Home and Checking on the Critters
Beau August 22nd, 2010
Oh my… home again! It was a nice journey around the upper midwest, and after the Iowa State Fair we made our way to Missouri, stopping over one night near Mark Twain Lake to clean things up a bit. It wasn’t all fun on the way home… I picked something up at the fair and spent a few nights with a fever and cough.
I’m getting there but it really knocked me out for a few days. Salmonella anyone? Who knows… I had several eggs at the fair, and a couple of egg breakfasts in Wisconsin and Iowa. It wasn’t a fun way to finish the trip, but hey that’s the price you pay for having fun, huh? Home again and school starts this week for the boy.
That last night at the fair was really nice, and we rode the Skyride up the hill to the campground.

On the way home the boy learned how to play dominoes. He found an old dominoe set at an antique shop at the fair for a reasonable price… nice little wooden pieces. After playing a game or two he would build things that didn’t stay up very well while driving along.

The chickens must have known we would be home… they gave us five presents for the first time with that many eggs. I was really hungry this morning and had four poached eggs on toast! Of course they were half-size eggs anyway :)

We have one or two chickens that don’t know where to lay their eggs… well, maybe they do, but one likes to put an egg in the corner of the coop. I found four eggs in the nest boxes this morning however, so maybe they’ll adapt. They’re a cute bunch, and race out to see you whenver you come near the coop and run. Of course they’re motivated by food… they go crazy for scratch mixings of corn and other seeds.
Hello Chickens! We’re Home!!!

It was very dry while we were gone and all the grass was going to seed and nearly two feet tall. Weeds everywhere… I can’t believe how much things grow up in such a short time. We missed our Concord grape harvest! They were just ripening when we left and I thought our timing would work out… but the dry weather wilted the vines and all the grapes dropped off.
While cutting the grass I nearly ran over a little turtle scooting through the field. He was heading toward the pond a good hundred yards away. I believe it’s a Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta belli).

Colorful little fellow, and he kept paddling in the air as we looked at him. I took him for a free ride to the pond, and let him go… he swam quickly for the depths.

A quick check of the bees and they’re working away like crazy. There goldenrod is blooming! I watched dozens of bees at one hive bringing bright packs of pollen into the entrance. Three of the four hives appears to be doing well, but I may need to order a new queen for the other.

It’s good to see the bees doing well. Still not a lot of honey this year, but their populations have increased dramatically.
The garden is surely winding down… the squash bugs got most of the pumpkin and squash vines, and cucumbers too. But the corn is still growing taller and the carrots are growing bigger. The tomatoes, not so much… between wilt and hornworms they’ve had a pretty tough summer. But we probably took more than 30 pounds of tomatoes from the garden this year so we can’t complain. The elderberries have half dropped their fruit as well, so we hope to run around and cut some berry clusters before they’re gone. Soon it will be time for jelly!
We may have some cooler weather ahead and I need to make the rounds and catch up on all the writings in the blogosphere.
Sometimes I think of my grandmother on my father’s side. I last saw her in 1999 when she was in a nursing home and when I asked how she was, she laughed and said “I’m here…” and then, “Time waits for no man…” She passed away a few months later. Somehow I’ve been thinking about life in the context of time lately… but (with luck and a little time!) those thoughts will await another day. Stay well…
Here’s someone who really loves little Brownie the chicken!














































