A lamb named Taco

Well I haven’t written in my blog in a long time and trying out a new computer is as good a time as any. I like getting new things like this but it is such a hassle setting everything up. I have two computer s running at my desk now as I try to change files over and it is very crowded. I do like my new wireless keyboard- at least so far. I am wondering how long the batteries work.

We are having a major snow storm outside today. On Friday it was sunny and relatively mild and we had a set of twin lambs born. We have one older lamb that was born the week before Thanksgiving. There were no babies at noon but when I went out to feed about 4 pm there was a baby by a tree and one in the run in barn with it’s mom. The one outside was in the sun and dry and alert so I carried him to the barn. Mom and sibling huddled to the back and I didn’t want to spook mom into running so I set the little boy down at the entrance. He was reluctant to proceed any further, it was darker in there but finally he went over to the other two, the other lamb came up to him and he followed it back. It looked like everything would be ok so I left.

Next am I carried some hay and grain to the barn because mom didn’t want to bring the little ones out and I noticed the little male I found was up by the front of the barn and the other lamb was with mom in the back. That didn’t look right, and sure enough as I stood and watched the ewe wouldn’t let the male lamb any where near her. So reluctantly I carried him inside. We put him in the big dog carrier in the kitchen to protect him from the dogs. That’s the problem, we have every room allocated to something now. Old Sarah, [ a Jack Russell dog], had to be brought inside after she had her teeth cleaned and her gums were infected, then she was so old and weak acting we let her stay in the spare room after that. Ginger surprised us with 4 puppies last Thursday and she is set up in our bedroom. Of course here in the office I have my two dogs who don’t play well with others. So we are animal crazy right now.

Anyway little Taco as I named him, is as cute as can be, wooly chocolate brown with a big white spot on top his head and a broad blaze. I was a bit worried at first because he didn’t want to suck the $25.00 a bag milk from the $3.00 nipple I had to go and buy, but he decided this morning to suck finally and chugged a bottle down. He is good sized, bigger than the one left with mom, who I do not know the sex of yet. It is more red brown, with the same spot and blaze and some spots on the legs. They stayed in the barn today and I carried hay to them through the snow.

Taco thinks I’m mom now and will follow me around the kitchen. I have actually never bottle fed a lamb before, although I have fed plenty of baby goats. Our sheep usually don’t need any help with things. Goat kids usually take to a bottle real fast, but Taco took several feedings of me dribbling milk down his throat before he decided to suck.

He is so cute but a big headache. I can’t trust most of the dogs around him and I have to lock them out of the kitchen to give him some time to walk around. When he gets more active in a day or two he won’t be happy in that carrier. And a ram lamb that’s bottle fed turns into a dangerous ram when he’s older. They have no respect for humans and will try to knock you down, we had one that really hurt both of us at various times until we got rid of him. So he will have to be neutered and become a pet or become meat. And it’s hard to turn something into meat you bottle raise.

I do need a white elephant gift for work- what’s better than a baby lamb?

Late October

It’s a beautiful but chilly fall day here in Michigan. I have lost Henny Penny, my pet hen. She was here Wednesday evening, I put her on the shelf in the barn because she couldn’t get to it because we had moved a table she normally used. Steve said she was there in the morning following him around. But Thursday evening she was no where to be seen. No feathers no carcass in the road, I looked everywhere. I wonder if someone stole her, if so, I hope it was to keep her for eggs. I miss her. I guess eventually I will get some more hens, I had Steve re-building the little pen in the barn a few days ago, I thought I would get her a few friends.
I also lost the male black and white half grown kitten that I called Skunk. He followed me into a dog kennel one night when I was feeding and I didn’t notice. Next thing I knew I heard him crying. I ran back in and rescued him but it was too late, he died the next day. That’s why I say cats are just stupid. He knew these dogs don’t like cats. He was well aware there was a dog in there. They don’t go in the kennels any other time. I guess they think if they are with me they are protected. I feel bad that I didn’t notice him. He could have climbed the gate to get out of Bubbas way, he probably tried to stand Bubba down. Just stupid.
My car is missing too. It’s been at the shop all week. They promise it will be fixed tomorrow. Last Saturday after my big Education Seminar I had it all loaded up with left over food and supplies and it wouldn’t start. Luckily, just a few days before a guy down the road fixed Steve’s car. He was very nice and fixed it for $25.00. Steve was able to come and pick me up and we went back the next day to try and start it with no luck. It had some sort of electrical problem and it took the mechanics a long time to find it, then they had to order a part - for a 22 year old car. Hopefully we will soon be able to afford a slightly younger clunker. Steve’s van is all caved in the front from a deer collision, the lights don’t focus in the right direction , there is only one wiper blade, seatbelt doesn’t work and if you press too hard on the accelerator it sticks wide open- very scary. So its just for emergencies in the daylight. A deer owes us a car.
Last night we had quite a heavy frost, there was ice on water outside the barn. Maybe the tomatoes will finally die. I never dreamed I would be tired of picking tomatoes, here it is the end of October and just a few days ago I picked some from 5 different vines. The petunias and marigolds are still blooming too. At work we have had daylilies start blooming again. The Farmers Almanac predicts a mild dry winter. We will see if their predictions are better than last year. I don’t mind mild but I wish we could get more moisture. Our pond has never been this low, it is only a fraction of its normal size. We had about an inch of rain yesterday but it barely dents the soil deficit and none seems to make it to the pond. I want to find some way to channel water from the roof or even the washing machine down to the pond. I am sure glad we never got around to re-stocking it with fish this year.
We had to pen the sheep up in the west pasture. They had started getting out of the north pasture by the woods and then coming up to graze in the yard. There are lots of hunters around already and its safer if they aren’t in the woods. The grass is green but it isn’t growing much and we will have to feed hay now. The two ewes I think are pregnant are huge, if they aren’t pg then they are extremely fat and won’t need much hay. I have had Barbados lambs in October before but October is almost over. We peeled a whole bunch of apples last night to make pies and I took the peels out to them this morning thinking I was bringing them a big treat. They acted like I was trying to poison them. Yet they will break a fence down to reach some Bittersweet berries.
I sent Steve out to sit in the sun. He needs to go out each day and not sit around watching football or talk shows. The sun helps heal depression and keeps your body clock working right. It is very hard for me to be inside on nice sunny days. I know I get depressed when the days are dark and rainy but I have a book deadline to meet and it’s much easier to be inside writing if the weather is nasty. So let it rain- or snow- as long as it isn’t too deep.

July in October

It’s hot here in Michigan- too hot. I like my seasons the way they are supposed to be, not summer in October. 90 plus degrees and humid is just awful. My poor sheep were getting their winter coats and are miserable. It is supposed to storm tonight and get cooler- I hope so. I don’t want winter yet but gee, fall would be nice. And we really need rain. All of my houseplants are still outside, I put them on the porch for 2 days in mid September but they have been outside since. That is a new record. I am picking ripe tomatoes and peppers, that’s got to be a record too.

I had to go into town this morning and I took the back road. There is a little color in the trees and all the fields are being harvested- dry weather is good for that. In town I came behind an Amish buggy going to the stock yards, it’s market day. I felt sorry for the poor sweaty horse and I wondered if the Amish family inside the buggy were regretting not having a faster ride, one that would at least give you a little wind as it went down the road. Their life seems hard, but sometimes I wish my life was more like theirs. An Amish boy from nearby was injured by a piece of horse drawn harvesting equipment last week. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital and then air lifted to Children’s Hospital in Detroit. How quickly his life changed, not only the severe injury but an onslaught of technology. I wonder how his poor parents get to visit him. Maybe one flew down with him.

I had to drive about 150 miles through mid Michigan Friday for a meeting. It was a pretty day and the county car I was using was air conditioned so the ride wasn’t bad. They are harvesting sugar beets all through this area and I saw numerous semi-loads of the big, ugly, lumpy beets on the road. I passed by several towns where they were cooking sugar- it’s amazing how something so sweet and tasty can smell so bad in the making. I passed through the Isabella Indian reservation, where the Soaring Eagle casino is located. The casino is very modern and nice looking as are several big hotels nearby- but the area surrounding them- where I was passing through- looked very poor. I have no interest in casino gambling and can’t imagine sitting inside on a nice day feeding my money to a machine.

Granny’s advice today is make something sweet out of something ugly. This hot humid weather means I don’t have to run the furnace or feed hay.

Bugs View of Life

I was sitting outside in the late evening the other night watching the sheep. The sun was at a low angle and I was looking toward the west. In the stream of light I could see literally hundreds of insects, big and small, flying back and forth, different levels, different directions. As far as I could see the air was filled with creatures. It reminded me of one of those cartoons depicting the future, when we would all be flying everywhere on different levels in the sky. You know, one of the 1965 cartoons predicting what the year 2007 would bring. I walked out into the pasture and put my hands out. trying to catch some of the insects to see if they were all the same species and what they were. The sheep clearly though I was nuts, any neighbors who drove by probably thought so too. I came to the conclusion that they were all different sorts of bugs, big burly flies, fast flying mosquitoes, tiny gnats of some sort. I don’t know if this was an exceptional night for bug journeys or if I could see them this night because the angle of light was just right. Sometimes you are just in the right spot at the right time and a whole new world opens up to you.

