Wednesday September 30, 2009

Almost October . . . the passing of time makes my head spin!  My grandmother used to say that the older you grew, the faster time passed.  Guess I am getting old!

Here are two pics of this year's sunflowers. Slick assisted with the dimensioning of the big one!

Baldy is growing lonely in her coop.  She wants to be with the other hens very much, but I am still hesitant to let her.  The skin all around her skull has healed well and she is doing perfectly normal chicken things.  The only issue is the quarter size piece of skull showing on the top of her head!

I think this weekend I will make a hen-helmet for her, making sure it is black and white  with a red part in front that sticks up so she looks like the other barred rock hens.  Velcro should be good to attach it around her neck.  After I make it, I will let her wear it for several days to test that it stays on ok.  

On my list for this weekend is to scrap off the wasp nest from the attic wall and then fill the holes with putty.  I am sure this be something I accomplish alone, as hb is not fond of wasps, alive or potentially alive or even mostly dead.  He did provide good moral support during the spraying operation, staying about 5 ft behind and assuring me he would quickly dial 911 if needed.  Anyway, scraping off the nest should be a non-event easily accomplished on my own.

Once the attic is wasp free,  I can swap summer for winter clothes in peace.  Well, except for the cats who love to explore the attic.  Last time Slick was up there, he “found” the mouse trap that had gone missing.  An unlucky mouse got caught and exerted enough energy to hide the trap from several of my searches.  But Slick had immediate success, and I spent the next 30minutes chasing a big grey cat holding a mouse trap, containing a long dead, unhappy mouse, through out my house.  What a sight that must have been!  Cats are not like dogs, you can promise them every treat in the house without results.  I finally cornered him in the kitchen and gave the mouse a proper burial.  In the outdoor trash can!  Slick pouted for a few minutes then flew up to the attic in hopes of finding another fun cat surprise. 

Monday, September 28 2009

Sissy’s tooth infection was very bad.  She had a fever for a few days, was completely listless and with a ping pong ball size swelling on her cheek.  She looked so sad.  Even worse, we went away for the weekend and Sissy stayed with her groomer.  She was completely coddled and pampered, but is so happy to be home.  Right now, Sissy is crashed in a deep sleep on her bed, dreaming happy dog dreams.  I missed her a lot.

The weather has been wet and windy.  The largest sunflower fell over today.  I rescued the head, and will harvest the others this week.  My plan is to hang then in the garage or studio then use as bird food this winter.

Thursday, September 24 2009

Poor Sissy!  She developed a very bad tooth infection this week.  The right side of her face is swollen and yesterday, her eye was half closed and weepy.  The vet gave me antibiotics yesterday, and this morning she is a little better.  Last night, her ears felt hot like she had a fever.   Her teeth are ground down almost to her gums so I hope the medicine helps and no surgery is needed.

The only good news is that her appetite has remained good, although she chews on the left side.  Poor Sissy, getting old sucks.

Baldy is doing much better.  The deer netting has kept her wound healing and it seems like the skin may be closing up around her skull a little.  Now, there is about a 1” diameter circle of visible skull, so I am not sure how much her skin can actually regrow, but she is looking better.

I ran by Tractor Supply last night to pick up scratch grain, pine bedding and Frodo food.  I just love that store and ended up splurging on a new pair of boots for myself.  There was a 15% off sale and I always have a hard time passing by the display of Ariat boots.  Tractor Supply is a great store!

Aren't they cute?

Tuesday, September 22 2009

We finally had some rain today.  Most of the day was wet, the humidity high and we received probably ½ inch of rain.  Good news for the remaining garden items and my new lettuce sprouts.

Baldy update

Baldy is doing well.  She is eating and behaving like a normal chicken.  I noticed over the last couple of days that she has been sticking her head through the fence, to get closer to the other hens.  But in doing that, Baldy has been re-opening the wounds around her skull.  So today, I added the deer netting that I removed from the garden around the lower half of her fence.  This will prevent her from hurting herself on the fence.  I have started to ponder making her a helmet to cover her skinless, featherless skull so she can rejoin her flock.  I will spend some time considering if this would be a realistic option or not.

We ate the last of the green peppers for dinner today.  I made sweet peppers stuffed with rice, fresh tomatoes, black beans and a few jalapenos.  Delicious meal, even though I hate to cook, it turned out well.  Best thing, hb did the dishes, per our agreement!

I forgot to mention that we clipped Puff’s wings on Sunday, after his escape Saturday night.  I held him while hb used scissors to trim 2-3 inches from his flying wings.  His feelings were hurt, nothing more.  Now, I will not have to worry about Puff landing in the strawberry patch.

Sissy has a tooth infection.  Her cheek is swollen and her gums are red on the one side of her mouth.  I had 2 days worth of antibiotics left from her last infection so I started her on those today.  I will call the vet for a refill tomorrow.  Poor thing, no wonder her energy level has been low.

Sunday, September 20 2009

Heard from Webster!  He sent me a thank you note and gift, a very nice cutting board, as a thank you for helping him out.  Webster is doing very well, having fun with his flock.  And his human family has continued his rehabilitation.  He can now easily keep up with the other ducks.

Check out his hand writing, clearly his foot has healed.  I never thought he would write again!

Thank you so much Webster for the wonderful note and gift!  I think of you often and am so happy your injuries have healed quickly.

We saw a bald eagle today flying over our newly mowed fields.  A family of  bald eagles live around a lake about 4 miles from the farmette.  One of the juveniles must be exploring or looking for a new home.  He was beautiful, gliding effortlessly and silently all around the fields and the house.  Hawks will screech as they fly but not the eagle.  His wing span was huge even though his head was not yet all white.  You could have heard a pin drop in all of our bird’s coops.  There was not a peep, squawk, chirp or gobble.  Every single one of the farmette birds was either inside their coop, or laying still under a tree.  Smart birds.

Garden teardown continued today. I picked the last of the peppers, a bushel of green and a half bushel of mixed hot, jalapenos, bananas and cherry.  Hb mowed a path through the center with the tractor.   The turnips are not looking too good.  The lack of rain the last 4-5 weeks has really stalled production.  The last row of beets are not very large either.  Oh well, overall the garden had an outstanding year so no complaints!

Here are the before and after pics of the wasp nest in the attic.  I will wait until the weather has been cold for several days before removing the remnants and filling the holes.

Before:

After:

Saturday, September 19 2009

Beautiful day today!  Cool, almost cold in the morning, then up to the low seventies with a clear, sunny sky in the afternoon, and then cool again by evening. 

Puff flew out of his coop last night.  When I went to put him and Junior inside, Puff was nowhere to be found.  Hb and I searched the nearby fields for about 15 minutes until I circled back to the orchard and saw a turkey head peering at me above the rhubarb in the strawberry patch.  I gathered him up, and put him back with Junior.  Today, hb and I clipped his wings to prevent future escapes.  Actually Puff and Junior are getting along very well.  Both enjoy the company, and have grown very tolerant of each other.

Hb took some amazing pictures of the sunflowers and the hens and chicks from the outhouse garden.  See all of them on the Petals Portfolio page. Honestly, the sunflower picture below was taken in the garden, no post-editing was done at all, just rotating!  Aren’t the bees just perfect on the face of the sunflower?  If anyone finds an appropriate photo contest, let me know as I would love to enter this one.

I took down the garden fence and gathered up the hoses today.  We really need some rain to help the beets and turnips finish.  While hb mowed the field with the Kioti, I mowed around the pine trees at the bottom of the hill with the John Deere.

Tonight, I finally sprayed the hornet nest in the attic.  Sigh.  I have a hard time killing things for no real reason.  The Buddhist belief of respect for all sentient beings is how I try to live.  I stop for squirrels and chipmonks in the road, open the windows to let out flies, and obviously pickup wounded animals from the road.  Spraying the hornets nest made me sad, but the job is done.  I will post pictures tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 15 2009

Baldy Update!

Baldy is doing very well!  She was out of her coop today, eating grass and walking around happily.  I put antibiotic ointment on her wound every evening, not letting the area dry out.  I think she has turned the corner and might actually survive!

We picked the last bushel of roma tomatoes last night.  I plan to make and freeze spaghetti sauce, at least that is the goal.  And we still have a lot of peppers to pick.  I made stuffed green peppers for dinner tonight, with black beans, rice and tomatoes.  Very good meal!  The brussel sprouts are doing better since we had the rain last week.

I can hardly believe this is the middle of September already.  The nights are dark by 8pm and the mornings are still dark at 6:30am.  My older hens are slowing down their egg production in this low light.  Soon I will leave the coop light on for extra time to encourage them.

I pulled out the herbs from the planter boxes yesterday.  After adding a few shovels of compost, I planted lettuce and spinach seeds.  The herbs were spent so I thought planting fall lettuce would be a good use of the space.  Which reminds me, I need to water them today!

Saturday, September 12 2009

Football season is here again, and the Steelers started off well, winning their first game against Tennessee.  Each year, by the time fall rolls around I am so ready to spend lazy afternoons watching football, college and pro.  Of course, I still have one row of beets to can, then the brussel sprouts to freeze.  After that, garden tear down will begin.  We will cut off the sunflowers to hang in the studio until winter, pull down the deer netting, compost the plant material, pull up the posts and finally, hb will till.  All before late October or early November.

The last couple of days, the weather has been rainy, which suits me fine.  Yesterday, I dodged the rain long enough to pick up a bale of straw and a 50lb bag of scratch grain for the chickens. Their coop needs to be cleaned out because 10 hens make much more mess than 5 did.  And they have been really going through the scratch grains.  I have been giving it out scoops at a time to help keep the peace.

Mornings here at the farmette begin much earlier and are much louder now that there are two roosters.  Romeo and Junior have crowing competitions each morning, starting around 5am.  Junior is particularly vocal, and very loud!  I feel sorry for Puff who is locked in the coop with him until I get up.  I try to let them out by 6, although today it was closer to 7.  This two rooster scenario may not last long.

Thursday, September 10 2009

Here is a picture of Baldy without her bandages . . . this may be a little gruesome so open at your own risk. 

Baldy's wound

I have been spending all of my free time on animal care this week.  Each night, the new hens have gone into the big coop easier and easier.  Last night, the rooster was able to cajole everyone in without any help from me.  Progress!  And the remaining 5 new hens still have all of their feathers and skin on their heads.  Happy progress!

Amazingly, Baldy is doing better.  At lunch today, she was looking out of the dog house window and I think she is eating.  Her bandages fell off but I let it go until tonight when I put new ones on and added more ointment.

Puff is not too thrilled with his new coop buddy.  I think the crowing at 5am really annoys him.  But otherwise, they starting to adjust.  When I walk Sissy around the orchard, Puff always follows along inside the fence.  Now, so does Junior, about 10 feet behind Puff.  Too funny!

Junior is a very pretty rooster.  His feathers are on the dark side for Barred Rocks, and against his red comb, he looks very regal.  Only two of his toes on each foot are crooked, so he would not win any fair ribbons.   But as long as you look from his knees up, Junior is quite handsome.

Tuesday, September 7 2009

Serious chicken trauma yesterday.  All was going well with the flock merger until late Monday afternoon.  I discovered two of the new chickens badly injured, and in fact one had already died.  Their heads had been pecked to the bone, from eyebrow to the base of their necks.  I put the surviving hen back into the doghouse pen and watched the others for awhile.  Seemed like the old rooster, Romeo, was the culprit.  Nothing I had read or heard ever lead me to believe the rooster would attack new hens.  I thought he would be pleased to have more girls.  Obviously not the case.  After a couple of hours, I made a closer inspection of the inured chicken’s head.  She was in bad shape and I did not expect her to survive the night.  I put antibiotic cream on the worst part of her wounds, covered it with a bandage and put her in the doghouse with food and water.

Amazingly, she was still alive this morning.  I was shocked!  I removed the old bandage, put a lot more antibiotic cream on her wounds and covered her head with two new bandages.  This was my weak attempt at chicken triage for the poor chicken now known as Baldy.  Honestly, her chances of survival are minimal at best, but one never knows. I have been changing her bandages twice a day, and she was sitting on her roost this afternoon. I still can not imagine that Baldy will heal, but my fingers are crossed and I am trying my best to help her.

