Just a Monday Night at the Shady Acre

Let’s see how much I can jump around in the 40 minutes we spent outside…

6:58 PM Tice (like most babies, I suspect) loves to be outside. We headed outside when Harper came home from work. Sargent watched the squirrels while Tice chewed on a lizard.

Eventually, Tice abandoned the lizard for his new favorite toy–his big toe.

Oh, to be that flexible again!

Here’s the good part about always taking pictures: at first, he looks at me, and I have his attention. That’s when I can get those staring-straight-into-the-camera shots. I love those!

But then he gets distracted by the leaves blowing in the treetops. Or maybe it’s those perfectly seasoned toes. Whatever it is, he forgets about me, and I capture these candid moments.

Eventually, though, his gaze returns to Mommy. Sigh.

He’s going to suck that big toe, and he doesn’t care who’s watching. This toe-sucker is Shameless. (Alisa, his toes really are edible!)

7:01 PM While Tice entertained Harper, I spent some time in the garden. I was surprised that one of the tomatoes is almost ripe. Usually it’s the cherry tomatoes that ripen first, but this year it’s Mountain Pride.

I can’t wait to eat fresh tomatoes! I LOVE tomatoes, and I hope we have a summer-long supply. I really missed the garden last year. Well, I missed the fruits and veggies, but I didn’t miss the upkeep in the midsummer heat. Humidity and heat are not friends of pregnant women.

Here’s the entire garden. It’s not very big, and I know I have a lot of the tomatoes planted too close together, but this is it for now. One of these days I’ll talk someone into making it bigger.

7:03 PM The hydrangeas are blooming like crazy, but the drought is taking it’s toll. The sprinklers just don’t give enough concentrated water to keep these huge flowers upright, so I’m having to spot-water with the hose. They often droop in the heat of the day, but with the water and cooler night air, they’ll be good as new in the morning.

7:04 PM And now for something I really don’t want to show you, but I will…

…It’s weeds! Yes, they have taken over the back flowerbed. It is out of control. I need time, my shovel, some rain to loosen the soil, and some mulch to fix this situation.

But for now, I’ll just try to look at it from a distance. Doesn’t that look better?

7:06 PM Did you know that Sargent is a gentle giant? Sometimes, too gentle for his own good. Sometimes the chickens try to take advantage of his gentle nature. Anytime they hear/see him enjoying a treat, they think they need in on it. (They like a lot of the same treats.)

This time it was just a stick. Move along, Mary.

7:14 PM Sometimes Ava has to take a load off. Did you know Ava is lame? Only one leg works on this big bird. There was an accident with the lawnmower last June, and we were broken-hearted for her. We feared we would have to “put her down” because a one-legged chicken just doesn’t function. But this girl would not give up. At first, she couldn’t really do anything, but we just kept giving her one more day. Within a few days, she was trying to keep up with the other hens. Luckily, she was always the “mother hen,” “at the top of the pecking order.” Otherwise, the others might have picked on her when she was down. Literally. Chickens can be cruel. All the idioms about these birds are true.

Anyway, she kept laying eggs–even though it took so much effort for her to even get into the nesting boxes. She kept limping as fast as she could when we came with treats. Even though she had to take lots of breaks, she would try to keep up with the other hens. I really worried about her at first. I knew that the hawks would spot a gimpy bird faster than a hawk could spot a gimpy bird. But she carried on.

We knew she really was going to be okay when she started “climbing” into the coop every evening without help. The coop is about 3.5′ off the ground, and she has to hobble up a fairly steep ramp. At first, we would always carefully put her in, but when she felt strong enough, she did not want help. She would not give up! You should have seen her determination.

Now, we don’t even think about her disability. Unless she comes running for a treat–it is pretty funny/amazing to see how fast she can move with one good leg. To be honest, a chicken running with two good legs is pretty entertaining, too.

7:18 PM

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