Lazy Fall days

We had our first frost on the 15th - a light one but it meant I had to bring in the tender stuff and cover the tomatoes. I put everything on the porch for 2 days then today I put it all back outside because we are supposed to have a spell of warm 80 degree plus weather coming up. I like it when everything comes inside all lush and shiny after a summer outside. It’s always a little crowded at first because I can’t stand to leave anything outside that might be saved. But some things die or get so bad looking that I toss them and that frees up space. My houseplants that I left inside this year have a bad case of scale, tiny shell like insects. They suck on plant tissue and secrete honeydew, which is tiny sticky droplets that are all over the window, etc. I am trying to clear that up before I expose any new plants to them.

I cut the pumpkin off the vine that grew by the back door and tossed the vine into the compost pile. The pumpkin is quite large and well shaped. If you turn the side that Henny Penny sampled from time to time, [ she left a few peck marks], away from you , it really looks good. Maybe I will get ambitious and decorate for fall soon. It looks better just to get that ugly vine out of the roses by the back door.

I find it hard to concentrate on anything in the early fall. I have a bit of allergy symptoms, probably ragweed, and I think the high air pressure in fall makes me feel drowsy and lazy. I just want to bask in the sun before these sunny days are gone. Later in the fall I will get my buzz on to prepare for winter and start loading the pantry, wanting to bake all the time and make craft projects. I guess this time of year I really start to appreciate what I’ll be missing before long and just want to soak it up. I went down to the pond and to the woods, just walking, collecting some seed pods and such. You have to be a little careful this time of year walking out in the woods - lots of people are very eager to hunt and some don’t wait for the official start of hunting season. There are sure a lot of deer around this year.

Usually our oak tree alternates producing acorns with the walnut tree producing lots of walnuts. This should be the year for acorns but it doesn’t look like there will be many. If this is happening all over there will be some hungry squirrels this winter. Maybe some of the little buggers will finally die- hopefully the ones that keep getting in my attic.

I am kind of ready to have the frost kill it all. I will have to water the potted stuff today and we are getting a little tired of tomatoes anyway. A heavy frost will kill all the flies and mosquitoes, which is always nice and I can then get rid of the hornets nest on the porch, in the sheep shed and under the fill lid on the propane tank. As of yesterday I was still seeing lots of hummingbirds. I guess they know there is still warm weather ahead.

the pond

It is a cool cloudy day here, a quiet Monday morning. I decided to be brave and go look at the pond. I hate to see it when it is so low. This spring it was very high and beautiful. Some people’s ponds in the area are completely dried up. Our pond is out behind the barn and not too visible when the trees around it are leafed out. I have to sneak out there because if the dogs see me they climb over the fence if they are able to join me or if they are not climbers they bark and howl. They haven’t been to the pond this year because the fence around it has several spots they can get through. Then I can’t enjoy the pond; I have to go after them. When and if we ever get any money we are going to replace the fence. The big dogs stay with me but the little ones are all over the place, finding a way out so they can kill something on the other side.
Anyway I quietly slipped down to see the pond this am. I figure it has lost 10 foot in depth at the deep end and the shallowest part is completely dried up, middle part only about 6 foot across now. Grass and weeds are growing where water was this spring. My yellow flag iris is 6 foot from water now.
I hate to see the pond like this, but I guess it is kind of natural for it to recede in summer.
When we first moved here the pond was only a year old and the person who dug it probably didn’t know much about pond building. The previous owners wanted it for swimming and fishing. They dyed the water blue to keep the algae out and they had stocked the pond with bluegills and some bass. The place where they chose to dig the pond was odd, on higher ground behind the barn instead of out by the woods where it is low and naturally wet part of the year. I guess they wanted it close to the house. But they had to dig a huge hole down to the water table, probably 30-foot and then they piled the clay they took out over the surrounding area. The neighbors told us they had a hard time keeping water in the pond as the water that did seep in from the groundwater wanted to run towards the woods. So the pond sits down in a hole basically. It is a rough oval, longer than it is wide, about 150 foot by 75 foot I’d say. At the deep end the water is easily 15 foot deep in the spring and the shallow area about 3 foot. When we first moved in the banks were still bare and eroding into the pond. There was a cut down area on the south side so that you could walk down to the water near the shallow end but in heavy rain a lot of soil washed down that slope. We set to work planting grass and other plants along the banks. In some places we had to pile brush and logs along the bank slope to stabilize it. We planted a few trees a little way back from the edge, including a weeping willow. That first summer we swam in the pond, and I could feel the seeps where cold water bubbled up from underground under my feet. We put the blue dye in and fed the fish just like the previous owners. It was an unnatural blue color but pretty in its own way. The fish thrived and for a few years anyone who threw a line in could get a runty bluegill or an occasional whopper bass that ate the rapidly reproducing bluegills. Then one winter all the fish died because the water was low going into winter and I think there wasn’t enough oxygen left after the top froze. We haven’t replaced them, although we talk about it each year. The first few years after the pond was dug it only shrank a little each summer as the ground water was still seeping in. But over time a number of things happened. I think the water table dropped after several drought years and a lot of new wells and ponds in the area. The seeps may have been filled in by silt too. We don’t swim in the pond anymore because the muck on the bottom is so deep. The trees that grew up around the pond and make it more natural looking also suck water out of it. I think the major source of water now is run off and some years that is a considerable amount of water. This spring was very wet and we started the year with a very full pond, very deep water and the whole width of the basin was covered. And now after a dry summer we are down to about 6 foot of water in the deepest spot and half the basin is dry.
Well I guess it is a natural wetland, pond now. We haven’t put dye in it for years and cattails have grown up in the shallow end. We do have more native birds and animals around it too. There were never many frogs in the pond when there were fish, now there are hundreds.
The ducks were doing fine- we have two domestic males that must be 6 years old now, their females were picked off years ago by coyotes as they set on eggs. They keep the wild geese off their pond. They come up to the back of the barn where I feed the wildest cats and eat cat food. In the winter they spend a lot of time around the back of the barn keeping out of the deep snow. They had plenty of water left to swim in but as I sat on the bank watching them they swam over to my side, where the water was shallow and began taking baths. I thought that was odd, they were splashing and throwing water over their backs as birds do when bathing, but they had just been floating around in the same place. The little birds do appreciate the open shallow water though; there was a whole line of goldfinches bathing at the waters edge and I saw chickadees and other birds pop in and out. A killdeer was walking around in the shallow water. I saw no frogs this time, but I didn’t get down close to the water. There are tons of frogs up in the yard now, including a huge bullfrog I saw up in the dog’s yard.
So there are good things about the natural habitat the pond is now. We discussed trying to dredge down to the water table again, but I think this pond is poorly placed and may never be any better than this. If I had a lot of money I might fill this hole in and start again, down in the low area by the woods, but that is not likely to happen. Or we could cut the banks down on this pond and push the soil toward the low area to raise that- but we spent so much time getting vegetation to grow again on that subsoil they had thrown up around the pond that I hate to ruin it and start over. Or if we were really rich we could dig a well and install a pump just to keep it full, as one wealthy neighbor has done. His pond is much smaller though. We may put some Koi in the pond next spring- something to get tame and play with, and maybe they will reproduce and we can sell some of the offspring or maybe just some minnows or bluegills. Maybe.

September is here

Well it is September now, lets have that nice fall weather please. My Mom and dad were up to our place for the first time this year. Not much was in bloom in the garden, although I do have some impressive hardy hibiscus in the front of the house. They have these huge, dinner plate sized flowers of crimson red or bright pink. Very showy. They love moisture and are doing very well where they are because that us where we diverted the water from the kitchen sink. I chose to write about them this week in my garden site at www.gardenandhearth.com/plant-guides.htm

Mom and Dad and Steve and I had a pleasant talk while we watched the birds in the front yard and the friendly kitten tried to talk mom and dad into taking her home. We didn’t barb-b-que, just had some nice sandwiches and potato salad. I like to get mom to talk about relatives and the old days. There’s lot to learn about family ties. I feel bad for Steve sometimes as his mom and dad are both dead and his family doesn’t seem to keep in touch very well. And that reminds me that his brothers new address is now lost, as the big puppy carried the address book I keep out into the yard and Steve mowed it into a thousand pieces.

The new puppies are all doing well, although I did have one more dog incident this week. All my fault too, I was having a senior moment or something. I give Hazel, our old Border collie mix a pheno-barb tablet each night because she has seizures. She will only eat it in a piece of hotdog and we have an evening ritual at the house of giving everyone a piece of hotdog or two, right before bed. So I prepared Hazels piece with the pill in it and then I handed it to Bessie, who eagerly gulped it down of course. Bessie is the mother of the 6 pups and right away I was concerned that the pill would hurt her or the pups. So I called poison control- which by the way seems to have gone to a foreign country for its service-and they told me to feed her a large meal then give her 2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide to make her vomit. She had just finished her bed time nursing mom meal of chicken and rice, so I measured out the hydrogen peroxide and surprisingly enough she took it without fighting me, although I had to give it to her in 3 syringes. Then she just sat there for a few minutes, just when I thought it wasn’t going to work the fun began. Poor Bessie, she heaved for quite a while. But the next day everyone was fine and I sure learned a lesson.

