This whimsical creature visited the garden recently - it's a Spiny Softshell Apalone spinifera.

He was stuck inside the fence, so we pointed him back toward the pond, and he made haste to get back into the water.  Hope you all are staying cool! 

It's that time of year again....and we have two more clutches coming up....  

An often-broody hen like Henriella is worth her weight in gold.  

Winter vegetables like broccoli and cabbage are very cold hearty.  But we've had big fluctuations in temps, which is what I've read is when they are in danger.  We've even had lows down to the teens and lately some rare wintry precipitation (sleet, snow), so on those nights, we've used burlap sacks as blankets.  

These were used to import coffee, then later as packing materials -- they came to us by way of our friends at Wild Birds Unlimited.  Burlap allows for breathing and is quick to dry when there's sun.

They have some ability to hold a form, and create a tent....like with the tall broccoli. 

Here's an after image, of the difference between uncovered (left) and covered (right). 

Here, a few cabbage in the row are covered with one burlap blanket.  We'll see in a few days, if this scheme worked in this latest blast of wet and cold weather. 

Little Shirley was carried off by a fox a few days ago and it was a sad loss for us.  She was a beloved from the original five Buff Orpingtons we got in 2009 -- now there is Big Shirley, Duda and Googie.  She had a strong spirit, and pecked if you tried to touch her.  But she also was part of the double act, seen in the slideshow, with Big Shirley -- she came and sat on Sandor's knee, as the 'Two Shirleys."

Her chick is an orphan now, but staying close to the other mother hen.  Little Shirley was a good mother in her last days, and brought a lot of smiles into our lives.