After having 70 degrees and above freezing nights, with the grass greening up and trees just starting to leaf out, I was more than a little surprised to wake up to lots of big, fat snowflakes coming down heavily this morning. I’d checked the weather forecast and it was supposed to be fairly warm and partly sunny all week. Ha ha! We barely got up to 41 degrees F all day. Brrrr. (But it did stop snowing before it accumulated on the ground heavily, thank God.
I’m planting cucumbers, muskmelons, and watermelons today. I’ve got them all planted in 4-inch pots and in the greenhouse. Tomorrow, I’m planting our squash and pumpkins. The greenhouse is getting pretty full now! I’ve got to go in and rearrange it so I can fit more. And I’ll be going to Byrne’s Greenhouse for Mother’s Day, for our annual family get-together-plant-buying spree. I can’t wait. Daughter, Randie, will be coming up to stay here for a week. So that’ll be a lot of fun. Plus, grandson, Drew, will be joining us for the first time.
We’ve been seeing the mother fox quite a bit lately. When Will was up, hauling the big round baler up from the pasture, he saw her on top of the round bales next to the driveway. Then, later, when Drew and I were going out, headed for Menard’s to buy more seed starting mix, we saw her, still up there. While we were gone, Will had Sarge out and she came into the yard, to be promptly chased by Sarge. She had something in her mouth, which turned out to be a fox pup. She dropped it and ran off, with Sarge behind her. When he came back, so did she. Will went to check the baby fox and it breathed a few breaths and died! He thinks she got scared when she saw Sarge, bit down too hard on the pup, which killed it by accident. We feel so bad! Yep, foxes kill chickens and house cats. But until they cause a lot of trouble, we have always left them alone and enjoyed their presence. The guys did go out and reinforce the chicken coop, however. Just to prevent “accidents.”
Gas is leaping up in price, forecast to reach $5 a gallon by this weekend. And that’s increasing the price of everything too. I’m so glad we filled up our bulk farm fuel tanks earlier in the year! Hang onto your hats, folks. It’s coming! — Jackie