I am waiting for a fall crop of lambs I believe I am going to get. Our Barbados sheep are not seasonal breeders and will breed back after giving birth if the ram is with them. I have had double lambings in other years especially if the first set is born early or is lost. Two of my girls had their lambs die when we had that really cold below zero spell last February. I think they are pg but I also think the white ewe that had one lamb is too. They are all as fat as butterballs, even the rams, so it is hard to say, but my hunch is the 3 girls are going to lamb again. Which is good because it will keep them from having spring lambs too early next year too. I think they should lamb fairly soon, but it’s just a guess.

We need to sell off or butcher the two young rams as they are beginning to fight and fight with their dad too. They are quite handsome both of them and have a good set of horns already. I haven’t been able to afford an ad to sell them, but I probably can’t afford the butcher fee either. They sure would make good lambburger for the dogs. Barbados lambs can go longer without castration before butchering and still have the meat taste good, but they need to go soon. I can’t afford to feed that many of them this winter as the cost of hay is going to be out of sight. Thank God the rain came and got the pasture greened up again so we didn’t need to keep buying hay this summer. There is quite a bit of good eating out there for them right now.

I won ten dollars on the lottery last week. Let’s hope that is a sign that the money will soon start rolling in here and we can get caught up on everything. At least August is over and we survived one more month.

Go away August- weather and puppies

February and August, those two months are the ones I can’t wait to end every year. At least February is a short one. August just drags on forever. In March you know winter is almost over and the days are getting longer. In August you know the heat and humidity is almost over. We have had a long miserable week, and last night was a scary one with tornados popping up every where in Michigan, including 6 miles from us. But thank God we have not had some of the even worse weather other parts of the country have had. Grass is getting green again and we can now burn the trash. The sheep are finding stuff to eat in the pasture. Rain is good but I could skip the heat.

Dogs are driving me nuts too. Aug. 12 we had two litters born, one with 6 puppies and one with just one. On Aug. 19 after going through two days of off again, on again labor, Susan, one of our Jack Russells had a single puppy, too large for her, and born dead.

After we took it from her she got in the box with Sadie who had the other single pup. I thought ok, two mommies. But when Sadie left for a minute Susan would not let her back in the box. Sadie is a calm mom and she wasn’t too upset for a while, it gave her time to sit on Daddy’s lap. But after a few hours she wanted her puppy back and a fight broke out. We got Susan out of the box but she was frantic for a puppy. She was looking everywhere, whining and crying. It was near bed time and I wanted to get a good nights sleep having been up with Susan a good part of the previous night. So I had an idea. I moved Sadie and her single baby to the bathroom and then I went to Bessie who had the litter of 6 and stole a puppy that looked similar to Sadie’s and gave him to Susan, whose bed was in our room, so I could hear if anything went wrong. She didn’t have a speck of trouble accepting him, she was desperate for a pup of any sort. Bessie seemed to be ok with her remaining 5 pups in the spare room. But in the middle of the night Sadie came and got in bed with me. I remember sleepily muttering, “go back to your puppy“. She did after a while, but it was too late. When we got up in the morning no puppy was in the box with Sadie. A short search located him in Bessie’s bed with her pups, but he was dead, a single puncture wound at the back of the head. I thought I would hear if anything happened, but I was wrong I guess. Bessie obviously can count, and expected to have 6 pups in her bed. I didn’t understand why she had killed it though.

We carefully kept the bedroom door shut, where Susan was doting on her foster pup. Sadie mourned only briefly, she went back to being princess dog with little fuss. Bessie gave no indication she was still looking for her 6th pup. But a few days later, when I came home from work, one of the “glad to see ya mom fights” broke out as I walked in the door. Steve had been in the room with Susan and he rushed out to help me break up the fight, leaving the door open behind him. Susan came flying out to join in the fray. While everyone else was involved in the fight, Bessie saw her opportunity and rushed in and grabbed her pup and started running back to her bed with him. I yelled and Steve grabbed at her and the pup was dropped. I scooped him up and he was bleeding. Luckily he had only a small wound in the chest area. He was screaming his head off though, poor scared thing. Bessie went to her bed, Susan became frantic so I put the pup back in her bed. He cried for a long time and I was worried I had killed another one with my meddling, but he seems to have healed without any problems. I think Bessie gets nervous when she is carrying a pup and bites down too hard. It just amazed me that after 3 days she still remembered and was plotting to get her puppy back. She waited until everyone was occupied then went for it. I thought any mom with 6 pups wouldn’t really miss one, but that’s not the case I guess. We are really watching the door now and Susan is starting to relax a little too. I hope to put them back together when they start eating, it’s not good to raise one pup alone once they start interacting with each other. Susan should be easier to convince that it’s time to relinquish foster care by then. Isn’t it amazing what animals do think and feel?

So by this time in September we will probably have crisp days and cool nights, maybe even a frost to kill the bugs. And the puppies will be starting to eat and play and almost ready to go to new homes. Hurry August and just get it over!

county fair

It was fair week last week in our county. The Master Gardener Program gets a whole 100-foot by 30 foot building to build displays in and we try to do it proud. This year we had a fairy garden, [beautiful plants, all kinds of tiny fairies hiding in different places doing their thing, fairy houses, a fairy boat made from acorn shells floating on a tiny pond, even fairy dust -made from organic sugar- that kids could take home]. And we had a re-cycled garden where we added plants to all kinds of things, tires cut in half, old pots and pans, old chairs, boots, wagons, wheel barrows etc. It had an ancient Maytag wringer washing machine turned into a tiny pond where water circulated through the wringer part and even had blooming water lilies. It had clothes hanging on a line with plants in the pockets and an old barb-b-cue grill turned into a planter. Then we had an indoor plant exhibit with a complete living room set up with houseplants including orchids and bromeliads. We also had a garden of plants for tea, a naturalized garden and a garden with plants for wildlife. Master Gardeners grew the plants all summer and built the props and it wasn’t easy this summer with all the heat and drought. But it all came together beautifully. I was there for seven days straight at least 8 hours a day and let me tell you, I was glad when it was over. We did get a little rain- par for fair week- but the fairgrounds got a lot more than at my house which is 30 miles north of the fairgrounds. It was too hot to even sit out in the sun in the evening and enjoy the rodeo. I wish fairs could be held in October.
This was the first year in many, many years that I personally hadn’t made any entries in the fair. Usually I enter my fudge, plants I grew, floral arrangements, etc. I was just too busy this year. My time at fair did allow me to look in the animal barns and reminisce about when I was a kid showing animals at fair. The poor animals looked miserable in the heat. Animal barns are a lot cleaner and less smelly than they were in the old days. At another county fair in Michigan this year the pigs came down with a disease and had to be quarantined. Our fair went fairly smoothly. I did see one incident of poor sportsmanship. A kid who didn’t win first place with his meat pen of chickens splashed paint all over them in protest. In the old days that kid would have been told to take his birds home, but this one was allowed to stay. We are so afraid of hurting any ones feelings we overlook bad sportsmanship.
I have an issue with the way things are judged at fairs now anyway. Seldom does a child get anything but a blue ribbon, even if he or she admits they threw the project together the night before and it looks like crap. These are “precious little beings” that we need to encourage and everyone is a winner. Then the kid grows up and goes out into the real world and doesn’t understand why his boss criticizes him because at least he tried. The animal projects are a little more objective but even there the push is to make sure everyone is “happy” whether they tried their best and the animal is deserving or not. I don’t think projects should be made fun of or kids judged too strictly, but it’s a fact of life that you can try really hard sometimes and your result won’t be as good as someone else. And if you don‘t try really hard and get the same reward as everyone who did, what does that say to the person who worked their butt off?. What meaning does a blue ribbon have if everyone gets one?
And then there’s this thing about tiny children entering fair contests. It used to be that you had to be 10 years old to enter a 4-H project and then you were usually restricted by age as to how many and what kind of projects you could enter after that. Now we have 3 year olds showing horses and entering photography projects. They can enter in just about any area. It’s called Cloverbuds here and other things in other counties and states. What happens is Mom and Dad want to show something and can’t, or they just can’t say no to a whiny brat. It’s dangerous for tiny kids to be in show rings with large animals and even rabbits are a lot for kids under 10 to handle. What ever happened to waiting until you were old enough? The kids just get participation ribbons anyway. But there has to be judges and ribbons and a lot of time invested in judging these so called projects. Maybe there should be one or two craft projects little kids could do but even in the crafts it’s obvious the parents do most of the work. One judge asked a child what he was thinking about when he took that picture and he said his aunt took it. So what did the child learn? How to cheat? Parents- get a life and a spine. And 4-H officials should also learn to say no and get off the “everyone is a winner, lets all be careful we don’t damage a fragile ego” kick.
Fair competition doesn’t hurt kids, it builds character and prepares kids for the real world. Life isn’t always fair and everyone is not equal in all things. Tell a kid what he did wasn’t good enough and let him deal with it. Suggest ways how he could improve - give constructive criticism but don't be afraid to criticize. He’ll either try harder and learn to do it better or find something he is good at. That’s where parents can help. There is usually at least one thing a child can do or wants to do really well- help him find that and encourage him to keep working on it even if he’s not the best right away.

