Kitten nest (and other things)...

Looky what I found in the chickens' nest this evening!  And egg....and two new kittens.  I think they belong to our cat, Socks.  She was up there when I came through the door and then she quickly jumped out of the nest.  Socks is a nice cat, but she's not all that friendly.  I expect she'll move her kittens sometime after it quits raining.  Yes, raining!  It's raining here again and we're so thankful.  It sounds like we are going to have a rainy system that lingers for the next few days.  I do hope so because Hubs and I just over-seeded part of our lawn.

I'm trying to figure out why our lawn died out so badly, and I think it was a combination of things.  Last year was terribly dry and we couldn't water the lawn.  We did, however, use a trash pump and watered from the stock pond a few times.  That water was pretty bad and full of alkali which is not good for lawns so I think the drought along with the bad water might have hurt the lawn grass.  The other thing is that we never got a good snow cover this winter.  Grass needs a nice blanket of snow when it gets as cold as it does up north and ours didn't have one. 

I raked and raked the old dead stuff out of the yard and then we did a light tilling.  I did a little research on overseeding with native grasses so that's what we are experimenting with.  My idea is that the native grasses will be drought resistant, bug resistant, and require less mowing, watering, and fertilizer.  That sounds like the perfect lawn to me.  A local seed company made the mix for me:  Cody Buffalo Grass, Sheep Fescue, Fairway Crested Wheatgrass, Dutch White Clover, and Blue Grama.  We'll see if it comes up in a week or two.  In the meantime, we are getting the perfect rain for it.

Yesterday I planted my square foot garden beds.  I wrote everything down on a piece of cardboard so I could remember what seeds I planted where.  The tomato and pepper plants are easy to see, but not those little seeds.  Once everything is up, it will be easy to see what is what.  Perfect rain for the flowers and veggies too.

My upper body is feeling quite puny tonight after my raking and planting workout.  I took a hot bath with some Epsom Salts and felt some relief.  Rest will be the next remedy.

This past weekend our son (#3) was married to JJ.  What a celebration we had!  The whole family was home for it.  It was an outdoor wedding that turned out beautifully despite all the threatening weather that was predicted. We had perfect sunshine and comfortable temperatures.  No coats, no rubber rain boots, no umbrellas --  although we packed umbrellas in our cars, just in case.  JJ was a beautiful bride and our son was a handsome groom.  We are so happy for them both and wish them much  JOY!

Now it is time to head off to bed where I will listen to the rain drumming on the windows and get all cozy and warm and comfortable. You know this little saying, don't you?  I think of it almost every night when I climb into my bed, and I certainly will tonight.

Breakfast in Bed, Mary Cassatt

Oh Bed! Oh Bed! Oh delicious bed! 

That heaven on earth to the weary head." 

~Thomas Hood