I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
The National Cherry Festival Airshow
Last winter I read an article that suggested putting dog hair–accumulated from grooming–in a suet feeder to make it available for the birds to use in their nests. I thought that was a very good idea, especially since we have to put bird feeders away in the Spring because bears are very hungry when they wake up from hibernation and they consider bird seeds to be a good source of food. I’ve heard that bears remember where they find food and will return to the source so I don’t want to attract a bear. Whenever I brush Danny, I always accumulate a huge pile of his hair. I usually just threw it out in the yard, but it seemed much better to put it in the suet feeder. I stuffed a bunch of Danny’s hair in the suet feeder in May. I didn’t see any birds take any of it, but just because I didn’t see it didn’t mean it wasn’t happening. JJ kept saying it was gross, but I kept it out there because it wasn’t really hurting anything. This morning while I was drinking a cup of coffee, I noticed two tufted titmouses (titmices?) fluttering around the post that the suet feeder is hanging on. I grabbed my camera, zoomed in, and photographed them pulling Danny’s hair from the feeder. I pulled JJ over to the window, “See? See! I am VINDICATED! Ha! The birds are taking Danny’s hair!”
After breakfast EJ and I drove to our local grocery store to buy picnic supplies. The store was the busiest that I’ve ever seen. Not only is Northern Michigan filled with vacationing tourist, but this is a big holiday weekend, with both Independence Day and Traverse City’s annual National Cherry Festival.
As we were driving back up our driveway, we saw a wild turkey with a group of babies move off into the grass. I took a video:
Thousands and thousands of people usually attend the National Cherry Festival. We usually just attend the airshow that is always part of the festival. The main feature is the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds which alternate years performing at the airshow. Last year we watched the Blue Angels and this year it was the Thunderbirds’ turn to perform. EJ works next to the airport so we go to his company to watch the airshow rather than fight the crowds at “center stage.” There’s only maybe a couple dozen other people who go to the same place to watch so it’s not crowded at all. We don’t get a “front seat” view, but do get to see the behind the scenes activity as the planes are prepared for flight. We have a wonderful view of the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds as they fly overhead.
And we get to see Piper, the cool airport dog. Piper works at the airport, chasing away the birds and other animals that could cause a hazard to airplanes. He has become an internet sensation. I’m always watch for him and I’m thrilled when I see him. I was hoping he would come closer to the fence so I could pet him, but he didn’t. He was too busy working. EJ began talking with another spectator who said he used to work at the airport but is now retired. The guy said that Piper knows the airfield so well that if a person threw a banana peel over the fence, he would notice and alert his handler. You can click on a link at the right under Northern Michigan Features to see an awesome news report about him.
Wildflowers, Bears, and Thunderbirds
We woke up to another soggy morning. It had rained all night. The rain soon ended, but the sky was filled with dark gray clouds all day and the air felt heavy with moisture. The National Weather Service says that much of Northern Michigan has already received its average monthly rainfall in just the past 7 days alone and that most locations across northern Michigan are currently running 1 to 4 inches above normal June precipitation. I don’t mind the rain because it keeps the plants from withering. However, I sort of dislike the soggy squishy straw I have to walk through on my way to the coop.
When I walked down to the mailbox today, I kept my camera ready in case I saw the Mama deer and her two fawns. I wasn’t surprised when I saw only their hoof prints–although I was hopeful. Instead I took photos of the wildflowers along our driveway and then I made an album of them at this blog. I also ordered the book, “Wildflowers of Michigan,” from Amazon today. It’s supposed to be here on Monday. I can’t wait to get it and start identifying the flowers.
I played around with using an audio player to play my favorite Michigan songs at this blog, but I could find most of the songs only at Youtube so I gave up on the audio player and just listed links to the songs at Youtube. I love listening to songs about Michigan; I totally love my state. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. When I was younger, my friends used to tell me that I should work for the tourist department for the state.
JJ texted me from work today and said that someone had reported seeing a bear in the park he works at. I excitedly urged him to take photos if he saw it, but he seemed to think he would be too busy trying to avoid being attacked and eaten. I texted that he could always throw the bear a picnic basket, and I sent him an image of Yogi Bear running with a picnic basket and being chased by a park ranger. He laughed. He rode around on his golf cart looking for the bear, and officers from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources were called in to search as well, but they couldn’t find any signs of a bear. So either there wasn’t really a bear, or the bear was clever and didn’t leave any traces behind, or maybe the MDNR just couldn’t find it. For years Michiganders tried to tell the MDNR that there were cougars in our state, but they denied it until finally people showed them proof–like photos, videos, and clawed dead horses. When we lived downstate, EJ, JJ, and several of our friends say they saw cougars. Sadly, I never did.
