Reinforcements

Something killed eight of our hens a few weeks ago.  G found the mauled carcasses in the run one night while doing chores.  So in the interest of continuing to pay too much money to have too many fresh eggs available to us, we ordered reinforcements.

They're about two weeks old now, and growing fast.  We keep them in a stock tank in our garage.  

We got a mix of breeds with this batch, including Welsummers, Delawares and brown leghorns.  But I think my favorites are the light Brahmas, one of whom can be seen poking her head above the others and looking at me in the photo above.  They have feathered legs.

In a few more weeks they'll graduate to the teenager coop in the shed, and when they nearly grown we'll put them in with the older hens.  They should start laying around Thanksgiving.

Past prime

On Sunday we went to the Cities for a visit.  We're all fully vaccinated now, and were itching to go somewhere and see people.  So we piled into the minivan and drove north.  O and E couldn't join us - they had already headed north on Friday to spend time with her family.

We met Hubby's brother and family for lunch at a nice place called Cafe Thyme in Chanhassen.  Good food, but very sloooow service - 1 & 1/4 hours from the time we arrived to the time we got our food.

After lunch we went to the UMN Arboretum in Chaska.  I love the arboretum and try to go once a year, usually when the roses are in bloom.  The arboretum has many gardens, including two rose gardens, a cottage garden, Japanese garden, lily garden, peony garden, etc.  Unfortunately the roses were mostly past prime, so I didn't bother with pictures.

A photo from last year's visit.

My younger sister and her two girls joined us.  We haven't seen each other for over a year, and her girls had grown so much!  I was able to reassure them that I was still their favorite aunt.  Much more favorite than their other aunt.  They looked at me dubiously.

The kids' favorite part was the hedge maze.  After going through two or three times, we gathered the chitlins and made them stand still for a few moments for a photo.

Mine are the middle two, G and B.

While we were walking along, my sister's eldest daughter C (far left in the photo above) and I came up with ideas for our own arboretum.  Something more kid-friendly.  We'd have a zombie garden with shrubs trimmed to look like zombies.  People could bring water guns to shoot water at the zombies a they 'fought' their way through.  There would be an area where you could drive bumper cars on the paths between the flower beds.  And there would be fountains that kids could actually jump into, instead of just throw pennies in. 

I told C that we should go into partnership together - she would be 'creative' and I would run the business.  She agreed - she would come up with all the ideas and then I would do all the work.  I decided that didn't sound like such a good idea after all.

zombie garden gnome

After a few hours of walking in the hot hot sun we left the arboretum and drove to Shoreview to have supper with my older sister, her husband and her daughter B.  By 7:00 we left the Cities and made the two-hour drive home. 

Stumbling into our house with tired feet and slumped shoulders, I realized that like the roses I too am past my prime.  I turned 50 a few weeks ago, so I am forced with the reckoning that I am now 'in my fifties'.  I remember a time when I didn't think about my age, and 50 seemed so very far away.  I seem to be thinking about it more often now.

The River

A beautiful day today, a bit warm but not too warm.  I drove out to Kettner Landing, one of the water access sites we maintain on the Minnesota.  Since we're in a moderate drought the river is pretty low, but still nice to look at.

Mnisota, the name given by the Dakota, meaning sky-tinted water.  Very apt.