One Day At a Time

I've been spending hours cutting down saplings. 

I decided today to work on a couple of the garden beds. 

This is what they look like, and I don't blame 

the renters. 

You see, not everyone is a gardener.  They did 

grow some peppers in that far back bed, 

but the rest became overgrown. 

That high grass is in between the beds.  

This was after about ten minutes of digging and pulling.  You see, 

Keith and I built these beds 

according to the book Lasagna Gardening.  

We put paper down, then dirt mixed with manure. 

Every growing season, I dug through them and replenished the dirt. 

Most of these weeds began to come right out. 

My hard and fast rule is "don't overdo it".  

I'm almost four years older than before. 

However, I did a second bed.  Yes, I still have to clean them up, 

but I took the choppers and cut down the high grass around them, and 

started digging at the dandelions. I am going to have to have 

Brandon, the young man cutting the place, do some weedeating. 

Then I trudged across the yard, carrying all the pulled plants, 

because I have no way to get my cart out there. 

Still figuring that out. 

I tried to cut the high grass around the two beds (with the big cutters).  I figure it will 

take at least six bags of Miracle Gro dirt and a bag each of 

manure before the beds are ready to plant anything. 

I'm not going to garden extensively this year... but it will be 

nice to have a couple of beds for tomatoes. 

This, however, is the current state of the pasture.  Nice hay, huh? 

I can't even get in the gate. 

The dogs and I can't get down to check the status of the fence until 

I can find someone who can cut it. 

Lots of saplings to cut!

How I miss not having a truck. 

Here's the little pond I have shown you so many times.  It has decent water in it now. 

We have not been going back and forth on gravel in an effort to preserve the 

new car. 

I decided to do it today. 

The cow herd is doing well, too! 

Oh, and by the way... this has started, too! 

The Little Camera

I think this piece of the pasture is interesting. 

It is all clover... this is where we fed the llamas for 

four years... and the grass appeared to disappear under

the feeders... but clover established itself. 

It's right inside the big tractor gate, and right outside the goat-llama-pony pen. 

I ran back to the car to get my little camera... because 

yesterday, there were dandelions blooming! 

I drive by this cow frequently.  Until two months ago, she had a companion in 

her pen.  She has a little barn over on the right (by my mirror) and 

a nice pond to drink from... but no companion.  I don't know if the companion went to freezer

camp or what, but I feel so sorry for lonesome herd animals.  She often lays in the corner 

on the left out of the picture... there are cattle in the pasture one down from this place, and I know 

she can hear them from time to time.  Breaks my heart. 

In the house next to this, there is now a lone horse, where before, there were two. 

Same thing... breaks my heart.  

When we lost Lacey, the mini horse, we went to the trouble of borrowing another 

mini to keep our pony Beau company.  

I am going to think positively that this cow is bred and will be having her calf soon, and have another companion. 

You can see the ponds are beginning to freeze... some of these geese were standing on ice. 

We are plunging to the lower single digits and possibly zero tonight. 

Everyone stay warm! 

Got It!

Remember, I started working on the Briar Patch this week, the patch with the terrible cockleburs. 

Ugh. 

So, today, the dogs desperately needed a run, and off we went. 

When I got there, the gate to the pasture was wide open, and someone had clearly been 

coming in and out. 

Yes, I freaked a little.  We have been so lucky not to have anyone bother our place for 8 months. 

My helpers immediately started sniffing around and inspecting the whole pasture.  I am so grateful to have them.

I turned back to the car to get my gloves... and when I turned again... here came 

Troy in his pickup out of the pasture. 

This is what he has been doing, bless him! 

He is going to put all that wood to great use. 

The smaller branches, like the one to the right in this picture, I will drag down to the 

brush pile.  

I know it's hard to see, but where you see the straw color in the middle of this photo... 

is the chicken wire that has been caught in the grass since March!  I finally got it 

all loose, without having to cut it! 

You can see it a little better in this picture.  This was tie-wrapped all around the sides of the dog pen that the Mille Fleurs lived in.  Those are my Fiskar's big cutters, not wire cutters, but... I pulled up almost all of those horrible cocklebur stalks.   They were dumped out on 

the burn pile in the driveway.  I am going to have to spray Roundup on this spot (you know I hate to do it)... but I have GOT to kill these burrs.  There are also two landscape timbers I need 

to dig up and move, and then Troy said he would come over and mow it even with the rest of the pasture. 

The wire and the grass in which it was entwined are going into the back of the HHR to 

go to the dump.  

"The Tree" is still beautiful, but it's color is fading.  The hills behind it are fading, too.  I had the 

little camera in my pocket (always). 

I had left the light on in the henspa two days ago, and Troy reminded me, so I ran over to turn it off. There is a metal cabinet in there that needs to come home with me this week, too. 

It won't be tomorrow, as we are expecting rain.  

I snapped this picture as I went by the garden... it's my white lilac... look at the buds on it! 

Beau's tree in the pasture has dropped all it's leaves... and the others are dropping, as well. 

November... doesn't seem possible it has come already. 

A word about the blog... 

last night, I had a nasty entry in the comments, which I have deleted.  I suspect 

it was put there to entice people to it's source, because it was a hacker, etc.. Always be careful 

of clicking on those links. 

I have also noted that blogs that have never had Word Verification before have it now, and I need to 

see if mine does, all of the sudden.  I suspect Blogger did this... because of perceived problems across their network. 

I hope everyone's month has gotten off to a great start! 

Keith is feeling pretty well... he will be seeing a specialist within the next two weeks...

and following up with a permanent implant for his dialysis.  Yes, it kicks his behind, but 

he thinks he can live with it easily. 

