And the Winner Is....

The winner of 

"Chickens in the Garden" by Jessi Bloom 

is
"K".  

K, if you will contact me here at the blog, or at Ksredhead1950@gmail.com, I'll be glad to get the book to you. 

I did stop by your gardening blog at 

"K's Garden" 

and left a comment, too, so I hope you see one of them. 

Congratulations, and thanks for commenting! 

Guess what time it is again? 

Time to trim Buffy's beak... already.  See how long it has grown?  

I've never had a chicken that has grown a beak as long or as fast as this one. 

She is almost five now, and no longer laying, but she also layed longer than any chicken I've ever owned. 

Someone asked yesterday if the goats were eating the flowers. 

In a word... YES.  I didn't really mind because the petunias were about finished.  The two mums you see have not been transplanted yet... and oddly, they are not nibbling on them, the plants just need to be trimmed.  The only thing they really damaged was the balsam... and I have plenty of seeds from it for next year. 

Kody, pictured above, has not been himself for three days now, and I am quite worried about him.  I am keeping an eye on him this afternoon, he is not his usual happy little self.  He did do a little browsing, but is laying outside now in the yard in the shade. He is not running and jumping as he usually does, and I went out to do the henspa water, and no happy goat came running to see what I was doing and get in my way. 

I won't hesitate to call the vet tonight or tomorrow if we need an emergency visit.  Kelly is sticking close to him, I notice... but he is showing the same signs as Kaycee did. 

Someone else is very happy that the horrible heat has broken.  We are at 81 degrees this afternoon, and I have jeans on. 

I am going to stop here now.  We have been watching Kody and are worried about him.  I have called our vet and left a message with a "911" notation after it, and described what was happening. 

I'm going to go out and check him now and wait for her call. 

A Little Cooler and another Book Giveaway

I love my two Barred Rock hens, given to me by former co-worker Jennette. 

They "talk" to me all the time. 

Yesterday morning, one was sunbathing in the door of the henspa. 

Yesterday was, we hope, the last of the 7 unseasonably hot days we have had. 

Here is another little terribly overweight girl on the deck... she has not had much exercise lately, and yes, I have her on a diet.  We have got to get ten pounds off her, we know that. 

The sun was just merciless this last week. 

Today, it is cloudy/sunny.  We actually had a few drips and sprinkles this morning, but not a real storm. 

However, it's only 82 out, instead of 95 or higher! 

I change out the water in this pasture fortex three or four times a day, so Kody had a good , long drink of cool well water. 

I really have been taking it easy today... I think I way overdid it in the last week with outdoor work and indoor cleaning, and I have come down with a terrible end-of-summer cold.  I actually went back to bed this morning to get some additional rest.  

We had dinner last night with Keith's daughters and their families, a day late for his birthday.  

Little Jace loves his papaw.  

After dinner, they came out to Calamity Acres for a bit, since it was getting dark. 

We don't have pictures, unfortunately, because we were so busy... but Jace and little Brynn got to meet Kody and Kelly (and feed them some crackers)... and then got to go to the henhouse and see the birds...who had roosted.  

We found an egg under one of the broody hens!  Jace thought that was neat! 

We looked at the gardens for a bit, and then it was so dark it was time for them to go home. 

Keith's daughter Amber will be having her second son in December, so we'll have two December babies, Brynn and the new little one, Carson. 

And, as mentioned on Tuesday, here's the book for the next giveaway....

"Free Range Chicken Gardens" by Jessi  Bloom is full of gorgeous pictures and coop ideas.  

I would love to do everything in this book... if Lilly Ann didn't live here! 

Just leave a comment below, and we'll pick a winner on Saturday... so a shorter time to comment. 

Good luck! 

And I saw something on the web today that made me think... and I think will make others think... I don't like to be too political on this blog, but I think we need to remember this, especially after yesterday: 

"'Nuff Said"