Saturday morning started out rough, with the loss of Edith. We didn't get home to dig into the regularly scheduled chores until after 10am. I was happy that Daddy Dale had come in our absence and was prepared to help Sean with some work on the barn, since I was in no mood for it. But, work around here waits for nothing and being busy is sometimes the best band-aid on a sad heart. By the time the afternoon rolled around, we were all working on some project. In addition to adding more sheathing to the roof (which will actually be the floor of the second story of the barn next year), Sean sheathed the outside of the milk room with OSB and framed the doorway. I mowed the small field in front of our house- full of garden spiders!- with my new lawn mower. I kept trying to avoid them, but they were everywhere. I don't want them dead, but words in the English language do not contain the feeling of horror, fear, and ickiness, this task was for me. After I finished mowing, I made Sean check me over (just-in-case *shudder*). I told him how many I had counted while trying to avoid them (8), he revealed that he counted no less than 30 of them while he was walking the perimeter to remove the fiberglass poles and wire fencing and thought to himself "there is no way Sonja is going to be able to stand mowing for longer than a few minutes" and mentally added mowing to his growing "to do" list. I was and still am proud of myself for soldiering through the ordeal.
And, I will NEVER do that again... just so you know.
In the early evening, our daughter, Caitlin and our son-in-law, Justin came for a visit. I was still mowing when they arrived, so they made themselves busy and useful. Justin started raking up the field grass I had drying in neat rows the back yard for Jasmine to munch on. The goats like the new fresh cut grasses and brush I was mowing down. Justin grabbed them several baskets of this and fed the does a treat of it in their stall. The chickens, geese, and ducks in the main pen got a pile of green clippings, too. They were in hen-heaven playing and scratching in it and eating choice bits. So, we spent a little time watching "chicken TV" and catching up with each other. Caitlin had been missing Jasmine and wasted no time in brushing her and taking her for a short walk down the road.
On Sunday, we released the young pullets (Rudy's siblings) from their pen beside the barn and introduced the 3 Cochins into the tractor with the others living in the back yard and the 4 mixed breed pullets into the main yard. There was some discontent at the new additions, but when I checked on everyone this morning, they had all settled in quite nicely. With the barn as finished as this round of purchasing material allowed, Sean moved to working on the tiling for the wood stove for our kitchen. This brings us full circle to the post yesterday about canning salsa HERE.
Whew! A busy weekend for sure. I am looking forward to harvesting more veggies for another batch of Salsa this weekend. The 6 eggs still being sat upon should be hatching out this week (we hope). And, we have tentative plans for raking some blueberries at Staples farm in Stockton on Wednesday. Stay tuned!
Thanks for stopping in for a visit today. I hope you have a great day.
Sonja ♥
I am so glad Caitlin and Justin enjoyed their visit. I know Jasmine was happy too!
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