Saturday's Surprise

I woke early and took Alex to work.

We had no idea HOW to hatch chicks...but we have a hen who was adamant she WAS going to set eggs...so we moved her to an isolated cage and left her alone. TODAY....we heard peeps....

We'll give her another few days...she still has a collection of eggs she doesn't plan on leaving....she kicked one egg out last week...this one hatched....we figure she knows how to take care of it....and we'll divide the chicken yard soon and let her and the chick(s) have their own section. 

There's nothing to see here - just move along. LOL  Why, yes, I did give her a planter to nest in - it worked. 

I got called to pick Alex up early. He wasn't sick....but one near and dear to us is being tested and it appears we may be heading for quarantine again depending on the results. Enough said?  Michael had picked up some "bwananas" for Benny. I decided to swing by and drop them off as I was going out anyway to get Alex. Stacia and Millie came along.

Benny ran to the car, Stacia opened the door, and he was so excited! "You have a dawwwg!" 

Millie also met Arielle and Kimber. 

In honor of Lori (the mother hen) we decided to do a job we've been trying to get to....we cleaned out the coop....and Michael added a ledge to the front of the nesting boxes to keep the shavings (and eggs) IN the box....

This year's lasagna bed needed a brown layer - it got it. I added a bit of lime to the top and watered it all in. Not to fear - nothing will be planted in this bed for at least a year so the chicken litter is fine. 

I put in an online order with Walmart. Am I the only one noticing prices have gone up? No yeast and some of our vegetable requests were out...but everything else was pretty good. I enjoyed a visit with Nolan as we went to pick up. Stacia made dinner. These young adults bless us.

9:30 p.m. and I realized I'd not found time to sit and "be" in the garden...so I went out and did just that.

I think these potatoes are going to need way more dirt....we're thinking we'll fill in the trenches...maybe. Do you grow potatoes? We usually make hills but we planted 160 starts this year...and I saw this method on YouTube....they promised a follow video on how to "hill" them....but they haven't made it....and I need to know. LOL 

It's starting to feel more like a garden and less like a horse pasture. 

Standing at one end...the garden goes beyond the bush in the middle....there are 6 rows of corn behind the make shift green house....which covers two new beds. The potatoes are too the left - along with a row of broccoli, cauliflower and dill. The black pastic covers ground that is ROCKY and CLAY LIKE and grows nothing well but chickweed. I covered it with plastic and tried various squash here....and the tires were given to us by the place which replaced the RV tire. I planted flowers in them and they hold the plastic and cardboard in place - weed blockers! The two hoopy beds are doing well...and the beans in the boxes of the previous greenhouse have not been found by the moose! 

I thought this plant was dying - but it appears to be about ready to put forth some new effort....I am growing two hills of spaghetti squash and would love to actually GET SOME SQUASH.

I got lured into weeding and then realized it was 10 p.m. and if I wanted to blog, I needed to LEAVE THE GARDEN!

I'm sad to miss church tomorrow - but we'll slide back into our old norms....and that will be nice too. Leisurely....

BLESSED FRIDAY

Stacia and I missed our Bible study so we went out this a.m. ...but with Millie on board, we knew we'd have to rethink our weekly trip to Sophia's. We stopped by and let the girls meet Millie, grabbed take out and went to a local trailhead for breakfast/study.

We took advantage of our surroundings to get a quick walk in and to introduce Millie to big dogs, horses, and trails.

We stopped by Animal Warehouse to buy an enclosure for the kennel. We can use this with bunnies and chickens when Millie no longer needs it, but maybe it will help with sleep tonight....we had a barriacade of boxes around the kennel last night. Why? Because Millie is a smart little thing and discovered if she lifts the dresser handles and lets them drop down they make a door-knocker effect and wake up Stacia. Our hope was she would stay in the kennel or be satisfied to stay in her booked in yard.....
She wasn't.  She was so sad that Stacia ended up climbing inside the enclosure to sleep with her. She didn't want the rest of us to wake up. Both are very tired this a.m. We explained  we all knew there would be some sleepless nights with a new puppy in the house and it was keeping her awake way more than us. Tonight, she is to sleep beside the enclosure if she wants, but not to get inside with Millie. This is sleep training.  Both Stacia and Millie fell asleep on the way home.

Yes, tired puppy mama....but they've got the bonding thing down well. 

Michael and Alex went out for their lunch Bible study together....

I spent a couple of hours in the garden. I weeded all the beds and the potato patch. Michael helped me tie up some very heavy tomato plants.

Dreaming of dill pickles....