Sunday September 6, 2009

My blue chair turned out better than I had hoped for,

This morning I started to clean up the corn stalks from the garden.  Amazingly, I picked enough corn to freeze 6 more 1lb packets.  Then I cut down enough stalks to make 5 bundles.  Three for around the chicken coop, one for Homer and the other for Frodo.  There are still enough stalks left for a few more bundles, cutting and tying up 5 was enough work for one day.  See pics on the garden page.

The chicken merger worked fine for 10 minutes after opening the coop this morning.  Hearing chicken screams, I rushed from the house to find Romeo (the old rooster) had cornered Junior and was pecking/spurring him.  Poor Junior looked pitiful.  I reached them in time to prevent any bloodshed, grabbed Junior and put him back into the smaller coop area.

After having my morning coffee to stimulate my thinking processes, I decided to give Junior a chance with Puff.  Puff’s enclosure is large and the fence 6ft high.  Junior should have plenty of room to escape should Puff get cranky.  Taking the still-shaky rooster from the dog house, I put him inside Puff’s coop along with food and water.  He stayed there most of the day, occasionally engaging in crowing competitions with Romeo. 

There is another picture of him in Puff’s coop and one of the new hens in the main coop area on the Bird portfolio page.

On the Cat portfolio page, there are two new cat pictures.  One of Mama making herself comfortable on Sissy’s living room bed, and the other of Slick making himself comfortable while I painted the window trim in the bathroom.  Too funny!

Coop time tonight turned into a spectacle.  At dusk, I checked on Puff and he was out of his fence!  So I hurried out, picked him up after a short, slow corral and tossed him into the orchard.  Junior was walking around, not yet interested in going into the coop, so I turned my attention to the hens.  The 5 old hens and Romeo were nicely tucked into their coop.  All 7 new hens were milling around outside the door.  I turned the coop light on in an attempt to encourage them, but they ended up scattering to the far corners of the fenced yard.  So I again turned my attention to the boys in the orchard.  By the time I walked over, Junior was inside the coop on Puff’s roost and Puff looked very upset.  He was pacing.  I tried to move Junior to his roost but had to just pick him up.  With a rooster under one arm, I convinced Puff to get in the coop and onto his roost.  Then I placed Junior across the coop on to his roost, and quickly shut the door.  Just wait until Junior crows in the morning . . . Puff may never be the same!

Then back to the girls where the situation was not any better.  In fact, things had degraded.  Romeo had decided that the new hens had to be inside so he was out chasing them around, growling and fussing. I managed to catch a few of the girls, and tossed them into the coop.  Romeo followed, scolding loudly and sure enough, out the three hens popped back into the yard.  Sigh.  I decided to turn off the light so Romeo would not be able to see so well, closed the hen door and opened the human door.  Then one by one, I chased down each hen, tossed her into the coop and slammed the door preventing any escapes.  Coop time took over 30 minutes, I was not only exhausted but also needed another bath! 

Saturday September 5, 2009

Today, I accomplished many small jobs that had been on my list for a long time.  The weather was just beautiful, cool in the morning and warm by afternoon.

I tried to weed the strawberries and asparagus but the ground was too hard.  All I did was break off the weed tops, leaving the roots clinging to the ground.  I gave up after 10 minutes.

Sissy and I drove to the bank and Lowes.  This was the first time that I took her an errands with me, leaving her for a few minutes in the jeep while I ran into the stores.  At Lowes, I bought two shades of shiny blue spray paint for a old wooden chair I bought at an auction years ago.  I am painting that chair two shades, so this afternoon I tapped off the side spindles and sprayed the middle spindles and bottom rungs the lighter shade.  Tomorrow, I will cover the painted parts and paint the rest a darker shade.  Then take pictures to post. 

The drive tired out Sissy so much she slept the rest of the day on the living room floor.  I had to call her to eat dinner!  Tomorrow we will make a trip to take the aluminum cans to the recycling center.  Good experience for Sissy to go on short car trips, each drive should be less stressful for her.

After returning home, I cleaned out homer’s pen, and put ear mite drops in his ears.  I noticed three days ago, Homer was scratching his ears so I have been medicating him since then.  He does well with the drops, and they stop the ear mites.  I always pick a handful of clover or take him a carrot as a reward.

The other chore I completed today was painting the trim around a stained-glass window in the upstairs bathroom.  I had been undecided about whether to paint or stain it, and decided to just get it done.  The frame took three coats because I did not have any primer, but it looks nice.

The issue of those darned super market plastic bags has been weighing on my mind. I have reusable cloth shopping bags, but those plastic bags are so handy for the kitty litter. Finally, I solved the problem by finding and buying biodegradable wastebasket bags. I will use them for bathroom wastebaskets and for the used kitty litter, with no guilt for filling up landfills or clogging the oceans. Nice!

And lastly, at dusk, I combined the young chickies into the main coop with the older hens and rooster.  All went well, since they were ready for bed there were no protests.  I had to move one chickie at a time, so after 8 trips, everyone was settled in on a roost.  This is the first time the younger chickies are roosting high off of the ground.  In their doghouse, the roost was just 3 inches high, where in the main coop the roost is 2ft high.  Hope they hold on tight!  Tomorrow will be the interesting day.  I will spend a lot of time in the area around the coop, keeping an eye on everyone.  The main issue will be the two roosters.  I am not sure how much fighting, if any, to expect.  The younger rooster has not started having “interest” in the hens, so I am hoping the older rooster, will not be too rough on him.

Wednesday September 2, 2009

Sissy was definitely stung be a bee, because thankfully, the swelling is down to just a small spot on her cheek.  She is really the sweetest dog.  While I diagnosed the sting, she let me poke and prod without making even the smallest noise.  I find strength when seeing her be so stoic and brave.  Funny what a person can learn from a dog.

On the other hand, for the past week, Murray has been on a tear catching chipmonks and mice.  There are numerous small gut piles strewn about the yard just outside the mudroom door.  Sissy’s nose is beagle-like in its ability to detect these leftovers.  Our walks have become a struggle between my urging Sissy away from these horrors, and Sissy’s strong desire to snack.  Other lessons are best left to dogs.

Monday August 31, 2009

Remember this picture of the hummingbird food stealer’s? 

Well, they are not so cute anymore.  The yellow jackets make getting in and out of the mudroom door like running a gauntlet.  I moved the feeder to a nearby tree without much change.  The yellow jackets are everywhere.  Using the hose, watering the flowers, standing on that side of the patio have all become impossible activities.  So tonight, I conceded defeat and brought in the feeder for the year.

Normally, I like to live and let live.  But the yellow jackets have committed an unforgivable act . . . one of them stung Sissy on the lip!  Tonight, I noticed the right side of her face was swollen.  The swelling appeared suddenly and is tender to the touch. Her teeth and gums seem fine, and she is eating without any problems, so the diagnosis is pointing to a sting.  I have those sting relief swabs, the kind that break in the middle and then the medicine flows onto the cotton.  I used one on Sissy’s face and will know in a while if the swelling goes down.  In the mean time, I plan to spray one location where I know a hive of yellow jackets is living, in a crevice between the porch and the house. Hurting my dog is unforgivable!

Saturday August 29, 2009

Saturday’s are the best day of the week!  I have developed a habit of getting up around daylight to take Sissy out for her morning piddle, let Puff out of his coop and open the chicken coops.  Then much to the disappointment of the cats, I head back to bed for another hour or two.  Lovely way to start a day!

Hb made me one of his summertime specials for breakfast, a garden omelette with peppers, tomatoes and sharp cheddar cheese.  We had rain overnight, so I spent a couple of hours weeding more of the outhouse garden while hb picked tomatoes, peppers and corn from the garden.

Looks like the hummingbirds are not the only ones enjoying the feeders!

The chickens needed supplies, so we made a quick run to Apollo Milling for layer crumb and scratch grain.  I picked up another dozen of pint jars and some more lids.  With the preseason football on tv, I spent the afternoon canning hot peppers, jalapenos, banana and red cherry peppers.  I filled 12 pints and 2 quarts and still had 3-4 cups of sliced peppers leftover, which I put into a zip-lock bag and tossed into the freezer.  Not sure how I plan to use them, but I may think of something.

The evening was beautiful, sunny but with cooler temperatures.  Hb and I took Sissy for a walk around the field and up the hill to the swing.  Of course, Murray tagged along.  Sissy enjoys his company. 

There are more new Sissy pictures on her portfolio page, some of Murray on the cat page and a really cool scenery picture that hb took of sun rays throught the trees.

Then, everyone grabbed their favorite spot in the tv room for football!  The Steelers played Buffalo in a preseason game.

Friday August 28, 2009

I drove home passed Webster’s turf today and spotted the ducks hanging out in the grass.  Webster was right there in the middle of the flock, looking very healthy and happy.  I waved and smiled!

Yesterday, I spent a few hours working on the west side of the outhouse garden.  The grass and weeds had overtaken most of the area, covering the plants. Hb weed wacked last weekend, cutting down everything, weeds and plants.  Later he commented that he thought it was strange the black-eyed susan’s had sprouted up all the way over there.  Not!  Those were just-planted-a-month-ago black-eyed susan’s!  Oh well, having the grass and weeds cut down was too helpful for me to complain about a few plants.  And honestly, the plants had been nearly completely hidden by the weeds.  First, I found and recovered two daylilies and three black-eyed susans.  Then, I transplanted a struggling hydrangea to a shadier spot, moving a geranium to make space for the hydrangea.

After the transplanting was finished, I enlisted a shovel to help pull up the field grass and weeds by the roots. Then planted the 27 irises I ordered last week online from Jung’s Seed catalog.  Jung’s sent me a great online offer for bearded irises so I ordered 6 dwarf denim blues, 6 dwarf wild ruby, 6 dwarf ritz and 9 crowned heads.  When planting and transplanting, especially in the summer months, I start by pouring a lot of water into the hole where the plant will be placed.  Having a wet start for the roots works well.  Also, good weather luck was with me.  Last night and today we had nice rain showers, making very happy new irises.

The down side to gardening is that both of my eyes are itchy and swollen.  I think I must have weeded something I am sensitive to and then rubbed my eyes.  The symptoms are bad enough that I bought benedryl.  That stuff usually puts me to sleep in 10 minutes, so I will not take it until nearly bedtime.

Tuesday August 25, 2009

Webster was healing, and was probably not thriving eating only cracked corn and a few Japanese beetles, so I stepped up my effort to locate his flock.

Both mornings this week, I searched but had no luck locating the duck flock near the creek where I found Webster. Then today, on my way back to work after putting Sissy out and moving Webster from the studio to his pool at noon, I spotted a neighbor close to where Webster was rescued.  She told me that the folks in the next house up the road owned the ducks and took care of them.

Wow!  Webster not only had a flock, he had a whole family!

Sure enough, the family knew Webster was missing and thought maybe he had been wounded and lost.  Now that I knew his flock was nearby, I debated when would be the best time to release him. This evening may not give him enough time to find the other ducks, but waiting until tomorrow morning might give him time to fly off from the pool.   Although already running late, I decided to take the time right then to release him.

After a quick trip home to gather Webster, I brought him to his home.  He was not very pleased at being removed from his pool so quickly.  When I returned to the creek, his flock was not in sight, so I took Webster to the edge of the water.  I swear he smiled as he waddled through the grass and into the creek.  There were bugs and minnows everywhere, so I knew he would finally find good things to eat. 

This evening as I emptied the pool and clean his studio pen, I kept thinking of Webster, wondering if he found his flock yet.  In my rush to release him, I had not taken a camera and was regretting not having a picture of him in his creek.  So after dinner, I asked hb if he was in the mood for a short road trip.  He grabbed his camera and off we went to check on Webster.  The sun was setting just as we arrived at the creek.  Fortunately, Webster’s owner understood and kindly showed us where the ducks were swimming.  There was Webster, reunited with his flock!  He looked so content, swimming with his buddies.  I was very pleased.

