And So It Goes

 Well, as we had talked about a couple of posts back, this is just a kind of update of what's going on around here.  Heavy on the photos.  I was sitting here thinking to myself, 'well, I just don't have that much to write about.'  But basically, that's not true.  I mean, if I really consider it, there are tons to write about; growing herbs and their uses, gardening methods, crop experiments, simple life strategies, animal care, minimalism and the list goes on.  Truth is, I've just been lazy about thinking up stuff.  I've been kinda down for the past couple of weeks, or more, and just haven't felt like talking much.  Just my usual stuff I guess.  I have had trouble adjusting to being at home all the time.  And I know it's been like 2 years since I retired from construction but it's still working on me.  I guess I need more social connections than I thought.  But, I have been making some changes around here and am feeling better about things.  I'll explain as I go on.

As far as here though, I've got a lot more herbs and such growing than I had last year.  I try to add a couple of new things each year if possible.  A friend gave me several lemongrass sprouts and so I added those to my deck herb garden.  They are doing well.  I've got a lot of parsley going this year as it seems we go through a lot of that and I like to share some with any monarch butterflies that happen through.  Unfortunately, that doesn't happen much but we do get a few.

The oats have taken a real beating in all the rain and storms and those damn moles but it is trying to stand tall again.  I really have no idea what I'm doing with this stuff but it's a fun experiment.  Hopefully I will get a few pounds of oats from it.

The rest of the garden is doing well. 

This extremely cold past winter killed back all of our fig trees, along with all the other fig trees in Alabama.  I haven't seen any that got by unscathed.  We predict a fig shortage this year!  They are coming out at the roots again but I don't know if they will have time to bear any fruit.

Lots of squash and so far, no bugs!  Well, there is that spider there but you know what bugs I'm talking about.  My friend also gave me a dwarf zucchini that grows in a pot so I'm trying that out on the deck.  It's fruiting so we'll see.

The tomatoes are doing well and I almost have some ripe ones!  I'll be so glad to have fresh, real tomatoes.  I'm not sure why some of these photos look so out of focus.  It was getting close to sundown when I took these and that may be part of it.  Slow shutter speed.

Going to the gym has been good although I am having to take it pretty slow for now.  I joined mainly to be able to swim but after getting very bad headaches from my half hour swimming stints I'm not sure how that's going to work.  Best I can figure, most of the positions that you must hold your head in to swim stresses my neck too much and walaaa! a headache!  (I can't turn my head to the side repeatedly or look up for long due to the fusions.)  I can swim on my back or side and that doesn't bother me too bad but I think I need to cut it down to maybe only 15 minutes.  I do the circuit machines for cardio though and some light weights also.  It helps my mood greatly and lets me get out and about.

And lookie!!  we got some new sweeties.  It wasn't really planned but they are so sweet.  Allen went to a local auction to sell some of his pheasants, which he did, but he ended up buying 8 young chickens just 'cause he felt kinda bad for the lady selling these.  Unbelievably enough, no one was bidding on them.  So he bid and got them!  He also bought 4 Polish Crested, which I have always wanted, but when I watched them for a while I decided they may all be roosters, and quite aggressive, so I didn't want them.  These little goobers were just so sweet though and kept following me around the pen and I am such a sucker for cute little biddies.  They were also kinda getting picked on by the other birds and Allen was concerned about that, so I bought them from him and brought them down here.  Those Polish Crested can hold their own against those pheasants.

They are in the chick run and are having a great time.  I think I have 3 hens and 1 rooster.  I hope!  These are Buff Orpingtons by the way.  This was the incentive we needed to get rid of those two neurotic, noisy Brown Leghorns, so I took those to a lady that has a small farm not far from here.  They will still get to free range but with about 50 other chickens!

These are so funny; I just love to sit with them for a while each day.  They are so excited about everything and run to you whenever they see you coming.  They finally learned tonight how to go inside the coop house into their little separate "apartment", so they are catching on and settling in.

Well, I hope I will be back soon enough with something more interesting.  We go to Antiques Roadshow on Saturday!!!!!! so I may post before that or that may be the next post!!  Who knows!!  I hope you all are having  a nice summer so far.