the farm was full of cute squash and dead things

Couldn't you just die?

The squash were being unbelievably cute. Look at this little guy, his blossom's just barely beginning to scrunch and twist! And he's about the size of a mini muffin. CUTE ATTACK!!!

What should I name him?

Dad gave me his new camera, a Nikon Coolpix 8.something megabla bla, to replace my two other broken ones. Like everyone else, I've been craving the Nikon D-40 for those half blurry, half crisp sadly artistic shots, but it's impossible for me to not drop cameras so I'd better not invest almost 500 bucks in something that will be broken in 5 minutes. Waaaa, change my diaper. Who cares, who cares.

Back to the squash garden ...

There are still a couple rattlesnakes living somewhere in the back squash garden and my dad asked me to pick weeds while I was visiting. As in pulling weeds in the rattlesnake garden. As in blindly plunging my bare hands into bushy weeds. As in bushy weeds that rattlesnakes sleep in during the day. As in ZOMG, KILL ME NOW. But of course, what can you do? When Dad asks you for a favor, you do it.

We weeded one row together, got sunstroke and took a quick water break. Then replanted the bare spots and picked the larger squash and zucchini for the Saturday market. And also, I took a hundred pics of the cutest, wittle baby-squashies. I like how while my dad was hauling both buckets of squash in 90 degree desert heat, he made sure to wait for me while I squealed over the baby-squash. Dads are so cute.

This big boy was ready to be plucked. See how he's bending the vine?

So, I wound up running into one of the rattlers. But, by the time my dad came back with a hoe, that little sucker slithered into a gopher hole. Blah, I'm useless. UPDATE: My parents just emailed me that they found that same snake and killed him yesterday. He was a 6 year old rattler! Aye chi wawa!

These are what the squash rows look like before we weeded them.

After picture!

These are the worst weeds in our gardens. They have beautiful olive green leaves as soft as lamb's ears and a pretty, little purple bloom on top and you're like 'awww! I'm picking this little darling for my mom.' Then you go to pick it and it pricks you with a million sharp red thorns.

Then Dad went inside to cook Squash Casserole. YUMMERS! He told me to go look for the rattlesnake boneyard. So I did ...

And also took pics of our dead apples. Is this a bird problem?

These look alright. We can probably sell them for applesauce now or wait til Autumn for super sweetness. I don't know, is that how apples work?

This is the bean/dill/sunflower/asparagus garden. Remember way back when we first planted it? My parents rotatilled it under and replanted the whole thing again because the beans were coming up diseased and squishy. Anyway, this round of beans are much stronger.

Oops, over-watering :(

This row needs a major makeover.

Beautiful, beautiful, simple corn stalks.

This is my favorite one. Turnips, dill, purple beans, sunflowers and cilantro. And it's had the least amount of snake sightings of all the gardens.

So this next part is a boner killer ...

Be prepared ...

It contains snake images ...

Dead snakes ...

I introduce you to The Rattlesnake Bone Yard:

It's motherfuckin' snakes on a motherfuckin' red ant hill!

I feel like I need to cross stitch this situation on a New Mexico flag ... omg, how effing hardcore are my parents? THEY CREATED A RATTLESNAKE BONE YARD! yay?

Well, this should give me an abundant amount of nightmare material. Great.

I really wish I had a Nikon D-40 to take those half-blurry, artistic rattlesnake shots :( Also, I wouldn't have had to get so close to this disaster scene with the $500 cammy. My brain says they're dead, but my heart is like racing a mile a minute. I bet you'd be the same way.

Then to make me feel better, Mom told me she's training the chickens to kill the rattlers. Aaaaahahahaha! I give that idea two thumbs up. Bak bak bak bak bak-KAW!