Henhouse Update

 The Girls and I got our window box! For now it is only tacked on because it must be primed and painted but I think it definitely adds a "cute" factor to the building. The actual window will be added after it is also primed and painted. Barring rain I should be able to stain the floor tomorrow.

The bucket in the doorway holds Raspberry bushes waiting to be planted. For reasons unknown the Blueberry bushes are not doing very well. They will be removed from their raised bed and potted to give them a second chance to make something of themselves. They have a month to improve or they are history!

A frost hit the Grapes. One of them is coming back quickly but the other one not so much. I'm biding my time deciding their future.

Figs are doing well and the Peach tree has several lil peaches.

With the exception of the Blueberries and the one Grape vine I'm pleased with all last year's new additions.

New seedling are still popping up in the greenhouse. I'm truly loving this bit of plastic over metal tubing. Every day brings something new when I go into it's warm, humid interior. Several seedlings have their first true leaves and are ready to be transplanted into individual pots. I'm recycling yogurt cups and water bottles with the tops cut off for most of the seedlings.

Good News & Bad News

Good News :
I now know how to send photos from my phone to my email. My co-worker Nina taught me how ... a trick she learned from her teenage granddaughter. =)

Bad news :
The first photo I send is of my car after a lady hit me Thursday evening on my way home from work. No one was injured but my poor little car. If I hadn't been paying attention to the traffic it would of been much worse. She would have T-boned me and I most likely would have been injured.

More Good News :
The plants I added near the end of last Summer are putting out leaves! I was concerned about the Grapes and Figs but they are coming right along. The Blackberry bushes kept their leaves all Winter and I was pretty confident they would be fine. Now if the Blueberry bushes perk up my investment of last Summer will be well worth the money spent.

My lil greenhouse-a-box is now set up and waiting for me to start my seeds. Daddy helped me put the cover on it yesterday. That cover requires two people when one of the people involved is "vertically challenged" at five foot and one inch. lol

Daddy and I have the new coop framed up and part of the rafters built. Can't wait to get it finished and move the girls into their new digs. Although it is only 6' x 7.5' x 8', after spending nights in the little Chicken n' Hutch for two years, the new coop will be so much more spacious . With it being eight foot tall we are adding a half loft so I can store straw. This will be sooo much better than keeping the straw on my backporch. The feed barrel will also be going into the coop getting one more thing off the porch. Yay!

Better get a wiggle on there are seeds awaiting me!

Happy Spring!!
~ Penny ~

Happenings ... good and bad

Much has happened these last few weeks.

I am out of the boot ... Yay!
I'm now wearing a close fitting stretchy sock that will be my friend for the next few months. After wearing that hot, and heavy, boot for the summer I'm so grateful to be able to wear the stretchy sock that I will wear it happily until the end of the year if need be!

After my third MRI of the summer I learned I not only have bulging discs in my lower lumbar but I also have them in my neck. The pinched nerves in my neck from those boogered discs, and bone spurs, have been causing tingling with numbing/pain down my left arm. It's crazy! Crocheting and knitting were nearly impossible until my Nurse Practitioner gave me a cortisone shot and a few days of prednisone pills. For now things are better but I know pain injections are in my future. My NP has already made the referral for the shots. My Mom has the same thing but I seem to be coming into it a little earlier than she did.

Because of the foot/neck/back thing going on Nicholas, my 15 yo neighbor, dug holes for me so the Figs and Pink Reliance Seedless grape vines are finally in the ground. Hip Hip Hooray! There are still three Blueberry bushes, two Blackberry bushes and several herbs waiting to be planted. They will find their homes asap.

Chicken News:
Frack is now living with the other hens. She had taken to following me around the back yard like a feathery dog. It was actually pretty neat. She followed so closely that if I made a sudden stop she ran into me. If I sat in the chair, by the bunnies, she would come over to me and sit a spell and "talk" to me. I love that murmuring cluck talk hens do among themselves. One evening I heard her distress call and hurried over to find her being stalked by a large feral cat. I called her to me, chased off the cat, then clipped Frack's wings.

Clipping wings does not hurt the chicken but watching her being picked on, and pecked at, was too traumatic. I truly thought they would peck her to death. =( Even Frick, who has always been with Frack took a turn at tormenting the poor girl! It has now been over a week and the bullying is somewhat better. Frack doesn't cower in a corner now but is very light on her feet and keeps moving away from the bullies.

Family News :
Please keep my Daddy and Angela in your prayers. Daddy has to have another procedure done this week regarding the bladder cancer. Angela is now off chemo treatments but has had a blood transfusion this week and will be getting another next week. My family are fighters but help from above is always welcomed!

Remember this, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well", from Julian of Norwich.

~ Penny ~

The Bitter and the Sweet

There are always ups and downs to farming ... recently I experienced one of the downs.

I came home from work three weeks ago to find Marguerite had apparently died from heat exhaustion. She was one of my Buff Orpingtons and a such a goofball. My chickens have been pets from the beginning and I frequently refer them as cats with feathers. They will rub against my legs when I am caring for them. I am constantly shooing them out from underfoot to avoid stepping on them. Rest in Peace my Golden Marguerite.

On the up side I was able to pick up several plants for my orchard at Saturday's Market. Espri from Brambleberry Farm brought me two figs, two Reliance seedless grape vines, two thornless Blackberries, and a Blueberry bush. Brambleberry Farm is currently running a sale on a selection of plants and I saved quite a bit on my purchase.

Please continue to keep Angela in your prayers. She will have her third treatment on Tuesday. She is experiencing wicked headaches and bad nose bleeds. The doctors do not know if the brain tumors are hemorrhaging (bleeding out), if they are caused by her constant high blood pressure or if it is a reaction to the chemo. =( After four treatment she will take a two week hiatus then there is suppose to be four more treatments. She is tough but the tough people still need to be lifted up in prayer.

Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. I go for my first physical therapy appointment for the inflamed tendon in my ankle. I hate PT but I hate the "boot" I'm wearing even more! It has been three months since I injured my ankle and I am so over wearing the "boot"!

I'm off to meet my niece Heather to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I saw it a week ago with the "Library Ladies" but told Sis I wanted to see it again so we made a date. =)

Have a Blessed week and stay cool!
~ Penny ~