The giant claw suddenly appeared over the roof and one mighty bite left a huge, gaping hole in the roof. Wahoo – we’re on our way to a new garage!
I did get the chives and the clematis moved and I agonized over what to do with the tulips and the alliums, but then, I came to my senses with the help of a glass of wine. “Look,” I said to myself, “you bought these bulbs at Costco in a giant bag — so just go to Costco this fall and buy more!” Problem solved. So early Wednesday morning, with scissors in hand and a 5 gallon bucket, I proceeded to cut 75, on-the-verge-of-blooming, tulips. I currently have 20 beautiful pink tulips in bloom in the house. The rest are waiting to be given as friendship bouquets. “Nature” will take its course with the bulbs during construction and afterwards I will dig any survivors and relocate.
The Girls have been pretty freaked out by the giant claw just a few feet away, but not enough to stop laying — we’ve been getting five eggs a day. Thankfully, the claw has finished its job in the back yard and has moved on the the front yard to tear up the sidewalk and rip the front porch off! Things should be a little calmer, until the framing starts.
It’s a mess, but it is temporary and the outcome will be a new garage with an indoor potting area (yippee!) and raised beds that will hopefully out-produce the former plot. In the meantime, I’m going to concentrate on sprucing up the flower gardens and I just bought three hydrangeas from Albertsons (of all places — $6.99 each — they are beautiful) to put on the north side yard.
Even with all this disarray, I find tranquilty in seeing my hostas peeking out of the earth, the bleeding hearts leaping out of the ground and mowing the lawn for the first time in 2009 (even if it is to “make-tidy” a place for building supplies).
Hydrangeas at Albertson’s? Good to know!
I have a question for you about introducing new chicks to my older chicks…it’s the first time I’ve ever done it, and it didn’t go so well the other night! I don’t know if you’ve had to do any introducing with your flock yet, but I thought it be worth it to at least ask you.
Sooo… I have some four-week-olds that were with a bunch of week-olds when I bought them recently. Our newest arrivals just showed up at the Feed and Farm store a few days ago (they’re week-olds). I figured since the older ones had already been with younger ones and they really haven’t been at our house long the acclimation period to the new chicks wouldn’t take long…boy was I wrong! They immediately started pecking at the poor little fuzzballs’ beaks and made one of them bleed a little bit. Once I noticed this I separated them. I’ve been doing my research since that incident, and it sounds like the best alternative so far is a kind of supervised play date. Do you have any other helpful advice?
The one thing I find a little humorous about the whole situation is that the “big” girls are Barred Rocks and the new ones are Rhode Island Reds. I think my girls probably picked the wrong chicks to pick on because once they start growing the little peepers will surely outgrow them!
Hi,
We haven’t had the opportunity to introduce new members to our flock yet; but what I have read on backyardchickens.com, is that they do need to be supervised. I think you’re better off at this younger age than if you were bringing chicks in to older hens; your chicks will grow quickly and I bet soon everyone will be fine. And, my Barred Rocks are MUCH bigger than my Rhode Island Red, in fact Helen (RIR)is the second smallest. Buttercup, a golden sex link (RIR x RIWhite) is the smallest, but the best producer of HUGE eggs! Go figure! Keep me posted on how the play dates go!