Betty Lu and Miss Rhode Island

First of all, I have to tell you how excited I am right now!

  I just went out to take a few pictures of Betty Lu and Miss Rhode Island to share with you and when I opened the hen house to take a pic...there was our FIRST BROWN EGG, from Miss Rhode Island.

I just about jumped out of my skin.  The lady we got her from said she would probably not start laying until Spring and here it is January 22nd! 

It is a nice size egg and looks like the color of a Yummy glass of Chocolate Milk...I am so proud and I made sure to tell her thank you!!!

 So....Here are the "Stars of the Hen House"

Miss Rhode Island (Much friendlier and apparently likes to have her picture taken)

And this is Betty Lu (She has been laying eggs for us since we got her, but she is not very friendly, does not like to have her picture taken and if you are doing something she does not like, she will  talk LOUDLY to let you know....sometimes we like to call her "Loud Mouth"

This is their home, the "Chicken Trucker" that Ron made! 

The way this works is the chickens walk around on the ground and eat insects and do their thing.  After a while we pick it up and "truck" it to a new patch of grass for new insects and fresh soil to be fertilized. 

At night they climb up in the top to roost and lay eggs.  We made this side of the roof like a door so we can reach in easily and gather the eggs....Can you see the new brown egg in the back corner?

Our Dog Coby

This is our Chocolate Lab, Coby

He was born 5 days after our wedding so he is a little over 2 years old.  As you can see he has very large, flabby cheeks that help him to hold and even sometimes HIDE his favorite toy...the BALL!  He is very well mannered and relaxed and gets spoiled daily as he is an inside dog.  Coby's favorite thing to do is to run dirt roads...I know this sounds crazy but, he will cry like he is going to die when we are riding down a dirt road until we let him out.  Then he runs and looks back as we follow him like this is the absolute best day of his life!    

Coby also loves to go Duck Hunting. 

This picture is from a trip up to Arkansas.  He had so much fun and got to retrieve lots of ducks.

Coby also loves to go Dove Hunting. 

He did a unbelievable job this year dove hunting and on one hunt he retieved so many doves that he went and got under a huge oak tree and laid down to rest.  The poor thing did not move for the next three days.

 Coby's best "Dog Friend" in the world is his "cousin" Wheeler. 

Wheeler belongs to Kalee and Dillon (my sister and brother in-law).This is a picture of Wheeler and Coby (on the right).  They look almost identical and here they are trying to learn to take turns and "share" while fetching their dummy at my parents home on the Alabama River.

They are pretty good about "Sharing" and "Helping" each other!