Hot and Dry Gripes

I am tired of endless hot and sunny days, we haven’t had more than a trace of rain in 6 weeks. There is only about a 30% chance at the most that we will get any rain this week too. Storms pass overhead, thunder and lightning crashing, but the rain never comes. It’s almost like our little corner of the world has been given a death sentence. The lawn crunches when you walk on it, the trees and shrubs are wilting, every night I spend a good chunk of time watering things so they don’t die. I try not to think of the plants I can’t get water too. The weeds are going crazy, [some weeds like dry weather], because after I water I don’t have time or energy left to pull them. The pasture is drying up, we let the sheep roam the back north area where the fence isn’t very good, but even that will soon be gone. First cutting of hay is getting very expensive because there hasn’t been a second cutting. I shudder to think what hay will cost this winter. There may be lots of lambburger in the freezer this winter. I don’t even want to look at our pond. Many ponds around here have dried right up. I am getting paranoid about fire, I haven’t let Steve burn our trash. There is a big stand of white pine across the road to the north and it is tinder dry in there. We have a huge dry brush pile just across the road. If a fire got started it would burn right across the road through the dry pasture to the house and barns with ease. A cigarette thrown from a car could set it all off.
The flies and yellow jackets are getting very horrendous. Stable and face flies make working outside miserable, forget sitting anywhere. Where are they breeding? Manure dries as soon as it hits the ground. At least the mosquitoes are scarce.
We have had less problems with fungal disease on things this year, my tomatoes are doing pretty good except for Bonnie Best, an old variety. But the potatoes dried off early and the onions made little bulbs even though I watered them.
Our county fair is next week. I didn’t personally enter any exhibits this year, although I am in charge of coordinating a large Master Gardener Exhibit. It’s the first time in about ten years I didn’t enter anything and I’m glad, all my garden is less than winning and it‘s too hot to bake or make fudge. That’s when it will probably rain since I have to be there everyday and it can get pretty miserable trudging around in mud. But I don’t care, I hope it pours all week.

Move to the Country- just not too close to me

It’s such a beautiful day here in the country that the only advice I could give today is to move to the country! Get away from people looking at you all the time. Houses and yards so close together you can see in each others windows and hear every conversation. Working in the yard under the scrutiny of neighbors eyes. Different radios blaring at you from all directions day and night, traffic noise, sirens, kids crying. Ugh! Been there, don’t ever want to do it again. I sat outside this morning listening to the birds singing, an occasional sheep baaing, a horse nickering and wind rustling the leaves of the aspens.

Every once in a while a car would go by, we are fairly close to the road here, but its a dirt road and not real busy. But the neighbors can’t see me, no one was casually watching me and it was quiet. I can see out across the horse pastures across the road, or the alfalfa field to the east, or the sheep pasture to the west or the woods on the north- long views where the eyes can stretch out as far as a mile away. No buildings blocking the view, no concrete or asphalt.

I sat for a while watching the kittens play in my flowers and the birds visiting the feeders. My dogs were quiet in the backyard, they knew where I was and were snoozing in the sun. If anything was making noise it was those darn red squirrels, fighting over territory I guess, back and forth across the tree in the front yard. A hummingbird was visiting every red Bee Balm flower in my flower bed and she came and hovered in front of my bright pink t shirt to check it out. Doves were landing under the bird feeder to pick up spilled seeds and a kitten started creeping up on them. Birds kept landing at the feeder, they seemed to dismiss the tiny predators presence and the doves let it get almost to them before they whistled off.

The horse farm has a beautiful roan and white quarter horse mare in the pasture right across from our house. I get to watch her graze without having to buy her food and shoes.
There’s something soothing about watching animals graze on a beautiful day. It’s kind of dry here, the fields are turning yellow faster than normal, but it’s still pretty. We have turned the sheep out into the back pasture along the woods to eat weeds out there and what little grass is left. The back fence isn’t in good shape, but so far they have stayed up close to old pastures, I don’t think they like walking through tall stuff, they have to eat it down as they go.

My Oriental lilies are starting to bloom and the scent is heavy on the summer air. They are about two weeks ahead of normal bloom time I think. Casa Blanca, Tom Pouce, La Reve, Silk Road, and a few others are blooming. They seem to survive drought fairly well, I am watering them a little though. What’s sad is out toward the pond, where my lilacs, mock orange, forsythia and other plants are beginning to wilt. The hose won’t reach and carrying water from the pond would be extremely difficult as it would mean going up and down a hill and wading in mud to get to where the water has receded. So they suffer. There is no rain in sight for at least 5 days, and that doesn’t even look too good. This weather has sure been strange, people 20 miles away got 5 inches of rain last week, we got a sparse 1/2 inch. No matter how much you water, plants always seem to do better with a good rainfall. I will have more watering to do tonight. I try to water a different bed each night. Farmers around here had such high hopes this spring for a record corn crop as prices are high, now the corn is rolling up in the field. Most haven’t been able to get a second cutting of hay off this year so hay will be expensive this year. We may have to sell the sheep, it might mean choosing between hay and propane on our budget this year, or we could turn them into lambburger I guess. But we’ll get by and I thank God we are still living in the country.

Conserving water

We finally got a little rain yesterday and today, not a lot but enough that I didn’t have to water all the plants for two days. That was a nice break. I was getting a little crabby having to haul the hose around every night. I have all these plants in pots that I am growing for a display at our county fair. Pots have to be watered every day and it was so dry that I had to mercy water my flower beds too. We had to buy hay because the pasture is drying up. Yard hasn’t had to be mowed in three weeks. So the rain is very welcome. All those perky little weather girls on T.V. who assure us that the rain won’t spoil our weekend sure don’t live in farm country. Severe weather is a possibility tomorrow. Now I don’t want that. But I will take the rain.
All this talk about conservation and global warming and this drought have got me to thinking. Last fall we ran the drain from the kitchen sink out through the wall and down a pipe to my front flower bed. It didn’t freeze up all winter because water doesn’t stand in the pipe. The original drain had ran into a dry well somewhere under the house I guess, because it wasn’t hooked up to the septic. One of those old house mysteries. But it clogged up or was full and to hook it to the septic meant knocking a hole in a foundation wall in a crawl space, a job that neither my husband or I thought we could handle, so we improvised, redneck style and its worked pretty good. Keeps the front flower bed watered. In fact I would like to run the laundry water out to the vegetable garden or another flower bed. It’s a shame to waste all that water. Grey water, which laundry water and sink water are, is legal to reuse on plants and lawns. And the water won’t hurt them either, unless they get too much and the ground doesn’t drain well. My husband isn’t quite convinced yet on this one. But it would save on electricity too, pump wouldn’t have to run to water the plants. So maybe we will do it. Just think if all the gray water, shower and bath, laundry, sinks etc were reused to water lawns and flower beds what a massive savings across the globe that would be. It would be nice if some of it could be stored to flush toilets too, so clean water wouldn’t have to be used. That’s Granny’s advice for this week, let’s all try to re-cycle some water.

Cats aren't that smart

I don’t think cats are as smart as some people believe or as smart as they seem to think they are. I have this fluffy white cat named appropriately enough, Fluffy, who has been stepped on or rolled over by my husbands wheel chair any number of times, to the point of breaking her leg one time.. Yet she stills sits right on the door step and doesn’t move as you step out. If you manage to miss her there she will soon be underfoot somewhere else and must get stepped on at least once a day. She has successfully raised some kittens this year thanks to the help of a little black cat who either lost hers or combined them with Fluffys. They are about 3 months old now and running all over. They get under the car and I spend 5 minutes everyday checking and re-checking to make sure I don’t mash them. The kittens aren’t real tame, they will tolerate handling but they love making me part of their games if I sit out in the yard. I was on the ground trying to take pictures of them and they kept leaping up into the camera. Henny Penny was with them, she follows the cat family around now that her rooster is gone-victim of a loose Jack Russell. She also was very interested in the camera and kept poking her beak into the lens.
We have a number of barn cats- the number changes constantly as they come and go. A couple months ago a small black and white cat showed up, pregnant but very friendly. I figured some one had dropped her off here as they are prone to do, when they noticed she was PG. She usually ate with the back of the barn group, we have two cat feeding places, although she would be rubbing around my legs the minute I walked in the barn. I knew she had her kittens about the same time Fluffy did, but I never saw or heard them. As Fluffy’s kittens started running around I kept watching and finally I noticed the little cat dragging a rabbit almost as big as she was back toward the barn. When I was done with what I was doing I snuck over to the pasture where I could see the back of the barn and there they were, 5 of them. I didn’t see her or the rabbit, but the kittens were in the sheep feeding pans, eating a little of the stock feed that was left behind. They vanished like shadows when they noticed me. I figured out that she had kept them under the ramp to the inside entrance of an old dog run on that side of the barn. No dog in it of course. I felt sorry for them, so I started dropping a little cat food in the old pen where the sheep couldn’t get to it. A week or so later I noticed they were creeping into the back of the barn when I fed the back of the barn cats and eating with them. This week however they have totally disappeared and Mom too. It’s really strange. Maybe she came from one of the farms around here and finally felt it was safe to lead them home. Don’t know and I guess I shouldn’t worry about it. I can’t afford to fed the ones we have.

