The new plan

When I last wrote, I hadn't yet made a final decision, and the blog would likely have just been the sporadic posts about this and that in the gardens.  Decisions have been made, and so the plan changed.

I've been putting my affairs in order towards the new goal...moving.  First order of business: because I'm downsizing, most of the animals needed new homes.  That has been successful.  The chickens and the cat are gone, and the rabbits will be within the next 2 weeks.  I had posted a craigslist ad for Abby (free to good barn), and a very nice couple came for her the day after the chickens were picked up.  They were in dire need of a good mouser for their horse farm.  I'm confidant Abby will do the job for them.  I had posted her first in the pets section but got no bites.  The same day I reposted her in the farm section, this couple contacted me.

Getting the chickens rounded up was a workout!  The buyer said he could come and get them that day.  If I'd had more notice, like the night before, it would have been easy to nab them at dusk.  It took me over an hour to catch and cage the young chicks.  They were confined to the pen but I had to chase them around it with a net.  Whew!  Then I took a break after I got them all.  Went back out to start on the adults, and there were 2 chicks running around the pen.  WTH?  How did you get out?  I think what happened is that they were hiding behind the food can.  I thought I had it blocked off so they couldn't get back there, but guess not.  I wasn't counting as I nabbed them.

Catching the adults was a lot easier than I thought it would be in broad daylight.  Several hens were on the nest, and I just picked them up and put in the pen.  The ones that weren't in the box immediately went in when I vacated a hole.  So I just picked them up, too.  Once all the hens were penned, I threw out some cracked corn for them (their favorite treat), and that lured the 2 roosters in.  Oh and I wasn't done yet.  I had to pack up all their stuff, food, etc, as the buyer was getting the whole kit and kaboodle.

However, there is one chick I couldn't catch.  I had put the 2 biggest cockerels out of the pen about a week ago, and they were adjusting to free-ranging with the adults.  One walked right in when I opened the gate.  The other wouldn't.  Later I put the cage full of chicks out of the pen, and he was very interested in them.  I tried again to net him but he was really wary and quick!  Later that day, after the others had been picked up, I left the gate to the pen open and I found him in there.  I shooed him out because there's no water in there for him, or food, and I didn't plan on leaving the gate open all the time.  He is now very leery of me.  I tossed out a little of Whipper's food which I did see him eat, but other than that, he doesn't seem to want anything from me.  He's mostly staying at the back of the yard, and I guess he's finding plenty to eat.  I assume he knows where water is.  There's bowls scattered around the yard.  OK fine.  I guess he'll be part of the landscape after I'm gone.

In the meantime, I'm also getting the house in order to list it.  Starting with dejunking it.  Good lord, did I accumulate a lot of junk!  There was so much, I separated it into recyclables.  Plastic, paper, metal.  I'm lucky that a dump (convenience center)  is just down the road on my way to town, and they do recycle many things.  I spent several days going through the bedrooms and kitchen, and got ruthless about throwing stuff away.  I think I had over 200 lbs of magazines alone!  I kid you not!  I sometimes read them again when I ran out of reading material.  Garden mags, rabbit mags, poultry mags, and a lot of miscellaneous mags.  And I just didn't throw them away.  I went through the garden mags as I was bagging them up to cut out articles I wanted to save.  Plastic filled 2 large garbage bags, and scrap metal and hardware filled 2 feed bags.  Oh and then there was the usual household trash on top of that, including quite a bit of junk that couldn't be recycled.  My car was stuffed!  But it's done and outta here.  I'm sure I'll find more as I continue the dejunking, but at least that's most of it.  Next car load will be to the Salvation Army.

Now that the animals and most of the junk has been dealt with, I'll spend a little time in the mornings in the gardens.  I'll be digging and potting things up to take with me.  When the heat runs me inside, I'll work more in there.  I hope to be ready to list within 2 weeks.

Where am I going?  Don't know yet.  I spend a lot of time on Realtor.com, and have bookmarked a lot of interesting prospects.  The one at the top of my list is in SC.  Another reason I want to get listed asap before that house is gone.  It's my plan to run down and see it in person as soon as my place is on the market, and if I still like it, I'll put a contingency contract on it right away.  My realtor was very encouraging about the market in this area, so I hope to sell pretty quickly.

tnt
Natureschild

Currently showing

Iris are the stars of the gardens right now.  I don't have that many.  I had more, but over the years, they were lost or something.  It happens.  Here's the ones that are blooming right now.

Siberian Iris

Bearded Iris 'Stairway to Heaven'

"Heritage" and Siberian Iris.  I call this "heritage" because in a way, it is just that.  This was one of several iris that were already there when I bought my place in Michigan circa 1995.  I brought some with me when I moved down here, and this is the only one still in residence.  I don't know what the variety is called, but I assume it's an old-fashioned cultivar.  This photo doesn't really do it justice (cloudy day).  I'm not crazy about yellow and red combos, but here I like the gold and burgandy look.  I call it "Brandywine" for lack of a known name.

I captured some wildthings in the last few weeks.

Bumble Bee on Chive flower.  I think she was watching me as I snapped her closeup.  She became very still, and when she did move she faced me.  I'm sure the big black camera lens so close was off-putting.  After a few moments, she seemed to relax and went on about her business.

Brown Thrasher.  Taken through window screen.  Don't see these very often.

Male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  Yes, Virginia, hummingbirds have feet.  Someone asked me that once. This guy was very close to me.  The feeder is hanging from the porch roof so I have a great vantage point for captures.  I just sit in my chair with camera in hand and wait.  I just wish I could have caught him with the sun shining on his throat.  As you can see, without sunlight hitting it just right, he's actually black-throated.  That's the tip of his tongue sticking out the end of his beak.

I wonder how that unusual feature came about on the evolutionary plain.  I believe almost all hummingbirds have that ability to "turn it off and on".  How did the birds learn that facing a certain way made their colors shine?  Did they notice how their adversaries reacted to it?  Hummers are notoriously territorial so anything that gave them an advantage against usurpers would be an asset. Or was it attractive to the females?  That's usually the reason male birds are the more colorful sex.  I can't say I've seen a male sit and flash his intended.  They have an amazing mating dance flight which wouldn't show off that color.  At least I can't see how since it's such a fast dance.  They swing wide loops in front of the female.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.  I only see these for a short time in the spring.

Indigo Bunting.  I began to see these when I let more and more of the property revert to natural habitat.  They appear in spring and summer when those grassy weedy areas are well grown.

I doubt I'll have a vegetable garden this year.  I'm thinking about moving the garden boxes to where the old shed used to be.  Closer to the house and water tap.  So, until I make up my mind about that, I'm not doing anything there.  I might try some tomatoes in containers.  Got some plastic bins kicking around here that would be good for that.  Wonder if I could grow cukes that way.  Might try.

Nice days finally.  It could be like this all the time.  No hotter, no colder.  Dream on.

tnt

Natureschild

Spring 2013

Wow, it has REALLY been a long time (3 years!?!) since I touched this blog.  This post is just a quicky to update.

Out of sheer laziness, I began to do all the garden/nature blogging at the other blog, Spring Creek Gems.  It was laziness because there's 2 different logins.  I was usually logged in (or half logged in) at the other so I just stayed there.  I decided today that I should use this one for garden and nature stuff again.  So that's what will be happening here from now on.  In the meantime, you can read past posts about all that at the other one.  I'll probably begin transferring some of it from there to here as time permits.  I might create some pages as well.

tnt