I Like Thursday #115

Welcome to my 115th post of I Like Thursday.  I took some time this week to chronicle my likes better than the previous weeks.  So lots of pictures! 

I made a trip to the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago.  It was pretty well picked over and there was not a lot left.  I did manage to get some tomato plants.

I planted one in a barrel on the deck.  I think this is the Beefsteak.  I am looking forward to having BLT's this summer with yummy fresh picked tomatoes. 

Tomato plant 2.  This one is a grape tomato plants. 

I bought a flat of Petunias, some planters, and some lobelia. 

I found this planting box in the carriage house.  I planted petunias, geraniums, and lobelia. 

Petunias and coleus in a coca cola bucket Jeff had found in the garbage pit at work.  This bucket has had lots of plants in it over the years.  . 

A planter with Lantana and another flower I am unsure of, while it is a big planter, the least bit of wind knocks it over. 

A planter with a heliotrope made into a tree.  I love heliotrope, the vanilla smell. 

I also planted some seeds. 

A big planter full of lettuce, and weeds.  I actually weeded this planter the other day really well.  The lettuce is quite a bit bigger also. 

This big planting box I planted beets.  Some sprouted, but I am wondering if kitties have dug some of it out. 

The boys helped me move the grow bags and I planted cucumbers.  I was so surprised at how quickly they germinated.  The cucumbers will be for the pigs, they love them. 

I have managed to harvest a couple bowls full of strawberries the past few days.

They were yummy.

Gardening, especially trying to clean up some of the beds, and the old gardens I have run into many plants.  I have tried many different plant identifying apps, and none of them worked very well.  Someone mentioned an app called Picture This, and I will say that so far it is awesome. 

We noticed a lot of this plant in the field we have been allowing to go back to nature.  It is a Cutleaf Teasel.  I also had a lot of this in my garden and it took a lot of work to dig it out.

Wild carrot. 

I grew up on a farm, we always had chickens, but I was not aware of all the stuff about them.  My daughter, continues to read up about them.  I am not a fan of roosters, but I learned they aren't only for breeding, but they keep the girls in line, and they will battle predators to the death.  My daughter felt that they were doing a lot of pecking, and needed more room.  So we built them a new yard. 

The new run encloses the carriage house and  used over 300 feet of fencing.

My daughter also outfitted them with chicken aprons.  The term pecking order refers to where chickens roost.  The bigger and more aggressive chickens sit on higher roosts (where it is safer from predators)

The top hens will peck at the others, and bully, pulling feathers, and sometimes even causing sores. 

It covers where they are bare from pecking.  I get a chuckle out of watching them even more now.  When the bully chickens start on one of the others, the rooster will actually intervene.  At night B Rad the rooster will force them all into the coop, no more roosting outside anymore. 

Speaking of my youngest daughter she loves pigs and so I bought her this little garden statue.

I saw this natural river rock bird bath and had to add it to my outside decor.  The rock reminds me of the rocks around where my great grandparents homestead was.

I also installed a new solar light to help light up the steps a little bit.   It is a pretty light, but it doesn't last all night. 

I love the color of this hose holder.  I purchased it to hold the pool cleaning hose.  It works awesome.

It hangs on the side of the deck within easy reach. 

I actually had 2 days off in a row the other day, and it rained.  Most of the day,  I worked on knitting.

I watched YouTube videos on cake decorating or listened to books. 

I ordered Marionberry pie from Goldbelly.  The company is from Oregon called The Willamette Valley Pie Company.  The pie arrived, a little worse for wear, even though it was packed really well.  I baked it, the house smelled wonderful. 

It was very good though. Oops forgot to take a picture. 

Bobbin has been enjoying my days off too.

Nothing better than the smells of late spring, early summer.  Honeysuckle, and clover.  Bobbin loves rolling in the clover. 

I bought her a sunhat because her little ears were getting sunburned.  I guess she may have needed a larger size. 

My book recommendations for the week. 

A Cop & A Coop.  Leona Davis returns to her hometown of Honeytree, Oregon to rebuild her life.  She thought she had shook off the dust of that town, went to college, got married to a plastic surgeon and was living a good life.  Until the husband trying to get a reality TV show, exposes Leona's body as his before and how he is going to make her beautiful again. 

Leona buys a farm, she has a plan that she is going to raise chickens for eggs.  Until she finds a boot, with a foot, and bones attached to it while building her new coop.  Leona's ex high school sweetheart Eli Ramirez is the Sheriff and he is still as yummy 40 years later.  I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next.  Definitely a laugh out loud read.

Crime and Poetry....Violet Waverly rushes home to be by her ailing grandmother's bedside, only to discover she has been duped. 

Violet is ready to turn tail back to her life,  when her grandmother's "boyfriend" Benedict Raisin is found dead in their driveway.  Violet cannot leave without solving the murder and exonerating her grandmother.

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe.  Anna Kate has came to Wicklow, Alabama to bury her grandmother,

and sort out The Blackbird Cafe', settle the estate and head off to medical school. Secrets abound, and the past and truths are being exposed. 

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I Like Thursday posts.