We left Rudy out to sleep with the girls last night, thinking he would make a fuss since he’s very spoiled and one of the few that always sleeps inside at night, but he seemed perfectly content cuddled up in the indoor/outdoor kennel with Juno, Willow and Dee Dee.

The wind kicked up and howled though, so if he did protest, we didn’t hear it.

I was afraid at what I’d find this morning after the wind storm came and went in the dark this time. At least during the day I can keep a wary eye out but at night I’m left wide awake and wondering what sort of damage may or may not be happening out there.

I was happy to find all was well and the new sign I put over the door to Fred’s coop was still there…

As I was checking on everything, I was a bit concerned that one of his girls had abandoned her nest, but she came back and settled right back down after getting a bite to eat and a drink.

They are half way through sitting on this hatch and we should see babies the week after Easter or so. These are new mothers so we’re not sure how they’ll do but they sure are broody! Buff Orpingtons are a broody breed in general, which is why we love them.

The laying hens are quite busy and I collected a dozen eggs (plus a couple of duck eggs, too). We’re getting right at a dozen a day every day now (plus duck eggs) which is perfect. That’s plenty for us and for the pups.

I started a YouTube channel for this blog and here’s my first video of them singing their egg laying song…

Today I’ll be working on my pantry room. We converted the office (which used to be our middle son’s room) and are now expanding it and reorganizing so we can get to things a bit easier and also so I have a nice work space to do my canning and dehydrating and vacuum sealing without taking up the whole kitchen.

Or, rather, taking over the whole kitchen…

That’s one downside to having a small house, we have a small kitchen, but that’s also the bonus to having an empty nest; the kids’ old rooms are being converted into useful spaces and since my kitchen is pretty small, it’s great to have a separate room dedicated to storing and preserving food.

I’ve already converted my daughter’s old bedroom into my sewing room, which has worked out nicely.

Let’s just hope none of them need to boomerang back home again because they’ll have to either sleep in the RV or on the couch if they do! 😄

I ordered some silicone cupcake pans to freeze eggs in so I’ll write about my experience with that in an upcoming post. In the meantime, as Patara at Appalachia’s Homestead says, I’m gonna STAY BUSY!