I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Bye, Bye, Birdies
As I wrote yesterday, after much thought I decided to get rid of my ducks. They are adorable, endearing, and funny, but they are also messy and a lot more work than chickens. Plus, we have too many eggs with both the ducks and the chickens. So yesterday I put an ad on the Craigslist for Northern Michigan.
This evening a guy came and got them. In some ways, it’s a relief to have them gone, but it’s also very sad to see them go. Both EJ and I will need to grieve their loss for a little while.
Sigh.
Floors & Ducks
Some days I leap out of bed and I’m busy all day from morning till night. Other days I drag my sorry self out of bed and it takes me many cups of coffee to get myself going and accomplish anything. Today was one of the latter days.
Once I had finished off the pot of coffee, browsed Facebook, and cuddled Hannah Joy, I got the post-hole digger out of the garage and carried it down to the driveway. I pulled my wildlife habitat sign out of the sand and dug the hole deeper. I had already dug my enchanted sign hole deeper a few days ago, but I didn’t think the habitat sign needed a deeper hole until Hannah ran around it and almost knocked it over. When we put the signs in place several weeks ago, our sandy ground was so dry that the sand poured out of the jaws of the post-hole digger like water and we couldn’t get the holes deep enough. Now that we’ve had more rain, I was easily able to dig deeper holes.
The flooring installers left a message on EJ’s phone this morning, but he couldn’t listen to it until his lunch hour. No matter how many times I tell Lowes people that they should call my phone, they still call his phone–I think because he originally gave his phone number as our main number. I’ve tried to change it, but it never seems to get changed. Because EJ can’t take the time to respond to personal calls at work, there’s usually a delay before he listens to the messages and then texts me so I can call them.
Anyway, I called the installers today and scheduled the date for them to put in our new floors. I had suggested to EJ last night that he really might want to take the day off when the installers come because repairmen and installation people always ask me questions that I don’t know the answer to, which makes me feel stupid. Plus, EJ would be able to tell if they were doing an adequate job or not. EJ said he didn’t think that the floor installers would ask any questions that I couldn’t answer, but I thought that the people who hooked up our propane take or the guy who installed our new geo-thermal thingmajig wouldn’t ask me questions and they DID. So I was very happy when I could schedule the floor installation for Saturday, August 11. EJ will be home! I can just relax and let him handle everything. Yippee!
I enjoyed talking to the woman on the phone. We could have had the installers move our living room furniture and remove the carpet at an additional cost, but we chose to do it ourselves. The woman asked if everything had been delivered, and if the carpet was removed, and if the furniture had been moved. I said yes to each question and then added, “Well, except for the couch. It wouldn’t fit through the doorways so I had to leave it in the living room.” She laughed. “I’ve never had anyone tell me they couldn’t fit a couch through the doorway. How did you get it in the house in the first place?” she wondered. I told her that we had brought it through the outside door. “But I really don’t want to have to take the couch outside.” She said that she’d tell the installers to move the couch across the room as they worked. She said, “I’m sorry. This makes me chuckle.” I thought it was funny too and I’m glad that I could make her laugh.
After much thought, I’ve decided to sell try to sell my ducks. I know, I know, ducks are incredibly comical, endearing, and rather fun. However, they are also messy and a lot of work. Because they are water birds, they need a supply of water–a pool in the summer and a large bucket in the winter. I can fill the pool using the garden hose in the summer, but in the winter I have to lug buckets of water to fill the large heated bucket in the coop. They splash and get the coop all wet. So…I put an ad on Craigslist today. Hopefully someone will give them a good home.
Chickens are much less work and less messy, and require less lugging. I’m going to stick with chickens.
Flooring Preparation
Tuesday night EJ and I had planned to rip out the old carpet in the living room. However, EJ didn’t get home until 10:30 p.m. It was a very long day for him since he left the house at 7 a.m. At his previous job downstate, he regularly worked 12-16 hour shifts for weeks or months at a time without a day off. Once he even worked three shifts in a row! The grueling hours really wore him down. I’m glad that at his current job here in Northern Michigan, he gets every weekend off. I think he’s worked only two Saturdays in the three years we’ve been here, and he has never had to work a Sunday.
Because they worked so many hours on Tuesday and got a lot done, EJ’s boss told him to leave work at noon on Wednesday for a half day off. When he got home, he rested for a bit while I fixed lunch and after we ate he began to tear out the carpet. I finished my chores–washed dishes, cleaned the litter box, gathered chicken and duck eggs–and then I helped EJ in the living room. I helped him roll up the pad underneath, and then I swept the living room floor while he took the padding out to the suburban to throw in the dumpster at work. His company allows employees to use the dumpsters for free.
We are glad to get rid of the old carpet which was very threadbare and stained. Some of the stains had leaked down to the bare flooring underneath. The floor was also covered with sand. I don’t know if the sand was carried in on feet or was the padding breaking down. Yuck! Seeing what was under the carpet made me want to rip out the carpeting in all the bedrooms as well, but those rooms will have to wait until we can afford it.
My childhood home was very old. During one home improvement project, my Dad found very old newspapers in the walls–from the 1870s, if I remember correctly. The house had wooden floors. I thought it was very luxurious when we first got carpeting in the living room. Now, as an adult, I just think carpeting is very unsanitary with all the dirt tracked in, and children getting sick, and pet accidents, and stuff spilling. A person can vacuum and clean carpets, but still not get all the nastiness out of them. I much prefer uncarpeted floors that are easier to clean up. Wood floors are too expensive so we are getting vinyl planks, which are the next best choice.
I spent this morning removing staples that had been pulled up when EJ removed the carpet. They aren’t pleasant to walk on with bare feet, and they have to be removed before the new flooring is laid down. When I first began working this morning, Hannah seemed surprised that I was sitting on the floor. She came right up to me and kept trying to lick my face. It was very difficult to work when she was in my face and blocking my tools, but she is so cute. She likes to be involved in everything. After awhile, she went and sat on the couch to watch me. With her out of the way, I got most of the staples pulled out. Most of the staples were short and easy to pull out, but a few were very long. Some of the long ones broke off so close to the floor that I wasn’t able to grab them with the pliers to pull them up. EJ said he will get those.
Early this afternoon the delivery guys drove up to drop off the flooring, which includes sheets of lauan, the vinyl planks, and all the trim. We took tonight night off from working in the living room but this weekend we will paint polyurethane over the stains to cover them. And then we will wait for the installation people to come out….We don’t yet have a date for them to do the work.
This week has been quite rainy. There were times when we had such heavy rain that it caused a little erosion down the driveway. Yesterday we had dark clouds and a lot of thunder growling through the day. Some of those storms dropped rain on us while others passed us by. I love the misty look to the far hills on rainy days. I also like the coziness of rainy days.
While I was doing dishes last night, I looked out the window and saw Mama Turkey with her babies. They came up close to the house to eat grasshoppers in the grass and berries from the bushes. Mama is very aware of her surroundings so she can warn her babies of threats so I quietly snuck into our library and took photos of them through the window. I love watching the turkeys! I think the colors and patterns in their feathers are beautiful, I enjoy hearing the soft putt-putt-putt call they make as they walk along–and the babies are adorable! It’s fun watching them grow throughout the summer as well as the way their Mama watches over them. I couldn’t decide which photo to share with you, so I shared them all in a slideshow.
A Bit of Chaos
This week I have added preparing the living room for installing the new flooring to my list of tasks. We are removing the carpet ourselves because we want to fix any problems there might be before the installation people show up. We were told that the flooring would arrive at the store by the end of July–give or take a couple of days. We are having it delivered to our house.
