Sit tight

Beloved is back from one of her journeys and is seeing to the rhubarb and the animals. Here are the Welsummers, still good looking and productive at age three. They are laid back and curious.

New Khaki Campbell ducklings have been brought home and are settled in the "rabbit" cages to grow up a bit before being introduced to the flock. Half of them we are raising for a friend who lives nearby. She'll take them in a month or so.

A surprise rainstorm has developed and is delivering a third of an inch today and another third of an inch tomorrow. I had thought we'd see some "Oregon sunshine" mist and I would set out the summer seedlings, but I've been poorly and should avoid this much weather. So I stay by the fire, drink hot chocolate, and wait.

The young green things are getting a bit leggy, but they will just have to be patient. 

I'd love to get them out of the greenhouse, where they are in danger from mice. Also from towhees who find their way in and beat up the flats with their wings, trying to get out through the glass. I found one yesterday, and some damage had already occurred. I didn't have the hand net handy, so I grabbed the watering hose and sprayed down the bird till its frantic flapping ceased, then picked it up (how tiny! Half the size of a dry one) easily and set it outside. A few minutes later it dried enough to fly away, hopefully none the worse off and a little wiser in the ways of greenhouser folk.

The flats currently in the queue contain "Grandma Jenny's"green beans, scarlet runners, Stowells Evergreen corn, green zukes, yellow zukes, Delicata squash, Carnival squash, lemon cukes, English trellising cukes (not many came up), and a lot of mangel beets.

Sit tight, kids. Your mama loves you.