Bring it on

I am adding more chores to my life.  I get chickens this week!  Well, chicks that will grow into chickens.  So now we will have lots of babies around here.  Yes, it means my carpets are toast.  It is a good thing they will be going away.  Between the occasional accident from Mia and now the new puppy, along with all the foot traffic from kids and dogs my carpets are gross.  I vacuum a lot and we have spot cleaner that we use a lot too, but I will be renting a shampooer again before too long.  I'm hoping next Fall's big project will be floors around here.  This year it will be the wood stove.

Along with having loads of babies around here it is officially harvest season.  I have zucchini everywhere!  I didn't even grow any thank goodness.  Our CSA share has been providing more than I know what to do with.  In fact that will be today's project.  Zucchini bread, shred and freeze zucchini, dry zucchini, and start some sauerkraut with the two heads of cabbage I have.  I also need to freeze my cilantro, parsley, and some garlic scape pesto.  I have a lot to do and my list just gets longer.

To be honest I couldn't be happier about that.  The kittens are pretty self-sufficient.  I just make sure there is food and water out for them and the litter box (which I hate) is clean.  I'm working on moving them outside so they will hopefully not be needing a litter box too much longer.  Kyra, the new puppy, is pretty good too.  She is quiet.  Almost to a fault.  Although she was a good dog yesterday, along with Buddy.  They alerted us to a great big bull snake in the yard.  At first from the hissing rattle sound it made at Buddy we thought it was a rattlesnake.  Tom was our protector and went to deal with the snake and then realized it was a bull snake which is basically a non-poisonous version of the rattlesnake.  They make a hiss/rattle sound that mimics the rattlesnake with their mouth somehow.  They are actually good snakes to have around since they usually run off the rattlesnakes.  They do still bite but at least they aren't poisonous.

We were glad the dogs did a good job of letting us know something was different.  This is one of the many reasons we have dogs.  Let's see, we have 2 kittens, 1 puppy, 1 dog, a 5 year-old, a 2 year-old, and soon will have 3 baby chicks.  Sounds kinda like Old McDonald's Farm around here. :)  I don't think we'll get too much crazier this year.  We'll get these babies grown up and then we'll see where we are at next spring.

I suppose I should start tackling my to-do list.  My chicks are here sometime in the next couple of days so I need to make sure their brooder gets to the right temp. (90-95 degrees F).  And then I'll take care of kitten chores and then start in on the veggies.  Somewhere in there too I'll have to do some laundry and the rest of the day-to-day stuff.