Notes from the long weekend

Happy Post-Independence Day everyone!  Sunday night again.  As usual, a lot of activity was packed into the weekend, even more so than usual since it was a three day.  Friday passed in a blur of garden and house chores.  One thing really stands out though...

Last weekend I encountered a good sized garter snake in the garden, basking on the leaf mulch in the tomato bed.  Apparently the large pile of leaf-mulch outside the garden, just behind the shed was a snake hang-out because as I hauled the last of the leaves away I ran across at least three of them.  Big ones.  Then on Saturday, I discovered two of them using my garden shed for their new clubhouse....

This one was just a little baby one, kind of cute, sort of...

Now I politely knock before opening the shed to get a tool.  I'm not really afraid of them but... I guess I just don't like snakes.  Sorry snake fans.

I am pretty please with how the garden is going.  Most everything looks pretty good out there.  We had the first sugar snap peas for supper tonight.  The potatoes are pretty happy up on the hill and while I have found a few potato bugs, they are not unmanageable.

Aren't these potato flowers pretty?

I have a new photo of the view from the milking stand:

What's wrong with this picture?  Two things.  One is the haze, which is smoke from the fires up in Canada, and the other is the yellow area in the oat field.  That is mustard blooming where is not welcome.  We're not sure where it came from.

ForestRanger moved house again, or rather their house and paddock moved again today.  This will be happening every weekend as they rapidly eat everything up.  While Kevin was rearranging things, they visited with Javier and the hens in the Summer Coop yard.  The weeds that the chickens don't care to eat are very tall and we lost Forest for a while

Forest?  Where are you?

Ah Ha!

Have a great week everyone, and be well.