Critters

Well, the critters are out! Not only have I woken up to the INTENSE smell of skunk multiple times in the last couple of weeks, we've also had deer hanging around. One in particular has been hanging around our side fence in the trees napping and such for a couple of days. Most of the time Sophie doesn't notice it but on occasion she does. Then her hair stands up and off she goes. Such was the case this morning. We had two in the back yard just looking at the sliding glass door. She launched herself down her ramp and tore into the back yard. I almost wet myself laughing. Her little legs were FLYING!!! Darned tickballs...that's what I call the deer. Now if I can just find where the skunk is hanging out...yesterday it got REALLY smelly at 10am. Yes, 10am...aren't they nocturnal? And why was it out during the day??? I got nervous that I was going to have another encounter like I did at our last house when the neighbor started up his lawnmower in his shed and disrupted the skunk living underneath the floor. Out it shot towards our front yard and my gardening session. It is possible for a human to levitate multiple feet through the air away from danger, just in case you were wondering...I think I need a gun, and not my son's BB gun, which is what my husband grabbed last time(along with his headlamp) the skunk was in my hen house. Yet another pant-wetting episode. Ahh, country life! Happy Friday! It's going to be a hot one this weekend!!!

Play day

We had a visit from Amanda and Evan's 3 cousins a few days ago. We hung out with them at our house while their Mom and Dad went on an exciting errand. We played, ate lunch, and then went to Grandma's house to wait for Mom and Dad to get home. They had a hard time being patient since they were hopeful that a tent trailer would be following their car when they showed up. Waiting, waiting, waiting...


Lots of yelling and running went on. It started raining and that didn't slow them down at all.

They thought it was so fun to YELL ALL THE WAY TO GRANDMA'S HOUSE WITH THE WINDOWS DOWN IN THE TRUCK!!! We even got some people looking at us wondering what that wailing noise was that was going down the road. The girls sat up front and were not happy about the noise. I told them it was a good thing Grandma was only about 3 miles from us. Yikes!

The girls spent a lot of time hot gluing fabric to a cracker box and turning it into a Webkinz bed. Sophie, the dog, decided she wanted to hang out with the youngest cousin, Luke, since he seemed to like sharing food and loved petting her with his feet when she was under the table.

They all had a great time. It was fun to see them hanging out when it wasn't at a family event. It allowed them to just be kids...kids who thought it was funny to shoot Aunt Patty in the Bootie with a Nerf gun over, and over, and over again. What they didn't realize was Aunt Patty grew up with a certain older brother (AKA their dad) and was prepared with a squirt bottle. They didn't think that was funny. I did. Oh well. They are still in training...

We have a Smalley

Ok, only one more chicken post for the week. I promise. When I got 5 new chicks in March they were all the same size and color. They were all healthy and grew quickly...well, all except one. Meet Smalley. We named her after reading a post by a fellow blogger who has a chicken that is smaller than the others but seems to have overcome her issues named Smalley. I soon realized we have a Smalley too! My husband said she'sstunted and will probably never lay eggs. Oh yeah, like he's the chicken expert??? Paaleeezeee. He's just picking on her. See what she deals with? Even with her smaller than the others size she is doing quite well. She is the first one to the gate when we come out and allows us to catch her after not that much chasing, which considering the others run for their lives (even after feeding and handling them since birth--out of the goodness of my heart--off they go with the other older birds, influencing them to turn their backs on me...) is pretty remarkable. She's our girl. On to the rest of the chicken story...

My dog Sophie is a bit of a snob, but incredibly sweet and loves people. She doesn't think she's a dog most of the time. I let her come into the coop with me. She doesn't chase them and really just likes to sniff around and "do" other dog things. I think she feels she's part of the clean up crew, for lack of a better description. Gross. I, of course, know if I wasn't there she'd surely make a game of chasing them while barking. Well, here comes Smalley. The other chickens kind of stick to the edges of the cage or kind of follow her when she is in there. Smalley

kind of pecked her butt a while ago but it seemed more out of curiosity. This time it was obvious that Smalley had a plan. She lowered her head, slowly stalked up to Sophie face to face, and nailed her right in the face! Sophie was so surprised that she just kind of jumped and ran to the gate. Smalley was making sure that dog was not going to interfer with her chicken yard. You go Smalley! I wish I had my camera!

