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.

Houdini the Cat Explores

My cat thinks he is a panther and has taken to sleeping in the top of the joshua tree in my front  yard. He is like a sentry watching all the birds and chipmunks below. This morning I let the old cat out to get some fresh air and the new cat was in the mood to play tail tag. The old guy is too frail for those kinds of highjinks so I had to bring him back in.

Houdini is such a lap cat. Feral my ass.

Warming up in the sun

He's growing so fast.

November Morning at Shoebox Ranch

Today I took some time to clean up the yard, hang things up that the wind had blown down, play with the chickens, and teach the new kitten how to weave. He really wants to help with everything or nap in my lap so I can't do anything.

As long as it is pleasant out, I can work on my weaving in the yard. That way I can watch the birds and enjoy their songs. Soon it will be too cold to work on crafts in the yard, so I'm enjoying it while I can.
When I see the  horrible snowstorms New York and Canada are having, I feel so blessed to live here. My friend in New York got 8 feet of snow in one night. I guess that's when you find out if you really love your spouse, because you are going to be stuck indoors a lot.

Two fat hens.

Our whole flock in one photo.

This chicken wanted to be picked up this morning.

Impressionistic Weaving of Autumn in the High Desert

Houdini and I

Tricky to hold a chicken and take your own photo.

Houdini is made out of velvet I think.

Why did the chicken cross the hose?

Building My Outdoor Utopia

Hurry up and get ripe tomato.

Silver Dollar tree for the front yard.

You know I'm new to this whole chicken raising thing. So when the chickens hunkered down for a dust nap, I've seen that before and I wasn't really surprised. But when one red hen started yanking feathers out of the other red hen and eating them, I was a bit taken aback. Then the two black chickens started snacking on feathers too.

Maybe the red one is about to molt and that is how they help out. It seemed that the feathers came out quite easily and didn't seem to hurt her. She hardly seemed to notice. I still found it disturbing. So I googled up some answers. The most common answer is they lack protein. Ours get lots of mealworms so that doesn't seem likely. A few people said the chickens were bored. Ours have full run of a giant yard so I doubt it is boredom. Beats me. Does anyone else have a better answer?

This week I am working in 'Cactus Jack's Garden.' I got the most prickly cactus planted in a hole I dug a long time ago. Today I dug a new hole for the columnar cactus. In one small hole I already dug out about 10 medium and large rocks. My back can only take so much of that so I quit for the day.

There is a sweet spot between the heat of summer and the cold of winter here in the desert so I'm trying to get as much yard work done as I can handle. I just hope the tomatoes ripen before we have a hard freeze.

Happy autumn.

I got a new Silver Dollar eucalyptus tree for the front yard. I can't plant it until I get a tree stake, more potting soil and someone stronger than I am to dig more rocks out of the deep hole. I've wanted one all my life. I just love the leaves. For decades I didn't have my own yard. Technically I'm renting so planting trees here is a bit risky. We hope to buy the place, but lots could happen between now and then. At any rate, I'm living for the moment and planting trees.

In other good news, my bulbs in a container just sprouted. They don't look like ranunculus so they must be the irises.

Cactus Jack's Garden

Shoebox Ranch Autumn Days

I made another Vlog yesterday about my daily life. I make them for my new account over on Vloggerheads but it fits this blog too so I posted it for my followers.

I loved the way the sun was shining through the comb.

Hens have combs too. They are just smaller than the rooster's comb.

What you lookin' at?

Summer Summer Go Away

I went outside and the heat was oppressive. I was worried about the chickens so I filled up a second water container. All six of them ran to it and started drinking. The other container had plenty of water but it had gotten a little dirty and the chickens were having none of it.

I watered the garden and came in before my head exploded. I checked the weather page and it said 92 degrees and I thought there is no way it's only 92. Three seconds later the page refreshed to 98 with the predicted high of 101. I went out without a headache and came in with one. Now I'm sitting indoors in front of the swamp cooler sipping water and soda.

"Summer, you are through," signed Autumn.

My Garden is Tasty to Bugs

You know it is too windy to knit outside when you start getting sand in your teeth. And it is starting to get dark anyway.

Just when I started making headway with getting hornworms out of the tomatoes, the squash come down with a serious attack of aphids. I know banana peels got rid of the aphids on my roses, so that means a trip to the market tomorrow to get bananas. I just hope I'm not too late. The bright shiny umbrella shaped leaves of the squash are now looking worn out and seem to be shriveling. Aphids suck the very life out of things.  I haven't seen any ladybugs around here either. Maybe they can't take the Mojave heat.

I'm also worried that though the tomatoes are covered with blossoms, they are not setting any fruit. Out of five tomato plants I've only seen one teeny tiny fruit.Maybe I am watering them too much.

Tomato hornworm

It is worth it just for the sunsets.

Fabric For A New Tote Bag

This will be a chicken once I add the embroidery

Fletcher whipped up a great chicken stir-fry including the yellow squash I picked today, so I am eating something I grew and that makes me happy.

The chickens have finished their big bag of grow mash and now have a new bag of laying crumble. Hope they like it.

Happy homesteading.