I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Decepticon
The night-time temperatures in our area have not consistently risen above the high 30s. The last couple of nights the temperatures dipped–into the low 30s and even the 20s. We’ve had had frost/freeze warnings. We turned our furnace back on. Although the overnight temperatures have been low, we had been enjoying warmer temperatures during the day–into the 50s, 60s, and a couple of times even into the 70s. However, yesterday the day-time high was in the low 40s and there was a strong breeze and the weather today is much the same. I don’t mind the colder temps at night, but the cooler temps during the day makes it a bit unpleasant to work outside. Brrrrr. I’m feeling more affected by the Spring chill than by Winter’s cold. I think it’s because the weather is warmer one day and colder the next and I don’t have time to mentally adjust. Or maybe it’s because I am working outside more in the Spring than the Winter. Whatever. I’ve been wearing my coat and hat and shivering a bit.
However, despite the chill and wind, yesterday was sunny so I hung laundry out on the clothesline. When I brought them back in the house at the end of the day, I inhaled their fragrance. Ahhhhh! They smelled like a cool, breezy early Spring day in Northern Michigan.
EJ was planning to spend the day building a rack to hold all the bits and pieces of wood he brings home from work. He works in shipping building boxes to ship parts in. He is able to bring home any leftover bits of lumber, which he can use to create projects around home. He has quite a supply of wood, and if he can get them in a rack, he can finish organizing his garage.
Before working on his rack, EJ decided to work on the stupid lawn mower that won’t start. We both thought he could just clean the spark plugs and air filter and “voila!” the lawn mower would be ready to use. However, it didn’t go as planned. Of course, it didn’t. EJ spent the whole afternoon working on the stupid mower. He finally got it to start, but it always died after a few seconds. He suspects it could have “bad gas” in it. He will continue to try to fix the stupid mower, but if he can’t find the problem we might end up having to buy a new one. Grrrr. I have a hostile relationship with lawn mowers. My “super-power” is my amazing ability to find lost items, my kryptonite is that I can find lost items but I can’t find myself (I get easily lost), and I told EJ yesterday that I’m quite sure my arch-nemeses are lawn mowers. I sometimes suspect that my lawn mowers are actually Decepticons, sent to earth to destroy me. For those who never had little boys who watched the Transformers cartoons, the Decepticons are an organization of villainous machines. They can disguise themselves as normal looking machines…like lawn mowers.
Poor EJ was never able to get to his project because he worked on the evil Decepticon lawn mower all afternoon.
Besides bringing home bits and pieces of wood, EJ also brings home various-sized wooden boxes that for one reason or another weren’t quite “right.” I took some of these boxes to the outside duck pen to use as raised garden beds. With the beds in the duck pens, the ducks can patrol them and eat insects that menace our crops. That’s the plan.
However, I’m sort of in a stuck place right now. I know EJ wants to make sure the beds have proper drainage. The old raised beds the previous owner left behind do not have drainage so we have to remove the dirt and put holes in the bottom. Then EJ wants to put in a layer of stones or something, and then refill with fresh dirt. We will probably dig up the dirt from where the old dog pen used to be. That is one of the few places on our property that isn’t sand. Our whole area is mostly sand. In fact, our official Michigan state soil is named after the type of sand in our area. Anyway, I can dig the dirt out of the raised beds, but I don’t know exactly how EJ plans to put holes in the bottom of the raised beds, or where we will get the stones, so I’m rapidly reaching the a point where I can’t make a lot of progress without his help. But at least I could move the boxes to the duck pen.
I’m hoping we can get the raised beds all prepared in time to have a garden this year. This will be the first year we will have the time to care for a garden. We moved here on June 1, 2015 and were busy most of that summer moving our possessions from the old house to our new house. When we weren’t driving hundreds of miles between houses, we were busy working on the driveway, which had deep gullies caused by erosion along–and in one place across–our driveway. Some of the gullies were knee deep! We put in drainage tile and shoveled 90 tons of gravel, stones, and dirt into the gullies. Here are photos of our driveway in 2015 and this year:
We spent June 2016 making repeated trips downstate to finish removing our possessions from the old house–mostly the garage and basement–in final preparation of selling the house. It was such a relief to get rid of the old house! After we signed the final papers, I told EJ that I never want to travel below highway US-10 ever again. US-10 is where most residents–including me–believe that Northern Michigan really begins. It’s where there is noticeably fewer fields and more forests.
This is the first year we will not be taking all those long trips downstate. I look forward to staying home! I’m not sure if we will get all the raised beds prepared in time to plant, but we can at least grow a few things in the hot tub garden. Something is better than nothing, and we can keep expanding our garden beds each year.
Yesterday was JJ’s last day working at the grocery store. He came home whooping with joy! He is really looking forward to starting his new job as a park ranger. I thought his first day on the job was going to be May 12th, but apparently he will start on May 16th. That means he has a week off with no school and no work. If it warms up enough, he hopes to go kayaking.
JJ’s shift ended at 8 p.m. last night. Shortly afterwards, a friend he met at college came over and they set off a few fireworks out in the yard. JJ was thrilled when he learned that our area has fireworks stores. Our first year in Northern Michigan, he would stop at the store quite often to buy fireworks. He has quite a stash. He loves setting them off especially during our Independence holiday and on also New Year’s Eve. I always tell him, “Don’t set our forest on fire.”
Last year we needed a garden hose. Money was tight, so we bought the cheapest one we could find. We would have done better to get a more expensive hose because the one we bought is not flexible and keeps getting kinks in it. The other day one section that often kinks wore into a hole that sprays water. The ducks love the spray and played in it when I turn on the water to refill their pool and water buckets (for drinking). They are like little children. However, yesterday evening when I refilled the water buckets, the hole grew bigger and sprayed out so much water that not much came out of the end where I needed it. Frustrated, this morning I cut off the hose just before the leak so I could fill up the pool and the water buckets. I don’t need such a long hose anyway–and if I do, EJ has thingys that connect two pieces of hose together. My shortened hose has other kinks in it, though, so we are probably going to have to invest in a better hose at some point.
While I was writing this post, Danny came into the room to let me know that he was very anxious to eat the rest of the canned cat food before the cats ate it all. He is such a lovable mooch. He stood there until I went out to the kitchen, saw that the cats had eaten most of it, and gave him the rest. Who could resist his pleading eyes?
The Matrix
The view out our window constantly changes and is always beautiful. I always feel as if the windows frame a living painting. Yesterday morning there was a wisp of morning fog circling the hills. It was awesome.
The chickens always lay their eggs in a nesting box. Our nesting box is actually an enclosed kitty litter box. The ducks sometimes lay their eggs in a nest-like swirl of straw, but many times they lay their eggs wherever. Sometimes I find their eggs in the middle of the coop floor and sometimes just outside in the open, as if they paused to drop the egg and then continued on their way. This morning I looked out the bedroom window and saw an egg next to their little pool. I went outside to retrieve it so it wouldn’t attract any predators.
I do a lot of reading about abuse. I’ve read that most abuse victims begin to do research in order to learn what is happening to them. Then they do research to help them recover from abuse, and to enable them to recognize abusers so they avoid them in the future. While many victims don’t tell people about their abuse–for many reasons, including having to deal with the misunderstanding, misconceptions, shame, and blame they encounter–some go on to become advocates about abuse. I’m not really as skilled as many advocates are, but I do try to speak out about abuse in order to support victims and educate others. I know that I’ve written about these things several times before, but it’s important to understand this.
