Friday Favorite: Keyless Entry
A couple weeks ago our front door lock broke. When I say it broke I mean it fell apart into a bunch of little pieces, there was no fixing it. For a week or two the door was held closed by a lawn mower tire, classy I know! We debated on which type of lock to replace it with, a cheap keyed lock just like the one that was there or a slightly more expensive one with a keypad. After a little research we decided keyless was the way to go and we settled on this one from Schlage. A long time ago when we had first moved into our house in Ohio, Mr Chiots locked himself out. Since we were going to replace the basement windows he broke one of those to get in.
I’ve actually been locking our front door now that we have this lock, something I rarely did before. You can also set multiple codes, which is nice, especially in cases like this coming weekend when we have a house sitter coming. We programmed a code for her and can easily delete it when we get home. There is an emergency key that you can use if the battery goes dead, but it gives you enough warning to replace the battery when it’s getting low. We’ve only had this for a week but it’s already a Friday favorite!
Have you ever forgotten or lost your keys and had to break into your house?
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Growing Up
You might remember the dozen turkey hatching eggs I purchased from a local farmer earlier this spring. My neighbor hatched the eggs, only three of them hatched. One kicked the bucket one day when it was about 6 weeks old, the remaining two are doing well. It looks like we will have a pair, which is perfect because I was hoping to let them hatch and raise their own young next spring.
These are ‘Wishard Bronze’ turkeys, a heritage breed. Originally we were hoping to raise enough this year to have them for Thanksgiving dinner and keep a pair, but the turkey eggs we got didn’t hatch very well. We had eggs for Narragansett and none of them hatched, guess the tom just wasn’t up to the task.
They’re even starting to make their adult turkey calls. Mr Chiots is going to get his turkey call out to see if he can chat with them. These birds have been our favorite fowl to date, they are friendly and inquisitive. They follow me around and are very tame. I guess we’ll be ordering our turkey from Martha’s Farm once again for our Thanksgiving meal.
Have you found a local farm to get your Thanksgiving turkey from yet?
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The Last Garden in the Tour
A week and a half ago I visited the last garden in the tour series put on by my local garden club. I’ve been meaning to get to the photos from all the gardens I toured this summer (there were lots) but I just haven’t been able to find the time. With my upcoming trip, I’m trying to get ahead on a few posts, which is the perfect time to take you along on the garden tours I was lucky enough to enjoy this summer.
This garden was tiny, probably not any larger than the average house, but that didn’t stop the gardener from filling it with all kinds of beauty. That didn’t stop her from having a seating area, and edible space, a small lawn, a swing set for the little ones and a nice composting area. There were terra-cotta pig heads on the shed, twinkle lights in the trees, bird baths, a raised rock bed, rock walkways and so many wonderful details.
There is something quite nice about small gardens, they are very cozy and intimate. Back in Ohio our garden was rather small (a quarter of an acre) and I liked the smallness in some aspects. Not having space to grow as many tomatoes as I wanted proved to be too much for me and we had to buy the lots on both sides and eventually upgraded to 153 acres. My main challenge now is how to make a very large garden seem intimate.
What size is your garden: small, medium, large? What do you find to be most difficult about the size of your space?
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Rain, Sweet Rain
A smell of rain came on streaks of coolness through the hot wind.
“Oh, maybe it will get to us, Ma! Maybe it will!” Laura said. Inside themselves they were all saying, “Please, please, please!”
The wind blew cooler. slowly, slowly, the cloud shadow grew larger. Now the cloud spread wide in the sky. Suddenly a shadow rushed across the flat land and up the knoll, and fast after it came the marching rain. It came up the knoll like millions of tiny trampling feet, and rain poured down on the house and on Ma and Mary and Laura and Carrie.
…Just before sunset the rain went away. Down across Plum reek and away across the prairie to the east it went, leaving only a few sparkling drops falling in the sunshine. Then the cloud turned purple and red and curled gold edges against the clear sky. The sun sank and the starts came out. The air was cool and the earth was damp and grateful.
Laura Ingalls Wilder (On the Banks of Plum Creek)
It’s been dry here, for quite a while. Thankfully the weather has been cooler, but things were starting to get a little too dry in the garden. This summer our rain has come in big amounts, very quickly. We have had 5 inches overnight on several occasions. The result is that a lot runs off and not much soaks in.
I’ve had to water my newly planted shrubs quite often and I frequently find myself lugging watering cans around making sure potted plants are watered and prize plants have the water they need.
Last night we had a glorious soaking rain, it was perfect. Not too hard, not too soft, just right. I was worried with the hot days we’ve been having and a long trip on the horizon. Thankfully this rain will keep things in shape until I return, I can now travel without worry of trying to explain which plants might need a long drink while I am away.
How has the rainfall been in your garden this summer?
