Since the snake visited, the favorite nest boxes have changed. No one is laying in the floor nest boxes, and the new favorite is the right side of the old metal nest box I refurbished. Before snake, no hens laid in that box. Ever. Now they wait their turn for it. And they make themselves fit! Egg production is still way down, or being eaten.
My eldest has a 2-year-old corn snake that has learned to open her (maybe his) own cage! She bumps the latch to turn it and eventually gets it open. Sophie the cat found her under her cage table one morning, so we had to come up with a way to lock it down, but still get it open relatively easy. We used a shoelace.
We ran the shoe lace so that we can open it without unlacing it. When it is closed, we tie it with a bow. So far the cats have not been able to get on top of the cage, so the bow should be secure for awhile. Clever snek.
I was wandering the woods, pulling out saw briar and poison ivy along my paths, and I saw a tree with spectacular leaves. I took a picture and ran it through the iNaturalist app, which suggested that I may have a mulberry tree. Squee! There is a spectacular mulberry tree in town, and I’ve been plotting where to plant one, so to discover it growing in the woods is the absolute best. Then I found another one. They are both young trees, one about 8’ tall and the other about 5’, and growing in the partial shade of some mature oak and cedar elm, so I’m not sure how they will do long term or for fruit production. I cleared out the vegetation underneath them to give them a better chance, and found two more small saplings! Now I’m hoping for a mulberry grove…
In searching for materials to make tassels the other day, I found an old ball of thin cotton yarn that I either inherited or picked up in a grab bag at a garage sale. It worked very nicely for the tassels I wanted. Then I noticed that it looked very much like the thread used in the weaving pictures, so of course I had to use it to warp my little loom and try weaving on it!
I used each peg on the loom with the found yarn. I couldn’t pack the yarn tight enough on a plain weave to cover the threads, but I figured out the Linen weave, and it covered the warp threads well. I also discovered that I can’t do the Linen weave during cocktail hour. Oops. At least it is a washcloth and still useful even if it is wonky.
Pulling the warp threads through the work for the fringeless finishing method was easier too, but I don’t care for the look of the warp threads on the edge. I also tried weaving in the ends all along the selvage to strengthen it, but that needs either a rethink, or more practice.
We started up a fire in the fire pit, and when I was removing the grass spider webs I found a snake. Not something I expect to find hiding under a sheet of web! He was not caught, but when I uncovered him, he slithered off, under the pot (we use an old cast iron cooking pot as a fire pit). I was afraid he was going to cook himself under there, but my eldest spotted him later hiding just outside the hottest part of the rock.
As the fire died down, we watched the grass spiders and Texas brown snake. Both are beneficial and pose no risk to humans, so they stay!
Critters and Craft 