Where do the Weeks Go?

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This guy.  Because of him I follow about 50 Bostons on Instagram. 

In fact, once I get moved, I'm going to make his own account for him on 

Insta. 

That's Sister's paw in the picture. 

My heart swells when I see my old girl in her element. 

This is where she grew up, and probably, where she will die. 

You remember that I started out feeding the abandoned half-grown kitten at 

the farmhouse?  Then two more cats started eating, along with 4 raccoons, 

and two opossums, and many, many birds. 

Now they are passing judgement on my choice of cat food.  I bought this 

generic cat food at the feed store, it came in a thirty pound bag for 

much less than I had been paying.  You notice they are not cleaning 

their plates as they were before, but leaving some every day.  Some days, 

the water bowl is even full (raccoons dip their feed in the bowl). 

I had to laugh. 

At least I'm saving some money, and according to what I see 

on the game camera... the cats are still eating. 

More of this...

And this! 

The yarrow is blooming!

and my only kniphofia left... 

The globe thistle is hanging on... 

And look what is starting! 

Yes, the beds are still full of weeds, but 

I'll get them, little by little. 

Next week sometime, towards the end of the week... 

a dozen of the hens at the Ag will come home 

with me to live in the henspa. 

Until I am living there full time, they will have to stay in the fenced 

chicken yard.  Once I move, they can roam around in the yard. 

I end, as I started.  Jester bruised an eye 

a few days ago, and after a trip to the vet 

yesterday, he is on medicine for the bruising, 

and taking it easy.  He will be fine. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Workin' In the Sun

I was standing under my Green Goddess looking up this afternoon. 

She is totally covered with vines that are growing ever higher. 

Around her base were growing many saplings. 

Here is the top of her (with a crow model, do you see him?) taken yesterday from the deck. 

She still has leaves on about the top 40 feet of branches, but the vines were growing 

ever upwards. 

You can hardly tell in this picture, but the base was circled with 

saplings and weeds.  Thickly circled. 

So, today I started attacking them. 

This gives you some idea.  Oddly, I did not find any poison ivy, just Virginia creeper and 

grapevine.   Some of the grapevine was really thick, and grown into the bark of the tree. 

I am going to have to set some money aside to have this tree taken down at some point, it is 

VERY soft.  

My helper stayed with me for a while, but soon he went back 

to the cool porch, where I had spilled some 

water filling the (let's face it, RACCOON waterers)... and Lilly and he watched from the cool porch. 

I had on a sleeveless shirt, and had remembered to put 

Neutrogena skin spray on my arms and on my face, with 

an SPF of 100.

This was my compost heap at one time. 

I'm going to confess something here. 

I never, ever let Keith use Roundup or anything like it when we 

lived there. 

I'm using Tractor Supply weed killer now.  I caved.  

I made a big pile of chopped saplings and grapevine at the 

base of the tree.  I still have not found anyone to haul the piles for me, and 

until I can get in the pasture, I can't start a new brush pile.  I am trying to find 

someone who can cut the pasture. 

My yard guy out there has a bush hog and a big tractor, but no way to bring them 

over.  

If I can get it knocked down once, I have a friend who will haul my John Deere out there, and 

I can keep it cut down, and then start another brushpile down in the bottom of the pasture for the little critters. 

This about killed me... one of the saplings I cut down (it was 

growing almost from under the tree) was a mulberry, and 

I love mulberries!!!  See the fruit on it already? 

I am also going to work on the big mulberry on the front fence line 

and cut the grape vines at it's base this week. 

I have exactly ONE globe thistle  left and it is blooming... I am ordering more. 

Pretty soon these vines will be brown.  

I was being watched the whole time. 

We saw our friends as we left. 

We saw them yesterday, too.  There are two new calves, and two 

that I believe were last years.  I counted 3 times and got 26. 

I did find out a little more about the bison. 

The property they live on, 150 acres, went into receivership for taxes. 

