Monday, September 30, 2013

Catching Up on Monday

Friends, we had a great weekend here, but Hughesnet provided us only intermittent satellite service for the computer, and yesterday I was unable to post. 

How about them Chiefs, though! 
Keith and I snacked and watched the entire game, a first for us in ten years! 


This was what greeted me on Sunday morning... very spectacular, wasn't it! 

We were forecasted to have rain all day Saturday, but had only about 1/2 to 3/4 inch... and then it stopped.  Saturday afternoon turned out fine. 


We made a trip to The Grass Pad yesterday morning to get some cornstalks and some tulip bulbs. 

I am digging up flower beds starting this week, and I want to plant bulbs while I have the ground open and am dividing perennials. 


Here's what I did with my cornstalks.  Um... Kelly is helping me with them (not seen in this picture) and I'm not sure how much will be left by the end of October. 


Petunias are STILL going strong at the henspa. 


And yesterday morning's sun still made the garden glow. 


This is a shot of The Donald's feet as I filled the duck pond on Saturday afternoon.  As you can see, there does not appear to be anything wrong with them.  He is favoring the left leg, though, which you see turned oddly here.  I don't see any open wounds.  He doesn't have angel wing, either, despite the look of his wings in this picture.  What is happening is that he takes advantage of being able to see the four girls and lays down, so he is not putting weight on the leg.  It continues to cause me worry because he is such a nice drake. 


He would normally be eating with the girls, or just standing and watching the pasture for danger.  

Speaking of danger, I was filling the duck pond yesterday afternoon when I heard a WHOOSH very, very loud of big wings.  In through the open gate came running the five ducks (even Donnie) and two roosters as fast as they could go.  I heard Keith in the yard and ran out to see what was going on...

Above us was this: 


In fact, there were seven of them.  We watched them circle for a minute, and then they faded out of the sky as if disappearing.  

I went out to the pasture twice more... and in the sky, far up, too far up to get a picture, was a huge flock of terns, which usually hang out at the rivers here, or at the bigger lakes, the reservoirs.  They circled and circled, and then also disappeared. 

I haven't made a definite headcount yet, but I believe there is another red hen missing from the old henhouse flock.  

Fifteen minutes after this attack.... and after I had shut the gate to the pasture... a lone bantam rooster appeared at the gate.  He had dived for cover when the bird came down, and wanted back in to safety. 



Here's another happy picture of three of the birds in the yard last night.  We are going to try to give the henspa birds some yard time every evening.  

The goats can't be in the yard at the same time, as they would go after the chicken feed, and we can't have that.  We found if we let these birds out after the goats are in for the day, they can have a couple of hours of free range time, and then are easy to get back in. 


This beautiful flower arrangement sat on the tables at the wedding of my neighbor Kathy's daughter on Saturday.  Aren't they absolutely wonderful? 

"If you think reading is boring, you're doing it wrong" 

This amazing quote came from Grant Wilson, who was formerly on Ghost Hunters, on the SciFy channel. 

It's true. 

I read all weekend, off and on, finished a library book, and finally finished (again) the last book in the "Mitford Series" from Jan Karon.  If you have not read these wonderful books about Fr. Tim Kavanaugh and his wife Cynthia (Cynthey)... you are missing out.  They are so full of laughter and love and worth every minute spent reading them.  I was able to get my sister to read them before she passed away, and bought us each a copy of the "The Mitford Cookbook", full of recipes and insprational quotes from the book.  That book sat on her coffee table until she died. 

To end the post with today, here's a prayer attributed to St. Francis from the last book of the series, "Light from Heaven".  (Fr. Tim is an Episcopalian priest). 

"Watch, O Lord, for those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give your angels and saints charge over those who sleep.  Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.  Rest Your weary ones.  Bless Your dying ones.  Soothe Your suffering ones.  Pity Your afflicted ones.  Shield Your joyous ones. And all for Your love's sake." 

Amen! 

13 comments:

  1. I love this post Mary Ann ....it has so many good words and thoughts in it. Your pictures of the yard now looking like Fall and so beautiful....boy those cut flowers were beautiful. Those are some of our favorite colors. We have never read those books but they sound good. My mom likes to read also. How is abs feeling now?
    stella rose

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  2. Mary Ann,

    I love how you tied your corn stalks to the pillars out front. Will the goats try to eat these?

    Do you think the nail on your ducks foot maybe to long and causing this turn or favoring of his foot?
    Ducks are my down fall, I love them. Raised a few when we were stationed overseas.

    Visiting the library or yard sale to pickup books is so much easier on the wallet especially if you are a heavy reader. My husband and I both read for entertainment and relaxation.

    What a beautiful prayers, thank you.

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  3. Oh I do dearly love the Mitford Series. I read them all. The prayer is a beautiful one. Your Sunday morning sunshine picture is beautiful. Hope your Monday is off to a great start. Hard to believe that tomorrow it is October already!

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  4. Glad you had a great weekend! That is a beautiful arrangement. Found out the neighbors daughter was married on Saturday. They did not send out any invitations. Was all of a sudden....

    Not familiar with a tern or those books.

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  5. One of my very favorite series of books. I read them over and over. My Mom was not a reader but I sent Her at Home in Mitford when she was sick and the cookbook. She read them over and over before she died and I think about her when I look at my copies. My Mom wanted to dress like Miss Rose. She would laugh and laugh about her.
    Your photos are lovely and it looks like fall.
    I hope your drake gets better and you have a very nice week.

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  6. Everything looks so nice around your homestead!
    Sad news about your drake. Hope he's doing better.

    I need to check out the books that you mentioned. I'm always up for a great read.

    Beautiful flowers too. Love the natural look of them.

    Have a great day :)

    {p.s. I'm glad to be blogging again}

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  7. Such a wonderful post, Mary Ann! Your cornstalks and pumpkins are so pretty! I wish Jan Karon was still turning Mitford books out like she did for years. Like you, I reread them every few years all the way through. I know she may have gotten tired of writing about Mitford and took Tim and Cynthia to other places but I never got tired of Mitford. The town it was based on, Blowing Rock, NC, is our favorite escape place and we used to drive by her cottage and hope she would be outside. Never was, and we would not have bothered her if she was. We did buy each new book from the local bookstore where they kept signed copies. The prayer you quoted shows the heart of Father Tim, doesn't it? He became so real to me.

    Dewena
    P.S. And after I read Farm Girl's comment above I realized that some people may think that I DO dress like Miss Rose!

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  8. There are so many things I could say about this post...1. I might turn into a Chiefs fan yet! My brother in law is from Kansas, and he, my nephew and Jim and Eric went to the Eagles vs Chiefs game last week. Guess who came home the happiest?! 2. Darn hawks 3. Love the Mitford Series! They were such great books...I think I could go back and reread them. 4. Love your decorating! Ok, enough of my rambling. :) :)

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  9. I must really be missing out not having read those books. What a neat prayer at the end. Wonderful way to end a post.

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  10. The flower boquet is so beautiful- ans we love looking at your farm. It shows love touches it every where- and its a happy farm.
    I hope Mr ducky gets his leg to not hurting,,,, soon.
    And those birds in the sky need to fly somewhere else and not scare your chickys.
    We love your autumn decorations.
    love
    tweedles

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  11. And we came back to read more--- a very beautiful post.
    love
    tweedles

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  12. Mary Ann, there is so much to take in on this post. First, that first photo is glorious! Your cornstalks look so great on the porch posts. I do hope Donald will be better soon. He's such a beauty. I love the prayer at the end of your post. laurie

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