We've added some livestock recently. 8 goldfish from Wal-Mart (trademark R) we had been talking about adding some fish to our lovely pond for some time. The fish might help keep the algae from growing rampant and provide some visual interest. While the pond is not large, it is big enough that it's rare to ever see a fish. Kristi saw one yestereday so we know there is at least one left alive. Since this is one of Barbecue's favorite watering holes, there is a little doubt about the long term survival of the fish. Barbecue's method of getting a drink is to first get into the pond and then commence drinking. You don't want Barbecue in your lap after she's had a drink.
Our Cornish hens are getting near to slaughtering size. I have to remember to take a scale out to the barn soon. We've lost 2 in the last couple of days. To what we don't know. They all seemed healthy, but these 2 just keeled over on their backs dead. They have been buried between the boxwoods. We expect the boxwoods are going to grow like crazy or get feathers.
This morning I went out to feed and water the Cornish chickens, Barred rock chickens and the Motley Crew bunch of chickens and it finally happened. The Motley Crew and the peahen all sleep in the rafters of the barn. I've mentioned this before. When I go into the barn I look up to see where everybody is sleeping. That way I can avoid walking directly underneath any bird. I had a bucket of feed for the Cornish Crosses, checked overhead and the peahen was directly above the gate. I had opened the gate and stepped over the chickens that are always along the fence when it happend. The peahen unloaded, hitting the gate and my fingers. I just know she did that intentionally. She's probably been laughing about that all morning.
Last weekend my task was to bring water to Kristi's vegetable garden. We have a water spigot about 2/3 of the way out in the front yard. So my plan was to dig a trench from the spigot to the garden and extend the pipe. I dug a great trench. It was 14 inches deep, 12 inches wide and 80 feet long. This was HARD work. I started with my mighty Mantis rototiller and softened things up and scooped the dirt out with shovels. 6 feet before the planned end of the trench, I found the main water supply line for the house. So 2 days of hard labor was for naught. Now I have to fill in my trench and then build the water system for the garden. It's supposed to rain today.