Ninja Cat!

Aaaarrrggghhh...because my garden is depressing me...who wouldn't be with all the stupid weeds...I'm dedicating this post to my cat.

Anyone who has met this cat of mine, knows that she is pretty small and very cute.  She acts much more like a dog than a cat and is not one of those shy, prissy cats.  She comes when called just like a dog...actually better than one of our dogs...ahem.  We don't really have a name for her...Kitty, Black Cat (although she is more of a tortoise), Kitty Cat, and my favorite and most appropriate name...Ninja Cat!

So, Ninja Cat gets fed every morning after I put away and feed the dogs.  She follows me around until I give her breakfast.  After I feed everyone, I go inside the house and get ready for work.  I can usually see her out the bathroom window and she is doing normal cat things. Prowling around looking for mice (she's a pretty good mouser) and sunning herself.  When she doesn't think anyone is watching...that's the time she does the most amazing things.  We call it Ninja practice and we are pretty sure it is preparation for the Zombie Apocalypse.

These are the activities I have witnessed:

*  Running full speed across the deck, leaping through the slats of the deck railing, and scaling the trunk of the magnolia tree in two bounds.
*  Catapulting from a lower limb of aforementioned magnolia tree onto the slatted roof of the deck and doing what appeared to be a tuck and roll on the roof.
*  Running at what appeared to be a 30 second 100 meter dash across the yard, scaling the vegetable garden gate, barely touching the ground in the vegetable garden, making a seriously sharp u-turn and exiting much the same way she got in.
*  Going from the front yard to the back yard and back to the front at breakneck speeds.  If two people weren't witnessing this in two different locations, I would not believe it.
*  Going undercover (actually crawling so ninja like under the weed fabric) and exiting only when I starting hitting the weed fabric with my hands.

Never have I witnessed so many acts of Ninja-ness from one small creature.  Amazing!  Tomorrow I will return to a post about the vegetable garden as I made adjustments and am not feeling so angry about the whole situation.

Stage 1 complete!

Stage 1 of my garden is planted!  Friday, Husband and Fish went to the coast and left farmer wife at home.  Actually, I was at a track meet for most of the day and didn't get home in time to go with them.  No worries...I used that time to get started on planting the garden.  I headed out to see what was ready to plant and consulted my high tech plans...yellow legal pad with pencil drawn rows and labels.  After choosing the lucky plants, I went out to survey the garden...the rows seemed a little taller than I remembered and I investigated.  Oh my...the weed fabric was supposed to keep the weeds out...instead, I think it acted like a greenhouse for them, as this is what I found:

Isn't weed fabric supposed to deter the growth of weeds??? I suppose once I get things planted and the plants get all the sun, these guys will disappear.  At least, that's what I'm hoping.  So, the planting started.  I planted cucumbers, summer squash, crookneck squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, mini pumpkins, and corn.  I wanted to plant the beans, but since I was planting solo, I didn't have anyone to help me with the fencing to support them.  Next week.  I watered them as I was planting and discovered that my watering system is quite effective.  I was ankle deep in mud at one point.  I almost fell, too, which would have been pretty comical, except that there wasn't anyone there to laugh, so I didn't.  

 Ready to go in!

They look so small...

Once I got them in, I consolidated the rest of the plants, which hopefully will get going in the growing department so I can plant them soon too.  I was hoping to get as many in as possible before the desert heat strikes.  I might be too late though, as I heard the temperature Wednesday will be around 97 degrees.  Egh.  Miserable.  Hopefully, it's a temporary spike in temperature.  

While I was planting, I kept hearing loud squawking coming from the chicken coop.  I hadn't collected the eggs yet, but knew it wasn't an egg laying squawk.  More of a "get away from me" squawk.  I took a walk over to the coop and saw the following:

These ladies were taking turns climbing into the condo with coop mama.  Not sure why they were going in there, but she was NOT happy about it at all.  This went on for a while and finally coop mama had clearly had enough.  I think she pecked one of them quite severely and they retreated to neutral corners.  I collected eggs shortly after...she pecked me too.  She takes her duties as coop mama very seriously.  Once the eggs were gone and she had nothing to sit on, calm was restored in the coop.  Love how these girls are so much like people and their weird personalities.  