little mysteries

My husband and I were on the way to the grocery store this am, taking the backroads on a beautiful June morning, doing some sight seeing. [That means, gee his corn looks good, they're just getting off the first cutting, look at that pretty little donkey, oh my God, that house burned, we should pick these rocks up where the grader came through.] Anyway, we came upon this older black cadillac driving very slowly, all right for a few minutes, maybe they were looking too. Then we noticed the plate, black with white lettering. Who has that type of plate? we wondered. As we got closer, she[ it's an elderly female driver] now had her right blinker on and there's no where to turn and we got a good look at the plate. It was a Michigan plate[ our state] but it's from 1979- and there was no updated tab on it. Something began to buzz in me. there's something wrong here. The lady is on and off the road. We followed her until she turned onto a main road, construction ahead and busier traffic. First one blinker on then the other, going about 25 miles an hour. We hoped she was going to turn into the grocery store where we were headed, it looks like it, but at the last minute she veered back onto the road. So I pulled into the parking lot and dialed 911, described the car and the direction she was headed, and they promised to send a patrol car that was close right after her. We got a quick glimpse as she passed, a tiny lady with both hands clenched on the wheel, looking straight ahead. I hope they were able to prevent her from hurting herself or anyone else. But now I am left with the mystery. My husband keeps laughing at me but I want to know what happened. Was the cadillac with the 1979 plates sitting in a garage somewhere until she decided she was going on a road trip? Would it still be drivable, the gas good, etc. after 28 years? My husband says no, it would have to have been started up every so often, new gas put in etc. There was no temporary plate on it. The car looked like the body was in excellent condition, but it was a cadillac from the 70's according to my husband. If she was stopped from driving 28 years ago would she still be able to make it to the car and get out on the road? Was the car her husbands, who started it up and keep it running for 28 years without renewing the plates, who recently died and she decided to use it? Was it put out by the road by her family to sell and she saw it, escaped from them and took off in it? I keep imagining she is suffering from dementia of some kind, but maybe she just decided years ago not to renew the plates because all she did was drive to church and the store and she has never been caught. Maybe she stole the car from where it was stored! Oh well, I will probably never know. I want to call the sheriff back and ask if they found her- it also worries me that she could have turned off the main road and is still driving. But my husband thinks I shouldn't bother the sheriffs department and he thinks its silly to be worrying about it. But still.... I hate this sort of thing. It will bug me forever.

the end of the world is not near

It's hot today, 92 with humidity over 60% it was actually raining a bit and thundering a few minutes ago- but I don't think it will last, although we sure need the rain. I guess this is what I get for saying I am not afraid of global warming. It's supposed to be warmer in the winter, not now. I still don't think gobal warming is going to be the diaster some alarmists say it will be, it will just be different. People may be killed but that is how nature balances itself. I don't believe all people will be killed, or even the majority of them. I think man contributed to a faster rate of warming but that it would have happened anyway and will happen regardless of what we do now. We have too high an opinion of what mankind can change about the natural order of things, whether it is nature or god in control. We need to take the lemons and make lemonade as the saying goes. Things are changing on earth. If it's getting warmer maybe the population can spread north, in the wilds of canada and siberia, where resources will be more abundant. Thats not to say we shouldn't practice treading lightly on the earth, conserving our resources is the only intelligent thing to do. But for heavens sake stop the noise about the destruction of the planet coming. We have a ton of problems to solve in just our own country, lets work on them instead of worrying about global warming.

Here's a crazy thought. Let's solve the Irag problem by moving all of one brand of muslims to Siberia, another to Canada and then taking over the country and its oil. We ought to get something for all the time and money we have sunk in that hole. See, global warming can be good. Nature is making a place for muslims. Maybe they'll be too worried about bears eating them to blow up their own innocent friends and neighbors as they go about their daily lifes. And they can drill for oil there too as the snow melts.

Well as you can see, heat makes Granny crabby. Here's another crazy thought. Let's send anyone who talks on a cell phone in public without it being an emergency to the far north too.
Send all these people north in SUV's and hummers and leave the cars there. Add to the traveling list anyone whose music or bass thump from music can be heard outside their car.
The north will be getting pretty crowded.

Now these are not my best ideas for solving the worlds problems. Let's just say I'm cranky today because of global warming.

plants, plants and more plants

I am getting real tired of planting things. First there was a few flowers and my vegetable garden to get in, some white pines I raised from seed to get planted, houseplants to re-pot and move outside. Now I have spent many hours planting some herb plugs I bought for an herbal talk I was giving, they didn't sell well and are getting too big for the plug cells. I was selling the plugs for a dollar- the profit was to go back into my work account, which I purchased the plants from. I may have broke even at this point. So far I haven't spent any money on soil, I recycled lots of soil in pots sitting around from last years fair exhibits, or pots, I have saved those for years. But I still have about 200 hundred plants to pot if I want to save them all. The soil is gone and the pots are getting low. I will work on more potting tonight if I can find more soil. Then there is the watering- it's been dry here and warm.

We are making a re-cycled garden as part of an exhibit for the Eastern Mi. fair. I am turning an old barb-b-cue grill into a planter. Some of the herbs will go on that, in old pots that will sit on the side racks I think, and I think I will fill the interior with that feathery celosia in red and yellow, sort of flame like. It just means I need to plant more plants though. We are also turning an old wringer washer into a water feature/fountain, making tire planters and various other neat re-cycling tricks. If you are near Imlay City, Michigan, August 8-11, stop by the fairgrounds and look for the Master Gardener Building. Also featured will be a tea garden, indoor garden, naturalized garden, wildlife garden, and fairy garden. And of course there's the rest of the fair, one of the best and oldest in the state.

Speaking of plants, I have more articles posted on my website www.gardenandhearth.com/plant-guides.htm stop by and take a look.

one mans weed is another mans treasure

One if the neighbors from down the street stopped by the other night to ask me if she could buy some of my ferns. I have a big bed of bracken fern in front of my house on the left side of the porch. The neighbor said she drove by every day and just loved how they looked. This year they are 3 foot tall or more and are drawfing the Sum and Substance Hosta, which is the only thing you can see besides them. They do look nice, I have to admit. The thing is I fought for years after moving here to get rid of those ferns- which just kept spreading. It's a partly shaded spot and I wanted rhododendrons and hostas and astilbe. They never grew well, however, except the one hosta, and finally I let nature work it's own plan. Same thing on the other side of the porch- only on that side it's common daylily - they just can't be totally removed. I did manage to get lots of spring bulbs and large oriental lilies planted there. The oriental lilies do great there, the daylilies shade their feet, which they prefer and they grow tall enough to get above the daylily foliage before they bloom. I used to cut and pull every spring but by fall the daylilies were back better than before. They do look pretty good when in bloom- after that they look ratty. Some day I will get that bed re-worked for good.

I wasn't dressed to go out into the garden when the neighbor stopped by- I had just taken a shower to remove all the dirt from earlier gardening, so I told her I would dig some ferns for her if she stopped by the next day. I knew there were some spreading to other areas I could dig.
I went out early the next day and dug some for her and put them in a bucket, but she hasn't came to get them and it's been a couple days. Maybe someone warned her how invasive they could be.

I noticed out by the pond today, in a flower bed I have basically abandoned because it's too far from the house and the goats used to eat all the flowers every year just as they got ready to bloom, that I had some beautiful white iris and big pink peonies in bloom. Right through the grass and weeds, pretty as a picture, they are blooming. I don't have any white iris left up by the house either.

I have comfrey growing everywhere too. People still want starts of that every so often, even though I warn them it's like a plague. But the bees and butterflies like it, so I let some grow in the back of my butterfly garden.

I went into town today to pick up a prescription and get a salt block for the sheep. While I was gone 3 of the dogs got out and when I came home my husband had nearly killed himself trying to save my chickens. He got himself out to the barn in his wheelchair and got the rooster scooped up and threw him in a stall, but one of the dogs went right over the wall to get it again and he fell trying to get into the stall. Then the other dogs cornered my Henny outside the barn and he hurried to save her. He was very upset when I pulled in and hurting. I got everyone put back in their rightful places and Henny looks like she will be ok- the rooster is up and walking but hurt so we will see. Steve is doing ok too. All I have to do is leave this place for a minute.... The dogs are really being buggers right now. We have 3 females in heat and the stud just won't stay in his kennel, no matter how many times we fix it. He climbs, digs, tears apart things, you name it. He has six foot tall walls of strong wire, a wire covered floor and every gate chained shut but he manages to escape. And this is a short legged Jack Russell about 12 inches high. If he would stay in the yard with the girls once he's out it would be one thing, but no...he has to lead escapes for further adventure.

