Starting a New Decade

So much happened in the last decade...

I lost my sister, Kathleen, my brothers Mike and Pete, 

my stepson, Brandon, and my husband Keith. 

So many losses, but I am still blessed to be here and 

be in good health and be able to get around and stay active. 

I like to think these were still happy years, despite the loss. 

Keith and I moved away from Calamity Acres in 2014, as he grew 

more ill,  

but I came back in the fall of 2017 (we rented the house out). 

It was rehabbed and is a cozy, comfortable home for me, 

the dogs and the critters. 

So, let's look at what is now "last year". 

We'll start in January. 

Lilly Ann was aging, and her body had started changing, see how her 

legs were bowed out? 

Also, see all the chicken poop on the porch?  That was going to go away. 

I still had three of my original four big Pekins. 

Yes, they swam all winter. 

In February...

We had some warmish days, and some of the snakes woke up! 

And that month, there were only two sheep in the pasture, Fluffy, on the right, 

and Flicka, on the left.  Faithful Lilly Ann was guarding them. 

On February 13th, I got a bucket of eggs!  Right now, I am blessed to get two or three a day, 

but the hens are all getting old. 

On the 16th, with cold and snow outside, I had a surprise in the sheep barn!

More snow in March...

I love tracks in the snow. 

On the 11th, Cookie was wethered. 

Dr. LaRosh has since retired. 

In April, I had a real surprise! 

Fluffy was a lamb when she came here with the boarded sheep two 

years ago.  There was a ram lamb in with them, but I honestly never 

saw him breed her, and did not have a clue that she was pregnant. 

She presented me with Niblet on April 2nd. 

By mid-April, spring was on the way. 

In May...

I planted one of the big planters on my deck with lettuce, and it took off! 

And saw one of my favorite groups, Little River Band, for 

the fifth or sixth time.... (Colin Whinnery)... I know they are 

not the original Australian band... but if you ever have a chance to 

see these guys .... GO. 

May 14, one of the hardest days of my life... My beloved Lilly Ann crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She had spent her whole life with me, it was so hard to let her go. 

In June...

In June, the poultry was rapidly wearing out their welcome on the deck and porch. 

Folks, chickens (and ducks) are dirty, there are no two ways about it.  I have kept them 

for many years, but they are dirty.  I had to wash the porch off every single day, 

and use a shovel to shovel off the poop. 

It was onerous.  

The fun of watching them was not equal to the job of cleaning up after them. 

I had cross-fenced the yard in March, and it was rapidly becoming time to 

fence them up. 

We had some spectacular evenings. 

In July....

these were coming along. 

And I was privileged to have the time to take 

my two grands on the left (and their cousins to the right) to the pool this summer...

In August....

(Sorry, couldn't resist) 

And this happened, our wonderful Fritzi came in to Jester's and my lives, and we were so glad. 

She is just our little doll, thank you again, Bonner Animal Rescue.

In September...

I made a decision to re-home Duckie and the Duckertons. 

I love ducks.... but I was having trouble taking care of them 

as I felt I needed to.... they were rehomed to a women 

with duck experience and a pond, and the young layers and 

their rooster went to a new home, too. 

It was very hard to let Duckie go, let me tell you. 

He was the duck with personality!

We had a beautiful late summer. 

And I watched some fall baseball...

On the 28th, I saw another favorite band...

Toto, at the Uptown theater. with a horrid rainstorm 

as we came out of the venue.... What a ride home! 

(that's Steve Lukather and Joe Williams)

In October....

Granddaughter Paiton celebrated her birthday with a riding lesson. 

In early November, I caught a glimpse of my favorite maple tree 

down beyond my neighbor's pond. 

And we began preparing in earnest for "Santa's Express" at the National Agricultural Center, where I have volunteered for five years now. 

Jester was never far from me.  He is the pluckiest little dog, 

and I am so glad to have him. 

December.... 

Penning the chickens on the far side of the yard was a great decision. 

No more nastiness tracked into the house... hardly any flies. 

Of course Singleton, who was living at the Ag Hall, 

is home for the winter, and every morning, chases his daddy 

Ferdinand out of the enclosure...

and Ferdie now lives by the deck, porch and side of the house 

during the day, with one little red hen.  

I am dealing with small amounts of poop again. 

When Singleton and his girls go back to the Ag in the spring, 

Ferdie will move into the old hen house with his little hen. 

