I do hope you are all enjoying the Learn to Paint series.
I am aiming to post another lesson this week. I say aiming as sometimes life gets in the way of what I want to do.
But rest assured I will post it.
The weather has been perfect here in California. Warm days in the 80’s and cool nights in the low, low 50’s. Great for garden work.
My plans this weekend were to get certain garden chores done for winter, things like separate my cherished bamboo plant so I can have more. I am not sure why I love bamboo, maybe it is the tropical look it portrays for me.
It proved quite challenging.
I thought to divide it like a do any perennial but it had other ideas. I attempted to slice it down the middle of the root ball with a sharp shovel, I knew it would take great force but when my shovel connected with it the rebound rattled my teeth.
It was solid! So I opted to unwind smaller canes along with the roots from the root mass instead.
I ended up with 3 new potted bamboos and high hopes they will take off and enjoy having room to spread their roots.
Here is one, the leaves did curl from the shock and I am not even sure I did this correctly so only time will tell. I am sure to keep them well watered.
I have also been engaging in a raccoon relocation program. They have become so destructive we have had to take drastic measures, like trapping and hauling off to new homes deep in the woods.
He may look cute but he is a vandal!
For those of you curious about my latest hatch, here is a shot of the chicks. They are hiding behind this guy, he is a little rooster my mom hatched the month before. He was so longsome in his little area that I let him join the girls here.
He is already showing his male leanings, he guards the girls valiantly. He is improving in his looks, he was rather battered looking, the raccoons had plucked out some of his feathers trying to have him for dinner one night.
My roses are making one last showing before they shut down for winter.
I shared the bud last time of my Princess Diana rose and here she is, this is the first bloom after transplanting her, so she is flourishing in her new spot.
Soon I will need to drag in the geraniums to overwinter.
I know you have heard me raving about this clematis before and his stellar performance, and now here he goes again blooming one last time before going dormant.
Warsaw Nike
For the most part my window boxes and hanging planters are looking rather sad but there are a few volunteer petunias just now blooming. I need to pick up a few violas to add to the planter, they do well all winter and fill in thickly come Spring.
You remember my fancy little table set up?? Well I enjoyed seeing it so much that I left it for a bit. Sunday afternoon I kept my nephews while their parents went on a dinner date.
The 3 year old, Cayden, is a drama king. He sees my table and exclaims “a tea pawty for me!” as he clasps his hands to his chest in delight.
So we had to sit and have a tea party. He and his brother who is near 5 now had milk in their tea cups and tortilla chips on their plates.
The crystal champagne flutes were put up for safe keeping.
It made a very nice ‘tea pawty’.
On that note I will leave you now. Enjoy your day.
Good Monday morning! Because of a lack of sleep last night I am quite brain dead this morning so forgive any typos.
My latest nephew gave his mom and dad a false idea last night that he was ready to come into the world. Me, being the fabulous Auntie I am drug herself from her bed at 1:30 in AM to go and try to sleep in a foreign environment (with a dog whimpering and cats jumping on things, phone ringing and 4 year old nephew climbing over me to sleep beside me). The idea was so the big brother nephews did not have to be roused from their own beds and that part of it all worked, they slept on.
But being the little dickens he is, the new one decided to stop it all as they reached the hospital. I think his nickname will be BRAT! I will probably get the evil eye from his older brothers if I call him that but being I am a pushover for my sweetie nephews Brat would be an affectionate term.
I did catch some z’s between 11pm and 1:30 am so I am in a better boat than my sister who did not even get that much, I am sure. Now that I have included you in my pity party I will share what I really was piping in about.
New babies! Can you see her crunched up against the side of the incubator, her egg left behind.
Her sister is pipping her way out as well.
I am remaining positive that these are mostly hens, which is what I am after.
These are Black Copper Maran eggs, the very dark ones that are richer in flavor than other brown eggs. (or so everyone swears, I do know the shells are much tougher)
My older chicks, the Swedish Flower hens are old enough to have their own pen inside the chicken run. I still keep them separate as they are on a different feed. They are kept apart from the other hens by the fencing but they can see each other, so this should help when I integrate them in with the larger hens.
I think this beautiful white one is a rooster. I did want one rooster out of this bunch. I love his red top knot.
The colorations on these ladies is stunning and each one is so different.
Some have more spotting and others less.
Another shot of the (hopefully) rooster.
Last but not least, my first rose of the season. This is one of those miniature roses you pick up at Wal-Mart in January in a little 4 inch pot for $5.
I have potted it up into a larger decorative pot and I overwinter it in my greenhouse each year. I have had this about 5 years now and I keep it in the greenhouse until about to bloom, then I whip it out and put it on my dining table to enjoy, for awhile. Then back outside it goes, they do not like living in the house for long, not enough sun.
I think I got thru this halfway legibly. Now out to the studio to paint. I have signs galore to get done. Not complaining just the facts. (I think I will avoid using power tools today, especially the chop saw, I am definitely not 100%)
I better get moving, I am running late.
Good Morning everyone! Another fabulous day ahead. Last week, on Thursday to be precise, this is what we awakened to…
Within an hour it looked like this…
Another hour goes by..
After that one I stopped taking photos. Then we have this week…warm and mild.
My purpose in showing you that is to prove my previous post called Capricious Spring. Snow and cold one day then sun and warm the next.
So on to my real post…
My chicks were in need of a brooder, I had to get them out of my studio, the dust and dander they create was more than I could endure so a brooder is born.
Yep, that is my hubby wearing shorts and a t-shirt to work outside, quite the contrast to above, isn’t it. Not a lick of snow left.
He is cutting out the door here.
Basically we built a plywood box, he hung it from the inside of the chicken pen. Inside the pen they are safer from predators and kind of get used to the larger hens.
The are ladies staying far away from this contraption for the moment but they have their alfalfa to enjoy.
I ran the cord for the heat lamp thru the chicken wire.
The babies are not sure what to do in their new digs at first.
I tried to get a close up of them, 3 of them show signs of having the top knot that some Swedish Flower hens have. But they were so busy scurrying around that I could not get a clear shot of them. This white one has the top know for sure. No sure signs of a rooster yet. I may have to invest in another batch of hatching eggs.
I have been kept busy with custom sign orders and along the way I try to paint signs for my website. Here is a couple I just finished.
Today I have more painting to do so out to the studio I go, after I have folded and put away laundry.
Enjoy this wonderful day!
