I sawed off the back of a large shower enclosure that we didn't use in our Irish cottage to create a duck pond for our 13 now grown ducks (one of God's DUMBEST - albeit amusing - creatures). The way you tell the hens (EGG PRODUCERS) from the drakes (WELFARE RECIPIENTS) is by listening to the sound that they make... hens have a traditional duck "quack-quack" while the free loading males (you'd think a woman was writing this?) make a "peep-peep" sound. The problem is they all look VERY much alike and they are moving around constantly so it's hard to tell the males from the females. I think it's a plot by the drakes to avoid becoming Peking Duck.
That's "Paul Drake" (named for Perry Mason's private investigator) in the foreground.
The next news is about Alexis' garden which has been a phenomenal success this year... especially if you consider she has gotten her price per tomato down from $57.13/each to a paltry $11.78/each... and although still a LITTLE pricy, they taste GREAT especially with chicken salad (hmmmm... duck salad?) from a local tea room in Monteagle. Here is a shot of one of her square foot tomato boxes hanging heavy with tomatoes:
Here are some of her baby watermelons. Does anyone know when they're ripe?
And here's a cantaloupe that escaped the raised bed onto the gravel walkway:
Another closeup of one of the watermelons:
On to dogs (my favorite). As many will remember I lost my BIG buddy Baxter back in February. We buried him near the house and are now in the process of making an appropriate "park" area to memorialize his faithful life of love. We'll bury Alexis' other cremated kitty/doggie friends here as well. These are a couple of the lilies that have already bloomed.
Here's "Uncle Mosby" and our new baby Doberman "Dixie Doodle" sharing what we call the interspring mattress (it's actually a rebounder trampoline that she has teethed on). As you can see they already love each other:
"Boone Dog" is doing well but not shown. Boone has turned out to be VERY smart and the most obedient dog I've ever had... he actually comes when you call him.Well, that'll catch up those who are interested just a little bit... more follows.