For several weeks, I have been mentally thinking through where I would put the furniture when we emptied the room. I planned to put couch in the kitchen, which is the only room where it would have fit. However, yesterday I tried to move it and couldn’t fit it through the doorway. I think the only doorway it will go through is the outside door, which is how we originally got it into the house, and I certainly don’t want the couch outside where bugs–and possibly spiders–can get in it. So Plan B is that the couch remains in the living room and it will just have to be moved from one place to another as the floor is installed.
I moved a few living room items–such as the gas fireplace, a lamp, a coffee table, and a couple small tables–to other rooms yesterday but I didn’t want to move our recliners or anything until I discovered when the flooring would be delivered. No sense living crammed into the kitchen until we had to.
I found out this morning that the flooring will be delivered on August 2nd. So this morning I moved the rest of the furniture out of the living room–except for the couch. I put down the sides of our kitchen table, making it smaller, and moved it into the center of the kitchen. Then I moved our chairs and computers into the nook where the table usually sits. It’s actually quite cozy. With the furniture out of the living room, I rolled up the big rug and vacuumed the carpet. EJ and I hope to remove the carpet during the evenings this week, and fix any problems underneath this weekend.
Originally, we had planned to removed the carpet this last weekend, which would have given us more time to get it done. However, instead we went to have lunch with EJ’s Mom and the sister who takes care of her. EJ’s Mom has dementia and is getting feeble, and we don’t know how much time she has left. She and the sister live at least a five-hour drive from us, but they were visiting family about 3 hours away from us, so we drove down to see her.
Last week leading up to the lunch visit was extremely, extremely stressful for us. We both could feel it affecting our health through insomnia and other issues. Two years ago, EJ’s siblings and their families discovered that we had very limited contact with their brother, who was manipulative and dishonest and tried to victim-groom our son when he was about 9 years old. As a group, most of them tried to pressure us (i.e., bully) to have contact with him and when we refused they insulted us, attempted to guilt and shame us into contact, and were very patronizing and condescending (which is a way of devaluing a person), self-righteous, and arrogant. I mention this not merely to complain but because I think it’s very important to understand. I hear the stories of too many people who are re-traumatized by the supporters and defenders of abusers (including us). They break my heart and make me upset that people do this.
There are two things that EJ and I firmly believe. First is that each adult has the right/freedom to make his/her own decisions for him/herself and his/her own family. They do NOT have the right to make decisions for other families. They must respect others’ freedom even if they disagree with the decisions being made. Second, while both EJ and I have deeply loved our families of origin, we will not accept, support, or stand with any person who is toxic/abusive even if he is family. Being “family” doesn’t mean an evil person gets a free pass. We absolutely will not tolerate or submit to bullying–especially when it comes to guarding our personal freedom and protecting our family.
In healthy families/groups, boundaries are respected and members are free to disagree and make their own decisions. Dysfunctional families/groups often claim to be loving, but in reality boundaries are often violated and anyone who doesn’t conform to the group is punished in some way. I believe that a person or group who tries to force a person into submission is attempting to take away their freedom. Free people have the right to make decisions and disagree. Slaves don’t.
In healthy families/groups people sincerely repent when an offense occurs (which means they apologize and seek to change), and the offense can be forgiven. In unhealthy families/groups, members are pressured to unconditionally forgive, reconcile, and have contact with a person even if he doesn’t repent of major wrongdoing. In fact, in most cases, members of a family, church, or other group rushes to protect and support an abusive person and fiercely condemns the innocent victim who speaks out against it or tries to escape. Often the family/group describe themselves as being caring and loving, and are proud of “giving grace” to the evil doer, but in reality, in protecting and supporting him, they are enabling and empowering him to hurt more people. This is wrong. VERY wrong. And despite their claims, it is not at all Biblical or Christlike. The Bible says that God is angry with the wicked every day, and that He will deliver the oppressed from their hand. And the Bible tells us to not walk with, stand with, or sit with the wicked, not associate with or even eat with them. It says to stay away from them and avoid them. Usually, a victim suffers from multiple abusers because she (or he) suffers from the original abuser and then she suffers secondary abuse from all the people who pressure her to unconditionally forgive, love, and accept the unrepentant abuser who continues to abuse and isn’t required to change. It’s very damaging.
Furthermore, I believe that those who stand with and enable abusers share in his/her guilt. An abuse advocate at FB shared a story this last weekend about a sweet 69-year-old woman who had confided in a few men from her church (which she had attended for decades) that she was leaving her abusive husband. She asked them to go with her to protect her because she was scared. They didn’t believe her because the husband had a persona of being a good, godly man. They refused to help her and she was found murdered the next day. This is heinous. You can watch the video here in which the advocate describes the story and the need to believe and help victims. Besides stories like this, there are many, many cases in which a victim is silenced, abuse is hidden or covered up, and the abusers are free to hurt others.
Anyway, EJ and I have always respected the freedom and boundaries of others, including our families. After struggling with the abuse of my family, and the secondary abuse of people who enabled them, we will no longer tolerate bullies or abusers. We have decided not to associate with those of EJ’s family who bullied us until they apologize to both of us and promise to respect our boundaries in the future. Many people would urge us to “to let it go” but we have learned that ignoring such things just result in more abuses. It’s better to set firm boundaries. EJ says his family will never apologize to us. So that’s that. There were a couple of relatives who supported us, and we will have contact with them but we will not go to large family events.
We were very stressed about meeting EJ’s Mom and sister on Sunday–primarily his sister because she actually was among those who felt we should have contact with their brother. However, we think she might not be in the same category as the others so we are willing to give her a chance. But since we were meeting at a restaurant in the town where many of the family lives, we were very anxious about the possibility of me being insulted (because I only married into the family so I’m not really “family”) or being ambushed by the others. Sometimes people think they are “helping” a situation by forcing a reconciliation. We were relieved that the time was pleasant, and the sister wasn’t mean to me, and EJ got to see his Mom once more. It was kind of hard because at first his Mom didn’t recognize him. She asked “Who are you?” and he had to remind her that he was her youngest son.
We were gone from home for about 8 hours. We’ve never left Hannah Joy alone that long and I was worried how she would handle it. She tends to get into trouble while we are away. I made sure the cats were shut into the pantry/hallway with the pet door shut so Hannah couldn’t mess with them if she got bored. We shut all the bedroom doors so Hannah could only get into the living room and kitchen. We made sure everything that she could possibly get into was put away. Everything was fine when we arrived home. Whew.
We got through the day. But we aren’t going to do this too many times. We have endured too many abusive people and the stress they cause is too much and too damaging to our health.
While I was writing this post, I received notification that a package had arrived. Since the delivery truck had not come up to the house, I knew that the package had been left at the Magic Box, which is what I named a large wooden box at the bottom of the driveway in which delivery people can put our packages. I call it the Magic Box because packages “magically” appear there. The delivery people actually are supposed to leave packages only in the winter when they don’t want to try to make it up our treacherous driveway, but they’ve been putting them in the Magic Box this summer as well. I walked Hannah down the driveway to retrieve the package and found it on top of the Magic Box instead of in it. Anyone pulling into our driveway could have seen and taken it. What part of in the box don’t they understand?? Grr. This sort of thing is why I rush down to the Magic Box as soon as I received a notification that a package has been delivered.
Small Town Outlaws vs Shipwreck Alley
In the last couple of years, EJ’s friend has become interested in roller derby. He thinks it’s a fun sport, he likes the action and camaraderie between players and teams, and he’s amazed at the team members’ skating ability. Because he enjoys the sport so much, he likes to introduce his friends to it. Most people (us included) aren’t really familiar with the sport.
