All In A Day's Work

Yesterday, while planting, watering and weeding, this little guy came to visit me.  There is a small hole in my garden hose, and he came to get a drink.  I do have a bird bath filled with water, but he chose the hose.  I'll have to do some research to find out if this is a he or a she.  I'm still not getting a pristine photo, but working on it.


Some things, like this bird visiting me, make all the all the hard work of self-sufficiency and good living hard labor worth it. 
 
Speaking of birds, a vulture came to visit us.  This time, he/she was right behind the goat barn munching away.  I was just zoaming my lens, and then "SLAM" went the side door on the house.  Off went the vulture.  Hmpf.  Anyway, when the pasture was mowed, he ran over a large black water snake, and that was the vulture's meal.  He never did fly back for the rest.

Yesterday, I managed to get 40 roma tomato plants in the ground, along with 8 more peppers.  Rain never did arrive, but we had strong winds.  Cucumbers and squash are up now.  Even though it seems like a lot of tomatoes, we had enough home canned taco sauce all winter, that we didn't have to buy any, and I still have 2 more jars.  And we have 2 more jars of home canned ketchup too.

I planted flower seeds in this new planter, but went ahead and added a few flowers yesterday.  My comfrey is doing better now that the cats are not using it for a bed too.

Days are long still, but I continue to stop garden work by noon to exercise.  My 16 year-old continues to add up her driving hours.  I had her drive me to town for some needed yarn, and goat feed, and back again - logging in just short of an hour of driving.  She needs a total of 50.  

Somewhere in those hours, I made another large salad.  We've gone through 7 bags of organic romaine in a week.  I top it with organic carrots, celery, red bell pepper and green onion from my herb garden.   Then the kids and I either put tuna or organic chicken in it, topped with pecans or/and dried cranberries.  I can't wait for my lettuce to be ready for harvest.

I never did get time to work on my short story.  Today, I plan to take paper and pen to the porch.  Some times writing by hand is more productive than using the computer.

It's dark and dreary out this morning, and they are still forecasting very strong storms later today.  I am heading back out to plant more tomatoes.  Hubby couldn't help me again last night, as he was asked to stay over at work again.  This time getting home about midnight, and back up at 6:30am.  We are both very tired.