2011 - Day One Hundred Eighty Four; Sunday...

This chicken was seen last night, loitering around the chicken coop. It was relatively calm, made no sudden moves, and had little of nothing to say (squawk). The same chicken was sighted this morning and this afternoon, in much the same spot. When questioned, the chicken (obviously a rooster) clammed up and made no comments. The girls have all (seemingly) paid little or no attention to him, it is almost as if he is not even there. I will keep my eyes open to make sure he does not have any ulterior motives. You never know about these silent types.

I stayed in bed until about 6 o'clock this morning, and it is just oppressively HOT. The chickens are fatigued, the plants are desperate for water, and there is no relief in sight. The Sage are blooming all over this area, and ours are blooming nicely as well. Generally that is an indication that we will get some rain, but nothing so far. The high-dollar prognosticators and not giving us any chance of precipitation, but I would prefer to rely on the natural forecasts of the Sage. Hope so anyway.

We cut the cantaloupe this morning after letting it sit in the refrigerator overnight. It had a very delicate hint of cantaloupe flavor. That is really just another way of saying it had no taste. Jody chose not to even eat his, and contributed it to the chickens. I put some salt on mine and ate it, not wanting all that effort to go totally to waste. I do not understand how a viney plant, growing in the middle of a literal gravel bed, with very little water provided to it during its development, can produce a fruit that is moist and watery. Where does it get the water? Can anyone answer that question for me? Or is the fact that it had very little water in its development cycle result in the lack of cantaloupe flavor? Just wondering. NOTE: I did save the seeds (most of them) so I will plant them next spring. That is, of course, assuming I will remember where I put them next year.

I have been wanting to use something as a weed control, and I was hesitant to use Round-Up, just on general principals. I was worried that the chemical would harm the bees and the chickens. So I did an Internet search, and found a recipe using vinegar, salt and dish detergent. I will know better tomorrow how it worked, but I used a gallon of vinegar (9% solution was the best I could find) and covered very little territory. If it worked at all, I will try to get more vinegar tomorrow.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, WEED WEAPONS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!