Post-Travel Detox

Any travel is so rough on Phil. Since he has such a strong MSG reaction, he slept much of today, trying to get rid of a headache. He still did the chores and made up an invoice, helped me move the 71 little broiler chicks to their new home outside (two more, on the lam for almost a week, yet elude capture), went to the lower pasture to water the cows, brought hay to the sheep, and went with me to get whey for the pigs.

It just wasn't anything else.

Except that, perhaps due to his headache, he misjudged how to bring the hay bale in for the sheep. He wanted Jadon to be in two places at once, and within seconds we had a full-on jailbreak, with all 12 larger sheep making a run for the orchard. "It could hardly have gone any worse," was Phil's comment.

We ended up carrying most of the sheep down the slope to their proper corral. They are surprisingly heavy. (Off topic: it is odd to think that a full-grown pig weighs as much as one of our cows: about 900 pounds. That hardly seems right, but pigs are super dense.) Some sheep managed to put a halter on and drive back. It was hot, stressful, strenuous. But we were all working together, and it was exciting, so I suppose that counts for something.

It was chilly this morning, but by midday had grown hot. I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to open the greenhouse door. The peppers were happy, but I think everything else wasn't thrilled with the oven I'd created. I put two flats of potatoes in the ground, and they were hot to the touch as I cut them. Many had black hearts, but fine green sprouts. Will they grow? I'll find out.

And I planted out some muskmelon and watermelon, both long-overdue to be outside, poor things. I hope to start some new melon seedlings and get them planted out in a much more reasonable time frame.

I also ground up six hams to make sausage (since I prefer to eat sausage than ham), mulched around the 116 recent hazelnuts planted, and peeked in my beehives. The bees have not yet touched the second levels I added. There were maybe ten bees total in the upper levels: it was really empty.

The bottom boxes, though, hummed with activity. I could see glimpses of beautiful comb, and stored nectar. At some point I should probably open the hive and check on them more fully, but right now, I'm not feeling compelled.