Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Picture Heavy


Isn't this a beautiful color?  There are lots of them planted around where the old house used to be and they are all blooming now.  I just love that there are already some flowers planted out here.  One thing I don't have are flower seeds.  I'd love to have some more color out here.  But there are other things I would like to get planted first. Like fruit trees and a big asparagus bed.  Of course it all takes money and I haven't got that dang money tree to produce anything yet!  <sigh>

I'm as pleased as I can be about these past few days of prepping.  With all the cucumbers from the garden I've been able to put up 3 quarts and 8 pints of Bread and Butter pickles.I have found a crispy dill pickle recipe that I'm going to get brave and try in a few days.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of cucumbers to work with by then.  We picked all the hot peppers that were on the plants the other day and I put up a pint of pickled peppers for Mars this winter. I'm hoping I can put some more of them up as well.  I also made 6 jars of strawberry jam.
  I just love homemade bread. I mean who doesn't?  So toast with jam and a cup of coffee for breakfast makes me  one happy lady!  I'm gonna brag on myself here and say that this is by far the best jam that I have put up so far.
There must seriously be something wrong with me.  I just realized that I haven't told you guys about the newest members of our little homestead.  We went to the local Chicken Swap a couple of weeks ago looking for a couple of rabbits to add to our "herd".  We arrived fairly early (for me) and were surprised to find that there was hardly anyone there.  I guess it must be getting to hot out there to haul all those animals out there and then sit in the sun for several hours.  There is absolutely NO shade out there.  There was one person with a billy goat, the local feed store who had a few baby chicks and a couple of folks who brought their garage sale items out.  No rabbits or fresh produce or anything like that.  I was just a bit disappointed.  Well, not to be put off, Mars suggested we call the man we got the first rabbits from.  Come to find out he was attending a Farmer's Market in a town several miles away.  Since it was Saturday and we were already out and about we decided to ride over there and see what he had.  Besides, we haven't done much checking out of the area we have moved to. I'm still trying to get an idea of the lay of the land.  Back when folks could still afford gas, one of our favorite pastimes used to be just taking off and riding with no real destination in mind.  We have found some really neat places that way over the years.
Like this horse trader's place. There were literally hundreds of horses out here. I have never seen so many horses in one place in all my life!
Check out this old train engine.  It's just sitting out in that field rusting.  What a shame!  I thought it was pretty cool though!


We brought home 3 New Zealand Rabbits.  2 Does and a Buck. (I'm so original- I named him Buck) I don't know what happened to the picture I wanted to show you of them.  Oh well, I'm sure I will bore you with plenty more of them soon enough....
They are still to young to start breeding yet but that's ok.  It's so hot right now that I really don't want to try just yet.  It's just too hard on them.  So by the time they are ready to go it will be cool enough.  Then .... bring on the bunny stew!  Here's a picture of Beaudreaux the Giant though!  I'm starting to notice a trend in the names of the animals around here.  Our dog's name is B.B.
Living in the country I knew that there would be "critter's" out here.  I even knew that there would be spiders and snakes. That being said it doesn't mean I have to like them!  Miss Kitty found a huge tarantula out here. That thing was bigger than my hand. And if that spider wasn't bad enough, Check out the critter we found her stalking.  You know, I'm ok with spiders... they are creepy and all but I can deal with them.  It's walking through a spider web that totally freaks me out because you never know if it is on you somewhere. 
Snakes are a whole other story.  They freak me out.  A LOT. Like bad enough that I have been known to hurt myself trying to get away from them.  I don't know what kind of snake this is. Just that it was about 2 1/2 foot long and really fat around the middle.  Any idea what kind of snake this is? 

Because while Mars was out mowing the other day he scared off one just like this one.  The difference?  It was at least couple of feet longer than this one. 
It's still out there somewhere, so if you have any ideas on what it is, I sure would like to know. 
      ~~~~~  Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ...  ~~~~~

15 comments:

  1. Looks like a chicken snake, Sci ...we have killed three of his look-alikes so far this year. They're not poisonous but they will eat any critter small enough to get their mouth around ...including baby bunnies. They squeeze a small animal until it suffocates and stops wiggling, then stretch their mouth over it. They can open that mouth WIDE.