We had a wonderful Santa event at the National Agricultural Center, despite the fact we had a near-blizzard on the second day.  Santa was there, and 50 or so hardy people came through the storm to see him, do crafts, and have some hot chocolate and cookies. 

I built Gnomelandia in my spare bedroom, because great-granddaughter Maci 

was coming for the first time. 

I had so much fun doing this, and am going to improve it next year. 

The dogs and I had our Christmas picture taken.

When family came for Christmas. 

And finally....

The Reason for the Season. 

And so it comes to an end, the year and the decade. 

Like I said, I am so blessed to live where I do, 

to enjoy the fauna and flora (a lot of fauna), 

to have two faithful and loving little dogs, 

and an array of critters coming during the night 

to keep things lively. 

I want to thank everyone for reading this and reading 

for the last ten years about my humble life. 

I so enjoy sharing aspects of it with you. 

Here's to a great new decade for all of us!

Winter is Coming!

I just looked at the weather on my phone, and we have a FREEZE warning 

for tomorrow night, Friday, into Saturday morning! 

Yikes!

I need to unhook all the hoses, and will cover the 

mums I just planted on Monday on the deck, in hopes of saving them. 

I bought four big rounded mums from a local 

charity, as a fund raiser.  

They are a beautiful color of red, 

but sadly, I found them to be very root-bound. 

Here they are before I planted them. 

I went through and pulled out a bunch of the deck flowers, they are fading fast. 

I cut those darn poplar seedlings down, I am convinced that is what was 

growing in my rectangular planter, and I KNOW I did not buy 

poplar tree seeds. 

What the HECK? 

I pulled out all the woody stems, then decided to dump the whole container.  I'll plant it next year with 

something very low-growing. 

There are still a bunch of tomatoes on the vines in the garden, 

but I did not pick them.... I did bring in three from the deck before 

I pulled those plants out, but they have not ripened in the window. 

I have cut the yard for the last time, and most of the pasture.  I had only one small section to do down there, but I am going to let it go. 

Next year, I'll keep it all trimmed down, I did not this year. 

My helpers are always interested in what I am doing. 

We have had some beautiful fall mornings, but it seems like it went from 90 degrees (wait, it DID).... 

.... to mid-sixties and even lower.  

We have had rain off and on, too. 

Granddaughter Paiton is back on Ice, her original mount, since 

her regular ride Appy was sold a few weeks ago.  

Ice is big enough that Paiton has trouble getting his feet up to clean, so Grandma leaned in and lifted for her this last weekend. 

I need to get a close up of her, I'm really glad she is still riding, it's been a year and a half. 

She is turning eleven this weekend, we will see if this carries over another year, or boys enter the picture. 

I hope she sticks with it. 

I was going to use that bag of potting soil to plant the mums, but 

found flowers growing out of a small hole in it, they were from seed dropped by plants on the table next to them!  Wow! 

They will die tomorrow night, but still, it was remarkable. 

I am going to collect seed from the balsam today, so I can plant it next year. 

I wrote last week about the ducks and part of the chickens being gone. 

My chores are about a third of what they were, I did not realize how much time I was spending with the ducks.  I do miss them, but I also have spent half of what I was spending on chicken feed now. 

I have decided to put Singleton and his girls back in the old henhouse, where they lived before.  Yes, it means I have to cross the yard, but they will be comfortable there, and my idea is NO ROOSTER FIGHTS. 

These two (Fritzi is up on the steps). 

I am struggling with their weight loss journey, 

they both need to lose and I am not good at keeping them on the straight and narrow. 

We are still trying. 

That's about the best I can say right now. 

Another shot of Toto in their final song at the Uptown on the 27th, 

what a fun night it was for me. 

Grandson Chris and I are going to go to a concert next week together. 

(If I can find someone to lock up the chickens that night!) 

All the News Fit to Print

Here we are at the end of September already, how can it be? 

September of my life, too. 

Our beautiful sunset after storms Saturday. 

I just read on another blog that at this age, it's time to stop 

thinking of whether your clothes or hair or shoes are perfect, and to 

give up those friends who do not make you smile and laugh. 

I would have to agree with that, I don't think anymore about HOW I am 

appearing to others, as long as I am clean and relatively decent, and treat people kindly.   

And I am still rocking.   I went to see Toto on Friday night, 

and here I am with Steve Porcaro, Steve Lukather, and standing to the side, Joe Williams, 

three long time members of the 8 piece band.  (Steve and Steve two of the founders). 

