The GWS Laundry List

I decided that today would be a good day to list out some random announcements and mental musings that have been floating around in my head and warrant a quick snippet on the blog.

1) My Bloggiversary Gnome has settled nicely into his new home in Ribbit's garden! She wrote a great post about the gnome's arrival that involves a kid, a dog, Santa Claus and a mad chase. Head on over to Ribbit's to read the madcap adventure.

2) I added my Twitter feed on the bottom of the right column of the blog. It's way down at the bottom where it's least likely to get noticed by anyone popping in for a quick blog read. For those so inclined to take a peek into the mundane, the feed is there for you to ogle. I cannot promise that any of the tweets will be interesting because I'm not famous and I lead a relatively normal life compared to most people….notice I said "relatively."

3) Farmer B and I have finally decided on the type of chicken run to build for the hens. I'm embarrassed to admit that the driving force behind getting the run complete is that we cannot go on vacation without building it. Yes, three hens are keeping us housebound this summer. Crazy admission on my part. But our chicken sitters cannot be responsible for using the maddening Chicken Transportation Unit twice a day and then catching inevitable loose chickens that result from novice use. Luckily Farmer B has a co-worker who's a "good ole' boy" as we call them here in Florida, and he's built a chicken run or two in his day. Equally lucky is that he only requires a bottle of Jim Beam as payment, so we're golden. Farmer B and his friend will start on this project within the next couple of weeks.

4) Thanks to everyone's advice, I'll be starting raised beds in the garden for the next planting season in August/September. Depending on how much the chicken run sets us back financially, we may only start with one raised bed. But one is an improvement and we can add another bed or two with each new planting season.

5) I put the oh-so-famous "Square Foot Gardening" book on hold at our local library. Apparently this book is quite popular because I am Number 3 on the list of recipients who have the stupid book on hold. So it might be weeks before I get the book and figure out how to make a raised bed and what to fill it with. I have to hope that the other people on the list for the book decide that gardening is dumb and turn the book in after only a couple of days.

6) I miss my garden. I didn't think I would, but I really do. It's just a weedy mess with a couple of producing okra plants and a very angry mint plant that is trying to conquer the garden in a game of "Herb & Vegetable RISK." It's depressing not having anything green to check up on right now and I think my okra are sick of being fondled by me.

7) And in a follow-up to Number 6, my sunflowers aren't growing. I've always been able to grow sunflowers, but so far they're stuck in the same bizarre stasis that haunted the rest of the plants after the garden flooded earlier this year.

8) I'm thinking of changing the background color of my blog to white. I orginally picked beige because they say that beige is the new black, but I think white might be the new beige. I am impressed by how much of my day is taken up by me focusing on the background color choices for the blog and constantly second guessing myself, and then realizing how my life must be going pretty well these days if I can dedicate that much thought to a hexcolor choice on a silly little blog. Other people should be so lucky as to have that as their big concern for the moment, you know?

That concludes my laundry list. Back to regularly scheduled blogging later this week.

The chickens' first kill

Yesterday was quite a day in the young lives of our hens. Yesterday was the first day they tasted blood - their first kill - true blood.

The boys and I went out in the backyard before dinner when I heard a noise from the chicken coop that alerted me that something was wrong. Besides a frenzied bok-ba-gawking there was a low growl that I hadn't heard from them before. It reminded me of the noise our cats make when one of them goes to the vet and then comes home and the other one does that low growl when he sniffs the vet-office-stink on the other cat. If you have cats, you know that noise.

When I looked in the cage I saw that Maggie was running around madly with something in her mouth and she was clearly the source of the low growl. The bok-ba-gawking was coming from the other two who were chasing her like their lives depended on it. She was going so fast that I couldn't see what was in her mouth.

But then I saw the long dangly legs.


She had a frog.

A big dangly tree frog.

She stopped running every now and then just long enough to bash the frog into the wooden frame of the run, which sent the other chickens into a frenzy as they tried to steal it from her.

A few times they all grabbed a limb and proceeded to attempt to draw and quarter the thing in a very grisly scene.

