Thursday, June 18, 2009

Invasion of the Animals

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. We've been a little busy. Um. A lot busy. The gardens are coming in, but we're being invaded by wild hogs and deer. The deer ate all of my pepper plants down to the nub, and the hogs completely destroyed mom & dad's watermelons and heavily damaged the Merit corn. B & dad have been staying up all night for weeks, trying to catch/kill the hogs, but the damn things are SNEAKY.

In spite of it, mom has managed to can a significant amount of food: strawberry preserves, lots and lots and lots of pickles - both cuke and squash/zuke, several different kinds of peas, corn on the cob. And dear Gods at the squash we've eaten in the last few weeks. Delicious! I also harvested some (small) onions, some (very, very small) potatoes, and my herb garden is a constant delight.

So, the excitement last week was, B agreed to get a cat. The last one we tried to adopt was a terror; the girls couldn't get within 10 feet of the thing without being attacked. Not playfully, either: full-on, teeth-and-claws attacked. It was bad. We tried so hard to make it work, but we had to "rehome" him (don't ask). But this kitty ... he's a dream. Box-trained in a day, soft and cuddly, playful, and lets the 2 y/o carry him around with nary a hiss or scratch. We all adore him ... a GOOD decision! The 4 y/o named him Henry. :)

The excitement today is ... we finally have chickens! Two laying hens at the moment, with a rooster to join them as soon as the neighbor can catch him. The girls have named them Tinker-Chicken and Sadie. They LOVE lettuce and grapes and seem happy enough in their little pen for the time being. Hopefully B and I can get the coop/run situation resolved this weekend and we can get busy establishing our flock. Yay, us!!!

This weekend will be a busy one, too, as the whole extended family is preparing for a visit from my nephew J, his wife M, and their girls, L & M (who are roughly the same age as our girls -- FUN!). We haven't seen each other since M & I were pregnant with our 2 y/o's, so it'll be a fun visit. Hope we're able to manage entertaining, garden stuff, work, and other commitments without too much drama/trauma.

Tomorrow is a vacation day, but I'll be up at my normal time to get the girls to daycare and get started in the garden. We're going to pick and can peas and cukes, inspect and clean mom & dad's camper, and a million other things.

I almost forgot: I installed another clothesline last weekend to replace the crappy kit I bought and B put up for me last year. That was some HARD work, but man, did it feel good. And now I get to line-dry our laundry. Hell yeah!

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