TH’s local team (Shipwreck Alley) was playing our local team (the Small Town Outlaws) near us, so he invited us to go to the game–his treat. EJ and I have never been to a roller derby game so we had no idea what to expect. My only exposure to roller derby is a brief segment in TV shows or movies, and it always looks quite brutal. So I wasn’t sure it would be my “thing.” But, hey, it’s fun sometimes to try new things…
TH explained the game to us, and after a short time we understood enough of the rules to follow the game. Basically, the only player who can score in a game is the one who has a star on her helmet. She is called a “Jammer.” She has to go around the track once before she can start scoring and then she gets one point for each opposing team member that she passes. The other players are called “blockers.” Their job is to try to block the other team’s Jammer so she can’t pass them. Blockers can only initiate a block to an opponent’s chest, front and sides of the torso, arms, hands, hips, and the front of the legs above mid-thigh. It is only legal to initiate a block using one’s torso, arms above the elbow, and legs above mid-thigh.
Small Town Outlaws (in red) was a much more experienced and skilled team than Shipwreck Alley, which is a very new team. However, I’m sure Shipwreck Alley will improve as they gain more experience. They all competed very hard and it was fun to watch. In fact, EJ and I enjoyed it so much that we would like to attend more of our local teams’ home games.
Life & Death
EJ had a doctor’s appointment Monday. His doctor is close to the company where he works so he always just goes on his lunch hour and then returns to work. His doctor threatened that he needs to lose 15 pounds by October or she will put him on high blood pressure. So…no more Moomer’s ice cream or chips. We were doing really well at not eating junk food until it was so sweltering hot in early July. Then we ate Moomer’s ice cream–the best ice cream ever to cool off and I fixed picnic-type foods so we didn’t heat up the already hot house cooking meals. It’s easier to avoid junk food if I pretend they don’t exist, but once I begin to eat them, they become a delicious habit, especially when the days are hot. I had already been thinking we had to start behaving ourselves….
Yesterday JJ stopped in to pick up our insurance card on his way to his dentist. Not long after he drove away, he called to tell me he had hit two birds. One had its head stuck in the grill of the HHR. “Is it still alive?” I asked with horror. He said no. He said he wasn’t able to get it out and he was going to drive back here for me to help him. I reminded him that I hate dealing with hurt/dead things (it takes all my courage to take care of Madeline’s victims) and that I was not, under any condition, in any way, going to help him pull a dead bird out of his car. Besides, all he has to do is consider the problem and figure out a solution, which is all I would do. But a few minutes later he was driving up the driveway.
JJ called the bird a finch, but I thought it might be a scarlet tanager. I’m not sure that it was because I’ve never actually seen a scarlet tanager before and I was trying very carefully to look at the bird with only brief unfocused glances. I didn’t want to see it too closely. I kept telling JJ that I had no idea how to get the bird out and he would have to think of a solution himself. JJ picked up two thin wooden boards that were actually the size of sticks from the porch and acted like he didn’t know what to do with them. Exasperated, I took one of the sticks, inserted it in the grill, and used it as a lever to widen it, and then told JJ to pull the bird out, which he did easily. Problem solved. Poor little bird. It made me sad.
We had rain this last weekend, and Monday and Tuesday were rainy days as well. I love the way rainy days tend to wrap the distant trees in a foggy cloud. It looks mysterious. Yesterday I was enjoying the view when I saw two pileated woodpeckers on the power pole. By the time I grabbed my camera, there was only one. Pileated woodpeckers are the biggest woodpeckers. They are beautiful and I love to see them, but they can do a lot of damage to trees. I imagined the chaos they would cause if they damaged the power pole and it fell.
The much-needed rain has made the grass grow thick, lush, and long. I looked at the weather forecast and Thursday and Friday we are supposed to get more rain, so today was the only day this week that I could mow. I prefer to mow in the cool of the morning instead of the afternoon heat. However, this morning there was heavy dew which made the grass very wet so I had to wait…and wait…and wait for it to dry. The day was already heating up when I began to mow. Ugh. Usually I mow the front yard, then take a break to cool down, and then mow the back yard and over by the clothesline. Today I had to take several breaks because I kept overheating. I got so hot while I mowed that my clothes got soaked with sweat. (I had to completely change them when I finally finished.) I thought about those people who do the Iron Man competitions in which they run, swim, and bike in a grueling test of endurance. I thought that if they really wanted to test their toughness, they ought to mow a large lawn with a push mower on a hot summer day. THAT takes endurance. My body felt beat up and tired when I finished. At least we now have air conditioning so I could cool off in the refreshingly cool house.
The lawn sure looks nice when it’s newly mowed.
Hannah Joy likes to roll in the long unmowed grass when I take her for walks down the driveway. She always looks so filled with joy when she does so, as in this video.
EJ came with me when I went out this evening to shut the chickens and ducks in their coop. The three rouens–Daisy, Rose, and Lilly–always come running when they see me because they know I’m going to dump the water out of their pool and they love to play in the puddles. I leave them to it while I make sure all the chickens are nesting in the coop. I shut their little door and then go out to herd the ducks into the coop. When I call out, “Go to bed! Go to bed!” they file into the coop–although sometimes one, two, or all three of them try to run back into the garden. But they are mostly quite good at going into the coop. When they are in, I shut their little door, then shut the big doors so they are all safe inside.
While I was getting the poultry into the coop, EJ was looking at our veggies in the garden. I joined him, and we were picking some ripe tomatoes when we heard the spooky chorus of coyotes howling. They were quite close. EJ said that’s the closest he’s heard them. He said that this is the time of year when they go hunting for fawns. I told him that I could have lived very happily without knowing that. It made me sad. After we got back in the house, I grabbed my camera and went out and sat on the deck, intending to video the coyotes’ howling. I sat there for several minutes but didn’t hear anything. I hope they ran far, far away.
The Repairman
EJ had to work Saturday, which is only the second time he’s had to work on a weekend at this company. This is totally different from EJ’s company downstate where he had to work seven days a week for months without a break. Poor guy. With EJ at work, I had a very quiet day.
Sunday we worked in the garden a bit, and I put some more herbs in the dehydrator while EJ put new headlights on the suburban. I was considering mowing the lawn, but the grass was still wet from the much-needed rain we got overnight so EJ said no.
Yesterday afternoon EJ walked down the driveway with Hannah and me. EJ’s back was really hurting–it always does–so he walked slower with our cat Josette while Hannah and I walked on ahead. As we rounded the last curve at the bottom of the driveway, I saw the Mama Turkey with her babies. Hannah was investigating interesting smells in the long grass so she didn’t see them. I took a quick photo and then quietly pulled my dog away and we rejoined EJ and Josette up the driveway.
Early this morning the repairman showed up to install the new compressor for our geo-thermal heating/cooling system. When Hannah noticed the repairman, she went ballistic. She’s quite protective and always sounds very fierce as she barks and growls. I actually think she’d be ok with strangers if they took time to greet her, but not everyone likes dogs and I don’t want to risk there being a problem. I shut Hannah up in the master bedroom at first. After she had gotten used to the idea that there was a stranger here, I let her out. She barked whenever she saw the repairman, and then she’d come up to me with a very anxious look on her face. I told her it was ok for the guy to be here.
EJ doesn’t take the day off to deal with repairmen, propane delivery guys, septic tank people, installers, etc., which means I’m usually the one who has to deal with them. The few times EJ is here he always chats with the people and then later tells me interesting stories that they told him about their lives or the community. I never know if I’m supposed to chat with the people or not, or what I am supposed to say if I do chat with them, so I usually just greet them and let them go do their job. I’m an introvert, I don’t do well with chitchat with strangers.
I live in fear that repairmen, etc., will ask me questions, which they usually do, and I feel like a blooming idiot when I don’t know the answers to questions like “Where is your breaker box?” Uh…..I did actually remember where it was today, after initially telling the guy I had no idea. I don’t usually mess with the breaker box–EJ does–so I tend to forget where it is. When he asked me if I knew exactly what was wrong with the compressor, I said no–that my husband probably knew. I was thinking, “Duh, it doesn’t work. That’s why it’s getting replaced” but I didn’t say that.
