A Green Thumb

It doesn't take long to get gardener's hands, and you don't have to grow anything to get a green thumb.  Spend two or three days weeding, and you get a green thumb, embedded dirt in your fingers, and nails that won't brush clean.  Last year for Mother's Day, Deb and Craig brought up a dozen big lavender plants that went into what had started out to be a rose garden in the front yard.  (The deer enjoyed the roses right down to the ground.)  All but one of the lavenders made it through the winter, but they've been hidden lately by weeds that are two feet high.  I've been taking advantage of the great weather we've been having, and weeding in the afternoons until I can't stand up anymore.  After three days, I'm about two-thirds done with the lavender bed and about half of the front walkway.  I can't contemplate facing the vegetable garden yet.

Yesterday I realized that the Silkies were outgrowing their little cage in the laundry room, so I cleaned out the thick, hip-high weeds (more weeding) from the big, wire-covered dog run out behind the hen house.  I put in a wooden pallet, covered it with plywood, and put a plastic half-barrel Quonset hut on it for their house.  Bess became frantic as I moved the chicks in their cage outside.  She adopts all chicks as her own and was worried.  I set Yuki, Satomi, Keiko, and Waylon free in their pen, and Bess and I sat for almost an hour and watched the little kids adapt to their new life outside.  Having spent their "chickhood" in a confined space, they remained clustered together...where one went, they all went.  "Bugs!  Look, there are bugs!  And green things to eat...try some of these things!"  Then Yuki discovered her wings and leaped and fluttered, so then they all had to leap and flutter.  I knew they would not realize they should/could go into their house at night, so I went out after dark and discovered all four jammed tightly together in their food dish.  I put the sleepy kids into their house, and hope that when they wake up this morning, they'll get the idea that this is their new home.  Stumpy has her room to herself again.