Springtime on the Chicken Ranch (Pic heavy)

[PMB]

Springtime... and the realization that I simply cannot complete all the things that I thought I MUST complete.
There is some peace in surrender.
The Balrog had her first ride in a rowboat this morning.

We spotted an old friend named George.

George is a koi who has survived 3.5 years of our absence, and concomitant dry summers with no added water (pond almost dries up during the drier summers unless we add water) and many years of predation by osprey and blue herons. We hate blue herons.
George doesn't mind us humans, and even seems to gather 'round if we offer him shade via small boat.

There is a bit of a mystery with George... We think he might actually be Frank. We thought George was the sole survivor several years ago (was the hatred for blue herons mentioned already...) but the Missus and I remember George as being 3 feet long and with no black markings on the top of his back.
This George is about 2', maybe 2.5', and lots of black markings.

I innocently suggest that we vacate the boat so papa can get back to work moving and stacking siding for the big job coming up this weekend...
You try to get a Demon of the Ancient World Reincarnated as a 3 Year Old Girl to get out of her first small boat ride!
"Push off Papa! PUSH OFF!" It sounds cute as heck, but I know the lingering suffering and death that lurks around the choice-nexus of the next few seconds. Choosing to savor as much of this lovely spring as possible, I follow her soprano directions...



This is the garden... Hidden inside there are grape vines, asparagus, blueberries, strawberries, fig trees, cherry trees... much else.

While the Missus and I wage a slow and painful war on the blackberries and their allies who have completely buried the garden in the last 3.5 years, the Balrog pitches in like this:

Which is just the perfect amount of help. I love it.
Occasionally she requires a ride in her palanquin and deigns to acknowledge her subjects:

[Massivedesign]

That's a nice little slice of Heaven there Mike.

[Mediumrarechicken]

Looks peaceful

[L_O_G]

Im jealous!

[bigzdawg]

Now THAT is America!

[cootduster]

Mike,

Sweet times with a little one.

You know that raising a little girl is a GREAT JOY to her father.
Just wait until the hormones kick in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cootduster

[BadKarma]

Im jealous!

Me too. I was there Sunday and could see myself leaving about August.

[RENCORP]

For God's sake Mike - have a Wa Guns house party and bar b q to get some siding up on that house - it's been looking like a white trash Tennessee trailer park reject for way too many years already.

[PMB]

Looks peaceful

I ... I thought you had a daughter around this age? I guess not.

Im jealous!

I've seen your garden. The red circle is around my wife. See the vegetation behind her? Still jealous?
Bigz, this is the first day that I surrendered... So the first day that I take time to appreciate what it -could- be if I don't surrender. haha
Rod, don't kill my buzz man.
This was the elixir that Jaime and I worked on on Sunday. Heady stuff, eh?

For God's sake Mike - have a Wa Guns house party and bar b q to get some siding up on that house - it's been looking like a white trash Tennessee trailer park reject for way too many years already.

You're right. I've been working like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest and falling further and further behind.

[RENCORP]

Just be thankful you aren't a Mormon with 13 wives and 26 daughters to deal with on top of the regular stuff.

In a Mormon family, PMS is 24 / 7 / 365.

No wonder all the husbands look like freeze dried mummies by the time they are 50.

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[MadPick]

Hot damn. That sure does look nice.

[sportsdad60]

Ohh man! TOuching my heart strings! She's beautiful and reminds me how much I miss my kids as toddlers!

Now they're just irrating young adults. LOL!

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[PMB]

Ohh man! TOuching my heart strings! She's beautiful and reminds me how much I miss my kids as toddlers!

Now they're just irrating young adults. LOL!

No kidding... Time passes. I try to keep Harry Chapin 's "Cat's in the Cradle" song in mind when I feel myself getting too wrapped up in other things.

[PMB]

Zombie and I were hijacking L_O_G's pepper thread.
My harvest is not as labor intensive as JP's - I am having to rely on fruit trees, blueberries and blackberries for my harvest this year. Also we got lucky and a few of the hanging 'maters produced.
The Balrog and I headed out to see if we could find some of those elusive and oh so rare blackberries.

I sense them near...

Anyone recognize this lump?

They are The Guardians of the Blackberries....
We must be close to Nature's Bounty, surely, or why would The Guardians be here? Milk and honey and blackberries are the rewards for the brave.

After courageously facing The Guardians we enter Shangri-La , only this is not fiction.

As far as the human eye can see...

Believe it beloved brethren, many embryonic blackberries gave their lives this evening.

Some were spared the digestive juices, and instead were hurled as projectiles.

She started it.



She hit me with about 10 berries before I retaliated. That's no joke. I was trying to convince her to eat them and tossed one to her... She took that as a green light, 16 foot wide lanes and no cops in sight.
Her mother was not amused when I brought her back in the house. That shirt had another 5 or 6 nice splotches that will never wash out.

It is all trouble all the time with this one.

[PMB]

I wonder who is 0-2 in blackberry fights.