Chick Days at the Grissoms

We had a chicken go broody again and I couldn't resist letting her set on a clutch of eggs.  I let her set on 11 eggs so I expected that 6-8 might hatch, allowing for the "mistakes" that mom can make during the 3-week process...

Well, it would appear at this point as though all 11 chicks have made it...still have one making its way out as I type this.  Skyler took the above pic and I thought it was so cute that I had to post.  The step "mom" in the pic is one of my Icelandic chickens.  However, the chicks are 1/2 Icelandic and 1/2 Ameraucauna.  They should lay blue/green eggs just like their "moms."  We don't exactly have room for 11 chicks...oops...so will definitely be looking to find homes for the roosters once they are old enough.

Grissoms lately

 We have been incredibly busy of late...a good kind of busy for sure.  Skyler's ASA softball league is in full swing so we have had tournaments and practices -- one tournament lasted all day Saturday and half of Sunday.  Skyler is on a brand new team...the South County Ladies Storm... and they are a great bunch of girls with great parents to boot.  Paul is helping coach again this year.  All of the coaches are great!!  So while Skyler is having fun out in the field we get to hang out with some great people.

In addition to softball, Skyler is on the Rockridge Jr. High track team.  She generally runs the 4x100 or 4x400 relays as well as running the 200 and/or 400 individually.  It is so much fun to watch!!  So combine Skyler's practice and meets for track with her practice and games for softball and we see ourselves coming and going.

Here is a picture of Skyler on an INCREDIBLY cold meet day
waiting for her teammate to come around and hand off the baton in the 4x100.

 Finally -- to throw in some Grissom hunting in the mix...Skyler recently got her second bird of the year!  A bearded hen (definitely don't see these too often) with a 6 1/2 " beard.  She was pretty excited as she has never seen or shot a bearded hen before.

I got my first bird of the year...a color phase tom weighing in at 24# with 1 1/2" spurs and an 11" beard.  I would have kicked around the idea of full mounting this rare bird but I think Paul saw the wheels turning and was quick to help me start butchering so I couldn't think about it for long.  (Oh well, we don't have room for it anyway:) 

Both Sky and I owe our turkeys to Paul's superior turkey calling skills!!  My tom was only about 10 yards out when I took my shot and we had hens pretty much looking into our blind trying to find the hen  -- little did they know, this hen's name was "Paul."  :) 

No matter how busy we get with "life" we always find time to get back to our roots and spend time in the timber....get out there and enjoy yourselves -- time to hunt for morel mushrooms now!!