A happy ending to Webster’s story!

Webster is on the right behind the mature male:

Webster is the second from the right beside the mature male:

Monday August 24, 2009

Hb and I spent Saturday canoeing on a river with my daughter and son-in-law.  The float was 7 miles long and all along the way we fished.  Even though the sun was shining and the temperature very warm, between the four of us we caught 7-8 small mouth bass.  Part way down the river, we found a rocky shore, pulled out the canoes and setup a picnic lunch of cheese, crackers and fruit.  The water was high enough for a good float, and slow enough for the trip to take nearly four hours.  About 2 miles from the end, there was a rope swing hanging from a tree on a step part of the bank.  Several people were swinging on the rope out over the river, then jumping off into a fairly deep water hole.  The drop was about 15-18 feet from the end of the rope to the water.  While the guys held the canoes, my daughter and I gave it a try. I was concentrating so hard on remembering to let go of the rope at the optimal spot that I forgot to hold my breath when I hit the water.  I swear I tasted that river water for the rest of the day.  But the swing and jump were too much fun . . . thrilling!

On Sunday, we set up the clay pigeons and practiced target shooting, then everyone helped me setup Webster’s pool.  I had found a two section, blow-up baby pool on Friday.  After filling both sides with water, I put a large brick in the deep end, which is about a foot deep, to serve as a step or place to rest for Webster.  The in went Webster, and there he stayed all afternoon.  He swam all around, exercising his hurt foot, putting his head under the water and at times, standing on the brick taking in the scenery.  After about 4 hours in the pool, I took him back to the studio for food and rest.

Today, I followed the same duck-schedule.  Webster looked even happier and more at ease in the pool today.  He was moving and using his left foot even more, almost as much as the right one.

I think Wednesday or Thursday of this week will be the day he rejoins his flock.  Each day, I look to see if his flock is in the area where I rescued Webster.  I have not seen them yet but the creek there is shady and windy, so I am sure they are close by.  I plan to release him early in the morning so he has all day to find his friends and re-adjust to the wild.

Our tomato plants have so far been spared the terrible blight spreading across the region.  Hb and I canned 6 qts and 14 pints of stewed tomatoes and 12 pints of salsa Sunday afternoon.  So much work but I think we have enough tomatoes canned for the upcoming year.  The only canning left to do will be another batch of pickled beets and a batch of jalapenos. 

Our silver queen corn (those stalks that survived the raccoons) are doing well.  We pick a few normal size ears last night for dinner.  First corn I have ever grown that I have been able to harvest.  That makes me smile!

Friday August 21, 2009

After being with us for 5 days, the consensus is that our duck is Webster, a young male.  So far, he is doing very well, although his left foot is not nearly  healed.  Knowing that ducks spend most of their time in water, this afternoon, I filled my bathtub with 6 inches of water and brought Webster inside for a swim.  He LOVED it!  He ducked his head under, flapped his wings and almost smiled.  Although he did move his left foot now and then, all of his swimming came from the right foot.

So this evening, hb and I made a quick trip to the store and found an inflatable kiddie pool.  This weekend I plan to set it up, hopefully in the far end of the chicken coop.  There, Webster can get in and out of the water as he pleases while enjoying the fresh air. 

Wednesday August 19, 2009

No clear decision on whether Webster is a male or a female.  Conflicting photos of the internet point to either a female or a young male pic 1, pic 2.  Time will tell, and until then I will go with my first inclination, a male.

After moving Webster to the studio this morning and into a larger pen with more daylight, I placed him on the floor to test for injuries.  Webster moves his right foot up and down but never moves the left one, keeping it tucked close to his body.  Besides a few scrapes, there aren't any obvious injuries to that foot but I am sure something is wrong.  I gathered several Japanese beetles, and much to the horror of the chickens, fed them to Webster.  He ate about 10 out of my hand, and had also eaten cracked corn and water earlier today. Remembering my one firm rule of animal care, "if an animal eats, they will recover", Webster should be on the mend.

My afternoon feeding routine has reached epic proportions, well, at least that how it feels to me :-)

Each day, starting around 5:00pm, I am encouraged to accomplish this feeding schedule by some very determined tail wagging, leg rubbing/meowing, squawking, crowing and silent bunny stares.

• Feed and give clean water to Sissy
• Gives treats all indoor cats
• Welcome inside and treat the 2 outdoor cats
• Give ½ piece of bread to Frodo
• Rinse and refill the 8 barred rock chicken’s water
• Scatter scratch grain to old and new chickens
• Pick clover and dandelion leaves for Homer
• Say Hello to Puff (he is the easy one)
• Take Sissy for her post-meal walk
• Gather beetles and take clean water to Webster

The days with 90+ temperatures are the hardest, but regardless, the list is long! After I finish, there are no more routine animal chores until dusk when I close up Puff's coop, both chicken coops and check on Webster for the night. Then I hit my favorite chair, where Spooky and Slick join me for some much welcomed rest and relaxation. Sissy has been spending the evenings on her auxiliary bed in the study. She is doing so much better these days. Very dog like and very happy!

Tuesday August 18, 2009

My day began normally enough.  I headed off to the office around 7 this morning, and as always, I drove as many back country roads as possible before getting to the highway.  The country roads are paved, but have no markings and in places, are merely 1 ½ cars wide.  With the nights staying so warm, many animals were out and about, eating early before the heat of the day.  I stopped three times to let does and fawns (2 sets of twins still in spots, very cute) wander across the road.  Driving the country roads is never dull, and I love seeing the wildlife.  I came to a place where a creek runs beside the road, and where a flock of ducks often wanders.  There, my day took a turn for the worse.

The ducks must have been walking in the road, and someone, just a few minutes ahead of me, chose not to slow down or stop for them.  In the middle of my side of the road, was a duck, fatally hit by a car.  On the other side of the road, sat a second duck.  He was sitting still, not moving right on the roadway.  Off on the bank to the right, was the rest of the flock, looking shocked and quacking nervously.   I stopped my car, jumped out and shooed the live duck into the tall grass along the edge.  I could see that his leg was hurt, and possibly a wing as well.  I thought with some rest, he might be able to rejoin the flock.

Once at my desk, I could not think of anything else except that wounded duck.  I knew he was not hurt enough to die immediately, and I fretted that he was suffering.  So, by 8am, I left my office and headed back to the duck.  There he was, tucked into the roadside grass just as I had left him.  I scooped him up, carefully placed him in the box where I keep supplies in the back of my car and headed home.  Having only a few minutes to deal with the new family member, I enclosed an area in my basement where he would stay cool, made a straw bed and put down some lettuce and a bowl of water.  Webster, as he is now known, settled down into the straw, looking reasonably comfortable.

This evening, I took a closer look at Webster, and I think “he” is a “she”, so will be called Webbie.  I put a soft glove over Webbie’s head to keep her calm while I examined her foot and wing.  One foot had some scraps and there is a 2 inch spot on her back where the feathers are gone.  My thought is the car hit her there. Both wings look fine, and there does not seem to be any major injuries.  She is sleeping every time I check on her.  I read up on duck’s and found they like to eat bugs, slugs, leaves and cracked corn.  So I added a bowl of Puff’s cracked corn into her pen.  Tomorrow, I will try to arrange a bigger space in the studio.  If she is up and about soon, I hope to release her back with the flock.

Sunday August 16, 2009

Hb can always be counted on to make lemonade whenever life delivers lemons.  As we walked among the destroyed corn stalks, hb plucked off a small ear of corn, shucked it and said, “We should have stir fry for dinner”.  A fantastic idea!  We gathered a dozen or so baby corns, each one a perfect miniature ear, with tiny kernels and all.  For dinner, I stir fried then with tofu and oyster mushrooms and chilled for an hour or so.  Then filled lettuce leaves with the stir fry, rice noodles, bean sprouts and grated carrots.  The result was a nice light and cool salad for a very hot Sunday evening.  With the salad, we grilled a beautiful piece of wild salmon, with Thai seasoning. We also tried some of the sweet and sour pepper relish that I canned yesterday. It turned out very well, I was pleased!

The Barred Rock hens and rooster are growing and thriving.  All are doing well, even in this heat.  I think the middle of September will be time to integrate them with the new flock.  Hb took some very nice photos of the new hens and of me feeding the older hens those pesky Japanese beetles. Sissy and I collect at least a cup of them every, sometimes twice a night.

There are several more beautiful sunflower pictures on the Petal Portfolio page. hb was out early in the morning to catch the flowers in the morning light. The photos are amazing!

When the sunflower seeds begin to dry, usually around October, I will cut off the sunflower heads andstore them until winter. Then on special occasions, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines day, etc, I will hang out the heads in the trees for the wild birds to feast on. The birds will be so happy this winter!

Saturday August 15, 2009

Our tomato plants seemed to have survived the terrible tomato fungus running rampant this summer.  Yesterday and this morning we picked over a bushel of ripe tomatoes. The romas are extraordinary this year. And we have already gotten nice eating tomatoes, including huge heritage varieties. 

First thing this morning, we canned 6 quarts and 8 pints of stewed tomatoes, and I made 12 ½ pints of a sweet and sour pepper relish.  Curious thing about canning my garden produce. I absolutely hate to cook meals, but for some odd reason, canning makes me smile.  Storing garden food away in August is a lot of work, especially when the temperatures are in the 80’s before noon.  But months later, when the snow is flying and the sun hasn’t shown for days, I open a jar of stewed tomatoes, pickled beets or pepper relish, and memories from the past summer come back, like a miniature time capsule.

By noon, the canning session was wrapped up so hb and I worked on the yard.  I mowed while he weed-wacked around the coops, edges and walkways.  The temperature was in the high-80’s today with blue skys and not a cloud in sight.  Perfect August weather.

The sunflowers are beautiful this year . . . this one is over 10 ft tall!

Sissy has not been sleeping in her bed in the mudroom so much these days. Wonder why?

Wednesday August 12, 2009

When I took Sissy out for her walk this evening, I noticed looked at the garden and thought, “Wow, there are a lot of sunflowers blooming”.  Then I realized that not only could I see the sunflowers close to the house, but I could also see the sunflowers growing on the other side of the garden.  The corn was no longer blocking the view!  Wait, what happened to the corn?  Sissy and I jogged up to the garden for a closer look.  80% of the 8ft high corn stalks were lying on the ground, broken with many of their little baby ears of corn chewed off.  Raccoons . . . A band of those devil critters had raided the garden sometime Tuesday night!  What a terrible sight, vegetable carnage.  I tried to stand up a couple armfuls of stalks, but they just broke off at their base.  I think those sneaky critters either found a loose point and crawled under the fence or climbed over the door.  Sigh.  I asked Sissy if she would like to stay outside that night, guarding the remaining 10 stalks of corn.  She looked at me with really tight lips and started walking towards to house.  Guess that was a “No”.

Monday August 10, 2009

I love Sissy too much! No doubt, her past years have been rough, and left their mark, but I am determined to restart this life of her's at February 28, when she found me.

How could anyone not love this sweet being? Even her rear view is too cute, in an old-dog way!

A storm is brewing here and will be very welcome, as the temperature reached 89 this afternoon. Hopefully, a nice rain will cool things down.

None of the animals enjoy a storm quite as much as I do. Spooky is nowhere to be found, undoubtedly hiding under a bed, curled into a ball. Murray is sleeping in his chosen storm location, the doorway from the kitchen to the basement . . . nothing smarter than on outdoor cat! Mama is still outside, preferring to enjoy the cool breeze as the storm approaches. When the rain hits, she will trot off to the spring house for cover and security. That leaves Slick and Sissy, one on either side of me, neither any more than 12 inches away. Where I go, so goes the grey cat and the rescue dog, close on my heels. I love storms!

