Lately

I've been wanting to blog more about our daily lives, because it's fun to look back and read what we were doing.  Seems I either can't remember to update the blog lately, or when I do remember, I can't find the time to get it done.  This summer has felt incredibly busy...busier than usual.  It makes me long for fall, when the nights are longer and everything feels more relaxed.

I caught the dogs snuggling in the sunshine.  They're so cute together.

Our big Crepe Myrtle is blooming now. This picture was from the beginning of the bloom, but now the whole tree is a mass of magenta blooms!

We got a new area rug for the livingroom.  It is so thick and cushy, the dogs rolled around on it right after I rolled it out.

I've met some new friends outside lately.  I tried to catch this Katydid to take a picture, and it jumped on me.

I am tearing down the old hog pen so we can rebuild it (it was rotting) and I found this little salamander hiding under a log.  It didn't even move when I picked it up...maybe it was scared. Maybe salamanders just don't move much.  I don't know...but it was cute.

During demolition of the hog pen...see the rotted post against the barn? Don't use landscape timbers because you're too cheap to buy nice fence posts. It's never worth it!

While I was out working, I let the sheep and goats out to wander around in the yard and graze.

A while later, I found June camped out behind the hay bale.  Lazy goat!

Then the others quickly followed her lead.

The garden is growing pretty well.  The turnip greens in the foreground are huge and need to be cut down for the animals.  The greenbeans are coming on, and in a few weeks we should have our 2nd round of harvesting for them.  The tomatoes are having a bit of a hard time with stink bugs.  It's so frustrating. They really damage the fruit.

Tiny baby bean!

My zinnias are blooming, and my cosmos aren't far behind.  Those are 2 of my favorite flowers to grow.

The kids have been working with their 4-H market lambs.  We bathed and clipped them this weekend.

My friend Jenny came to visit on Saturday, along with her mother and daughter.  They were on their way home from the beach and it was great to see them!  I made lunch for us all.  We had chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, and fruit salad.  I made lemon water and cucumber water.  Lemon water is a huge hit in this house!

A black snake (or two) has been living under the hay bale, and finding tasty eggs in the chicken coop.  I had set 10 eggs under a broody hen, and a few days later I found a snake in the nest box, halfway under the hen.  The hen and I fought the snake off, and I blocked the hole where I thought the snake was getting in.  A few days later, the snake came back and got 8 of the 10 eggs.  I think it crawled up the coop and got in near the roof, where there's a vent all the way around. There's chicken wire around it, but the holes are too big. I was really mad.  I went outside first thing this morning so I could do chores, and saw the snake outside of the chicken yard.  I grabbed a nearby shovel, and my first instinct was to chop the snake in half, but then I had a change of heart and didn't want to kill it. I really like snakes, and want them to hang around, I just don't want them eating my eggs.  I caught the snake and relocated it down the road a bit.  I had to get pictures first...

I think there's a bigger snake hanging around still, but maybe that one is staying out of the coop!