AZ State Fair: Free for Homeschoolers!

This deal is too good to pass up if you homeschool and are interested in going to the Arizona State Fair.

You can visit the State Fair field trip page here. Download the form for homeschoolers, fill it out, and mail it in by October 1st. Here's what you get… ALL children are admitted FREE. For every 5 students, 1 parent/teacher is also admitted FREE (additional adults must pre­pay $5 each). Even parking is free if you go on the homeschool days (October 15, 22, or 29th).

If none of those dates work for you, homeschoolers may attend on the regular school field trip days, but  you will have to pay for parking.

FREE tickets for the Hall of Heroes will also be included for each member of your group.

As an added bonus, if you want to ride a few rides your students can read three books, fill out the form, and earn three free carnival rides. Download the "Read & Ride" form here.

Jerry is going to take a day off and our whole family will be able to go for the $5 extra adult charge. That should leave plenty of money to buy fried food of some kind! If you are interested in meeting up with us when we go, let me know and we'll make arrangements!

*Special thanks to my friend Shannon for sending me the link to the homeschool field trip page!

Flock Update: Roll Call

At one time we had…

7 Rhode Island Reds, but we lost two to the neighbor dog, two to heat, and one to a respiratory illness so we only have 2 left.

3 Buff Orpingtons, and they are all still with us! (We did have one BO chick die the day we got it so I'm not counting that one.)

5 White Leghorns, and they are all still with us!

5 Barred Rocks, but we lost one to the neighbor dog so we only have 4 left.

That leaves us 14 chickens...
2 Rhode Island Reds
3 Buff Orpingtons
4 Barred Rocks
5 White Leghorns

We had to block the chickens from going under the coop because we found 20 eggs under there a few weeks ago. We've also found nests in the weeds and the burn pile. It seems every time we find a hiding place they move it somewhere else. Due to the heat, we have to throw away pretty much any eggs we find hidden so we are trying to be extra vigilant.

They all still lay in the same nesting box. All the chicken books tell you to have a one nesting box for every 3 or 4 chickens. I don't know why they all say that when all 14 chickens use the same box!

The older gals are going through their first molt so they aren't laying their usual 1 egg per day. We also have one broody White Leghorn who isn't laying. She's being nice about it though so I'm not going to worry about it. We're still getting about 10 eggs per day.

Sad News

Daniel Kitty had to be put to sleep this afternoon. We found him pretty badly injured this morning. Jerry took him to the vet and x-rays showed injuries (broken leg, pelvis, and internal bleeding) consistent with being hit by a car. I'm still not sure how he even made it home. He must have crawled for hours. We brought him in and loved on him all morning. That sweet kitty purred even in while in pain. We are all pretty shook up about it. Please say a few prayers, for the kids especially.

I took this picture of Daniel and Boo on her birthday. Thankfully, she doesn't understand.