Dreaming...

That's all for today!  Tomorrow I start planting!  

Karma is a $%$#!!!

Remember a post or two ago where I mentioned that the white chickens weren't laying eggs, possibly due to the fact that I had angered them?  Well, I think they have exacted their revenge on me.  Or tried to...yesterday, I went out to the coop to feed the ladies.  As usual, one of the Leghorns flew up to the ledge above the door.  They like to roost there at night, and often I have to dodge poop balls as I open the door.  Yesterday, poop was not my only concern.  As I opened the door, my little white hen decides to lay an egg.  Not sure why I moved just slightly to the right, but I did and missed getting "egged".  She let pout a squawk...she was probably afraid she'd end up in a frying pan...and took off to a neutral corner.  The others, much to my disgust, flocked around the broken egg and ate it up!  Bleah!  Husband is going to fix the roosting area issue today after we get home from work.  They have perfectly lovely condos in which to sleep...or they may rest in a frying pan...their choice.

Also on the agenda when I get home from work, is to start planting some of the larger vegetable sprouts.  Some of them are starting to push the constraints of their starter pots.  A few are touching the roof of the greenhouse and are making crazy patterns trying to reach some sunlight.  We'll see what I can get planted...there is rumor of rain in the next few days.  Time to tune in to Storm Warn 30! Ha ha ha...it always makes me giggle.  

And Spring is apparently over...

The weather this week has been nothing short of perfect!  Nothing over 80 and nothing under 60 during the day.  It seems this is coming to an end...it's supposed to be 95 on Saturday!  Ugh!!!  I guess my little fowl friends might enjoy the sunshine.  Last weekend they were out and about and I caught these two sunning themselves on the back porch.

The chickens being out was nice for them, but getting them all back in the coop was an adventure of sorts.  We have a small crew that enjoys sleeping high up in the trees.  Two black, 2 white, and the "pretty" one.  The pretty one seems to not be so smart though.  I came out in the morning to feed the girls and thought someone had dropped an egg the night before after collecting.  It was a green egg...I looked up and who is sitting directly above?  Yep, the producer of the green eggs. Really???  We lay an egg while we are in the tree?  Wow...

The seedlets are starting to push the limits in their starter containers.  I think I will start planting the seedlets Monday after school!  Woo hoo!!  My boy bought me four wine barrels...he does live in wine country...and those were delivered to us last weekend.  They are going to be filled with dirt and planter's mix and the herbs will go in two of them.  Flowers and other prettiness will go in the other two.  Things are looking up in the garden!  

Veggies!!

My babies...growing so fast!

Lots of work ahead...can't wait!!  

Weekend Wrap-up

Wanted:  Slightly Used Ark

I survived the day at school Friday and since all sports were cancelled, I was able to go home immediately after school.  The view from my backyard was amazing!  I love the way the mountains look after a storm with all the snow on the foothills.  

What was not such a pretty view was my garden!  It was, and still is, flooded! I'm very glad that we hadn't planted anything yet.  Yikes!!  That's so much rain!  I think after a few days of sunshine, we should be good.  I have a few seedlets that are getting ready to move in to their new, more spacious home.  

The chicken coop was quite flooded as well.  Apparently, chickens do not like to swim.  They were all huddled in a dry corner of the coop.  Husband felt sorry for them and let them out.  They enjoyed their time out in the yard and every time I opened the back door, they all came running to see if I was tossing scraps out for them.  I was, actually...cleaning out the fridge.  They liked everything except for the whole wheat tortillas.  Husband said that's because they know that when their lives end, that's where they will end up...in a tortilla.  True.  

Warm weather predicted for the coming week...hopefully things will dry out and we can get started on the garden planting.

