Saturday, April 30, 2016

End Of The Week



Cali is ready to go this morning. It is dark and cloudy but says no rain until this afternoon. I hope they are right this time???



Yukonk is waiting for his breakfast this beautiful morning.



miss Gabby is out too. She and Cali cannot seem to get along at all. Sometimes they lay and just star each other down when they have nothing else better to do?????



This is one pair of the pigeons as I start to feed.



This pair are antiques - they are 16 years old and still beautiful - to me.



This run has the pigeons that I am the most amazed with.



They have the nickname of "Laughing Pigeons" and it is because they have a very unique call.



Matter of fact they sound a whole lot like me when I laugh or maybe I sound a whole lot like them?



They are also called Arabian Trumpeters and I love them.



I intended to clean out two runs today but one group of the chickens had pulled so much of their scratch out into their bedding that I did not want to waste their food, so I decided to only do the one run and complete my row of strawberries. Now, if they have their facts right I should not have to worry about "Weeding " this row for 2 more years??? I will just have to wait and see-If I am still kicking???????/ ~smile



I pulled this big ole weed out of one of my raised beds -didn't want it taking over.



Look at the roots on that fat hog- it took a fourth of my compost out with it??????



I got the area around my blueberry bush weeded and papers and fresh mulch put down. It has little blooms all over it. I really need the blueberries for my eyes and I have had the absolute Worst luck trying to have them. For the past Years I have planted them - only to have something happen to them -usually related to other human beings ! Last year a friend drove over one -then the deer did pull up several of them - one year a neighbor's cattle came around and pulled them up and kept running down the driveway with them in their mouth???? Wonder if he had blueberry milk that night??? LOL



Look at that pretty bed of Winter kale??? I wouldn't call it Winter Kale because the first sign of cold weather it just bit the dust , but now that Spring is here it has rebounded so I can still have the kale in the smoothies for my eyes until that Dinosaur Kale takes off that I have planted and then the Marabal Spinach also. O, also some Rainbow Chard. That stuff is so beautiful. I do have a gap in that deer fence that I still need to fix but I need a couple more metal fence posts and my eyes have not been so great so I have not risked driving this week. Maybe next week????? ~smile~

The weather men must have got it right this time as I got all of my work accomplished and the chicks out and back in before I came in the house. Yea!

Friday, April 29, 2016

Friday Coming Down



Getting my little ladies out to work in the garden this morning since it is calling for a beautiful day .



This is the section of strawberry plants that I intend to work on before it gets away from me. I have found a reasonable place to get sawdust shavings and have been using that in the chickens runs at night. The reading I have been doing says that you should not use that unless you want to kill off weeds because it takes all the nitrogen from the soil to decompose it. Since the chicken manure is high in nitrogen I think it will make it behave itself , plus I do want it to keep the weeds killed here.


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Well, I can see this is one of those live and learn days. I had tried to work without my glasses but the sun if REALLY too bright with the macular degeneration and cataracts so I will have to do something was what I was thinking when along the wind came and kept blowing the protection I had away. I think I am spending all my time chasing my hat. lol




This was yesterday's trash from sorting through some recipes. I Almost tossed them in the trash and then I thought maybe I could use them to mulch with?? Soooo glad I considered that idea.



I know it does not look like much at this stage of the game but I have plopped down on my rump to catch my breath. I have carried down two big loads of shavings from two of the chicken runs and it is starting to take shape. One man I read about said that his paper mulch actually lasted for 3 years. That would be a very nice time to not have to fight with weeds?????



                                               I do not know what to think of this?????



Or This???????????? Cute as a button , they are . I planted them here last year and the little boogers never growed. I did not think they would ever make it through the Winter???? They are so tiny - you can see the blooms are not much bigger than my thumb nail????  Poor little things are so wilted - it is just Bone Dry here . So much for all that rain they called for??????? I am thinking about pulling the water hose down already but they are still calling for some more rain over the weekend, so I am trying to hold off.