I hope I can get to this blog a little more often. Why not look at some of my new gardening articles? You can see them at www.gardenandhearth.com/plant-guides.htm

Chickens and Herbs

Ever heard the saying about country folk who sit around watching chickens peck the dirt? Well I admit I sometimes like to sit and watch my chickens. Henny Penny always follows me when I carry the grain to the sheep and when I come out of the pasture I sit down on a bench under the tree to watch the sheep for a few minutes. This lets me see that everyone is accounted for and healthy. Henny Penny clucks at me and I give her a little grain from the bucket. She then hangs around for a while, sometimes she hops up on the bench next to me, other times she just scratches around at my feet. Yesterday the rooster came with her and they were fascinating me because they were eating dandelion fluff. You know, the white fluffy material the dandelion produces to let it’s seed float off into the air. They would inspect the dandelions, pick one where the fluff was showing but not loose yet, and eat it. There are tiny seeds in that fluff, but still it just amazed me that they found them and ate them. Henny Penny's favorite food, though, is chicken bones. Yes, she is a little cannibal. They say birds can't smell but when I arrive in the barn with a bowl of chicken bones to give the barn cats, Henny comes running from wherever she is and elbows the cats out of the way to get first dibs.

Speaking of white fluff, the white barn cat I call Fluffy, about the only tame one we have, had her kittens in Henny Penny’s nest box, the place she lays her eggs. This is an improvement in Fluffy’s choice of places to have kittens. She usually has them under a bush somewhere close to the house and they invariably get soaked and sick. Every time I tried to move them somewhere better she would return them to her chosen spot. I don’t think she has ever raised a kitten beyond the time that they start to walk around. This time a nest box in the barn is a big improvement. One of the black cats has decided that she would like to help raise these, and the two of them have squeezed into the box with the five kittens. Since it has been quite cold here at night the last few days this is probably a good thing for those babies. I don’t know if the other cat has milk, she didn’t look pg to me before this, maybe she had one kitten or something. Anyway Henny Penny laid an egg in there the first day- how I don’t know, but since then she has not and I have to find where she has been laying them.
I have turned my husbands old van into a greenhouse temporarily. I got in 8 plug flats of herbs for an herb class I am teaching this Saturday and since we have had frost or freezing weather every night since I brought them home I have left them in the van with the hatch door up in the daytime. I have a few tomato plants in there too, waiting for warmer weather. That old van has never smelled so good.
If you would like to read what I have written about herbs so far, you can go to these pages on my website- Garden and Hearth Plant Guides.
parsley http://www.gardenandhearth.com/Plant-Guides/Parsley.htm
Cilantro- http://www.gardenandhearth.com/Plant-Guides/Cilantro-and-Coriander.htm
Basil- http://www.gardenandhearth.com/Plant-Guides/Basil.htm
Rosemary- http://www.gardenandhearth.com/Plant-Guides/Rosemary.htm

There will be more articles about herbs posted there soon. There are some wonderful articles by other people on the Garden and Hearth site also.
Well writing and planting are keeping me busy so I’ll catch up with everyone another time.

little things count

Bees are said to be disappearing from the U.S and other countries at an alarming rate. Lots of reseachers are studying the problem but can't find the answer as to what is happening. Many people don't realize how important such a small creature is, bees pollinate most of our fruit crops and many veggies and without them these things will become scarce or non-existant. They are also responsible for many of our flowers, wild and tame, setting seeds so they can continue to beautify our world. I have seen one bumble bee this year and no honey beees in my garden, yellow jackets, however, seem to be as numerous as usual. Yellow Jackets do some pollinating, but are mostly scavengers, they'll eat anything and they are very aggressive.

Country dwellers know what a propane "pig" is, the big propane tank that sits in many country yards. My propane tank has a metal cover over the valves and fill hole to keep rain out and it has a vent opening on one side. Every year the yellow jackets build a home under this cover and another little resident also returns- a tree frog. He sits right on the gauge that shows how full the tank is. I don't know if he eats the yellow jackets that share his home or if they live peacefully together. He is fat and happy and will let me pick him up without trying to hop away.

Another little thing that pleases me is the birds around our property. For some reason we seem to have an abundance of Goldfinches, they are at the feeder all the time and their cheerful singing goes on through much of the day. I have seen one Hummingbird so far this year, he buzzed by me as I filled the grape jelly for the Oriole. His feeder is ready for him but I haven't noticed him eating there. I did see him on the small yellow flowers of a "clove" viburnum that have startd to bloom. The Oriole is inspecting the tall electric pole on the east of out property. It has a double cross piece at the top and my wisteria and trumpet vine managed to make it up there last year. Those ties to the top have been cut, but there are many pieces of dead vine still there and I wonder if he is thinking of building his nest there. That would be a strange place.

After I feed the sheep at night I sit on a bench for a while and watch them if the weather is nice.
There is a little sparrow with 3 white stripes on his head that is very tame and will come right down by my feet looking for any grain crumbs. Actually there is a pair of them. I looked them up in bird book one time but can't remember their name. They are allowed to do this as long as my pet hen "Henny" hasn't come to sit by me on the bench. She will chase them away. Our big black rooster spends part of every day watching the bird feeder. He doesn't mind little birds but he tries to chase off any bigger birds like doves or Red Winged Black birds.

Another little thing that is important to me is all of the people who have went to my webpage on Garden and Hearth, www.gardenandhearth.com/Plant-Guides as every little bit I get paid for these visits help us keep the house here. I found out that my husbands Social Security Disability review may take up to another year or longer to even be scheduled. We have never been rich but I am sure learning about how every little bit counts now. Thank you to all who have visited.

Meet Sadie

It is a beautiful Sunday in Michigan. One of the things about working freelance from your home is that you have to discipline yourself to actually sit down and write when the weather is like this and you would rather be outside working in the garden. I decided to start with the blog first to see if I can get myself in the mood and get the dogs calmed down enough to concentrate. Steve decided to turn off the t.v. and go outside to mow and I went into the office at the same time to write. This left the dogs on their own in the house and one of the first things they do is bark like someone is at the door- if that doesn’t bring me out of the office they get into a fight. The terrier girls usually gang up on Honey, the cocker. This brings me flying out of the office to break it up- which is what they wanted so I am rewarding them. But if I don’t break it up Honey may get hurt, so I am stuck either way. I just went out and got two of the terrors,[ yes the spelling is right] in the house- they go out the dog door into the yard and fight outside the office window. That is so they know I will hear them. I locked them in the bedroom where they are now barking and slamming themselves against the door. They can’t come in the office with me because Cricket and Hardy live in the office. They have their own dog door to an outside pen. Cricket hates every other female dog in the world with a passion, although she gets along just fine with males and people. She is a Yorky- Jack Russell cross not a pitbull, although you would never know it. She weighs about 15 pounds but every other female on the place is terrified of her. If she gets out they all try to hide. She does leave my old female Border collie mix Hazel alone but not Honey, the cocker, who is at least twice her size. So she was banished to live with her son in the office where my time in here is supposed to be her time to have my attention. Why these dogs are so attention hungry is beyond me. Now that Steve is no longer working they have someone to follow around and sit on 90% of the time. Yet all I have to do is go in here to work or go outside when he is also outside and all heck breaks out.
As you can see from the above, we have a lot of dogs. I should be an expert on dog behavior and I guess I am on a lot of their normal dog behavior. Some one who lives with this many dogs should know how to control them with a single word. HaH! Jack Russells are not normal dogs and 10 of the 14 dogs here are Jack Russell or Jack Russell crosses. They are very smart and manipulative. They are very aggressive with each other. They love people as a rule, although it may take them a few minutes to trust a stranger. But get them excited about something and they start fighting each other or they are biting the back of your legs as you attempt to address what caused the commotion. That’s why they are muzzled when they participate in races. Why do I keep them? Well, if I had really known what they were like before I got my first pair to breed I might have had second thoughts. I used to breed Yorkies. They have a little terrier grit, but nothing like Jacks. But we had moved to the country and wanted more outdoorsy dogs.
Someone gave us our first Jack, Sadie. She was a pup still, about 5 months old. She loves people with a passion, she will lick anyone to death. She was always licking the child of the germ phobic previous owner and when I say lick, she has an obsession to get right in your face and try to lick your mouth. So we got her, we loved her because she was so playful and sweet. She actually curls her lips back into a mimic of a human smile to try and get you to pick her up. You can tell her to smile and she does it. When you do pick her up she goes right for your face with her tongue. Over the years we have learned to deal with it. She knows she isn’t supposed to actually kiss us, so she air kisses, she gets her tongue going lickity -lick but just not quite touching- unless you talk sweet to her, which is more than she can stand. Sadie - or grannydog as we now call her, is getting older and likes to spend most of her time under the covers of our bed sleeping. If she can’t get to the bed and it’s at all cold- like under 80- she will find another way to cover herself up, like pulling the cover off the chair down around her, or jumping in the clothes hamper. But at any whisper of excitement she throws herself quite vigorously into the fray and growing older hasn’t slowed her much. She is also one of the time keepers- Hazel is the other- that means she knows when certain things are supposed to be done, like snacks or bedtime and she wants to make sure that the schedule is followed. She gets restless and starts pacing or barking, which makes the other dogs take notice too. She gets on you and tries to “kiss” you. She pulls at bedcovers, whatever it takes. Now our dogs can come and go into the yard as they want through a dog door so it’s not nature calling. They have food and water available at all times too. So it’s not what she needs but what she wants. Before bed we have the hotdog ritual. Hazel needs medication each night so she gets it in a piece of hotdog. Everyone else needs to get a piece too or she suspects a trick- like someone trying to give her meds. So the hotdog thing is a ritual and that ritual should take place as close to 10:30 pm as possible, according to Sadie and Hazel. Hazel is a very good old girl and will go lay back down if told to- but Sadie will not. My husband takes a nap at a certain time each day and Sadie loves to nap with someone. She will leave her spot under the covers and come get him when it’s time and he better not want to do something else. And so on. Sadie can tell time. And she bugs you until you get very mad or give in. Once she has told all the other dogs its time for something and they get in on the act, its mayhem. They watch me intently. My slightest move in the chair, even the word OK spoken to my husband about something- dogs do understand human speech- begins the barking and jumping. If you ignore it things may quiet down until the next wrong word or move a few minutes later and usually it’s just not worth the hassle.
So you have met Sadie. I will introduce some of the others another time. Dogs are like kids. Sometimes you don’t know why you have them but you love them anyway.