A man bought 35 acres of it, including the burned home, the barns, and the front drive. 

He has cleared it of the red cedar trees that are ruining the grazing for the bison, 

and also took down the fence on either side of the drive. 

Some of his equipment is in this picture. 

As you see, the bison were all grazing or resting up by the house. 

I was told by someone that this man is involved with the project to 

develop the next property over as a camping lake for fishing, where 

people can park their RVs short term.  The neighborhood is fighting it, 

because we are afraid that RVs coming in short term will end up 

being there long term.  

Knowing that the bison's actual owners were unable to pay the taxes without 

selling a chunk of the property... leads me to believe that the choked-with-red-cedar pastures that I suspect that the bison will be pushed back on will get worse and worse.  For now, they are 

able to graze on an open pasture with adequate grass.  

Make no mistake, though, these animals are dangerous. 

They are huge and can run fast. 

I am sort of hoping that the developer has bought them, too, and 

will use them as an attraction.  I know that every time I pull off to take pictures, 

someone pulls off behind me. 

In the first bison picture I posted, there is a roll of big fencing and many heavy round fence posts.  Maybe that will be to help the bison, not to hold them back.  I can only hope so. 

Yesterday, I drove down to Garnett again. 

Grandson Nathan was graduating from Anderson County Senior High. 

He cleans up pretty well! 

He tied his own tie after watching a video on You Tube, NOT KIDDING. 

It was an extremely windy day at the football stadium. 

See his tassel fly? 

I asked him to put his cap back on so I could get a picture, and he had to hold it down. 

I got pictures of him with every one BUT ME. 

No picture for Grandma. 

We celebrated with a dinner at a local restaurant, and had a great time. 

Grandma was worn out though, when I got home last night. 

The iris' days are waning.  These beds need to be dug out and replenished this fall.  I'll divide these and share them with a friend, including the blues in the bed behind this. 

Tomorrow night is our first Little League game of the spring!  Yee ha!  I'll be baking cookies tomorrow for the team. 

Jax is modeling the Sluggers new uniform. 

Can't wait to see them. 

Our Weekend

How can it be five days since I posted? 

I looked at Keith today and asked him where the days were going. 

To think we both worked full time, how did we get everything DONE? 

I will have Jax and Paiton this week; their school ended Thursday and 

there is a gap week before summer camp starts. 

So, Monday to Thursday, they will come here and help me. 

We are also expecting rain for five days now, so we will see 

how much we get done around here. 

This is what happened on Thursday night, the first regular season game of the season for the Kansas City Tbones, an independent league baseball team.  We have a half-season again, and 

are considered season ticket holders.  We changed our seats from our long term 

fifth row down behind home plate, to two accessible seats up on the concourse that are 

easier for Keith to access, and I LOVE THEM. 

There were actually about 5000 people there on a chilly night. 

We went again today, it was a beautiful day for a game at 1 PM. 

We had a great breeze and we are under the overhang, so, no sun. 

I had these guys on Friday, and they went to work at the Ag Hall with me. 

My sister in law came to get them with her grandsons at noon, and 

went to get pizza, and then stayed for them to have some playtime. 

I cannot tell a lie, I'm bragging about Jaxton.  He got the 

MVP for the first game of their tournament this weekend. 

I have had five baseball games in four days! 

He pitched for the first time, and did a good job.  He wears that 

cap with elan! 

Yes, I took some nature pictures. 

In the field where I saw the egret last week, I saw some geese eating. 

Look what was with them! 

This was a white fronted goose, which I have not seen here before. 

It leads me to believe the Canadians were travelers, and not local 

residents, there were only about six, including the white-fronted. 

That same day, this dickcissel posed for me in the grass.

An eastern kingbird sat on our fence that evening... 

Along with this robin. 

I did not know that house finches liked grape jelly! 

They are competing with the orioles for it. 

It think this might be an immature Baltimore. 

They like the sugar water as well as the hummers! 

We Took a Trip!

