Sore Shoulders and Blisters

Today was an off farm morning.  Went and did our annual spring blood draw to make sure we are still healthy.  Came home, ate the cream pie, before we get our cholesterol numbers back (!) then headed to Ritzville for the John Deere appreciation lunch.  Two years ago two thirds of the people at John Deere day ended up with salmonella poisoning!  You can only imagine the comments from the other implement dealers in the area!!!  Reynald fell prey to the food poisoning and spent four days in bed and another four moving pretty slow. I was fine.  I NEVER eat the potato salad!! We'll find out tomorrow, if the anyone suffers from a similar fate!

Anyway, when we got home I set to work on raking up the grass thatch and  finished!   I have a few blisters on my hands, even though I was wearing gloves, and my shoulders are kind of sore, but I'm done with the raking.  Tomorrow I'll pick up the piles and put them on the flower beds.

Raked up piles in the orchard.

The back yard.

The front yard.

And, the north side 

There was still a little sunlight left to the day, so I decided to spread some of the straw on the garden so it could start to dry out.  This is straw from last year's carrot covering.  It was supposed to be spread on the garden last summer as mulch, but I just didn't get it done.  I'll let it dry for a few days then run over it with the rototiller to bruise and break the straw.  Hopefully it will start to decompose a bit before I do another tillage in May, right before I plant.  There's still some straw left that I will try to spread on the corn and potatoes this summer to help keep the water in and the weeds out!

It's kind of hard to tell from this photo, but piled against the fence is straw from last year.

And now it's spread on this part of the garden.  You may be able to see that there is still some straw against the fence, in front of the chicken house.

As always, Leo keeps an eye on what I am doing!

Leo, the supervisor!

Our chickens have been enjoying these lovely warm days as well.  It's so fun to work outside with them chatting and singing!

The girls are hoping for a treat.  They are the best garbage disposals!!

Enjoying the late afternoon sun.

Here's a pretty good shot of our rooster with his girls.

And, we've had the most spectacular sunsets for the last two weeks.  I could and probably should, take photos every day, but I haven't.  What a glorious way to end the light part of each day!

Calling it a day.....