Sunday August 9, 2009

I found the answer to why my squash and pumpkin plants are wilting.  Powdery Mildew.  The GardenWeb site, in the vegetable forum, provided many discussion threads on the subject.  Seems that the mildew is always around in the environment.  But when the conditions are right, it grows on the plants stems and leaves.  This summer has been perfect for the stuff, cool nights and hot days.  A mixture of baking soda and water helps stop the mildew, but too late for my plants this season.  How disappointing!  No pumpkins, no acorn squash and no more zucchini.  Sigh. 

Today was the first day in over a year where the high temperature reached 90.  I managed to keep the house cool until evening,  then the indoor temperature matched the outdoor temperature, 80 degrees at 9:00pm.  I was sweating just sitting at the computer.  Having Spooky and Slick curled up next to me didn’t help cool me down any.

One of the sunflowers has bloomed and I am sure the others are close behind.  I love the way the sunflowers turn to follow the sun during the day.  They make such a pretty addition to the garden.

I had forgotten to flea and tic the animals at the beginning of August, only remembering today.  I use Revolution on the cats.  It has worming medicine as well of flea and tic control, which is good for Murray and Mama.  I have been buying from PetShed for a number of years, and have very good success ordering online from them.  Sissy just gets advantage which I pick up from her vet.  I trimmed some of Mama’s fur tonight.  The poor thing looks so hot in this weather.  I would like to shave all of her fur off but do not think she would like that experience.

Wednesday August 5, 2009

There have been less Japanese beetles this year, hopefully due to the milky spores that I put down in the spring.  But we still are getting enough to be troublesome.  For a while, I sprinkled the beetles with sevin dust.  This worked but the dust would wash off in the rain, and is not at all organic.  Then, my friend mentioned how she used to collect the beetles and feed them to minnows in her creek. 

Brilliant idea! 

That evening, I grabbed a mason jar and lid and collected a handful of the bugs from the asparagus ferns, raspberry bushes and various flowers in the perennial garden.  Then I headed straight to the chicken yard.  Quickly I discovered that chickens eat Japanese beetles like we eat shelled peanuts, by the handful!  In fact, two chickens ate that first round of about 50 beetles in under 5 seconds.  A perfectly organic solution to the Japanese beetle problem.  Since then, each evening as Sissy and I enjoy our nightly stroll around the farmette gardens, I carry along the mason jar.  We end our walk at the chicken yard, where every hen is at the fence, poking her head through the opening, waiting for that jar of beetle treats.  I swear I even saw one hen licking her lips in anticipation.

Sunday August 2, 2009

I spent most of the weekend dealing with animals and garden tasks.  Saturday morning began sunny and warm, following the nearly 2 ½ inches of rain that fell in the previous 48 hours.  Weeding the garden was ridiculously easy, but the weeds were ridiculously numerous and huge!  I picked another bushel of beans, about a dozen zucchini and more peppers than I could count, about 1 ½ bushels.  I concentrated my weeding on the tomatoes and the rhubarb patch.  Both the strawberries and asparagus need attention but will have to wait until next week.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, hb made a fresh veggie omelet for breakfast.  He makes one 5 egg omelet that we share.  Everything came from the farmette, the eggs, green pepper, onions and tomatoes.  Amazing how just-picked veggies make a normal meal so delicious and memorable.

Saturday afternoon I ran errands, primarily to pick up a much needed bale of straw.  All of the coops were wet and yucky from the daily rain storms.  As soon as I got back to the farmette, I cleaned out the chicken coops, adding piles of fresh straw to the floors and on the ground outside to cover the worst of the muddy spots.  The little chickies area was especially muddy. I shoveled out Homer’s coop, adding piles of clean straw to his floor as well.  He loves to get new straw!  Puff and Frodo have large enough areas that do not need regular attention.  Finally, as always on the weekend, everyone received clean water and full food bowls, Puff and Frodo too.

I devoted Sunday to dealing with the garden produce.  I froze some peppers, canned 8 pints of Dilly beans and 11 ½ pints of green pepper relish.  I was hoping to make a pepper-cabbage relish too but ran out of energy.  I think the green pepper relish will be good on hotdogs or in deviled eggs.  I added a few jalapenos to give it a kick.  The jalapenos are not very hot yet, but the extra flavor should be nice. 

Saturday’s dinner was straight from the garden (except for the steaks).  We picked and cooked collard greens, beets and zucchini.  On Sunday, I made stuffed peppers with a salad.  This time of year is fantastic for fresh vegetables.  I nearly become vegetarian from July through October.

I managed to sneak a picture of the first project for this fall.  I swear the nest is as big as a basketball around the middle. The wasps have enclosed the opening to the outside with the nest. This should be an adventure! I sort of feel bad about killing them. I mean, they have chosen a perfect place for their nest. If you think about it, their home really is a work of art. Sigh.

Thursday July 30, 2009

All of a sudden, practically overnight, the squash, pumpkin and cucumber plants have developed a white fungus dust over their leaves.  We had bought and used an organic spray for the tomatoes so last night, I quickly mixed up a batch and sprayed the vines.  Of course, the rain has hardly stopped, probably washing off the spray within hours.  This week we have received almost 2.5 inches. I am really hoping we caught this fungus in time to save the plants, especially the pumpkins and cantaloupes.  Remembering back, I am sure this is the same thing that killed the pumpkins, squash and cantaloupes last year.  This summer, at least I have a chance to save the plants.

Sissy went to the groomers yesterday for a bath and hair-do.  I had her fur cut very short again to keep her cooler and cleaner.  The groomer feels Sissy might have underactive thyroid.  I jumped online and her symptoms do match well.  The vet has done blood work on her twice in the 5 months she has lived with us, so I am hoping they can look at the results and make a diagnosis. 

One of these days I hope to add more items to the Farmette Store.  I have many things in mind including mugs and note cards printed with the photos, a Farmette recipe book and several photo story books that I have been working on.  I wish there were more hours in day!

Sunday July 26, 2009

I spent most of the weekend on garden chores. To my surprise, the beets were ready to be picked and hb picked another bushel of beans. The collection of veggies were so pretty that we took a picture. The greens are turnip greens, actually the small plants that I pulled to thin the rows. Neither of us had ever eaten turnip greens before. I boiled them in a little chicken broth until tender, about 20 minutes, then served them with vinegar and onions. Excellent greens!

Today, I canned 14 pints of pickled beets and froze 10 bags of beans. A lot of work, but I like to can and freeze. The jars look so pretty and I love opening memories of summer in the dead of a cold winter.

There is a terrible tomato blight in this part of the country this summer. We picked up a natural fungicide yesterday, and hb sprayed the tomato plants to prevent any problems.

There are two rows of new petal portfolio on the photo page. The onions bloom shots are really beautiful! And a cool picture of a pine tree and the studio on a foggy morning. I love the lighting on this one, on the scenery portfolio page.

Our corn is doing very well this year. Could be a nice harvest of ears . . . would be my first one! Check out Puff peeking at the corn on the far right side of the picture. He makes me laugh!

Saturday July 24, 2009

With all of the rain, one afternoon the conditions were perfect for rainbows. This is a picture I took, hbs will be one the photopage later this weekend.

I may have missed the baby raccoon picture yesterday, but last night, I caught this litte guy helping himself to the outdoor cat's food. He cleverly would duck under my storage cabinet but he couldn't hide completely!

Friday July 24, 2009

Raccoon update.

I reset the live trap last night, near Puff’s pen by the orchard, which on the side of the house facing my bedroom window.  About 3:00am, I woke to the sound of yipping and bawling.  Good, I thought. The trap worked and the pesky raccoon will soon have a new home far from the farmette.  The noise subsided for a bit, but resumed a short time later with a vengence, continuing for the rest of the night.  By 5:00am, I had to get up to investigate.  Of all of the raccoons I have trapped in the past, none has made this much noise!

Armed with a flashlight, I made my way to the orchard.  There, inside a large trap was the smallest raccoon I had ever seen.  At most, he was 8 inches long from tip of the shiny black nose, to the tip of his stretched out tail.  Maybe, he weighed 1lb, soaking wet. This raccoon was so small, that when Murray sauntered up to see what was happening, Murray let out a hiss and the raccoon backed away.  Not the typical encounter, usually the cat turns tail.  What a dilemma!  Here I had this baby raccoon and the sun was starting to rise. Obviously, I was not going to release this little thing miles away from home.  My instincts begged me to keep him and raise him as a pet.  But little raccoons become big raccoons and I have chickens. I had to make a decision. I also wanted to run for my camera but time was slipping away.  The sun was coming up and this little guy had to get back to his Mama.  So I took the trap to the edge of the woods behind the studio, opened the door and shooed him into the woods.  As I watched him scurry away, another raccoon was calling from among the trees, I am sure his Mama was calling him home.

Sigh,  Raccoons are so cute, but too clever and persistent.  I have this feeling I will be seeing him again.

Wednesday July 21, 2009

We have had over 2 inches of rain this week.  The temperatures have been at or below normal, but so far the garden is thriving.  The cucumbers and zucchini have slowed down with the cooler temps, but surprisingly the peppers are happy.  The tomatoes look amazing, and in a few weeks we should have more than we can handle.  I thinned the turnips today.  I plant turnips in early July, because they get less buggy than when planted in spring.  Within one or two weeks, the beets will be ready to can.

The farmette is again being stalked by a relentless, clever raccoon.  Last week, I noticed Puff’s food bowl was being emptied at a very rapid pace.  Puff is a large turkey, but he does not eat 6-8 cups of food in 2 days.  At first, I was not paying close attention and thought maybe the wild birds were the culprits.  Then, one morning after a rainy night, not only was the food bowl empty, but there were muddy paw prints all over the metal storage can.  So I put Puff’s bowl inside the storage can for a couple of nights.  Two day ago, the spring house basement was raided.  Grain containers chewed open, lids off of corn bins and everything in disarray.  No doubt, this was a raccoon.  So last night, I set the live trap by Puff’s fence, baited with a yummy can of cat food.  Unfortunately, rain fell almost all night long, keeping Mr. Raccoon at home.  Tonight, I am hoping for better luck.  I have found the perfect spot to release this raccoon, about 8 miles from the farmette., and away from new chickies, grain bins and Puff’s food.

Tuesday July 21, 2009

Insects. A constant bother in one way or another, especially in the country. Especially insects that fly and sting, and travel in huge numbers.

The electricity in the garage and studio comes from the house, through a wire strung from the attic to the garage. Last year, we had the old single wire replaced by a stronger, more durable cable. I forgot all about filling the small holes in the attic wall where the old wire had gone out.

This past weekend, I went into the attic in search of a book. As I neared the end of the attic, and stooped down under the eave where the boxes of books were stored, I heard a buzzing. A buzzing that was quickly growing louder. Looking up at the roof peak, just three feet above my head, I saw an enormous paper wasp hive with dozens of wasps busily increasing the hive's size. And others who were starting to fly toward the light bulb hanging in the middle of the room, because wasps are attracted to lights. Slowly, I backed away, bolted down the stairs and slammed the door securely behind me. Suddenly, the stray wasps I had seen now and then around the bedroom windows were explained.

Now, this is July and even though the summer temperatures have not been blistering this year, the wasps are nowhere near sluggish. I finally cajoled hb to join me for a second, calmer look at this problem in the attic. I had this vision of hb with a knife loosening the hive and me holding a bag for the hive to drop into and then we would dispose of the problem. But the hive was securely attached to both the wall of the attic and a rafter. Not in a position to be easily dislodged. Spraying or chemical bombs could not be used because of all of the items we store in the attic. These would make a huge mess and potentially ruin clothes and collectibles.

So, we headed back down the steps, closed the door and are re-thinking our options. The only positive aspect is that since the opening of the hive is just 2-3 inches from the holes in the house, the wasps are not wandering around the attic. They are all happily either inside the hive or going out to the outside.

Maybe we will wait until winter, when the wasps will be hibernating and then enact my cut and bag option!

Sunday July 19, 2009

Good news regarding Sissy. Her blood work came back the same as last time, so no kidney issues. The vet put her on 10days of a mild antibiotic in case there was a mile infection bothering her. And yesterday and today, Sissy has no had an accident. Maybe, when the weather is very hot, she drinks more and has trouble holding so long.

