Nest Surprise

How's this for a nice how do ya do? Looks like the boy has a new pet! This egg stealing snake got discovered in mid sneak and made a pretty good escape effort but alas, caught in the end. Could this be what is running my hens off their nests? Maybe one a little bit bigger...

UPDATE- not a king snake. This beauty is a Rat Snake!

Killer Veges?

Killer Cucumber' Bug From Spain Hits Britain

When are people going to wake up and learn where e coli comes from? E. coli, short for Escherichia coli, is a type of bacteria commonly found in the intestines of animals and humans. So, in order for it to get in or on your your meat and vegetables, they have to be contaminated with it. In other words, covered in crap! Or, handled by a person who can't wash their hands after they crap.

Water sources can also be contaminated via raw sewage or animal waste being dumped into the water source. Nice huh?

So, in short, if you'd like to avoid picking up some nasty bug that will really ruin your day, know where your food comes from! Buy local produce from someone that knows how to grow it and if you can, butcher for yourself!

Wore out and Sore

The wore out and sore came from my brilliant idea to check out the Herrin Festa Italiana. Every year, Memorial weekend, there's this big,seriously hyped street carnival on steroids. In all the years I've lived
here, I have never attended. This year, my son wanted to see a couple of the rock bands scheduled to appear. So, instead of driving him up there, dropping him off and driving back late at night to pick him up,
I had the brilliant idea that hubster and I would enjoy the festival during the concert. Silly me for thinking that it was actually some sort of "Italian" festival. The great Italian food was a line of carnival stands with the same food you find at any street carnival only double the prices. The great italian heritage booths were just cheap carny junk. After 40 minutes of trying to walk thru masses of poorly behaved people, we just headed out of it and found a nice little bikers bar with a 3 man blues band playing. The music was nice and the bar was not crowded so we had the chance to enjoy ourselves. We won't be doing the Herrin Festa ever again. Not our kind of thing.

My lonely drakes swimming in the root cellar pond. Shadow and Charcoal enjoyed a little shade for their nap as well.

I'm trying something new to the garden this year. I had decent luck last year growing peanuts in a tire as an experiment. This year I'm trying a row of them in the main garden. They haven't sprouted yet, pictures if/when they do.

Hubster went fishing with his Dad this morning and came home a little while ago. He flopped on the couch and since he didn't say anything about it, after about an hour, I asked him about the fishing. Guess what's been leaking all over the front floorboard of my truck for the last hour?

Waiting for the Break

Today was a damage assessment day for the garden. Some weed control as well. While I was out there working diligently, Lucky was behind me eating the tops off my peppers and beans! Lucky killed 5 pepper plants and a dozen or so beans. He has figured out how to get around the fence and is now tied up on a long rope in the barn lot. I need the goat pen finished.

The cornmeal corn is up, the kidney beans are up (hey Scifi, did I say Friday? LOL)

So far, the worst of the nasty storms has missed the farm but there's another headed this way that might get us. I'm ready for a break in the weather so I can get hay cut! I'm down to 8 days of hay left and I am really uncomfortable with cutting it so close. No rain last year and the drowning we'd endured so far this year makes for some jangled nerves.

Ah, to be a kitten living in our farmhouse! This one is looking much better, still has a bit of the eye ick and runny nose but is finally starting to gain some weight. She's making herself at home all over the furniture...