Saturday, March 21, 2015

The art of gift giving...

My birthday and our 31st wedding anniversary is coming right up. I thought a nice ring might be a fun gift and got niece Aimee on the job looking for one. She has her finger firmly on the pulse of where to find fabulous vintage jewelry. She sent fun ideas to Chris. He wasn't convinced that vintage jewelry was an appropriate gift for me. He had other plans.

Yesterday he came home and had the most delighted look on his face. "Tomorrow you and I are going for a drive. I found you the perfect 'birthdaversary' gift." I was intrigued. I worked a few hours this morning, and when I got done I changed into warm clothes, and strapped on sturdy boots and we were off. We stopped en route for a nice lunch out, then continued along windy country roads until we came to dairy cow farm. It was then that I knew...



He had found me calf hutches! Calf hutches are used on dairy farms to house baby cows. They are molded plastic of some kind, lightweight, portable, and useful for so many things. I bought one a few years ago and have found many ways to use it. At various times mine has housed pigs, meat chickens, goats and ducks. I have often wished I had more than one, and we have been looking to buy another for a couple of years. They are not readily available. But he had managed to hunt some down, and arranged to buy me two. Now I have housing for piglets this spring, and for the meat chicks that I plan to raise, as well. Bonus points for creativity, Chris! (I might buy myself a vintage ring!)

After we got home from our adventure I took Ziva for a play date at my friends house. I was glad I had my camera with me, because this guy greeted me and made me laugh out loud.



He was strutting around, gobbling and making his head change colors. There was other pretty poultry, too, enjoying the fact that though it is unseasonably cold, there was some open ground.



My friends husband just finished building her this fabulous coop for her turkeys, ducks and chickens.






While the dogs played...



I checked out the sheep.



They are due to begin lambing in a couple of weeks. I bet they'll be glad. I bet they'll wish they had a cozy calf hutch to hang out in, too.


No comments: