Congratulations! You are now a chicken mama.

The neighbor who lost Ninja (and yes, the chicken did indeed cross the road) came over last night to see if there was any hope of capturing her. He realized it was a losing battle and bequeathed her to me if I ever managed to tame her. I reluctantly accepted that challenge as I really don't want a chicken. Then, being an animal sucker to the bone, I frantically texted a neighbor I know who has chickens and asked for advice on feeding her; spent an hour on the internet researching, and then spent 15 minutes going through our refrigerator for appropriate foodstuffs and coming up woefully short. I did get the name of the nearest feed supplier and will visit them on the morrow. In the meantime, Ninja is happily digging her way to Australia in search of grubs and other insects, and quite saucily flouncing just out of reach whenever I appear.

Here is why I'm not an "Internet influencer." 

While they make their projects, gardens, travels, and makeup look flawless first time, I admit defeat readily. If you'll remember, I added marigolds to pots to act as a barricade for my little bowling ball Sassy so she wouldn't break her neck coming up the stairs from the backyard. So cheerful, bright and sunny. An excellent addition to the floral ambiance. Yeah, well, not so much:

Potted Plants Solve a Delicate Problem

Well, if you'll recall from 2 posts ago I mentioned, not without some pride, that after 5 years I finally planted some flowers in the iron bed in my side yard. Yup - well that lasted all of a month. Today I realized they weren't thriving and as with so many of my cunning plans, it had gone south. Now, I'm nothing if not flexible when it comes to my gardening faux pas, so I decided to pot them in an array of pots on my back steps.

Before you go thinking I've gone over to the twee side of cute, I will explain that the pots serve a very important purpose. My 16 year old Shih Tzu, Sassy, has trouble navigating the stairs to get to and from the yard. She's OK going down, but I noticed that she has a tendency to try and swan off the stairs when she comes up. One night she almost took a header and only swift action on my part saved her from landing on her head. To avoid future acrobatics, I took a bunch of flower pots and lined the stairs to guide her. Well they looked forlorn with nothing in them. So today I planted the lot with some of the marigolds that were struggling in the flower bed and hope to nurse them into full glory on the steps. And yes, before you say anything, one of these days I'll get around to tiling the steps. But give me a break -- it's only been 20 years since they were put in.

Now, just because puttering with pots is truly not my style, of course I had to do some ripping up of weeds and such. There is a corner of my front garden that I've made major changes to twice. Well, maybe the third time will be the charm. So halfway weeded:

And fully de-nuded and ready for ????. Well yes, of course I have an idea, but making my ideas work is often another story. I will say that it involves a Rose Parade float part and after that - who knows?

Now for something completely different. The worst part of the pandemic is STILL not being able to fuss over all my dog buddies going by and getting to meet all the new dogs being walked. How is one supposed to resist all the furry cuteness and not do an enthusiastic meet and greet?!