Chickens Plus++++

Starting out with a chicken update.  The Heart's-A-Burstin Homestead has some new additions - Tona went to the feed store a while back and ordered some Buff Orpington chicks.  She got 10 little, soft, peeping, cute, ...... baby chicks.  We were blessed to have a hen trying to set so the question was whether she would accept these homeless little beauties who did not have a mother to care for them.  When she heard them peeping she perked up and when we put them down she started clucking to them and they responded right away.  They slept that night under her warm sheltering wings and I think they were both pleased.

Here some were out and others were crawling out from under her wings to see what was going on - they are very curious which is not necessarily a good trait for little chicks.  

Here is a closer look at "mama" and her new brood - she is so watchful!

All our hens are Buff Orpingtons and here is a close-up of one of the other hens.  In general these seem to be a very calm and peaceable breed of chickens.

It seems like every time I go out to the pen Frank makes sure to crow so I took advantage of that and caught him in the act.  He is a little assertive and will start picking things up and ruffling his feathers and announce himself.  I make sure he knows to back off and even get in a talking/crowing match sometimes.  That's me talking and him crowing in case you were not sure.

Plus a flower - 

This spring the lilies have been very profuse and beautiful.  This is a sample of one of the lilies in our garden.

Back to chickens - I think this would make a great print with a black mat or black frame.  Other than minor color tweaks this is out of the camera.  I think it looks a little like a painting.  

And a parting shot of Frank giving me his look!

Plus a toad -

our little dog Sweetie is fascinated with toads and this is one of her 'buddies'!

Plus a blast from the past for our daughters - 

our house near Covington, Virginia where they grew up.

I have started the slow process of digitizing our old pictures.  I'll try to post some now and then.  The one in a a previous posting of Tona on our wedding day was one of them.  Hopefully as I get more practice I'll get better and faster - right now it is a slow process to restore some old photos.  If the print is good the digitized version usually needs very little touch up.

Have a great week and remember to read God's Bible daily!

Trip to the Mountains or Tona @ 55 MPH

We got away for a day last week and slipped off to the Shenandoah Mountains.  Tona took me exploring at the base of Skyline Drive just north of Standardsville, Virginia.  She had been there earlier with our neighbor and they got to see bears on their trip.  We did not see any bears but the scenery was beautiful.

This was a farm on the South River road.  Farms abound in this area and the rivers run cool and clean coming down from the mountains.

This picture is a great example of the views and variety of features of the area.  The mountains in the backdrop, the lush green fields with a fine harvest of hay, and the rock fences apparently made when the farmers cleared their fields of rocks.  This area is a picture taking extravaganza.

Not a part of the natural landscape but a charming addition!  We passed this up at first then turned around and came back to get a few photos, sure glad we did!

Plenty of old barns around, hope they are preserved for generations to come.

This was a water snake on the Middle River.

A good stream view of the Middle River.

This was taken through the windshield on our way home at an intersection in Ruckersville, a popular shopping destination with many shops and antique stores.  We had lunch on the way at a Pizza place just off to the right.

As promised here is Tona @ 55 MPH.  She was driving toward home and I was playing with the camera.  

By the time I finished this post the date is now 7/1/2008 - our 31st anniversary!  Here is a picture of Tona from our wedding 7/1/1977 - see why my Heart's-A-Burstin for all these years!  Love will do that to you!  

Thanks to God for bringing us together, thanks to Tona for asking me out, and thanks to her dad Paul for giving his permission for me to marry the sweetest girl ever!!!

The Elusive Walton's Mountain

Tona and I took a one day excursion recently and decided to go to Walton's Mountain.  You won't find it on a map!

Here's Tona at the entrance to the museum.  It was an old school and converted to a museum/community center.

The sky was blue and made a nice backdrop.  Inside they have a lot of pictures and tried to recreate different scenes from the show using period decorations.

Here is a couple of pictures from Ike's Store.

The Walton's kitchen looked so good.  You almost expected the group to come bounding in as they often did in the show.

I caught Tona reading some information at one of the displays and I was able to get on the other side.  It is hard to get non-posed frontal pictures when you are out. 

The "Sisters" photo board.

The "Brothers" photo board.

John-boys' room

John-boys' room with Tona looking in

This was one of my favorites - a model of the Walton's place.

After we left we went to Lumpkins for lunch and I had to get Tona's picture with the big rooster out front!

All said and done the Walton's were a combination of Earl Hamner's memories and plenty of "artistic" license.

Of chickens and Chionanthus Virginicus!

Here is the newest addition to the Heart's-A-Burstin homestead - Frank.  He is an Ameraucana rooster that we got from someone in the community who is moving soon.  

Here are three of our Buff's in the laying boxes.  One is trying to set but she has no fertilized eggs to hatch.

Frank is settling in nicely with his 9 new friends.

This is an Iris that we planted last fall.  We were quite surprised and pleased how beautiful it turned out to be.  The two tone coloration is quite striking.  I think at least some of the Iris rhizomes we planted last fall are supposed to be rebloomers.  

Here is another Iris that I captured when the dappled sun was illuminating it and the surroundings were mostly in shade.  By exposing for the bright flower I got most of the background to disappear without any special editing on the computer.  I might just leave it the way it is to prove it wasn't a make-up studio shot.  

Announcing another new addition to the Heart's-A-Burstin Homestead.  This is our Chionanthus Virginicus that we got the Saturday before Mother's Day.  This fringe tree appears to be a male due to the large showy blooms.  We saw others at the nursery that had a smaller finer bloom and from reading that seems to be the female.  It is a fragrant tree with a very pleasant smell.

Here is a close up of the blooms.  We are hoping it will like its new home.  We have lost a Japanese Maple and a weeping evergreen in the same spot.  Other plants grow well in that area such as Azalea so we are hoping this fringe tree is compatible.

We are enjoying the spring and the rains.  Seems like our drought was broken by the plentiful spring rains we have been getting.  Back in early April it was dusty and the ground was cracked open like you might expect to see in August.  It is 6:05AM on Sunday morning and I hear Frank crowing.  Sounds like he is doing well at his new home.   Time for more coffee and to go see Frank and crew.  

This is the quilt that Tona is working on

Tona is piecing her first full sized quilt.  She put a lot of time into searching through her stash of material to find all the fabrics.  She put it on the bannister to be able to spread it out and get a good overall view.

The birds with the fruit in the trees was the inspiration piece for the quilt.

 

Here is a close-up of her pieced square.

 

I was able to get a picture of Tona sitting in the stairwell while I was photographing her quilt. 

 

The smiling quilter!!!

 

Heart's-A-Burstin Inaugural Post

Welcome to Heart's-a-Burstin - Randy and Tona's little spot on the web named after this beautiful native plant here in Virginia.  Our hearts have been 'a-burstin' for over 30 years and we are looking forward to as many more years that God will grant us together.