Sunshine in the Garden

I had some volunteer sunflowers come up in my herb garden this year, probably a result of uneaten seeds the birds missed last winter.  

  There is something so cheerful about sunflowers.  I think they should be the  universal symbol of happiness.  

  I love to watch the honey bees enjoying them.  

  There are only a few stalks of them, but they bring such a ray of sunshine to the garden.  I think I will have to "on purpose" plant more next summer.  

 

Caught Up With Keeping Up

I've been kind of caught up in all the outside work of keeping up with yard work and creating a chicken coop and run, that I haven't been blogging or visiting around for several weeks.  Seems like forever since I've chatted with many of you, so I thought I'd share a little of my yard and what I've been preoccupied with. ~ View of the back yard from the deck.  I haven't had time to get out the deck furniture yet.  

  Looking towards the back through the archway to the vegetable and herb garden.  

 

 

  As you can see ~ the vegetable and herb gardens are thriving.  

  The garden shed/greenhouse/chicken coop is covered with climbing roses in full bloom.  

  The chickens are now living in the coop, and I'll show it to you eventually when it's completely done.  The run is in process and hopefully will be finished in a few weeks.  

  And last of all ~ a few blooms around the garden.  

 

  Hopefully by the end of June I'll be finished up with these current projects and be able to take a break, sit on the deck,  enjoy the view, and blog a little more often.  Until then ~ hope you're having a happy and productive summer.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

My adventure into raised bed vegetable gardening is going very well.  All the hard work and expense of bringing in good, new soil is paying off.  

  With every rain, everything shoots up half an inch.  You can almost see them growing.  

  It has been fun to not only start most things from seed, but to also try many new vegetables I've never grown or eaten before.  

  I don't know about you, but I find great peace and joy in my gardens.  

  

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Mother's Day Adventure

Our Mother's Day was spent much differently this year.  My neighbor found two little orphaned raccoons on her front porch and asked me to take care of them as she was rushing out to work. Poor babies were huddled in a corner by her garage door on top of each other for warmth.  We scooped them up and quickly gave them a box, and an old rug and towels for warmth and security.  

   When we got them, they were pretty far gone with a glazed look in their eyes, and I wasn't sure we could save them.  Per internet instructions, we first gave them Pedialyte to rehydrate them, and after just one feeding, they were showing more spunk.  By the second feeding of Pedialyte, they were taking it eagerly and by the third feeding, we were giving them a kitten milk replacement formula.  

  It didn't take them long to come out of hiding once they understood where the food source was and they would practically fight over the formula we were feeding from an eye dropper, anticipating our hands every movement.  

  We named them Ricky and Rascal.  This picture is of my daughter, Kate, with Ricky who bonded with her within a few hours of feeding.  

     Unfortunately, tomorrow we will be taking them to a local wildlife rescue center that will continue to raise them and then release them into the wild.  It will be hard to part with them, but it is definitely in their best interest since we have the new baby chicks and a dog who would definitely kill them if given the chance. They definitely gave us a Mother's Day we will never forget and revived  memories of around the clock feedings.  ~ Linking with ~ The Farmhouse Porch for The Scoop ~   A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday  ~ VMG206 for Brag About It Party

Spring Comes Softly

Spring comes softly in so many pretty pastel colors. A few Virginia Blue Bells that I cherish and love as they were given to me by a dear friend who passed away from leukemia.  

   

   Sweet little violets that self seed and pop up everywhere in the spring.  

  Precious soft yellow primroses that I brought with me from Maryland when I moved here 24 years ago.  This is the last surviving plant after all these years.  

  Spring comes fragrantly to my yard in the form of lilac, wisteria and honeysuckle trees.  For a few weeks every spring, my yard smells like heaven.  

  

   Sweet little pansies that I have finally gotten to grow for me after years of trying.  

 

  And a little cherub angel to make it feel a little more like heaven on earth.   

  So thankful today for spring and all the wonders it brings to renew our souls.  ~ Wishing you a week full of spring wonders.

Meet the Girls

I apologise in advance for the poor quality of these pictures.  They are under a red heat lamp for warmth and they are moving constantly, so it wasn't prime conditions for a photo shoot.  But never the less, here they are. ~ This is Sally and she is a Polish chicken.  

 She has a mop head and when she is full grown, will have a crazy feather hair do.  ~ This is Wendy.  Not sure what kind of chick she is ~ we'll just have to wait and see how she turns out.  

  Here is Lucy Lu posing with Wendy.  She's also a Polish chick and sometimes I call her "Blondie" for obvious reasons.  Lucy Lu came to us by default as I returned a chick that was an aggressive bully and beating up on everyone, especially Sally.  I wasn't real crazy about her at first because I didn't want any of the fancy chickens, but she has quickly grown to be my favorite.  Her blond mop head makes me smile constantly.  

  In case you're wondering, they are posing on top of a big stuffed lop-eared bunny I gave them.  From the very first moment, they loved this bunny and snuggled with it.  Now they play "queen of the hill" and poop all over her.  Going to have to sneak her out of there for a trip through the washer and dryer.  ~ Here in the center is Gertie.  She is one of our Australorp chicks and they are the sweetest of the girls.  Darling personality, friendly and inquisitive.  They will be totally black when full grown.  

     And here is Dolly ~ our other Australorp.  We can only tell them apart because Dolly's beak is mostly all black.  

    A few more pics to share with you.  They are a week or so old  at this point and getting more active every day.  

 

  Which one is your favorite? ~ And here is Moby who watches them endlessly.  Not sure what to do with him as he is completely and totally obsessed with them.  He doesn't even bother us when we eat anymore, nor does he seem much interested in his own food.  I wish this obsession was a show of protection, but my fear is that he'll never stop obsessing over them and I have no doubt he would gulp one down in a hot second.    

  I think we have some interesting days ahead as they get more flighty.  We still have at least three more weeks of them in the house before they can move outside to the coop.  And then there is the other problem that the coop isn't anywhere near done yet.  I guess we'll just have to take it one day at a time.

Timeless