Garden Chickens

Posted on September 10, 2018 by TJ

EJ and I had a very quiet weekend. He was going to go to a gun show with his friend on Saturday, mostly just to hang out. EJ invited me to come along because he enjoys being with me, but I figured that he and his friend should enjoy the day together. Besides, my tooth still hurt quite a bit from the root canal I had done on Thursday. I think I also have been struggling with a sinus infection for quite a while. When JJ was very young, I had chronic sinus problems but usually the only symptom I have is fatigue. I used to go to my doctor for some issue or another, and she would check me over and declare that I had a really bad sinus infection. I didn’t even know it. Anyway, I’m hoping that the antibiotic that I’m taking for the tooth infection will also knock out any sinus infection.

EJ ended up staying home Saturday because he was suffering from a few side effects from a new medication his doctor had prescribed for him. And he has also been struggling with some sort of respiratory infection. So we both spent the weekend not feeling particularly well.

We did get a few little things done on Sunday. We want to fence in our three cherry trees to prevent the deer from eating them in the winter. We carried t-posts over to them–to the trees, not the deer–and EJ pounded them into the ground. We were going to attach the fencing to them, but we ran out of energy after pounding in the t-posts.

After putting up the t-posts, stopped at the store for a few items, including a vaporizer and over-the-counter medications. As we stood in front of the shelves of medicines, I told EJ that I wanted something very strong to help destroy my sinus infection. He quipped that Americans always want medications just one notch below “strong enough to kill us.” I said, “Yup. That sounds just about right.” Bring it on.

At home again, we temporarily made the dog cage panel gate more secure. The hardware store only had one gate hinge/screw thingy the last time we went there. We need another one or two–they screw into the wooden post and the gate is set on the upright arm so it can swing open and closed. Until we can get there to buy another, we just wired the gate to the posts.

We wanted to make the gate secure so we could let the chickens into the garden. I wasn’t sure if the chickens would try to eat our produce–like the ducks always did–but with the end of the growing season approaching, I thought it would be worth the risk of letting them into the garden. They didn’t try to eat our produce–they weren’t even interested in it–and they really seemed to enjoy the larger area. They clucked contentedly as they searched for grass and insects to eat. The garden is so large now that it’s almost like letting them free-range. It’s really pleasant looking out the window and seeing the chickens wandering about.

While the chickens explored the garden, EJ and I picked some of our ripe herbs and veggies. Then we came into the house, took care of the produce, and rested for the remainder of the day.

The news reported that the geomagnetic activity from the sun was very strong so there was a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights tonight. EJ and I went out to look at the sky just before he went to bed but we didn’t see anything. A couple of hours later I went outside by myself to see if I could see the Northern Lights. First I changed the batteries in the flashlight because its light has gotten so weak that I can barely see anything. When I had a strong light again, I went outside, turned off the flashlight, and looked up. It’s a very clear night and there were a billion billion stars out. I could clearly see the Milky Way, like a rip in space. I stayed outside for several minutes but didn’t see any beautiful Northern Lights. I thought, well, I’ll come back out just before I go to bed. I have to take my antibiotic every six hours so I’ve been staying up until midnight to take the last dose of the night.

I walked toward the house, scanning the porch for spiders with the strong light of the flashlight. In the autumn, the wolf spiders like to lurk on the porch for some reason. They sort of ruin the season for me–at least when it comes to going out at night. I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn’t see any spiders, but then as I near the door I spied a large wolf spider in the bottom corner of the door. That’s one of their favorite places to lurk so I always check it. I knew that if I opened the door, it could–and probably would–slip inside the house. THAT would be scary! I pondered my dilemma. I couldn’t stay outside all night, and I was not going to open the door and let the spider in the house. Nope. No way. I spotted a long thin board on the porch. I grabbed it and scooted the spider away from the door, hoping it wouldn’t get mad at me and attack. Then, with a shudder, I quickly slid past the spider and into the house where I quickly locked the door.

I have decided that I will not go outside any more to see if there are any Northern Lights.