Apology Apparently Accepted

I may have a future as some sort of chicken whisperer.  I'm pretty sure that's a silly idea, but you never know.  Cesar Millan and Monty Roberts have found their calling "whispering" to dogs and horses...I could have a reality show on how to deal with ill-behaved fowl.  The other day, I had clearly upset my Leghorns and they were not producing eggs.  After three days of these shenanigans, I went out to the coop and had a come to Jesus talk with them, complete with apology.  I said very positive words to them and encouraged them to lay eggs.  In my apology, I was sincere and I was even more sincere when I told them that if they didn't start laying eggs again, they would become the main ingredient in one of my many chicken recipes.  Lo and behold, the very next day, two beautiful large white eggs appeared in the coop!  How's that for whispering?!

Might just have been peer pressure...but I like to think I have some talent.

I'm glad we managed to get our garden project done last week.  The heavens have opened up and the downpour we are getting right now is probably going to break some sort of record.  I'm not complaining since everyone knows I love the rain and we need it here in our desert!  As much as I love the rain, school becomes tricky when it rains...the kids get so weird when there is any sort of atmospheric disturbance.  Next week, it will be back to normal weather I guess. That means everyone will start complaining about how hot it is and the kids will be stinky...ew.  No one is ever happy with the weather.  

Speaking of weather, Storm Warn 30! was in fine form last night.  The news of officer shootings, random violence, and home invasions was overshadowed by moving satellite photos of the "big storm" and all the user uploaded thundercloud and lightning pictures.  Funny was the interview with the toothless resident in Atwater perched on her porch surrounded by water.  No idea what she said, but really, we couldn't find someone a little more capable of using a complete sentence?  Also funny?  The thunderstorms really freak people out here...there have been several tornado warnings as well.  I'm sure anyone in the Midwest area would laugh at how melodramatic people become when they hear of a tornado warning here in the valley.  Well, it is still raining, and they are still issuing thunderstorm warnings.  Perhaps I should go look for my ruby slippers...best to be prepared!

Day 7...Not So Much Clean-up

The rain of course held off until today, so Fish and I did have volleyball practice after school.  It wouldn't be so bad, except that I coach the kids that are still struggling with basic skills (that's a really nice way of saying they are terrible and afraid of the ball still).   And man, do they argue about the dumbest stuff.  Like who gets the "good" ball, or what line they should be standing behind (they practice on grass and the lines are imaginary), or who is better at serving.  I can tell them that none of them are any good at it, so stop arguing and start learning.  Ugh.  Okay, well that was completely off the subject.  

When we got home from school, Husband was stringing a new clothesline for me...out of 550 cord, of course...but told me to go look at the garden.  I was very pleasantly surprised with the rock that is now in the walkway!  It looks so nice and will make for easier access into the garden.  I can set my tools down, my basket for collecting all the deliciousness growing, etc. without having mud all over them.  Yippee!  

Rocks in the walkway!  Woot woot!

Here's the promised picture of the weed fabric down on the garden rows.

Now all that's left to do is wait for the seedlets to get to an appropriate size and start planting.  I'm going to actually write down all the things I have started, so I can map out where they will go in the garden.  A few of the rows are spaced a little farther apart, so squash and cucumbers will go there as they love to spread out.  Lil' pumpkins, as we call them, watermelon, and cantaloupe will be grown on the outside of the garden.  They just choke everyone else out.  Now I want the seedlets to hurry up!  I've been pinning so many delicious looking recipes on Pinterest and need to start trying them out!  One addiction leads to another, I'm afraid.  

Oh, for some quick poultry news...the chickens are all quite productive these days and my smallest daily haul is 8 eggs.  The Leghorns, however, seem to be on strike.  I am not sure if it is out of solidarity towards each other, as I not so lovingly pushed one off of her roost the other night while I was trying to collect eggs in the dark!  I didn't want to get pooped on, as they perch directly over the doorway to the coop.  She squawked and her sibling came at me with flailing wings.  Awesome.  Since then, there have been no giant white eggs.  I suppose maybe some sort of apology on my part, may be in order.  Apologizing to a chicken...huh.