granny's gripes

I could have written about a lot of things tonight but I'm feeling grumpy so it's gripe night.

Granny's #1 Gripe
How can we as a nation that is so ahead of the world in so many ways not have a national health plan? We cannot continue the way we are. Rapidly we are becoming a nation where some can afford medical care and many cannot. Working people, small children, going without health care, it's a shame our nation needs to correct. I have a health plan that I pay myself that's affordable only beause it's a 20/80 plan. I pay 20% of anything. The smallest procedure is beyond my budget even having to pay 20%. I hope who ever gets elected next year makes it a priority. But I won't hold my breath. Our government can't seem to get anything accomplished anymore with out years of debate. Committees and senates and houses of representatives don't work anymore. Everyone wants to talk to hear themselves talk and to get something for themselves or some group sponsoring them.

Gripe #2 -[ ok these gripes are less intense.] Why do some companies put on their coupons - Do Not Double? They don't pay anything for the bonus amount off so why should they care? The stores that offer double coupons take off the extra amount. Since I am watching every penny I use coupons and in the process I probably try some products I wouldn't normally try. I am not going to use any coupons that say do not double anymore. The same thing goes for companies that make their coupons good for 2 or more of the same item. Small items ok, but things like laundry detergent- who buys two bottles at once? Hey Tide - take notice. I can't afford to buy two at once so I'll buy someone else's product who is giving me a nice coupon off one item. Besides the expense I don't like to buy more than one of something until I've tried it.

Gripe #3 Easy open re-sealable packages. Right. Easy open for who? After you've used the butcher knife to get the package open it rarely reseals.

Gripe#4 I don't have cable so I watch network T.V. Just when I get into a program and used to watching it they change the time or day they show it. Usually it's on a night or at a time when I am watching something else so I no longer watch it. Or the network takes a good t.v. show and puts it on a vacation for a while- then you are supposed to take right up watching it again and remember all the story lines. They make 3 new episodes and then show "highlights" from past shows. Darn, I miss the good old days of T.V.

Gripe #5- Those stupid commercials- since we are talking T.V. I wish we could ban all ads that mention drugs, penis problems and feminine hygiene products. And the half naked girls dancing around to sell underwear or even more disgusting- something totally unrelated to underwear.
Why do ads for sanitary napkins and tampons show the liquid being poured on the item being blue- or any other color than red? Is that supposed to make it more acceptable? And some ads just don't make any sense at all. You can't even guess what they are selling. They extol the virtues of some drug- it makes you feel wonderful, ask your doctor to give it to you- but you can't figure out what it's used for. And there absolutely, positively should be a ban on showing the same commercial more than once an hour.

Gripe #6 It seems half the ads on t.v. are for them but I am sick of them. Cell phones. Ban them from being used in public places except in emergencies. I am sick of listening to people talk about their love life, fights, legal problems, kids, you name it every where I go- at the top of their lungs. And people who use cell phones as they use the restroom are disgusting. They should make restrooms so that cell phones cannot be used in them. Some signal blocker thing- that only allows 911 calls to go through. Picture phones in a restroom are worse. If you see one in use you should grab it and flush it. And anyone who answers a cell phone while talking to someone face to face is just rude. The people in my office get cell phones so that they can take and make calls without using the office phone. Everyone makes a few personal calls from the office. But let an employee use a personal phone in the office and they justify spending a lot more time talking to friends and relatives about basically nothing because it isn't on a work line. And you get to hear all those annoying little ring tones they choose constantly. Disconnect people- you will survive!

Ok - I feel better. That's enough gripes for tonight. Just wish I knew where I go to complain about the weather.

leading the sheep to greener pastures

It's been a long winter. Finally the grass has begun to grow after rain last week and warm weather the last few days. I had to buy one bale of hay last week as we were out of our winter supply so it was time to move the flock. In the west pasture where they have been penned up for the winter they have kept each blade devoured as soon as it emerged. In the east pasture the grass was several inches long, and looking luscious. Trouble was that the fence in the east pasture had been smashed down last fall in several places and had to be repaired, I spent all of last evening and most of this morning working on it. The north pasture runs between the east and west and the fence there was even worse. The deer, and I think some hunters, had really mashed the fence along the wooded side. This is an old place and a lot of fence posts need to be replaced. No money for that right now. So the east pasture looked the best bet. I just had to lead the sheep through the north pasture over to the east side, without them scattering on me and going off into the woods. I didn't feed them this morning, even though they complained quite loudly. When I got the east pasture fixed up the best I could, I got a bucket of grain from the barn and went into the west pasture where the sheep were. They saw me coming with the bucket and came running but I just kept walking, right through the gate, around the pond through the west gate and into the west pasture. I was afraid to stop or look back but it worked, we all entered the pasture in single file. I then stopped and poured the grain on the ground, and while they fought over that I went back around them and closed the gate. Before the grain was even eaten they noticed the good grass and the race to see who could get the most the quickest was on. When I left they were all very content.

Things didn't go quite as well with my husbands chore. He was going to get the mower out of the barn and get it ready to mow in the spots where the sheep aren't allowed to go. Mowing with the riding mower is the one thing he can still do to help outside, as he can't walk very far or lift anything. He also enjoys riding it around just to see the place, which is what he was doing when it quit and wouldn't start again. He wasn't far from the house and when I came from the pasture he was there tinkering with it. When he told me what happened , I asked first if he had gas, which he did, and then if he had put oil in it before he started. He said "it has oil." I checked after he went in the house to get the battery charger and there was oil in there, but it was just the way he said "it has oil" that made me suspicious. We had a local guy come pick it up an hour or so later and sure enough he calls us back right after he got it to the shop to tell us the engine is seized. I think someone put the oil in after he told me he had a problem. I'm always reminding him to check the oil on things. Now we will have to put in a new engine - probably $200.00 if we are lucky. This is the last thing we need, another bill, but it's cheaper than a new mower. It's a nice, heavy duty Allis Chambers mower that my son got for us used last year so it's worth repairing. When I was younger I would have gone into a rage that my husband was so stupid not to check the oil before he got started. I am old enough now to know that everyone makes mistakes and yelling about it won't fix it. I guess God knows what he is doing when he sends these troubles my way. We will find a way to get through this as we have found ways to get through everything else. Maybe I can sell one of those nice lambs in the pasture. I just wish that my pasture was a little greener too.

Guns and people

Today we hear that another gunman has entered a school and killed at least 32 people. People are of course screaming for answers and trying to assign blame. Some bring up the issue of gun control again- but guns don't kill people on their own. We have good gun laws already. What we need are laws that prevent children under 18 from playing video games where they kill things in every conceivable way for hours on end. We need to make tv and movies less violent. We need to stop endlessly reviewing the violence that has already occurred and making feature length news stories about it. Now I don't know anything about the gunman at this stage and of course there are all these studies out there that claim violence in the media doesn't cause violence in the real world, but I don't believe that for a minute. If all the students in the school were armed and started shooting back would that have made a difference? I heard someone suggest that it would. I think that would have really staged it as a giant video game. Granny's idea is this. When the media describes another shooting they should substitute bullets with grapes or tomatoes. Instead of 32 people were shot, they should say 32 people were hit with tomatoes. That would make everyone laugh and the world needs more laughter. The next time some idiot that dreams of revenge arms himself to go to a school and break a record, maybe he'll load his knapsack with grapes and tomatoes.

