Silly deer

Doereen discovered there was cracked corn in the pen for the chickens so she waltzed right in and helped herself. When I asked her what she was doing she gave me that "WHAAAT?" look and went back to munching. So the bunk-bed ladder that I gleaned off someone's trash pile years ago became a deer block and still allows the chickens to mosey in and out during the day. And so it goes......

 

 

 

first tomatoes!

To what did my wondering eyes appear? Not garbage lodged at the base of the tomato plant but actual RIPE tomatoes?! YUM!
These are even earlier than last year and the weather has been not exactly "tomato weather" and these are growing in a bale of straw... See? It did help to prune the 100 year old olive trees WAY down. Sure they look stupid but hey, Tomatoes! Yea!

 

chickens

Verna picks odd spots for dust baths. doubt she sees the irony of bathing in an old Webber..

 

Jimmy B and the girls like to group bathe in the dust. Here they are in the little kitchen garden. Looks like someone attacked the basil. They also like to bathe behind the Schefflera, next to the brick wall. They've practically dug up the plants. Must fix that! This evening my nose allerted me to something deceased as I walked down my driveway.. upon investigation it became apparent that they had "bathed" over the spot where the recent slain rodents were buried. Note to self; DIG THE GRAVES DEEPER! They had unearthed two rats and a mole. ewwwwwwww!

 

Manfreda maculosa

At least, I think thats what this is. "Manfreda" I'm pretty certain of, the "maculosa" almost certain of. LOL. Crazy thing's bloom stalks are at least 8' tall. The one's in the shade are happy but don't bloom. It wants sun for sure.

 

 

color!

Had Wayyyyyy too much fun at Panama Pottery this morning. Have not yet planted the terra cotta hen and rooster so those will be in a later post. Yesterday I stocked up on dog and cat food... and plants.. So... who's gonna feed ME for the next two weeks?

 

Panama Pottery

So my brother kidnapped me yesterday, messing up my plans for the day... but, BUT! He took me to Panama Pottery www.panamapottery.com in Sacramento. It is a place I've been wanting to visit for at least 2 years. Check it out, you'll see why. They are having a sale next weekend and I could scream that I HAVE TO FRIGGIN WORK ON SATURDAY! (but you've probably heard that before.) I will try to get there first thing on Sunday. Even without the sale their prices are very reasonable. Of course I want all the pretty colors but would settle right now for a 15" lime green bowl. and one each 10" bright orange and bright yellow, and an 18" cobalt blue, and a glazed herb pot.. in cobalt...

 

 

 

chickens

She wouldn't go near this worm. Little worms? Fine. Nightcrawlers? No way.

 

You lookin' at ME kid?

 

Hmm. That's a mighty masculine looking, ahem, hen. They were ALL supposed to be hens.

 

The Chicken Hilton.

 

plans

Next major project needing to be tackled; Move all the mahonia to the way back north fence line, put all the Vinca major in the greens can, remove the old fence and turn this area into a xeric garden spot. I'd be working on this now if my back weren't still being very grumpy.

 

random Spring shots

DOEreen is close to "popping". Let's hope she doesn't have triplets again. The other photos are just some random blooms in the yard. One of these days I'll actually write something again.

 

 

 

 

cobalt blue bird bath

I fought temptation awhile back when these bird baths showed up at a local grocery store wearing $59.99 price tags. Even though the price was good, I didn't like the base. However.. now I wonder if they hadn't stood the bases upside down.. because this has a good, solid base with a locking top. It IS too deep but with the addition of a few items and the little rock pump thingie, the little birdies should find it usable. I'd only gone to the store to get some hamburger for lasagna, but the birdbath jumped out at me waving its $39.99 price tag. How could I not purchase it? (I'd have kicked myself had I just walked away.) Of course, I may still kick myself when some forgotten bill shows up in my mailbox and my budget is $39.99 too short. LOL

 

 

At last! A lovely Spring Day!

When life gives you garbage, make art! My parents recycled long before it was the "in" thing to do. Dad had used various pieces of piping in concrete to give more support to the lath-house shelves he'd built for mom in the 1960's. Fast forward to 2010, when their daughter decides she needed a chicken coop & pen more than a lath-house. What to do with all these pipes embedded in concrete! Can't put them in the garbage.. Hmmmm

 

the chicks got their freedom today. This was their first step to becoming free range chickens. The old hen, the ancient rooster and the dog all thought it was just dandy to have company. There was no bickering amongst the fowl and the dog was delighted to finally be able to smell the chicks up close and personal. There has always been wire between her nose and the chicks... and she has had her nose to the wire since they hatched.. 8 weeks ago. 9? Now if I can get the old hen to decide to roost in the new coop, I can take down the seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time round, wire pen with tarps.

 

so much for using chicken wire to keep chickens from scratching away all the top soil in the planter. the little ones figured it just made their dirt bath more um, cozy. 2.5 acres and they HAVE to bathe in my planter?

 

well after Bloom Day blooms

Too much to do, too little time! LOL Let's see, African daisies, iris, clematis, and scilla peruviana. Now I must go to my paying job.

 

 

 

 

chickens

Verna and Roostie like to visit the chicks through the fence. The babies moved outside at 5 weeks, into a small pen with a heat lamp. Last week they moved into their new digs.. still with a heat lamp but they are 8 weeks old now so I can probably turn it off.

 

Verna (the Buff Orpington) was trading pecks through the fence with Sara this morning. I have no idea what breed Sara is. I don't care as long as she's a SHE. I worry that all 4 will turn out to be roosters. There are two Barred Rocks and two somethingorothers. One day soon (I hope) I'll get the coop painted and the pen finished.

 

baby chicks

Actually, they are teen chicks now. The two barree rocks are the friendliest. the other two are more skittery. does anyone know what breed they are? (the black ones with the white racing stripes)

 

 

baby chicks

photo #1. day old chicks
photo #2+ same chicks at 11 days

 

 

 

So 10 days ago I was presented with 4 baby chickens. Two are Barred Rock but the doner couldn't remember what the other two are. They are supposed to all be hens. (Please, God, make them all be hens!)Three are the same size but one of the Barred Rocks is huge. She (we are determined to make it a she) was bigger when I got them so I'm hoping she hatched a day or two early and somehow got boxed in with the younger ones. She figured out how to fly up to the new perch today, just hours after being put into this bigger place of confinement. The kids who presented me with this little flock named her "Beans" but I think she is going to be "Bertha" as in BIG. The cat, Dawson, ignores them but the dog, Phoebe, is totally and utterly fascinated by them. Phoebe pretty much ignores the grown hen, Verna, and the Bantam rooster who reside outside, so I think she will not pester these gals once they are free range. She just wants to play with everything. She still wants to play with the deer but she is very good about just standing still and wagging her tail. (She felt the strike of the doe's hooves once and that was enough of a lesson for her.)Anyhow, I had NO idea just how messy chicks would be! No, its not the tiny poopies, its the food they manage to scratch out of the special chick feeder and scatter all over. Maybe they will be too big SOON to get their tiny feet into the feeder ports and that nonsense will stop? Don't know what the next inside home will be but surely they won't all fit in this current cage for 7 more weeks!