Almost Summer

Hard to believe summer vacation is almost here. Only 13 more days of school left for Michael and Emma!

Jon came home for a visit again this weekend. He arrived late Thursday night and was with us through most of Saturday. He headed back to Colorado again Saturday evening.

This should be his last week in Colorado (we're hoping!).

Tired of all the driving, Jon "relaxed" by working around the yard. One big accomplishment was that he and the kids planted our new vegetable garden.

We've held off planting the tomatoes because there have been some cold (near freezing) evenings here, of late. But we went ahead and planted corn, green and yellow beans, peas, onions, carrots, and potatoes. Next weekend we'll probably plant the tomatoes, along with squash, cucumbers, and melon.

Jon made a trip to Cornell to gather this mulch (at left) for our flower beds. It was made from the ground-up stump of an enormous old tree that Jon's parents had removed from their yard awhile ago.

Jane has pictures of her kids and grandchildren (each photographed in turn, over the years) sitting among the thick branches of that landmark tree. So... pretty special mulch.

Meanwhile, I've been playing "decorator" again. My newest project is the greenhouse off the front of our house. I'm trying to convert it into a porch. The windows and glass roof make it uncomfortably hot inside at mid-day, but it's pleasant out there in the cooler morning and evening hours.

I made sure Jon sat in it a little so that he could see the room has potential. He agreed that it would be nice to replace the glass panels with screens and suggested maybe adding a roof.

Leila's been having a blast crawling around outside on the lawn. Michael has gotten quite good at keeping an eye on her for me while I work outside. He tends to be somewhat of a worrier, so is very diligent about making sure that she stays safe and happy.

At right, Leila and Emma in the "clubhouse" Jon built.

While Jon was home we spent time visiting Macy (our horse) and the chickens up at our neighbor's farm.

Macy lying in a sea of dandelions.

During the summer Johnne's chickens roam freely on her pasture. At night they climb inside their traveling chicken coop for protection from foxes and other predators. Every few days Johnne moves the coop to a new patch of grass, so there's a constant supply of insects to forage.

When Emma comes over with a bucket full of vegetable peels and table scraps, the chickens rush toward her excitedly. Emma calmly lays a pile of scraps here, another pile there, and so on, so that everybody gets some. It's fun to watch.

I confess I was a little nervous about walking among all those chickens, at first. I mean, there are several dozen. That's a lot of chickens. But I stopped feeling fearful one day, when I came to see the chickens while wearing sandles. Sure enough, several of the chickens noticed my painted toe nails and began to peck at them... aaiiiaaah-! The horror!

But their little pecks don't hurt. And when they realize those are your toe nails, they stop. If you need to pass through, the chickens make way. They don't hiss or glare at you. They just wonder if you have food to give them. And they are truly comical and interesting little creatures to watch. They don't mind if you take their eggs and they're not intimidating (the way large barnyard geese can be).

Here's Emma holding her two chickens, Pumpkin (the hen) and Dot (the rooster).

Mom and Dad surprised us by coming over on Sunday (they called that morning so it wasn't a complete surprise!). It was a beautiful sunny day, so perfect traveling weather.

At right, Mom shows Emma how to pick the "good" grass and offer it as a horse treat.

We had a nice visit. Thanks for coming, Mom and Dad!