Can I Hear You Now?

Posted on July 20, 2020 by TJ

We had a couple storms roll in on Saturday and Sunday with dark skies, lightning, and heavy rain. One day we got 1.5 inches of rain! The rain is very good for our gardens. Our Internet was out most of the day on Sunday because of the storms, but we didn’t lose our electricity which is always good.

I have been struggling with a sinus infection over the last few days. I have no fever, but I feel sinus pressure in my face, I am tired, and my left ear keeps getting blocked. I could deal with the sinus pressure and tiredness, but the blocked ear is annoying and makes me feel worse, like I’m shut off from the world. Saturday my ear was blocked all day, but since then it’s been on and off. Ugh. I’ve been taking meds, taking naps with Hannah Joy, drinking hot herbal teas, and EJ has put drops in my ears. I felt like saying, “Can I hear you now?”

I haven’t been very motivated, but I have managed to cut some of my herbs and get them drying in the dehydrator. I’ll continue drying herbs throughout the growing season. My sis-in-law freezes her herbs, but we have more shelf space than freezer space.

There is a mouse loose in the house. We’ve seen it a couple of times, and Hannah Joy goes running after it but so far it has escaped. I think that sooner or later, it will be caught…and if Hannah catches it, it will be eaten.

The outside cats are good at keeping the rodent population down. I’m Millie and Theo don’t kill the song birds as Miss Madeline Meadows, our serial killer cat, used to do. Theo wants to catch the birds, and sometimes leaps at them when they are at the feeders, but so far he has been unsuccessful. I put the plant stands near the feeder to try to make it more difficult for Theo to jump at the feeders. Theo is much better at catching mice, moles, and chipmunks. Millie has caught a few snakes as well as mice.

Every evening I go out and shut the chickens and the cats safely in the coop. Theo usually comes running when he hears me, but I always find Millie in the same place, staring at the corner of the house. I had no idea why she did that until one evening she suddenly reach under the siding and caught a mouse while I was watching. I’m sure there must be a nest under the siding. I’ve seen her and Theo with mice in that area a few times. I usually let the cats hunt the mouse for a while before picking them up and carrying them to the coop. I have no problem with letting them kill the mice.

Hannah Joy made me laugh a couple weeks ago. I was typing on my laptop when she suddenly gave a sharp bark that means she wants my attention. I looked up and saw her sitting at the foot of the bed in the bedroom, peering around the half-closed door with a sparkle in her eye, as if she had a surprise for me. When I went into the bedroom, she leaped onto the bed in excitement. I didn’t see anything on the bed, so I looked under the bed and, sure enough, her orange ball was waaaay back near the headboard. I figured she wanted me to get it for her, but it was out of reach so I went and got a yardstick to knock it out from under the bed. As soon as I walked back into the bedroom, she dived under the bed, scooting from the footboard to the headboard and out again with the ball in her mouth. I think she wanted to show me her cleverness in diving under the bed to get her ball. Crazy adorkable dog. LOL.

Hannah Joy likes to steal Kleenex (and other papers) and eat them. Sometimes she steals them from my pocket. She’s also quick to pick up any that drop unnoticed to the floor. Once she gets something in her mouth she won’t let go, and we sometimes have tugs-of-war. They can last for several minutes, with none of us giving in. We were in the middle of a tug-of-war yesterday when I grabbed my nearby camera:

In August 2017, I found a round hole in the ground in the garden. It had smooth sizes and was about the size of my thumb in diameter. I’m guessing at the size–I wasn’t going to stick my thumb in the hole to get a more exact measurement. LOL. I had the garden hose on, and on a whim, I stuck it in the hole, filling it with water. Out popped a VERY large spider, which scared me half to death. I was tempted to kill it, but since it always ducked into its hole when it saw me coming, I decided it wouldn’t be a problem. I think it’s the type of spider that stays in its lair and dashes out to grab food, meaning it wouldn’t be wandering about and getting in the house. I named it Shelob and observed it from a safe distance away. (See 2017 video here if you dare.) Since that time, I’ve occasionally seen the round holes in the yard. There is one now near our deck. I have only sometimes seen a flicker of movement as the spider quickly retreats into its hole.

We’ve had more pleasant visitors in our yard. This morning I woke to see three deer eating the grass in our front yard. I couldn’t get my camera from the other room without disturbing them so I didn’t get any photos. Also, I didn’t want to risk Hannah Joy seeing them and scaring them away with her barking. But they were lovely.