Lily Stems

Posted on July 16, 2019 by TJ

It’s been incredibly hot and humid here in Northern Michigan–so hot that I feel like I’m melting. The temperatures have been in the mid-80s (F) and will rise to 90 this weekend. My southern friends would laugh at me because the 80s are nothing to them. They get much hotter than that. Yikes! I don’t know how they survive!

As I melt my way down the driveway to the mailbox and stagger back up to the house, I enjoy looking at the beautiful flowers lining the driveway. We have planted a lot of wildflower seeds, and I spent a summer or two transplanting the lilies spreading near the big rocks. Encouraging plants to grow along the driveway was one of my erosion-control methods. They slow the rainwater flowing down the hill and their roots hold the soil.

The lilies are blooming, but we’d actually enjoy two or three times more flowers except deer love to eat them. I chuckle when I find empty stems. I’m assuming that, eventually, the lilies will spread enough that there will be more than the deer can eat. Meanwhile…oh, well. We purposely make our land wildlife-friendly.

Our chicken coop is actually a 12 x 10 shed. Until last summer we also had ducks. Our male duck used to enjoy harassing the hens so we separated them both outside and inside the coop. We used a dog fence panel inside the coop–the part with a door. The chickens and ducks each had their own little doors. Now the “duck side” is a storage area for the chickens’ food, etc. It is also where we have contained our new cats for a few days so they can get familiar with us, the chickens, and their new surroundings. And it will be their warm shelter in the winter.

We were concerned that it would be too hot for them in this warm weather but I keep checking on them and they are doing fine. I did fasten wire fencing across the “duck door” so the cats can’t get out but there is still increased air circulation. I shut the door at night so predators can’t get in. In a day or two, I will remove the fencing and let them go in and out. I want to make sure they aren’t scared of the chickens though. EJ said that the first time the cats heard Sassy crow, their eyes got huge. Being together (but separated) in the coop helps them all get comfortable with each other. Annie sometimes follows me into the chicken pen, and she ignores the chickens and the chickens ignore her.

Yesterday I took a video of Theo. Theo is a lover. Millie is shyer, although she usually comes out her hiding place on top of the kitty litter buckets filled with chicken feed when she sees Theo getting attention so she can get some too. She did not come out while I was videoing though. She must be camera shy.

Isn’t Theo cute?

Last week I designed a 10-inch dreamcatcher. It is a little different than the 8-inch one. This morning I finally finished getting the patterns written down. I posted them on my Terics Treasures website so people (I hope) can buy them. This is what the dreamcatchers look like:

10-inch dreamcatcher

8-inch dreamcatcher

Now I’m trying to finish up a doll that I started a couple of weeks ago. As I work on it, I’m considering how to design my next dreamcatcher. I’m having fun designing them.