New Arrivals Good & Bad

What a weekend!

Friday started with spitting rain, cloudy skies and too much mud to garden. So, I hit the kitchen and made my first home-made angel food cake, filled with strawberries and topped with strawberry glaze and whipped cream. 6 hours later and a dozen eggs whites peaked to perfection, I decided it was delightfully tasty but too much work. A nice store-bought angel food cake with fresh stawberries is good enough for me!

Lots of chores were done. I worked from 10 in the morning on Saturday to about 6:30PM. Weeding and fertilizing with worm-castings tea. Weeding has to be my most unfavorite activity in the garden. Saturday night we had molasses BBQ ribs, american macaroni salad with diced fresh radishes served with baked beans. Finger licking good!

Monday, midday, Willie and Lexie were coming out to say goodbye before driving back to STL and I called for them both to stop! A 6ft black snake was making his way toward the barn, right across the kids path. He looked nasty! And while they eat their fair share of farm rodents, they also eat checiken and duck eggs! Well, after his initial shock, Willie grabbed the shovel and tried to chop him in two! The shovel blade bounced off his firm body and boy, did he get mad! Coiling in rage he reared up to strike! No worries, he pinned his head against the shed wall with the lawn rake while Willie swung the ax. His aim could have been better but on his thrid swing he chopped his head off. His prior swing cut his body in two p[ieces and out popped a near dead frog he had for lunch! That sucker kept moving for 15 solid minutes after be decapitated! That's what I call perseverence!

Not two hours later Steve drives by me on the tractor, after burying the black snake and he stops at the edge of the pond. He's looking intently at the edge. I follow his sightline and there I see a 4 foot northern water snake with a giant bull frog in his mouth. Well, I now know what to do, I run for the ax, still unclean from the last kill. Steve takes one swing and off with his head! Steve picked him up with a shovel and placed him in the front loader of the tractor. He also moved around for 10 minutes after he didn't have a head! No wonder the ducks have been swimming so close to shore in the pond! They had company in there.

That was enough excitement for me for a year! I hate snakes!

What a day! I was exhausted! Tomorrow we get ready for nice new arrivals!

They've arrived! 27 baby chicks, so tiny they can barely stand up but boy are they noisy! Our new ladies are a mix of black Creve Coeurs, Golden Polish Cresteds and Cuckoo Marans! They have a nice warm brooder to stay in and in 6 months, I'll be able to keep up with my growing egg customer base. Photos above, left to right,Golden Polish Crested, Cuckoo Maran and the Creve Coeur.