I planted some squash and lettuce starts....my idea is that some spinach and kale are about ready to eat and I can replant with lettuce as we eat our way through a garden bed. We'll see if it works. LOL

Stacia and Millie are very careful about grooming. She loves the brushing and combing at this point. It's funny - she turns into a frizzy puff ball after we groom her....Stacia reports that's what happens when you brush curls. LOL Here she is getting her teeth brushed - or getting used to the process anyway. 

Unfortunately, the missing piece of this day was my morning walk. I suspect I broke my toe, in any event a shoe isn't working....I'll try again tomorrow.  We ended the night with pizza and Incredibles 2.

Our plans appear to be shifting again....we may or may not be gearing up for a camping trip. This was on the calendar as our 3rd summer getaway....it may yet end up being our first.

Millie, Gardening and SUMMER

Thursdays are usually Bible study with Stacia - but today we had dental appointments, and Stacia was leery of being away from Millie...

I managed a 2 mile walk before I had to jump in the shower to make it to the dentist office. It's still odd to call from outside for medical check ins - but it does speed up the waiting process. It appears I will finally have to have my wisdom teeth out. I'm not even thinking about it yet. Would you believe both the dentists at our practice have Labradoodles? As well as several of the others there!

Leaving Millie for an hour

How could you leave me? 

After the dentist, we picked up Millie and headed to Reflection Lake. This gave me another mile ....and it was Millie's first walk. We're also trying to acclimate her to car travel. We hope she'll love rides, walking, running etc. She did pretty well with the leash...though we need to look up some youtubes on leash training.

She is only 7 weeks old. She was done! That's o.k.  She actually walked further than we expected. 

Millie - 7 weeks 

Time for an Alaskan Selfie

Millie, Stacia, Me

This pup wanted IN the water. My Word. She was NOT happy when Stacia wouldn't let her go down the bank....

Michael took the RV to a welder today. Then he spent time replacing the water heater in the RV. Our 3rd camping/RV trip for the summer is planned for Monday-Friday. We've had to cancel the other 2 trips - a tire blew on the way to Denali and then Michael simply crashed (physically not in an automobile) the day we had planned to leave for Kesugi Ken....but we're hopeful to get out of town on Monday.

Some have asked about my weight loss journey. Yes, it continues. I'm havconsciously focusing on the daily habits and practices I'm working into my life, rather than a number on a scale. I'm having fun moments along the way and this morning when I stepped on the scale I discovered I'm 10 lbs from the WW goal. I cancelled WW and am living the lifestyle, but using another app to track things.  The new app counts bites as well as calories, carbs, protein etc...and it's only $36 a year.  It fits our budget much better than the WW app or workshops did. I can choose from 6 plans...straight calories, WW clone plans, or keto, and it will track them all. It had a learning curve - but I'm enjoying the extra data. I had plateaued. However,  when I started tracking with itrackbites I noticed my calorie consumption was REALLY low quite often...I WAS eating in the WW point range, but I was most often on the low end of the daily points I was allowed and never used all my weekly points - this meant my calorie intake was lower than recommended. I was averaging about 600 calories a day.  I began eating enough to stay in the point range while ALSO eating at least 1000 calories a day -  and I began losing again.  Walking and gardening are daily activities; movement that I love.

My goal in the garden today was to plant the bed which Michael and Alex finished setting up yesterday. I had options....In the end I transplanted some bean starts into 1/2 of the bed and did beets and one line of carrots.

I hit on the idea of using panels from the OLD GREENHOUSE to cover rows of seeds. They germinate really fast in this humid environment.

OK - I know it's not cultured - but it's what we can do. It's a JOB trying to turn this pasture to a garden...and to keep ALASKA outside the fence. ::snort:: Here are the potatoes. There are 3 rows of Yukon Gold, 2 rows of red potatoes, 6 cauliflower, 6 broccoli and 4 dill plants in this plot.

Yes, I do have cardboard, plastic and old carpets down to block chickweed. 

These beds are doing nicely. I've been thinning and it's time to thin a bit more. The first bed has asparagus on the left. There are spears up!!! Romaine lettuce, some green ballish lettuce, red leaf lettuce, green and red cabbage. The nearest bed has kale, spinach, sweet peas, beets, and Brussel sprouts. 

All the lettuce

Asparagus

Kale - I've thinned it twice, but it's time again. 

 We have four new beds this year. Michael made a frame and we covered two of them. This is working GREAT as the greenhouse from Costco blew away. I have cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes in here.  The bed in front  has onions, radishes, carrots and spinach.  The tires are full of flowers.

