Ohiofarmgirl'sAdventuresinTheGoodLand-where ya been? whatcha been doin

[ohiofarmgirl]

holy heat, batman, its HOT out there.. golly... its 86* or 91 depending on who you believe and i finally had to come in. i'll get more used to the heat as the summer goes on and wont be such a wimp but wow! i almost melted out there

got tons of things done. best of all i've been using my new tiller. its a beauty for sure and made short work of the square garden. i'm so excited about how well the soil has improved since last year. just need to have a better drainage strategy and we will be rolling in the watermelons for sure.

here's a crazy thing.. BOTH our wayward guineas came BACK! we heard them about mid-morning and went running into the woods (not just in sox this time) and there they were! so we were somewhere between relieved and 'dang i wish that stupid bird would shut up.' one of them is out there screaming right now. sheesh!

whatcha need a guinea for? right now - target practice. but normally for bug control. the dang squash bugs got all my pumpkins last year -- and we usually have a ton of ticks. so far other folks have had bad ticks but us.. we've only a handful.

guineas are different than other poultry b/c they dont scratch like chickens and turkeys, and arent as destructive as ducks. we like them when they are quiet... funny little birds. but when they are loud we hate them. bad.

and sure you can eat 'em! some folks say they are a delicacy. i dunno if i could get past their weird little faces...they totally look like something that Dr. Seuss made up.

so i finally have a second to sit down until the yard gets more shaded... need to make the rounds in a bit tho to make sure everyone has water. the ducklings and the little chicks are all hanging out together...they have an uneasy peace and i have to keep one eye on the Rumpus to make sure it doenst get ugly.

no more baby turkeys yet.. we had one yesterday that died in the shell only half out and i was kicking myself that i didnt make TurkeyMomma get up so i could see. i think she is tired of my jostling her today. technically her babies arent due until tomorrow....but there are 7 little faces out there telling me how wrong i am..

i'm kinda hoping for an afternoon storm just to cool things off.. wow its a scorcher!

 

[TanksHill]

Glad to hear your guineas came back. Always a joy reading about your day!! Thanks for sharing.

gina

 

[Henrietta23]

We had a guinea hen once........


never ever ever ever again.

I plan to remind my neighbors of the guinea hen if they ever complain about the rooster or goats.

Glad yours came back!

 

[justusnak]

Guineas....pick yer poison. :/ Noise, or ticks. I think I will battle the ticks! We had them once too....ONCE is enough! Ummm, I think I am happy for you that yours came back. :/
It was a scorcher out there today..and all week. We FINALLY got a small storm this late afternoon...cooled it right down, untill the clouds passed, then it went back to hot, and MUGGY! YUK! Tomorrow...I move dirt...I think. Depends on the humidity.

 

[TanksHill]

I don't know. I have been dealing with my dog bringing ticks into he house for the past couple weeks. Taking him off Frontline and starting a new medication today. If it works I will be in heaven. I have only heard a guinea hen once or twice but, I think anything would be better than the tick I found crawling on my neck last week.

 

[justusnak]

Hey Tanks....we use Comfortis...MUCH better than frontline. Its a once a month pill...and starts working in 30 minutes!!! I get it for the outside cats, and my dogs...no ticks yet!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

better than the tick I found crawling on my neck last week.

eeeewwwwuuuuueee! ok i get the oogly-booglies from ticks....gross!

we still havent spotted our dogs.... not even for fleas so either we are really lucky or those stupid guineas are working. it also helps to have oh.. about 100 pieces of poultry living within 50 ft of the house
;-)

the good news of the day is that it was raining this morning.. so while i wouldnt call it 'sloth' i did go back to bed for a few more minutes.

the bad news is that even rain days are work days.

i've been in here busting it in the kitchen..i processed the creepy meats that have been chilling in the beer fridge. the jury is still out. sure it tastes like chicken but... i dunno. i'll think on it and come up with a report on the whole thing. so while having 3 pots of stock going while the AC is on isnt entirely energy efficient... the house smells really good


and with all this meat i dont have an excuse NOT to make supper.. its all there easily parted up and ready for action. so that is definitely a "yay!"

the other bad news is that i need to go and find my boots and make the rounds. the rain ended a while ago but its like a swamp out there. the worst is that i really need to have a burn pile so its going to be even hotter. boo!

thats the scoop here.
ps i just realized that i put all of the chicken in the freezer so now i dont know what to do about dinner. ha!

 

[murphysranch]

I know I'll be complaining soon about the heat, but its still overcast and sometimes rainy here. At almost 3 p.m. its about 59 degrees outside. And the electricity went off and on all nite and this morning. Gosh - a little rain and PG&E loses their electricity for 50 of us here in the county. Hmmmmm... Come and cook here. The house is cold inside. Guess all those Bay Area folks who were hankering for the mountains for the long weekend, will have to look elsewhere for their camping spot, unless snow camping was in their plan. There is snow at 5000 ft and up!!!!

We've had a couple of ticks here last fall, both of which were found on our Border Collie. Longer hair, so the ticks grab and crawl on up to his skin. The cattle dogs don't get them. (she says confidently...)

 

[lalaland]

ticks, they are sooooo bad this year. We've had to resort to a jar with alcohol in it, because there are soo many ticks it is nothing to pull 8-12 off yourself when you come inside, and we were running out of matches.

so it is gross, but it is easier to just throw the ticks in the jar.

did you know they can survive the washing machine AND the dryer?

have to take your clothes off, check yourself, and then your clothes, turning them inside out - but we still find ticks on the wall, the door, etc.
I've never seen them this bad. It almost makes me want to get guineas, but....can't take the racket.

the chickens do pick ticks off my legs, jeans, etc - so they definitely eat them. I'm not sure where guineas got the reputation for being tick eaters- cause chickens are tick eaters too!

oh well.

 

[big brown horse]

I'm starting to feel itchy!!


I'll never forget shoeing horses over in dry, dusty West TX. I was all up under a fat bellied horse, getting real up close and personal while nailing on a shoe when I happened to look up...

Oh man!!! That poor horse's belly was just covered in them in all shapes, sizes and colors!!! Some were just crawling all over the place!

Talk about the heebie jeebies!!!

Hey O!! Just poppin in to say howdy-ho!