Because of the abuse that I have personally experienced, I have a special interest in abuse that occurs within the family and the church. In both groups abusers are often defended and protected while their victims are vilified. I find abuse by those within the church to be particularly heinous because such people distort God’s truth, misrepresent Him, and oppress people in His Name. Many people who speak out about abuse are labeled “bitter, judgmental, or negative” but I believe that rather than deny or cover it up, we must recognize it, acknowledge it, expose it, and confront it (Eph 5:11). To do otherwise allows evil to grow.
The more I research abuse, the more it feels like we are offered the same choice offered to Neo in the movie The Matrix. Many of us start out ignorant about abuse, but eventually we will either experience abuse or encounter those who have been abused. At that point we have a choice:
Once I began to research abuse, I began to see how very terrible it is, and how common it is even in the church, how many pastors and leaders are abusive, and how often family members and Christians support abusers. The rabbit hole is indeed very deep.
Through my research I have learned that predators will always go where they can find their prey. So, for example, a child molester will go where he can find children–in the church, schools, children’s ministries, camps and clubs, and so on. Molesters often know their victims and can be relatives, trusted family friends, or church leaders. EJ says that he has read that molesters have the the highest rate of recividism (the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend) of any other crime. I’ve learned that 93% of molesters claim to be religious, which means they are very much in the church. In fact, churches/religious organizations are a favorite “hunting ground” for abusers of all sorts because they find there people who are willing to “not judge” and give them unconditional love and forgiveness without any need for repentance. The Bible warns that “wolves in sheep’s clothing” will infiltrate the church, appearing to be “workers of righteousness” who are very charming with words “smoother than butter” (Matt. 7:15, 2 Cor 11:13-15; Ps 55:21).
One of my favorite abuse sites is A Cry for Justice. The senior admin of the site has been a pastor for about 30 years. Before that he was a police officer, which I think gave him practical knowledge about abusers and abuse. He and his fellow admins are very supportive of victims and attempt to educate the evangelical church about various forms of abuse in its midst. I say “attempt” because most churches refuse to hear.
ACFJ sometimes shares links to other abuse sites. Through them, I recently learned of Church Protect, which is an organization which tries to educate churches on how to protect themselves from sexual predators who target children. They do “walk-throughs” in churches to show them how easy it is for a predator to find places to abuse children in the church, and they try to help churches increase security. One of the co-founders is a pastor who discovered that his dad, also a pastor, had been molesting many children for several decades. He and his mother turned the dad in to authorities to prevent more victims. The dad was convicted and sentenced to 30-60 years in prison.
Church Protect posted that there is a strong link between pornography and child sexual predators. In response to a question I asked, Church Protect said that:
…Given the addictive nature of porn, it is clear that some people who view porn will inevitably progress into harder and darker stuff. The path can vary, as will the “interest,” but the one thing that is undeniable for anyone knowledgeable and experienced in the forensic treatment field working with sex offenders is that it will progress. For those men who have perpetrated, 100% are into some degree of hard core porn. This is beyond dispute, and anyone who does try to dispute that is either ignorant, in denial, or into porn himself… and wants to try to justify his own use of porn.
It is important to add that the child predator is always involved in pornography. It progressed from a wide range of material that will permit him to objectify women, then progresses (degenerates) to “barely legal,” then to more vile material involving S&M/bondage (which is why all sex offenders love that 50 Shade of Grey has become a best seller, for it makes their task much easier, in terms of women believing that is acceptable, and will end in “love” instead of degradation and worse). Then, they will begin frequenting online “fantasy role playing” and character role playing, where they can develop the taste for deviant arousal (e.g. Portraying himself as an animal as his character, and “interacting” with other animal characters). Then, he will begin developing a taste for heinous porn, where he is able to watch children being raped by single individuals, then gang raped. This is who these monsters are behind the scenes! The Super Predator [those who target young children] takes this even further by mastering the art of looking, appearing, and sounding religious, for the express purpose of targeting churches. That is the Super Predator, who always has many victims to his “credit”… often in the hundreds by the time he is ever found out. So, it is not that every person viewing porn will descend lower, but EVERY person who has descended lower has become immersed in and saturated his mind with porn… yet, they will never voluntarily admit it. And, now with IPhones and other devices, there is complete access to all the most horrific material. That should make any parent think twice before allowing unfettered access to the internet on their kids’ phones. And, the days of slumber parties I believe are past, for there is simply too much danger lurking in those situations.
In other posts, Church Protect wrote:
…Having clinically treated well over 3000 sex offenders in prison during my 11+ years as part of the PA prison system, I can tell you that WITHOUT EXCEPTION, every incarcerated sex offender has fed his deviance and perversion with pornography. Those who want to debate that fact are either dangerously ill-informed, or are trying to defend current dark activities and secrets in their own lives.
…Child pornographers never just “happen upon” graphic images and videos of children. I’ve beat this drum before but somehow we find ourselves still trying to convince churches that the “brother” who got caught with child porn was actively seeking it, was interacting with other pedophiles online, and almost certainly has victims.
I told Church Protect that the reason I asked questions was because the month that EJ’s relative lived with us–when JJ was about 9 years old–he watched porn on our computer. EJ used to come home from work and find porn websites left open on the computer. We also received emails with porn pictures in them. I remember seeing one photo of a young woman (I believe she was a teen) which has haunted me all these years. She looked very uncomfortable and her eyes were very sad. This was the family computer which we–including JJ–used every day. (I will never again allow anyone to use my computer.)
I said to Church Protect: “At the time a relative had an encounter with our then 9-year-old son that, while our son said the relative didn’t touch him, abuse experts told us was typical victim-grooming behavior of molesters. Afterwards, we had no contact with him but the family was upset and defended him while calling us unloving, unforgiving, and unChristlike because, he was, after all, family. I know this is a common response. We refuse to allow an unsafe person into our lives no matter who he is.” Church Protect replied:
TJ, good for you for putting the safety of your son above “family unity.” Yep, your relative was indeed grooming your son. If anyone doubts that, think about the temerity of looking at porn on some other family member’s computer! That is not an accident. He was starting the process of targeting your son. It is all too typical that family members will rally to his support, as opposed to supporting you and going after him. The predator knows how to play such dysfunctional and warped family dynamics to help provide him with all the cover he needs in the event he is caught.
This is the third expert who has told us that EJ’s relative was definitely victim grooming JJ. I have talked with two of them–A Cry for Justice and Church Protect. EJ discussed his relative’s behavior with his doctor who is also an abuse victim. She said that according to the Center for Exploited and Missing Children, EJ’s relative had definitely been victim grooming JJ. She was so upset by what EJ told her that she was prepared to report his relative to the authorities. EJ told her that this had happened years ago and that JJ had told us that the relative had not touched him (although he was so close that it alarmed me). We really don’t have enough evidence to go to the authorities but we have warned the family and if ever EJ’s relative is arrested for molestation, we will volunteer to testify against him.
It makes me angry–justifiably angry because I think we should be angry about things like this–that EJ’s siblings tried to pressure us into allowing unlimited contact with their relative when we have several strong reasons for believing him to be unsafe. In their defense of their relative, they cared nothing for JJ’s safety or the damage that could have been done to him. I know that it is extremely typical that family members and Christians support the abuser and vilify the victims. Even when a predator confesses to sexual abuse, family members and churches support them. Many Christians seem to think that they are very godly in supporting/defending/protecting the unrepentant abuser, describing their support as giving grace and unconditional love and forgiveness. This is not of God in any way. As Church Protect wrote when they posted the following meme:
“WARNING… this is a complete distortion of truth; and, comes from a VERY DANGEROUS type of lie, cloaked in sentimental sloppy pop-religious psychological garb, which is as bad as it gets in terms of a belief that will only result in keeping anyone, especially survivors of sexual abuse, emotionally stuck and forever in chains! This is NOT what forgiveness looks like, and you CANNOT ‘accept an apology that was never given’! The only thing this does is ensure that oppressors can continue to hurt people, and that wolves will continue to have their way with sheep. The Podcast about ‘Do survivors need to forgive their abuser’ can be found at www.ChurchProtect.org, under the Podcast tab.”
