We have not been home much the previous two days. We took a day trip to the Chesapeake Bay, which was a good long drive, but fun, too, to play in the sand. Jadon went kicking out into the bathtub-warm water on a boogie board and came back shortly, complaining of an itch. I went out into the water to solve this mystery, and soon felt itchy myself.
What a shock it gave me to look down and see a jellyfish there in the water! Eek! And another! And another!
We stayed close to the shore after that. Blech!
On Sunday, we had three hours at home between church and Bible study. On a whim, we stopped by the Doug Bush's, and Doug and Denise were just heading out to set up their electric netting for the first time. "What great timing!" they said. "Think how many arguments you saved us, since you are already competent at putting up this netting!"
Today, then, I was faced with a backlog of dishes, and a backlog of paperwork. The boys were happy to be back at home, and played happily all day. I kept going over to see if they wanted me to read to them, but they were always so engrossed in their little stories and adventures, I didn't have the heart to disrupt them. I even caught Jadon doing Flashmaster, a wonderful electronic "flashcard" game, with his TOES! I'm glad he's voluntarily practicing his math facts, but my goodness: what a level of added difficulty!
Three weeks ago today, we seeded the broody hen with 12 eggs. Two didn't fit underneath, so the first day, we reduced her to ten. I found one rolled away about three days ago, whether because she could tell there was no sign of life, or simply by accident, I couldn't tell, and I wasn't about to crack it open. I'm not that tough yet! So I put it in the slop bucket, and let the pigs deal with whatever it contained.
Of the nine remaining eggs, I actually got a glimpse of them today, when the hen walked off briefly. One egg had cracked significantly, and I could see the little membrane moving in and out. Another three eggs had little cracks, and one whole egg wobbled, just a bit.
It is surreal to watch a rock-like inanimate object suddenly move without an outside force touching it. Beautiful, really.
And then, in the midst of this observation time, the original broody hen and her remaining ten chicks descended. They ate the food set out for Miss Still-Broody, fought the frantic mother off, and stepped on her hatching eggs! The rotten chicks! I hadn't considered how terribly vulnerable the hatching shells would be: a shell remains incredibly strong until it cracks a bit. Then it is fragile, susceptible to even little chick steps.
We finally shooed Little Red Hen and Co outside, and the broody hen ran in and sat back down.
As of tonight, I heard one cheeping, and saw a part of a shell, so one, at least, is alive.
We have a beautiful spider on our barn door. I think he shed his exoskeleton and emerged, larger. Not everyone has such a striking companion in their kitchen.
Phil continues to slowly fence in the lower pasture. He cut down a cedar tree today. It didn't fall where he wanted, but landed in Hog Creek instead. I don't know that we'll be able to get it out, which is too bad because it is beautiful and smells delicious. Such a lovely red color! You can see in the background the cleared swath he has worked on. Bushes and brush, small trees and downed timber all pushed aside to make room for the new fence. What a project!
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