Numerous updates lumped into one...with pics!

Today I have jury duty. This means that I am sitting here in a room with a million other people doing nothing for probably hours. Luckily, I brought my laptop and enough work to last about 10 days. So, I'm using this morning to give the updates I've been organizing. In order, and supported by pictures, here's what I've been up to since my last post:

I got new glasses, a new haircut, new chickens (as you knew), and a goofy grin (optional):


I then got on a plane to visit California. My cousin and her daughter (in Greece, she's my niece but in America she's my cousin) were visiting from Greece and I got to see them. I also got to see my brother and his new daughter. My four siblings and I were united for the first time in about 6 years. Here are my sisters and my cousin:


Zoe and my nephews


Niece and Nephews:


Came back home and watched a Taxpayers show at which much debauchery ensued:




On the home front, the garden is doing well. It's kind of become a beast of its own, beyond my control. I have more than 100 Walla Walla onions planted:

Beans:

Corn and beans:

Nathan's hops:

Pumpkins:

And a lot more. Tomatoes, more beans, zucchini, winter squash, basil, oregano, parsley, peas, yams, peppers and potatoes.

The livestock front is also going well. Nobody has killed anyone else and the chickens - ahem - the ladies, are growing like weeds. The General (General Tso, aka Eunice von Cluckington) is the boldest. She will come up to me first to see if I am offering anything good to eat, and she figures out where her food is coming from fastest. Yesterday, she decimated an ant nest. That's a good hen, General. Good hen. Other favorite pursuits of the General's are dusting herself in the dirt.



Tandoori right now is the sweetest bird and easiest to handle. They all love perching, but she seems to love it the most.


Highly jealous dog behind bars, well away from the ladies:

Kung Pao is the largest bird. She is second to the General in her love of perching, and when the camera is taking photos, she has to come up to investigate:





I tried to buy some perches and ladders at Petco, but I came unprepared with crate dimensions, so I guessed wrong. In the interim, I've created a perch out of a bungee cable pulled tight. The girls sat here for about five minutes when I installed it, even though it was wobbly.

Also, when Nathan's brother Ben was here, those manly men crafted this fine piece:

It is a worm composter. I know more pictures need to be taken, but I let Nathan take the photo last night and he only took one. And now I'm at the courthouse. Inside this box are three compartments which the worms will travel between, depending on how we fill the compartments. Basically, they will turn our scraps into dirt, which will fix that horrible clay situation in the backyard. Also, I will feed some of the worms to my chickens.

Also, I've attended a wedding and a bridal shower, and I have baked two cakes for those occasions. My failures at cake baking have inspired an urge to start baking cakes until I become an expert. It's fun unless you're under a time deadline, at which time it becomes not fun and very stressful. But I think with practice, I can learn to bake a pretty and tasty cake.