Just catching up on some anecdotes here...

The weekend before the 4th, I apparently neglected to close the garden correctly.  It's got a nifty latch, but it doesn't always catch, and I'm quite sure I didn't check it well that afternoon.  Needless to say, the next morning I was a little upset to discover that the husky capitalized on my error.  For some crazy reason, she likes corn.  Last year, the garden was more accessible to pets, and she regularly helped herself to a corn stalk or two.  On this fateful afternoon, she took out at least a third of my Ruby Queen corn stalks.  And half of my pepper plants.  And she trampled assorted other stuff.  She's real lucky that she didn't touch the tomato plants.  Bad dog!

A few days prior to that, I had just planted my third section of corn.  I'm planting in 2 week increments, because the whole family loves fresh corn, and we want to have it for more than just a couple of weeks.  After the planting, I had the water running on that section, and moved on to the next.  Meanwhile, I weeded a third part of the garden.  Endless weeds.  As I went to switch the water again, I was startled by a snake.  Life in the desert inevitably includes snakes.  I grabbed a hoe, but was too slow to get it.  It hid under some block by the fence.  DD and her friend went at it from the goat pen.  It hid.  When it finally came out, the brave friend was successful in doing in the frightening critter.  We're thinking this is the one that may have been stealing eggs from the chicken coop.

Anyway, that's it for critter stories right now.  The puppies are growing, and they're a lot of fun.  The two remaining turkeys are getting big.  The ducks sound like ducks.  And the young rooster is beginning to crow a weak crow in the mornings...not yet anywhere near the strong voice the older rooster has.  Hopefully we'll isolate our broody hen in a safe place one of these days and let her hatch some eggs.  She did alright a while back, but the one egg that wasn't stolen from her nest hatched and the rest of the small flock killed the chick. 

That's life on the ranch these days!  Blessings!