Consolidated Kansas

[tweetybaby2005]

It finally dried out enough at the garden to plant that extra plot we were given. I had a bad attack of something yesterday and couldn't go, but DH and my aunt spent all afternoon out there. DH said he had to till it four times to get it broken up enough to plant. I'm not sure what all they planted, but they were planning on trying for a fall crop of scallop squash and peas, as well as wax beans, carrots, beets, and radishes. Tomorrow morning, before it's melting-hot out, I need to go harvest more of the flat green beans and poke around in the tomatilloes to see if they're ready to harvest.

Stay cool everyone!

That's awesome you can plant that extra plot. I'm green with envy with all the crops you have. I think next year I'll put in extra effort to get a garden going.

It is not as hot today but I think it is because the humidity is lower. It is at least tolerable so that's good.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Well it's been a frustrating two days, but finally we just went today & bought a new water softener. Our old one started leaking & my DH tried ordering parts & it just wouldn't quit leaking. Even with all the water turned off to the house it still was leaking water, so we had a huge mess in the utility/laundry room. I had to carry everything outside to get the floor mopped up & it's all still sitting out there. I had metal shelf units I was using for storing things on them & they were full so I had to empty all of those & carry it all out of there to get things cleaned up. It ran into the storage room too, but hopefully it will dry out OK, I don' think it went too far into there & most of the things in there are in plastic tubs thankfully. Anyway, we decided we didn't want to throw any more money at trying to get parts for the old softener & just went & got the new one today & my DH took half the day off to install it. It was just one in a line of things that has happened lately, so he was not a happy camper to have to go spend that much money.

I haven't been able to even work on my duck pen to get it finished due to all the frustrations with the leaking & water cleanup. I hope I can get it done before it gets to 100 degrees out, but I don't know the way things have been going around here.

lizzy, I'm glad you got your horses taken to the Vet safely & back. You're looking very healthy in your pics, I hope you have a very easy time with your labor & delivery. That's not much weight to gain being pregnant, I know I gained a whole lot more than that with my son. Your nursery stuff looks really cute, I hope you will share pics when you get it all done.

Trish, so sorry you were fighting the water softener. We inherited one with the house. It is a Rainsoft and I've been enjoying the soft water at the house. It is nice to have a water softener because it came with the house. I probably won't go out to get one myself though.

The weather is tolerable today due to lower humidity. Stay cool... hopefully you can work on the duck pen some more today.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Gosh, Danz! You make me tired just reading about all you do! I went out this morning and dumped and refilled the kiddie pool for my birds/dog. I hadn't seen them using it recently, which usually means it is time.... Silly birds LOVE making the water dirty but refuse to use it once it is dirty. Once it is dirty to their satisfaction, even the dog stops using it... Now, if only I could figure out a way to keep it clean for longer.....

My ducks seem that way as well... when the water is dirty, I hardly see them going in. But as soon as I put fresh water in the pool, they all go crazy about it. They are silly... in a sense... LOL

 

[cherwill]

Danz, I don't really know with tomatilloes. What I've read says to harvest when the husks start to dry out, but last year I did that and I thought many of the tomatilloes were overripe. Plenty of them started to rot or get eaten by bugs before the husk started to dry, too. This year, I'm just picking them whenever the husk feels mostly full, like 2/3 or more full. They look a lot more like the tomatilloes in the grocery store that way, though half of them are probably a little underripe.

 

[Trish44]

Well so much for our "garden" All summer the tomatoes have been growing there in their cages & the goats haven't bothered them a bit, that is until about two days ago. Now they have decided that those are pretty yummy treats & the vines are quickly disappearing. I had so looked forward to fresh tomatoes, but it looks like that's out now. My DH said well I guess we're going to have to fence in the garden next year, yep indeed. I don't know if it's been the heat lately or what but these two goats are just acting up something awful. They were such good girls & now they're getting into trouble & causing mischief. They have been let freely roam the yard all day & eat what they want & they have lots of choices of things to eat here & they have to choose my tomato plants to destroy. Accckkk!

We had to go to Wichita again today so I could go & get my permanent crown put on my tooth. It sure feels a lot better with the permanent one than the temporary one they had put on. I had a big molar that had a filling in it for years & years & the tooth cracked under the filling so they had to put a crown on it. That seems to be happening to me more & more that the fillings I got years ago are giving out. I guess they're getting old too. Getting old really sucks!

