Independence Day

It was complete coincidence, which I didn’t even realize until just now, that we opened Coop 2 for the chicks on Independence Day. They were largely unimpressed, as can be seen in this photo of Rosa Dolores and one of the meat chickens looking out the door and wondering what to make of it.

Whatadya think? Should we stay or should we go?

We took the food out of the coop when we took the screen down, thinking that it would provide a powerful incentive to explore. Not so. After several hours, I climbed in the coop and started handing chicks out to Hilda, who put them on the ground. It was soon apparent that I could just toss them out—they can fly sufficiently well to flutter to the ground without being harmed.

We moved a couple of chicks to the feeder. They made the “Oh, look! Food!” call and soon they were all crowded around. The pullets just walk over the top of the broilers to get to the trough. Somehow the place where someone else is eating is better than the empty spot next door.

The chicks lounged through the afternoon. Some were in the shade of the coop

Hanging out under the coop

The tight space under the ramp seemed particularly appealing to chicks in the big world for the first time.

Or under the ramp, where it feels more secure

About 5:00, Hilda put the food back in the coop. Most of the chicks moved back inside at dusk, much to our surprise and delight. We only had to chase down a few before we shut the door. They must think we are never happy—chasing them out in the morning, chasing them back in at night. Can’t win.

Pat, Nancy, and Jane joined us for the Fourth of July celebration. Dad decorated the entryway for the occasion.

Flags for the Fourth

We lit snakes and threw snap-pops on the driveway in the afternoon. Pat wanted to try my awesome new Fiskars push mower. I got it to mow the odd little bits of the lawn that are a huge pain (or impossible) to mow on the riding mower. She was surprised that it had four wheels and “looked like a real lawn mower,” as opposed to the traditional two-wheeled push mowers of our youth. I explained that there were gears to make the mower, as advertised, 60% easier to push than other reel mowers. I had a Tom Sawyer moment as Pat, Nancy, and Hilda took turns trying the mower out.

Pat tries out my new mower

Then we drank iced tea or lemonade or a mix of both while we ate Bugles and Nancy’s awesome olive dip. Jane brought burgers that Terry grilled. We ate them with Hilda’s potato salad. For dessert, I made both cherry and peach pie. The cherry pie took our entire cherry harvest for this year. We covered the tree with netting, but were mistaken in our assumption that birds would not come in from underneath. We had to chase out many of them; one got tangled and died before we discovered its predicament. Anyway, in discussion, Terry and I decided that you can’t have too many pies, and if I made two, we would have leftovers. Terry had a piece of peach pie. Everyone else had a small piece of each.

Peach AND cherry pie, because you can never have too much pie.

We sat on the deck and watched the fireflies while we waited for the fireworks to start in Sharon, WI. I have been trying to spend a few minutes outside each evening as the fireflies become active. It’s my way of trying to slow down summer by enjoying a quiet moment. From the patio downstairs, I could not see fireflies in the tall grass and had assumed that they preferred the mowed lawn. From the deck, I observed that I had been wrong. There were fireflies everywhere—lawn, tall grass, bean field across the road. Furthermore, the later it got, the higher they flew. I’ve been missing the best part by going to bed too early.

The fireworks started promptly at 9:30 and lasted 30 minutes. We could see many of them over the tops of the trees to the northwest. Then everyone went home for a short sleep before the sun came up again.