Happy almost first day of summer, too! It’s been feeling like summer at last, hasn’t it? Sunshine… on my shoulder makes me happy. And it makes me hum old songs, too, apparently.

Some folks have been asking for updates on things in my neck of the woods, so here’s a quick rundown (even if you’re not that interested in rocks and chickens, scroll to the end for a cool water lily photo).

Out with the rock, in with the roses

Thanks for all your suggestions about removing the big rock from the area where I wanted to plant a climbing rose. I think the rock has great character. I’ll be finding a place to give it some face time along my front entrance soon. Anyone know what kind of rock it is? I’m igneous (sorry).

My neighbor Larry happened to come by yesterday and I told him about it. While I was out getting straw to mulch the garden, the rock mysteriously moved from the hole to the front of the house. Thanks, Larry! I know it was you. I saw the Bobcat tracks!

Is Trouble in trouble?

All the chickens are well, but not all are happy. Betty the rooster has been chasing the gals around the pen and pinning them down to do unspeakable things to them. Betty is pretty sure that Trouble is a girl, incidentally. I don’t mind a roo doing what comes naturally, but …well, have you ever seen ducks do it? It ain’t pretty. And Trouble just isn’t that into Betty.

So today I put Trouble, Martha, Zelda and Rhoda in the garden. I rigged up some shade and water and they learned to dig. It was all very exciting. When I put Trouble back, Betty made it clear he, um, missed her. So I put her in the other pen (they sit side-by-side), but then the other chickens didn’t care for the intruder. Now, you know Trouble is my favorite chicken, and it’s not easy watching her get it from all sides. So now Betty has his own cage. He doesn’t like it. He says Trouble teases him. But she doesn’t. Perhaps re-homing Betty is the answer, so if you know anyone who needs a nice Ancona boy (not in their freezer or stew pot), let me know.

Which will come first, the coop or the egg?

The coop is coming along, but still is not ready. We’re putting hardware cloth on the windows to keep out predators. The electrician is coming tomorrow to run wire to a couple of outlets and hook up a light. The main holdup is the galvanized siding I want, giving the coop a cool, modern look. It’s special order. It’s going to be a race to see if the hens get in the coop before they lay their first eggs.

Something fishy

Oh, and I added some goldfish to the watergarden recently. I must’ve put 100 little fish in there, and I see about five whenever I look for them. I think they are all hiding. Maybe they heard about Betty. I hope to add some koi soon, but I want to see if the goldfish survive before I invest in koi, as they are not cheap.

The waterlilies are looking lovely though, and the water is almost warm enough to dip hot feet into. Bring on summer!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 9:21 am and is filed under Chickens, Uncategorized, Water gardens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.