Roosters, mosquitoes and snails

Our globe-trotting neighbor is back from Alaska.

I am glad she is back.

I got stuck with "egg duty" several times.

My neighbor has two hen-houses and both have a resident rooster. I don't mind getting hen-pecked but those roosters specialize in attacking as you step out of the hen-house with a full bucket of eggs.

They don't attack when you have both eyes on them. They know that they will get kicked. Turn your back on them and you will get attacked.

Big fish

Michigan has some species of fish that can grow very large: Muskie, Northern Pike, Carp, Sturgeon, Flathead Catfish, Lake Trout and Chinook Salmon for example.

Being an optimist, I have a VERY large landing net.

The last time I collected eggs, I unceremoniously netted the rooster. He quickly got all tangled up in the mesh with his claws, beak and spurs. I left the net with the rooster still in it on the ground.

I collected the eggs, glancing over every once in a while to see if Sir Galahad was making any progress in freeing himself.

Nada. He was in a ball, panting and cussing me out with a New Hampshire accent.

I opened the door and let myself out. The last thing I did was to grab the handle of the landing net and dump a very disoriented and confused rooster on the ground.

I highly recommend the landing net to neutralize roosters.

Weather patterns

Large day-night temperature swings indicate low humidity

If the weather guessers are correct, we are entering a week of fabulous weather.

We are coming off four weeks of on-and-off rain. Mosquitoes are ferocious. The grass is tall and the weeds are taller

I pushed a lawn mower for about an hour-and-a-half today. I have about that much more to mow. Then I get to do it again because it looks like crap.

Deer?

Something got into Mrs ERJ's salad garden and did a number on the green beans.

Something knocked some grafts off of a persimmon 42" above the ground. Destroyed grafts are usually birds landing on them, but this was not in a place where I would expect much attention from birds.

Slow food

Escargot, the original slow-food.