The Bible is filled with verses describing wicked people, how God views them, how He responds to them, and how He tells us to respond to them. The Bible also always ties forgiveness in with repentance. Repentance means to change your behavior and involves restitution. I would urge everyone to study what the Bible says about these things. Here are a few verses:
God is angry with the wicked every day. If he does not turn back,
He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready.
He also prepares for Himself instruments of death;
He makes His arrows into fiery shafts. (Ps 7:11-13)
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:5)
He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just,
Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. (Prov. 17:15)
To show partiality to the wicked is not good, Nor to thrust aside the righteous in judgment. (Prov. 18:5)
Then [Jesus] said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” (Luke 17:1-4)
Notice that the Luke 17 says we are to forgive IF A PERSON REPENTS. I just read yesterday that a millstone is extremely heavy and it would break the neck of a person if hung around his neck. Jesus was saying it would be better if a person’s neck was broken and then he drown. This is double dead. It’s pretty brutal.
Do not follow the crowd when it does what is wrong; and don’t allow the popular view to sway you into offering testimony for any cause if the effect will be to pervert justice. (Ex 23:2)
Justice is perverted when the wicked are supported and the innocent are accused.
What I wrote you was not to associate with anyone who is supposedly a brother but who also engages in sexual immorality, is greedy, worships idols, is abusive, gets drunk or steals. With such a person you shouldn’t even eat! For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Isn’t it those who are part of the community that you should be judging? God will judge those who are outside. Just expel the evildoer from among yourselves. (1 Cor. 5:11-13)
How long will you go on judging unfairly,
favoring the wicked? (Selah)
Give justice to the weak and fatherless!
Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor!
Rescue the destitute and needy;
deliver them from the power of the wicked!” (Ps. 82:2-4)
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1:17)
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? (Prov. 24:11-12)
I believe that those who support an abusive person shares in his guilt. EJ, JJ, and I will not “join hands” with a wicked person or with those who support him. Neither will we be pressured into doing so.
Rain-Soggied Straw
Yesterday I waited until the ground had a chance to dry a little, and then I went outside to work.
I shovel some of the dirt from the raised bed into the wheelbarrow. When I had a generous amount, I mixed in the two bags of wildflower seeds. Each bag was 2 pounds of seed–one was a wildflower mix and the other was a butterfly/bee mix. I scattered the mixture along the driveway. I could have used several more pounds of seed, but I can always buy more later.
After I scattered the seed, I found an empty poultry feed bag, put it on the ground in front of the coop, and lay on it while I shone a flashlight under the shed to see if the ducks had laid any eggs under there. I didn’t see any, so I found two long old boards and laid them along the front of the shed so the ducks can’t get under it.
I dragged out the lawn mower. It took a few pulls to get it started. When it started, it sounded rather sluggish and after about a minute it died. EJ will have to figure out what is wrong with it…probably this weekend. I have a hostile relationship with lawn mowers and sometimes they make me so frustrated that I have to take deep breaths so I don’t beat them into scrap metal. We have had multiple mowers refuse to start–or even die. I don’t know how to fix them when they won’t start, which means that I have to wait for EJ to work on them–or until we can buy another mower. At the village where we used to live, there was an ordinance that said grass couldn’t grow more than 6 inches tall. If it did, the Village would mow it and then charge the homeowner $50. Whenever the mower didn’t start down there, I got nervous because I didn’t want to pay $50. At least I don’t have to worry about that up here–but I have read that one way to prevent ticks is to keep the grass short. So although I don’t have to worry about living in a village that charges $50 for mowing too-long grass, I do have to worry about ticks hiding in long grass. I’m not sure which I hate more.
Yesterday I saw an ugly black spider right next to the light switch in the garage. It was large, but not as huge as the wolf spiders. I considered spraying it with spider killer spray, but it was right above the poultry feed and I didn’t want to risk poisoning the ducks and chickens. So I grabbed a handful of diatomaceous earth and threw it at the spider. It covered the spider in gray dust. Later I went in the garage and saw it was still next to the light switch, so I threw another handful of diatomaceous earth on it. This morning it was gone. I’m hoping it died. I used to feel–and even taught JJ–that spiders must die if they are in the house, but we shouldn’t kill them if they are outside. However, my sentiments have changed since we moved north where there are giant wolf spiders. I taught JJ too well when he was younger so he tries to protect the spiders, but he doesn’t understand that giant spiders in Enchanted Forests are always evil. I kill them when he and his Dad aren’t around. Sometimes they see dead wolf spiders on the pavement in front of the garage and they suspect–and rightly so–that I have killed it. Sometimes I use spider killer spray but many times I grab a nearby shovel or rake and pulverize it. We are at war.
Today was another beautiful day. The temperature was both warm and cool enough to make working pleasant. Every day there is more and more green in the forest. I guess we can officially say that we have survived our second winter in Northern Michigan.
When I remove the dirty straw from the ducks’ side of the coop, I just rake it into their outside pen. Today I spent the afternoon raking up the winter’s accumulation of rain-soggied straw from their outside pen, putting it in the wheelbarrow, taking it down the driveway, and placing it on the wildflower seed and the lilies along the driveway to hold in moisture. Our driveway is about 500 feet long and it took me four–maybe five (I lost count)–wheelbarrow loads to make sure the seeds and lilies had a bit of straw on or around them. I would like to have put more straw on them, but I had to stop to fix supper. Plus, I was very tired and my feet really hurt. It was time to call it quits for the day.
Later, after EJ and I had eaten supper, I looked out our bedroom window and saw that one of the Pekin Ducks (the white ones) had fallen asleep with its head resting on the edge of the pool. I thought, “Awwww!” and ran to get my camera. I really enjoy watching the ducks and chickens.
JJ finished most of his classes on Tuesday and has his final exam for his last class today. The class ends at 7 p.m. so he’s not home yet. He is excited about the semester ending and his new job beginning. He starts his new job on May 12th.
Wildflower Seeds…and Stuff
We have had multiple days of chilly rain that soaked the ground. I raked the old straw from the coop into the pens and it was so waterlogged that it was springy. The temperatures were cold–down into the 30s at night and only into the 40s during the day. We even had periods of snow yesterday. I really enjoy the variety of weather, but snow is a bit unwelcome at this time of year. However, I remember years when we’ve had snowstorms in the middle of May so I endure it patiently. Changeable weather is to be expected in Northern Michigan.
The rain makes me drowsy–especially when it’s cold and I just want to sip hot coffee or tea and wrap myself in a comforter. However, I did a few things done.
I want to plant wildflowers among the tiger lilies alongside the driveway. I envision a beautiful garden lining both sides of the driveway. I know that a local farm store sells a variety of bulk grass seeds that they grow themselves and I thought they also had wildflower seeds, so since JJ was home on Monday and I had access to the Xterra, I decided to go get some. Since TSC is only a short distance from the local farm store, I decided that I might as well go there as well and buy some poultry feed. I stopped there first since it was a right turn. The road that the farm stores are on is busy so it’s easier to plan our routes so that we make right turns whenever we can. I had to turn left out of TSC, but I could make another right turn into the local feed store. Disappointingly, the local feed store didn’t have bulk wildflower seeds, but the clerk suggested that I could perhaps stop at McG’s or a plant nursery. McG’s is another favorite local farm store, but it is in the middle of the city and I didn’t feel like driving all the way there. However, there is a wonderful plant nursery on my way home so I decided to stop.