Day 6 Yard Clean-up

Today is our last day of vacation and our last opportunity to spend a whole day in the yard.  Back to work tomorrow...boo.  We got up early this morning to see about the vegetable garden.  After discussing for less than a minute, it was off to the rental place we went...really need to buy a rototiller...  The guy at the rental place looked like Hippie Hal and he made some stupid comment (complete with eye roll and head nod) about me making my husband put in a garden.  If only he knew...the other guy there really was a little better...believed us when we said we knew how to use the thing.  once home, Husband maneuvered that thing around the garden for about an hour and the result was beautiful...yes, freshly turned dirt can be beautiful.  The next plan was to return the tiller and go to the local landscape place and pick up a yard and a half of planting mix.  Cheap dirt, but it has magical nutrients in it for planting gardens etc.

Isn't that just the prettiest dirt ever?  

I had to giggle silently when we pulled back into the rental place.  I'm pretty sure Hippie Hal thought we had broken the machine, since we returned it so soon.  He seemed surprised when he pulled the pull cord and it started right up.  Clean and full of gas.  This is not our first rodeo.  

Really need to own one of these!

After returning the machine, we went to Sierra View Nursery, which is literally right around the corner from our place.  We looked at a really pretty purple flowering plum tree (plan was to come back and get it)  and got a yard and a half of planter's mix.  Got home and unloaded the truck of the soil.  My job was to place the mix I needed on that raised rows I had raked after the rototilling was done.  Did that...Fish helped, although I'm pretty sure she might have preferred to do her Chemistry homework.  After Husband helped us out and got the 4x4s in place for our center walkway, he went back to Sierra View and got the tree.  Took about 7 minutes to plant, since there was already a gaping hole in the ground from the dead maple tree.  This tree is so much nicer and according to both the nursery man and the pot it came in, it is "hardy".  It had better be in this yard!  Nothing weak survives here.

Love this tree!  

Since I was overcome with extreme thirst and serious hunger and was nearly going to pass away from these conditions...okay, I was really hungry and so was everyone else, Husband and Fish went to get food.  While they were on this extremely important mission, I put the soaker hoses out on the raised rows and got the watering situation in place.  Tested it out, and hallelujah, they worked!  Just when I thought I was going to pass out from hunger and my first sunburn of the season, those guys got back. We decided that it was time to just go inside and relax.

Soaker hoses down!

Our center walkway...now we need rocks.

After we ate, we started thinking about the upcoming weather situation forecast for this week.  Not having checked in with Storm Warn 30! lately, we had heard a rumor (through what I consider to be much more reliable sources than the tv news) that there will be a storm rolling in tomorrow night (after volleyball practice, I'm sure...ugh) and it will go through Wednesday.  Then another storm is going to surface Thursday and run through Friday.  Those folks at Storm Warn 30! must be so excited!  Anyway, with that looming in our not so distant future, we thought it best to get the weed block fabric down and cover the remaining planter's mix with a tarp.  The weed fabric took about 20 minutes to put down...a slight relief to my aching muscles and stupid sunburn.  I didn't take a photo of the blocked garden, but I will tomorrow and post it.  It looks so good and professional.  The best part is that keeping the pesky weeds under control should be so much easier this year.  That paired with no grasshoppers...the mansion next door has enough greenery to distract those horrible creatures, so I'm hoping my vegetation will be safe from those beasts this summer.  

Day 6 is now drawing to a close...I pampered my hands and nails when I came in and nursed my sunburn...now it's looking like it's time for bed.  8:19 p.m.?  Um yeah!  :)  Good night!

Day 5...Yard Clean-up

Happy Easter everyone!!  Before I get to the clean-up efforts, I have to share that the Easter Bunny made an appearance, much to the delight of one almost 16 year old kid.  The eggs were hidden on the porch and patio area and she went and found them all.  Not sure who had more fun...Fish looking for the eggs, or me (I mean the Easter Bunny) hiding them.

