Ka-Pow

And that was the sound of Tom's shot gun going off to make us one chicken-eating fox down!  Finally.  It was the smaller fox that he shot, but I'm not complaining.  So it's one down and one to go! 

Our Fourth of July holiday was very busy.  We spent two days cutting Dad's grass for him with our BCS brush mower attachment because we found out that a certain "good" neighbor borrowed his brush mower and returned it broken. Dad, being the person he is, didn't make him fix it.  To Dad's way of thinking, bringing the matter to the "good" neighbor's attention would be equally as bad manners as it was bringing back the mower broken and not even telling that you had broken it.  What makes this circumstance so appalling is that the person in question can easily afford to buy his own equipment to use.  This is another strike in my book against this person; he had better not show up at my house for anything.  Rural etiquette rule:  Never borrow equipment from a neighbor and return it in a lesser condition than it was when you borrowed it.

We had visits from  nieces and nephews, too.  It's always wonderful to see them all.  My nephew, John Christian, is off to Basic Training in the Navy Reserves.  It's been a while since our family had a "swabby" so I don't know what a medical corpman job is called in the Navy, but that is what John is going to be.  We certainly wish him well.  Tom gave him a few tips for getting through BT and shared some WWII Navy stories -- Tom's Dad was in the Navy and Pacific Theatre in WWII.  Then, my niece's three "shorties" were fascinated by my remaining chickens and had to view the view the macabre pile of feathers on the West side of the house from the latest fox raid.  Aaron even retrieved a feather to keep. 

And, of course, our bar-b-que was just fine.  Dad came over as did my sister, Mary and her husband, John.  It was a nice holiday.

Then it was back to work yesterday.   I started clearing away the area where we want to put the new shed.  This involves moving the pile of wood we cut last year after the tornado blew through and cutting down the weeds.  What a job!  I also have to move my maple syrup rig, and I think I'll put it next to the chicken run (that they don't use) until I figure out where to permanently site it.  I want to eventually build a good concrete/fire brick outdoor oven/bar-b-que where I can boil down maple sap and we can cook outside on hot days.  Tom worked on the greenhouse.  We are almost ready to raise the roof onto the base. 

We finally got some rain last night.  Yeah!

Well, I have to get going here.  Talk to you later!