When I ran in to grab the camera, Sookie must have taken the frog from Maggie because she had it when I got back, much to Maggie's dismay.


And the chase was on again. I don't know if the other two chickens got any parts, but there did appear to be slightly less of the frog hanging out of Sookie's mouth. Then she went to the corner and gulped the thing down.


I must say, I was floored. I didn't know that chickens were quite so carnivorous. It was like the velociraptor scene from Jurassic Park. After poking around on the Backyard Chicken Forum I found that chickens will eat frogs, snakes, mice, lizards and anything else they can beat to death and gulp down.

Mine apparently crossed over to the dark side with just a measly old frog.

I wonder if it tasted like chicken?

Can I celebrate Independence Day?

Independence Day! The day when you Americans celebrate booting out us British all those years ago. Or as we look at it, the day we decided to throw the war because it was much too long of a boat-ride to govern you funny-talking Yankees anyway. Seriously though, it was a wonderful weekend of beautiful fireworks and a new record at our house of the most concurrent meals served with hot dogs as a main course. I'm not proud of that last part.

We're live in a rural town, but within a subdivision where the houses are nicely spread out with just enough land to feel roomy. We are unfortunate enough to have a houseful of very annoying neighbors that live at the end of our street. Their teens drive entirely too fast, they throw loud parties constantly, someone in the house is learning the electric guitar, and they ride ATVs through everyone's yard late at night. But we put up with them because every July 4th they throw a huge bash with fireworks impressive enough to rival any small town. This bash seems to involve about 50 cars, three large tents and very loud music. We've never been invited to it, nor do we know anyone in the neighborhood who has been, but we do benefit from the pyrotechnic entertainment. The fireworks look amazing from our front yard, which is perfect when you've got two young children and a husband who doesn't like the crowds and traffic associated with large city fireworks displays.


I spent a good part of Independence Day afternoon fiddling with my SLR camera trying to get the perfect settings to take some awesome fireworks photos.


I think I got everything just right and set up my tripod in the front yard next to our front-row seating. We even had some little fireworks ourselves, which was good fun for the boys.

It's nice for the boys to experience the 4th from their own driveway. I don't think the boys realize how lucky they are to have such a great display only three houses down from us.


This morning the remnants of our little fireworks show littered our driveway and we now have a nice black burn mark covering half of the concrete. July 5th is all about cleaning up firework remnants, eating left-over burgers and hotdogs and just being thankful for a great weekend. I wonder if that's what the soldiers envisioned way back when? Probably not. I bet they didn't think a whole slew of Brit's would be partying down with their American friends on the big day either! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Wildlife Weekend :: Gorgeous Redhead

I've been really enjoying the bird feeder that hangs on our oh-so-attractive basketball stand outside the kitchen window. The bird feeder is my ray of light on an otherwise horribly unattractive apparatus. Besides the cardinal pair that I photographed previously, I've also seen a blue jay pair and several doves. At least now when I'm peering through the kitchen drapes, Farmer B can't accuse me of peeping at the neighbors. I've got the birdfeeder as my excuse now.


Yesterday morning I saw a red-bellied woodpecker on the feeder. As soon as I went outside to get a better photo of him, he flew away. Such is life. It's a lot better than the Pileated Woodpecker who single-handedly pecked down the tree in our back yard last year. At least this little guy seems less destructive. Did you know that Red-bellied Woodpeckers are attracted to noises that resonate? The male will tap loudly on metal gutters, aluminum roofs and even vehicles to attract a mate. Who knew they were doing that to impress the ladies? I always thought they thought they were on a tree and just weren't smart enough to realize it wasn't wood. It's good to find out you're wrong sometimes.

Okraziness - I need advice!

As I mentioned on Garden Blogger's Death Day, the only thing that's flourishing in my garden right now is the okra. And not all the okra plants - only three have grown to the point of producing okra. The others are stuck in a point of bizarre stasis depending on the point of growth they were when the flooding came. Some have been two inches tall for a month - others are about eight inches tall.


But the three okra plants that are producing just keep on trucking. They're definitely small plants with severely stunted growth, but that doesn't seem to stop them from sprouting new okra every few days.