Never too old for an Easter egg hunt!

So, Day 5 went splendidly.  Husband and I decided to "scalp" the dirt in the garden.  What does that mean?  It means to basically scrape out every weed using a shovel.  Sounds unpleasant, doesn't it?  Confirmed, it is.  We decided to do a third of the garden, which was quite exhausting.  During a much needed water break on my part, we discussed what direction the rows would go and Husband had a great idea...use 4x4 lumber to outline a central walkway and have the rows extend out from the walkway going east to west. Certainly would make getting to the rows easier than last year  Off to the local lumber store.  Success at the lumber store...off to the hardware store.  Bought plant food, weed fabric stakes, and looked at new weed eaters, since our old one had died.  They had some nice ones on sale and we discussed purchasing one.  As is our usual style, we got home, and then decided we should back and get the weed eater.  Husband and Fish went back and got one.

After having a wonderful Easter dinner with the in-laws, I went with Fish to retrieve her Chemistry book from Husband's classroom.  Homework is due Tuesday (why oh why do these teachers assign homework over VACATION??!!).  When we got back, Husband showed me what he had weed-eaten...omg...I was so surprised...in a good way, of course.  He had used that thing to do in a few minutes, what we had been doing manually with a shovel this morning for over an hour.  The garden looks beautiful!  Ready to go, in fact!  This man is brilliant!

Now to rototill, make raised rows, cover in weed fabric, lay the pathway 4x4s, and get ready to plant!! 

Day 4 Yard Clean-up

Husband mowed, I pulled weeds. The end.

Day 3 Yard Clean-up

So...many...weeds!!!!  Aaarrrggghhh!  It seems as though it will never end.  Husband was a champion today.  Ran that old weed whacker into the ground!  It's a piece of $%#! anyway...electric.  Really, who buys an electric weed whacker...I guess we did at the last house we were in.  Gas is clearly the only way to go.  After several hours of weed whacking, Husband was getting close to the edge of the driveway and needed yet another extension cord.  After hooking up the 4th cord, the power was weak at best, but he got it done.  The front of the house now looks presentable.  So does the back and my walkway!!

Yes, I can see my chairs!!

The front walkway...

So, while Husband was waging war on the weeds out front and Fish was cutting all the stuff we cut down yesterday into more manageable pieces, I went out to the vegetable garden.  Whoa Nelly!  The weeds out there have clearly been enjoying the rotation of sun and rain!  Since we are planning on getting planter's mix on Saturday and rototilling, I need to get the weeds out of there asap. Most of them came out easily, but there were some stragglers that will need some additional coaxing.  Oh, and apparently, goat heads have made a comeback in the garden.  My knees had several sticking out of them...ouch!  

The fruits of my afternoon labors...

After several hours of weeding and cleaning, stacking wood to be burned at a later date, more weeding, and nursing my stabbed kneecaps, we decided to call it a day.  For short bursts of cleaning, we have gotten a lot done.  I took a picture of the front of the garage minus the stupid trees.  I love it!  It looks so clean now.  

Not sure what tomorrow will bring...maybe nothing.  Saturday should be a busy day...Sunday too...oh wait...it's Easter...maybe not then.   I've declared that my last day of Spring Break vacation, Monday, will be my day of rest.  I have my two lounge chairs and I intend to use them...reading and enjoying the weather.  :)

Day 2...Yard clean-up

Well, it started out as a dumb day.  Husband and I went looking at cars...such a frustrating experience.  After playing the car lot games, we came home with exactly the same thing we left with.  Well, we came home with lunch too.  Our original plan for this afternoon was to eat and then be lazy.  Well, that changed...I may have encouraged Husband to cut down the stupid fig tree branches that are lying on my clothesline, making only one line even useful.

