Nothing cuter than a baby chick.

Another miraculous day. We had 17 chicks hatch successfully at a friends' home and one late chick hatched yesterday. It was utterly limp and both Brian and I were certain it wouldn't make it. This morning it had finally gained its feet and by this afternoon was staggering around in the incubator. This evening, I decided to risk putting it with the others in the brooder. The others accepted it without pecking too much and by the time Brian got home, it was so fluffy and vibrant that he couldn't even tell which one it was. Hooray! Here you can see him nestled next to the food jar- he's the orange/brown one in a sea of dark grey chicks.

I candled the goose eggs, and they are actually developing, so in a month or so we have a chance at some goslings. Cross your fingers and say a prayer!

An update on the mother goose- She did not perish as was earlier thought. Our neighbor Norman saw her at a nearby church munching grass and tried to round her up. She hissed at him, eluded his grasp and took to flight after running down the hill. He said she flew almost 2 miles before setting down. So I'm sure she's doing just fine.

We had a marvelous weekend camping with the cub scouts at a neighboring farm. Allen participated in the fishing derby and walked away with the prize for the biggest fish! Everyone took the competition so seriously with special rigs, magic hormone baits and worm-theiving. Allen ran out of worms (due to aforementioned theiving) and so moved on to leftover breakfast pancakes as bait. They only lasted moments in the water, but were yummy enough to draw the fish, so it got the best results. He caught a 7 1/2 inch and a 7 3/4 inch brem, the biggest and the second biggest fish in the competition. He also was promoted to Webelo rank, very exciting for him.

Emily caught a little brem, but her biggest acheivement was learning how to cast into the middle of the lake unassisted. She is scheduled to participate in a horse show on Sunday, her first show- pictures to follow!