First there were cicadas, and now the green June bugs are back. I walk outside to the low drone of wings as hundreds of these beetles buzz in randoms flights about me. I took this picture last year. It shows how clumsy these bugs are, also evident by the thumps I hear occasionally on the windows and sides of the trailer.

Athough their careless flight can be a little irritating, at least they provide some entertainment as I can stop to watch some of the more ambitious chickens run around trying to pluck the fat bugs out of the air.

The thing about mothers is that, our selves are not high on the list of priorities. Most of our time, thought, and energy is dedicated to taking care of our little ones and our husbands. For example, my kids' hunger usually comes before mine. I prepare their lunches first, however hungry I might be. Granted, sometimes this is partly a selfish act, since, once I sit down to eat, I really don't want to be interrupted with constant pleas for food...

Anyway, when it comes to sickness, it becomes more problematic. A week and a half ago, I came down with a sore throat. Initially, I wanted to blame it on drainage, but I took a quick peek into my throat and saw some bumps along with some redness. "Do you think this is strep?" I asked my husband, who has had strep in the past. After glancing in my mouth, he said, "I don't see much. Does it feel like you are swallowing glass?" 'Hmm,' I thought to myself, ' What would swallowing glass feel like?' I imagined sharp, horrible, scratching pain shooting down my throat. "Well, no." I said. I also did not have signs of fever, so I prescribed myself the regimen of gargling with warm salt water three times a day. At some point during that week, the sore throat was accompanied by large amounts of snot and sinus pressure, reinforcing the opinion that the sore throat was probably not due to strep.

After a fairly miserable week, my throat was finally feeling better and the congestion had mostly cleared up. I thought I was in the clear. Until yesterday. The morning found my glands swollen and my neck stiff, and by bedtime, my throat was starting to rage. Another look past my tongue and I could see nasty white blisters surfacing on my throat and tonsils. I then proceeded to give my husband (who shall remain nameless for this post) a verbal lashing for not taking better care of me... explaining, that since my focus is not on myself, sometimes I need that push to go see a doctor, that sometimes I need someone to tell me to take a load off and rest. "But you're tough and you can handle it," he said. At which point I wanted to give him a bloody nose. I then accused him of having a pathetically low pain tolerance "if this is what you think swallowing glass feels like." Sheesh.

So today, I go to the doctor.

The Excitement Never Ends

One of the first things I saw this morning was a flock of wild turkeys in the yard, which isn't unusual except for the fact that one of the baby turkeys is an albino! (Can you see it? The pic isn't so great...)
Next, Finley came in with our first pullet egg! The one on the left is probably from Elizabeth, the smaller one on the right is the pullet egg.

I wonder what will happen next...

Garden Notes

Garden is a weedy mess with beans, squash, and cukes growing out into everything else, etc. The grass around the edges hasn't been mowed for weeks since I can't get the push mower started.

Forgot to pinch off broccoli heads, so pulled up 2 plants that were going to seed, and cut off heads of others that hadn't quite flowered yet to see if I can coax at least one dinner's broccoli out of the plants.

Planted some blue jade corn last week... wasn't sure the seed was viable since it was left over from two years ago, and I remembered that some of the seed on the cob had already sprouted from being left on the ground or something, but looks like almost all of them sprouted. Of course, I managed to trample a few in the chasing of a certain little bunny rabbit. I have the sneaking suspicion this is the bunny Chris caught and let go about 100 yards away from my garden just last week... Was tempted to put our cat on the rabbit's trail, but had better let Chris try to recapture it first.

Pole beans are producing nicely. 'Cherokee Trail of Tears' black bean that can also be eaten green. they are pretty, since the flowers are purple and there are streaks of purple along the stems and along the 'seams' of the bean. Next year I need to remember to provide at least 5' fencing for them.

Peppers look sad as the wind has knocked them sideways. Next year I need to remember to put a cage around them.

The carrots are okay. Not quite what I hoped, so am wondering what it is I do wrong there. Buford (the neighbor's donkey) likes them, though, so if the family doesn't like them, at least I know some one will appreciate them.

Oh, and I have beets. Might try making some borscht.

This is where the young hens go to avoid the advances of the roosters. Good idea, ladies. Maybe next time Chris is in the mood and I'm not, I'll just go sit on top of the house.

At long last...

With some of my birthday money, I have ordered a laundry sorter! I can't wait for it to arrive. It might sound silly to you, but I've been wanting one for over a year. Laundry is one of those thing I dread. What makes it even worse is when I think it is time for laundry, pull out all the clothes, sort them all into various piles, only to find that there isn't enough of a certain pile to warrant a load. Then it ends up back in the laundry basket so that I don't have to trip over it for the next few days. And then some one runs out of something vital. Like underwear or socks. And then I have to dig to the bottom of the basket to get to said items. And I hate that. So it is with great excitement that I wait for the UPS truck to arrive and deliver my sorter.

Decided to stop bush-hogging early today. Thankfully, I noticed a mama turkey sitting on a clutch of eggs. When I took Chris to see her, he (accidentally) scared her off, and I counted 10 eggs. Checked back a few minutes later, and she was back on the nest.

After having half the tar paper ripped of the back by the wind last week, we decided to put a hold on any papering and just cover the whole thing with tarps until we get the money for the roof. Which I hope will be soon. But who knows...

