Bumblebee

This is just one portion of our garden. We have 10 rows of bush beans. We planted Blue Lake heirloom seeds, but some of the seeds were obviously some other variety because we have several pole beans growing. We are staking them up using some bamboo poles from our bamboo grove. Interestingly, we found that all the beans are being pollinated by one lone bumblebee. Every day we see it flying around all by its lonesome self from plant to plant. Now that's one busy bee.

Bugs

Today, Paul discovered a very odd situation involving bugs. Very close to the shed was an area about 3 inches in diameter that looked like iron filings. Upon closer inspection, he found that the mass was moving and was actually hundreds and hundreds of very, very small bugs of some sort. By the time I got my camera, the mass had spread out and was crawling along the base of the shed. Each of those bugs is about 1 mm. We have no idea what they are.


Stranger still, a few hours later a dead beetle was in the same location upside down (also unidentified). This was about an inch long. We didn't try to figure out what it was.


We don't know if the two things were related, but it was strange that they both occurred in the same location.

Chicken Eggs

I'm not sure what to think about this really, but I think one of the chicks has laid her first egg. She is only 14 weeks old, and I think she is still quite small, but I clearly heard her clucking and sitting in the coop (photo above), and later there was a small egg. I think 20 weeks or more is a more appropriate age to start laying eggs. I'll have to keep a close eye on this to see what is going on.

Also, I think one of the "hens" is a rooster. He/she is developing quite large wattles and a large comb. I hope he is just maturing more quickly than the rest and is actually a she.


In any case, the chickens are growing and developing their own personalities. There is one chicken who has a dark circle on the tip of her tail. She is curious and friendly in the sense that she comes running out to greet us each time we go outside, but when we reach down to touch her she bites our finger (not hard), then she lets us touch her.

Goony's new bed

Isn't this cute. I've been working on the computer while sitting on the couch, and Goony likes to sit near me. I guess the couch wasn't comfortable enough for him, and he wanted even more cushioning.

Etsy

As you can see, my blog is still a work in progress. There will be some changes over time as I tweak the look of the page.

Yesterday I opened my Etsy store. I am going to try to sell my origami boxes. I got so excited today when I saw that I had only 8 items for sale when yesterday I had 9 items for sale. I actually thought someone had bought one -- but there was no sale listed. After doing some checking around, I found the missing item. Somehow it had become inactive but was not sold... sigh. I don't understand how these things happen -- evil gremlins perhaps. The whole Etsy thing is new to me. Any and all feedback is appreciated, especially regarding pricing and photos. Kudos to Sarah for taking all the pictures and photoshopping them.