The Big Winner!

This is "Oscar's Tree"... near the north boundary of our 

"front yard" at the old place. 

See that planting bed that has now buckled and lifted off the ground?  

I always intended to take it off there... but in all the almost-nine years 

we lived there... daffodils have bloomed at the base of the tree. 

Remarkable! 

Oscar, our first dog as a married couple, is buried to the left, where 

you see some taller grass growing.  

That will always be his tree, to me. 

Not to be outdone, the perennial beds are coming to life, too. 

Next week, I am bringing Grandson Chris up for a day, and we are going to 

move the planting things from the deck over here.  I have an area on the side... I will show you... where we will set up our container garden, and a table and chairs (which we already own).  There will be no 

huge tree to drop leaves, branches, and bird poop on them, either! 

This year may be all about container gardening, but as we move our 

storage building over, I am planning a perennial bed on three sides of it. 

This area here, outside the fence on the east side of the house, is level.  You can see where our acre ends because our grass is not quite as green as the neighbor's to the side and back.  There is ample room here for the storage building, and for perennial beds around it.  The only thing running through is old phone lines, for land line phones. 

I am trying to be patient! 

What is this, you ask? 

This is young Mr. Beach, who works at the Country Mart in Tonganoxie... the best store to buy meat in the whole area... bar none.... yesterday, I got a call from them to tell me that by using my loyalty card, I had won a "sack of frozen goods".  That "sack of frozen goods" turned out to be a box! 

Look what was in it! 

These were all in it... 

And all of this, too... my goodness!  

Our freezer is totally stocked right now! 

Thanks to Country Mart... I do use my loyalty card, and though we 

don't do a huge shopping there ever, I have patronized them steadily since moving here. 

Don't look now, but the Big Black Dog came back.  Lilly saw him through the window and snarled.  He proceeded to eat her dry dog food.  After he had finished, I went outside to lead him out of the yard (again).  He is quite old.  I don't know if he is truly a stray, or just another dog running loose around here. 

I have removed him from the premises several times now, so Keith is going to put a piece of fence by the retaining wall in front, where we should have run a stretch of fence.  

She looks pretty tough here after she went out to inspect the yard and make sure he was gone. 

And that gave me a chance to take a shot of the rickety back deck we 

inherited here.  It is not even... and the steps leading up and down are actually dangerous... they slant oddly.  I don't know if they were just built badly or have settled, but they are not safe.  

This will be the first project here... and as you can see, the septic tank is just by the deck, so we 

are going to have the new deck built to the right in this picture, and the old will lead onto the new (after being strenthened, or torn down and rebuilt) with gentler steps for the dogs and for us to get up and down. 

Don't look now, but I cut grass at the old place this morning. 

I took Lil along for the ride... she was not comfortable in the car before, but she has BECOME comfortable, figuring we are going from "HOME" to "HOME" and she enjoys coming along. 

In fact, after I finished cutting, I went inside to do some cleaning, and when I came out, I couldn't find Lil. 

Here is where I finally found her, under the side deck in the cool dirt. 

We waved goodbye to our friends the steers from next door, and came home to the New House. 

Where I'm posting with this little girl under my chair! 

We continue to clean and clear out the old place... but it will still take us some weeks. 

We ARE hauling things over... and going through and donating things.  We have too much STUFF... and we realize that.  It's time to let others share it, and who better to donate to then our own Good Shepherd thrift store, and the Disable Am Vets.  

The work will continue for some weeks. 

I am trying to get caught up on all your blogs... it's like reconnecting with old friends, and I am so interested in what you are all doing.  

We have received word that our little goats are doing very well in their new home.  I'm going to purposely put off seeing them for a while... right now I am just not ready... but one day, I will go visit them and I am very happy for them, believe me! 

Now You Know

Our kitchen table is a mess. 

It's the catch-all just inside the door for EVERYTHING. 

C O N C E N T R A T E on the F L O W E R

The only double daff I have in the whole yard, and I didn't even plant it! 

Today I met Melinda and Ken, from this great blog here: 

Country Dreaming. 

Wait, we have met before... but I met them in the parking lot of this thrift store because two weeks ago she wrote about her love of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks.  It just so happens that I had a stash of them, found at an estate sale several years ago.  I am trying to divest myself of some of my belongings... so I wrote her to tell her she was welcome to them.  As long as I was there... at the thrift store... I ran in to look around... and then came out and bought a Carnitas taco from CRAVE... this food truck. 

I have a confession. 

I have NEVER eaten from a food truck!  

The couple running it was my age (or older)... I thought they were all run by young kids... and the taco was delicious!!!  It was in a soft tortilla: 

YUM. 

With my lap band, I can't get much down at any time, even five years in. 

I was able to eat a little more than half of this, and it was delicious. 

There is a story behind this, and I'm going to find out what it is. 

I sneacked the last of the un-hatched eggs out from under Nugget today... for fear of it's bursting in the cage.  

I have removed all four now. 

We are facing lows in the 30's next week, and I'm going to need to leave these guys in the nursing cage for a full  week, I believe... with the light still on them.  (The third chick is on her left, you can barely see it's head)

I draped this cage with an old tablecloth last week when it got so cold....and look what I found on top of it this morning. 

Oh, those wily hens. 

Ditto. 

Our yard has been invaded by hundreds of red-winged blackbirds and grackles, and the starlings have moved on.  These birds would eat a forty pound bag of feed a day... but I am now only putting a bucket out twice a day.  In the evening, I run and put some out for the cardinals and the small birds so they get something after the blackbirds go. 

Do you see the bird with the golden head??? What on earth is it?  It appeared yesterday or the day before: 

Here it is on the deck yesterday.  I thought I was dreaming about the golden head. 

There were at least six of them out there this morning. 

We are expecting rain tomorrow... actually early... and then rain on Monday, Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday.  The temps are going down into the thirties again. 

Yes, we need the rain. 

No, we don't need any more frost, PLEASE.  

By the time the peas get an inch high, it will be too warm for them to grow properly. 

Sigh. 

That's it for an eclectic Saturday from Calamity Acres. 

More Garden Pictures

Last night, Keith worked far into the dark to cut up some cattle panels for the gardens beds he planted ten days ago. 

Here is the result of that work:

Yes, our garden is still a mess... paper, which you see sticking out, will be the bottom layer of the beds, and cover the paths, which we will then cover with mulch.  We are trying to go as weed-free as possible. All this will be cleaned up in time.

Here is another angle:

Once the peas are done, these beds will be used for cucumbers and other climbers (beans).  Keith did a super job on the beds and the supports.

Here is something else from the garden right now:

I'm very glad to see these smiling flowers!  Unfortunately, Mother Nature is about to do it to us again... we are expecting rain, and some snow here in Tongie over the next few days.  Daffodils aren't the only things up... the crocus is, and all the tulips have pushed up, though we are a bit away from blooming.  The iris are up, and many of the other perennials.  Rock cress is blooming!

I'm going to keep track with pictures this year for our garden records. 

Don't forget to join Amy and Ritchie at Verde Farm for Farm Friend Friday tomorrow!