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Friday, July 6, 2012

A little bit of this and that.

But no garden pics!  (Baaaad me.)  I promise to post them this weekend.  Honest to Pete, I do.  (Can someone please call me and remind me?  Who am I?  And who is Pete?)

Had a great Fourth at our annual town parade.  It's the only Fourth of July Parade in the county, I believe - or the only continuous parade.  I bake a couple of pies for the Pie a' la Mode fundraiser for the library, get there early and park two folding chairs for my parents (under the shade trees, and not too far from the pie...) and then just stand back and enjoy it.  It's a wonderful community event, with people milling around and catching up on the news. 

My sister from L.A. was in for one of her blitzkrieg visits, so I didn't get much done - lots of sitting around and talking.  I picked her up in the city Sunday afternoon, she went to our parents' Monday and Tuesday, we re-met on Wednesday at the parade, then I dropped her at the train station on the way to work on Thursday.

Freddy is a fast healer - after chafing at being kept "safe" in a crate, she rejoined the flock the night after the operation.  We do our 'a little dab'll do ya' routine with the Neosporin twice a day, but she seems to be limping much less and getting around just fine.  This morning we did our foot ablutions on the kitchen counter.  It was very exciting for everyone.  I swear all of Scrappy's hair stood on end.  Apparently, however, she is Kees' favorite girlfriend and he is all in a snit when I catch her up twice a day. 

The Japanese beetles are back.  So, twice a day - morning and evening - I go out with my can of soapy water and knock the little buggers into a watery grave.  If you garden or grow ANYTHING, you sure have to be made of stern stuff.  I also noticed that something is digging up my lawn - most likely digging for grubs.  I haven't caught a scent of "Eau d' Pepe La Pew", the usual grub-digging character, but it's another first.  Now I have to look into grub treatments and try to nip that in the bud. 

This weekend will be mostly manure-moving.  I need to get the piles of llama beans moved out of the paddock, and the goaties' barn is only half-done.  Once those two things are done, I will have time (hahahahahaha) to mow down the weeds in the back and water the garden.  And paint the Adirondack chairs.  And clean out the little coop.  The forecast is for storms on Saturday.  More than likely, they will pass south of us.  Other than today - which is due to climb into the 90s - we should be back to milder temps.  But there is no rain forecast for the next week.  Not good.

My vision of raising my own small flock of meatie chickens has fizzled.  The rooster is too large and will be going off to Kamp K tomorrow.  I will keep the two hens and will be introducing them into the main flock this weekend.  That's always good for some drama!

Hope you get rain if you need it, dry out if you don't.



9 comments:

Unknown said...

Foot ablutions, that's FUNNY! It's good to know how to treat that at home. I don't know if any vets in Boise would treat a chicken for less than $100's of bucks! Did the vet just squeeze out the pus and dress it? Remove a sliver? Just wondering....

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I really hate to say this because I am sure I will jinx myself, but I have very few Japanese beetles this year. I guess heat and drought is good for something. Now see, this is where those Guineas come in handy. I have a hen sitting again, so a trip to PA when they hatch and they can be yours :)

Susan said...

Nancy - He had to cut out the 'plug' and then clean out the abscess, then we flushed it out with a weak iodine solution and smeared Neosporin on it. I'm lucky - he's a great vet.

Jane - I should hope you don't have JBs. With everything else going wrong (heat/dry) it just wouldn't be fair! Let me know - I'm packed and ready!

Tombstone Livestock said...

skunk, oppossum or wild pig? Good luck with grub treatment, seems like nothing is easy living in the country.

Mama Pea said...

Sorry, but I had to laugh at your proposed weekend list of To Do's. You are one wild, workin' woman. But I know, if you don't do it, who will?

Question: If you send Big Fat Ol' Meatie Rooster to freezer camp, why are you keeping the two Big Fat Ol' Girls??

petey said...

me...you just drop the Y and its me. I don't think I have ever known a chicken vet...although I have given chicken sitzbaths before.

The Llama beans cracked me up...my mom used to make Lima beans and Randyman likes one just about as much as the other LOL

I had to process one of our meaties early today, as its legs were bad. Fried chicken on Sunday! yay!

Sherry said...

Bought a beautiful Martha Washigton Regal geranium hanging basket at Home Dept in early spring. We had that early warm weather & I loved it so much. They told me it was new this year. Hated to pay the price, but had to have it! For weeks it looked so wonderful hanging on our deck. A few weeks ago, it started looking bad, despite our hot weather this year, something was wrong. After a couple of days of it looking bad, I went to take it off the hook to inspect it closer & dozens of beatles flew out of it! We have since sprayed all of our flowers (discovered same beatles had eaten most of two of our bushes in the front yard) My beautiful plant is gone! Damn those beatles!

Erin said...

Pie and a shade tree sounds like the perfect way to spend the 4th! Hope your rain moves your way a bit!

Candy C. said...

Your small-town 4th celebration sounds a lot like ours! :)
A Sunday chicken dinner sounds pretty good, maybe you should take petey's advice, and I hope it comes with a side of rain!