Hello to Ken and Some Good News!

First of all, I'd like to say "Hello and Welcome" to my newest follower, Ken Wilkes.  Ken is a really nice guy who has a blog over at  HomelessZillionaire.blogspot.com.     I look forward to keeping up with his adventures as he transitions into the RVing lifestyle.   Welcome, Ken!

Another quick update on the Lucky Duck... I think that I have found Austin a permanent home!  There is a young lady in our area who has an amazing farm where she takes in rescued horses, donkeys, and other animals.  She has a pot-bellied pig, baby goats, chickens, ducks - a true menagerie of rescued animals.  I wrote to her yesterday to see if she knew anyone who might be willing to give Austin a proper home, and she wrote me back within the hour, telling me that she would love to have him!  She has 3 other ducklings just younger than Austin and 4 adult ducks, so he will have a ready-made family.   I hope that they will accept him.   Although we have become quite attached to him and will miss him, we knew that we were just his foster family and are thrilled that he will have such a wonderful home!  After I meet this young lady and obtain her permission, I will post her information so that you can see what wonderful work she is doing.

Austin will be at least 5 weeks old this Friday... we found him on a Saturday and he was not much more than a day old, so we have decided that June 24th was his "hatch day".    He has quadrupled in size and is getting some beautiful feathering above and below his wings, on his tail and on his chest.  He is sort of growing into his feet and bill.  :-)  He is going to be a beautiful duck!   He is quickly outgrowing both his "pen" and his swimming pool, so we are very happy to have found him a new home.  We hope to deliver him to his new Mom either Friday or Saturday.  As I've said before, I have no idea yet if he is actually a "he".   We will know when he/she finds his/her quack in a few more weeks.   :-)

So... other than my son's little car being in the shop again - booooo, and trying to bear the unspeakable heat and humidity along with most of the rest of the country, that is about all that is going on here in Alabama.  It is Handy Fest Week here in The Shoals - the festival celebrating WC Handy, Father of the Blues, but it has just been too hot to enjoy the festivities.  I wish they would have it in October!  The music offered is amazing and I love the Blues, but have not made it to a single event this week.   The heat is just too oppressive... I hope that next summer, my house has wheels under it so that I can chase some better weather!!

The Little One and I are gearing up for our new unit studies... This year we plan to use the American Girl Historical Characters series as a basis for our unit, and also plan to study  a different country each month.   She loves her American Girl dolls, and really enjoys the books, so we are using them as a springboard for various activities.  I am tying the "Country of the Month" unit study in with the AG books when possible.  I had planned to do an in-depth study of American history in correlation with the AG unit study, but she really wants to study other countries right now, so I'm going with that.  I hope that next year we will be studying American history by traveling around this beautiful country and visiting the locations and monuments which most children only get to read about!  So American history will wait until we can experience it in person!

Hope you are all finding a way to stay cool and enjoy your summer.  Be careful out there!