The plant nursery is huge; I think BC is the largest plant nursery in Northern Michigan. Its large property is very magical. It goes back and back to a very beautiful immense lake. Walking through the nursery feels like going into Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory–or maybe like walking further up and further in to Narnia. I think I could easily spend years and thousands of dollars there if I lost control of myself. I try not to lose control. It helps that I don’t have a lot of extra money to spend. These are photos from their website:
There was a sign at the service counter that said that employees were in the greenhouse behind the little pool. The greenhouse was quite a ways back, so I wandered a bit and then headed back to the service counter. I figured that sooner or later someone would see me and I really didn’t want to tempt myself too much by wandering through the grounds. Walking through BC and trying to resist temptation is like an alcoholic going to a bar and trying to resist buying drinks. I tried to remain focused on my goal and not to look to closely at the thousands of plants. The only wildflowers I saw were packages that I see in many stores–TSC, Lowes, Meijers, etc. When a clerk finally did come up front, I asked her if those were all the wildflower seeds they had, and she said yes. Bummer. But any wildflower seeds is better than none, so I asked her if the flowers did well in sandy soil, because that’s all we really have. She was like, “Yeah, tell me about it,” because our whole area is mostly all sand. She said the seeds did well in sand, and then she told me that the best thing to do is mix the seeds in topsoil and spread it along my driveway and then cover it with straw to hold the moisture in while they germinate. If the seeds dry out, the germination will stop. I have plenty of old straw from the ducks and chickens so that’s good. The clerk also told me not to expect spectacular results this year–it will take a year or two–and she suggested that in the fall I walk on the flowers to help the seeds fall off into the ground. The clerks at this nursery is always so very knowledgeable and helpful. I bought two packages of seeds–one of a wildflower mix and the other a butterfly/bee mix.
If the soaked ground dries out enough, I’ve got outside projects I want to work on. The grass is getting long so I want to mow it. I’d also like to get my wildflower seeds planted. EJ wants the dirt from the raised garden beds replaced with fresh dirt, so I might use that dirt to mix with the wildflower seeds. The other morning I saw two of the rouen ducks squeeze under the shed and I suspect they are laying eggs under there. Those eggs will attract predators so I need to get them out, but I’m not thrilled about lying on the soggy spongy straw so I’d like to give it a chance to dry out first. I placed old boards in front of the shed so the ducks don’t have enough room to squeeze under it. Lily seemed a bit upset this morning that she wasn’t able to get under the shed. Oh, well, she’ll get over it.
I like letting the ducks and chickens out in the morning because they are always so excited to be released from the coop. Here is video I took this morning:
Sunsets are really always very pretty here. We can’t really see sunrises or sunsets in the warmer months because the trees hide them once their leaves come out. However, in both winter and summer the sunsets touch the hills to the south with a band of light. Depending on the colors of the sunset, the trees turn gold or red. Yesterday evening the band of light was a vibrant gold. The trees almost looked like they were wearing their autumn leaves, but it’s actually early Spring and the trees are still mostly bare; it’s really only the sun coloring them with light:
Monday afternoon JJ gave his two-week’s notice at the grocery store. He is really excited about the park ranger job. He also was very happy when he came home from college yesterday. This is his last week of school–he had finals for all of his classes except for math, which will be on Thursday. He said that he is getting 4.0s (the highest grade) for most of his classes.
EJ is still suffering greatly from back pain. Sometimes it’s not too bad, but then I think pain meds wear off and the pain returns. I feel bad for him. 😦
There’s time for another cup of coffee before I get busy….
Shades of Spring
Today it is rainy. It is a steady all day soaking sort of rain. It is supposed to rain through Tuesday, I think. We could get a couple of inches. I’m thankful we are not getting as much rain as states like Oklahoma are getting. I’ve heard that some areas over there are getting 8 inches of rain, and experiencing a lot of flooding.
I love watching Spring “happen.” It’s fun and amazing to see a tint of green on the landscape, so slight that I have to strain to see it. And then watch day-by-day as the green grows more visible and vibrant. I love all the various shades of green as well. Spring is exciting.
I had all sort of tasks to work on today, but they were all outside and I can’t work on them in the rain. I like rainy days, but they make me drowsy and I have trouble getting motivated. Today was actually a “pot and a half” day. We drank down one pot of coffee and needed another half pot to wake us up. The ducks love the rainy day.
We did a few things outside. EJ burned the papers. Rainy days are good for burning because the world is wet and won’t set fire to our forest. After asking EJ if he intended the wooden boxes sitting outside the garage to be raised beds, I moved two of them into the garden area, which is inside the duck pen, and EJ moved the other two. Two are to the right and two are in front of the hot tub garden. We have to fill them with gravel and then dirt, but we can’t do that on a rainy day.
EJ fixed the towel rack in the bathroom and I’ve been doing laundry. I won’t be drying the clothes outside today!
My two cactus plants were outgrowing their pots so I transplanted them into larger pots. I’m always afraid when I transplant them into larger pots that they won’t make it. It was tricky transplanting them this time because they have grown so big. I had to be careful that they didn’t break off as I removed them from their old pots. I wore gloves but the gloves were not thick enough to prevent needles from poking me so I ran and got a thick hot pad to hold them and after I transplanted them, I had to pull many tiny needles out of my hand. It’s hard to believe that my cacti were just tiny little nubs when I bought them at Walmart years ago. The cactus will no longer be moved outside with the other house plants in the summer because the pots are now too big and heavy to move. I had a hard enough time moving them last year.
Our cat Kee-Kee thinks he is a dog. We put our burnable trash in grocery bags and just burn the whole thing in the burning barrel. Kee-Kee keeps getting into the burnable trash and spilling it on the floor so usually we have to keep the bags on top of the unburnable trash can. I’ve been wanting to get a photo of him and finally accomplished it this morning. This way I can “cat shame” him. Kee-Kee is a bad cat-dog when he tips over the trash. But he’s adorable in every other way. He likes to sleep on my pillow at night–above my head. Sometimes he sleeps on my face.
Odd Jobs
We have had some very nice weather with temperatures up in the low to mid-70s. EJ tells me that people in other states don’t talk about the weather very much, but in Michigan the weather can change from day to day–or even moment to moment–and it affects our activities. For example, the recent nice weather enabled me to get some odd jobs done outside.
On Tuesday I finally moved the large rock–actually a small boulder–from one side of the driveway to the other. Last autumn I had moved it from near the old dog pen to the side of the driveway, but both EJ and JJ had complained about it being there where, they said, they could easily slide into it. So I moved it to the other side of the driveway where it’s farther from the edge and where there are a lot of other large rocks. Rocks of all sizes are an important part of our anti-erosion efforts. They slow the rush of water that would carry the soil with it. The rock was heavy so I rolled it and slid it across the driveway.
Since we weren’t expecting any rain on Tuesday, I washed laundry and hung it out to dry on the clothesline. There was a strong breeze so the clothes dried quickly. I love drying the clothes outside because I drink in the beauty around me and listen to the symphony of birds as I work. And the clothes smell wonderfully when they are air-dried.
I decided to move the wooden planter box that EJ had emptied on Sunday, even though he told me to wait until we could do it together. With the horrible back pain EJ has been suffering for the last few days, I didn’t want him to try to lift anything heavy. The box was much heavier than I expected. I could barely budge it. So instead of moving it where I had planned, I simply moved it inch by inch next to the other box. It’s good enough. It will allow us access to three sides of the hot tub garden and we can still easily access the two wooden boxes. The ducks were interested in my work and as soon as I moved the box, they came in to quickly eat the insects that had been under it.
