Watch Out! He's Mobile!

 Little Man has been cruising. He is very happy with himself. Mobility isn't restricted to places he can pull up. While on his belly Liam has started scooting himself forward and backward. This usually results in him being stuck after a short period of time though. Clearing surfaces of anything he can get his little hands on (aka babyproofing) has moved up on the to-do list. Brad and I already put locks on the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and bathroom. If he is anything like Keegan they will just slow him down initially.

We are feeling much better. Not 100% yet, but much better than we were. I finally got to put my contacts in this morning instead of having to live in glasses. I have a strange issue with feeling constricted with anything clinging to me. I can't wear scarves, watches, or anything similar because of it. Glasses make me feel like I am trying to work with a mask on. I'm so glad that my eyes are getting better.

Liam was feeling so much better that he took a good nap today. He hasn't been sleeping much since he hasn't been feeling well. I took the opportunity to plant the kale from the greenhouse into one of the small garden beds, mulch more heavily around the zucchini bed now that the plants are up, replant green beans in sparse areas, and plant butternut squash seeds under the trellis.

The guineas stopped by to check things out. They are, by far, my favorite homestead animals. There is next to no work involved in caring for them, but they do an amazing job keeping insects at bay. The guineas are also the least destructive of all of the homestead animals. And they don't hang out on the porches (poo-diculous)! Those two thing alone automatically puts them at the top of my list! I am down to 6, one of which has been limping and is missing some wing feathers. I assume it was trying to sit on a nest, which is always a dangerous thing to do. It is a trouper though and looks like it is going to make it. It can't fly with missing flight feathers so it sleeps somewhere on the ground at night. I tried putting it in the chicken coop at night but guineas don't dela well with any kind of human contact. At least mine don't. They like to be wild and free! I'm surprised every time I see the group and all are accounted for. Tough creatures.

The chickens got a nice big bag of pine shavings added to their coop and the roosts fixed. All of this rain makes for a stinky situation in a chicken coop if not kept up with. Happy chickens make lots (and lots and lots and lots... and lots) of eggs! Which are currently overflowing onto my counter. I need to remedy that and find something to use them in.

As much as I was hoping to get away with not moving chicken tractors all summer and processing birds later this year, the realization that I am down to my last jar of turkey broth brought me to my senses. Chicken and turkey will be sorely missed if we don't have it. Figuring out where to brood babies needs to commence. The tank was retired last year. The wood is rotten and broken in places and the run has been detached from the brooder. Must think on that.

I found the turkey nest a few days ago with 9 eggs in it. I decided to leave them until she had laid enough to incubate. Taking eggs from the nest results in tabby finding a new nest location, which I then have to find... again. The next day they were gone. What could have run off with 9 huge turkey eggs without leaving a single egg shell? Yesterday I found her new nest with a single turkey egg nestled up beside a guinea egg. Score! A twofer! Today, gone. Lesson learned. Every egg I find needs to be collected immediately.

My largest accumulation of azaleas appears to bloom twice every year. The huge bush is covered with light pink blooms, which die after about 2 weeks, only to be covered in light pink blooms again about a week later. An old fashioned rose has entwined itself through the azaleas and created a canopy on top of the bush. A remnant of someone else who once loved this property.