The older boys decided to build themselves a treehouse in the tree near the casita. With the exception of hefting the completed platform into the tree, they did all the work themselves.
Their ladder needs a bit more support, I think, but it serves for now.
Snake season has definitely arrived. A. killed two bull snakes in the porch last weekend, and went with the kids to try to find a rattlesnake they said they saw on their after-church run.
They didn't find it again, but it was an exciting outing, anyway.
It never occurred to me that moving here would result in this next to my door, but here we are.
They have boots to match, too.
And I was informed, by the way, that I should never call them cowboy hats or cowboy boots, unless I want to sound like an Eastern nerd. They are western hats and boots, thank you very much.
The garden is coming along very nicely.
I even hilled the potatoes.
However, this week I noticed an infestation of what I think are blister beetles. Which will, of course, eat anything and everything, though they seem to be concentrated on my tomatoes and potatoes at the moment. I haven't seen a lot of defoliation yet, but I figure it's just a matter of time.
Given that, I decided it was time to let the chickens out. They've been incarcerated for a month or so, because they were wrecking my small, delicate plants with their scratching and search for bugs. But now that the plants are bigger and there are lots of nasty bugs, I released the chickens. I saw them back there already, so I hope they, along with us picking the beetles and drowning them in soapy water, will be enough.
It's always something.
There you have it! My life, snapshotted.
6 comments:
Boo, for snake season.
That treehouse is pretty impressive!
Linda
Great tree house!
Your bug issue reminds me about 5 yrs ago Japanese beetles came to my area. It was so awful- you'd walk outside and they were on everything. A plague! We spent many mornings, carrying our bucket of soapy water,, picking them off our new trees, and our neighbor her apple tree. I guess as they were new to the area, the local critters didn't know they were edible. It took a few weeks for them to move on. After 2 more years of miserable June's cursed by the beetles , the birds et al finally started doing their job. The beetles are now managable. I hope your chickens are industrious and defeat the menace of bugs.
I'm thinking I'd dread the bugs more than the snakes. We've had our first snake experience of the year, too. A black snake slithered into our bluebird house (which was housing baby bluebirds), and we worked awfully hard to save those birds!
I love "the older boys decided"--that speaks so much to their independence and ability to be creative on their own, without needing molly-coddling.
Oh, hilling potatoes! I was planning on trying potatoes for the first time this year, and then I ended up with a two-part foot surgery. Doctor is also a gardener, so she recommended I not try potatoes while I'm hobbling.
Maybe next year.
When I lived in Oklahoma City years ago, the Brits that I worked with all wore cowboy boots. The locals called cowboy boots S___ Kickers, or kickers for short.
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