End of Summer

Mighty dog got skunked!!!! I came home from work at midnight and let mighty dog out and he went running after something. Of course he comes back snorting and shaking his head- he got skunked! We tried everything!  Tomatoe juice/soup (only place open at the time was walmart), baking soda and vinegar, and then the next day we stopped at the vet and got de skunking shampoo.  The tomatoe juice/soup really just masked the smell I think. The vinegar was similar.  The de-skunking worked well but he still smells when he gets wet!

Our first chicken egg!!!!  One chicken started laying and within a few days two others joined in!  However, one chicken is always flying outside the pen and we think its laying its eggs outside the pen but we can't find them!

Getting pumpkins ready for the wedding!

Flooding in the area- lizard creek!

The sunflowers are coming out!

Mighty getting along with the chickens....

Huge garden spider!!! Tomatoes are slowing down, but got some surprise last minute cucumbers.... 

Relaxing at mauch chunk park!

The chickens are roosters!

So when our "hens" started cock a doodle doing- we decided they may be roosters instead of the hens we paid for!  As far as we can tell only two are roosters- however- they are starting to fight with each other now and again and also to harrass the hens.  It may be time for a ROOSTER ROAST soon.  The hens haven't started laying eggs yet- which could be due to excess stress with too many roosters bossing them around.

The lake really got high with all the recent rainfall.  The dock started floating away!  Lately, turtle have been sunning on top of the hay bails!

The pumpkins are really popping up everywhere! 

However, I started noticing some dead vines and on closer inspections I found the dreaded SQUASH BUGS!!! They look like stink bugs but a bit skinner and grey!  They were everywhere! All sizes.  Laying their red eggs on the bottom of leaves and tiny ones emerging.  I spray soap water on them and dunked them in soap water buckets- but it seems impossible to get rid of them.  Its important to inspect leaves daily to look for them and get rid of them before they become a big problem.  You can use insectide but we prefer not to.

AHHH!

The corn is looking good! Ready for another bbq?

The grapes are beginning to turn purple- and taste much better!  We think they may be concord grapes- so we will give winemaking a try!

I've been making tons of tomatoe sauce and soup and freezing it for winter time! yum.

And on a funny note...who are these people?

Updates!

We've noticed a bird flying around our lake lately.  At first we couldn't identify the bird because it almost looked like a duck flying; however, on closer inspection, we noticed it had features of the blue heron we are familiar with from the Poconos.  After looking through some bird books we've concluded that it must be a green heron!

Our garden is coming along- tons of hot peppers!  We've been making zucchini spaghetti, zucchini bread, zucchini cheese steak sandwiches, cucumber dip, cucumber sandwiches, etc...

We've been trying to eat healthier and making our own breads!  We also made stuffed pepper- but left the pepper raw and stuffed it with an avacodo mix with tomatoes and onions- very fresh and very good

Its been very hot lately with little rain. 

Here's the veggies we have!  We made some homemade pickles! YUM they are great!  Far better than store bought dill pickles!  We also recently made pickled string beans with hot peppers- we shall see how they turn out!

On our recent trip to Maryland for Chris's friend's wedding, we stopped at some of Chris's favorite places.

Update on our first house!

The chickens are growing up!  In a couple weeks we are expecting egg laying to begin.  The chickens know who has the food and water and everytime you walk around they follow you!  Chris built a new perch area inside the house that the chickens love! 

 

We originially thought we purchased two chickens of three different breeds, but it has become apparent that we have two of one breed and four New Jersey Giants

We've had quite the storms up here!  Tornados in the area as well!  Our dog mighty freaked out and ran down the main road a couple miles until a nice couple stopped him and called us to pick him up! 

Theres a rainbow disappearing in the right hand of the picture above the tree line- didnt make it in time to get the whole rainbow!

Blueberries and grapes are starting to emerge.  Unfortuntly, a large amount of the grapes were already eaten by small purple worms and birds.

Barley Straw is an all natural way to keep algea from growing in the pond.  We ordered some and have been putting them in degradable mesh bags with air filled soda liter bottles and milk containers so they float.  Tied to them is a string with a rock in order to keep them in one place.  The straw must be partially above and below the water in order for the straw to decompose and the enzymes to break down and prevent algea from growing.

 The gardens are growing- these pictures are actually from a week or two ago- so today then are even larger!  We decided to try growing corn this year- and so far it seems pretty easy- but we'll see when they get larger!  We also transplanted two small evergreen trees that were growing around the lake underneath another tree to the front of the yard. 

We Finally got mulch!  So tons of weeding is happening!  Thanks to chris's mom who helped me weed and mulch the whole front yard!!!  As you can see I'm also growing mini pumpkin plants around the large rocks.  In the past I've grown mini pumpkins and noticed that something (possibly rabbits) ate the pumpkins or parts of them.  However, some pumpkins survived if they were growing up on a bush or rock away from the ground.  So this year, I'm growing pumpkins near the rocks and making the vines gravitate town the rocks to hopefully save the mini pumpkins that will be used for part of the wedding decorations!

Chris took these great pictures of a spider web on our back railing!

Mushrooms in my brother and sister-in-laws yard!