    I know your bunny cages are off the ground. The snakes will smell them from a distance and come check things out. If the big bunnies see or suspect a snake, they will THUMP loudly and repeatedly, especially the bucks. Does tend to hunker down and get quiet. So if your bucks are thumping, take a hoe or a 410 and go snake hunting. Or send Mars. Yeah, come to think of it, you better send Mars. LOL

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  2. The to@st & j@m look delicious! Yummy :)

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  3. They will even try and eat a bigger chicken. They cannot get it all the way down, just to the shoulders but it is to late then.
    I guess you could say their eyes are bigger than their stomach.

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  4. I forgot to mention that flower looks like a daylily ...is it? If so, they multiply in tubers underground and actually benefit from having the tubers dug up and separated into smaller clumps. It would help you spread some flowers like you want at no expense.

    : )

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  5. I agree that the flower looks like a daylily.

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  6. Sci, I am almost sure that snake is a copperhead! Look it up on Google. FK

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  7. Yes, that's a day lilly, a double one. You can divide the clumps if they are big enough, make sure you have part of the roots & tuber bulbs on each clump you divide. The jam looks great! we call those copper heads here, if it is, it is poisionous. I hate those things! I agree look it up to be sure, they hide under rocks, old boards, etc. Better to be on the safe side!

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  8. Love the pics, Sci, well all except the one w/ the snake. :) I'm going to have to agree with HB and annie that is a daylily. Like they said, you can divide them up. I need to separate my lilies, I think that is why they didn't produce so well this year, well that and the weather.

    Love & Hugs
    ~Fel~

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  9. It's not a Copperhead, its head would be arrow shaped.

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  10. HB You're right... I better send Mars! LOL

    Skippy, Th@nks for stoppin' in. I hope you get your A back soon :)

    MDR, I can't imagine seeing something like that. I'm already having nightmares!!!

    Dizzy, appreciate your stopping in today. Pretty isn't it?

    FK I googled it... The head and eyes are wrong for a copperhead. (Thank Goodness)

    I know creepy right, Anne?
    Thanks for the tip on making sure to get some root with the bulb. I really didn't know that.

    HB I'll have to take your advice and spread them around.

    LOL Fel, sorry bout the snake pic. I'd really just like to know though,ya know? And I just KNEW you would love the lily's. :)

    Whew! Steven I went and looked up copperheads. I've still got the willies from the pictures :) but you are right.. its not a Copperhead.

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  11. If I see a snake colored like that, I assume it is a copperhead, although this time of year here in the Ozarks, they tend to be lighter colored. There's an old saying around here that where there is one, there will always be another one. Seems to hold true in my experience. Last one I saw was rapidly slithering away from me. Later in the year, it would have been coming toward me to attack. I can smell copperheads - can't describe the odor, but I know it when I smell it.

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  12. Anon I have to say that is pretty interesting. You are the first person I have ever heard say that they can smell a snake. Very cool, If I could do that my nose would be twitching like a rabbit every time I walked out the door!

    ZZ, This thing definitely wasn't playing dead but now it doesn't have to!! LOL I'll be sure to check it out. And thanks for stopping by!

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  13. Yeah, I think that ZZ got it. Western hognose snake. non-poisonous snakes

    I struggled with my fear of snakes most of my life until I started seeing them for what they were and the benefits of having them around (the non-venomous ones, anyhow).

    I'd would also rather see a snake than to walk through a spider-web!

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  14. Hi MBailey, I can totally understand the fear factor. My problem is that intellectually I understand the benefits of them critters but it doesn't make me like them anymore!

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  15. We don't get poisonous snakes or snakes that are that big here in Nova Scotia -- too bloomin' cold most of the year!

    Your canning results look great. I agree that nothing tastes as good as home made.

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