Back in Town

I was out of town for a couple of days. Back now. Will tell you all about it once I get my brain unpacked.

Last Rays of Summer

I got out in the yard today to enjoy a late sunny day. Had to irrigate the garden. I’d removed the sprinkler timers, but it’s been pretty dry the past couple of weeks. So I got some good "hose time."

I feel like my yard right now, going into the autumn of my life. Like the flowers, I look kind of scraggly, but there are still a few bright spots.


The tree roses have been blooming well all year, there are still a few blooms. The zinnias are mostly covered by runaway nasturtiums and mountains of chrysanthemums, but they’re there.

Look at this nasturtium leaf! I didn’t know they got this big.


This was a surprise, a bloom on the bougainvillea that’s growing up the oak tree. I suppose the frost will kill it, but it’s being optimistic. I can't help planting one every few years, maybe someday (after the globe warms sufficiently) one will actually be covered in garish flowers.


The impatiens have been going crazy all summer, and still haven’t given up.


Bernard, this is my Arbutus. There are no strawberries at all on it this year. I think there was a big crop last year. Our native manzanita has similar flowers that are often tinged pink.


The shamrocks Aunt Bea gave me many, many years ago are just starting to bloom. It seems like it’s either late for them, or maybe early. Aren’t they supposed to be blooming on St. Patrick’s Day?


Only the Dogwood tree is planning for fall. I got this one as a sapling from an east coast nursery, where winters are more severe. I need to start collecting its leaves to paint.


Dusty says, “Stop with the pictures, already! It’s dinnertime!”

Another Deserter

Several ladies where I work have retired in the past year. We had a party for the latest one, Jill, this week after work (so the wine is legal). Jill is the sort of person who makes the rest of us look like slackers. She climbs mountains, real ones. Real BIG ones like Kilimanjaro and the ones in Nepal. Not Everest yet, but I think she'd like to try it.

Some people retire and we never hear much from them. I think we can count on Jill to send us postcards from exciting places.

Say Hi to Backyard Snake

This one isn't as colorful as the frontyard snake, and it's much bigger - about 24 inches. Not that I reached down there with a measuring tape and measured it. It looks a lot like a rattlesnake at first glance, that's a minus. A snake can get whopped if it looks like a rattlesnake. Not by me, I run (OK, hobble briskly) away first and ask questions later, through a zoom lens.

I'm hoping this gopher snake likes to munch mice. Trudy the peahen and the 3 large Dominiques were all good mousers, but they're gone to other homes now.

Horses are an attractive nuisance

I didn’t manage to get all the chores done. A neighborhood lady showed up with her 2 daughters to ask if one could work with the horses. The older daughter has joined a 4-H horse project.

I love 4-H kids.

But I don’t think this is going to work.

The girls are very exuberant and weren’t listening well. The gate to the pasture is a major concern because we’re so close to a very busy highway used by dudes who don’t understand that a loose horse won’t get out of the road if you honk your horn. Gate protocol is extremely important.

The mom, who is a total sweetheart, is alas, not a horse person. She said the daughter will be taking lessons, but she’s only been signed up for 4 because they’re expensive. And she has only been allowed to ride in a small pen. Could she ride my horses instead?

This was asked as the daughter was attempting to put a halter on Blue Top backwards.

“Uh, no.” I answered. And went on to explain why. You know how it is when you don’t even know enough about a topic to understand what kind of trouble you can get into? That was my communication problem.

So, the kids can brush the horses when I’m there. Period.

These kids would be great in a rabbit project.

Living on Different Schedules

Many of my friends and relatives are retired. One called me last week with an activity in mind for this weekend, and was shocked when I couldn't participate. "Why not?" I was asked. "What are you doing?"

Well, how soon we forget. When you have to be at work all day, 5 days a week, there's a lot that doesn't get done at home. You have to save big chores for the weekend. This is especially true when you live a rural life and have animals. And with the time changing, and fewer daylight hours, that's even more so.

The pens are set up so the chickens only need to have their food and water replenished once a week, on the weekend. If pens need to be cleaned, that has to happen on the weekend, too. Yardwork can usually only be done on the weekend, except in May, June and July when it stays gloriously light until bedtime.

So, instead of playing, I sent the last of the large Dominiques off to a new home as backyard bug eaters. I was so happy I didn't have to take them to the sale, they're nice and tame and I know their new family will appreciate them.

Then I cleaned their empty pen thoroughly. This takes me twice as long as it does a normal person, but I'm happy to stumble around and do it. Well, actually I'd be happier to tell Bob to do it, but he wasn't here. I went to the feed store for 2 bales of shavings. I love to go to the feed store. It's never a simple 20 minute trip. First I have to read all the notices on both bulletin boards. This week there are lots of puppies for sale. Golden Retrievers, Jack Russell terriers, and Dachshunds. (Did I spell that right?) I don't NEED a puppy, but I love to look at them. There are always horses for sale. I don't need any of them, either, but you have to keep track in case someone else asks.

I think what I'm really looking for, every time I search the bulletin boards, is a message like this:

Handyperson available, will be at your command to fix and repair everything that's broken, clean-up all unfinished projects and store unused materials. Will do plumbing, fence mending, pen building, and windows. Will show up on time and FINISH everything started.

If you see a notice like that, let me know.

Once I get past the bulletin board, I have to work my way through the feed store to the order desk. This feed store doesn't just sell animal feed. It sells western jewelry and clothing, boots, toys, dog and cat items, tack, just about anything you'd ever need when you live in the country. Plus a lot of stuff dudes need to make it look like they live in the country. The building is old and not very well lighted, and there's antique stuff mixed in with new stuff. So it takes a while to look at everything.

But all I needed were 2 bales of shavings.

In times past, when we had many, many chickens, pigeons, goats, horses, dogs and cats I had to go to the feed store every 2 weeks and take the truck. Bob will take his mini truck if I send him, but actually I can haul the few things I need in the back of my Rav4 now. (I still LOVE that car.)

Today I finished cleaning and bedding the big pen, and moved the mutt chicks into it. I was going to split them up and put them in the pens with adult birds, but they're all still happy together. With a larger pen that should last a while.

This is the census I took today:

4 adult Anconas and 2 young Anconas
2 adult Mutt roosters, 3 adult Mutt hens, 2 young Muttleys
3 adult Dominique bantam cocks, 2 cockerels
4 adult Dominique bantam hens, 1 pullet, 3 small chicks (possibly 2 cockerels and 1 pullet)
1 White OE hen and her 2 half OE pullets
3 Taganrog pigeons

That's 29 chickens and 3 pigeons. The wild baby pigeon I raised has migrated.

4 cats
1 goat
2 horses

1 garter snake in the front yard
1 gopher snake in the back yard

Oh, and the 2 tubby doves that hang around

And a bajillion flies that are hanging onto every sunny surface as long as they can.

I hadn't seen the gopher snake before this morning. It might have been flushed out of the field when they harvested the mooshed corn maze. It's just about the right size to catch mice, so it's very welcome.

I just came in for lunch and decided to write this. Now I'm headed back outside. I still need to stack a week's worth of wood in the wood box, clean the mutt babies' old pen, re-staple some plastic that tore loose in the last wind storm. Then I'll spend an hour in the shower getting the shavings and spider webs out of my hair and washing off all the dirt and grime. And THEN I'll have to clean the bathroom. Then Bob might be home and I'll spend the rest of the evening nagging him to get his chores taken care of.

So this is why I didn't have time to go and play this weekend.

The Trekker Ages

Halloween, 1993.


Halloween, 2009.

They get bigger, but they don't grow up.


Thanks to the Cap'n for wardrobe advice.