Household Size

As it turns out, during the period of Blog Neglect,

our expanding family did not just reside in my belly;

there have been a few other notable additions

that I should probably tell you about

so that you do not find yourself wondering, for example,

if Atlas spontaneously duplicated in the middle of the night.

So, sticking with that theme:

over the summer, we got a new Chesapeake. 

Her name is Avery.

At the beginning, she was very small:

She was so small, in fact, that she did not feel that she should have

to walk all the way to the cranberry bog by herself.

With each passing day, she grew a little more 

and solidified her place in the family

 

until eventually her cute puppy days were all behind us.

We also expanded our chicken population...

twice, in fact.

The first batch we hand-raised.

Here they are in their little and fluffy stage:

And here is one of the girls full grown:

It was only a few months before our 

egg cartons became more colorful:

The next batch of chickens we did not hand-raise,

instead we traded in our ducks,

who after leaving their little and fluffy stage:

 were loud and stinky and not appreciated by our neighbors.

So we traded 5 ducks for 5 one-year-old chickens

(thank you, Craigslist!)

and now have a happy, multicolored flock of 12

beautiful, quiet, non-stinky birds.

Speaking of our neighbors,

they also did not appreciate when we brought home

two of the most adorable

but also the loudest creatures on earth:

 Our stint with the goats lasted about 2 weeks

before we were forced to give them up.

They are still one of Orin's favorite subjects to talk

about with people he meets.

 The story goes something like this:

"I had goats but they were too loud for the neighbors

but mommy says that when we don't live as close to neighbors

we can get goats again."

I think it is safe to say we are all excited about that day.

 

And finally, in other family additions,

here is Orin's new cat Bear:

and his rat Captain/Templeton/Pinkerton:

I think that basically covers it.

So besides the new baby, new dog,

10 new chickens, rat, and cat,

nothing has changed...

oh, wait, and we got a new car:

We were thinking that after having the thoroughly stickered Subaru

and the van, we needed a car that really blended in...

something like a road cone orange mini Prius. 

So, there you have it. Now you know the cast

and we can get back to more of the story.