I am very relieved there are no serious problems with my Sissy! I love her too much.

A classic summertime breakfast today on the farmette.

First, the blueberries are picked. Next, the berries are washed and sorted.

Then, mixed with a light, homemade (by hb) batter and put on the griddle.

Finally, the pancakes are layered into beautiful stacks and covered with real maple syrup.

Friday July 17, 2009

We finally got some rain today. Not much, and not enough.  I am hoping for some more showers tonight and tomorrow.

Sissy has had a rough week.  On Monday, she suddenly began having accidents fairly regularly.  At first, I blamed her lack of bladder control on the cats.  Slick was probably scaring her when I was not around.   Then around Wednesday, Sissy developed a strong urge to nibble on grass.  By Thursday afternoon, I googled “old dogs urinating in house” and figured the poor thing had a UTI.  Amazingly, Sissy has the decency to puddle in the boot tray when she can’t make it outdoors.  Thursday evening, I took a sample to the vet, expecting to return with medicine.  No such luck.  No infection was found.  This is unexpected, potentially bad news.  Other culprits that cause these symptoms may be kidney stones or kidney failure.  Saturday morning Sissy gets to visit the vet in person for blood work.  I am trying to remain optimistic.

Thursday’s weather was so nice and hb had just received a new panoramic camera toy, so we drove to the top of the hill close to sunset.  Sissy is such a good sport.  I am not sure she has ever played in her past life, but she goes along with us with a smile on her face.

Sunday July 12, 2009

Busy, busy weekend.  On Saturday, the weather was stormy off and on.  Then on Sunday the sun was back and the day was beautiful.

In the morning, Hb and I drove to the strip district in Pittsburgh to do some food shopping.  We followed our normal routine, picking up delicious cheeses, pistachios, artisan bread, fresh pasta, clams, a salmon fillet and tuna steaks.  Then we made a trip to the wine store and stopped at the bank.  We found this amazing music store in a small town where I picked out some music books for my keyboard, and an amplifier.  Cool  shop with tons of instruments and very helpful people working there.
Here is their web site:  www.nstuffmusic.com

Hb and I managed to build the chickies an 8ft x 8ft enclosure around their new outdoor dog house.  We added deer netting across the entire top to keep out the hawks and a tarp half way across to provide some shade.  There was enough left over wire from other projects that we fashioned around in a sturdy but temporary arrangement.  With full size water and feed containers, the chickies were very pleased with their new digs.

Their first night outside, when the big hens went into their own coop, the little chickies stood by the divider fence chirping anxiously.  All 8 of them seemed to be pleading for the big hens to come back out.  Too funny.  I shooed them into their own coop, the dog house and closed up the door.  After a few minutes, everyone calmed down for the night.

By Sunday night, the little chickies went inside their coop at the same time as the big hens.  This looks like a great arrangement until the little ones are large enough to live with in the real coop, probably around September.

On Sunday, I worked a lot on the store for the website.  Hb replaced a window in the garage and we both spent time cleaning up the chickie mess in the studio.  There was dust everywhere!  This past spring, we had a real problem with birds making nests inside the facia of the studio.  A few weeks back, I found rolls of plastic screen made just for the purpose of keeping birds out without restricting airflow.  We were already beautifying the studio, so decided to get that job done.  Honestly, stapling up the screen went much more smoothly than I had anticipated.  We got a flow going and in an hour or so, all four side of the studio facia were done.  Big project checked off of our list!

Check out this picture hb took of Mama visiting her old friend Blacky.

I went back inside to work more on the website, and hb decided to power wash to front porch.  By then, Sunday was nearly over.  Sigh.  Excellent weekend!

Friday July 10, 2009

Due to many requests, I have been working on our Farmette Store.  At first, the store will have a selection of photos available to purchase.  Later, I will add a variety of merchandise and increasing the available photos. 

Another goal for this weekend is to relocate the 8 chickies to their outdoor pen.  They are much too large for the current living arrangement and are constantly knocking over their food and water containers.

I discovered this morning that Frodo loves noodles as much as the chickens!  I threw a few pieces into his pen on the way to the chicken coop.  Amazingly, he started happily pecking away at them.  Finally, a treat that he will eat!

Tuesday July 7, 2009

Lots of new pictures today. 

There are flower pictures on the Petal portfolio page. Here are two of my favorites.

Murray, Slick and Mama pictures on the Cat Portfolio Photo.

And garden pictures on the Garden page under Veggie 2009 and one on the Scenery Portfolio Photo page.

Sunday July 5, 2009n a small road trip, just for dinner  We ordered lemon grass chicken, Pho noodles and these amazing spring rolls.  The spring rolls were steamed, vegetarian and served with a cashew sauce.  The meal was absolutely worth the drive!

The weekend started with dinner out.  Hb and I found this great little Vietnamese restaurant about an hour away.  We decided to go o

On Saturday, the 4th of July, we did some morning shopping for supplies.  I decided to by a large dog house for the chickies outdoor pen.  They are really making a mess in the studio, dust is everywhere and their pen is quickly becoming too small.  The dog house is about 4ft long and 2.5 ft wide.  I bought a 3ft x 6ft roll of linoleum to use to cover the wooden floor. We have this in the main chicken coop and the linoleum is amazingly easy to keep clean. The chicken pen has a smaller pen at the end where I put the doghouse after assembling it.  I plan to add a light bulb at one end and a small enclosure for the first few weeks that the chickies live there.  They are growing quickly and should be ready for outdoor living in a week or two.

We have picked and eaten several zucchini this weekend.  I have been sautéing the sliced squash with garden onions, banana peppers, parsley and oregano from the herb garden.  I can’t wait until the tomatoes and cucumbers are ripe!

Friday July 3, 2009

Busy week.  I have been too tired each evening to catch up with the journal.  Finally able to catch my breath tonight.

The herb garden has been growing like crazy.  Hb ordered a dehydrator last week that we received and put to use on Tuesday.  The basil was our first attempt.  There were differing instructions between the dehydrator and internet recipes for drying herbs.  We started at 95 degrees for 3 hours, then 6 hours before increasing the heat to 115 degrees for another 4 hours.  Finally, we concluded the best temperature was 125 degrees giving us dry basil in 4-6 hours.  This batch was definitely an experiment, the next will dry more consistently.  

The garden is growing in leaps and bounds.  Each day has brought rain and sun, helping everything thrive.  The weeds as well but with the moist ground they are still easy to pull.  We picked and ate the first zucchini and summer squash this week. The strawberries are still producing and the blueberries are ripe enough to pick this weekend.  I also found a large number of wild black raspberries along the woodline.  I mix these small wild berries with our  strawberries in a bowl then top with cool-whip for a really healthy, delicious dessert.

Cute picture of my two boy furr-balls on their favorite daytime chair.

Tuesday June 30, 2009

Sissy's story is on the animal rescue site!

Check it out: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/photostorylist.faces?siteId=3&campaignTag=petStories

Saturday and Sunday June 27-28, 2009

Spectacular weekend, once I recovered from my wine-covered-Slick-event Friday evening (see last post). 

Hb and I spent Saturday hanging around the farmette, completing small tasks that had been put off for too long.  We spent some time in the garden on Saturday morning while the temperature was still cool. With the recent rains, weeding and thinning was easy.  We tied up the tomato plants by running baling twine on either side of the plants, tying it off on post set 8 ft apart within the rows.  While hb added fertilizer to the corn rows, I planted a few more beets and collards, several new rows of kale and turnips and a small patch of cilantro for our upcoming salsa.

We pulled out the long ladder and climbed on to the kitchen roof to re-caulk around one of the older windows.  Looking around on the roof, we noticed some of the gutters were clogged so we took care of that task while up there.  That done, and with the weather cooperating, we hooked the boat up to the jeep and went for a quick boat ride.  In reality, the boat has not been in the water yet this season, and we needed to get the motor started.  There is a small lake about 6 miles away with no hp restrictions.  In only 2 ½ hours, we had the boat in, run u and down the lake and out of the water.  Another fun job checked off of the list.

On Sunday, the day started with a rain shower but then the sun came out by midmorning.  We decided to go for a bike ride on a nearby rails-trails path.  There a numerous such trails in Pennsylvania, given the many train beds from the mining and industrial  operations early in the last century.  For this ride, we tried out a trial about 30 minutes away.  In total we biked 12 miles, the hilly terrain made the ride short but strenuous.  The first 4 miles were slightly uphill, following the course of the river.  The next 2 were also uphill but very steep through woods and open meadows.  Then the return, a glorious downhill of 6 miles - a relief, and a great workout!

Later in the day, I finally backed up my hard drive to the external storage device.  This has been on my mind for a long time, and I am relieved to have completed the work.

Excellent weekend.

Saturday June 27, 2009

Last night, Slick made a memory, again.  Around 9:30pm, after all of the coops were closed for the night, dinner and dishes finished, I settled down on my beloved chair with my Apple computer and a glass of wine, ready to enjoy the evening.  The window next to me is usually closed, but the air was warm on Friday so I opened it letting in the cool evening breeze.  Slick and Spooky assumed their usual places, Spooky on the chair beside me and Slick on the ottoman, next to my legs.  Suddenly, Slick noticed the open window.  He jumped from the ottoman, to the chair and then leaped to the window.  Well, that was his plan.  Half way to the window, his long, slinky tail caught the power cord to my computer.  Slick’s momentum was interrupted, causing his tail to jerk to the right, just far enough to knock my glass of wine off of the table. Red wine went everywhere, over the antique side table, in the radiator sections, on the cover of my chair (thank goodness I keep furniture covered), creating a puddle on the floor under the window.  So much for relaxing!  I ran to the kitchen, gathered towels and wipes, and managed to clean up most of the mess in about 15 minutes.  As I carried the dirty towels to the garbage can in the kitchen, I noticed drips of wine along the way.  Figuring that I had dripped on my first trip, I pulled out a new wipe and clean the drips.  But there were so many, and then, the trail of drips led  behind the couch.  Slick!  I tracked him down (keep in mind, this is now 15 minutes after the initial spill), and that cat was soaked in wine.  Dripping everywhere!  Slick earned a rinse in the laundry tub.  Hb lent a hand during the washing, but he also was able to snap a few pictures to commemorate the relaxing Friday night.  This morning, I am still finding drips of wine here and there.  Sigh.

Wednesday June 24, 2009

Here are a few pictures of the now 4 week old chickies . . . .

Doesn't this one look like a rooster? Only time will tell!

And, we have our first Morel mushroom in the mushroom bed,

Well, the day is almost over, and I did not give Spooky his promised brushing. Hopefully I will get to that tomorrow. His fur is so long and he sheds clumps of black unless I brush him often. Needless to say, my carpets often have clumps of black Spooky fur scattered about.

The day was hot today. We ate the best summer meal tonight. A bed of simple, chopped salad (lettuce, carrots, cucumber and celery) topped with a scoop of fresh guacamole, cottage cheese and grilled chicken, with grilled corn on the cob on the side. Cool, filling and very tasty on a hot summer night.

Tuesday June 23, 2009

The weather has been fantastic for the garden so far this year.  Lots of rain last week and up to 80 degrees this week.  There are tomatoes on several of the larger plants, flowers on the cucumbers and small zucchinis.  Even my sunflowers, one on every garden post, are thriving.  And of course, so are the weeds.  But with the rain last week, weeding is still relatively easy.

The new chickies are so big!  I promise to post new pictures soon.  Each one has many adult feathers and are about 8 inches tall.   I hope to design and maybe build an outdoor coop for them this weekend.

Hb and I picked at least 6 quarts of strawberries today.  I cut some up, added just a sprinkle of sugar and then we ate them over vanilla ice cream this evening.  Store bought berries are never as good!  These are so sweet but yet tart, with an amazing flavor and color.

Over the past week, I have updated the Garden, Critters and Wildlife pages. Each is now organized using the tabs with a few new pictures as well.  Also, I am starting to work on a recipes page that I hope to upload soon.

