Other homestead stuff

I guess I was so excited about the washing machine that I didn't get around to mentioning that we got chicks on Friday. We have about 100 of them, about half various egg layers including buff Orpington, barred rock, Rhode Island red, golden laced Wyandotte, silver laced Wyandotte, and black Australorps. The other half are hybrid fryers. So far we aren't too impressed with them; they don't seem to know enough to keep from drowning in the waterer or trampling each other. There are also a few guinea keets. We will be getting a few more chicks this week.

Rain and more rain. I have too many plants that still need to get planted in the garden, and seed potatoes, but it's just too wet. My stepson came over yesterday to help Russ work on the new house and put up a tarp covered garage we've been meaning to put up for two years now. He stayed over to do some more work today but so far they've been rained out. The forecast, dare I say, looks good for the rest of the week though.

It's the time of year for oxeye daisy, orange hawkweed, Indian paintbrush, phlox, and lupine. We don't have too many patches of wild lupine here but there are some areas where garden lupines have naturalized and are blooming like crazy. The starflowers are still blooming along the trail, joined by wild lily of the valley and bunchberry. I'm keeping an eye out for potential blackberry picking sites, which are revealed by the blossoms right now.