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pollen week

Well, the first week of pollen season is here. I remember as a child, the first time I saw pollen on the car. I was horrified and didn't know what was happening in the world. Mother laughed at me and seemed incredulous that I was shocked. I have no clue how old I was, I just remember my horror at coming out of the store to a yellow car.

Today in the store, I heard three different ladies from NY saying this was their first spring in NC, and they had never seen anything like it. A part of me wanted to say "Welcome to the South. It only lasts about 3 week" but I remembered my shock when I first saw it and figured I'd let them continue to marvel at this strange and yucky stuff.

It's supposed to rain today - storm, actually. So I hustled to get the last of my pole beans into the ground, and planted some eggplant in my one and only planter's box. I'm excited and a tad baffled by my graden this year, even though I'm the one who plotted it out. There's still bush beans, peppers, corn, and okra to go into the ground, though we're still pondering the corn. I'm pondering whether or not to put up a fence; Bobby's pondering why on earth I'd consider planting corn without a fence. The fact we saw 5 deer in one of the areas I'm contemplating the other night has only increased those thoughts.

We've lost two hens this week. One was taken about 5am in the morning (the dogs and geese put up an outrageous protest),  and the other was simply a pile of feathers the next morning. I repaired a hole in the pen's fence yesterday. I'm not overly pleased with the end result, but our two remaining hens were still alive this morning so I suppose it did it's job. Hopefully I can repair the electric fence this week and give them an extra layer of protection as well.

The biddies are doing well, feathering and growing like crazy. So I guess technically they're now pullets. One of the oldest (a leghorn) hopped up onto the smaller perch post Josh and I added to the pen today (a first!), making me think all that time and energy to insert it was well worth it. We have the small house located between the house and the garden area, which is inside the dogs' fence line.I thought that might help protect them a little more, and so far I think that's been a wise move. Freckles especially is keeping a close eye on them and is very curious about their movements, especially when they chase each other when one has a bug. It's not uncommon to see her sitting beside the pen with her head tilted and a puzzled expression on her face. I've yet to capture a pic of her in that position as she moves when she sees me, but I've seen the scene a lot since we've moved the biddies outside.

And if my brain was refusing to accept the fact that spring was here, the trees and shrubs filling out  with greenery and colors tells me we are quickly moving on through this year. (Hello! It is April already!!!)

So I'm still two projects behind for the year (replacing the big hen house and redoing the small flower garden), and we won't even discuss quilting projects, but I am pleased with some of the clean-up and the reproduction of the small hen house. (and no, I still don't have all the finishing touches completed on it!) 

Hopefully when I sit down the next time I will have pictures to post. Springward ho!

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