Catching Up Again

I can't believe it's been Sunday since I've posted, I really am 

losing track of time. 

"Fredd", a blogger, took offense at my comments about the 

Big Ditch.  I doubt that Fredd reads blogs like mine very often, 

we are not of the same blogging mind.  His comment about my 

story of the Big Ditch was that since the land was not mine, 

I should mind my own business. 

He missed the point.  I was bemoaning the loss of habitat 

for the animals, not excoriating the land owners. 

Here's another loss I excoriated this week: 

With this poor stiff dead raccoon, was a live baby, and I could not tell 

how long it had been imprisoned. 

I let it loose.  I made it clear (gently) I could not take this, a humane 

trap must be checked daily in the state of Kansas, and marked with the 

name and phone number of the entity setting the trap. 

I am not casting stones, but this is not the way I roll. 

My feeling, and I will let it be known here, has ALWAYS been... 

plant an extra tomato plant for the rabbits, raccoons, and possums. 

For crying out loud, people. 

Here is something else I don't mind.  The little creatures having a bite on me. 

I don't leave it out at night, because moths will become entangled in the jelly and die. 

So far, I have not been stung. 

By any of the visitors. 

Here was King on his throne this morning at the Ag, talking to his ladies. 

He's just such a beautiful rooster.   

You can tell we have had some rain, and it's raining out there now. 

Those sneaky girls, I found six eggs in the next box in the old henhouse, which we are 

leaving open. 

The birds are on penicillin (duromycin) until Sunday for their upper respiratory infections, so 

I am boiling and feeding back their eggs until 3 days after I stop medicating. 

Fresh eggs normally will not peel... guess what I have discovered?

If I boil these for fifteen minutes, then put them under cold water and let it run a few minutes... they peel easily! 

We have someone coming tomorrow to take part of them, and all the Wyandottes and Dominiques in this picture have been sold. (The black and white birds). 

We are trying to get down to about ten birds for the winter. 

Current state of the straw bale garden.  

Remember, these are four tomato plants I bought from an enterprising gardener in 

Leavenworth. 

Next year, I am going back to starting my own. 

The cherry tomato here was NOT good... the flavor left much to be desired, and 

tho the plant produced okay,  it is already dying off.  

The other three plants produced pretty well, but the tomatoes were 

not very big, and I had a lot of trouble with cracking.  (That may have been the rain-heat-rain cycle). 

I still have about 30 good sized tomatoes on the side facing the fence, or away from the this picture. 

I have given away a LOT of tomatoes, just not as nice as last year's. 

The tomato plants on the deck are doing well... in fact, one has huge cherry tomatoes and I am going to save seed from it.  These were the volunteers. 

We are about to have a huge ball of mums on the downstairs patio! 

The Girl with the Maybelline Eyes on the deck last night. 

I love these big begonias at the Ag .... I would like to have some here next year. 

And the sedum is blooming now, reminding us fall is almost here. 

This is something else I love... callicarpa!  A beautiful shrub.