Outside

Keeping it real here. This is what our back patio looks like most of the time lately. It's that time of year...fertilizing, weeding, BBQing, mess making. I find myself saying, who wants to clean it up when we're just going to use it next weekend? Same reason why I'm not one to make my bed every morning. That's one of my goals this summer. Put stuff away and make it look nice so it feels nice! I went on a bit of a cleaning frenzy outside. We can actually eat on the picnic table instead of using it as a tool box. My husband was not happy. He's a bit of a messy guy, well, a lot messy and usually gets irritated with me when I make piles of his tools and such(like empty beer bottles) to put away. I wonder if it was because I piled it on the lawn, knowing it needed to be put away before the sprinklers came on that evening...horns anyone??? Hey, it worked... Another project we've been working on is getting the swing set back in action. It needs to be sanded and restained this summer. The best part of our backyard is the HUGE trees that shade it all day. The swing set is in shade at all times. LOVE IT! Chris wants to built a treehouse to connect to the set at some point. That should be interesting.

I'd also like you to meet our new addition. I've already posted pictures of the babies we hatched in January, but one came out of the chicken closet. Can you pick HIM out? He's the big pretty one along the fence. Rodney is NOT happy about sharing his girls and is constantly chasing around this HUGE rooster with his scrawny, fluffy, pathetic winged body. It's hilarious!

It took weeks for his crow to not sound like he had a hairball in his throat. Good thing he's so passive because Rodney is our favorite and we won't tolerate poor treatment of him. Chris is waiting to do the new guy in at the first sign of fighting. You know Chris and knives...any excuse.

I think he needs a name. I was considering Reggie, but he needs something more colorful since he spends all of his time doing sneak "dates" with the girls and is always chased off by Rodney. Maybe Joey...any suggestions? He's awful perty, don't you think?

New love

The garden is coming along nicely. Lots of weeding has been done. The watering has been easy with our mild weather the past 2 weeks. Sophie is on patrol, walking up and down the isles. Chris gets a little irritated with her since she isn't always careful around the tomatoes. Gee, I think we could stand to lose a few without much issue. Thirty some odd plants is enough!!!


The garden has also brought on a realization...my husband has found a new love. This love doesn't talk back, is rich, and provides for others. Any evening you can find him lovingly turning, watering, and sifting. Meet the mulch piles. This is two and three.

This is number one. Notice all of the green plants and snarled roots in this initial pile. That was my doing. While he is working on the mulch piles and wandering through the garden I've been working on some planter boxes that have been overgrown for a long time.

This one was full of Agapanthas that had 15 inch thick tuber/rootballs and another 10 to 12 inches of spidery roots going everywhere. It was like a huge carpet! They must have been there for YEARS. I had to HACK them out section by section. Pretty much the entire planter was full of them. Chris had to rototill the dirt and now we are sifting it. What a mess!

Wow! No more jungle of green! I'm not sure I even know what I want in here so it might be dirt for a while.

And yet another messy planter now cleaned out. I just threw some wildflower seeds in here. We'll see if they grow.

Feels good to get them cleaned out! One more patch of agapantha to go in the front yard. That might wait until Fall.

Ahh, summer vacation!

It was the first Monday of summer vacation...I got back from the gym(I'm trying to get that going again, trying to re-focus.) The kids were still asleep. I made coffee and went for a little walk outside. Molly was quietly awaiting the kiss of the morning sun on her chair. The chickens were busily starting their day of eating, scratching, and crowing. The garden was adorned with sparkling diamonds as the sun hit the dew still clinging to their leaves. It was peaceful, cool, quiet, and exactly how I would like to start each day of summer vacation. I was fully in the moment. Then I went back inside...



This was my reality check!

Nice.

Lord, help me.

I need more coffee! Did I tell you I'm caffeinated again? I stopped for a MONTH. Then the last day of school hit. Help me! Please! If you don't hear from me for a week call the authorities! I think the kids are plotting with the animals to arrange a takeover!

Lickety Split!

Know how to get your "refuses to let you cut his hair" son to cut his hair?

BEFORE

AFTER

Culprit??? A tick on the back of his neck in all of his messy hair. Luckily it wasn't even there long enough to make a mark. EEEWWWW!!! Our cat has been exploring in the grass looking for lizards and has brought in 2 of them on her hair. My skin is crawling!!! I told him he won't be at as much risk if he keeps his hair nice a short. They won't have a place to hide. I also said unless he keeps his room clean I can't vacuum and make sure the cats aren't dropping any on his carpet when they go in there to sleep. Ha, ha...how's that for quick thinking? Horns are up and in full working order...