I dug up and moved a few more lilies. I think I’m mostly done transplanting lilies, although there are a few more that I could re-locate if I choose. As I moved the wheelbarrow of lilies down the driveway I slipped on the gravel and fell. This was the second time I have fallen–the first was on Sunday. I was wearing my regular sneakers this time so I can’t blame my shoes. I bruised my elbow but otherwise suffered no damage.
I didn’t think I’d be able to work outside yesterday because rain was forecasted. There were some dramatic clouds and the wind was very strong, but other than a couple sprinkles now and then, the rain held off so I was able to get a few more odd jobs done.
I decided to fix a sort of trellis for the climbing roses in the little flower garden at the front of the house. I decided to use t-posts and chicken fencing. I found some short lengths of chicken fencing in the back of the old pickup truck. We have been putting old junk in the back of the pickup until we can dispose of it. We can either take it to the drop off site on the county Cleanup Day on May 6th or EJ can drop it off at the dumpsters at work. One of the perks of his company is that employees can dispose of their trash in the dumpsters for free. Once I freed the chicken fencing, I took it, the t-posts, and some tools to the flower garden. I pounded in the t-posts and fastened the fencing to them. EJ said the roses will climb 15 feet high so the t-posts aren’t really tall enough but they are good enough until we can get taller wooden posts. At least the roses will have something to climb up.
In the process of trying to get the chicken fencing out of the back of the pickup, I found a piece of junk that I thought would work wonderfully for a roost for the chickens. Later I asked EJ what it was and he said it had been the frame for a basketball hoop. I put it on top of the small coop inside of the big coop, and last night when I put the poultry to bed, I saw Sassy and a couple hens on it. I’m proud of my repurposing.
I also found our little metal flower windmill and fastened it to a post at the corner of the outside chicken pen as an anti-flying predator device–serving the same purpose as a scarecrow. Besides, it’s cute. The strong wind has really set it whirling.
It is very windy again today. Originally heavy rain was forecasted, but now the meteorologists are saying that the heaviest rain will remain west of us. If it rains I will work inside the house. If it doesn’t rain, I will find more outside tasks to do. I would like to finish burying the end of the drainage tile at the top of the driveway and also prepare the raised beds. However, I want EJ’s input about how he wants them done. I’m sure I can find other tasks though.
The warm weather has made the landscape noticeably more green. I love watching the progression of green in the Spring. You can see the difference in the photos below. One was taken on April 25 and the other on April 27. It won’t be long before the leaves completely hide our neighbor’s house.
JJ’s classes end next week. He said that all his college professors have told him how much they’ve enjoyed having him in their classes. They’ve said that he is intelligent and adds a lot to class discussions. That made him feel good.
Danny the Thief
My dear friend sent me some adorable cat slippers that she had come across and bought for me. The slippers are have hard soles–very important because I hate stepping in spilled liquid or melted snow and getting my socks wet. In the winter, I end up changing my socks about 4-5 times a day because snow gets tracked in. So these hard soled slippers are perfect! And they are warm and fuzzy and will keep my feet warm in the winter. AND they are adorable.
Poor EJ has been suffering with intense back pain over the last several days. Yesterday he drove to work but he didn’t think he would make it through the day so he took a sick day and came back home. His usual pain meds weren’t helping so he contacted his doctor and she called in some stronger meds. I drove him to the pharmacy and he seemed to do better after taking the meds, although he’s still in great pain. He went to work this morning and I’m praying the inflammation goes down, and the pain goes away, so his work day isn’t torturous.
Yesterday morning the temperature was in the low 30s, but steadily rose through the day to the 60s. I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to. I couldn’t seem to get warm and felt colder than I do even in the cold winters. It’s hard to work when I just want to wrap myself in a blanket, wear my comfy cat slippers, and warm my hands and insides with hot cups of coffee or tea. Finally, though, I warmed up and got moving. I poured the poultry feed from their bags into buckets that had once held kitty litter–we use the kitty litter buckets for everything around here.
Our cat Tesla died last autumn. She was very old–so old that she had lost most of her teeth. In the last year or so before her death, I had been buying canned food for her because I didn’t think she could handle the dry food. After her death, I kept buying it for our cat Annie, who lives in the garage. I felt sorry for her because she lost her companion, Tesla, and I think she is lonely–so I give her an extra treat. I noticed that Annie didn’t eat most of the can so I started to give her half of the can–along with a scoop of dry food–and I bring in the rest of the can for the inside cats. I put it on our bench in the entrance hallway next to their dish of dry food until I noticed that Danny would sneak through the pet door and steal the can of food. Now I put the can on the table. Danny still gets the rest of the can when the cats knock it off onto the floor.
Danny also steals Annie’s food. He is such a mooch hound! I usually feed Annie in the garage on my way out to care for the ducks and chickens in the morning. Danny always wants outside just after I come back into the house and he slowly, and seemingly randomly–but not!–meanders around the house, through the pet door in the garage, and steals Annie’s food. I’ve been trying to figure out a good place to put her food that Danny can’t reach. Yesterday I decided to put it on top of a table in the garage.
In the afternoon, I went outside and dug up another wheelbarrow of tiger lilies to plant along the driveway. I’ve lost count of how many wheelbarrow loads I’ve transplanted. We still have many lilies near the boulders at the top of the hill. I’m not going to remove them all, but we don’t need so many spreading over the hill and we do need them along the driveway. My first few wheelbarrow loads of lilies I spaced down the driveway and every additional load I fill in gaps between lilies. I would like to get wildflower seeds to sprinkle along the driveway too to make a magical path up to our house.
I heard that the likelihood of Northern Lights is strong, so yesterday evening I started keeping an eye on the sky. I think I saw the Lights just before sunset when the sky was still light. I saw faint pillars in the northern sky. I showed EJ and he said, yup, those are the Northern Lights. I kept going outside after dark to see if I could see them, but I am not as good at recognizing them as EJ is, and he was in too much pain to keep coming outside with me to check. I think we could see the Northern Lights more often if we had a clearer view of the horizon, but the trees and hills block a lot of our view so we can only see the Lights if they are very intense and overhead. After EJ went to bed, I went outside a few more times to look for the Lights, but it was very dark, and I kept hearing odd creaks in the forest. I think it was the strong breeze making the trees creak, but it wasn spooky and I kept imaging bears creeping up on me…or maybe the Dogman.
The Dogman is a dog-man creature who supposedly roams my area of Northern Michigan. It originated as a ballad written years ago by a couple of radio personalities as an April Fool’s Day joke, but it has grown into a legend. People declare they’ve seen him. We like to joke about “being careful of the Dogman” when any of us leaves the house at night, but when the forest creaks eerily in the dark, when my flashlight can’t penetrate the darkness…well. I thought that with EJ asleep and JJ inattentive, I could go outside and disappear and no one would miss me until morning. So I decided that it was best to stay inside, safe from the dark creaky forest.
This morning as I finish my final cup of coffee, I am contemplating the tasks I would like to accomplish today. Tomorrow it is supposed to storm but today the temperatures will reach into the mid-70s–a perfect day to work outside.
The Old Hot Tub
I had a list of chores I wanted to get done today. I had laundry to wash today. Since the day was beautifully sunny, I decided to hang them on the clothesline to drive. I got a little chilled hanging up wet clothes. The high temperatures reached only into the low 50s and the slight breeze made it a feel a litter colder. When I finished hanging the first load, I came in the house and warmed my hands with a hot cup of coffee.
When we got our ducks and chickens last year, we moved them into the garage when they were old enough. We put their coop in the garage surrounded by a dog cage to keep them contained. We got the shed build for them last autumn because we felt they would be warmer–and so EJ could have his garage back. When we got them settled nicely in their coop, we dismantled the dog cage and shoveled out the used straw. I used the dismantled dog cage panels for my expanded chicken pen that I put up last week.
