Friday Catch Up

For some reason, I thought sure I'd posted since Tuesday! Huh. Oh, well . . . .


We had a great day of fishing with friends on Wednesday. (The first "catch" of the day was this submerged, lead-filled decoy from last fall!) It was overcast, but I ended up getting some sun on my face despite the clouds. (And Tom turns enviously brown as a berry the minute 15 minutes of sunshine hit him.) The day turned a little chilly in the afternoon when the wind picked up, but it (mostly) kept the blackflies at bay (!!) which arrived that afternoon! Aaaaaghhh! Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em!!! And, it turns out that they really enjoy burrowing into dread locks. Double aaagh!

The outdoor wood furnace finally got turned off last night, and we made the seasonal switch to no-heat-in-the-house. Of course we can use either of the three woodstoves strategically placed in the kitchen, middle room (between the dining & living rooms), and sunroom. That also means that we'll be using the water heater for our hot water again. In the wintertime, when the wood boiler is on, the water heater serves as a holding tank for the indoor water, but now, we'll have to endure the forced air fan that sounds like a 747 taking off. No complaints, though: at least we won't be running the two pump motors 24/7 for the infloor heat!

As you saw from the new video above, my Cuckoo Maran broody mama hen's chicks are beginning to hatch. She's SUCH a good mama! For the first couple of weeks, she was getting off the eggs long enough to eat and let another hen add to the clutch, but, for the last several days, she hasn't budged an INCH. It's amazing how Mother Nature allows hens to sit like that with no sustenance when required. I've been babying her, though, and bringing her food, water, and snacks. Although, she really hasn't been eating much. She knows what's best, though! Anyway, watching Nature take its course is so neat. It feels rewarding, too, even though I really had nothing to do with it!

I only have 12 layers right now (after the Pine Martin Incident), so I'm anxious to get some new hens out of this. (Normally, I would have ordered more birds this spring, but my pocketbook didn't allow it this year!)

For some reason, Blogger is not cooperating with me trying to publish photos today, so I'll try to post what I have here and then add more when I can.

Here we go . . . .

After purchasing a new bike helmet ("the most expensive one you have, please"), Tom got back in ye ol' saddle on Tuesday. He took his mountain bike down the road just a mile or so - a very short ride just to test his confidence. :)


I got some give-away plants last fall and stuck 'em in the ground, not knowing what they were. It's been fun to see them begin to pop up this spring. These flowers are TINY: about 1/4" wide. They're not Forget-Me-Nots. Anyone have any ideas?