Monday June 22, 2009

Over the two years that KC has lived here, she has had a difficult time dealing with the male cats at the farmette. Last winter, I came home to find a scared and injured KC behind the dryer. Her injured shoulder took months to heal, including at least 6 weeks in solitary away from the boys.

So a few months ago, I began looking for a new, safer home for KC. In June,  I found the perfect new home. I adopted her out to a family friend in Eastern PA. There, KC will be an only cat in a household with just adults. Her new owners immediately fell in love with her, renaming her Banchee. KC is the first pet I have ever given away, but this is a perfect solution for everyone. I miss her, but know she is so much happier and content with her new family.

Tuesday June 16, 2009

I have posted a number of new pictures on the Photo, Garden and Wildlife pages.

Hb saw an amazing Luna moth on an old walnut tree stump in the yard (I had never seen one before), grabbed his camera and took a couple of excellent pictures.  These are on the Wildlife page.  I still need to upgrade this page to have the tabs across the top.

Of course, there is a super cute picture of Sissy on her tab on the Sissy Portfolio page.

And on the garden page, I added a couple of current pictures of the veggie garden.  These are in the Spring 2009 tab.  Another task for me is to add a 2009 Veg Garden tab on the Garden page.

On the Petal Portfolio page, are some shots of flowers in the perennial garden and under the Scenery tab are two really beautiful daisy shots that hb took.  These are among my favorite pictures.  The daisies are in the foreground while the background is visible but faded away.  Nice composition!

Last night, as we were watering the strawberries, the dug well pump ran dry.  We did not have enough daylight time left to really resolve why this happened.  My thought is that the pipe is not low enough under the water table and since we have not had a lot of rain, the water line dropped below the pipe end.  Sigh.  Will take us some effort to get it working again.

Here is a nice shot of the hens and their rooster, all happy in their new pen.

Saturday June 13, 2009

The Penguins won the Stanley Cup last night . . .WooHoo!!!  A fantastic game 7, in Detroit no less!  The whole city is celebrating a great win and even better hockey series. 

The weather was very pleasant today.  High in the 70’s, with a nice breeze.  Clouds gathered in late afternoon but then cleared leaving a beautiful evening sky.

After running a few errands in the morning, I planted six more perennials in the back of the outhouse garden.   The garden is doing very well.  I spent a couple of hours weeding, banking the beets and feeding the beans, Brussels and cantaloupe.  Hb planted 3 large tomato plants and they have small tomatoes already.  The remaining plants are growing steadily and getting flowers.   When the grass dried enough, I mowed.  Mowing the farmette “yard” takes me about 1 ½ hours. 

Sissy spends much of the weekend days outside with us.  She has started this habit of digging a shallow hole in some shady spot and then laying in the cool dirt.  Her first excavation was under the pine tree in the side yard.  Today, she moved to behind the outhouse.  Good spot for her until about 4 when the sun shines too hard there.

Friday June 12, 2009

Sissy has recovered!  We are all very happy about this.  Sissy is very pleased to be eating normal dog food again. By last night, she was sick of the rice.   And I am so happy to not be cleaning the mudroom floor anymore. 

And Sissy is back to her normal, jogging, smiley self, which is so nice to see.  Tonight, the weather is cool and breezy.  Right now, Sissy is lounging in the shade, enjoying the scenery.

The strawberries are ripening. I picked my first quart tonight and there are many flowers starting to bloom.  The blueberries are coming along, however I worry that the frost killed some of the harvest.  While we will get blueberries, maybe not as much as expected.

Our herb gardens are spectacular.  Tonight, I sliced potatoes and onions then topped with chopped parsley, basil, oregano and rosemary.  A little pepper and some butter then onto the grill in a packet of aluminum foil.  The smell is amazing, and the results even better.  Leftovers will be for breakfast, with scrambled eggs.  Yum!

Tuesday June 9, 2009

Sissy has been suffering with the squirts over the last 24 hours.  Therefore,  I have been suffering as well.   Walking into the mudroom yesterday at noon, I was greeted by several messes just inside the door.  Then at 5:30 am this morning, I found myself on hands and knees cleaning up a second mess, this one more of an explosion.  Breakfast for Sissy was then strictly dry food, which she refused to eat.  The poor beige thing followed me around for an hour pleading with sad eyes for me to add the small can of wet food to her bowl.  That did not happen.  Neither did anything on the two long walks I took her on before leaving for the morning. 

Lunch time today brought another messy mudroom floor, just not quite as extensive.  The dry food was still sitting untouched in her bowl.  However, she was very perky during her walk, jogging and rolling, so I am not overly worried yet.  Typically, each day at dinner, I add ½ a sardine to her food to help improve her skin and coat.  The last can looked sketchy, so I am really hoping bad sardines are the root cause of this uncomfortable situation.  Tonight, I fed her dry food with cooked rice.  She seemed to like that and I hope the bland rice helps her stomach.  Sissy and I are both ready for a return to nice, intact dog logs in the grass.

Sunday Evening June 7, 2009

I spent the day gardening and doing odd chores, while hb washed vehicles and summarized the boat.  The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm with a light breeze.

As is typical, Sunday began with the weekly animal chores.  Everyone had their water containers cleaned and refilled.  Food dishes were also replenished, and Homer received his weekly ear drops.  Hb put the finishing touches on the chicken coop gates and leveled off the fence posts.  The pen looks amazing!  And the chickens are so happy in their space.  I have been getting 4-5 eggs a day.  While hb was working on the gates, he saw Phyllis Diller in the field, leading a line of tiny skunk kittens! She had babies!  We were not able to get a picture but will try to catch a shot this week.

After the animal maintenance was done, I weeded the veggie garden, planted a few more beans to replace those the birds ate, and dusted everyone with Sevin.  I transplanted a few sunflowers so that each fence post has a flower next to it.  I thinned the beets and transplanted 6 more brussel plants.   These are the ones I started from seeds, that the chickens ate last month.  Six have actually survived and are thriving.

About mid morning, I took a break to clean the 8x10 rug in the dining room.  Either Murray or KC, or both of them, have developed a nasty habit of peeing on the rug just in front of the porch door.  All of my attempts to clean the rug in place have failed, so today hb helped me carry it outside and hang it over the retaining wall.  I used the hose, cleanser and animal scent remover on the offending spot.  Luckily by evening, the rug had mostly dried, and the smell seems to be gone.  With Murray spending 90% of the summer time outdoors, I am really hoping this bad habit will be a thing of the past.

The elements were wearing on Frodo’s coop, so I pulled out the barn red paint and gave it a fresh coat.  While I painted the coop, Frodo was incensed at my intrusion into his space, squawking and dancing all around.  At one point as he attempted to eat the brush, he succeeded and gave himself a bright red beak.  By the time I retrieved my camera, he had wiped off most of the paint in the grass, but you can still see the stain.  Silly pheasant! Since I had paint and brush in hand, I decided to put a coat on the old washstand cabinet that I keep on the side porch for storage of outdoor shoes.   The original paint had nearly worn off, leaving a lot of bare wood.  The new barn red should protect the wood from the weather, and prevent rotting.  Looks nice too.

Of course, Slick managed to run out of the house by opening the side screen door.  He bolted into the woods, I swear with a smile on his face.  After about an hour, he made a couple of full speed sprints around the house, finally ending up hanging out with Murray.  At least, I figured Murray would help keep Slick out of harm’s way.  After another hour passed, I spotted the pair slinking into the open door of the studio, no doubt looking to catch an easy snack of 10 day old chicks.  Using my sweetest “here kitty” voice, I was able to wrangle Slick and get him back into the house.   That cat can be such a pest, but I love him too much!

Leaving the rug in the sun to dry, I turned my attention to the outhouse garden.  Due to a year of neglectfulness, the back 25% was never planted and covered with horrible weeds. I used the weed wacker to shorten the weeds, and then hb helped me dig the smaller ones up with the Mantis tiller.  Using a shovel, I dug all of the deeper weeds up by their roots, filling the wheel barrow numerous times.  Following my established gardening style,  I lined the back edge of the garden space with rocks, making a clear, mowable border.  A local nursery was having a sale on perennials so I bought 9 perennial plants,  black-eyed susans, day lilies, geraniums and pink sweet peas, all for a reasonable price.  I also relocated several dutch irises and two yucca plants.  Completing the outhouse gardening work took me about 4-5 hours to complete, and was exhausting labor, but the results are well worth the effort.  The plants will fill in the spaces over the next few years, making for a near maintenance free garden.

Murray found a cool, shady spot to spend a hot afternoon. We took a break to snap a few pictures of him. Definitely made me laugh out loud.

The last gardening task was to weed the rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries then I was completely done for the day!  Thank goodness because my body was tired.  Nothing better after a day spent outside playing in the dirt in the hot sun than a cool bath with the windows open and a summer breeze blowing the curtains. 

By the time dinner was ready, the temperature outside had decreased enough that we ate on the patio.  hb and I enjoyed a good meal, overlooking the tended gardens, clean vehicles and happy critters.

Sunday June 6, 2009

During the summer months, the ingredients for our food come largely from the farmette.  This weekend’s meals were the first of many where the first step in preparation is walking to the garden with a knife and basket.

Saturday’s breakfast:

• grits with poached eggs from the hens.
  

Side dishes for Saturday’s dinner:

• grilled potatoes seasoned with rosemary and parsley from the herb garden
• salad with garden spring onions and baby snow peas
  

Dessert

• baked rhubarb and strawberry crisp, straight from the perennial garden
  

Sunday’s breakfast:

• an omelet with the hen’s eggs, filled with asparagus and onions from the garden
  

Sunday’s dinner:

• venison tenderloin medallions on the grill
• beans from last year’s garden
• rice with stewed tomatoes, canned last September

Our meals change based on what is growing and available in the garden.  As summer progresses, the Sunday omelets will change from asparagus to fresh tomatoes and peppers.

Wednesday June 3, 2009

Rain, steady and cool for most of the day, freed me from my nightly watering chores.  All of the plants, flowers and veggies, are growing like crazy. As is the grass, but I like to mow so no problem.

Hockey is still going strong.  The Penguins are in the finals again, playing those awful Detroit Redwings.  Last night, the Pens stepped up and won a game, making the series 2-1.  Next game is tomorrow evening.  Go Pens!

Sissy has been joining us in the tv room each evening.  I have a second bed for her there, placed next to my chair, onto which she plops her old, beige body.   Every 5 or 10 minutes, Sissy stands up, puts her two front paws on the edge of my chairs, waiting for a face pet.  Then she settles back down on her bed, enjoying the dog whisperer or house or the hockey game.

Tuesday June 2, 2009

Last night, at 1:30 in the morning, a thunderstorm passed through.  Nearly constant hunder and lightning with steady rain for a few hours.  I love thunderstorms, especially at night.  After ensuring rain was not blowing through the open windows, I listened to the thunder booms and the rain hitting the metal roof, finally drifting into a deep sleep.  Best hours of sleep I have had in a long time, thunderstorms are like lullabies for me.

With all of the rain, the corn is a few inches tall already.  I planted three long rows this year.  Tonight, I added some fertilizer between each row.  We are supposed to get more rain tonight and tomorrow, so the fertilizer should sink to the roots.  The beans are  growing but the tops are being eaten, probably by crows.  Because of the rain, I have resisted sprinkling with Sevin, but hope to get to that tomorrow.

The eight new chickies are getting tiny feathers on their wings.  They are all doing very well, eating constantly, jumping around and peeping contentedly.

The rooster flew out of the hen pen last night.  The wind had picked up, and hb watched as the rooster flapped his wings just as a strong gust blew.  Up he went to the top of the gate.  He let out a loud, happy crow then promptly jumped down on the outside of the fence.  We tried to coax him back in without any luck.  For an hour or so, he hung around the fence, looking somewhat confused.  As dusk approached, I took a handful of lettuce out to the pen.  Because I was alone, the rooster stayed within 2-3 ft of me.  I tossed the lettuce over the gate to the hens, who immediately flicked around the food, clucking happily.  I opened the gate and the rooster ran right in, anxious to get his share.  Easy!