Because I dislike dealing with repair people, and I dread them asking me questions that I might not know the answers to, I feel very uncertain and my mind freezes so I forget answers to questions that I actually do know. I think I sound really ditzy and stupid, even though I am definitely NOT. It’s as if, just like magic, I become what I’m afraid I’ll be. Just for the record, when I’m dealing with people, situations, or topics that I’m comfortable with, I can sound quite intelligent. Ugh.
The repairman worked several hours, replacing the compressor, doing something in the crawl space, doing something else with the breaker box, and got everything hooked up and working. We now have air conditioning and we propane will only be our backup system to heat our house in colder weather! Yay! The repairman turned on the air conditioning before he left, but when he drove away, I turned it back off. It’s not oppressively hot today and I figure why run it when I don’t need to. I’m grateful for the air conditioning on oppressively hot days when I’m in danger of melting, but otherwise I prefer the fresh breeze flowing through the windows and the sound of birds singing. Air conditioning makes the house feel closed up and stuffy.
I’m so glad when repairmen drive away. I always breathe a sigh of relief!
Both Hannah and I survived today’s repairman. In a few weeks we will have to endure the flooring installers. They will actually be in the house working. That will be a fun day. Ugh. I’m thinking we will have to shut the cats in the pantry so they don’t get out of the house, and we will shut Hannah in the entrance hallway where she can growl threats at the workers.
While the repairman was working on the compressor, I went to the garden in the back yard and picked a bowl of green beans. I brought the beans into the house and washed them and snapped them into pieces, but I didn’t blanch them until the repairman had left because I didn’t want to risk being interrupted at a crucial moment–when I have to take the beans from the boiling water into ice water to stop their cooking.
We have a sunflower blooming among the morning glories along the deck. A few more sunflowers are almost ready to bloom. I hope the deer don’t eat them because they are such a bright spot of cheerfulness. The morning glories had already closed by the time I got out to take a photo. I was tempted to wait until tomorrow morning to photo the sunflowers and morning glories both blooming, but I figured that I better capture the sunflowers while they are still there. The deer have eaten some of them even before they budded. The deer have also eaten most of the lilies lining the driveway. There are only a couple still blooming among the now-empty stems. I think it’s funny that the deer eat all the lilies, and I don’t mind that they do, but I would kind of like them to leave the sunflowers alone.
The Biker Bees
Our son JJ stopped by yesterday to pick up something I had printed off for him. He doesn’t have a printer of his own yet. We rarely see him, but that’s ok. He is busy with work and his girlfriend, establishing a life of his own. And, to be honest, although many people talk about how terrible the Empty Nest is, EJ and I are enjoying our quiet, peaceful life together. We enjoy each other and share most of the same interests. It’s nice.
JJ gave his two-weeks’ notice at the Mall, and will be beginning a new job in early August. He had interviewed with this new security company a few weeks ago, but when they told him he’d only get something like 27 hours a week, he politely declined. He can’t pay his bills on such few hours. A couple days ago, the company called him back and said they really want to hire him, and they would give him the hours he needed. They provide security for a number of companies and JJ will be working at two different locations–basically it’s kind of like having two part-time jobs.
While JJ was at our house, I asked him if he was still interested in taking one or more of our bikes. We had bought them a number of years ago–while we still lived downstate–but we almost never rode them. I tended to walk Danny, our beloved dog who died last November, and EJ worked so many hours that he never had time to ride bikes. The bikes were leaning side-by-side against the garage. When I moved the first one out of the way, a cloud of angry bees rose into the air. “JJ! Bees!” I yelled as we both ran. With so many bees, it was impossible to get near the bikes so JJ decided to look at them next time.
After the bees had calmed down a bit, I went back outside and noticed that there was a large hive on the front sprocket of the bike that I had dropped when I ran. I wouldn’t be able to move the other bikes with the hive so close so I got a garden rake from the garage and hooked it on the bike and pulled it a few feet, then ran as angry bees flew out of the hike. I waited until they calmed down again and then hooked the rake on the bike again and moved it another few feet, then ran. I did this several times until I had moved the bike an adequate distance from the others. I figured I had irritated the bees enough for one day so I left them alone until this morning. I saw only a couple bees calmly flying in and out of the hive so I was able to move the others far enough away that JJ will be able to look at them with no problem. If he decides not to take them, we will donate them to Goodwill.
This afternoon I decided to try to ID the bees that on built their hive on the bike. I took a photo of one of the bees sitting on the hive and then kept it for reference while I searched the Internet. No matter how many times I try to learn the difference between bees, hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets, I always get them muddled–especially hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets. I always just call them all “bees” for simplicity sake. They are all from the same classification family, although different branches. I believe that the biker bees are yellow jackets, which are quick to defend their homes, can sting multiple times, and will chase a threat quite a distance before giving up. I think JJ and I–especially me–was very fortunate to have escaped unscathed. I told EJ that we might need to wage war on the yellow jackets because they are so close to the house. I’m worried one of the cats will get hurt. Stay tuned….
This morning after I had done my chores, said goodbye to EJ, eaten breakfast, gotten dressed, and watered the veggie and flower gardens, I took a colander out to the garden and picked more green beans. I felt very contented and peaceful as I hunted in the cool morning for beans that were big enough to pick. I thought that having a garden is a bit like treasure hunting–searching the plants for ripe vegetables and feeling thrilled when I find one. Later I washed the beans and then blanched them and put them in the freezer.
My old food dehydrators, which died last year, tended to really heat up the house so I didn’t want to run the new one while it was so hellishly hot outside. But yesterday was a wonderfully cool day so I thought I would try out the new dehydrator. I took the colander and a pair of scissors out to the garden and snipped some Apple Mint. When the colander was full, I brought it inside, washed the mint, picked the leaves off the stems, laid them on the trays, and inserted the tries into the dehydrator. I’ve never had a dehydrator with temperature and timer controls, so I had to read the directions. It was easy. I pushed the right buttons. The dehydrator hummed very softly. I could hardly hear it. It did not heat up the house at all–at least, not so I could notice. Awesome!
After the Apple Mint was dried, I put it in a glass canning jar. This afternoon I picked some Chocolate Mint to dry. Now that I know that the dehydrator doesn’t heat up the house too much, I will be busy drying herbs–oregano, thyme, basil, sage, and others. I love using herbs fresh from the garden in the summer and drying them to use in the winter.
In the afternoon when I went out to gather duck and chicken eggs, which is also like treasure hunting, I glanced at the zucchini plants and caught a glimpse of dark green. Could it be? I moved aside the leaves and found not one but TWO zucchini! Awesome!
Besides trying to ID the biker bees and working in my garden, I also washed laundry and hung the clothes out on the line to dry. And, of course, I walked Hannah Joy down the driveway several times. The spotted knapweed are in bloom and the fields are a haze of purple. It is actually more vibrant than shows up in the photo below. I have a lovely walk along the driveway.
Seen and Unseen
Sunday afternoon EJ went into the garden while I gathered duck and chicken eggs. He picked a bowl of green beans. Yay! I don’t know how to can. I remember my Mom having a large garden when I was a young child, but I don’t remember her ever doing any canning. It’s a skill I would like to learn someday because I would like to be able to can tomatoes. However, I dry my herbs and I prefer to freezing veggies such as bell peppers and green beans. Many articles say that green beans ought to be blanched before they are frozen. Blanching means that you cook them for 3 minutes to kill the enzymes before you freeze them. However, I’ve also read articles that say you can just freeze without blanching them. I wasn’t sure which was best so I asked a homesteading group at Facebook that I am a member of. Some people said that blanching was a necessity others said it was fine to just freeze them. Some said that beans frozen without blanching were inedible, others said they noticed no difference in taste. Not exactly helpful. LOL. So I went ahead and blanched the beans, but I am going to do an experiment and skip blanching a handful to see which method works better.