It feels like an odd situation. When we sold out house, we were eligible for the 2nd-time homebuyers credit the goverment decided to offer to try to help stimulate the economy. Now, to be honest, I thought the credit was a dumb idea, especially when the economy had tanked and the government was (is) so far in debt I can't think of an appropriate analogy... but, hey, if the government is handing out money, and we qualify, and we'll do something wise with it... why not get in line?

So when I filed our taxes, I sent off all the paperwork they said they would want to prove that we were eligible for the homebuyer's credit. A month later, we got our tax refund, minus the money for the homebuyer's credit. Then we got a letter in the mail asking for more documentation. I sent it in. We got another letter from them that said they got our stuff and would review it and get back to us in a month. A month later, we got another letter saying they would get back to us by the next month. Then that deadline passed, and then one evening, I got a call from some poor, overworked guy saying that they needed proof that we had a contract on the house before the April 30th deadline. Great, I said, let me fax that over. So I did. The guy called back 10 minutes later saying that he needed proof of residency at our old house. Apparently, even though I sent the info they asked for when I filed taxes, and even though we'd been filing our taxes from that address for the past 5+ years, that still wasn't enough for the guy's boss. I pulled some other documentation outand faxed that over. Two days later, I got another letter saying they'd get back to us in the next month or so. Great.

So in the meantime, until we save up some $, or the govt. ponies up, tarps. Definitely won't be ordering blue metal for the roof.

So there is a thurnderstaorm about to roll through, and the felt underlayment on the back side of the roof we took a half day in the blazing sun to put down is getting blown off. Cuss...

Saturday, Chris and some volunteers got the form for the porch slab built. They built smaller forms and poured the concrete for the porch posts. Some fireblocking and other little details were knocked out on the inside of the house. Sunday, Chris and I worked on getting the posts and beams up and cut our rafter template. Later, after a birthday dinner for me with my folks, Chris got a good start on the porch rafters. As soon as we get the rest of them up, Chris will have me back up on the roof to finish the decking and felt. It will be nice to be able to sit in the shade of our front porch, trying to envision what the view will be with the trailer gone...

Last night, I went to pick up an Ameraucana rooster from some friends that were looking to get rid of him. I was hoping he would take to the two Ameraucana hens I have so that we can hatch out some chicks next year. I was a little surprised when I saw the rooster. He was big. Suddenly, I was a little worried about the alpha rooster at home. Little did he know that he would wake up in the morning to a new competitor, and I wasn't sure he was big enough to hold his own...

We put the new rooster on the perch I had mounted in the stable, hoping that if each rooster had a sense of having his own territory, they wouldn't have a fight to the death. I managed to get to sleep, then woke up, anxious, at 4:30 a.m. .... With the first hint of light, I was out the door to see what would happen. A few minutes later, our alpha roo started crowing in the chicken coop. Then I heard the neighbor's roosters far-away crowing, and finally, from the stable, came the deeper crow of the new rooster. He came strutting out, taking in the new scenery. The hens from the coop slowly started filtering outside, then out came Alpha. Newby started looking for the way into the chicken run, while Alpha strutted around inside. Finally, Alpha jumped through the door and confronted Newby. Both roos flew up in the air, trying to get the best of each other. Alpha was a little more agile, though, and soon had Newby on retreat. After a few minutes, Alpha had established his supremacy and I was convinced we wouldn't have any carnage in the barnyard, so went inside for some coffee.

Roof Decking Progress

This is a picture of us on top of our roof. Yes, it is that steep. It didn't really bother us until we had the last pieces in place, which meant there was no edge to grab hold of in the event we started to slide. So Chris got a rope out of the garage and we tied it to the ridge beam. He wrapped it around his hand while he nailed the final pieces down...

Just after we finished, we noticed the thermometer had hit 100F. I was glad to be down off that southern-facing roof for the day.

Yesterday, while Gramma and Grampa watched the kids, Chris and I knocked out most of the front roof decking. We would have gotten a lot more finished if it wouldn't have been for a small mistake in the rafter spacing. One gap between the rafters was 17" on the ridge beam instead of the standard 16"... and that one little inch can make for a big headache.

Turnip Harvest

I should probably do a little more research before I start growing new vegetables. I just now read that turnips are best eaten when golf-ball sized. So I tromped out to the garden and pulled most of them up, leaving a few to (maybe) overwinter and let go to seed. A good number of them were the ideal size. I separated those out to eat raw in salads or however it is you are supposed to eat turnips. I also filled a gallon size bag with the bigger ones, and those I plan to try mashed. The biggest turnip can be seen in the bunch to the left and was bigger than my fist.

Not bad progress for a husband and wife team!

Hay

There is a small section of pasture right across from the shop that I refused to let Chris mow so I could cut it for hay for the chicken coop. Wednesday, I raked up the hay I had cut, and pitched it all into the back of the truck. As sweat trickled into my eyes, I though of Laura Ingalls helping her Pa by tramping the hay down in the wagon. I thought for a minute that maybe I should get the kids involved, but it wasn't that much hay, so I didn't. In retrospect, though, they would have had a lot of fun.

A part of me really wants to learn how to make an old-school haystack. Since we don't have a baler (yet) it would be nice to know how so that I wouldn't have to keep taking up room in the stable. [Also, I have this desire to slide down a haystack at least once in my lifetime, thanks again to the Little House series] From what I understand, you just put the hay down in a circle, then keep piling it up in layers. The trick is to top it so that it will shed water... But as far as I know, there are no videos on YouTube to help me learn how. Maybe I need to take a trip to Amish country?