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| Partial Eclipse of the Moon 8/27/26 (cell phone photo by daughter) |
The last week of August was another hot week, with temperatures in the upper 90s and low 100s, often with a "feels like" temperatures about 8 to 10 degrees higher. As much as I like warm temperatures, on some days, it got a bit too hot for even me!
Monday, August 24: I woke up at 8:00 a.m. and tended to the chickens, wetting down sections of the outer enclosure with water to provide them with damp soil to help them cool down. Daughter has been placing bottles of frozen water in the coop and enclosure, too, so they could sit close to them to cool off and their water container has bottles of frozen water to cool their drinking water, too.
I tooked the second tray of pork chops and a chicken curry, a pot of fresh rice, and made a cucumber salad. Later in the evening, daughter helped me to take the trash bins to the curb and we let the chickens out of the enclosure and they enjoyed walking around the area immediately in front of the enclosure. They seem to love the gazania plants, which is funny because everything we've read online states that chickens generally don't like the taste of gazanias! It's not toxic to them, but, apparently they don't like the taste. Obviously, no one told our chickens that!
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| Feasting on the Gazania Plants |
Tuesday, August 25: I woke up at 8:00 a.m. to tend to the chickens and then, watered the backyard, a few of the plants, including the pomegranate tree, in the frontyard, and brought in the emptied trash bins. I also picked a few of the pomegranates as the birds have found and started pecking at the biggest and ripest of them! I did a load of laundry and spent some time sewing more hexagons to my quilt top.
Wednesday, August 26: M was here to tend to the garden in the afternoon. He brought us a jar of pesto and a container of almonds that were seasoned with herbes de Provence that another client had given him, which he didn't want. Daughter and I were happy to receive them. M enjoyed a piece of the bread pudding I had made on Saturday.
In the evening, I had the pleasure of getting the hens into the coop for the night. Usually daughter puts them in for the night, but, she will be leaving for an in-person office meeting in a few weeks and she wanted to reassure herself that I could manage to get them in the coop by myself when she's away. Also, once the time change takes place this Fall (if it takes place), then, she'll still be working when it gets dark and getting the chickens ready for the night will become my responsibility. So, I got to get the hens in the smaller, inner coop (which has been made more predator proof with hardware fabric all around).
Thursday, August 27: On Thursday morning, Henny Penny managed to get out of the enclosure when I went to feed them. She dashed past me before I could shut the door because she had seen a scarab beetle! She managed to catch it and I left her to enjoy it while I went into the shed to get the chicken feed. When I came out of the shed, just a couple of minutes later, Henny Penny was eating some of the gazania leaves and both Fluffy and Mochi were eyeing her! They both retreated when I got closer and I got Henny Penny back in the enclosure without any problem.
On Thursday night, my daughter and I watched the partial eclipse of the moon, which reached peak coverage around 9:00 p.m. Daughter took a picture of it with her cell phone.
Friday, August 28: Daughter had the day off from work. It was another very hot day and in the afternoon, she put the a/c on in the bedroom and started cutting out a sari blouse for herself. She downloaded a free pattern from the internet, printed out the pattern, and cut the blouse pieces using some fabric we had in the fabric stash. I read, did some paperwork, and ordered some groceries to be delivered on Saturday.
In the evening, M arrived to tend to the garden. I was seated in one of the garden chairs watching over the hens while daughter went into the house to drink the cup of tea I had made for her, when, Niwatori decided she wanted to perch on me for the first time! I fully expected her to hop onto my lap, but, no, she flew up onto my head! I wasn't expecting that! Those claws are sharp! I asked M to call daughter and she came and got Niwatori off my head! Then, she sat down in the other garden chair with Niwatori perched on her shoulder and Henny Penny decided to perch on daughter's head! These hens are too funny!
Saturday, August 29: My groceries were delivered in the morning and I posted about that. Later, since I still had almost $50 left in my August grocery budget, I ordered coffee from the other grocery store, to be delivered on Sunday.
In the afternoon, we put the a/c on in the bedroom and daughter continued to sew on her sari blouse while I took a long nap!
I wore a straw hat when I went to watch the chickens in the evening, to protect my scalp from sharp claws in case a hen decided to perch on my head, again. But, this time, Niwatori decided to aim for my shoulder, except the wide brim of my hat confused her and she landed on my upper arm, instead! She was trying to find a foothold and left a few scratches on my arm before daughter managed to get her off my arm! I need to wear long sleeved tops if these hens decide to use me as a perch!
Sunday, August 30: The five packets of coffee beans were delivered in the morning and I wrote all the best by dates on the packages and the canned foods in big numbers and daughter put them up in the pantry cabinet. I did some paperwork (still need to file) and daughter did a load of laundry. In the evening, when we went to tend to the chickens, I wore a long sleeved hoodie, but, of course, the chickens didn't want to perch on me now that I was somewhat protected from their sharp claws! LOL.
Monday, August 31: Earlier in the week, my cousin P's daughter had texted me to inform me that P's health had declined quite a bit and she was in hospice care in Florida, where they had both moved to almost 5 years ago. Midweek, both my daughter and I recorded messages which P's daughter played back to P. Although P could no longer talk, she could hear and her daughter said that P blinked her eyes when she heard our messages. On Monday morning, P's daughter called me with the sad news that P had passed away earlier in the morning. Even though I had been expecting the news, it was still sad to hear. Rest in peace, Cousin.
I had a dental appointment in the afternoon and daughter took the afternoon off from work to accompany me. Two temporary crowns were fitted, one on either side of my mouth (upper left and lower right). The procedure took almost two hours and I have a follow-up appointment in September to have the permanent crowns fitted and work done on another tooth!
Cousin V had called while I was at the dentist's office, so I called her back after I came home and we chatted for a long time. V's father, P's mother, and my mother were siblings. But, V and cousin P were doubly related; V's father and P's mother were siblings and V's mother and P's father were also siblings. So they were very close throughout their lives.
I rested a bit in the evening and then, sat in the garden watching over the chickens while daughter cleaned the coop; then we both watched over the chickens as they explored more of the garden and made sure they kept a safe distance from the garden cats!
August Decluttering: Recent decluttering included brochures and magazines, a couple of items of clothing, storage containers and jars, and dried up pens. I went over my minimum goal of decluttering at least 31 items, but, fell far short of the bigger goal of decluttering 100 items. But, I am pleased with what I did declutter.
Well, August did bring some changes with it, once again. Some were good, some were sad, some were intentional, some were unintended. But, I am grateful for all the many blessings I've experienced this month.
How was your August?
