Loss, Plans, Shopping, and a Workout!

We had a sad day in the chicken condos last week...we lost a chicken. Avery, our rambunctious little labbie, often manages to free herself from the ties that bind her to the porch.  As you may recall, she got a hunk of one of the rooster's tails a few weeks back. Apparently, she made an escape last Thursday,  and felt like showing off to big sister, Jetta. She decided to "fetch" a chicken.  Unfortunately for the chicken, being caught was fatal.  It was reported that she was quite proud of her conquest...standing with the chicken in her mouth...which was followed by yelling and being banished to her crate.  We are still getting seven or eight eggs a day, so I think we didn't lose anyone terribly important to egg production.  The others seem to have moved on with their lives...actually I'm pretty sure they are all quite thankful they escaped the jaws of death.

Plans are done...next on the agenda...shopping!

So today I visited the local Home Depot to get all the things needed for the garden.  I think I did that and more...I bought soaker hoses, male and female hose thingies, stakes, string, garden soil ( a very large man named Larry said that was just as good as fertilizer...he'd better be right!), a plastic greenhouse for the herb seeds, a trellis for the peas and beans, and a few other random things I felt I must have for success.  When I got home, I planted the herb seeds in the little greenhouse, which are hanging out on top of the frig now.  Then I decided that since I bought all the stuff, I should probably get crackin' on getting the ground ready.  The weather was pretty nice today and I needed a workout! 

So, here are the perfect tools for getting the garden ready...

I set a goal to get at least a third of the garden hand "rototilled" with the fabulous garden "weasel" I borrowed this morning.  Not sure why it's called a garden weasel...it is more of a garden torture device...for the person using it.  I finally tossed it aside and opted for the garden "claw" that I had in the shed.  It clawed all the big weeds quite nicely and things started moving much quicker.  On a side note...I would like to know who comes up with these ridiculous names for all these implements..."weasel", "claw"...and let's not forget the "hula hoe" which I have never found to be very useful...although I have two.  Anyway, after "weaseling" and "clawing" for a couple of hours, I managed to get 4 rows ready for the nutrient rich garden soil Larry at Home Depot talked me into buying...how could I go wrong at 4/$10.00????  So once I got the soil ready,  I decided to cover the rows with black plastic (garbage bags) to kill the remaining weeds...I've been reading and that was suggested by the Farmer's Wife of The Farmer's Wife Guide to Growing a Great Garden & Eating From it, Too!  She's a farmer's wife, so she muct know something.  I managed to get half the garden ready and have thoughts about finishing tomorrow...we'll see...I'm quite sore. 

After a couple of hours of work, this is what I accomplished...

 This is what I have not accomplished...maybe tomorrow...if my body doesn't protest too much.