Yesterday a large truck with a crane on it lumbered up our driveway. Hannah Joy went wild barking warnings to them. I shut her up in the hallway and slipped on some shoes so I could go out and discover who and why the truck was there. But then I saw the company logo on the truck and realized it was our previous propane company coming to–finally! after more than a year!–pick up their tank. I’m glad it’s finally gone. The company charges a $75 rental fee if you don’t buy propane from them within a year. When they sent me a bill a few weeks ago, I called to tell them that, uh, we notified them a year ago that we were switching to a new company and to please pick up their tank. They told me to disregard the bill and someone would pick up the tank. EJ said that if they try to charge us another rental fee, he is tempted to send them a bill for storing their tank for a year. LOL. But I suspect it won’t come to that.
Yesterday the weather was quite wonderfully cool–only in the low 70s. It was perfect. The temperatures dipped down into the high 40s overnight, which makes sleeping very comfortable. Meteorologists say that it will be cool again today–although not as cool as yesterday. Then temps will warm up and we will have rain this weekend. Rain is good. We have moderate drought conditions this summer and really need some rain.
A couple of days ago when I walked Hannah down the driveway she walked up to some pines trees and started wagging her tail. I wondered what she saw that got her tail a-waggin’ so I looked more closely. I spied Madeline hiding under the pines. She was so camouflaged that I didn’t see her until Hannah pointed her out. Although Madeline is very timid, she held very still as Hannah sniffed her. I thought, wow, this is how Madeline catches little birds, rabbits, chipmunks, and other critters. She is really quite an amazing (and scary) huntress. Madeline is in the photo at the top of this post: Did you see her? Can you see her now in the closeup below?
Hannah gets along with most of our cats most of the time. She and Luke didn’t get along right from the start because Luke hissed and growled at her and lay in wait to ambush her. Now whenever they get too close to each other, Luke growls and hisses and Hannah lunges at him with a snarl. They don’t hurt each other, but it disrupts the peace. Hannah also chases Timmy–not because Timmy hisses, growls, or ambushes Hannah, but because he runs. Hannah thinks it’s fun to chase a running cat. Yesterday I watched Hannah do a little jump near Josette to try to make her run, but Josette is mellow and friendly and didn’t so Hannah didn’t chase her. We are trying to teach Hannah not to chase cats. We don’t want her to think it’s fun or acceptable.
Timmy hasn’t been able to sit on my lap since Hannah joined our family because Hannah lunges at him, he runs, and she chases him. Poor kitty. He loves cuddling, but he spends most of his time now in our master bathroom or on one of the beds, trying to keep out of Hannah’s way. They only way we can keep Hannah from chasing Timmy is if we catch her when she first sees Timmy and say “No!” as she’s tensing up to lunge. Yesterday Timmy made his way to the end table next to me. I told Hannah “No!” as she perked up. I made Hannah sit quietly while I petted Timmy, and every time I noticed her tensing up to lunge after Timmy, I told her to sit. I didn’t let Hannah on my lap because she was jealous and I know she would have lunged at Timmy and chased him away. I took a video of it. You can see Hannah yearning to chase Timmy, you can see her eyes glancing over at Timmy, and then she begins to grumble and complain. It’s pretty funny. Hannah actually did quite well with letting me give attention to Timmy:
Hannah Joy is an interesting dog. She is very alert to the slightest sight, smell, or sound. She sometimes leaps to the window to bark. When she does, I look out the window to try to discover what she has become aware of. Sometimes I’m able to see the critter she has noticed while other times I see nothing at all. But I know that she doesn’t bark for nothing so there was something there.
Yesterday evening Hannah alerted me that something was outside so I looked out the window and saw a doe with her two little fawns walking across the driveway. This is the first time this year that I’ve seen fawns. I was delighted and was hoping to watch them for a while and to photo them, but Hannah barked and scared them off. Bummer. I’m going to have to somehow teach her not to bark at deer.
Early this morning I was putting the sprinkler on the hose after I had filled the ducks little pool so I could water the garden. I haven’t watered it in several days and the tomato plant are looking a bit unhappy. I suddenly saw a turkey on the other side of the garden. I hunkered down and kept still while she walked along the fence and up the hill. She made a “put-put-put” noise as she walked along. I looked for little babies, but didn’t see any. After a bit I got a little tired of stooping down, so I quietly stood up and went back to fastening the sprinkler on the hose. I went over to the faucet and turned it on. I looked up the hill and saw a second turkey. They wandered calmly into the forest.
I went back into the house and put Hannah’s harness and leash on her to take her outside, as I always do every morning: I feed Hannah, feed the inside and outside cats, take care of the ducks, and then go back into the house to take Hannah outside to “do her business.” It’s our routine. With Hannah suited up and on her leash, I opened the door–and saw that the two turkeys had wandered into the front yard. Hannah hadn’t seen them or she would be dashing out with loud barks. I blocked her from going out and quietly closed the door. If there is wildlife in the yard, I wait until they leave before I go outside. I sat in my chair and watched the turkeys meander down the driveway. Then I saw the Mama Turkey with her flock of little ones come of the forest. Mama walked gracefully down the driveway while the little ones clumsily hopped, skipped, and followed after her. I waited several minutes to give all the turkeys time to get down the driveway and then I took Hannah outside.
I love watching the critters. It’s so magical.
Hannah, Our Daugher
Thursday night we finally got a storm–the biggest we’ve had this year. It began to thunder just as I was thinking about heading to bed. I stayed up thinking that with all the thunder I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. However, when it continued, I decided to go to just go to bed. The thunderstorm woke me frequently throughout the night, and a few times I wondered if I should get up and unplug my laptop, but I fell back to sleep before the thought turned into action.
I was so tired from interrupted sleep that I went back to bed after EJ went to work the next morning–not that I’m complaining, we need the rain. After I slept for a bit, I got up, ate breakfast and drank coffee, and then went grocery shopping. I also had to do laundry. We were expecting a slight chance of rain, so I thought I’d had to dry the clothes in the dryer. However, the rain went north and south of us so I thought I’d risk hanging the clothes outside. The worst that could happen if it began to rain was that I’d have to run out and bring the clothes in. The day was rainless so I got all the clothes dried. During Friday night I heard the pitter patter of rain on the roof so we did get some more rain, which is good.
I thought the rain would bring coolness, but it brought heat and humidity instead. Ugh. I’ve been melting. I take Hannah outside, then sit in front of the fan to cool off. Do dishes, then sit in front of the fan to cool off. Take care of the ducks and chickens, and then sit in front of the fan to cool off. We have only one more week to endure before the guys come to repair our geo-thermal heating/cool system. EJ predicts that the weather will turn cool after we get air conditioning–because isn’t that the way it goes?–but we both agreed that cool weather would be good.
Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of Sassy Rooster crowing. I got out of bed and opened the curtains. I saw the ducks Daisy, Rose, Lilly, and Cuddles walking through the garden and I could see Sassy patrolling the dividing fence. I thought, “Huh. EJ must have let the ducks and chickens out for me.” He has done it for me before, but usually doesn’t. Then I thought, “Wait a minute. I don’t remember shutting them all up in the coop last night. I must have forgotten! Gasp!” This is the first time I ever forgot. EJ came out with me when I went to check on them in case a predator had slaughtered the hens. I was apprehensive when the only chicken I saw outside was Sassy. But everyone was ok. Whew. Hot weather must be addling my brain.
Except for the morning scare and hot weather, we enjoyed a quiet Saturday.