The straw remained in a pile outside all winter. Today I shoveled it into our wheelbarrow and took it to the hot tub inside the duck pen. The hot tub was left here by the previous owners. It is unfixable. For more than a year we discussed how to get rid of it. We decided that probably our best option was breaking it up and discarding it, but we were too busy with other projects to get it done. Plus there were difficulties: We didn’t want to risk breaking it apart in summer when it might be buzzing with bees, but in winter it is cold and snowy. Last autumn EJ decided that he might as well use it as a raised bed so he pulled it into the back yard next to the other raised beds that the previous owner had made. EJ said that the old straw would be good for the garden so today’s chore was moving the straw to the hot tub raised garden. It took a lot of wheelbarrow loads and trips–maybe a dozen?–to move the old straw, but I got it done.
While I worked, I enjoyed listening to the birds singing in the forest. I can hear their songs echoing through the forest as they call to each other. It’s really very pretty.
This weekend EJ had a lot of back pain so he rested as much as he could. Well, almost as much as he could. He helped with the last two loads of straw, and he shoveled dirt from one of the wooden raised beds into the hot tub. He emptied the wooden raised bed because it doesn’t have adequate drainage. He will put in drainage and fill it with new dirt. EJ also fixed the gate into the ducks outside pen.
While we worked, the ducks just wandered around, enjoying life and their pool, as they always do.
EJ wanted to move some of the trout lilies into the little flower garden at the front of the house. I went with him down to Deer Meadow. He shoveled up three or four lilies, which I put in the bucket we carried with us. I wore my pair of old ratty slip on shoes–like sneakers but without a back. I like slip on shoes so I can quickly get them on and off without the need to tie and untie them. When EJ handed me the first trout lily with a clump of dirt, it was just heavy enough that I slid backwards out of my shoes–and I even slid out of my socks!–and I fell on the grassy meadow. I laughed. EJ thought it was pretty funny too.
I had planned to get other chores down today: I wanted to dig up more tiger lilies to plant along the driveway, I wanted to get the dog food and poultry feed from the bags into mouse-proof buckets with lids, and a bunch of other things. However, I was so tired from moving the old straw and doing laundry–and cooking, and vacuuming, and taking care of poultry–that I decided that that was enough work today. The next few days are supposed to be even nicer than today, so I can gradually work through my list.
Spring Blessings
Yesterday evening after supper I went to the store where JJ works to buy groceries. JJ was working and, as he often does, he noticed that I was in the store so he can up to say “hi!” I noticed that he had a mask–the type used when doing things like sanding dry wall mud–pushed up onto his forehead. “Why are do you have a mask on your forehead?” I asked, amused. He told me that the restroom in the store was plugged so they had put a sign on the door that it was closed. Someone had taken down the sign and used the toilet and flushed it repeatedly. Apparently, it caused sewage in drains throughout the store to bubble up. JJ was assigned the task of cleaning it up. “So you are telling me that you have had a very crappy day,” I laughed. One of JJ’s co-workers was standing nearby and we all laughed. JJ got to leave work early so he could go home and get cleaned up. Yuck.
EJ had an interesting drive home from work last night. He was at an intersection and saw an iphone fall from a boat as the vehicle pulling it turned the corner. The phone had been set on the boat and forgotten–you know how that goes, I’m sure. EJ later learned that it had ridden on the boat for over an hour before it fell off. EJ turned around and retrieved the phone. He drove around a little bit to see if he could find the owner, but wasn’t able to locate the vehicle so he brought it home. When the phone rang, he answered it and told the caller that he had found the phone and wanted to return it. They decided to meet at the parking lot of JJ’s store this morning. I went with EJ. The people arrived to get their phone. The owner repeatedly and profusely thanked EJ and kept shaking his hand. He offered to give EJ a reward, but EJ refused. Being able to help others is rewarding enough.
JJ had a physical for his new job on Wednesday. It included a TB test, which he had to get checked today. So we all drove to the clinic in the Emerald City. We enjoyed the drive through incredible scenery and past beautiful lakes. The water of the Bay was very still today, and it looked as if the sky and water blended together. We never get tired of the scenery here.
EJ and I waited in the Suburban while JJ went into the clinic. He was only gone for about 5 minutes, tops, because all they had to do was look at it. JJ exclaimed that this was his shortest visit to a medical place EVER.
We try not to do any business on Shabbat, but since we had to go to the clinic anyway, we stopped at the farm store afterwards. We try to combine errands whenever possible to save gas and money. I bought Danny some dog food because he is almost out, and we bought cat food, scratch grains for the chickens, and straw for the poultry’s bedding.
After JJ left for work, EJ, Danny, and I walked down to the mailbox to get the mail. We took a slight detour through our meadow, which we have named “Deer Meadow” because the deer like to bed down there. We found a few golf balls in the meadow. EJ enjoys hitting golf balls with his golf club. He leaves them wherever they land and hits them again at a future time–sometimes weeks or months later.
On the way back from the mailbox, we took another detour through our forest. I kept a sharp eye out for snakes, ticks, and giant spiders. I saw a giant spider crawl across the forest floor, but no snakes or ticks. Eric found some flowers, which he learned are called “trout lilies” and also a lot of wild leeks.
The temperature was 28 degrees when I got up this morning, and there was a skim of ice in the ducks’ pool and in the water buckets. However, after days of rain and clouds, we had cloudless blue skies. The highs reached about 60s–warm but with a refreshing chill. Just perfect.
We opened the windows to let the fresh air in. I enjoy having the windows open. I not only enjoy the fresh air, but with the windows open I am able to clearly hear the roosters crowing. Rooster crows make me feel happy. Every time I hear them, a beautiful “warm fuzzy” imagine comes to mind of early mornings in the country. Sort of like this:
With the Spring rains and warmer temps, the grass is getting green and there is a faint haze of green on the trees as the leaves begin to bud. I’m beginning to crave buying wildflower seeds and vegetable plants.
Disappearing Duck
As soon as EJ leaves for work every morning, I go open the coop doors to let the ducks and chickens out. The ducks are at the front of the coop so they get let out first, and then I go open the little door for the chickens. Afterwards, I refill their water buckets and make sure they have enough food. Then I take a scoop of cracked corn to the chicken’s outdoor pen and scatter it for them to enjoy.
Yesterday when I opened the coop doors, the ducks all came eagerly waddling out, as they always do. I did my chores and when I came out of the coop, I could only see five ducks. One of the rouens (the brown ducks) was not with the others. Usually the three stay very close together. I looked around and couldn’t find the third rouen anywhere, I checked inside the coop, in all the dog houses, in between the raised garden beds. I checked the chicken side of the coop and pen. No rouen. I feared that she had gotten out of the pen completely, but I couldn’t see where she could have escaped, and I didn’t see her anywhere in the yard. She had completely vanished.
I finally gave up because JJ had an appointment to get a physical for his new job and I had promised that I would go with him. I went into our house to get ready. I was concerned about the missing duck so I went into our bedroom and looked out the window–and there were six ducks in the pen. I have no idea where the missing duck had been but the only place I can think that she could have been was under the coop. Silly duck. My poultry sure make life interesting.
Yesterday evening it began to rain, and it rained all night. When I woke up this morning, the power was out. EJ told me that when he got up at 5 a.m., it was really stormy with lots of thunder and lightning. I hadn’t heard any of it. Fortunately, he turned on the coffee pot as soon as he woke up, so we had hot coffee to drink. I called our electric company first thing to notify them of our power outage, and the power came back on just before EJ left for work.
