Saturday, June 25, 2011

a ray of sunshine today...hip, hip.....sheesh

These fools run around clumsily and I fear the eventual order of their pecking will be on the low side but they are cute, fluffy, blue and comical. We'll see.
These things have a very bird-of-prey look to them..lovely colors with their light green legs.
How on earth any pollination took place this Spring is beyond me, (several of the apple trees missed the boat), but here hang some peaches. I've already applied one dose of Surround which was something of a fool's errand considering it's been raining just about non-stop for 2 months. The ground is completely saturated and it squishes when you walk. Deep standing water in the depressions around the raised beds. Waterlogged takes on whole new context. However, given my druthers, I'll take this over Arizona wildfires or drought stricken Texas or truly flooded or tornado ravaged places to the south and west of me.
I've added a second hive hopefully in the nick of time. My bee man sadly lives far from me so this latest acquisition was a hand-off en route but it seems I may be having problems with hive 1. The bitch is that it's been raining so much and it's been so, well, cold that I haven't had the optimal time to open the hive, photograph it and send it on to my pro but an actual hour of sun happened today inducing me to take these snaps and next week the temps promise to get up into the 80's,(it's been in 50's alot lately), so maybe my vegetable plants that have stalled completely might just do that crazy thing we call 'grow' before the first frost kills them off. I know, I know..kvetch..complain but I defy anyone to tell me weather patterns aren't changing. I've been tromping around here for 50 odd years and I see change. One can imagine an atmosphere full of particles having a tougher time moving along as freely as it once did. Sigh.

Friday, June 10, 2011

A Fowl Trade..Let it Bee































Long time no bloggy. As with everyone this is a particularly busy time of year and in my case made even more so by taking on new projects proving yet again my high standing in the kingdom of Flibbertijibberty..











Anyhoo..the ducks, my beloved ducks, have a new home on a 3 acre pond. It wasn't just that the kiddie pool wasn't cutting it but also that the boys were having their way with the chickens, denuding them of neck feathers and a sort of general humiliation that come to find out could kill a little hen. So off they went. I visit them when I can and note that the female is actually broody on her homemade woodland nest and maybe they won't get picked off like 3 of my hens have this Spring by maurauding foxes.











So, in exchange, the pond owner has gifted me with the green egg layers Arconas (sp?) and the silkies. The black chicks came from the grain store where, I think, I was told they were barred rocks but I kinda don't think so. Do you know?











In other news I think the honey bees are doing their thing but more on that later when I have time to investigate properly.