On the way to Puerto Rico!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay I decided to update before we leave for Puerto Rico, so here it goes….

The Garden…the peas are still coming in, broccoli is still producing side shoots, cabbages are heading up nicely, the beans need picking every two days, the cucumbers are coming in, the corn is boob high and the assorted squash, pumpkin, melons are looking good but not producing yet. The tomatoes are loaded and hopefully will wait until we get back. The potatoes are struggling..we had a major infestation of potato bugs and we thought we had them licked when all of a sudden they came back again, as there were too many we resorted to chemical means to get rid of them and hopefully break the cycle on the garden. The blackberries are loaded and the thornless ones are just starting to turn. We have friends that are going to pick them for us while we are gone so we don’t loose this years jam/cordial crop. The thorned ones that run for about 100 yards in the back field are already black. We picked some of them yesterday.

The little barn by the house…the baby ducks are adorable and are getting big. If I could find someone to butcher a duck I would send a couple out but nobody does it anymore and I don’t want to dry pick them. The chickens and turkeys that we bought as meat birds are going to the butcher when we get home. We lost two baby ducks and three chickens to what we first thought was a fox but now know was a bobcat as we saw him and chased him away. He was easier to chase away than this big guy would be. This bear we saw on the way into town but we have one hanging around here dumping over everyones trash cans.

The big barn….The pigs are annoying. This years pigs keep getting out, they don’t go no where they just don’t want to be confined! We are thinking that 6 is maybe two too many.
The finn sheep from Grace are growing so pretty- they have the most incredible eyes. We recently added to the menagerie by getting a Romanov yearling wether. He is black and silver and will look so pretty mixed with the mohair from Storm. The guy I got him from gave me his fleece to play with. He also gave me some fleece from all of his sheep…rambouillets, cheviots, Jacob, Shetland and Suffolk. He just raises them for meat and sale and doesn’t take the time to keep them clean. Mary and I went through the 17 feed bags of fleece and came out with enough to fill six bags and threw the rest.
The roosters are too many and we will be sending some of them up to the butcher also. The fox hasn’t been a problem so far this year (knock on wood) as we put a 6 foot fence around everything. I will definitely have to get new chicks next year.
Once when the pigs got out they got into the chicken coop and ate the eggs that the duck was setting on so we don’t have new ducks up there.

The fiber area…I don’t know if I posted that I finished the wool from Grace, I spun up two bobbins of the mohair and plied that and I crocheted two afghans for a friends grandkids. That's them in the picture. I am now working on mittens as I was told that you can take bamboo needles on the plane as the scanner doesn’t pick them up but to have a project started already.

The house…we have had a set back on the house. These complications stopped progress until people could come, different scenario’s worked out etc. The problems have been fixed now and now we are leaving. Hopefully we will come back refreshed and ready to go but after listening to this mornings weather we might not make it there. As my luck would have it there is a minor disturbance which popped up out of the ocean last night and became a tropical storm (Chris) at 5 am. The projected path has it hitting the east coast of Puerto Rico at 2 pm Wednesday….my plane lands at 3. If the weather doesn’t ruin it we have plans for the rum factory (!!!!!!!) a trip up to the mountains and into the caves planned right now. My sister is calling my mother no stop….I think she is excited! I packed the recharger so I will have plenty of pics on my return.