Worse than a Plague of Locusts

The ground squirrels just keep coming. I spotted one in the cabbage patch as I walked out to the garden after dinner, so I texted the husband. He came out with the shotgun. Unfortunately, the little pest disappeared into a hole and wouldn’t come back out. He shot two later in the evening—one in the front yard and one in the back yard. Hopefully the one I saw in the garden was one of the two he got.

The ecosystem is badly out of whack. We need more coyotes.

My hollyhocks are blooming:

I thought these were the black variety I started last year for the plant sale, but I might be misremembering. No matter—this color is still very pretty. Of course, an intense dark red could be considered “black,” and it’s possible this is one that reverted to a less intense red.

When the husband replaced the plastic on the greenhouse this year, he also got shade cloth to go over it. He put the shade cloth back on yesterday.

Hopefully, this will keep the greenhouse from getting oven-like in the heat of the summer. I think it lowers the temperature inside by a good 10-15 degrees. It is still plenty warm in there for the tray of lettuce to grow, but not so hot that the seedlings bake to death.

The injured hen has left the chicken hospital and gone to the rehab facility inside the chicken coop. She can see the other chickens but they can’t get to her. The pullets are big enough to hold their own against the other hens and all the chickens are together. I’m still waiting on chicks. One of the Buff Orpingtons moved around enough that I was able to count four eggs under her.

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This week’s to-do list is full of niggling little detail stuff that needs followup and resolution. I have to pester the copier company in Missoula AGAIN about getting a new fuser for my copier. The IRS cannot seem to keep our address or the name of the construction company straight, so I’ve got forms and a letter to send to them to correct that. Quilt stores need photos for classes. We decided to cancel our summer fundraiser for the Homestead Foundation and the six tickets we did sell will have to be refunded.

[Truly, I am not too busted up about canceling that fundraiser; it frees up a lot of time in my schedule that can be devoted to my own projects.]

I got the construction company records moved over to QuickBooks Online—the end of the month was an excellent time to do that—but the whole concept of having that financial information in the cloud makes me very nervous. About the only positive is that our accountant can now access our information directly instead of me bringing the file to him on a thumb drive. He and I have an appointment set up in early August for our annual mid-year checkup.

I have about had my fill of making canvas grocery bags. I think it might be time to move on to another kind of sewing project. I will get that log cabin quilt top put together and start quilting it. And I will order the supplies for the generator covers this week. Seattle Fabrics is still not allowing walk-in traffic, so even though I drove by the store last week, I couldn’t shop in person.

I have an appointment to get the body work done on the BMW. The body shop is so busy that the earliest they could get me in is at the end of October. At least I’m on the schedule.