It rained most of the day. When it wasn’t raining, it was damp and soggy. The temperature didn’t rise much above 40 degrees and the cold dampness chilled me to the bone, making me feel tired and unmotivated. I just wanted to curl up in a blanket and sleep. I did get a few things done.
The ducks have no problem with rainy days, of course. They were out enjoying the day.
Cuddles’ Favorite Game
Because my jury duty was canceled (happy dance!) I spent the afternoon digging up more tiger lilies from around the big rocks. They really have spread in that area so although I have dug up about four wheelbarrows full of lilies, there are still many, many growing by the rocks. I keep planting them along the driveway. Most of the transplanted lilies are thriving. They are going to be very beautiful when they all bloom. Plus, they will help with erosion.
Cuddles, my male duck, is such an odd duck. He has come up with a game that he loves to play: He, uhm, loves to goose the chickens.
Cuddles is actually quite clever. He knows that when I come outside, the chickens all run up near the fence to see me so as soon as he sees me, Cuddles waddles as fast as he can to the fence. Then he waits and when a hen comes close to the fence he reaches in and plucks her feathers. Sassy, our alpha rooster, tries to protect his flock by keeping in between Cuddles and the hens–Cuddles doesn’t mess with Sassy because Sassy will peck him. Sassy is an awesome rooster and takes good care of his flock. However, despite Sassy’s protective efforts, every now and then a hen gets too close to the fence and Cuddles strikes. He is incorrigible. Here is a video of Cuddles in action:
Cuddles loves his game so much that even though he loves treats, he will ignore them if he has a chance to goose the hens. He is a very bad duck!
Whoo Hoo!
We had a really nice weekend. It rained all day Saturday through Sunday morning. I’m not sure exactly how much rain we got, but nearby areas ranged from 1.43 to 2.23 inches. The temperatures were very warm–up in the high 70s!!
Sunday morning EJ glanced out the window and then called to me asking, “What kind of bird is that?” I took several photos of it so that we could have a reference to identify it if it flew away. I guessed that it could be a Northern Flicker even though I couldn’t really remember what a Northern Flicker looked like. I went to our library for our Michigan Birds book, leafed through the pages, and was surprised that I had guessed correctly. We learned that Northern Flickers are woodpeckers, but they are usually on the ground rather than trees. They mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill.
While it was raining during the morning, I did laundry. However, in the early afternoon the rain moved off so I went outside to work. I dug up another wheelbarrow full of lilies. It was harder to dig them up because they have grown a little bigger. Once I had a wheelbarrow full, I planted them with the others along the driveway. The lilies I have planted seem to be doing quite well. It should be pretty when they bloom. Most importantly, I’m hoping they will hold the soil and stop erosion.
After a short break, I went out to the back yard and moved our burning barrel. I usually rake out the used straw from the coop into the pens and I felt that the barrel was too close. I didn’t want to risk a spark setting the straw on fire. EJ agreed. I emptied the barrel of ashes and moved it to the place where our campfires had been. It is far enough from the house, the forest, and the coop to be safe, I think.
While I was outside working at moving the burning barrel, I heard a woodpecker drilling in the forest. I wasn’t able to find the woodpecker, but the sound of his rat-tat-tatting echoed loudly. It was pretty cool.
Meanwhile, EJ examined the HHR. It gets good gas mileage, but we don’t drive it in the winter because we need four-wheel drive vehicles to handle the snow. However, EJ had discovered that it had a leak in the fuel line. He googled it and discovered that it’s a common problem with HHRs.
This presented a problem because I was summoned for Jury Duty on the 18th and 19th (Tues and Wednesday) and I needed to have transportation. EJ drives the Suburban to work and JJ usually drives the Xterra to school. JJ has classes all day on Tuesdays but he has nowhere to go on Wednesday so only Tuesday would present a problem. Well, until JJ forgot that I had Jury Duty when he called this morning to schedule a physical for his new park ranger job at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Bummer. We have been discussing various options, including EJ taking the day off on Tuesday so I could get to the courthouse. I have been summoned for Jury Duty many times over the years and although I don’t theoretically have a problem with being a juror, I always get called at inconvenient times–such as during exam week at college, or just before my wedding, or when JJ was a toddler and I had no baby sitter, or when I was struggling with chronic health problems. This time it was a problem with transportation. And my mind was also busy with figuring out what time I had to get up to get the animals all cared for before I left, and what to do about meals, and all that sort of thing.
In the instructions I received in the mailed, I was told to call the courthouse after 5 p.m. today to see if and at what time I had to be at court. Sometimes, the instructions said, a trial is canceled–because of plea bargaining or whatever. I hoped, but didn’t expect, that the case would be cancelled. With a bit of trepidation, I dialed the number at 5:03 p.m. I was shocked to hear that the trials had been cancelled for BOTH Tuesday and Wednesday so I didn’t have to appear! After I hung up the phone, I went dancing through the house shouting loud WHOO HOOs. JJ poked his head out of his bedroom door and looked at me as if I was crazy. He totally understood, though, when I sang that my Jury Duty was cancelled. It solves so many problems! We don’t have to worry about schedules or transportation or anything! Whoo Hoo!
EJ arrived home a few minutes later. I made him and JJ listen to the Jury Duty recording to double-check that I didn’t have to serve. They verified it. Whoo Hoo!
EJ said he had had a really good day today. His boss had asked him how his weekend had gone, and EJ told him about the HHR. His boss sat down at the computer and googled HHR fuel line leak and it appears that it is a very common problem that is under a recall. If that is true then we can take it to the shop and get the problem fixed for free, which means we don’t have to scrape up the money for repairs. What a relief!
WHOO HOO!
Happy Chickens
Most of the time JJ has to be to work at 3 p.m., but today he was scheduled to begin work at noon. After JJ left, I considered working to enlarge the chickens’ outside pen. However, I knew that once I began working on it, I wouldn’t be able to stop until the pen was finished. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do so much work today, but the day was beautiful with blue skies and temps in the 60s–a wonderful day for working outside–and I decided to go for it.
The chicken pen was going to be extended by ten feet–the length of the dog cage panels. I moved the two center wooden posts to the corners. I temporarily put t-posts where the wooden posts had been to hold up the fence until I was ready to move it. I had to dig two trenches to bury the bottom of the panels so predators can’t easily dig under them. I also had to dig a 23 foot or so trench for the wire fencing I was moving. I didn’t have enough wooden posts, so I pounded in two T-posts spaced between the wooden posts. Then I was ready to move the wire fence to the new location.
Moving the fence was very tricky because the chickens were all outside and very curious about what I was doing. I had to move the whole 23-foot length of fence to the new location without letting the chickens escape. The fence was very flexible and kept wanting to curl up or fall down. The chickens kept poking their heads through the fence and they tried to push through the gap at the loose ends. At one point I was stretched out holding the fence up to keep it from falling on the chickens, while trying to block the chickens from getting around the loose ends. I couldn’t fasten the fence to the posts while holding up the fence and shooing the chickens, and I envisioned myself stuck holding the fence for several hours until EJ arrived home from work to help me. Finally, the fence did fall, scaring the chickens away–fortunately they weren’t hurt–so that I could quickly temporarily attached it by bending the wire ends so they caught the dog cage panel ends. Then I quickly wired the fence to one of the t-posts. With the fencing being held up, I was able to take my time permanently attaching the fence to the wooden posts with large staples and securely wiring the fence to the t-posts. I wasn’t able to get the fencing as straight as I wanted, but it is fastened to the posts so I’m happy.
Once I got the fence in place, I filled in the trenches. Then I was done. This is what the enlarged pen looks like:
The chickens happily clucked as they scratched in the dirt of their larger pen.
