Well, another year has come and gone.  I wouldn’t say 2011 was a bad year and I wouldn’t say it was a spectacular year either.  It was one of those years that was just ok.

Christmas day in Grand Marais 2011

The good…

- We figured out a few health issues and are coping with them.

- Got two new hounds, Henry and Eve.

- Got chickens.

- Helped raise pigs.

- Harvested 5 gallons of honey from our hives.

- Put in more gardens.

- Started to repaint the house…again!

- Bought a BUV, our new to us minivan

- Started my new adventure of showing basset hounds.

The bad…

- Lost both Gerdie and Madelyn

- Lost Beyonce

- Had some health issues

So all in all, I can’t complain.  I have a wonderful family, a house full of hounds, a good job and my health is improving some.  So I welcome 2012 with open arms and I hope it is a great one!

Well, it has been awhile since I last posted a blog entry.  Life just seemed to get busy and I didn’t have time to keep writing.

Here are some fun things that have happened since my last post:

• Henry has grown up – now weighs 51lbs!
• Eve turns 5 months old today!
• Chickens have started laying eggs!
• Eve and I went to our first show!
• Put in a new garden (thanks to the crazy nice November weather)!

Sarge and Henry sun bathing!

Eve playing referee!

Our first eggs!!!

That is about all for now.  Until next time!

Bobby with the chickens

Well, after doing a little more research on our quail, we have realized that Bobbie is really a Bobby!  For bobwhite quail you can tell the males by the white on their head.  Hens will have more of a brownish color where the white is on the males.

Bobby is still hanging with the flock here and was even the first one in the coop last night.  He seemed to like roosting in the windows of the coops while the chickens roosted on the roosts.  All was fine this morning as I went to let them out.  Little Bobby just waited for all but one hen to go out (Goose doesn’t go out until I leave the coop, she has to say hi to me first) and then he walked up the ramp, out the door and down the other ramp.

For now as long as Bobby and the chickens are getting along fine we’ll just call him part of the flock.  So welcome to the flock Bobby!

So we have named the little gal, Bobbie, since she seems to be a Bobwhite quail.  She wanted to join the chickens in the coop last night but flying at wired off windows wasn’t working for her to get in.  So we closed up the coop and she took shelter on the green roof of the coop instead.  This morning she was on the garage roof just watching and came flying down as soon a the chickens were let out.

Bobbie on the fence

Bobbie with the chickens

As you can see she is much smaller than the chickens but she chases the chickens around.  We are keeping a close eye on her to make sure she doesn’t hurt the chickens in anyway.  So we’ll have to see what the future brings for little Bobbie and if she decides to stick around or not.

That was the first thing out of Alex’s mouth this morning as we let the chickens out heading out for work.  After the skunk episode the other night I was worried to look at what Alex saw in the yard with us and the chickens.  I finally worked up the courage to look and this is what I saw…

Bobbie the Quail

Yup, there was a quail in the chicken yard, just hanging out eating some of the chicken food and scratch.  We left for work wondering if we would ever see her again.  Well, when we got home she was still hanging out with the flock!  We’ll see what she does tonight when the other chickens go in the coop to roost.

To be continued…

Sunflower Rooster Pitcher

This past Wednesday was our 8th anniversary, so we headed out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Va Benne.  It just so happens that next to Va Benne is an italian ceramic/pottery shop and this shop had rooster pitchers in their window.

Let’s see…the 8th anniversary gift is pottery and there is a rooster pitcher staring back at us, how can that not be fate?!  Even better, the store was suppose to be closed but there was another couple in there shopping so they told us to come on in!

So we picked out one of the rooster pitchers and then read the history behind them.  You can read the full story behind the creation of these pitchers here.   These pitchers are suppose to bring  good fortune or good luck to those whom it belongs to.

Here is hoping that it brings the Jokela household some of that good fortune and luck!

Every Sunday I am going to try to post a picture that just makes me smile!  Enjoy!

Anyone home?!

One of many roos

We were informed that there was a chicken swap taking place in Mahtowa at TJ’s Store.  Having never gone to a chicken swap, we thought we should go check it out.  So we packed up three of our extra hens, a Henry hound and headed out around 7:45am.

Upon arriving at TJ’s there were vehicles everywhere!  WOW!  We left the chickens in the truck and walked up to the main street/parking area with Henry in tow.  We didn’t make it very far before a man stopped us and asked if he could say hi to Henry.  Yes, a 6 month old beautiful basset hound puppy really catches peoples attention!  The man told us that they had a basset hound and currently have four dogs and run a kennel/grooming shop in Moose Lake, MN called Kennelz and Bitz.  We were talking about bassets, dogs, dog training and how these swaps worked.  They had informed us that they had gotten some guineas and we told them we brought a few layer hens with to possibly sell.  His wife was most interested to go see the hens and so were their two daughters.  So we walked back to the truck and showed them the two Buff Orpingtons and the Rhode Island Red.  They were sold!

One of many goats

After selling them our three hens we finished walking around checking out all of the animals.  There were goats, sheep, cattle, guineas, chickens, rabbits and some dogs.

The Crazy Guinea

My favorite animal by far was the guinea that had been this old couples “chicken coop” guinea.  He was used to being spoiled so didn’t follow the other guineas lead by roosting in the trees and was more like a dog of the guinea world.  We literally just sat there laughing at this poor thing…he looked pathetic!!!

I have a feeling that we will attending more swaps just to see all of the animals.  One can dream about one day having a farm with enough land to have some of these beautiful animals!!!