Backyard Discoveries

I enjoy spending time in my backyard, especially when the weather is between 65 and 90 degrees. Today I was pleasantly surprised to find that the desert tortoise is back! Actually, he probably never left, but we hadn't seen him during his hibernation time. He showed up last summer, and we enjoyed watching him wander in the backyard. When the weather turned colder, he made himself scarce. I was pulling weeds today, and voila, there he was!

John really prefers brightly colored flowers, but he very graciously defers to my garden plans. I have pink, blue, and white hyacinths planted, but the white ones are particularly beautiful now, I think.

I've finally figured out which of my hens is attempting a sex change! I've read that sometimes a hen will change to a rooster, if there isn't a rooster around, but I thought it was a fairly rare occurance. We've never had roosters, and my small backyard flock is 4 or 5 years old now. For about a year now, I've been hearing the occasional VERY pathetic crow, if you could even call it that. Today I happened to look down at Rosie's leg when I let her out to free-range, and my mystery was solved. I quickly checked the other hens. No one else has grown a spur, and even Rosie just has one. Why Rosie has decided she needs a change, I have no idea. Luckily she isn't mean (like some roosters), and fortunately, the neighbors behind us have at least one rooster, so the other neighbors shouldn't be bothered by Rosie's pathetic attempts at crowing. I'm not sure if she is still laying eggs or not. Perhaps not. Production has decreased due to the age of the hens, but now that the weather is warming, "the girls" seem to be keeping up with our demand.

My backyard discovery session came to a halt after I discovered the black widow. I'm such a spider wimp. I probably could keep weeding if I put on garden gloves, but why risk it? :-)

Comments

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...

Ten Things of Thankful: Live from Oregon, part 2

stock photo of old computer monitor When I was 10 or 11, I remember sitting next to my dad in our living room and reading computer code to him as he entered it into an Apple computer. We would finish the exercise and he would hit enter (or was it "run"?) and wait expectantly for the green type to appear on the screen. If we were lucky, the whole conversation would occur. Most often, there would be an error either in my dictation of the code, or in the typing of the code. We would then go painstakingly back through the lines, character by character, to find and correct the error. After what seemed like hours (and might have been), we would succeed and the computer would finally run the entire program. It was magical! My dad designed and built an earth-sheltered, passive solar home decades before solar panels were commonplace. He also was on a 9-month waiting list for a Prius, when hybrids were not seen on every street. While my dad is definitely on the cutting edge of technol...

Ten Things of Thankful: Oregon Edition, Part 3

A western bluebird, sitting at the base of a house window, looks inside Thanks (1) to those who have sent well-wishes for my mom's recovery. Her wrist is healing up nicely. I met a friend from high school for lunch this past week. It was so nice to have a chance to visit with her for a couple of hours. She is one of those friends who it doesn't matter how much time has passed, we can pick right back up into meaningful conversations. Lunch ended all too soon, but I'm so thankful (2) for her, and I'm thankful (3) that she reminded me of the importance of reaching out to others. Being in my parents' home this week, visiting with a long-time (I'm not saying old!) friend, and with Mother's Day tomorrow, my mind naturally reflects upon the women in my life. I'm thankful (4) for an incredible mom--a gentle woman who taught and loved and guided us (and still does.) I'm thankful (5) for grandmas who were different in their personalities but united in their...

Thankful Me

Search This Blog