Seldom Seen

We have made a few interesting discoveries up on the Ridge over the past couple of weeks.

I received this box in the mail last week, which contained a bouquet of sunflowers from Chewy.com as a sympathy gift after the loss of our kitty.

They were confused about Lizzie's name...Stella is alive and well.

L and I have been walking around the property and picking wild black raspberries this week.  We haven't seen any up here for a few years.  We already made a peach/black raspberry cobbler this weekend.

On our walks, we found evidence of racoons enjoying the raspberries as well.

I also discovered these in our sad, sad orchard - after 13 years of trying to grow fruit trees, there are 2 whole apples on our apple tree!

There is no end to the surprising things we find up here!

First Day

Miss J is off to Public School for the first time this morning.  After spending almost every day of the past 9 1/2 years with her, this is a BIG change for both of us!  She is excited and did not appear at all nervous.  This afternoon will be another first:  riding the school bus to my friend's house for me to pick her up.

I am feeling a bit teary, but am pushing on.  L has Cyber School to begin today, the kitten has a Vet appointment for shots, Soccer practice for both girls this evening, plus my monthly Library Board meeting.  Whew!  What a day!

We had a pleasant weekend.  My parents invited us for dinner on Saturday night.  Afterwards, the girls and my Mom presented a short play entitled "The First Strawberries".  They had made costumes, props, and scenery, and even memorized their lines!  We had shortcake with berries for dessert after the entertainment.

On Sunday, we did some chicken herding.  We needed to clean out under the pullets pen, so while things were moved, we thought we'd put the pullets in the area with the larger house.  Easier said then done, particularly when you are dealing with 44 birds with brains the size of a pea.  We ended up with one casualty...the tiniest, sickly barred rock pullet didn't recover from the stress of moving day.  I wasn't sure if it would have been healthy to eat her anyway.

Room to Roost!

So this morning, we have all our ducks (chickens?) in a row, and are off to a good start:  J off to school with JP, 20-some minutes on the elliptical, then L up and at it.  She is presently checking for eggs, then we will start her school work!

Here we go...

I Can See Clearly Now

It was such a lovely day today, so of course we had the windows open. Unfortunately, the flying insects have returned for the season. I hauled the window screens up from downstairs, and JP sprayed them off with the hose while I washed windows. They are all bright and sparkling for a couple of days at least. There are quite a few that I can't reach though. I'm going to have to try the squeegee with the extension handle for the high ones...some day.

We got the fence up around the orchard today, and the raspberries in the ground. I also planted some more peonies and some hyacinths. So far the deer have left the peonies from last year alone, so I think the new ones are safe, but I've never had hyacinths before. It's always a gamble in the country! Last night I priced steel fencing at Lowe's, maybe I'll have to enclose my flower bed.

For dinner, we made Gyoza...Japanese dumplings. This was the first time I've ever made them, but JP had lots of experience making them with his family. The girls LOVED them...always a gamble there too. For dessert we had baklava left over from our trip to Mr. Gyro's last night. Dinner on Poplar Ridge was quite a cultural experience.

We pulled out the cushions for the deck chairs this evening. What a perfect night to sit on the deck in the evening breeze!

Gains and Losses

Sick Chick did not make it through the night last night. The rest of the Sisters rallied today and gave us 8 eggs!

Our orchard is in! We planted 4 apple trees, 3 cherries, 2 apricots, 2 peaches, and 2 pears this afternoon. We still have 6 raspberry bushes to put in, but we want to get the fence up first.

Heading to Lowe's soon for deer netting and posts!