Ducks on the Pond

Maybe two months ago I went and found some ducks for our pond. I got a pair of Harlequins, hopefully male and female and a pair of Runner ducks. They have been stuck in this pen near the house for a while until they were ready for the water.

And we finally found a use for the trampoline that I have been wanting out of my yard for two years.

We wrapped it in chicken wire and used step in posts to create a space for them to feel safe. It's working really well as long as we get no raccoons ambling by. Plus, they need to be used to being away from the chicken house. The set up is not so pretty but it works very well.



Kevin extended the fence a little into the water so they can swim a little and get away from any land creature that might try to get them.

I think they're happy.

Our little side flower garden is really beautiful now.

Every thing's blooming and it's really easy to keep weeded.

If you can see there is a pretty butterfly on the Verbena.

There little guys are missing their sister. I went out to see the chicks last week and there sis was hanging from her ankle from their roost. She had gotten it inside of a hook. I felt so bad, so, so bad! It was my fault that I didn't take the hooks off but how do you know what can happen. The hooks were way below the roost pole.

Here she is in her hospital pen. She spent a week in the house with a large immobilizing splint on it. We changed it to a smaller bandage and put her outside in a small pen. She is much happier. Her would sister spend all day calling for her and she, in turn calling back when she was in the house so at least they can see each other. They hang around outside her door off and on all day.

It's swollen but she is putting weight on it so I hope it heals. It was absolutely broken completely, both bones and would move back and forth in a terrible way. I put some of those long wood match sticks (broken to a proper length) that you use for to light a fireplace on three sides of the break and taped it nice and firmly. I'm really hoping it works. Does anyone out there know how long it will take to heal and how long I should keep the bandage on?

Back to some plant stuff. We bought some Hardy Kiwi a while ago and have been waiting for a good spot to plant it. We finally got our fence in and we plan to have it grow up and along some wire we will put on top of the fence. Kevin plans to drill holes and run some high tensile wire along through the top to make a strong place for it to grow. It is very heavy stuff and it grows really fast. I guess it takes five years or so for it to fruit. All we have is time so we will wait.

You have to get male and female and this is the tag for the male.

You have to plant it about 15 feet apart so we planted then at every other post.

Here's the fence almost done. He's left the poles long at the top to enable the wire to run through with room for the plants to spread around.

Strawberries running all around. Unfortunately the chickens have discovered them so some sort of short fence is required.

Pretty petunias. The color was much better in person and would be here if I had a normal camera and not my phone for pictures.

Another beautiful day at my sister's house below...

Hanging at the Tiki Bar...

The boys fishing. Kevin and Tom (BIL) had the boat, trying out Kevin's new fish finder out (btw, the lake is 38 feet deep at the deepest point! Never knew for sure.) so the boys were stuck with the paddle boat, their tackle boxes barely fit in the back.

I think they really had fun, no matter the size of the boat.

Have to end with this awesome picture.

Til next time,

Beth

Morning Glories!

The other day I was on the computer and heard some turkey clucking and purring noises, (I guess that's how you describe their sounds). I looked out because they should not be close enough to the house for me to hear them.

They walked over the fence again. These turkeys are not capable of flight so they must have walked, no other way to get out.

I tried to get them off of the deck with a broom but meat turkeys are so friendly that they weren't even scared. They just kept spreading in different directions.

Finally, my morning glories are blooming.

Aren't they the most beautiful thing in the world! I love blue flowers.




Plus, there are a few that are really stunning. They have streaky stripes and faded colors.





I'm not sure if this is normal but it's beautiful. I wonder if I can save the seed? That would be cool.

A cute little honey bee.

So pretty!

I planted them on the garden fence along the driveway, I'm not sure how long they will bloom but I'm happy for these.

Til next time,

Beth

Our Dock, Vegetable Garden and Flower Garden Fix-up

Amy (my sister) and her husband Tom came over Sunday and helped us get a few things done. It's so much more fun when some one's here to help. Tom is a major motivator so we got a lot more done that we planned.

Amy and I went and bought some mulch, I really like the dark mulch better. Everything looks so much brighter against the dark.

Here's my butterfly bushes trying to come back, also some moonflowers.

Here's my row of beans in the garden. We are going to put a row of fence down the middle.

I have three pumpkins. Here's one of them.

I snuck some morning glories into the corner. I'm so glad they came up-the seeds are from last year. My husband only wanted to grow edible items and only practical ones at that. I can't wait to make pickled beets but he's more worried about tomatoes, beans and corn

Cauliflower and broccoli.

The first row is lettuce, the second carrots. He plowed rows so that the whole thing has raised beds. There are low spots here and this way nothing will get drowned. We also mulched everything heavily with some old hay that was given to us.




Corn that needs to be thinned. It will kill me to pull them out. I should have planted thinner and put in another row. All the seeds sprouted it looks like.

Maybe tomorrow I will do it. I think I have to thin to eight to ten inches? Anybody ever leave it closed than that? Hmmmmmmm?

Here's the potato planter almost exactly one month ago.

They are really filling it up. We need to add dirt.

Wow, look at them grow!

And here is the dock waiting for paint.

The front part.

It's getting paint now, paint sprayers are the best!

Front done but not dry.

Everything for the dock we had here, it's all leftovers from other projects or we had free stuff so it didn't cost us anything.


This is some stain we had left over from our deck. We weren't crazy about the color but it was free! It was all gloppy and had some big chunks of dried stuff in it that would have clogged up the sprayer. I needed to figure out some kind of filter.

So I found some screen and an old coffee can. Made some clips with electric fence wires and it worked pretty good.

I had to change the screen after every batch.

See how much it darkens up when dry? Blended the different kinds of wood pretty good.

Top done too.

Installed, the kids are loving it and it is pretty fun to sit at the end and watch the fish.

Til next time,

Beth