I found a bunch of flies in our house today. I don’t know where they are getting in at, but I had fun zapping them with JJ’s zap racket. JJ calls it a “death racket.” I took a video of my efforts. The video didn’t really capture the spark and zap when I swatted a fly.
Something bit me on the back of the neck today and left a big itchy boil. This is why I kill insects with the JJ’s death racket. Nasty bugs. EJ put Benadryl cream on it for me and says we will keep an eye on it.
This weekend is Traverse City’s National Cherry Festival. The area has many, many cherry orchards–and also apple orchards and vineyards. There’s always an airshow during the festival. We are hoping to watch from outside EJ’s company so we can avoid the thousands and thousands of people who attend the festival. It worked very well last year when we went to see the Blue Angels. JJ had to work last year so he missed it, but he will be able to go with us this year.
Showdown in Rabbit Meadow
The morning dawned cloudless and beautiful, but clouds gradually moved in throughout the morning. As predicted, rain moved in during midafternoon, beginning with sprinkles and gradually getting harder. However, the heavy rain that meteorologists said we could get–up to 2 inches–shifted south of us. at 2 p.m., to be exact. That’s really bad news for mid-Michigan, which has already had flooding from storms. In fact, there was so much flooding in Bay City, Michigan, on June 23 that fish were swimming along the sidewalks.
I wanted to get the mail before the rain hit, so at about noon I headed down the driveway. I was within sight of the small meadow near the bottom of the driveway that we named “Rabbit Meadow”–because we’ve seen rabbits playing there–when I looked up and saw a Mama Deer with two little fawns standing at the edge of the meadow, just coming out of the trees. She had already noticed me and was on alert. I immediately froze. She took a stomping step to warn me off, and then took another stomping step, watching after each step to see what I would do. She had taken maybe a half-dozen of these stomping steps when I slowly began backing away from them up the driveway toward the house. I had my camera in my pocket and wanted so much to video this encounter, but I was trying to limit my movements, hoping that I could back away without spooking them. Finally, Mama exploded into movement and bolted across the driveway while the fawns ran back into the woods. I gave up my plans of getting the mail and went back up the driveway into the house so they could reconnect.
Experiences like this is why I call our place our Enchanted Forest, and why I absolutely love living in the country.
A couple of months ago JJ bought two bug zappers that look like tennis rackets. They are easier to use than fly swatters–and much more fun. All we have to do is wave the racket at the insects and when they come in contact with it….ZAP! JJ calls me a sadistic killer–mostly because I was thinking of using it on the billions and billions and billions of grasshoppers in our yard–but he enjoys zapping bugs too. EJ and I agreed that if we see the zapper rackets at the store, we are going to buy some for ourselves so we don’t have to borrow JJ’s. He said they were only $5.
Rainbows and Lilies
Yesterday was rainy. During the afternoon, people throughout Michigan started to share their photos of the rainbows they were seeing at Facebook. I didn’t see any rainbows until later in the afternoon. I noticed the sun lighting up the trees and I exclaimed, “Maybe there is a rainbow!” as I hurried to look out the window. Sure enough, I saw one! The rainbow was extremely vibrant–the rainbows up here in Northern Michigan are the most vibrant I have ever seen. I have trouble capturing their true vibrant colors with my camera.
I felt unmotivated this morning and really had trouble getting myself going so I sat in my chair, drank coffee, and worked some more on re-designing my blog. I keep learning new things that I can do. I set up some photo albums with a few of my favorite photos. I say “a few” because I take pictures all the time and I have hundreds–and I can’t share them all. You can check out the photos by clicking the “album” tag. I have also been setting up Amazon and other advertisements. If you shop at Amazon by clicking on the Amazon links in my site or an advertisement, I can earn a little money. I’m trying to bring in a bit of money here and there to help us with our finances.
I finally walked down to the mailbox for our mail early this afternoon. We didn’t get anything today, but with the lilies and wildflowers blooming, the walk to the mailbox is an absolute delight. More lilies are blooming every day, although the deer eat some of them. Next Spring I hope to transplant more lilies to the driveway, and since lilies tend to spread, we are hoping that eventually so many lilies will grow that the deer can’t eat enough of them to diminish their beauty.
