Everybody calm down but I have some bad news. NO snake photos this week. I do however have an assortment of other animals and the first look at my June tomato plants.
In answer to a question I get asked several times a week - yes, I do still have chickens. There are two left now. Mable is seen here. Josephine is only ever seen for a split second at a time as her beak explodes out of the nesting box, spiralling straight towards my eyes.
I was outside this afternoon trying to take a photograph of a bumblebee with Arnold Schwarzenegger legs when I remembered it's impossible to take a bad shot of storm clouds so I leaned back, looked up, saw a bird, took a shot.
I've no idea what became of the honeysuckle-drunk bee.
I only need to plant 3 tomato plants. I am one person. How many heirloom tomatoes can I possibly use. I'm not even in an organized food fighting league.
Yet ever year I plant a bowling alley's worth of tomatoes. Curious about how I'm supporting these tomatoes? Read my post on string training/trellising.
The last of the peonies. Next up will be sweet peas and snapdragons. They aren't as dramatic as the peonies but you'll never have a sweet pea barf ants on you out of spite when you pick it.
The one and only photo of Philip on my camera from this week. I took a quick shot of him to send to his groomer so she could assess what she was going to be working with in a month or so.
Philip turns 2 on August 2nd and he'll be getting a haircut from a genuine professional groomer which is likely to turn out a lot nicer than the haircut he normally gets from the genuine professional writer.
Tomorrow is feet and face day for Philip. If you have trouble clipping your dog's nails because they're black, if you haven't tried it before, I recommend this special Dremel that safely grinds the nails down in seconds.
Who wants to do a puzzle?
The 20 piece puzzle
1:19 Beat THAT.
The 77 Piece Puzzle
Have a good remainder of your weekend, see you tomorrow.
SPECTACULAR picture of Mabel! And.... just so you know, I swiped it so that I can paint her. Just for ME. I'm a huge fan or all birds (especially ravens/crows). I have LOTS of drawings of them. Sadly, my wonderful hands have refused to cooperate for the past couple of years. BUT I am tenaciously determined to find a way. When I'm done I'll send you a pic (don't hold your breath tho. It might be a while.) Anyway...THANKS for the inspiration. I mean how could I NOT draw her???? Cheers!
Thought of you and Philip today when I read an email from the lavender shop in town. Did you know they sell lavender scented stuff for pooches? Bed spray and bar soap and grooming enhancer…. it’s supposed to be calming (for you or him 🤔) and make him smell nice. Maybe you would smell nice too afterwards.
They have a really good hand cream that I love. Philip sneezes at any strong smells - you should see him when I sanitize my hands - so I'll test him out with a bouquet of lavender from my front yard first. ;) ~ karen!
Just curious, was having chickens too much work…or ?!?
And what will you do with you chicken house (ha! coop) when you no longer have chickens? I gotta tell you I loved the posts about chickens and the coop building!
Hi kim! They aren't a lot of work in general, no. There is the odd time when things get hairy. Like when the coop gets mites or if a chicken walks out of the coop limping or gets sick. My plan is to let these 2 live out their days, and then either get a new flock of 3 or 4 or ... get bees. ~ karen!
47 seconds. 😊
HOW?! 47 seconds of wine time or a real 47 seconds? ~ karen! (im absolutely going to try it again right now)
Hi Karen, I just want to let you know that you are responsible for my new puzzle addiction. Since January, I have done 149 puzzles on line with an average time of 2 hours and 10 minutes - add it up... time that could have been spent cleaning the house (not) :)
You're welcome. ;) ~ karen!
Wow, at 40 hours/wk, you spent over 8 weeks doing puzzles! Oh well, you probably deserved 2 months of vacation from . . . something, right?
The cloud/bird puzzle was AMAZING fun! Thanks
Both photos are gorgeous! You are truly a renaissance woman.
1:15! :)
So everyone is beating me. Fine. You people have weirdly nimble fingers. ~ karen!
Philip is a Leo! :)
And he shares his birthday with my mother Betty! ~ karen
Best I could do was 1:11. As for your pics, you have the true eye of the 'artiste'. Most folks don't. Sincere kudos.
Show off. SHOW OFF. ~ karen!
Gorgeous arrangement!
Thanks Lois! The funny part is that I gathered the flowers in my hand and then stuck them in a vase to arrange later, but when I looked at them they were perfect. So I left them. ~ karen!