This morning we headed out early to TSC for poultry feed. Then we went to Meijers. They have a few products that our little grocery store doesn’t–such as large packages of toilet paper and non-GMO cereal. We bought ground beef that was on sale, colorful bell peppers that were on sale, a cabbage for coleslaw, and EJ also bought a few things for the vehicles (oil, headlight, etc.). On a whim, we threw a package of rawhide bones in the cart as a treat for Hannah. Then it was back home to put the items away.
I gave Hannah her bone. We have bought her balls and ropes, but this is the first time we bought her a rawhide bone. We were curious to see how she would react. Oh, my goodness! She was ecstatic! She gnawed on it nonstop for at least 3 hours. EJ’s long-time friend TH came for a visit. We call him “Hannah’s favorite uncle” because when he met her on his last visit and made friends with her, she wouldn’t leave his side. When she heard him come through the door today, she carried her bone to see who it was, and then she growled at him as if afraid that he had come to steal her bone. Since I sometimes try to take paper towels away from her, she didn’t trust me either and kept turning her back on me if I got too close. We all kept telling her that none of us wanted to take her bone. For the rest of the visit, Hannah totally ignored her favorite Uncle in favor of her bone. I think I will give Hannah a bone whenever we need to leave her at home. Maybe it will keep her occupied and out of trouble.
We call Hannah our “daugher”–a made up word combining “dog” and “daughter” which we pronounce as “dog-her”–because she is our dog daughter. LOL.
After Uncle TH left, EJ and I sat together at the kitchen table and cut up the red, orange, and yellow bell peppers. I like to freeze them for later use. We are growing some green bell peppers in our garden, but not enough to last the year, and I like a variety of colorful peppers to make pizza and other dishes festive. Next year I want to grow more peppers of different colors.
After we had sat in front of the fan for a while to cool off, we went outside together. EJ picked beans from the garden while I gathered eggs
Then we came inside and sat in front of the fan to cool off.
Irrepressible Hannah Joy
Sometimes when I walk Hannah Joy down the driveway, she goes into what I call her “Tasmanian Devil” mode. She gets a wild look in her eyes and a maniacal grin on her face and she races madly back and forth to the end of her leash. I think she just gets a lot of energy built up and needs to release it. She used to stop just short of the leash, but lately she keeps running so she is jerked to a stop by her leash. I have wanted to take a video of her but I’m too busy trying to grip the leash. This morning I was able to take a video of her racing about. She wasn’t be as wild as she usually is. She was actually quite calm.
Yesterday, when I walked Hannah down the driveway, she went into Tasmanian Devil mode and she jerked so hard that she yanked the leash out of my hand and I had to quickly grab it as it slid past me on the ground. This is a bad habit that Hannah needs to break–especially before winter when she might cause me to fall in slippery conditions. After she jerked the leash, I made her walk quietly beside me all the way back up to the house. Later, when we went for a walk again, I attached her leash to the ring at the front of her harness instead of on her back. The chest ring teaches a dog not to pull, but Hannah hates it. She drooped as she shuffled sadly down the driveway, all the joy drained out of her. At the bottom of the driveway, she lay down in protest and wouldn’t move until I moved the leash from the ring at her chest to her back. She’s such a drama queen.
Hannah is like a toddler: If she’s quiet, she’s up to no good. Yesterday afternoon I found her on our bed eating a paper towel. As soon as she saw me, she turned away from me and started eating it faster. I tried to pull it out of her mouth, but she clenched her teeth tightly together and refused to let go. I was able to retrieve only a small portion of the paper towel. Then last night I walked into our bedroom and saw the toilet paper stretching from the bathroom into the bedroom with Hannah at the end eating it.
Hannah was skin and bones when we adopted her from the animal shelter. The animal shelter had rescued her and two other dogs from an owner who kept them outside and starved them. Hannah eats everything so I sometimes wonder what the dogs ate to survive. Hannah isn’t skin and bones now!
Usually I take Hannah outside in the evening and she doesn’t need out again until morning. However, last night at about 12:30 a.m., she wanted out. She doesn’t take no for an answer. She pawed at me, licked my face, and lay on top of me until I sighed and got up. I wasn’t crazy about taking her outside in the middle of the night. However, when we walked outside, I was almost–almost–glad Hannah had been so insistent because the night was quiet and there were billions of stars in the sky. The Milky Way was amazing. I stood in awe looking up at the night sky before Hannah pulled me back to the house.
Hannah has her bad habits and gets into trouble at times, but she’s such a lovable troublemaker! And she isn’t always in trouble. She comes bounding joyfully to me when I command her “with me” in Hebrew. I’ve taught Hannah to sit when we get to the mailbox so I don’t have to struggle to keep her out of the road while I take the mail from the mailbox. She now automatically sits when we reach the mailbox without being told. And I love her snuggles. And her grumbles. We adore her.
This morning went I went out to the garage to feed the outside cats, I found a pile of internal organs. I have been doing very good at disposing of the creatures Madeline kills, but this made me sick. I asked EJ to take care of the mess because this time I just couldn’t do it. He cleaned it all up when he got home from work. Yuck. I don’t want to think about it.
I mowed the lawn this morning while it was still cool. I could tell where I had watered because those areas were green and lush while the other areas were dry and yellow. When I finished, I looked at the weather radar on my computer because I knew there was a chance of rain beginning this afternoon and continuing through Saturday. When I saw the mass of rain heading our way, I thought, “Whew! I finished mowing just in time.” But it didn’t rain…and it didn’t rain all afternoon. I think we got maybe three drops of rain total this afternoon. EJ said this evening that the meteorologists were saying that the rain was evaporating before it hit the ground. However, overnight we could get heavy rain.
I got to thinking that if the first sign a person sees when they enter our driveway is our Wildlife Habitat sign, they might think the property is a wildlife refuge and not know that there is a house on the hill. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem except I would hate for delivery people to not deliver packages to us. So I thought it would be better to switch my Enchanted and Wildlife Habit signs so that the first sign a visitor sees when they enter our driveway is the Enchanted sign.
This evening I carried the posthole digger down the driveway in case I needed it. With some effort I was able to pull the Wildlife Habitat post out of its hole, but I didn’t have the strength to lift the Enchanted post out. I was glad when EJ came walking down. He was able to easily pull the Enchanted post out for me and we inserted it in the hole where the Habitat sign had been.
The hole where the Enchanted sign had been had filled in when we pulled it out so I used the posthole digger to remove the sand from the hole. Only everything is so dry that the posthole digger couldn’t hold it and the sand just kept pouring back into the hole. EJ suggested that I use his auger so I went to the garage and got it, but it didn’t work either. It was like trying to auger water of a lake–all the sand poured from it back into the hole. I finally scooped the sand out of the hole with my hands, but with every scoop, half of the sand slid back into the hole. It was awful. I knew it was dry here, but not that dry! I wouldn’t have taken on this particular project if I had known how difficult it would be. I finally got the hole emptied enough to put the post in it and then I heaped sand around the post. I don’t know if it will hold. However, if we do get rain, it will pack in the sand and hold up the post. That is, if it doesn’t wash away the sand first so that the signs fall down. Well, if it does, I will just put them up again!
The North Post
Yesterday as soon as EJ left for work, I quickly took my shower and ate breakfast because EJ had told me that the septic guys were expected to arrive before 8:30 a.m. I waited as the hours passed and they still hadn’t arrived so I began to think that maybe I had the day wrong. Then it occurred to me that perhaps they meant that they would be here before 8:30 in the evening. (EJ said later that, no, they had said morning, not evening.) I finally gave up expecting them, but they appeared shortly after 1 p.m. Well, a little late, but at least they came. Hannah Joy suspiciously watched them through the window and barked ferociously at them.