Saturday May 30, 2009

The new chickies arrived yesterday evening!  Apollo Milling, where I order them from, kept them for 24 hrs to make sure all were healthy.  The first 12 hours after I got them home, the chickies seemed a little sluggish and stressed.  By tonight, each had eaten food and drank water.  The heat lamp seems well positioned, the chickies hang out in groups of 2-3 under the lamp, but do not stay there long.  Too cold and all eight would be huddled together directly under the light, too hot and they would not be under it at all.  Their food, chick starter, grit and finely cracked corn, seems to be a hit as well.

A full week of sun, rain and warm temperatures have been great for the garden.  Everything has taken off, and the beans and sunflowers are 3 inches tall.

Puff has had a wild jake (young male turkey) visiting him almost twice a day.  Puff enjoys the company, and gets exercise following him around the fence.

The hummingbirds have returned in full force.  I have four feeders hanging around the farmhouse.  Three are routinely emptied while the fourth, a fancy blue glass feeder, is almost never used.  I do not think the hummers can get to the food from the glass flower petals that supposedly draw up the food.  Whenever we walk outside, at least one hummingbird buzzes close by, sounding like a mini fighter jet or a huge killer bee.  The males protect the feeder in their territory, only permitting their females from drinking from it.  Other males are chased away in spectacular aerial displays. Looking closely, the males can be seen sitting on branches in nearby trees, keeping watch over their food source.

Wednesday May 27, 2009

A spring morning in the country:
Wide open windows, curtains blowing in the breeze, the sun barely up, and

• a rooster crowing
• a pet pheasant squawking
• a pet turkey gobbling
• wild turkeys gobbling
• (repeat the first four items every 3 minutes until about 7am)
• various song birds singing
• the soft buzz of darting hummingbirds
• black crows cawing
• the outdoor cat banging the screen door to be let in
• car tires crunching on the dirt road
• neighbor’s cows mooing
• the quiet hum of the ceiling fan (because old farmhouses lack A/C)

The start to a great day!

Monday May 25, 2009

The weather this long Memorial Day weekend was fantastic!  Predicted to be in the low 70’s with 40% chance of rain, the actual days were all in the low to mid 80’s with not a cloud in the sky.  Some evening rain would have been nice, but none fell, so hb and I watered the garden Saturday and Monday evenings.

Finally, we finished putting in the garden today.  Our theory is that the more work we accomplish of the front end of gardening season, the less work we have to through out the middle and end of  the season.  After planting the plants and seeds, we used Isabelle’s mulching recommendation, sheets of newspaper covered with straw.  The tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupes, and brussels were all mulched using this technique.  The newspaper and straw works for the garden in two ways, both in discouraging the weeds and keeping in the moisture. 

I planted three 50ft rows of corn, the last seeds to go in until I plant the fall turnips.  The beans, pumpkins and sunflowers are already sprouting, as are the beets and the kale.  The peas are starting to flower, but are not looking as healthy as I had hoped.  Maybe once we get some rain, they will perk up.  All in all, hb and I have a very good feeling about the success of the garden this year!

Last year we used sprinklers to water, which were less than effective.  So this year, we are laying down soaker hoses around the tomatoes, peppers and strawberries.  Everything else will be sprayed with the hose.  Hb’s hard work hooking up the dug well pump has already paid off.  We have the garden hoses tied to the well water, which is full of minerals and lacks the chlorine of house water, perfect for the garden.

I completed planting the annuals in all of the various pots and planters around the farmette.  Because these require watering every day without rain, I tried not to plant too many.  Only one hanging basket this year, and all of the pots can be reached with the hose. A couple of years ago, when we built the orchard fence, I planted wildflower seeds. The only ones that survived were the daisies and this year, they are amazing!

The screens doors all were cleaned, painted and hung this weekend.  We selected the old style doors, the kind that slams shut when let go.  I love the sound of a slamming screen door on an old farm house on a hot summer day.  Just one of those sounds that makes me smile.

There are mushrooms growing in the morel mushroom bed.  They are still small, so we will wait to make a positive ID that they are actually morels, and not some weird, poisonous thing.  I will let hb determine the mushroom identity!

Sissy is doing very well.  She follows me around much better these days.  When I am working outside around the house, watering flowers, weeding, etc, I will let Sissy hang out off leash in the yard under the shade of the trees.  She loves being outside, and is perfectly content lying in one cool grassy spot, adjusting her position to keep me in view.  If I move out of sight, I will talk to her so she knows I am nearby.  Good arrangement for both of us, I enjoy her company and she enjoys the fresh air.

Tonight for dinner, hb smoked ribs and I made potato salad and a lettuce salad.  He uses a dry rub on the ribs, and then we have BBQ sauce on the side for dipping.  Perfect meal for the last day of hot, holiday weekend.  We have been working so hard, both of us are physically exhausted at day’s end.  We decided to splurge and have ice cream for dessert - two kinds, vanilla and toffee crunch.  Yummy!

Saturday May 23, 2009

The first day of a long weekend, so hb and I decided to go on an outing.  We each took our cameras and headed for the zoo!  Digital cameras are awesome for these kind of outings.  We arrived at the zoo before the gates opened and were the first visitors in.  The morning temperature was still cool, and the animals happy and relaxed. We both took dozens of pictures of tigers, lions, two baby elephants with their herds, alligators, gorillas, otters, ostriches, peacocks, rhinocerases, and my favorite, bears.  At the Pittsburgh zoo, there are all kinds of bears, including black bears, brown bears, speckled-face bears and polar bears.  At the gift shop, I bought the cutest, most realistic silver back gorilla stuffed animal.  A perfect souvenir from a fantastic morning visit to the zoo.

After a few hours at the zoo, hb and I did some food shopping and then headed back to the farmette by early afternoon.  The day was warm and sunny, so we planted (re-planted) the garden.   We hooked up the pump to the hand dug well, filled the water buffalo in the garden and gave all of the new plants a drink of non-chlorinated water. 

The day was nearly over before we turned our attention to dinner.  Steak, cucumbers with spring onions in vinegar, and corn on the cob hit the spot.  Before dishes were done, the pens game was underway. 

The chickens are still happy in their new pen.  Today, I treated them to lettuce, corn cobs and watermelon rind.  Happy chickens.

My buddy at the local feed store told me that pheasants like citrus fruits,  So I hung half a grapefruit inside a piece of fencing inside Frodo’s coop and guess what ?  He loves it!  Who would have guessed?

Thursday May 21, 2009

At lunch today, I bought a few containers of annuals for the flower pots I have at placed at various locations, along the Tetons and in the outhouse garden.  By the time I planted the things, every one was wilted and half dead.  But once in the pots, with a generous watering, and the sun setting, most of the flowers have perked up.  As usual, I chose all purple blooms.  Most of my gardens have purple or blue flowers.  My favorite is blue, but they are harder to find so I buy purple as well.

Isabelle's son gave me a fringe tree today, as a thank you for the time I spent watching ove her farm when she broke her foot last year. Isabelle has an old frnge tree that was her mother's and I always admired the blooms. He gave me a beautiul tree, which hb and I planted immediately. An awesome addition to the farmette.

Puff had a visitor today.  When I got out my car, I called, “Hi Puff”, as usual.  As I walked around to the passenger side, I noticed a turkey running through the orchard.  But the turkey seemed darker in color and definitely much thinner than Puff.  A second later, a wild bird took off and flew into the lower field.  Puff had a visitor!  Not sure whether the friend was looking to fight or flirt, but I am sure Puff enjoyed the turkey talk.

The chickens are really enjoying their new fenced in area.  Honestly, the rooster and the hens seem very calm and happy.  I think the job of protecting the flock is easier for him now.  I make sure to feed them extra scratch grain every day, and treats, like cobs from the corn we have for meals.

We have not had rain for awhile and the ground is very dry.  Of course, being a holiday weekend, the weather folks are calling for rain everyday , Saturday through Monday!

Sissy is doing very well.  She is making friends with the cats now, and I even caught Slick sleeping next to her in the mudroom.  Doesn’t she look happy in this picture?   She is too cute! 

Monday May 18, 2009

Temperatures fell to a record low overnight, there was a hard frost.  How horrible for the garden1  We managed to cover the tomatoes, squash and peppers but with little success.  I guess we lost about 60-70% of the plants.  The timing was terrible.  I think if the plants had been outside for a week or so, they would have built up some hardiness and maybe survived better.  Losing plants makes me so sad.  Their leaves get limp and wet, and they sag until they touch the ground.  I should have waited another week before planting.  But hb was going to be away next week, and I wanted to get the garden in before June.  Sigh.  At least the beans and other seeds have not sprouted yet.  And the peas like cooler temperatures so they are smiling.  Hb is so sweet.  He has volunteered to pick up more plants to replace the frosted ones.  Guess this weekend will be a repeat of last with respect to planting the garden!

Because of the threat of frost, I brought my lone hanging plant inside off of the front porch.  Not having anywhere to hang it, and knowing Slick and KC’s love of fresh greens, I hung it inside the downstairs shower.  I felt it would be safe behind the closed glass door.  Look what was waiting for me at lunch time!  Slick is so naughty!  I wonder if he jumped over the top or found a way to paw the door open and slink inside.  Regardless, my beautiful hanging plant is now lighter weight as Slick ate his fill.  I made him wait in there for at least 10 more minutes after I found him while I retrieved my camera and snapped these pics.  Too funny!

Sunday May 17, 2009

After a nice breakfast of hot sausage and scrambled eggs (having hens laying fresh eggs and an hb that loves to cook is priceless), hb and I completed the chicken yard fencing.  The chickens will probably not celebrate but limiting their ranging will have a number of benefits.  No more chickens lost to speeding vehicles in front of the farmette, no more chicken poop on the patio and no more chickens nibbling on my seedling or digging in my flower gardens.  The pen is 50ft long and 28 ft wide, plenty of room for 5 hens and a rooster.  We added a partition fence 16 ft from the far end with its own gates, so when the new chickies are ready for outdoor living, I can put house them there until they are old enough to be with the hens and rooster.  This smaller area will also come in handy as a kennel if we ever decide to get a farmette puppy.

I then turned my attention to the blueberry bushes.  The weeds between the bushes were unruly and taking over.  So I spent at least three hours digging up weeds, fertilizing the blueberries with compost and soil acidifier then laying down weed fabric covered with straw.  In the next week or two, I will cover the bushes with netting to prevent the birds from getting all of the blueberries.  Of course, Puff kept me company as I worked, even pulling my hat off once when I moved too close to the fence. Before long, hb will be making us blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  He makes them from scratch and they are sooo good, I can hardly wait!

I forgot to mention that yesterday morning, I managed to spray the fruit trees for against insects and tent worms.  Last year, I had missed the early spring spraying and by the time I realized we had a problem, have of the trees had lost all of their leaves to the tent worms.  This year I will be more diligent.  Using a poison spray is probably no the best ecological solution.  But for now, the only one I have time to accomplish.  Someday, I will investigate a more environmentally friendly solution.

While I was working with the blueberries, hb built the hen pen gate and hung the kitchen screen door.  We took a break about mid-afternoon from the outdoor work.  Hb ran to the store for some plumbing supplies and I put together salmon croquettes for dinner. 

We used the plumbing fittings to hook up a pump to our outdoor well.  This is a hand dug well, about 18ft deep and lined with rocks, located just outside the spring house door.  There are wood slats covering the well, which is surrounded by a cement platform and covered by the spring house roof.  The water in the well is about 7-8 ft deep, staying consistent with the water table level.  We will use this water for the garden, pumping it into the water buffalo up in the garden.  The water in untreated - not chlorinated, so is perfect for plants but not drinkable.

