New Residents in the Neighborhood

When we got home from wine tasting today with Hope and Sue, I was working on our new Three Sisters garden. Rich was wandering around the yard, thinking about where to put a new sheep/goat/chicken house, and noticed a new little home behind the big storage tent.


When we had our garage sale a couple weeks ago, a beekeeper guy came by and asked if it would be okay if he put a hive on our property. He and Rich walked around and figured out a good location, and he said he would bring it by some day soon. So he must have come while we were out. Very exciting! He is going to give us some of the honey, and teach Rich how to manage a hive. So someday we'll get our own bees.

Also, while I was working in the garden, the blue jays were flying around and making lots of noise, so Rich got Daryl's BB gun again, and this time, he got one. Shot it right out of a tree!

A Contest

What I didn't tell you with the blue jay story, because I think I already told someone in an email, and it was a lot to write, was that after he knocked the nest down, he put the 3 babies in one of the live traps and put it over by the blueberries, thinking maybe he could catch the parents by using the babies as bait. But instead, the babies wandered out of the trap and wandered off. Then all the other stuff happened with the BB gun and all, and he forgot about the trap sitting over by the blueberries.

Meanwhile, something has been living under the sheep/goat house, and digging out underneath. We didn't think it was skunks this time, because there was not even a faint odor.

So when I got home from my weight training class tuesday evening, this conversation occurred:
Rich: I have to tell you something, but I don't want to because I'm afraid you'll put it in your blog
Me: Tell me! I won't put it in my blog.
Rich: I don't want those Washington liberal elites to make fun of me.
Me: Just tell me, I won't put it in my blog.

And so I didn't. But I have given you a few clues. So you guess. Make up a story.

Something You Don't See at Our House Very Often

Rich is hunting bluejays. With Darryl's BB gun. He tried getting rid of them by knocking their nest out of the camelia bush and turning the babies loose to fend for themselves, hoping the neighbor cats would eat them. (Our cat is afraid to come out of the house because they have been dive-bombing her and even trying to follow her into the house.) But at least one of the babies survived and now the parents and aunts and uncles and grandparents are all flying around and squawking. He missed. Made them nervous though.

It is STILL cold here. Yesterday we had a garage/plant sale. We sat outside all day and froze. It was cloudy and windy and below 60 degrees. Every once in awhile the sun would come out and we would warm up for like 2 seconds, and then it would disappear again. Sold a lot of plants though. Not too much other stuff.

Today I planted 14 tomato plants and a tomatillo. Still have at least 2 tomatoes to plant. Going to make much more of that wonderful sauce that we have been eating all winter. Four varieties of paste/sauce tomatoes. So I'm going to try some different recipes to have some variety in sauces. Mmmm.