Sore Muscles, Stink buds, Silly puppies and Showers

Our beautiful 3 days are over and rain is expected for the next two days followed by cooler weather for a week, maybe winter cold weather.  It is probably good that it is too wet to work outdoors today, my sore achy muscles need a recovery period.  Though we have a treadmill and hand weights in the basement rec room, I am much too sedentary during the cold months, enjoying walks in the snow or on a crisp clear day, but certainly not getting the exercise that I get during the growing season.

We have had the chickens for just over a year now and it has been about a year since we put the coop in place, unleveled and poorly fenced.  Late last spring, eldest son came to do some work with us and he helped me level the coop the best we could using car jacks and a 6 foot pry bar to raise it up on blocks.  The fencing has evolved from a small square of poorly erected garden fence to the present design of a much larger rectangle with 4 foot wide runs that extend down two sides of the garden, forming a large L at the end of the rectangle, welded wire fence on heavy T posts.  After the coop was in place, I saw a design that ran a 3 foot wide run all the way around a garden with the coop and the compost bins at one edge.  Unfortunately, the coop couldn’t be placed where that would work at the time and now that the area is leveled near the bins, the coop can’t be moved, so it will have to be as it is, though that design also serves to keep deer out of the garden.

Every fall we are invaded by these nasty pests and a few wasps.  They manage to get inside in spite of the windows being shut and locked and all winter I capture and destroy them until I think that most are gone, then April arrives and they crawl out from under window sills, behind baseboards and who know where else and again we are over run.  They are a major pest in SW Virginia and seem to be getting worse.  You can’t squash them and vacuuming them can only be done with a vacuum with a disposable bag as they live up to their name, Stink bug.  Last night I must have captured at least 20 and several more this morning.  They don’t fare well in soapy water and can easily be knocked into a paper cup of it to be flushed away.  They are an invasive species and seem to have no natural predators here.

This is our 210 pound puppy’s favorite position.  His breeder says that his father does the same thing.  Such a silly dog.  Surprisingly, the German Shepherd in the background chose to gnaw on a bone instead of attacking him as she usually does when he rolls over like this and she can get the upper hand.

Today is going to be a quiet day of rest and recovery.  The dog hair needs to be vacuumed, but other than that I am going to read, go to my spinning group and fix dinner.  After 3 long days of hard labor, I think that is enough.