Husband got out the chainsaw and for some reason, it refused to start.  Thinking back, we realized that it hadn't been started since the Great Capsizing of Summer 2011.  It was submerged for a good amount time, as Husband hung on to it for dear life.  Pretty sure the water wasn't really very good for it.  After several hours of taking apart, reassembling, cursing, going to 3 different stores to find the correct spark plug, and taking apart and reassembling some more, we finally got it to start!  Of course, I did nothing other than get tools and offer some moral support.  Woo hoo!  Let the games begin!

So, the fig tree was the first to go.  Now I can restring the line and get stuff out to dry with out getting attacked by the fig tree monster!  Then Husband asked what was next.  I got a little flustered and started pointing at random stuff.  By stuff, I do mean trees and such.  So after some discussion, we decided that the stupid trees on each side of the garage were next.  The first one came down and the house immediately looked better!!!  The second one also came down easily.  There was a plant behind the "tree"...looked like someone had bought a plant in one of those black plastic containers, set it down, and forgot about it.  The plant had grown all the way through the bottom and had to be seriously yanked out of the ground!  You can see it still "planted" in the picture below.  I didn't take pictures of the other side, but it looks really nice.

After that, we decided to tackle the dead (!!!) Japanese Maple out front.  It is so ugly!  I tried to hit the tree to see if it would budge.  It wouldn't.  Husband said we could hook it up to the truck with a tow strap (his solution for all immovable things).  I had my doubts...not sure why I ever doubt this method...it always works!  

It fell over so slowly, it was comical!

I'm planning to put some sort of pretty tree in its place.  We might add a couple of wine barrels with flowers in them out there as well.  It needs a little color now.  So many weeds still in the pathway though...it's not supposed to be that green...ha ha ha.  

After the cutting frenzy, we decided we'd had enough for today.  Hoping we can get more done tomorrow.  If nothing else, I would like to get as much in the dumpster as possible.  We've made quite the mess in our efforts to clean up.  Isn't that the way it always is?  Clean up the clean up...

The sun sets on day 1 of yard clean up...

I had grand plans for Day 1, and while those didn't exactly pan out, Husband and I got quite a lot accomplished!  Sandwiched between doctor visits for Husband's rugby injury, we managed to get some of this yard under control. Husband mowed and mowed and mowed...kind of ridiculous when you have to mow the driveway, but mow the driveway he did!  And the front lawn.  Looks pretty awesome!

Fish and I finished off the front area where the rocks are.  Took a while, but so worth it!  

There will be more work here, but at least we got it started!

So many weeds!  

So on to Day 2...not sure what we will do tomorrow, but the list is long.  Lots to choose from and no jury duty!  Yippee!!

Day 1...Yard Cleanup

Okay, so technically, Day 1 was supposed to happen yesterday, but Husband did something to his back/shoulder region during his rugby game Saturday and healing time was in order yesterday.  We were somewhat busy though...we did manage to get all the odds and ends shopping done that we needed to do.  The animals will be quite happy that we got enough feed for them to last them a while.  The pups each got a huge meaty knuckle each to gnaw on.  This is always entertaining to watch...Jetta devours the meaty stuff off of hers as fast as possible and then does whatever she can to get Daisy's.  Daisy, of course, daintily removes the meaty stuff off of the bone and this takes most of the day for her.  Jetta takes hers with her when she comes out of her kennel, while Daisy carefully hides hers so that Jetta won't find it.  I can really picture what these two would be like if they were humans.  Jetta is the fat kid that can never get enough to eat, even if she really isn't hungry.  Daisy is the one with the body image/issues with food/eating disorder.  Ha!

Anyway, so feed was bought, household supplies (toilet paper and the like) bought, bills paid, dishes done, laundry done (by done, I mean washed, dried, and now awaiting folding and hanging in the spare room), and we managed to go to a 2 year old's birthday party.  All this despite Husband feeling very uncomfortable and me having a slight case of tummy troubles (I won't go into details here).  Even watched a movie last night.  Hoping that today might pan out to be a bit more productive.  If nothing else, I want to fill the dumpster outside with yard trash.  I vote that these two trees become our first victims.  You can't see by the pictures, but these do not grow parallel to the house...they jut out at around a 35 degree angle from the house.  They are super messy and always full of bees.  Not to mention, the one on the right side of the garage is getting ready to grow through the power lines connected to the house.  Bad news as far as I'm concerned and an excellent reason to cut these down.  