O my gosh - about scared myself to death - I was digging weeds and almost chopped down this asparagus ??????????????? He stood right up there like a snake trying to get my attention. Silly thing - it was hidden by some horseradish plants that I was chopping. lol



Would you believe this bed I planted full of lettuce???? Right -every single plant in here is lambsquarter??? Most consider it a weed , but it is a Spring green. I even canned it one year in a combination of other greens. I could let it go ahead and grow and put it in my smoothies and have some free food that is suppose to be really good for you.

Seasonal Eats: 5 Ways to Enjoy Lambs Quarters

hp_lambsquarters.jpg
A Bunch of Lambs Quarters from the Highland Park Farmers' Market (Heather Parlato/LAist)
Lambs quarters (sometimes seen as one word, lambsquarters) is a wild edible leafy green that usually appears in farmers' markets in early spring, but with the exceptionally temperate winter we've had in Southern California, many spring greens are arriving early. It's a good substitute for spinach or chard without the oxalic bite and a great substitution or supplement to either in any recipes you find. Lambs quarters adds a soft, toothy crunch to salads, and can easily be blended into smoothies for a great source of vitamins.
Belonging to the chenopodium family, commonly called goosefoot, it's most closely related to seeded plants like spinach and quinoa. Allergic people, take heed, goosefoot pollen is a weed allergen common to many people in the cause of hay fever, so take a small taste before having a meal if you're not sure. Mildly anti-inflammatory with a glycemic load of 1, it's are a good source of Niacin, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Thiamin, Roboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.
5 ways to enjoy lambs quarters
Lambsquarters Breakfast Ramekin -- pack a punch of green vitamins when you sauté lambsquarters and bake them up with an egg for breakfast.
Lambsquarters & Peach Green Smoothie -- if you're a fan of green smoothies, this article has a simple healthy preparation for you at the bottom of the page.
Lambsquarters salad -- this salad has the fresh, bright flavors of lemon, cilantro and garlic.
Lambsquarter sauté -- treat lambsquarters as a sauté green and enjoy it with onions, lemon juice and sesame seeds.
Lambsquarters and Beans -- this hearty recipe is great for a side dish in the cooler months of late-Winter / early-Spring.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Thursday already?



My little shy Bandit , hiding his face as I come out the door this morning.



Mocha was not too happy with me trying to sneak up on her to get a picture as she lay in the grass. She just feels too bad to do much of anything. I know how she feels and it breaks my heart.



I just had to share this funny picture of Miss Hen. she is sitting on a little shelf that used to belong to the parakeets . It is very small and she was scratching around so hard that she had the entire wall wobbling all over the place. It was very funny and then she gave me This look when I opened the door to snap the picture.

I wanted to put them out, but they were calling for the chance of dangerous thunderstorms . The wind would lay one minute and then whip up out of the blue and I was afraid it would blow over their little corrals, so I did not risk it.



This was a new tulip blooming and I just love it. ( Hum? have I ever met a flower I did not love ??? Maybe not??? lol)



I passed this one up on my way to the car to take a carton of eggs down to my neighbor. Then I came back and watered all of my seeds. Some of them are doing good and it will not be long before they can get planted.

Spring is really here and it is the most wonderful feeling to be outdoors with a warm breeze on your skin. Also sleep is better since I am not freezing to death now. It is hard to sleep when you are cold. I am Soooooooo grateful that Spring is here.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Hump Day



They were calling for a ton of thunderstorms today so I worked most of the day in the house. But, we only got a little shower this morning -so I could have worked outdoors. Pooh! The weather people just cannot get it right these days.

But, I did pull off a new outfit for the Christmas doll.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Almost Gone



These beauties are almost gone. They have been such a joy. But they make me think of my eyesight now-almost gone. That is what put me in such a fluk.



