Rucking Fabbits

Okay people, Stephan is NOT happy. Nope, not happy AT ALL!

As you can see from the below pictures our garden has been violated. Some %#@&! varmint critter helped themselves to our young and tender veggies. Oh, I am soooo mad. I'm fit to be tied and on the war path, stand clear it's gonna get ugly and messy.

I had (4) nice broccoli plants coming along and doing well. I planted them out, by design, two weeks apart so that they wouldn't all come ripe at the same time. The first couple of plants had to be covered each night when first planted due to the wacky weather and frost that would pop in and out. I had also planted (3) kale plants just this past weekend. They were awful tiny but seemed to have taken hold. Then there's the nice red leaf lettuce that was taking off, with some ready to be picked. The picture below shows only one of the plants eaten, however, that all changed the day after I took the picture. Seven of the eight plants have been eaten down. I had such high hopes for all these veggies, errrr!

So, as the title of this posting reads one might make the assumption that the Taliban wild rabbits were behind this, I certainly did. They seem to be all over our yard, the neighbor to our rights yard and even the neighbor to our lefts yard - too many of them for sure.

However, I humbly stand (actually I'm sitting on my ass typing but you get the idea) before you to admit that I was wrong, at least in this case. Yup, I was home early from work yesterday and when I peered out the upstairs windows, low and behold there they were a whole family of Al-Qaeda Whistle pigs!! A mother and four babies, that's F O U R, four babies in tow making their way up towards our raised veggie beds! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

For you non-Tennesseans out there Whistle pigs is a fancy word for woodchucks, ground hogs, marmots and to some land-beavers. Regardless of what they're referred to, at the end of the days they're nothing more than rodents.

In an effort to over come this veggie set back I must now transform myself into the one and only Carl Spacker and take on his mantra, " I have to laugh, because I've outsmarted even myself. My enemy, my foe, is an animal. In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one. I've gotta get inside this guy's pelt and crawl around for a few days."

I'll see you all on the other side, "Au revoir, gophers"

"Repugnant, Disgraceful, Shameful & un-American"

"Wisconsin Veteran Must Remove Flag After Memorial Day, Wife Says"

Political correctness runs a muck yet again. Heaven forbid if someone gets offended, we can't have that now. Let's be fair to everyone; everyone gets a trophy too just for participating. We'll build a mosque at ground zero but a veteran can't fly the American flag?! It just isn't right, not right at all!

I call BULLSHIT!

F the management company and keep flying the American flag!

Fun Fact

FUN FACT!

Memorial Day remembers all those who died in service of our nation.

Oxalis (oks-AL-iss)

Oxalis - Charmed Wine (Shamrock)

Known as a weed, Oxalis does make a nice potted plant. We've had this one pictured below for several years now. We bring it in the house during the winter and set it out once the warm weather arrives. It's become somewhat stretched sitting in the house and reaching for what daylight it can get via the window, so it really needs to be transplanted, have some new soil added and fertilized - all on the "list".

I thought it was interesting to see how the shamrock-shaped leaves, when it's soaking up the sun, open up and spreads but when the sun goes down and evening approaches it folds itself up.

New Editions - Pee & Wee

Here are the latest editions to the homestead menagerie.

These are supposed to be Lion-head rabbits but the jury is still out on that - I don't think so. They're also two males, uggh. However, they came with an indoor cage and a very nice outdoor hutch, feed, hay shavings, toys, dishes and supplies all for FREE, so how could we refuse.

However, they also came with baggage; the black one is a biter and got me good, real good. They're mounting and humping each other constantly and they're "sprayers"! Don't know what a sprayer is? Well good for you, you're lucky. Come on over and spend a couple minutes outside their cage oooing and ahhhing at how cute they are. Then get back to me, hehehe!

Spraying or scent marking is urine and it's something male rabbits often do. It's goes everywhere since the rabbit is usually jumping and turning when "going". So now imagine your outside their cage peering in oooing and ahhhing and BAM you get pissed on - NOT GOOD! This is a hormonally driven behavior that can be addressed by having the animal "fixed" but that's too expensive.

However, there is also another way to resolve this issue and I can assure you that if I get sprayed I WILL be applying this fix!

Anyway, they're NOT staying. They've only been here 4 days and already worn out their welcome. If interested, pet or pot, please let me know!

Find the Critter

Can you find the critter in the above picture?

This is a deer tick. Thank goodness this SOB chose my forearm as it's feeding spot, otherwise it might have dinned longer. Not sure how long it was in there but you can see the redness already beginning. Emilie was able to pull the sucker off using a pair of tweezers and down the drain it went. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come this Spring and Summer.

You're Forbidden To Use The "B" Word!

Okay, it's been a couple days since the collapse and I'm ready to make a statement. Once made, however, we'll not speak of this for the foreseeable future.

The use of the "B" word is now forbidden to be spoken here at the ole homestead! It's much too early and the wounds are far from healed. It's gonna take a loooooooong time. 40+ years of being a Bruins fan without experiencing a championship and downtown Boston parade is frustrating at best.

Just so we're all on the same page, the "B" word refers to the Boston Bruins. Our New England NHL team that has been and is still VERY frustrating to watch and root for, especially after this past seasons inconsistent play during the regular season and the history making post-season collapse they allowed.

Note: I have made the decision that all of the Boston Bruins clothing I own will be going into storage indefinitely. NO hats, t-shirt, sweatshirts. etc. shall be worn by yours truly, including the coffee mug I use for my morning coffee - all put away for now, alas...

Testing 1, 2, 3

We had our chickens tested for Salmonella Pullorum and Avian Influenza the other morning.

It's a free test provided by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.

The inspector arrived, put on a fresh pair of white disposable coveralls, hat, booties and rubber gloves and off we went. This was all done in the driveway. I can only imagine what the neighbors and passer-bys were thinking, especially in this day and age. Some vehicles will tell you who they are when their sitting in a driveway, i.e. plumbers, electricians, etc, but this dude was in an unmarked Chevy Impala. Even if you spotted the Mass. state license plate you'd still have no clue why someone would be dressed like he was - too funny.

Rules state that I am responsible for catching the birds, so I'd catch one and hand off to the inspector to have a throat culture/swab performed, a blood sample drawn and a identifying band applied to the birds left leg. Of course with the small number of birds we have this didn't take long and the girls were pretty good too.

The samples will be sent to and analyzed at the University of Connecticut. We should receive the results in the USPS in approximately a week. Just airing on the side of caution and want to make sure they're safe since we've been handing out eggs to family and friends.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

C'mon enough already!

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

The potato is the most consumed vegatable in the United States.

Things that end with 'tor'

A teacher asks her class to name things that end with 'tor' that eat things.

The first little boy says, "Alligator."

"Very good, that's a big word."

The second little girl says, "Predator."

Yes, that's another big word. Well done."

Then little Johnny puts up his hand and says, "Vibrator."

After nearly falling off her chair, the teacher says, "That is a big word too, but I don't think we can count it because it doesn't eat anything."

"Well my mum has one and she says it eats batteries like there's no tomorrow!"