Slow Sunday UNstitching

This week I am working on some slow UNstitching.  I'm just not happy about how the back of this #Spidersewalong quilt looks.  I am not using my stitch regulator on my longarm.  The stitches have little knots on the back here and there (mostly where I start and stop).  I am happy with the ruler work, but it just needs to be undone.  I have have of it unpicked already.

In other news I'm excited to announce that SIX chicks hatched!  Yesterday there were four that hatched.  This morning I visited the coop and Blondie the brood hen would not budge from the nest to let me see the chicks.  I offered her a marigold and she was just slightly amused with it.  I gave her some crumbles mixed with chick feed and she just started talking.  One by one chicks came hopping out from under her wings and she quickly showed them how to eat.  I watched in awe as she taught them scraping her beak side to side.

You can see five chicks here clearly.  The sixth one is the same color as her and is hiding by her left wing.  Blondie also drank a quick drink of water that I set in front of her.  She's still trying to hatch the two remaining eggs.  She's pretty serious about it, so we shall see.  She's hungry and eating.  I added a little water to the edge of the food bowl and she immediately ate the moist food vs. the dry food.

The broody duck broke all of her eggs.  That experiment didn't work.  Ducks are too rough on the weaker chicken eggs.  Duck egg shells are much more durable.

My garden is doing great.  I watched Wiggles (the rooster) knock off a tomato and roll it to the edge of the garden yesterday (downhill).  He clucked and clucked and wanted to show off to all the girls as to what he had found.  They at most of it, of course.  I don't see too many tomatoes pecked on the vine right now.  I'll keep a close eye on that.  They will be way more interested in them once they start to get ripe.  At that point they will have to stay in their fenced in area.

I'll definitely have to keep a close eye on keeping them secure for a week or two.  I noticed Cooper (the mama cat that hangs out near the coop often) is very interested in the birdhouse on the chicken fence.  She doesn't really seem to bother the chickens.  The kittens like to sneak up on them and jump on them from time to time, but Wiggles the rooster doesn't let any harm take place.  Every once in a while there are some with feathers missing, but not harmed.  I think Cooper takes the kittens to the chicken yard for hunting practice.

Here's my yummy harvest today:  5 weird shaped eggplants, 5 green tomatoes (because the chickens have been pecking at them a bit and I'll try to ripen these in the sun on the picnic table), a cucumber, and a green pepper.  YUM!

Kathy's Quilts is the place where the Slow Sunday Stitching group meets each week.  I wish I had more fun hand work to show, but this is it...  Most of my hand is a green thumb.  :)