I started the day off good as I did all the morning chores . I even got the cabbage plants and the oregano planted and more weeds evicted. I got the soon to be lovely tickseed planted.



I had my tag-a-long supervisor along with me.



This lovely is the only one in the bed that is a different color. She definitely stands out.



See how lovely her delicate blossoms are? They are a thing of beauty for sure.



But then I went in the house and that was when it hit me how much trouble my eyes were giving me. Hard to see on the computer - no fun at all to try to read- the tv program was the only thing that it seems you can lose yourself in and not notice . I do not know if that is because you lose yourself in the story and forget-maybe.

Then the depression hit - I was so torn between anger and sadness and terror. I want to rage against this monster who is stealing my sight and also my passion for everything that I want to do. Then I want to just break down and ball at the thought of losing my independence. I know there are other Americans who are going through this very same thing and I wish I could fix it for them and me both. We have lived our lives and raised our families and now it boils down to this? All of the medical miracles they can pull off every day and there is No Help for macular degeneration? How can that be?

Monday, April 25, 2016

Monday



Well, for an old gal who didn't feel so great I accomplished a bit. This is one of the chestnut trees that a friend gave me yesterday.



Then I moved over and planted the second one. This is on a stupid hill that I have trouble standing up on and mowing has become such a big problem here, so I am trying this.



This was my third biggie - a goji berry that I had treated myself too over a month ago and have been keeping it in the house to protect it from the frost. Now with this cage I am hoping to protect it from the deer. You just cannot have anything here unless it is protected somehow. I want to cover the two chestnut trees but could not find my other two Old cages I had and I was way too tired to walk way in the back to where hubby had a junk pile to see if there were any there.

I also wanted to go ahead and mulch these guys but was too tired to make the extra trips up and down the hill that it would have required. But, it is calling for thunderstorms the next 3 days so maybe we will get some rain on them instead and then I will attempt to complete them??????

Yesterday I attended my very first "Plant Swap" at a local library. It was a really neat experience and I wish I could do it again but we all know I do not know how long I will continue to have my eyesight so I am grateful for this experience.

People took any kind of plant or seed and then for as many as you brought you could go pick anything you wanted. After that round it was a free for all -anything left over anybody could have. I was amazed at the variety of plants available.

I took a Mother-in-law's Tongue and a Spider plant and picked out a oregano plant and two packs of seeds. Then my friend that took me gave me more plants.



This is the artichokes that I got planted and watered. Poor little babies .



This is the comfrey. I used to have it years ago.



These two little things are thornless blasckberries. There were also two Wineberries  and some mints.



O , this was a amaryllis that was at the swap. I have wanted one for years. I hope I can nurture it until Christmas??????? There were also some garlic chives that I just planted.

I still have to plant the oregano plant and I had found 3 cabbage plants and a flower called tickseed. I have drooled over tickseed at the garden stores before and not had the big bucks to purchase them These are babies so I am really hoping to get to see them do their beautiful thing.



This was another one of my projects for the day. Last year I had a little porch up there. But a friend volunteered to build me a small sunroom. I paid for the lumber and it is on the ground . That is where that board came from. Well, they came and tore down my little porch and then you know how good intentions are-they never came back.

So, yesterday I had asked my daughter and her boyfriend if next weekend when they come to mow would they take a day and help me put up a board to hang my bird-feeders on and maybe even erect a new roof over half of the porch. They said yes -But-  today my little hummingbirds showed UP! OOOO - I was frantic. So I gathered up the supplies and fought with this ladder that hates my guts. He even tried to break my wrist-can you imagine the nerve of a ladder being so unruly???????

But I finally got the ladder up and the board up and the screws and the drill . It took me a minute to realize I should put the screws in the board to start with and that really helped. I hung on to the ladder for dear life and the board and the drill and went at it. First the ladder tried to scoot sideways with me. DARN LADDER. Then the board tired to flip out of my hands -but finally I got it attached - only to discover it was SO crooked that even I could not stand it. So, I unscrewed two screws and then straightened it up as good as I could with the one screw still in it and drilled the other screws back in it.