But I'm very confused as to what to do with the okra.

One of the problems is that I keep forgetting to pick them and I've got a few that are four to five inches long. I think I'm supposed to pick them when they're around two to three inches long and anything over about four inches is not good to eat. Is this right? Should I throw away anything over three inches?

I've also read that okra only last in the fridge for about a day or two. Well what on earth do you do when you get about one every other day? Do you really cook up one little green okra? I'll admit that every okra I've pulled off so far has gone to waste because I don't know what to do with them. They're in a bag in the fridge, but I assume I should throw them away since I keep reading about this "1-2 days in the fridge" rule about okra. I've only ever eaten okra in a gumbo at a restaurant and never actually cooked it myself. I figured that I'd discover a use for okra once I had a fridgeful from rows of producing plants, but since I'm only getting one or two at a time, I'm at a loss!

HELP!

And when I'm photographing things, I need you to know that at least 75% of the photos look exactly like this:


Even that nice shot of the three okra up there started out with a black nose on the side before I cropped it.


It's a lot of work pretending that I can take good photos.

(Edited to add additional information about okra that I just discovered:)

Gumbo is Swahili for okra. The recent upsurge in the popularity of gumbo has also brought renewed attention to okra. Okra was brought to the new world by African slaves during the slave trade.

The pods must be harvested when they are very young. Preferably two inches long although three inch pods can also be salvaged. Harvest daily as the pods go quickly from tender to tough with increased size.

Refrigerate unwashed, dry okra pods in the vegetable crisper, loosely wrapped in perforated plastic bags. Wet pods will quickly mold and become slimy. Okra will keep for only two or three days. When the ridges and tips of the pod start to turn dark, use it or lose it. Once it starts to darken, okra will quickly deteriorate.

After reading this I've determined that a) my large pods need to be composted and b) the pods that have been in the fridge for more than 3 days need to be composted. But I still don't know what I can do to save the couple of appropriately-sized pods in the fridge. Hmm...

My Darlin' Clementine

Moms are never supposed to play favorites, but I am not sure that rule applies for chicken moms. I'll admit that Clementine is my favorite chicken because she's so amazingly docile, friendly and eager to please. She never runs away from me when she's out of the coop and when I'm holding her she lets out such a low soft coo that lets me know she really likes the attention. I'd go so far as to say she's a bit of a lap chicken.


I brought her out of the run yesterday for a little photo shoot. We can't let the chickens loose in the yard thanks to the hoards of ravenous eagles and hawks that circle our yard just waiting for one little chicken nugget to be left unattended - plus there's that overzealous German Shepherd who's dying for a feathered playmate. But on rare occasion, I'll lock up the dog and keep an eye on the sky while I let Clem have a little walk around the yard with me. She likes to hang a piece of grass out of her mouth in a tribute to Andy Griffith.


My three-year-old saw her walking by and reached down, scooped her up and sat on the bench with her. This is definitely a life highlight for him since all other small animals (namely our cats) run from him like he's the chupacabra himself. The fact that Clementine is quite happy to be picked up by him just makes him beam from ear to ear.


She looks just as cute walking away.


But no girl likes it when the wind blows your skirt up.


Maybe I should have called her Marilyn Monroe. She is blonde after all.

The Gnome has found a Home! Come see who won!

I can't believe how many people entered my little gnome contest! Thanks for all the kind words and well wishes about my one-year bloggiversary. You all know how to make a person feel good! It was nice to click on some of the user names in the comments section and visit some new blogs too. It's so much fun to "meet" new people.

But on to what you want to hear. Who won?

I added up all the comments and got that number (and took out the reply by me of course) and put it into the random number generator at random.org and pressed the "generate random number" button.

And it was....

((drumroll please))






Number 2 to respond in the comments section is Ribbit!

Ribbit is a wife, teacher and mom of two who has The Corner Yard blog. From the looks of her most recent post, my little nameless gnome will have some froggy friends in her garden! Congrat's Ribbit. If you want to email me with your mailing address I'll get that little gnome in the mail this week. My email address is in the column to the right.