This was the lasagna bed I started last year. I know some were skeptical - but it's working well. We have used the same principle with the new beds this year. We've got a bed that we're putting clippings, scraps, straw, chicken litter etc into now. It will cook over the winter/spring and be ready to go next year.  There are odd growing patterns in here as the CHICKENS LOVE THIS BED. I clipped their wings. We didn't want to - but I was DONE with them digging up the tiny plants. I replanted twice and then Michael clipped their wings. 

Six rows of corn. 

The first blossom 

This is the foundation of the old greenhouse. Michael plans to rebuild. When it is done, I have hopes to make it a melon house. I needed more beds faster than the guys could get them leveled and in place. Last Saturday I weeded, added compost, forked, added some soil....and planted my sad starts. They needed dirt much sooner - I'm praying they perk up and do well. There are beans down both sides, 6 kale plants in the front and 2 butter cup squash in the right corner. If the moose find it - they'll destroy it...but so far, the moose are staying away.  They've tangled with the electric fence around the garden often enough to stay away? I hope. BTW, *I* tangled with the fence tonight. OUCH...but I had wanted to confirm it was working - and now I know.  

Millie came out to visit. 

This may be a problem when she gets bigger...at this point she wants at them, but can't get at them. Phoenix has been terrorizing us all, it's funny to watch him nonchalantly saunter away when she lunges. 

So many things to explore!

Um...yeah. That's MINE. 

Grandpa loves Millie. Ignore the Covid hair - Michael and Dad are getting haircuts tomorrow. 

Stacia's a great puppy mommy. She took Millie to the swingset and played to make noises that she will hear when the kids are here. Working to get her used to as many things as we can in the next month. We've heard puppies can go through a fearful phase at 12 weeks....

Other family tidbits....the boys worked, Dad was able to talk to my baby brother Nate. They made it home from Kstan for the summer.

Millie Adjusts to Home

Stacia reported Millie slept through the night. In fact, Millie refused to come OUT of the kennel. Yep, she's a bit freaked out by the house. Once outside she ran, jumped, and was fearless. She loves being outside. 

It's been another big day for Millie. She did great with her collar, the halter, and is starting to learn her name, and the instruction to "come." She continued to try to make friends with the chickens.  She met Grandpa. 

She grabbed Grandpa's newspaper and an idea was born....Can we train her to go bring the paper to the porch? Can you imagine how useful this would be in the winter???? 

The "experts" tell us an 8 week old Labradoodle needs 10 minutes of energetic play twice a day. She had about an hour of play every couple of hours. I think we've got this. 

If Stacia lies down, Millie comes in close for a snuggle! 

Stalking her Ducks (UofO) chew toy

As we've entered the warmer weather I've noted a trend. The blog slows down. This is because gardening is intense in our short growing season. We've been working, working, working and we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think. 

There's a lot of work involved in turning a horse pasture into a garden....we dream of the year we can simply take the starts out to the beds and PLANT THEM. This is not that year. I'll get a gardening post together...but today in the garden....I thinned radishes and kale and brought the pulled ones inside to eat. I also got two more loads of dandelions drying....and something made my lips and tongue sting....

This white table used to hold starts which would be  moved in each night and out in the morning. Now it's my gardening table.....

The girls rush and crowd to observe what I'm doing. 

It would take more energy than I have to give the complete story....but we leveled and placed a new bed today. We then moved the lasagna bed from last summer into this bed and filled the top with some dirt. I'll plant the last few things that need a home in it tomorrow - or Friday if tomorrow gets away from me. Michael and Alex are the muscle behind this madness. We have another bed like this one that will go in the corner they are emptying. It will be the lasagna bed I begin now....and if we get more built, we'll do the same with them....

We lost track of time in the garden and had to rush out for an appointment rather abruptly. I DID have the ribs in the oven - Stacia finished it up.  Dad was waiting up for us when we got home. He told us "The little girl's puppy is the cutest thing!" Millie is winning hearts. I am SO SHOCKED there is NO DOG HAIR on me when I cuddle her....or wash her towels etc. This low shed/no shed thing is amazing! We hope she keeps her blue eyes, though we know they often change colors. 

Another thing taking time from blogging is my daily walk. Today I walked 6 1/2 miles....I.LOVE.IT.  Honestly, it feels wonderful to be able to be outside and I've finally acclimated to Alaska enough to have determined to spend every moment I can outside. I may have to set up the laptop outside if I hope to update. 

It's been a full day and I'm the last one up. I'll be the first one up in the a.m. so I'd better bring this to an end.