In the perennial vegetable garden, the strawberries are all in bloom and the asparagus are doing well, although we are not getting enough to share, so I may plant another row this year. The peas, lettuce and rhubarb are planted at the end of the garden where the soil is weakest, and the produce shows. Every year, I have amended the soil, desperately trying to improve the yield. Seems like more improvement is still needed.

Saturday, May 16 2009

For a few weeks now, I have known that some sly, night time visitor was frequenting the basement of the spring house, where I store the bird’s food and recycling containers.  Frodo’s food has been the target.  I buy Frodo the expensive wild bird fruit and nut mix, and store it inside a plastic bin with side locks holding on the top.  Every couple of days, the bin has been forced/chewed open and the contents spilled out.   Closing the spring house door has not helped since there is no real latch, always leaving a small gap through which this critter manages to enter. 

So last night I set the trap.  When hb checked it first thing this morning, he said it was full.  My heart jumped, What if I had caught Phyllis Diller, the skunk?  Oh no!  But fortunately, hb said we had caught a very handsome possum.  I named him Howard.  So, at 7am this morning, Howard had his first ride in a jeep, as he was relocated several miles down the road.  So went the start of my Saturday.

The remainder of the day was planting day on the farmette.  Hb and I planted most of the vegetable garden this morning.  Every year, I lay out the garden design on the computer.  This way, the vegetables are sure to be rotated to different locations for at least 3 years.  Because of our Va trip last year, hb created a Monticello inspired tomato bed, where we put in 46 plants, 23 Rutgers and 23 Italian Romas.  We planted 48 pepper plants, half hot (jalapeno and yellow) and half (mild yellow and green).  There are 7 rows of bush beans seeds including green string beans, yellow wax beans and purple bluelakes and a row of cowpeas.  A lot of beans, but I will par-boil and freeze these to use all year long.  Honestly, in the middle of January, the beans taste like they were just picked.

I will use the cowpeas to make a cold or hot side dish with the peas and a jar of stewed tomatoes.  Yummy!

My squash, cucumber and brussel seedlings are now in their garden spots.  The poor brussels, as I picked them up to move them to the garden, I noticed about half had their leaves chewed off.  Those darn chickens had snaked on my beautiful brussel plants.  I immediately encouraged hb’s chicken fence project!  Soon, our gardens will be save from chicken attacks.

I planted 5 mounds of 3 different varieties of pumpkins, and some extra acorn squash seeds

Our final vegetable garden chore was to put up the fence.  Over the years, hb and I have zeroed in on a temporary, fencing solution that keeps out the deer, ground hogs and is fairly easy to install.  We put iron 6ft high fencing posts in every 8 ft, then tie up plastic deer netting using two zip ties per post.

As we put up the fencing this year, hb mentioned how eco-unfriendly this plastic deer fencing was.  He had heard there are places in the ocean where the current all come together to create a whirl pool of sorts.  On the ocean floor where these whirlpools exist are mountains of plastic, caught forever as plastic never decomposes.  Horrible! 

Next year I will cut out use of the deer neeting in half, or look very hard for fencing that is not plastic, something that will decompose and not live in the ocean or a dump forever.

Thursday, May 14 2009

Mowing the yard, specifically the portion of the farmette around the house, the coops and the orchard, takes me about 1 ½ hours on the John Deere lawn tractor.  I really like to mow the grass, and I love how clean and neat a freshly mowed lawn looks.  But that being said, in my opinion grass is nothing more than a uniform, high maintenance weed.  I do my best to eliminate lawn where ever possible, and yet here I am spending 1 ½ hours mowing the green weeds every week!

The John Deere is such a great tractor that about 3-4 times a summer, I mow a couple of more acres, around the pine trees and part way up the hill. I leave the steep part of the hill to hb on the Kioti tractor and the finish mower.  The John Deere is not quite heavy enough to stay upright on the hill.

So last night, I mowed the yard while keeping a watchful eye on the weather.  The clouds starting turning dark, the wind picked up and the temperature plummeted as my mowing chore began.  But luck was on my side, the rain held off  not only while I mowed, but all evening.  The yard looks fantastic!!

This weekend I hope to weed-wack the edges and around the fences.  The to-do list for this weekend is LONG.  Hb and I will not be bored.

Did I mention that the Penguins completely dominated the Capitols in game 7 of the conference semi-finals last night?  Awesome game.  Playoff hockey is the best.

Tuesday, May 12 2009

New pictures on the portfolio pages, on Sissy's, the Cats and the Scenery pages!

Hb took some great shots of Sissy with her ears up.  She is typically shy in front of the camera, keeping her ears laid back and her lips tight.  But in these pictures, she looks a lot more like her normal, happy self.

There is also a picture of Sissy and Murray together on our walk today.  Murray decided to tag along, amd kept Sissy company. 

Hb also took a really pretty shot of our Snake River interpretation in the rock garden, and another of KC hovering by the mudroom windows.

The cucumber and squash seedlings are doing really well.  I hope to plant them in the garden this weekend.  In fact, we plan to plant most of the garden this weekend.  We did have a frost last night, the last one of the spring, if we are lucky!

Monday, May 11 2009

Sissy and I took a road trip over the weekend.  She is so good in the car, riding shotgun with me in the jeep.  Everyone loves having her visit, she is a quiet, pleasant and very cute house guest.

Last Thursday, I stopped by the local feed store and placed an order for 8 chickies.  This spring, I decided to get all Barred Rocks.  They are sturdy, healthy hens and very consistent layers.  I will be able to pick them up the last week of May.  Before they arrive, I have to build a chickie enclosure in the studio.  I will keep them there until they are old enough to not require heat.  Then I will build a place for them near the chicken coop until they can be incorporated with the flock, probably in September or October.

While I was away, hb dug holes and set the corner posts for a new chicken fence.  The chickens really enjoy free ranging but the road is so close that I worry about losing another hen.  So very soon, the hens will be fenced in again.  This area will be larger than the first we had, but will not be free ranging.  

Hb also tilled the garden again, put up the garden fence posts, the tomato stacks and the garden water tank.  We are going to support the tomatoes in a manner similar to what we saw at Monticello.  I will take pictures after we put in the tomatoes, as a picture will be easier to show than to try and describe in words.  Today, I planted beets and a row of Kale.  I may have waited too long as both enjoy cooler temps.  I have not had success with beets in the last three years.  I hope this year is better.

Tonight the temperature may drop into the low 30’s, with the obvious threat of a frost.  Fortunately, all I had to cover were the small brussel sprout seedlings.  Both the cucumber and squash are still inside the temporary greenhouse.

Wednesday, May 3 2009

Rain, rain and more rain.  April flowers bring May showers?  I think that is reversed, but in reality, holds true for this spring.  The good news is that the brussel sprouts, peas, lettuce, squash & cucumber seedlings as well as the new bridge are all holding up well in the cooler, wet weather.  The blueberry bushes have blooms, and I will soon have to put up the netting to guard against the birds. Those birds would eat every blueberry before they are ripe enough to pick unless I put up netting. My actual goal is to weed and mulch the space between the bushes and then put up the netting, hopefully this weekend will be a little drier.

Yesterday, I saw a bluebird flying in the field. hb and I are hoping the blubirds have made nests in our birdhouses that we hung on the tree line. When we checked last weekend, one box was occupied with a family making a nest. I hope the remaining ones are now being made into homes by these beautiful birds!!

I mowed the grass yesterday, it seems to be growing in front of my eyes.  The yard looks so green and pretty this time of year.  Mowing the lawn takes me about 1 ½ hours on the John Deere yard tractor.  I mow around the house, Frodo’s coop, the chicken coop and around the orchard where Puff’s coop is located.   Seems like this month I have been dodging the rain every time I mow.  And yesterday, the temps were so cool that I was chilled before finishing.  But the yard looks nice!

On Monday, I stopped by Apollo Milling, our local farm store.  The owner and I are friends, he always has good advice when I have a question about birds or bunnies.  They only had 3 chicks left from the last delivery, so I placed on order for 8 barred rock pullets, to be delivered on May 28.  I am excited!! Eight more chickies to add to our coop.  I have decided that Barred Rockes are my favorite breed of chicken.  They are sturdy, healthy and good, dependable layers.  I am excited to get them.  Before they arrive, I will have to build an enclosure for the studio where the little chickies will be safe and warm. A new task to add to the project list.

Sunday, May 3 2009

Another pleasant day filled with mostly outside work today.  The weather was cooler, with a little rain in the morning, then clearing up by the afternoon and becoming very pleasant.

Hb did some more clearing across the stream while I planted grass on the bare places where the first planting last year did not take.  I used my Mantis tiller to loosen the spots before throwing the seed,  The Mantis is a small 2 cycle (needs mixed gas + oil) tiller that I just love.  Hb gave the mantis to me for a “spring gift” a couple of years ago.  It is super easy to start, and has been well used ever since, tilling new garden space, digging up weeds, and getting bare spots ready for seed.

Part of my typical Sunday tasks include cleaning everyone’s water dishes, refilling food bowls and putting anti-ear mite drops in Homer’s ears.   Being the beginning of the month, all of the cats and Sissy needed their flea application.  Last week, I gave Mama a dose of all-inclusive wormer that irritated the place on her back and caused a raw spot.  So for Mama, I put the flea medicine in the middle of her back.  Poor Mama . . . she is so old that her favorite thing to do is sit in one place for hours.  She usually picks a comfortable place under the dining room table.  Spooky saw me dose Murray, and ran upstairs.  I had to get out the cat snacks and shake the bag to lure him back into the kitchen.  After giving him  some treats, I scooped him up to get the medicine on his back.  We should now remain flea-free for another month.

In between the outdoor work and animal maintenance chores, I grabbed a couple of hours on the computer to work in the web site.  I reformatted the project page to use tabs, and uploaded lots of beautiful shots to the petal portfolio page of fruit tree blooms that hb has taken over the last couple of weeks. 

By late afternoon, we were both winding down from the day’s efforts.  Dinner was simple.  Hb put a chicken on the grill, and I made a cold salad of black beans, navy beans, chopped onion and tomato and homemade salsa.  Then hb lit a fire in the outdoor fire pit on the patio.  The temperature was in the low 60’s, perfect fire weather.  Sissy sat on the patio with us for a while, enjoying the fire and evening air. 

Later, after taking Sissy for a nice walk, and putting Puff and the chickens snug inside their coops, I settled into my oversized chair to watch playoff hockey.  Life is good!

Saturday, May 2 2009

Lots of good work accomplished today.  I was able to check off several tasks from my to-do list.  Hb was away until mid-afternoon, so I was on my own in the morning.

First, I transplanted a small forsythia.  Last year, I had planted it too close to the fence on the corner of the front yard and was not able to mow around it.  So I moved it to another location by Frodo’s coop.  Then, I edged a small hosta garden on the side of the house, again to enable easier mowing.  I divided and transplanted several irises at the far end of the bed.  A bag of mulch completed the chore.

I added some dirt around the basses of the two redbud trees so the fake mulch rings would sit better, and be more even with the surrounding grass.

The seedlings in the herb boxes required attention.  After transplanting the brussel sprout seedlings into larger pots, I planted the herbs directly into the beds.  I will keep the herbs and squash seedlings covered with plastic for another couple of weeks, while the brussel sprouts are now uncovered.

Last night, hb and I stopped at Lowe’s and picked up several perennials.  I had planned to add them to the outhouse garden, but instead, planted them close to the tetons, in a spot that had overgrown with weeds.  Of course, I added a small rock wall to designated the garden border, and improve water flow.  Looks very nice!

After lunch, I turned my attention to the strawberry garden.  Here, I removed much of the straw that I had covered the strawberries with over the winter.  And made space for the fake rock path to the asparagus patch.

When hb came home, he was in the mood to do some work, and the weather was still nice, so we decided to cut down a dead pine tree hanging over the chicken coop.  hb is amazing with the chain saw, there was only 5ft between the coop and the well head and hb dropped that tree right in the middle.  While he was cutting it up, I took loads of the wood to the burn pile with the tractor. 

When dinner was done, we took Sissy on a nice long walk, starting with the lower 8.  She loves the bridge!