It didn’t take long for the truck to suck up the waste from the septic tank. This is the first time we’ve had the septic tank pumped out since we moved here, and we don’t know when the previous owners last had it done so we had no idea how full the tank was. This is one concern I can cross off my list. EJ said that when he was growing up in a family of eleven, they had to get the septic tank pumped out every couple of years. With just EJ and me here, we won’t have to do it again for a while. I sneaked a few quick photos of the truck and hose, hoping I wouldn’t be seen, because it feels sort of silly to take photos of such things–but I wanted them for my blog.
After the guys left, I filled in the hole and put a short wooden post where the septic lid is so we don’t have to dig lots of holes in the future trying to find it. I am tempted to write “North Pole” on the post just for fun. We do live in the snowy north and the pole is on the north side of the house so we have two reasons to legitimately call it the north pole. Although technically it’s a post, not a pole. Maybe we can find a real pole in the future….? And maybe we can put a North Pole flag on the pole? Or maybe we can just continue calling it “The North Post.” It’s worth considering.
EJ and I always text each other while he’s on his lunch break at work. Yesterday he said he was having a little trouble breathing, which worried me. I always worry about him because I know he lives with terrible back pain every day. Often I pray that God will help us pay off our house quickly so EJ won’t have to work so hard. We keep trying to think of things to make and sell at my Etsy store to help bring in more income. We have some ideas, we just need to finish organizing the garage so we can get things set up.
After reading EJ’s text that his allergies were troubling him, I texted him, “What if we did a bit of ‘what if-ing?’ What if we went ahead and got the floors redone anyway?” We had decided to postpone getting new floors when we found out that we needed to repair our geo-thermal heating/cooling system. However, carpets really aren’t all that sanitary especially if you have lots of pets like we do. We think they aggravate EJ’s allergies which is why we wanted new flooring. Our bedrooms have carpet too, but the living room carpet is especially bad with stains from the previous owner’s dog and hair and stuff from our pets. We have really worked hard to pay off our credit card, but EJ’s health is important. So even though it’s going the wrong way in paying off the credit card, we decided to go ahead with the flooring so EJ can have some relief. We chose the “no interest for two years” option on our Lowes card and we will work hard to pay it off within that time.
So now we have new flooring to look forward to.
Early evening yesterday EJ and I were sitting in our comfy recliners when EJ suddenly exclaimed, “Josette has caught something!” I looked out and our black outside cat was trotting toward the house with a little bird in her mouth. I saw the bird move, so I ran outside and yelled at Josette. She must have relaxed her grip because the bird–it was a cute little chickadee–escaped and flew up into the tree. Whew! I was glad I could save the little chickadee. I think they are so adorable and cheerful. Now there are two critters (a chipmunk and a chickadee) who owe me a life-debt and must save my life in the future. That is, if the fairy tales are accurate. I do live in an Enchanted Forest where anything could happen.
Saving the chickadee reminded me of a toe-tappingly cheerful song by Michael Kelly Blanchard called “Chickadee Cherub.” MKB is a musical storyteller; I love his songs. You can listen to some of his songs on Youtube–or go to his website for samples of his music and to order his CDs. I found the following song “Chickadee Cherub” on Youtube. I don’t think MKB is actually singing in the video, and I don’t like it quite as much as on his CDs, but it’s the only one I could find of “Chickadee Cherub.” Another favorite MKB song of mine is “Top of the Morning.” Click on this link to listen to Top of the Morning from his website and enjoy the picture he paints for you in your mind. You won’t regret it! The song is very joyful and makes me think of beautiful mornings in my Enchanted Forest. MKB’s songs make me feel like joyfully dancing or touch me deeply.
The natural world is beautiful, but it can also be harsh as every critter tries to survive by eating or avoid being eaten. I recognize this, but I’m also glad when I can rescue a critter from my cats, who do not need to hunt to eat, although to hunt is still in their predator nature.
There was only a 20% chance of rain last night, which is very low so I didn’t expect it to rain at all. However, the world was wet when I woke up this morning so it obviously did rain overnight. Yay! I didn’t need to water the garden or trees today. The temperatures have been dipping into the low 50s overnight, which is wonderful for sleeping. The morning coolness also feels refreshing. But then the temps climb into the 80s in the afternoon and that is much too uncomfortably hot!
Sunday we emptied the large crate in the garage, moved it to the garden, and filled it with dirt. EJ and I discussed what to plant in it–or whether we should plant anything until next year. I remembered that we had beet seeds, and it’s not too late for those–probably–so this afternoon I planted some. Our garden is doing very well. The tomatoes are ripening. When it’s not so blasted hot, I will begin drying my herbs. I can’t wait! The ducks enjoy patrolling among the raised beds, gobbling up any insects they find.
I found an interesting insect on the door yesterday. It looked like a bit of dead leaf. I assume it was some sort of moth? It was difficult getting a good photo of it because it was backlit by the light outside. There sure are some interesting creatures in the world.
This afternoon I saw a Monarch caterpillar crawling about. I’ve been seeing Monarch butterflies soaring around our property. They are always a delight to see. They are very remarkable butterflies, taking several generations to fly south and then north again.
I really love our Enchanted Forest!
The Porcupine
Friday night I didn’t sleep well at all so I was very tired on Saturday. Plus, it was very hot and humid. It was a day of doing almost nothing. EJ did more than I did. He cooked spaghetti for supper with a delicious sauce. My hero!
I slept better last night.
The temperature was near 90(F) degrees today but the humidity must have been lower because it didn’t feel hellishly hot. After I completed my morning chores, ate breakfast, and drank several cups of coffee, I went out to pick raspberries. We have many, many bushes on our property, but this is the first year that I have picked any. There weren’t a lot of berries ready in the bushes at the edge of the forest near the house. I only got a handful. The bushes near the big rocks have some that aren’t yet ripe. I asked EJ if he wanted to pick berries with me down in our little valley, which we call Deer Valley because the deer bedded there. But first we were going to empty a large crate in the garage so 1. we could gain space from having it gone, and 2. we planned to use it for a raised garden bed. When EJ emptied the crate, we carried it out to the garden and I filled it with old wood and then garden soil that I bought from Meijers last month. We continued working in the garage and ended up working in it all day. We never did make it to the berry bushes. Oh, well. We made great progress at organizing the garage. Little by little, we are getting rid of the clutter. It won’t be too long before EJ will have a wonderful workshop to create in.
If the weather this last week had been like today, we would have accomplished MUCH. But EJ’s vacation is now over and he has to go back to work tomorrow.
After we were finished working, we came inside, ate supper, and then relaxed in our chairs. EJ went out into the kitchen for something or another and suddenly called to me to come look because there was a porcupine in our yard near the fruit trees! I grabbed my camera and took a not-so-good photo through the window. I went outside, intending to sneak up on the porcupine to capture it on video, but Josette was stalking it, and I saw her pounce, so I urgently called for her to come. Keeping our sweet kitty from getting a face full of quills is more important than getting a video of a porcupine. Josette ran up to me. EJ came out and kept her occupied while I walked around the big rocks. If I were a porcupine being stalked by a cat, I would hide in the nearest cover, which was the plants–berry bushes, lilies, etc.–around the big rocks. I walked around the rocks several times, but didn’t see the porcupine. I didn’t want to get too close to the plants because I didn’t want to risk getting hurt. The porcupine could have been hiding in the bushes or it could have scurried off into the woods when I called Josette. It was so awesome seeing the porcupine. I’ve never seen one before–in the wild, I mean. I’ve probably seen them in zoos, but seeing one in the wild–on OUR property–is a totally different experience than seeing them in the zoo.
One day I would like to get some sort of outdoor cameras to capture the wildlife wandering through our property. I bet there are many critters that we never see because they are nocturnal or keep below the hill where we can’t see them from the house.
This morning when I took Hannah out, I noticed a strange-looking bug just to the left of the front door. It stayed there all day. I don’t know what it is, but it was very delicate looking and quite beautiful. There certainly are some interesting critters in the world.