So, I suppose I have done enough writing about all of this and should really get moving on getting Day 1 underway.  I escaped jury duty for another day, but who knows what tomorrow might bring.  Onward!

It's raining, it's pouring, the weed count is soaring!

I love the rain...I do. However, it is now creating more work for Husband and me. Although, on the flip side, the weeds are easier to pull out of soggy ground. Such a dilemma...

The other day, I went out to one of the more infested areas of the yard and pulled one large weed. It came out so easily, that I thought I would pull one more. It felt so satisfying...30 minutes later I had 3 mounds of weeds, a burning set of muscles, dirty hands, and a very runny nose. But the sense of accomplishment was awesome. I got 2/3 of the area done. Hoping I'll feel motivated to do that on the rest of the  yard...today, I don't feel motivated, but I'm watching little Fish play volleyball. So, maybe tomorrow. We'll see...

Holy Raging Radishes Batman! And other yard news...

I'm like a little kid when it comes to planting seeds.  When I look inside my greenhouse and see something sprouting that I just planted a few days ago, I get excited.  I'm also a bit impatient, which is probably why I get so silly when I see something happening.  Once I plant my garden, I go out there every day to see if I have any vegetables actually growing.  So yesterday, impatient me was peeking into one of the trays of pots and discovered that the radishes are going crazy in there!!  Little sprouts all over the place.  I'm not sure why I planted radishes, as I am not a big fan, but I like the way they look.  And I suppose, in times if crisis, they are better than nothing to eat.  Scarlett O'Hara might disagree on that one.  A few other things are pushing the surface dirt, so by the weekend there should be more stuff sprouting.

Big plans for next week!  It is Spring Break and it is time to get our wild jungle of a yard in order.  It's not even a jungle, as that conjures up visions of green, lush vegetation.  The only thing that is green and lush are the weeds.  Dry winter + spring rain storms + fabulous temperatures in the 70's = prolific WEEDS!!!!!!  The photo below is my beloved veggie garden...so much work to do!  Good thing Husband and I have 10 days off (snort!).

And this is after I pulled the weeds 2 weeks ago.  Grrrrrr....

The rest of the yard is either green with weeds, or brown with death.  I guess the hot summer, the lack of proper watering apparatus, our lack of standing outside for hours on end with a hose, the dry winter, and the stupid grasshopper infestation from last year all contributed to our hideous color palette.  I don't really understand what happened to some of the trees.  The top portion of the trees are dead...as a door-nail dead...the bottoms are sprouting like crazy.  Ugh. Not sure what to do with these.  

The ones that are completely dead are just getting cut down.  No replacements either.  That requires water, which as previously mentioned, is an issue where we live.  "Storm Warn 30" told us that because of the lack of storms (although when it rained...sprinkled...last week, the weatherman treated it like it was a typhoon), we will have a dry summer.  Not shocking news, as summers here are always dry.  None of the dead trees are really all that valuable anyway.  The trees on this property appear to have been placed in the back of a pickup truck, then the truck was driven as fast as possible to make the trees fall out.  Then they were planted in the exact random spot where they fell out.  Probably not the way it happened, but that's the way it looks to me.  If it had been up to me (and if I owned all of this property), there would have been some useful fruit trees and more shade trees.  Instead we have nonsense like this:

And this:

And of course, this:

I just don't even understand this.  So random.

In any case, we have our work cut out for us this next week.  Slave labor will be in full force (she is not looking forward to this), and I'm hoping for pleasant weather.  I will post before and after shots when we have finished everything.  Go us!!

Poultry update!

