Hump Day On The Farm

I have been looking for pickle chips for YEARS!!!!    A friend of mine told me about them a very long time ago.  But she was from out of state, and couldn't find them here.  But I always look anyway.  Sharon...I found them....and they are SO pucker up good!!!

Go get some, and let me know what you think.  I found them at the Stater Bros. on Cajalco here in Corona.  YUM!!!
Moving on to more important things.  My GIRL!!!   She is better.  But she is improving slowly.  She is eating a bit, and drinking water, and doing chickeny things, like scratching the dirt for bugs and sunning herself.  But she is not laying eggs again yet.

Hey...YOU looking at ME?

Yeah..YOU!  Are you looking at ME?
Seriously though, I am hopeful that she will be fine.  When she starts laying eggs again, I will know for sure!  The other two Rhode Island Reds have started to lay.  But one of them ,Lucy we think, is laying those weird soft eggs.  Two broke on their own still in the coop yesterday.  Odd.   My one Rhode Island Red, the pullet, died last week.  She is the one who brought the cough here.  She never seemed sick really, but she displayed a lot of odd behavior.  She fell off the ladder in the coop, and then layed in the dirt all night like she was paralyzed. She kept getting tangled up in the hose, and falling like she was hurt, and then one day she just lay down and died.  I will never get hens from a place that strictly buys and sells again.  Live and learn.
I spent several hours the other day adding onto the coop.  I didn't get a building permit......ha ha!!  I took sections of wrought iron fencing we weren't using, and created a run, or play yard for them.  The two little Reds are small enough to sneak through the grove fencing and they follow me to the back yard and pool area.  I do not want chicken poops on my deck!!!!  So I made a run for them.  I got done, and was sitting down all proud of myself, admiring my hard work, and then realized....oh my gosh, I have to take it apart.  I blocked the only way out of the yard for the boat!!!!   Geez!!! 

I only have to redo half of it.  That white piece, that is a piece of baby gate, and it has a swing open gate that we can step in and out of to the the run.  I wrapped the whole thing, except the white piece, in chicken wire, and secured all pieces with zip ties....(man I love zip ties!!)  Works out perfectly!   When I showed Mr. G what I did, and that I blocked the boat, he laughed and said "Oh Bunny!"  Next I want to build some sort of screen or enclosure for the trash cans so I can't see those when I am back there in my happy place with the garden and chickens.  Speaking of my garden, it is growing like crazy!

I love the way my back wall looks now with the colorful plants and herbs hanging.  I also hung up my sea turtle that we bought in Maui a few summers ago.  That was the trip of the turtle!  We saw hundreds of them from our lanai, and we snorkled with them.  And one the size of a Volkswagon Beetle charged me in a cove!!!  So that was our trip of the turtle.
My yellow squash and zucchini are about a week from my first harvest. 

My corn isn't exactly there yet, but it is growing fast!

My aqua blue chair looks so pretty by the pool.  But I am still on the hunt for the right yellow flowers to plant in the seat. 

I planted these nasturtiums from seed and they are doing great too.  I put them in several locations.  These are one of my favorite flowers.

I filled in some other spots in the front with a few that I bought at the nursery as seedlings.  I am fertilizing everything here with chicken poop tea.  What's that you ask?  Well, I scoop the chicken doo up every day, and  put it in a tall bucket.  I add water, and let it steep.  When it is thoroughly dissolved into the water, I then pour it onto my garden and all of my flower beds. Let me assure you......there is NO BETTER FERTILIZER!!!  My gardens have never looked better than they do since I have done this.  My friend in Louisiana does this, and she is a master gardener, and swears by this.  She is so right!  Another good reason to get chickens!

I replant this area next to the garage every spring with pony paks of impatiens.  I am watering them with my special tea, and they are taking off so fast.  In no time, this will be a completely filled in profusion of color.

I have roses that line the entire front perimeter of my yard.  They too are getting the special elixer.  I have more roses than ever before.  I clipped them on Sunday for Mother's Day and had them in pretty vases all over the house, and on all of the tables in the yard.  Which unfortunately went to waste since the day was cold.

Those purple irises that are everywhere in my yards were started from one single bulb that a friend in Indiana sent to me from her garden.  I have divided them every fall and now I have them exploding in my yards!  They smell just like a grape sucker.  If you live in Corona, and would like some come fall, just let me know, I will divide again and share them!
I got my zoom lens out recently to take some bird pictures.  It was broke.  I was sick.  This was a gift to me from Greg last year on my birthday.  I know it was not cheap!  I have never dropped it, and I don't use it often,  and the one year warranty had JUST passed.  But we (as in Greg) sent it in for repair and I just got it back yesterday.  So all of these photos today were taken with my zoom.  The following are some of my favorite shots.  The oranges, so bright and pretty.  This is the tail end of the season.

 A hummer resting high atop a tree, quite some distance away from where I was sitting.

 Pretty Miss Maui above.
 You can see the droplet of water in Snacker's beak as she is taking a drink.

 A red tailed hawl let out a screach, and I pointed my camera heavenward, and got this shot.

 A cascading branch of bouganvillia.

And lastlly, I am ending this random post of nothingness with a couple pictures of the chicklets.  They are growing so fast.  I had to give them the entire run of the play yard.  And they must be covered up too, since now they all have quite an amazing vertical leap!!!  They will be graduating to the out of doors very soon!

That last one cracks me up.  You can see that Ducey is quite interested in the downy little chicks! 
Well, that's it for today.  Go outside and take in some of the beauty around you!
Have a great day!!!!