The Duck Report - live from the hottest patch of summer
Hallo, LJ! Mum is at it again with the Duck Report (and there is still a single, surviving duck, so...). This one is full of good news, which is wonderful.
DUCK REPORT 3 July 15 2023
Here I am again! I thought I would update you on the garden.
Blythe and MB came to visit at the beginning of July, so I asked them to help me clean out a section of the flower garden which had drastically overgrown. They dug and moved rocks so I can finish it off on my own. I also talked Blythe into helping me start picking the peas. This year's peas are a bumper crop and I have two rows. We picked, podded and froze a nice supply for winter.
After they left, I waited several days and had to pick again. Unfortunately this was the hottest day of the year, so I sat down to pick and shuffled along on my bum. This works well but you get ants in your pants (blythe note: Bugs don't usually bother Mum, but I can see how this would be annoying. Sadly, this didn't pass this trait onto me - apparently, bugs find me DELICIOUS). They say, "Time and tide wait for no man", well, they should have added peas because they can get past their best in just a day. Several days later I pulled up the whole two rows and invited Marilyn over to sit under the tree and pick peas. We had a lovely two hours nattering and picking peas off the vines. From under the tree we also had a grand view of the blue birds feeding their chicks in the nesting box. (blythe note: I can say that I've seen the bumper crop of birds first-hand now, and Mum has created a bustling avian B&B in the quarter mile surrounding the main house)
Today I had the first pick on the raspberry canes. Raspberries sprout up everywhere and are quite a management problem. I have them well culled on the garden side, but they are getting away on me to the manure patch side. This area I have culled several times, but I see they need to be dug back again. But I am getting some lovely raspberries, which Michael has decided are his favourite fruit.
Michael went into management mode last week, so this week we had the septic pumped out on Wednesday, Friday brought the chimney sweeps, and today the wood has started to arrive. We have four loads to stack. Next week I shall see the Amish girls and have them stack the loads.
My squirrel and chipmunk catching is finally slowing down. I was averaging three or four a day, but we have slowed to one or two per week. We have recently had a raccoon eating the cat food at the barn, so I set a trap. But so far all I have caught are two dogs!
Freddy is turning out to be a lovely dog that listens and obeys very well as well as being a very handsome fellow. (blythe note: Freddy is, indeed, a lovely little gent. He's gonna be a fine dog when he's fully grown.)
DUCK REPORT 3 July 15 2023
Here I am again! I thought I would update you on the garden.
Blythe and MB came to visit at the beginning of July, so I asked them to help me clean out a section of the flower garden which had drastically overgrown. They dug and moved rocks so I can finish it off on my own. I also talked Blythe into helping me start picking the peas. This year's peas are a bumper crop and I have two rows. We picked, podded and froze a nice supply for winter.
After they left, I waited several days and had to pick again. Unfortunately this was the hottest day of the year, so I sat down to pick and shuffled along on my bum. This works well but you get ants in your pants (blythe note: Bugs don't usually bother Mum, but I can see how this would be annoying. Sadly, this didn't pass this trait onto me - apparently, bugs find me DELICIOUS). They say, "Time and tide wait for no man", well, they should have added peas because they can get past their best in just a day. Several days later I pulled up the whole two rows and invited Marilyn over to sit under the tree and pick peas. We had a lovely two hours nattering and picking peas off the vines. From under the tree we also had a grand view of the blue birds feeding their chicks in the nesting box. (blythe note: I can say that I've seen the bumper crop of birds first-hand now, and Mum has created a bustling avian B&B in the quarter mile surrounding the main house)
Today I had the first pick on the raspberry canes. Raspberries sprout up everywhere and are quite a management problem. I have them well culled on the garden side, but they are getting away on me to the manure patch side. This area I have culled several times, but I see they need to be dug back again. But I am getting some lovely raspberries, which Michael has decided are his favourite fruit.
Michael went into management mode last week, so this week we had the septic pumped out on Wednesday, Friday brought the chimney sweeps, and today the wood has started to arrive. We have four loads to stack. Next week I shall see the Amish girls and have them stack the loads.
My squirrel and chipmunk catching is finally slowing down. I was averaging three or four a day, but we have slowed to one or two per week. We have recently had a raccoon eating the cat food at the barn, so I set a trap. But so far all I have caught are two dogs!
Freddy is turning out to be a lovely dog that listens and obeys very well as well as being a very handsome fellow. (blythe note: Freddy is, indeed, a lovely little gent. He's gonna be a fine dog when he's fully grown.)