It sure got hot fast today. We went into the dentist office & when we came out it had gotten significantly hotter. What happened to that cooler weather we had, bring it back! Not all the rain though, we don't need 17 inches of rain all at once again, just a little at a time would be fine. I hope it starts cooling off soon, I'm ready for some slightly cooler temps for awhile. I hope we get to have a fall.

I acquired 4 new Red Star hens last night that are in quarantine for awhile. I needed a few more laying hens & these were being sold off & were delivered to me so that was even nicer. They're just about a year old & have been laying well, so when they get through quarantine & get acclimated they will be integrated into my flock & hopefully will resume laying. I only had one Red Star hen left & she is at least two years old now. They are really good layers if you just want something that cranks out nice big brown eggs. I do have a couple of Rhode Island Red/ Buff Orpington crosses too that are excellent layers. They're very bossy hens, but good layers. I think those & the Barred Rocks are just the best laying machines there are for cranking out eggs in heat, cold, or molt. Very few of my Leghorns are laying right now, they're molting & haven't been laying as much. In fact a lot of my hens are on a break right now with either the heat or molting.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Am loving this weather... my BF and I spent most of the day 4-wheeling all over dirt roads, swamps, and field - very fun indeed! I have 2 new kittens that were abandoned by their mother and someone gave them to me yesterday; they look to be about 4-5 weeks old - so cute and fluffy! I put the kittens in the chicken tractor... it gives them a safe outside environment. They're great eaters and very friendly! I hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather while it lasts!

 

[Frizzled Pink]

Lizzy --those nursery items are SSSSSOOOOO stinkin cute!!!!! Please do show off the finished product pics

Tomatilloes -i always thought you pick when the husk opened up

they mostly go in salsa verde for me so i guess its really not crucial which side of the ripeness line they are for that

Trish/Danz, you wear me out with your list of items to accomplish each day WHEW!!!!

Sunflower sounds like you had a fun day.

 

[ashncarson]

I thought while we where talking about Gardens that I could share what I got out of mine Sunday morning:



Half went to a friend and then with the green beans, I fried some diced potatoes w/ onions with some leftover bacon and then added the green beans at the end! YUM!

 

[cherwill]

Well so much for our "garden" All summer the tomatoes have been growing there in their cages & the goats haven't bothered them a bit, that is until about two days ago. Now they have decided that those are pretty yummy treats & the vines are quickly disappearing. I had so looked forward to fresh tomatoes, but it looks like that's out now. My DH said well I guess we're going to have to fence in the garden next year, yep indeed. I don't know if it's been the heat lately or what but these two goats are just acting up something awful. They were such good girls & now they're getting into trouble & causing mischief. They have been let freely roam the yard all day & eat what they want & they have lots of choices of things to eat here & they have to choose my tomato plants to destroy. Accckkk!

Oh no! I don't grow them in the yard anymore, not since my weim decided she liked eating tomatoes. At least she did leave me some; I don't imagine the goats do.

We had to go to Wichita again today so I could go & get my permanent crown put on my tooth. It sure feels a lot better with the permanent one than the temporary one they had put on. I had a big molar that had a filling in it for years & years & the tooth cracked under the filling so they had to put a crown on it. That seems to be happening to me more & more that the fillings I got years ago are giving out. I guess they're getting old too. Getting old really sucks!

My dentist told me, when I was wondering why so many of my teeth had cracked over the years, that the silver fillings expand slowly over time.

Very few of my Leghorns are laying right now, they're molting & haven't been laying as much. In fact a lot of my hens are on a break right now with either the heat or molting.

I'm now only getting 0 to 1 egg a day from my 10 hens. It's always the same bird that lays, too, one of the bigger EEs. There are feathers everywhere. I'm tired of it! I need eggs!

Tomatilloes -i always thought you pick when the husk opened up

they mostly go in salsa verde for me so i guess its really not crucial which side of the ripeness line they are for that

I've heard that, too. Again, if I wait that long, too many of them are no good. I don't know why.

I thought while we where talking about Gardens that I could share what I got out of mine Sunday morning:



Half went to a friend and then with the green beans, I fried some diced potatoes w/ onions with some leftover bacon and then added the green beans at the end! YUM!

That's a gorgeous bunch of veggies!

 

[22qZoo]

TRISH-44 my Sebbie goose is hard on the garden too. I had a 3 gal. bucket close to the tomato plants and I just dump it out and put fresh water in when I water the tomatoes , the sebbie picked 5 green tomatoe and put them in the water bucket ! Goofy goose !

None of mine are laying worth a darn either , the inside of the coop looks like one big nesting box with all of the feathers everywhere . How long do these molt "holidays" last ?