't. 

My husband bought some grass seed for an area that has had tractor abuse last year and he spread it and began to water the ground with a large sprayer.  Paige apparently thought that if Daddy has the sprayer out, we can PLAY with the water.  She asks Daddy if she can water the ground and he hands her the sprayer, not knowing what was on her little mind.  She turns and starts watering the grass, then turns back and waters Daddy's shoes... Daddy starts saying loudly... Quit, Paige, Quit.  She then laughs and takes the sprayer and goes up his legs and got his shirt and soaked him good before he could get the sprayer away from her.  Daddy then took the sprayer and sprayed her down, laughing at her.  He then turned the water off and had to come inside to change, because the water was very cold as were both of them!  Paige came in first and she says... Daddy sprayed me and it was not warm water, it was cooooollllldddd.    Daddy came in about a minute after her and I looked at him, and gave him a look and he says... "She started it!".  

I think she learned that it is SPRING and that water spraying is not a good choice, that she will need to wait for the water and the weather to warm up just a bit more. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Funny!

My 3yo likes to sing along with the older girls.  They like the song Emmanuel... the refrain goes like this... Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel, shall come to .....

My little one starts the refrain... Be Joyed!  Be Joyed! 

Too cute!

Warmly, ~Melissa

Guess what dropped in to visit?

We have a new kitten on the farm.  It wasn't by choice.  Dh brought home some rams from another pasture and later that morning we found a tiny kitten in the chicken barn, about 50 feet from where the trailer was parked. 

I estimate the kitten to be between 3-5 weeks.  The kitten is so small.  He also has such gooped up eyes.  We called the guy who has the pasture and he says it is likely their kitten, and said we could bring him back or keep him.  We were all very willing to take him back to the farm, but my daughter with such a heart for sick animals wanted to keep him... at least until he gets well. 

After cleaning his eyes, it is apparent there is an infection of some sort.  His inner eyelids are red and swollen.  His left eye may be blind...it is really hard to tell at this point, because the inner eyelid on this eye is SOOOO swollen.  But Today it appears rather gray and cloudy compared to the other eye. 

We are giving him a round of pennicilin.  The shots are soo small, it seems rather a waste of the effort, but he is so tiny.  We also got a bottle and some milk yesterday as he wasn't eating regular cat food very well.  I also picked up a bag of kitten food that was much smaller in size so he could try to eat.  Well, last night we gave him his first bottle and the kitten was sooo happy.  He purred for the first time (we had had him a day by then).  Since then, he continues to eat from the bottle at 3-4 hour intervals.   He eats a whopping 2 teaspoons of milk.  Once he had about three feedings in his tummy, he finally felt ready to discover the kitten food and ate about a teaspoon of that as well. 

We are washing his face about every 2 hours.  I know I should have some eye drops of a sort, but have no idea what to put into his eyes.  I also will be looking at buying another nipple to get us through another week.  He's about chewed this first one to pieces.  But he isn't very good at lapping milk just yet... he loses his balance and falls in... which then gave him a runny nose as well.   One thing I am happy about is that he is using the litter box.  His little wets make up a nickel sized spot.  If he stayed this small forever and made these small messes , I might consider an indoor cat!  LOL 

My daughter with the loving heart went a traveling for a couple days with her older sister to see some friends and to bring a friend home to visit during her home leave from academy.   I will be glad when she returns home to do the nursing of this poor little kitten. 

Any ideas for the kittens eyes?

Warmly, ~Melissa