I showed EJ my project when he got home from work. He said that I did a good job and that the chickens have about 230 square feet of additional space.
Meanwhile, the ducks are really happy with their enlarged space. I have happy birds.
The Ducks’ New Pen
After a beautiful weekend, the weather turned rainy Sunday night and cooled throughout Monday. On Tuesday we even had periods of snow, but it only lasted a couple of minutes at a time and nothing stayed on the ground–unlike Michigan’s Upper Peninsula which just got about 10 inches of snow. I’m glad we didn’t have so much snow because I’m ready for Spring now–although I don’t get upset when it snows in April because that’s part of living in Michigan. Besides, I like different kinds of weather, and I’d rather have snow than sweltering tropical heat.
The temperatures were still quite warm on Monday morning, so despite the damp and occasional rumbles of thunder, I went outside and worked on the fencing for the enlarged duck enclosure. Since I decided to make the enclosure more permanent, I installed a gate. I used the fencing, two wooden posts, and the gate from the old dog pen that we had dismantled last year. I used short t-posts from our supply for the rest of the fence. The gate and wooden posts already had a latch on them, so I had to position them just right so the parts of the latch would fit. It took me several tries. I will need EJ’s help getting the screws holding the gate in. I got them most of the way in, but I need EJ’s greater strength and skill to get them all the way in.
The pen will contain EJ’s raised garden as well as the ducks so I tried to make the area as big as I could with the fencing I had so that EJ could add more containers if he wants to. My plan is that the ducks will eat the insects that would menace our garden–and they already seem to be doing their job. I watch them walking among the raised garden beds gobbling up whatever they find.
Before I got the area completely enclosed, I dragged in the old dog house and positioned it on the side furthest from the coop so the ducks would have some safe shelter to run to if they are threatened by predators. A few weeks ago EJ had dragged it from where the old dog pen had been to behind the house. I only had to drag it from there a short distance into the new pen. The roof comes off so I first moved the house and then the roof. The roof is shingled and very heavy so it took a lot of effort to pull it to the new location and then lift it onto the dog house. At one point the roof fell on my foot, which really hurt and now I have a nasty bruise. I think I’m fortunate that I didn’t break any bones in my foot. I put some straw in the dog house and some old straw at the entrance as a sort of ramp for the ducks.
While I worked, the ducks kept busy exploring the pen. Before I got the fencing completely installed, two of the rouens got out through a gap but they quickly ran back in when they saw me coming to shoo them. Finally I got the fencing all up. The ducks examined the new dog house and gave it their approval.
I’m satisfied with my work. I like that it is just outside our bedroom window so I can watch the ducks. They are so funny and interesting. They are better than television–like my own reality show.
Later on Monday, I went outside and had a big scare when I found an old deer skull just outside the fence. It wasn’t there earlier when I put up the fence. It felt like a scene from a scary movie–like a warning not to enter the forbidden forest. However, I’m quite sure Danny had dragged it there when I let him outside. Silly dog. He sure pranked me!
I’m thinking about using two 10 foot panels from the dog cage (which is different from the old dog pen we dismantled) to extend the chickens’ pen so they have more area. Their area isn’t as grassy as the ducks area, but they might be able to find more insects to eat. We had used the dog cage, which a co-worker had given EJ, to contain the chickens and ducks when they were located in the garage last year.
I spent Monday afternoon preparing our Passover seder. I wasn’t sure if Passover was on Monday or Tuesday, but I had it on Monday so JJ could participate. Mondays and Wednesdays are the only days he doesn’t have either school or work. It was nice.
I tried to grow herbs in pots during the winter but most of them are struggling…or mostly dead. My herbs do well when I grow them outside in pots over the summer but I haven’t had much luck with trying to keep them alive in the house in the winter, which means I had to buy a bunch of parsley for our Passover seder. We had plenty of parsley left over so I put them in our food dehydrator to dry.
Yesterday evening JJ came home after a day of school in great excitement. He said that he had seen a bald eagle eating a deer carcass alongside the road only a few miles from home. That is SO AWESOME! Maybe I will have to get out the binoculars so I can use them to see if the birds flying overhead are eagles.
This morning I’ve been watching the wild birds busy looking for nesting places. A chickadee flew into the new dog house to check it out. I’ve watched a couple of birds check out some of my birdhouses, which is exciting. I have five birdhouses that I had set up near the windows of our old house downstate. I loved watching the birds building their nests in the houses and raising their young. I brought the houses with us when we move and installed most of them at the edge of the forest. A couple of them I put on the post where I hang the feeders in the winter. However, none of the birds up here in the north have shown any interest in my birdhouses, which has been a bit disappointing, although I really can’t blame them for not using my houses when they have a whole forest to nest in. Still, it’s exciting that some birds at least appeared interested in them this year. And I saw a chickadee land on the suet feeder that I filled with Danny’s hair for the birds to use for their nests. That was satisfying.
I am considering setting up my own website to sell my crocheted projects. Both Etsy and Facebook charge an extra fee to “promote” a seller’s items. I don’t make enough to make the extra fee worthwhile, but I think that those who don’t promote their items sort of get overshadowed by those who do. Plus, there is a lot of competition at Esty. I’m thinking about it.
JJ has gotten a job as a sort of park ranger. The job pays a little more. He begins in mid-May. They told him that they want him full-time so he will be leaving his current job. We don’t know if “full-time” means he will be working year-around or just 40 hours each week during the tourist season. If the job is seasonal, he can find another job in the autumn.
Duck Delight
The weather was very nice this weekend. On Saturday it was sunny and the temperature was about 60. We put in the screens and opened up all the windows. We also got out our patio chairs (I had the table already set up) and sat out on our small deck with EJ’s friend who came to visit. He spent the night and drove downstate to visit his daughter after he left our house. We enjoyed his visit.
Today it was cloudy and windy, but the temps were in the mid 70s! I did laundry and dried the clothes out on the clothesline. They dried very quickly in the wind.
A starling was beginning to build a nest in a hole in the porch ceiling, so EJ fixed it today. Meanwhile, using leftover fencing, I set up some temporary fencing to enlarge the ducks’ area. It encloses EJ’s raised beds so the ducks can help keep the bug population down. I keep planning and re-planning how I want to do the fencing. I liked what I did today so I think I will make it more permanent. I had originally planned to buy more 8 foot fencing, which I would need if I wanted to let the chickens in the area. However, to save money I think I will just use our extra 4 foot fencing. The ducks don’t fly over the shorter fencing like the chickens do. I might be able to rework the chickens’ area to give them a little extra room.
With the enlarged area, I had enough space to set out the kiddie pool for the ducks. They loved it! I had filled the pool up to the top, but they splashed most of it out in their joy…so I filled it again. A month or so ago I filled an upsidedown saucer sled with water for a small pool. I will keep using that as a small pool because it’s easier for Esther, our lame duck, to get in and out of. Here are some of the ducks enjoying the larger pool:
After I hung the clothes on the line and set up the fence, I dug up another wheelbarrow load of lilies and planted them along the driveway. I fixed a quick lunch and then EJ and I went to the farm store for feed. Someone was at the front of the store selling cute rabbits. We petted then, but did not buy any. Neither did we buy any adorable ducklings or chicks that the farm store was selling further in the store, although we did stop to admire them. We were very strong to resist every temptation put in our path!
After the farm store, we went to the grocery store to buy Passover supplies. We had to go to a larger store because the nearby store where JJ works doesn’t have Kosher wine or matsah bread. When we got home, I did my other chores–cleaned out litter boxes, set up coffee pot for tomorrow, washed dishes, folded clothes.
I very exhausted…but it was a good day.
