Check out the big stick insect found on the door to my office a few days ago. How does a vegetarian insect with no wings end up on the glass door of an office building in a concrete jungle? Did it know that our office was full of biologists who would think it was super cool?
It was trying to hide by pretending to be a twig - see how it has it's front legs extended up by it's antenna? Unfortunately this trick doesn't work as well on glass as it does on a tree limb. I remember the first one I ever saw, when I was a little kid climbing a little walnut tree in the front yard. I couldn't have been more surprised and disturbed had I found an real live elf or a fairy. Who knew a stick could sprout legs and a head and look me right in the eye?! And it's body was squishy!
Speaking of mysterious creatures... why do my chickens want to lay their eggs in an old garbage can in the barn instead of the perfectly nice nest box I built for them?
These days, it's like a daily treasure hunt as I watch to see which way the hens go when I let them out of the coop in the morning, and then seek out their hidden nests. I see you hidden behind all those heavy things, chicken. I think she likes to stare at her reflection in the big glass table top that's leaning against the wall while she lays her egg.
It took several days for me to find this hidden nest, but look at all those eggs. Omelets for dinner, please.
Egg hunts aren't the only exciting thing happening around the farm. With the threat of the approaching winter weather, we decided to splurge on a couple of loads of gravel for our driveway. This was the first time we ever ordered gravel by the load before, so it took many conversations with fellow gravel driveway owners before we figured out what to order.
To save on the amount of gravel we need, we asked that they only place the gravel in the two established ruts, and to not cover the grass in the middle of the drive. I wasn't there when the delivery was made, but Brandon tells me they have a metal flap that covers the center of the gap in the back of the truck so that the gravel only spills on on the two sides. Once the gravel was spilling out, the driver kept a steady speed and laid down a nice even coating. He had to go pick up a second load and finish the job.
The big dump truck that would come to empty our dumpster was making a big muddy rut in the driveway, which made it hard for me to drive my little car over (it got a little easier once that piece that was hanging down got ripped off! I hope it wasn't important...). We thought we were smart and scheduled the last dump of the dumpster and the dumpster pick up before the gravel was delivered. So of course, they didn't come when they said they would, and instead came the day after the gravel was delivered, and scraped a nice muddy hole in the new gravel after the first day.
I found this piece of paper that the delivery guy gave Brandon. I'm not sure what it all means, but I think it says we got two loads, and each load was 8.64 tons. Wow, that's a lot of weight. Our farm just got heavier. We would really like to get two more loads, and fill in the rut again, and gravel our parking spot and the approaches to our barns. But, we will have to wait until we recover from the expense of this first delivery. Maybe next year. Gravel - the stuff of dreams, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment