My fibers here! My fibers here!
My Sil and freinds are down at the Black Sheep fiber festival this weekend and I couldn't go. Boo hoo, I AM going to Off though. So to make myself feel better I arranged for some very pretty fiber to magically appear on my doorstep. Now I have this down to a science. After spending hours ( at work) browsing and choosing what fiber to get I count the days until I think it should come. Then I make a point of coming home from a different than usual route that means I drive down the hill and can see the front of the house sooner than if I came up the hill. This way I can see if there are any packages on the doorstep. Hey someone has to amuse me : )
So I got more very nice fiber from one of my favorite Ebay stores J C Kopec creations. She uses a nice merino colonial mix and her colors are just beautiful. In the box is some Mardi Gra on the left and Ginger Snap on the right. I have to get more ofthe Ginger Snap,it's so pretty. Of course I couldn't wait to try spinning some of it so above is some of the Mardi Gra spun up.
This is my potato thingy, it's made especially for growing potatoes. I just chuck some dirt in there and some pieces of cut up potatoes with eyes on them and they went gangbusters. At least the chickens haven't noticed this yet. They have been keeping my chive plant nicely trimmed. Talk about pre seasoned chicken!
I have been horrible about gardening so far this year. Partly becuase I'm so brain dead after a whole day of talking and getting yelled at I just want to veg or knit and also becuase I feel bad about having to lock up the chickens. Now don't get me wrong, this doesnt mean stuffing them into tiny little cages or anything. They have a very large fenced area with a large coop. Plus there are a couple of bushes in thier pen for resting under too. It's just that now they have the full run of the backyard and I would miss them hanging around the back door waiting for bread.

Anyway the BF recently got 2 very nice purple lilac bushes that we plan to plant between the pear trees to help get a little more privacy from the preists hell hound on that side. He also got a cranberry bush and some raspberry plants. Plus I got a few tomatoes and squash and corn I need to put somewhere. The fruit trees are looking really good so far, lots of cherries, pears and apples already weighing them down.

Last night we were in the family room with the backdoor open and I noticed two small baby birds loked like they had just flown the nest. I think they were house sparrows but I saw them trying to fly and learning to get around. They came and sat on the back of a chair out there and then Mom came to feed them some bread I had put out earlier. It was pretty darn cute to watch them flap from one chair to the other trying thier wings out. They looked like they were fully feathers but still a little downy in places. All the rest of the evening we could see them fluttering around out there and hear the little ones cheeping for Mom to find them and bring them bread. Good thing my kitties are house cats huh? They were having fits watching all this from the window. The local birds have it pretty good at my place. A neighbour has a nice birdhouse way up on a pole and I have a feeder out there.