May 8th

Sadly our morning began with

one less hen.

Yesterday, our girl Pepper died.

We aren't sure of the cause, but she was

having a lot of trouble breathing when

we saw her.

The CEO picked her up and we examined

her for any trauma.

Outwardly, she was fine,

just couldn't breathe.

I checked for any obstruction, but none was there.

I noticed her heart was beating more slowly than usual.

It's weird that I noticed some distinctly

human actions when facing the reality of death.

She was found way away from the

other girls, near our fence, lying down.

It was almost as if she knew and went off to be alone.

Her wattle and comb were pale pink,

and her legs and feet were pale yellow.

Probably from lack of oxygen.

Her eyes kept closing with the effort to breathe.

Then, while the CEO held her,

she passed away.

It was easy, like she fell asleep.

I'm posting a few pictures of her that we love. 

She loved to be around people.

I guess she thought of us as part of her flock.

Always curious.

This is the last picture of all 5 together.

I know she was "only" a chicken.

To us she was a pet.

Whenever a loss like this occurs

you still grieve,

you still feel the loss.

I think the other girls miss her too.

When Sandy and Henny were killed 

by the racoon, the others milled

around and were in a general listless state for a while.

I can't really know how a chicken feels,

but I can attest to what I've observed.

I seemed that when they went into the coop last night,

they clucked and coo'd like they were

calling out to Pepper to come home.

But,

this morning when I let them out of the coop,

they resumed foraging as usual.

Maybe that's a life lesson...

It's not about forgetting,

it's about embracing the future.

Life is continually evolving and changing

and somehow our little flock

takes everything in stride.

So,

as a tribute to Pepper,

I'll share some special treats with the girls

and "toast' her memory.

Seems like the right thing to do

and,

I don't think she'd have wanted it any other way

 

April 30th

 

Happy Arbor day!

In celebration of this remembrance,

here is one of our majestic cypress trees.

We have 3 cypress but this one has 

squirrel nests!

What a beautiful native tree.

What's the deal with Arbor Day anyway?

Well, I looked it up.

The first Arbor Day was documented in 1594

 in a small village in Spain.

It was organized by the mayor because

a lot of their trees died so they planted more.

Fast forward to 1805

 (we are in another Spanish village),

when their local priest held the 200th

anniversary of the original date,

calling it Fiesta de Arbol.

This priest was convinced that trees

were more than fruit, berry and nut bearers.

He extolled the virtues of trees as 

decoration and natural beauty.

So, after Mass, the whole village 

came out and planted several trees

along the main road to town.

🌲

The remembrance of Arbor Day

in the U.S. began in Nebraska in 1872.

It's unknown how the celebration came

to America, but it's thought that it was probably

due to Spanish immigrants.

On April 10th that year an estimated 

one million trees were planted.

The guy responsible was determined to re-plant areas

destroyed by de-forestation from the huge logging industry.

This idea caught on.

The American Forestry Association

sought to use Arbor Day to

get the public enthused 

about re-forestation,

especially since huge swaths of land

had been clear cut to harvest the lumber.

There was an enormous building boom in the U.S. back then.

Theodore Roosevelt, back in 1906,

thought Arbor Day was an awesome idea.

He, being a nature and conservation enthusiast,

got the lumber industry to embrace it too.

His speeches about tree conservation

included this quote,

"A people without children

would face a hopeless future;

a country without trees is

almost as helpless."

🌲

And this quote from John Muir.

"The clearest way into the Universe

is through a forest wilderness."

🌳

Chief Seattle

*************************************

The veggie garden is doing very well.

These are a few of our artichokes.

This is what we've harvested so far,

Celery, Cauliflower, Purple Broccoli 

and an artichoke.

A close up of the beautiful bud!

Hazel.

I think she's hoping for a treat.

Some eggplant flowers.

Nugget snooping around.

  

A friendly neighborhood cat.

This is the poor guy who gets

literally henpecked by the girls.

He's resting on hay behind our small building.

2 cherry tomatoes.

🐔

Four of the girls are following me.

Ethel is in the coop laying an egg.

She asked to not be disturbed.

 😆

There isn't a time when they don't follow us.

It's something you can count on with

a regularity that your bowels rarely achieve.

😆

Oh, yeah,

they don't follow us when it's too early to go

night-night.

They automatically go into the coop at sundown,

but they REALLY don't like to go in early,

so we have to tempt them with pieces of bread.

If we have to leave and won't be home to

close the coop door to protect them

from predators, we corral them in early.

That's when we use bread pieces as an "incentive".

They go for it like it's the last life preserver on 

the freaking Titanic!

They never get bread, so it's a treat for them.

Now I can rewrite my curriculum vitae

to include Chicken Wrangler...

Pepper,

She's probably pissed.

She wanted to go lay an egg,

but for some infernal reason,

they all have to use the same cockadoodie box!

So now she waits, clucking around, 

for Ethel to finish laying.

Sweet onions.

These are a similar to Vidalia's.

Parsley.

 This guy needs a haircut!

I'll cut some and dry it for my herbal blend.

Lucy giving me the stink eye.

These are Greek Oregano, 

French and German Thyme,

and French Tarragon. 

The baby angel is between Peppermint

and Oregano .

The herb garden.

