Our friends, Leslie and Michael, who departed for the icy wastes of their homeland last year dropped in over the Memorial day weekend for a visit. Michael and Kaylynn hosted a bbq and game night at their place Sunday night Earlier in the weekend we practiced for a spelunking tour/expedition we're planning to do next month in South Dakota. A requirement to go on the tour is being able to fit through an 8.5" X 24" passage. To practice I attached a board to the legs of our coffee table 8.5" above the floor and then we took turns trying to squeeze under. Jean beginning her approach Wriggling through Suck in that butt! And I'm through Michael powers through. Damn that skeletal structure.

My parents hosted a craft day for the ladies in our Sunday School class at their place. Even with the heavy rain Saturday morning we had a good turn out. There were several craft options including planters, candle holders and signs. Kaylynn, Mari and Jean lay out their planters. Regan using the miter saw to trim off a board for her planter. Kaylynn staining her planter with boiled linseed oil. Eva using the drill press to make a candle holder. Anna working on a shelving unit Kaylynn's completed planter. Jean's candle holder Jean made this sign for our neighbors' newborn.

After the floor dried completely I applied a thin (1/4" - 1/2") layer of a sand/clay mix (approximately 80/20 ratio) over the entire floor to fill in cracks and provide a base to lay some saltillo tiles in the entry way. I also used  the mixture as grout between the tiles. After about a week it had dried out and I entered the final phase of sealing the floor. I applied several coats of boiled linseed oil to the earthen floor. The oil hardens upon drying making the floor more durable and reducing water absorption. The last layer has dried. Time to seal. Applying the boiled linseed oil was pretty quick and easy. I would just pour some oil on the floor, let it soak in for a few minutes and then wipe it around with an old rag. It took less than an hour for each coat. The biggest danger with boiled linseed oil is that as it hardens it generates heat. You have to be careful with disposal of rags as they could spontaneously catch fire. After applying the second ...

Over the Easter weekend I made a few modifications to the quail tractor including upgrading the water reservoir from the half gallon coffee can to a 2 gallon bucket, reorienting some doors and adding a loft dust bath area. I transferred the males and a couple of females into a vacant chicken brooder at my parent's place and moved the newly modified tractor and seven quail hens to our friends' and their new wards' house. Luxuriating in the new loft dust bath First egg! Our friends sent us this picture on April 20th while we were at Big Bend. That's just shy of a month since we got the quail putting them at 5-6 weeks old. Now they're getting 4-7 eggs a day.  Today I found seven eggs in the quail brooder at my parent's place. Fried quail eggs    

As I was pulling out tent stakes, Jean returned unexpectedly quickly to the campsite. After rummaging through her backpack for a second she came up with a towel. Tucking it under her arm she said cheerily, "I haven't showered in so long I've forgotten how!" It was day five of our trip to west Texas and that many days without a shower. Some six months ago our friend in Houston, Ben, began planning a group camping trip to Big Bend National Park. He had researched everything carefully except he had overlooked the detail that the campground he'd booked didn't have any showers. Finding his error a couple of months before the trip he found another campground with showers but had push the date back a month to get the site. However, as I see it, one great benefit of not being at work plus being on a camping vacation is that irregular and/or not bathing at all is seen as reasonable and marginally acceptable. So, Jean, who works from home and thus already enjoys ...

My parent's hosted our family's Easter celebration this year. Over the weekend I had made some modifications to the quail tractor. Here we are relocating the quail from their temporary housing. Chicken wrangling Easter egg hunting The youngest person at the party was 14 so we had to co-opt some older folks to join in the hunt. Easter was close enough to my birthday this year that we made it a dual celebration. My Mom baked the cake and our friend Anna decorated it. Originally,  my Mom wanted a snail themed cake because as a child I liked to keep snails as pets. So, Anna made it snails playing board game. My lovely siblings Happy birthday to me Researching a present my parents got me Anna airing up an outdoor inflatable couch "thing" Inflating it turned out to be easier than we thought and it was really comfortable. 

  The garden is doing really well this year.  I've been a little tied up with quail tractors and other projects but my Mom filled in the garden quite nicely. The onions and oregano have really taken off (foreground) as well the comfrey (right). Squash, peppers, and tomatoes are in middle and a variety of melons are in the back.   With the mild winter we had this year the peach tree we planted a year ago leafed out in January. I thought for sure we would have a late freeze but a few month later we have a couple of dozen peaches. A monstrous comfrey plant. I'll harvest the leaves soon to make a compost tea. Speaking of monsters. I found this giant larva in rotten log several weeks ago. In other monster sightings, the white chicken is a Cornish cross breed typically raised for meat. It weighs about as much as the three other chickens combined and is a week younger.