Bessie

This is my favorite hen. Her name is Bessie, named in honor of a special friend, both of them are sweet, crazy, little redheads!

Catastrophe

Each morning when I get up I go into the bathroom and raise the blinds and look out on the new day. This morning, my view was horribly marred, for what I beheld was Wayne's coondog, Lucy, chasing a chicken across the garden! I ran to the back door and acted overjoyed to see her and she (thankfully) came running to me. I brought her inside our enclosed back porch. Sadie, our other dog, was also loose, but her chain had caught on one of the stakes that anchors the flower bed that surrounds the back patio. I went inside and told Wayne the dogs were loose, and they had been killing chickens. (I saw two bodies when I checked to see where Sadie was.) Lucy had broken the snap on her collar, and Sadie's "s" hook that held her chain to the post had separated. (We just replaced Sadie's snap about two weeks ago when she got loose and killed one of my hens.) I dressed and began walking the yard. It was a gruesome task. They killed four of my laying hens, including my two best Silver Laced Wyandottes, and two roosters. There are also two roosters that are wounded, but I think will live. This leaves me with just three hens: two Americaunas and a Brahma. From now on we will be replacing the hardware on the outside dogs every ten months!
Their method of attack: rip the bottom out of the chicken coop. We have now replaced the wire bottom with plywood. We are planning to enclose the sides with plywood as well and just leave small holes for ventilation around the top.

Crazy Veggies

Can you believe that my okra is blooming in November? I just had to share.

Peach Roses

My Darling Husband ordered peach colored roses and had the delivered to me at school for our anniversary. It was so sweet. Peach is my favorite color for roses. Aren't they just gorgeous?

Happy Tenth Anniversary!

To commemorate this momentous occasion, we attended Apple Butter Makin' Days in Mt. Vernon, MO. This is a country festival in which local craftspeople gather to display and sell their wares, as well as obviously tout the marvelous apple! For our gifts to one another, we purchased hand thrown pottery mugs. Wayne selected a mug that is so dark blue, it's almost black. Very handsome. My mug is quite unique. Some might even call it imperfect. All the more to cuddle up with!We also purchased some handcrafted soaps and a wooden soap dish, and what I've been informed was a rubber band sub-machine gun.