Refreshing…
This morning was cool and I actually wore a sweater when I went out to do my morning chores. It did warm up later in the day, but it did not become hellishly hot like the last several days. Our bodies feel battered by the hot days.
I don’t know how people in the south survive. EJ and I discussed today how cold is much easier to deal with than heat. If it’s cold, we can wear more clothes, cover up with more blankets, build a fire, cuddle together for shared body heat, or kill a tauntaun like Han Solo did to keep Luke from freezing to death on Hoth. But there’s only so much a person can do to survive super hot days. Plus, if the power goes out, we can keep food cool in the winter but in the heat of summer there is no way to keep the food from spoiling. Yeah, I’ll take cold over hot any day.
The heat had so drained me that I was beginning to forget what it felt like to have energy. The cooler temps today revived us so we felt a bit more motivated. I watered my garden and fruit and evergreen trees this morning, then washed some clothes and hung them on the line.
I recently read an article about Swedish Death Cleaning. It sounds morbid, but it’s actually a concept of getting rid of things you never use so your spouse or children don’t have to struggle to get rid of them after you die. That sounds really good to me. I hate clutter. So today EJ and I found a few things to donate to Goodwill. We could have probably found more things, but we still feel tired from the effects of the heat wave.
We took Hannah with us when we went to Goodwill. Afterwards, we took a drive through the beautiful countryside. We drove past miles of orchards with trees bursting with cherries. We stopped at a boat launch and got out so Hannah could see the water. The lake was a beautiful color, very gorgeous, but Hannah kept urgently sniffing and trying to pull me back towards the parking lot. I thought she would be excited about the water. It was only when we were getting back in the Xterra that I saw that she had smelled a large cookie that someone had dropped. I swear that two-thirds of my walks with Hannah involve trying to keep her from eating things she shouldn’t. Not far from the boat launch, we saw a fox trotting across the road. Cool!
Yesterday I took a photo of the lilies by my enchanted sign. As we drove past it on our way up the driveway, I noticed that the lilies were all gone. The deer had eaten them all. I think that is very funny. We still have several dozen lilies blooming along the driveway–at least, they are there today. They might not be there tomorrow. They are beautiful while they last.
JJ has been looking for a new job, hoping to find one that pays more. He had an interview for a security position at the Hall of Justice but he turned it down when he learned he would only be working about 27 hours a week. He needs more hours. I was sort of bummed that he wouldn’t be working at the Hall of Justice because if JJ got the job, I was going to ask him to introduce me to Superman, Wonder Woman, and the others. Ok. So the Hall of Justice is actually the name of the courthouse in Traverse City. I think it’s a totally cool name, and I can’t help imagining superheroes hanging out there.
EJ and I finished our day by sitting out on the deck and watching the stars come out. We watched Monty the bat swooping overhead. Yes, we named the bat a while back. We like bats. They eat mosquitoes.
I think tomorrow is supposed to be hot again. Ugh. But at least we had today.
Heat Wave
I hope everyone in the USA had a wonderful Independence Day!
We had a quiet, uneventful holiday, which is just the way we like it. Both EJ and I are introverts who are re-energized by beauty, quiet, peace, nature, and animals. We don’t like crowds or drama.
JJ, his girlfriend, and her 3-year-old daughter stopped by for about an hour. They were going to eat with us, but apparently the day got away from them. They were very busy: JJ said that they went to a parade, swam in a river, and after visiting us were planning to go to his girlfriend’s Mom’s place, then visit a couple other people. JJ is completely different from we are. I think he is an extrovert who needs many people and much stimulation. After hearing about his day, I thought that, yeah, I’m really glad he is on his own now so we both can have the type of life we want.
Hannah Joy was happy to have visitors. We aren’t quite sure how she will act towards new people. She is lovable, but quite protective. We usually shut her in our bedroom if delivery or repair people come here because not everyone likes dogs and usually pitbulls/mixes aren’t given a second chance–so we want to protect Hannah. But since JJ’s girlfriend and her daughter will probably be repeat visitors, we wanted Hannah to meet them. She did very well, although she got super excited.
If it hadn’t been so terribly, terribly hot and humid, it would have been a perfect sort of day. It was about as uncomfortable as last weekend had been. We had all sorts of plans to work around the house this week and to maybe go rock hounding one day, but it’s been so hot and humid that our energy has drained away and we gotten little done. And our plans to get new flooring also morphed into needing to get our geo-thermal heating/cooling system repaired.
EJ and I discussed several times the possibility of buying a window air conditioner so we can alleviate our misery. EJ isn’t sleeping well at night or breathing well, and the smallest movement makes me sweat. The problem is that an AC would cost several hundred dollars and as soon as we get the geo-thermal heating/cool system fixed, it would be unnecessary. We were still seriously tempted to get the AC, but we decided to endure because we didn’t want to spend the extra money when we knew the repairs on the geo-thermal system would be expensive. So we melted in front of our fans and ate Moomer’s ice cream. We’ve been having basically one meal all week: hotdogs or hamburgers, potato salad, coleslaw, chips, watermelon, and Moomer’s because we didn’t feel hungry for anything too “heavy” and we didn’t want to heat up the kitchen/house by using the stove too much.
We got the estimates for the repairs to the geo-thermal system this morning. It’s kind of an “ouch” thing, but it pretty much will cost how much I guessed it would. I’m just glad it wasn’t as much as I was afraid it would be–my imagination kept pushing the numbers higher. EJ called the guy this morning to get things moving, because the sooner the repairs are made, the sooner we can have AC. It will make me feel better to have the geo-thermal system fixed because I imagine running out of propane in the winter and the trucks not being able to make it up the driveway to refill our tank.
There was a slight chance of rain yesterday, and we hopefully watched storms approaching on the weather radar on our computers. Our clouds got dark and thunder rumbled–but the storms veered off just a few miles away and we didn’t get any rain. Bummer. Our power flickered off and on a couple times. I said to EJ, “You know, the only thing worse than having no AC during a heat wave is have no power to run our fans.”
EJ read an article out loud to me this morning about a terrible heat wave in New England in early July 1911, and I realized it could be much worse. According to the New England Historical Society article, a terrible heat wave lasted for eleven days in 1911. At that time, ice and electric fans were luxuries and air conditioning was unknown. People fainted, many went insane and/or committed suicide, and thousands died because of the heat. People read newspapers each morning to find out how many had died overnight. Horses dropped dead in the streets. Tar bubbled up from streets. Boats oozed pitch and began to leak. Rail lines were bent by the heat and trains derailed. Trees dropped their leaves, grass turned to dust, and cows stopped giving milk. A police officer described nights during the heat wave as “the Big Wail” because exhausted mothers walked up and down the streets trying to comfort their crying babies. They feared putting their babies down to sleep because some never woke up. Thousands slept out on the streets or in the parks or on their roofs trying to find some relief. It’s an interesting article, and makes me very thankful that we aren’t experiencing such terrible conditions as they did. We have it easy.
After reading the article about the 1911 heat wave, I googled other historic events that happened in 1911. I read articles (and watched actual footage on Youtube) of “The Siege of Sidney Street” in London, the Krays, and the Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811. I read about the terrible “Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,” and about the destruction caused by the dam failure in Austin, Pennsylvania. I love following “rabbit trails” through history.
Hannah loved her broth-flavored ice bones. She chewed on them until they were gone.
There are several dozen lilies blooming along the driveway. There are more almost ready to bloom and lots of them that will never bloom because the deer ate them. They sure are pretty.
Mama Turkey brings her babies up the driveway every evening. I love watching them! They are out there as I write this post.
Tonight the temps are forecast to dip into the low 50s (F) and the high will be only 76 degrees. I’m hoping there won’t be so much humidity because that’s what really makes the heat unbearable!
