Rainy Weather Last Night and a Morning Full of Horsetail Clouds

My life got busy and I haven't had time to write. The summer has been sweltering and with 11 chickens now, we have to make sure they are okay all the time. Our garden was mostly wiped out by predators, no matter how much we tried to keep things going. I'm about to rip it all out and start over with a fall garden.

It is still beautiful here though, and these photos I took prove it.

Yesterday I was at a free concert in Apple Valley CA when the rains came down.  So the band had to call it quits after about 4 songs. But here are some rainy weather photos I took last night.

From the gas station on Hwy. 18.

Rainbow before the concert started.

Looming cloud during the sponsor speeches. By the time that was done, and the band took the stage, it  poured and no more music. Yes, thanking the sponsors is important, but considering the weather, they should have gone through them a lot faster and perhaps taken the photos another time.  Like next week during the last concert this summer.

Spring is Here on the Homestead

Today was a busy day on the homestead since both of us were here and we worked on things that are much easier to do with two people.

We went to the feed store and got a bale of straw. When we got home, Fletcher made some excellent guacamole for lunch.  We  had that with chips. As we were sitting there, he spotted a snake. It crawled past the trash cans and then past a chicken. She pecked at it's tail, but it got away and we saw it cross the driveway and head out for the desert. I don't want to kill them. They keep the mouse population under control.

Then we decided to tackle the garden. So we took all the old straw and free chicken manure out of the chicken coop. It filled a whole wheelbarrow.  All of that went into the raised bed garden box. Now that is ready to plant. I have onion sets that need to go in there right away. As I was taking the old weeds to the compost pile, I kicked a dried bit of cholla cactus and yelled out Tweezers.  Not your typical swear word but I sat down and my boyfriend pulled the ball of spines out of my foot with his knife.

Then we put new straw in the chicken coop and new pine shavings in the nesting boxes.

Recently I planted roses and today Goldie the chicken decided she likes rose leaves.  So I ran over to put chicken wire around the roses. I was mad! And I paid for it by not being careful with the chicken wire and cutting my thumb just under my right thumbnail. Ouch. I should have been wearing gloves.

This morning I started blowing eggs so I could use the eggshells to start seedlings in. I have 3 so far. Then back by the garden I found an old  pony pack so I can use that for seedlings too.

A week ago we pulled all the dead tomato vines out of the garden. I was surprised to find the rosemary, thyme and Greek oregano had survived the winter. We hadn't even been watering the garden box, since we thought everything was dead. Well, I should have watered it right away. I wasn't taking into account that we'd just ripped out all the bigger plants that were shading it.  So yesterday I remembered to go back there and hook up a hose and water it. And the thyme was burned to a crisp! Ack! The other two still looked fine though. So I guess they are frost resistant and somewhat drought resistant. Today and yesterday were the hottest days we've had since winter so I need to remember to water back there.

Three eggs from my own chickens.

My roses are still babies. This one was a gift from my neighbor. Hers are in full bloom.

End of the day. Chickens went to bed. And my mate is whipping up stir fry in his new wok.

Cleaning House

I'm going to spend the next 3 hours cleaning my house. I'll keep you updated. Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm tired of feeling disorganized and junky.

2:59 PM: So far so good. I got a sink full of dishes washed, and 3 tote bags of canned goods put away. My back is starting to hurt already. But I'm going to keep cleaning as long as I can stand it.

3:35 PM: Dishpan full of clean dishes dried and put away. Bucket full of dishes washed and pans put in to soak. Barely making a dent in the dishes so far. I just took some Ibuprofen for my back and now I need to sit for 15 minutes to let it work.

Just did another 45 minutes.  This time I washed all the pans on the stove and cleaned a very greasy stove top.

So far I've only done an hour and 21 minutes of cleaning. And it's dark already.