We took a little trip on Friday and Saturday, hence the lack of posts. 

Guess where?

We went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to see this young man and his teammates play ball. 

This is P.J. Higgins, Keith's sister's son, who signed with the Chicago Cubs 

system last year. 

P.J. plays for the "low-A" South Bend Cubs, and they 

made a once-a-season trip to Cedar Rapids this week. 

Keith and I intended to see two games, on Friday and Saturday, and 

then start back.  It was our first trip since Keith went on dialysis, and

we learned a LOT.  

We got there Friday after the game had started, as it took a little longer than 

we expected.  Keith was wiped out from the travel (lesson one).  

The temperature was 40, and it was windy.  I had taken a sweatshirt and a jacket... BRRRRR. Keith had his Carhartt.  His parents met us there, we had wonderful seats Keith bought online. 

However, the cold got the best of us, and we left at the top of the 7th to go check into the hotel, leaving his hardy Iowa parents to watch the last two innings! 

When we woke up Saturday morning, it was pouring rain.  Keith and I conferred, and 

we decided to start back, despite the fact two of his cousins were driving over to join us for the afternoon game.   We gave the front row seats to his parents, so they and his cousins could sit together. 

We did not leave before we enjoyed a good visit with Patrick. 

I hate to sound like a groupie, but we got to ask so many questions we wanted to know about spring training, about life on the baseball road, and how his life has changed.  P.J. was patient with us, and his grandmother was just delighted to spend time with him. 

P.J. grew up in Connecticut, a long way from the rest of the family.   Grandma and Grandpa Yoder do not get to see him and his sister Kacey as often as the others.  His mom, Kim, and Dad, Duke, still live there. 

Since it was still raining after brunch, Keith and I forfeited another night at the hotel and started home. 

I had my baptism of fire driving his van up and back, (for the first time!) and 

now I am confident I can drive to the BAR (Blogville Awesome Retreat) in June. 

The elder Yoders went to yesterday's game (the rain lifted) and were staying for today's game so they could see the team one last time.  They breed them hardy in Iowa, I tell you. 

We got home an hour too late to get the dogs from the kennel.  This was their first time being 

boarded... and when I picked them up after church today, it was to the news that they 

did "okay" but neither ate hardly anything for the almost-three days.  I fixed their 

food when we got here, and Jester inhaled his, and promptly went to sleep on his favorite pillow on the loveseat.  He has eye creme for his eyes daily because of a corneal abrasion... the tube 

hardly looked used, and oddly, he has rings of dried matter around both eyes, top and bottom. 

I am not sure if we will be returning to this kennel. 

(I know I am an overly-concerned pet parent)

We know now we can travel, with appropriate planning.  Keith and I will come up with a checklist of things he needs for dialysis... because he did run short of several things.  (Lesson two). 

We also know we can't do fast trips, they will need planning and slower travel.  Trying to hurry and get there in one day, and then go out to an event, is probably out of the question, as Keith needs some time to unwind and rest.  Lessons learned. 

We did see this: 

This gorgeous coop was at the Iowa Welcome Center at Lamoni. 

The nest boxes you see are painted black... except... 

for one. 

Oddly enough, there were all roosters and two hens in there, and one of the hens had been used terribly by the roosters.  If I had had more time, I would have gone in and complained.  

I actually missed the exit on our way home yesterday, so it was probably a good thing. 

There were also two smaller coops, which were for sale. 

Guess what the price was?  I would estimate these would maybe hold six birds. 

$2099.00. 

They were "Amish made".  (This is called the Amish Welcome Center, it is in a heavily Amish area). 

I saw this one on Thursday at Feldman's Farm Supply: 

It was VERY heavy... 

And looked like it would hold 4 birds comfortably... I would not use that "roost" on the left... but... 

it was adequate.  

$500.00. 

The trim was stapled on. 

I didn't mean to work this into a post on Chicken houses... but... 

you know me. 

We were glad to be home, and our babies are glad to be here, too!