May God bless the families of those who died today and give them comfort in their time of grief.

Critters in the Garden

I have this little circular rock garden up close to the driveway and there is a hypertufia bird bath that a friend made me that sits on a stump in the center of the bed. For the winter I had turned the birdbath upside down on top of the stump so it wouldn't collect water and break. It looked like a giant mushroom. On one of those warm days we had in late March I was sitting there looking at the violas starting to bloom and I noticed that the bird bath stump was slumping on one side. It was bugging me that it now seemed off -center too, maybe because most of the plants were still dormant around it. So I decided to re-center it. I had to lift the top off carefully to move the stump. Imagine my surprise- and the little mouse's, when I revealed a nest. How it had slipped under the birdbath top, which seemed to fit flat on the top of the stump I don't know. But it had and it had hollowed out quite a deep depression in the top of the stump under the bird bath. It filled that depression with wool-hair from the sheep, which it had to travel at least 100 feet to get. So until I disturbed it it had quite a cozy home for the winter. It is amazing what animals do. I let the poor thing have his nest for a while longer. He is probably warmer than we are in the house since the furnace is out and the temps are only in the 30's. Oh, I wish spring was here.

Snow for Easter

Well we had nice weather for Christmas and we will have snow on the ground for Easter! It was almost 80 last week, this is too much to bear! Where do you go to complain about how unfair this is? I had some crocus and Labrador violets in bloom, some daffodils up next to the house were just showing color. The daffs are looking very frost bitten and the others are covered by snow. I feel sorry for the poor robins, I am going to give them some frozen blackberries I have.

One of the barn cats came down out of the loft all bloody this am and I could hear kittens crying. Yes, April is a cruel month. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to get back up there and she isn't the best Mom anyway so I imagine those kits will not make it. Natures way of limiting population.

I have spent the day writing, at least the snow and cold keep me from straying from my work. It is hard to work at home and not want to sneak outside when the weather is nice and the frogs are calling you. My husband is moving around outside the office door and giving great sighs. It is to let me know he thinks I should come out and start dinner. He won't say that of course. When I am at my town job he feeds the animals very early and then starts dinner so it will be done when I walk in the door. I like to spend the best part of the day working when I am home, start dinner later and go out to feed the stock after dinner. Then if I want to linger outside I don't feel guilty.

Easter celebration down in the city tommorrow. Going to my Moms for dinner, a long drive that should be nice this time of year- not having to watch for snow drifts and slick spots. I have to stop grumbling about the weather!

Grannys advice on Easter. Easter is a time for Christians to celebrate the renewed life of Jesus. Let us also resolve to start our own lives new, to change what is dead in our lives to something that is new and hopeful.

Granny's Guide to Everything

I have always been an opinionated person. Just ask my husband. I have an idea about how to fix everything. It may not always work and I'm quick to admit that. I also have no problem requesting ideas from others. It's solving the problem that's important. If you don't find the right answer the first time, try again, that's my motto. I can be persuaded to change my mind about something if your reasoning is sound so don't be afraid to comment, suggest solutions, and ask questions of me on this blog. I basically started a blog so that those who read my writing on other sites have a place to go to get to know me better. I intend to post personal ramblings and opinions as well as tips and advice and little tidbits of information I have learned.

Some personal background. I was born and raised in a midsized grungy factory town in Michigan. I was the oldest of six children. My grandparents lived on either side of me and they were a big influence on my life. My childhood was fairly happy, I was never a child who longed to grow up- instead I had a rather Peter Pan view of life, I knew childhood was going to be one of my fondest memories to say the least. I was a tom boy, roaming the woods and fields near our suburban neighborhood with my brother and his friends. I learned to read before kindergarten and devoured books of all kinds. I was good in school, rarely a behavior problem, a kind of shy, average looking girl with glasses. At home I was a bit more of an instigator and leader, always coming up with some new scheme and talking my brother and sisters, and neighbor kids into it.
My greatest wish was to live on a farm and own a horse and I lobbied my parents endlessly to move to a farm. It didn't happen, they are still in the house they built, between the houses my grandparents built and where they grew up.

Fast forward to college years. A counselor talked me into going to a local Christian college on a scholarship and student loan. I was taking pre-med courses. Maybe because it was a safe environment to explore "limits", I became a little bit of a rebel. In a big college I would have seemed like a fairly average college student, here I was part of the "wild" crowd. I got a boyfriend who was not a college student and after my second year of college he persuaded me to take a year off. That has always been one of my biggest regrets.

Next chapter of my life. Always one to care for strays I picked up a boyfriend fresh out of 2 tours of duty in Viet Nam. He was an alcoholic and had a host of other mental problems. Like a lot of optimistic women I thought I could help him. Then I got pregnant. He wanted to marry me but something in me said no and I didn't, despite the tears and pleading of my mother. I had already dealt with too much drama and despair. I knew that I couldn't raise a child in that situation. I decided that I would devote the next 18 years to being the best mother I could be, making my childs welfare the top concern. I had a job in one of the major box store chains and I worked hard to get promotions and support myself and my child. I managed to buy a small house in the same grungy factory town and my son attended the same schools I went to. I rarely dated, although I had friends of both sexes and a quiet social life. I had a big garden, several pets, and I read back to the land magazines with a passion. I still wanted a farm.

Next chapter. My son was in high school. He was talking about getting married to his girl friend already. I realized that he wouldn't be around forever and I was lonely. When he left on a summer vacation to visit my sister in Alaska, I decided to put some serious effort into dating.
At age 40 I found my soul mate and married him. The woman everyone thought would never marry, did. I also acquired two teenage step children, the oldest, a girl, got married a few months after her father and I married. There were some rough spots with my son and stepson but it all worked out in the end.

Three years after my husband and I married, company he worked for went bankrupt. He found a new job, but it wasn't in the same field. It did leave him with a little more time and flexibility. We had been talking about moving "beyond the sidewalk". It was time to do it. We didn't have a lot of money so we searched long and hard until we found the perfect small farm for us, even though it meant a long commute. We jumped into the back to the land thing with both feet, chickens, beef steers, milk goats, pigs, giant garden, fruit trees. I got my horse, and a pony for the grandkids. A lot of work and a lot of fun. Our kids, all now married and presenting us with grandkids, stayed in the city. [ Although my stepdaughter did move to a city in Minnesota.] At this writing we have seven grandchildren and are expecting another.

A few years after the big move, there were more changes. My company offered a buy out and I took it. I went back to school and got a degree, educational counseling, and got a job working in the AmeriCorps program. My husband also lost his job, due to another business closing, and got a job a bit closer to home. We had shorter commutes but a lot less money. Then there was my husbands illness. He has a congenital disease of the spine and had to have surgery on his spine. He was in terrible pain and losing the use of his legs. After the surgery he had complications, including a terrible staph infection in the wound. He was able to go back to his job in a limited way for a few years but is now unable to work and is in a wheelchair.

So the big farm animals are gone, I also have physical limitations with severe arthritis and diabetes. But we carry on. We still have a few chickens, a small flock of Painted Desert sheep, and we raise Jack Russell Terriers and Cocker Spaniels. There is a garden, smaller than before, but perfect for us. We love our country home and hope we never have to leave it. It's quiet here at night, crime is very low, I can sit on my porch and listen to the birds while looking at pastures full of pretty horses and fields of corn that belong to neighbors. No boom boxes or sirens wailing. I can hear the rain coming across the fields before it gets to us. Our house is small and old, needs lots of repairs and both cars we own are over 20 years old. But we still think we are living the good life.

I now work for the local Extension office, it's a part time job and doesn't pay very well but I do love it. I teach gardening classes and answer homeowner questions about their gardens and lawns. I also do some freelance writing.

We are waiting for my husband to receive Social Security Disability. He was turned down the first time, although we were told to expect that as he has a back problem, which almost always means a delay. He's 59 years old, confined to a wheelchair, on strong narcotics to control pain and has a host of other medical issues yet he was told he could still work. We have a legal advocate working with us and he and our doctor both say we should be successful at the next hearing. Trouble is, it's been over 6 months since he applied and we are told to expect another 6 months. Things are a little tight, you might say, as we wait for a decision. I am told there are ways to speed up the process. If anyone knows of such a way, please comment in this blog and let me know.
I do some freelance writing to try and make ends meet, you can read my online work at Garden and Hearth [ I'll post the url soon to my new page there], or at the links listed below. I write about gardening, animals, political opinions, you name it. I get a tiny bit of money each time someone reads my work on one of these sites so please take a look. Every little bit helps- thank you. read about Taking Care of Gift Plants here
or read about the cruelty of piercing a babies ear here
or read about how to pass your passion for gardening on here
read about how to plant a tree here
You can read my article about zoonotic disease here
or about breeding mixed breed puppies here