I was so thankful the dogs decided to give up on hunting the chickens. Once Calvin had the chicken wire stapled to the ground the dogs realized there was no way to get to them.  Now the chickens and dogs hang around together quietly just inches apart, separated by the chicken fencing.

The other day Louie was standing there minding his own business, but very close to the fence, so one of the hens came over, looked at him, and pecked his nose through the wire.  Louie recoiled, but said nothing, and just had a disappointed look on his face, albeit a look that said “I won’t forget this.”  I told him to just get away from the chickens, as obviously they don’t like him.

Frieda was also pecked, but she took it poorly, first yelping and then running away.  The hens are getting quite feisty, and I guess they don’t want little dogs within inches of them.  The other night one was outside the fence again, and I know if dog and chicken meet minus a fence between them, a melee is gonna ensue.

The cats are keeping busy killing as many mice and rats as they can.  I stepped into cold rat guts the other night as I made my way to the bathroom.  Then to add insult to injury I had a small mouse head balled up in the bed.  That was likely found by Frieda and brought in as a snack but then forgotten or lost.

I’m making human snacks due to the large amount of green tomatoes I have left in the garden.  I made green tomato chutney and two kinds of salsa, one cooked and the other with raw ingredients.  Not sure if any will ever be eaten, and in a couple of years I’ll be hauling these jars out from the back of the fridge wondering whatever they could be.

Today I experimented with fermented carrot juice.  I used to be nuts about it and when I worked downtown I’d go to a health food store and buy it there.  I juiced a whole lot of carrots, then added salt, and it says to leave at room temperature for ten days.  I’ll let you know if it works.

Mom swears by fermented foods and eats dozens of jars of sauerkraut and red cabbage every month.  I certainly don’t want to make it to 97, and I don’t eat either of those two foods so I’m likely safe there, though God knows what the carrot juice’ll do for longevity.  Pretty sure the tequila balances that out.

Other bad foods I’ve made include fig jam.  I had a lot of figs this year, and at the very end I thought they were pretty tasteless due to the lack of heat, and so made jam.  But then the jam ended up rather tasteless, so that was stupid.

I’d bought a horse radish root in the spring, so I guess that should be harvested.  I also have a mighty big crop of hardy kiwis and other than making jam with them, I don’t know that anyone would like them.  I guess I could freeze them but then what?  Both the fridge and freezer will be cluttered with jars of questionable food items.

Still waiting for eggs, but if the chickens attack I won’t be able to collect them, Calvin’ll have to do it.  He said he’s never in his life been pecked by a chicken, so we’ll see if perhaps I accidentally adopted vicious hens.