Though they don't look especially happy in this picture (or most of the others).... they were actually VERY nice people, and couldn't have been more engaging with their fans, and I have to give 

them credit for it, since they are still slogging through 200 plus dates a year on the road. 

I noticed Joe using liberal doses of hand sanitizer after the event. 

Some of you reading this know that I worked as an usher and ticket taker for 16 years at Kemper Arena (now called Hy Vee Arena) in Kansas City, Missouri, and all of the downtown KCMO buildings, Municipal Auditorium, etc..  I saw every band; my very first concert at 14 was The Beatles when they appeared at Municipal Stadium.  I have not seen Elton, Billy Joel, (I took the night off, as I worked a full time job, too) and the Stones.  I have seen just about everyone else. 

I had not seen Toto! 

I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, but the drive home in a pounding rainstorm was frightening. 

I have a CD player in the car, and make my own CDs, and yes, you will find me singing along and "rocking down the highway."

And now, on to farm news, and thanks to Grandson Chris for farm-sitting. 

Saturday was a sad day after my big night out, my first concert since May, when I still had the boot on my leg. 

Most of you also know that I coped for six months this year with a torn Achilles tendon in my right leg.   It was extremely painful, and I feared I would have to have the re-attachment surgery, which would have laid me up for weeks.  I could not figure out how to take care of this place if that had happened. 

Miraculously, as an answer to prayers, it healed. 

However, last week I had the flu bug already going around our area.  As I lay in bed, too exhausted to do anything, I worried myself sick about the ducks. 

Yes, the ducks. 

I changed the two duck pools out up to three times a day, because it is still so hot here. 

Yes, they could have used the dirty water, but I am just like that. 

I had two areas that looked like this, and I wear Sloggers to do chores, and nearly fell four times. 

I am afraid of falling, because if I am stranded in the yard with something broken, it might be days before I am found if I have forgotten my phone. 

I made the decision I would have to rehome the ducks.  

It was very, very hard, because of Duckie, whom I have had for almost two years. 

My friend Tammy Potts, who is a counselor at Basehor Linwood High School and also 

works with Kitty Cat Connection, found a friend who kept chickens who took my eight 

daily layers, and their rooster (Midnight, a miracle).... and another friend who kept ducks 

who welcomed all six of the Pekins.  It was a miracle. 

Her friend Tammy came Saturday with her husband to pick everyone up. 

(this picture just about killed me) 

I know that the place the ducks went has a fenced pond, and there are other ducks there, 

so I was so happy for them. 

The pools have been emptied for the last time. 

There are sixteen old hens here and two roosters.  I have shut the old hen house up for good. 

The little hen house will be cleaned out this week, and Singleton and his six girls at the Ag Hall will come home on October 20 to a new building. (they used to live in the old hen house). 

Both the big and little hen house are on the same side of the yard, so no more criss-crossing with feed, etc.  

I got a total of four eggs yesterday. 

I noticed that there was almost NO conflict Saturday and Sunday with Ferdie, my oldest rooster, and his son, Buddy.  I am wondering now if Midnight, the cochin, was actually the problem all summer, with fighting, etc. 

It is still hot here, mostly, though we did have a reprieve Friday and Saturday. 

The porch plants are fading, and I bought two good-sized mums at Orschelns today, 

they have passed their first bloom... they were 2.00 each, and I am going to go 

out on the deck and trim them back, I think I will get a huge second bloom, well worth the 

2.00 price. 

I am dreaming of Christmas already, which is funny, because I no longer

host a family gathering, and I really decorate for just me. 

Son Jeff is coming this year to have Thanksgiving dinner with me, the first time in a long time, and I am really excited about that. 

I thank God every day for letting me live somewhere so beautiful. 

I took this last Monday, my nephew came and replaced the front roof of the sheep barn, and three boards in front.  It is ready for winter, and I have a good supply of hay, it's an investment in the future of the sheep. 

These naughty creatures. 

They cleaned up all the apples that I could reach. 

I am still mowing... and yes, I need to mow today.  I think I'll wait til tomorrow, 

since I spent the morning doing errands. 

Things change, and it's still good to embrace change at my age. 

As I lose hens, I will not replace them now.  I will buy eggs for the 

shelter, and continue to contribute to a meal weekly for them. 

Fifteen less birds meant a shortening of chores over the weekend, I noticed.  I have had many years of chicken keeping, and have enjoyed it very much... but it is time to slow down a little. 

I still got 8000 steps yesterday!

My sweet Jester. 

Little Frizi, whom I was so lucky to get.