****************************

The gardenias are blooming like crazy!

This picture was taken yesterday morning...

This picture is of the same bush this morning...

Amazing!

Just too beautiful!

And the scent is wonderful as you step onto

the porch!

I also have a few gladiolus that will bloom soon.

Can't wait to see the colors.

I think they may be yellow, but several  bulbs

died in the freeze.

So it'll be a surprize.

Kinda like a gender reveal!

😂😆

*******************

The weather is getting hotter.

I was just commenting on it with my

son and my sister,

My day consists of  bringing and picking 

up kids from school.

When I get hot, I get cranky.

I also sweat profusely.

There's nothing ladylike in sweating.

Scarlett O'Hara may have fanned herself

or sat under an oak to get cool

while drinking sweet tea,

But,

I sweat!

I was so hot yesterday that

I could have warmed the entire

Donner Party

and nobody woulda been eaten!

Just sayin'

***********

Love ya,

Sis!

April 18th

 

This is so true,

especially in the last week.

I think it rained for 6 consecutive days.

We were without power for almost 28 hours

at one point when the weather got very bad.

Thankfully we had a generator!

 But,

for most of those days,

it was drizzles and thunderstorms,

and to quote e.e.cummings

"puddlelicious",

and thankfully

not the mini-tropical storm that

caused the power outages.

The veggies withstood the rain for the most part,

but my flowers took a beating.

I'm glad I took a few pictures before the rains began.

The Amaryllis withstood the heavy rain

pretty well.

Same with my Snapdragons.

And the Irises

This is a small container with 

Mother-in-Law Tongue

and

Marigolds.

This is the gardenia bush.

We have 2 of them flanking the front door.

They are covered with buds.

Can't wait'll they bloom!!

I got a "Just Because" bouquet

during the rainy week.

It's so beautiful!

I love roses.

🌹

💘

**********************************

Cilantro.

It's flowering with these delicate

white flowers.

All of it is edible.

Artichokes.

This plant has 5 or 6.

They are about the size of a baseball.

I don't have many pictures of the veggies

and none of the hens on this blog because

of the rain.

The ground is soggy and the girls

just love that.

More unlucky bugs to eat!

They were out before 6 this morning

hunting in the grass.

🐔

*******************************

Some small chocolate pies.

I always try to think of a way to

use up any leftovers.

😃

In this case it was 3 slices of 

Mississippi Mud Bundt cake

from Rouses, about 3 tablespoons of 

sour cherry jam,

 a small amount of Praline Liqueur and some

refrigerated pie crusts that will expire 

next week.

So, rather than pitch them out here's what I did...

I mashed up the Mississippi Mud cake slices,

added the jam and stirred it up.

I then added the Praline Liqueur

till the mixture was a pasty consistency.

Then....

I used a glass to cut out circles in the

pie crust and rolled it out again to use 

up the entire amount of pastry dough.

It made 9 circles.

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees,

and foil lined a cookie sheet.

Then I filled the bottom circle 

(with a tablespoon of the mixture)

and pinched the top one to cover,

placed it on the cookie sheet,

poked holes in the top

and baked for 15 minutes

(that's package directions for a pie).

But, I kept checking on them.

Didn't want them to burn.

As you can see, 

the CEO got to them already!

They turned out great!

Yay!

I did the same kinda thing with

refrigerated pizza dough and leftovers last night.

I had 6 chicken tenders and 2 meatballs that

I was trying to think of something to make with them.

The CEO said lets' make a pizza.

So I did.

I rolled out the refrigerated pizza dough.

into a rectangle,

then brushed garlic butter on it.

I placed it in the oven at 450 degrees

for a couple minutes to toast the bottom,

and removed it from the heat.

Then, I cut the meatballs up into small chunks

as well as the chicken.

I had some sliced red onion, spinach leaves,

cherry tomatoes, some leftover marinara sauce

 and several types of cheese.

Then we started layering....

We put the chicken on one side and the meatballs on the other.

They made just enough for two,

and it tasted great!

🍕

***************************

An almost tail-less lizard.

This guy escaped the clucking beak of Hazel

by breaking off the end of his tail.

He'll live to fight another day!

A male Blue Jay.

He visits the backyard to snack on 

the chicken feed.

No, the girls don't like the company,

and if they see him,

they'll run him off.

*******************************

This is an acquired taste.

I know it, but

I love this stuff!

Some of the grocery stores have been out of it,

so when I saw it,

I grabbed a jar!

*************************************

I saw this picture and it reminded me of my

sister and I eating these while they hung around our necks.

We loved them.

As an adult, I see them for what they really are...

the candy was like a mini jaw breaker.

or a small stone with a hole in it!

Not very tasty and hard as hell to remove from the 

elastic string.

It also made our necks sticky with the moist heat

of the summer and the spit as we tried

to crack a tooth removing one.

So, we drank water from the hose to quench

that sweetness in our mouths.

Then after we went in to watch Gilligan's Island on T.V.

"Just sit right back

and you'll hear a tale,

a tale of a fateful trip,

that started from this tropic port

aboard this tiny ship......."

Love ya, Sue!

(Bet ya sang those lyrics!)

**************************

And this just in....

Received in yesterday's mail

NOOOOOOO!!

CRAP!