Back To Black

 I truly had planned to post before now, and even sat down at the computer several times to start writing, but just couldn't get my brain to function well enough.  I've had a very bad headache for the past 4 days and I've been sorta stumbling around here like a zombie.  I finally got it to ease up some over last night but it always seems to come back in the late afternoon.  And we have another rain front coming in Monday and I'm just hoping and praying it doesn't start all over again.
Geez, I feel like all I ever do anymore is complain on this blog.  It is just so frustrating right now.  Everything hurts and I'm trying so many things and nothing seems to be working.  It just knocks the wind out of my sails and I get in a very low mood.  I'm fighting hard not to but sometimes I can't help it.

In some news though, Big T has gone to live at another home in north Alabama.  He had gotten to where I often had to watch out for him because he would attempt to jump me when I would be walking amongst the hens.  I got a couple of good kicks in and that discouraged him somewhat but he would still try to sneak up on me occasionally.  I don't know what made him get that way.  Anyway, that was not that big of a deal; I can handle a rooster.  The problem was he started picking on Zuzu and Peepers and ya'll know how I am about my sweet Speckles.  I admit those 2 are spoiled rotten and that rooster was not going to bother my babies.  Zuzu and Peepers are kinda low on the totem pole and of course that makes me take up for them even more, and I think because of this they are very shy and timid at times.  Big T just scared them to death and they would run from him whenever he tried to put the moves on them.  I think this pissed him off and he said, well, they will not be in my flock then, and started running them away from food we put out.  Well, that ain't going to fly around me.  So.  I kinda hated to get rid of him since we had raised him from such a little bittie, but nobody hates on Zu or Peep.  The guy I gave him to wanted to trade for some Silkie/ Cochin hens and I said, sure!  I've always wanted some Silkies and these 2 are just precious.  Unfortunately, I did not realize how much smaller Silkies are than regular hens and they are a bit intimidated of the girls.  And the girls are not terribly friendly towards them.  Oh, how I wish we still had Ramona who was always my ambassador to new girls.  She would befriend anybody and make them feel part of the group.  She was a good chicken.

Anyway, these 2 are just the cutest things ever.  That is Agnes on the right and Elvira on the left.  Elvira is pretty laid back but Agnes seems to be in a perpetually bad mood.  I suspect it is just a defense mechanism at being around so many large hens.  I love them though and they took right to the nesting boxes their first day and have laid good since.

Generally they hang out to themselves down by the coop but they do wander up near the house occasionally.  Interestingly, they don't seem to mind staying in the run all day, whereas the other girls act like you're killing them if you don't let them out to free-range by 10:00 a.m.  So, we let them stay in some after the others go out so they can have plenty of time and solitude to eat their crumble in peace.

I haven't even felt like taking many photos lately but I did get a few the other day.  I thought this one came out nicely.  I like the soft background.

The babies that Etta hatched are doing well and growing fast!  I hope we got mostly girls with these three.

I told ya'll we did get the garden planted but it seems the corn needs replanting.  My seeds were old apparently and hardly any has come up.  Everything else is doing well though.  We are trying a couple of new things this year that I will show ya'll soon.  One of which is plating runner beans instead of bush type so that they will grow up a trellis and I don't have to bend over to pick them.  I don't know what the hell I was ever thinking that made me plant bush beans!  And more than once too!  My back can't take that crap.  It's funny how you get stuff in your head though, about how you think something ought to be and it's hard to imagine it another way sometimes.  So, finally, I figured out, hey, I don't have to bend over to pick beans!  Duh!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend and hopefully I'll have another post soon.