With the onset of spring weather, the chickens have been quite prolific layers lately.  I think, however, that someone in the coop is not measuring up to the current production standards, as we seem to be one or two eggs short of the actual chicken count.  Coop Mama (not sure which buff that is, or if they take turns) has been cheerfully sitting on a small mound of eggs every day when I get home and check,  She (for the moment I will assume its just one Coop Mama) still protests loudly when I stick my cold hand under her to get the eggs.  The best part is when I get a couple of eggs, and move the rest away from her, she uses her beak to push the eggs back under her.  She's pretty fast.  I wish they would understand that those eggs will never become babies and we might as well enjoy them.  I guess it could be quite traumatic to have your "children" taken from you every day.

We've been averaging 10 eggs a day and the colors are beautiful.  Green, white, tan, brown, and tan with speckles.  I am still amazed at the fact that the hens have all of these eggs up inside of them.  Where do they keep them??  I'll look that up here shortly.  The suspense is killing me.

Saturday, I went out to the coop to collect eggs and found something funny.  Among all the large and extra large eggs, was this little(!!) egg.  Husband said it must have come out accidentally...sort of like passing gas.  Probably surprised the chicken.  I have visions of her walking along, feeling a little discomfort, going to relieve the pain, and whoops....out comes this little gem.  I put it in the carton with the other eggs, and it looks...well...small.

A midget among giants.

Not so much...

Ha ha, well, of course, I wanted to know if the little egg looked the same on the inside.  Yeah, I know...weird.  I cracked it and it had the tiniest yolk I've ever seen.  I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland.  We didn't eat it...that seemed wrong somehow.  

I took a break, and as promised, I Googled the reproductive system of a chicken.  Appears simple, yet so complex.  The eggs must develop at a breakneck speed in there.  I'm still in awe.  Makes me want to go in the coop and congratulate each hen individually...okay, not really.  But still quite impressive.  

About time to head home and see what awaits me in the realm of chickens and vegetables!  Can't wait!

I think I've got this!! Well...maybe...

Okay, blogging for realsies now!  No more month long gaps in the action.  I think I might have overcome the feeling that I'm a total failure at this vegetable gardening thing too.  Proof is below!! 

Cucumbers, squash, and soy beans!!  Woo hoo!!

Peas, brussel sprouts, and a variety of tomatoes!

I did a little Googling and found out that while greenhouses are nice and effective when closed up, the plants inside also need to have fresh air and sunshine.  Who knew??  Well, obviously many people must know that.  I know now, so away we go!  

This weekend, Husband and I finally had some time off.  I decided it was high time to get all those other seeds planted that I feel compelled to buy every time I walk into Walmart or Tractor Supply.  I had purchased a ton of peat pots and soil and set up my planting area on the porch.  After filling all the pots with soil, I watered them thoroughly, let them soak through, and then watered them again...another rookie mistake on my part in the past.  After a while, I went out and methodically planted the seeds.  By methodically, I mean I very carefully counted out seeds for each pot.  I make a point of this, because again, in my previous rookie state, I would just dump seeds in and then wonder later why nothing is sprouting.  Dumb.  So, after counting carefully, putting vegetables near others that can easily be friends, and labeling each row so I don't wonder what the heck is this stuff, I watered the babies very carefully.  Yup, did that last time too...turned the water on so hard, half of the seeds flew out with the majority of the soil.  

I was able to put several trays in the greenhouse, but there wasn't room for these.  They will stay out on the porch in the "diffused" sunlight, so I think they will be okay.  I managed to plant quite a variety of things...more squash, beans, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, peppers (red & green varieties), artichokes, spinach, lettuce, kale, bok choy, radishes, onions, cantaloupe, watermelon, and mini pumpkins.  More herbs too...rosemary, as my first efforts were part of the epic fail, and a couple of others that are now escaping my memory.

All tucked away in the greenhouse.

And now to wait...

Hopefully, this venture will be successful.  Of course, using up all the pots and soil did not deter me from buying three more seed packets yesterday at Walmart...he he he.  At least I'm on the upside of the learning curve.  I think...