I am hoping that this will defeat the cats. I went and found an old metal arm that I could hang the feeder on and mounted it all the way up at the top of the board. Now I need another flower hanger for the other side but that will require a trip to town.

I would have liked to got it all the way up even with the porch board but I was not strong enough to hold it by myself. This way it seems to have the strength to do the job. I will find out. Now , if only my back will quit hurting. ~smile~

Saturday, April 23, 2016

End of the Week Already?



For some reason I just felt So Rotten today and later when I spoke to a friend they did too and their son did too - so maybe there was just something in the air.??????

I did all the chores and then planted some marigold seeds and potted up a mother-in-law's tongue to take to a plant swap tomorrow. I have never been to one so this might be interesting.

Meanwhile I could not decide again today which technique I liked the best so I did one panel of the potholder with the diagram and ..........



The second panel with the cross stitch . I think they add interest having two different effects -since I cannot decide. LOL

Friday, April 22, 2016

Rain!

yep, it is Really raining today. This will be wonderful for our bone dry earth. I found myself stalling around and told myself that I Had to go to town to get a couple of cans of some kind of miracle dog food to see about getting the pups pills down them But my eyes were giving me problems and I did not want to go. Still I gathered up my courage and said my prayers and headed out. Town is not far away - about 7 miles and there is a new place in town that just opened selling dog and cat foods.

I made it half way until I came to the river and I broke down and was crying. I fussed at my husband that he should be here as he was always the one who loved to drive. I pulled over and had a little "pity party" and it felt like he reached down and squeezed my hands. It was very calming and enabled me to  "get a grip" and go on.

The man at the new store was very nice and as I explained my problem to him about my pups not wanting to eat I started to cry. I Apologized to him profusely. Dumb tears, I don't know where they are coming from but he helped me find some things to try.

I did try one of the new canned foods tonight for their meds and they did accept it and the meds went down. I am so very grateful. We talked about the dry foods and he said it would be just like comparing kids and what they liked. That they were all different and no guarantees. I appreciated his honesty. I took one bag that he said he had got good reviews on but so far -not much luck with that.


I decided to treat myself since I had made it to town and the Goodwill was only a skip and a hop away. Low and behold I found a small bag of doll clothes and they fit the American Dolls that I have been attempting to work on for the Sewing Guild. There is no restriction on the clothes -you can make them or purchase them and I thought if they were messed up I might still use them for patterns.



Looking around was between enjoyment and misery. Sometimes my eyes would try to co-operate and sometimes it was pure misery. 



I did find a pack of pop-sickle sticks and that pleased me as I can now use them to mark the seeds I have planted. I always plant them and then forget over time.  always makes me so darn mad at myself.



Losing your privilege to even go shopping by yourself sounds like a very bleak future to me?



While I was there it came a Really big downpour that lasted about half an hour and I was glad I was still shopping. 


I think the doll clothes are really cute and will add them to my collection. I will probably wash and iron them closer to Christmas.
I then went on to the Dollar Tree and got a pack of fly stickies because I had such good luck with them last year in the chicken building. 
I also grabbed a dollar cat collar with a little bell on it. I jingled all of them searching for the one with the loudest sound.



Then I came home and let Miss Callie out of the bedroom and placed the collar on her. So far for the rest of the day No More captured birds???? I am hoping this will  give the birds a head start - it never hurts to hope?????



Last Winter I had ran across this simple little cross-stitch pattern and thought how cute it was. SOOOOOOOOO



I turned it into this and hated it. It looked like a big footed wabbit with a long tail to me. So back to the drawing board and came out with this?



Ok, not bad but still my curiosity was up???



So, I used this technique next and now I cannot decide which one I prefer. I gave up and stitched them together for a kitty potholder for Christmas???? lol  At least they do not look like a "wabbit" now.