Thanks for all your prayers. 

Working in the Pasture Or, The Cockelburr Story

Can you see my rear view mirror? 

I watched that bean truck bear down on me, gears shifting... motor roaring... I honestly thought 

I was going to end up pushed out into 7 highway earlier today. 

It's going on everywhere, all around us.  

I'm watching at every corner for the bean and corn trucks. 

I took the dogs out to run, and tackled that cockleburr patch in the pasture. 

At first I was using the big cutters because some of the stalks were pretty thick, then
I would cut them up smaller in the yard cart. 

However, after working for a while, I realized most of them would pull up. 

I took two heaping cartloads up to the burn pile in the driveway. 

At one point, the Dauntless Duo ran past me at a pretty good clip. 

The pugs could never keep up with Lilly, though Gertie and Abby tried. 

Jester can match her stride for stride. 

Finally, I was able to see the actual outline of  the doghouse and dog pen stood. 

And stepping back a few steps, you can easily see where it was.  That's where I left it today, because frankly, I was getting pooped.  I am going to have to cut the chicken wire out of the high grass. 

You are actually looking at some of it here, but it's hard to see.  At the "far end"... just to the right 

of the white chair.... and just to the right of the first cockleburr plant... there is a big piece of wire 

on the ground.  Once every plant is down and the wire is out, I'll take the mower out and cut 

the grass... the push mower... and then I'll spray roundup to kill all those little burrs that fell on the ground.  Ugh.  

Look what else I found:

These were under the clump of grass right in front of Jester in the above photo. You know I am freaked about fungi in the pasture now, after little Greta the pug ate mushrooms and died. 

These were not there last year. 

Thanks again to the Bowen Family for their great pasture decorations ... I have loved watching these for another year! 

I took the big camera out to the Lake this afternoon... and after six pictures... the battery was dead! 

It's in the charger too, and I'm going to try again tomorrow after I get Keith home from dialysis. 

I hope to share those tomorrow! 

A Late Post

Well, it was a long day for us today. 

Keith is back in the hospital, and is going to be sent out for 

treatment to another VA center... if they can find a bed. 

We aren't sure where, it could possibly be out of state. 

This rather grim picture of him does not show that he is basically pretty optimistic and upbeat. 

After I went up to talk to the doctors at his behest, I finally came home in late afternoon

to take the dogs out for a run. 

Jester can hardly believe his good fortune, I think. 

As soon as we get to the old place, he begins to wriggle around in the car. 

Then, off he goes.  

I am not letting them go into the pasture without me right now, 

while the fence is still down on the south side. 

So, down we went. 

Our beautiful red girl ran and ran. 

And Jester rolled and rolled. 

Then we went up to the yard so I could pull the debris from 

yesterday to the burn pile. 

This is the tree that fell in the small tornado we had three years ago. 

Troy hooked onto it with the tractor last weekend and tried to pull it: 

It moved MAYBE two feet, and he gave it up 

That's the trunk end, it's like petrified wood now. 

But oh, the beauty.  The beauty. 

I sat down in the pasture on the downed tree to talk to Keith for a while. 

Yes, we are worried... but we are both "glass half full" kind of people, and 

are waiting to see what is going to happen. 

All of your kind prayers and thoughts on Facebook were so much appreciated... 

I don't know what I would do without friends and family. 

We'll keep you posted! 

Running out to the Old Place

More pee mail today. 

And then we saw a squirrel!  There are no squirrels around our new yard.  I have only seen ONE in this whole neighborhood since we moved. 

We went out to the old house to put some things in the compost heap this afternoon.

Even though it's very dry here now, it's a beautiful drive. 

But this, my friends, is the goat yard.  Unreal what has happened in four months. 

You cannot even see the barn from this angle. 

I dragged some deadfall down to the brush pile in the pasture.  I have to tell you... you can't tell from this picture, but the middle of the pasture that was almost destroyed when we tried to put a pond in three years ago... has grown back into grass and clover.  This is the last spot that needs to be repaired.  I am not saying there are no weeds... but I worked so hard last year and spread seed... and it looks much 

better down there. 

Don't look now... Troy's tractor is still down there!

There are still critters coming through the hole in the east fenceline.  Can you see their little path in the middle of the picture? 

This guy was laying in the grass near the gate, inside the yard, when I got there. 

He ran when I came back to go out and close the gate.  Lilly was with me, and Lilly HATES cats and has killed several.  (I love them).  I looked to see if there were kittens somewhere, because he/she came back to the exact same spot.  

I threw three chicken carcasses (from chicken we got at the store) into the pasture for the wild things, and I wish that I had left them near this cat. 

Lilly never did see it. 

We are starting to get some birds at our new feeding station. 

Here's a purple (red) finch. 

The female is in this picture. 

The white bucket has holes in it, I have been pouring water in it for three days to seep out 

and make the hard ground soft.  I put another feeder there tonight, for the hummers. 

Tomorrow I'll try to point the camera towards the niger seed feeder... there are goldfinches coming now. 

No blue jays.... no starlings, so far. 

Here's something unusual.  When we moved here at the end of  

March, there were robins EVERYWHERE.  We saw them everyday, 

and huge numbers of them. 

We are seeing very few now.  

We did see one hummingbird today, which is why I moved their feeder... they don't like to be around a crowd of other birds. 

Here's one of the two planters in front of the house.  This is the second year I have planted 

red, white and blue petunias from Walmart in them.  Not only do they spill beautifully... they smell so sweet you just want to stand there and soak them in! 

Maybe I'll get a hummer on camera tomorrow!