As I walked to the mailbox, I heard our neighbors mowing their lawn. I thought that I should probably mow our lawn today too because it was a beautiful day and tomorrow there is a strong possibility that we could about an inche of rain. I really didn’t feel up to mowing, but I did it anyway. While I was mowing at the front of the house, JJ came out on our deck and pantomimed that he would take over when I was ready for a break. I finished the front lawn and then let him do the side and back. When he was finished those areas, I mowed the strip of grass behind the poultry pens and around to the clothesline.
Mowing the lawn helped me regain some energy so I kept busy with my chores for the rest of the afternoon–cleaning the house, preparing supper, taking care of the pets and poultry, and all that. I made a marinade for our steak for supper with potatoes and a salad from our garden.
JJ tells me that Little Bear has a new ritual: After JJ takes a shower, Little Bear spends some time licking his head. Weird. Little Bear has a new routine with me too: For the last month or two he insists on sitting on my lap in the evenings. Not an unusual thing for a cat to do, but he always twists so he is cradled in my arms like a baby, and I can’t even describe his look of utter contentment as he closes his eyes when I stroke him. Often I crochet in the evening, but I have to put aside the crocheting to giving lovings to Little Bear. All the cats seem to have their quirky habits and routines.
I was thinking of what I had written yesterday about having to set a boundary with the FB friend. I think that it would sound silly to people who can set boundaries with ease, not giving it a second thought, but it’s extremely difficult for those of us who struggle with it–who were not allowed to develop boundaries or who had the boundaries broken down. To us, it feels mean, unloving, unforgiving to set boundaries.
A few memories surfaced. When I was a child, whenever I wanted to confront a sibling (i.e., set a boundary) about something hurtful she had done, my Mom would say “You are the strong Christian in our family. You are the Caring One. Don’t make things worse by speaking up. Don’t rock the boat. Just accept her for who she is.” This trained me to accept hurtful behavior without a word. I also remembered church leaders saying that if an opportunity for ministry presents itself and you refuse it, you are saying “No” to God. So anytime someone asked us to teach a Sunday School class or to minister in some other way, we better say “yes.” I also remember when I decided to work for my first year after high school to earn money so I could attend Bible College. When my pastor heard that I was not heading directly to Bible College, he told me a story about a young woman who was called to go to Bible College but she didn’t go so she missed out on God’s will, and the rest of her life was a total miserable mess. These messages and pressures make it very difficult to set boundaries. I consider it a tremendous victory when I see myself making progress in setting boundaries, speaking up, and not tolerating toxic behavior. I say, “Way to go, TJ!” Well, I say it as I struggle with guilt for being mean. But I’m struggling with guilt less.
By the way, I declined working with the abuse ministry who asked me to be on their team. I agonized over the decision for several weeks because I think well of the ministry and support their work, and I am passionate about helping abuse victims. However, I feel that it’s better that I continue sharing in the ways that I already do.
I’m getting there. Do you have trouble setting boundaries?
Morning Ruckus
Saturday was a very pleasant day. There were lots of puffy clouds, but the temperatures were pleasantly cool. EJ and I admired the beautiful wildflowers as we walked down the driveway to get the mail. Our neighbors all mow acres of their lawn but we keep most of our property wild. Of course, we couldn’t really mow in the forest even if we wanted to, but we don’t mow the open areas either except around the house.
EJ took photos of several of the wildflowers with his cell phone so he could identify them later. When we got back home EJ searched for the identification of the wildflowers in our book, North American Wildlife by Reader’s Digest while I searched through Wildflowers in Color by Arthur Stupka. We have owned these books for years and they have been very helpful and enjoyable. However, they cover all of North America and too often I have thought that I had identified a bird, animal, or plant only to find that it isn’t even found in our area. It’s much easier to search through books that are focused on our state. I searched on Amazon and found Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide by Stan Tekiela. We already own a book written by the same author–Birds of Michigan. It’s a wonderful book which helps us quickly and easily identify birds…so I put Wildflowers of Michigan in my Amazon shopping cart to buy soon. I also saw Mammals of Michigan and Trees of Michigan and I put them on my very long wish list. I sometimes suspect that my Amazon wish list is longer than Santa’s gift list.
We took a stroll through our garden, which is growing very well. I have been using the fresh produce from our garden in my cooking. For example, for dinner I made Teriyaki Chicken, rice, and egg rolls. For the egg roll filling I used our garden fresh cabbage leaves and carrots (from the store–we didn’t plant carrots this year). I cut up some of our green onion, chives, garlic scapes, and lemon grass to season the egg rolls, and I used some ginger (not from our garden). It was very tasty.
While I was shopping in the garden for herbs, EJ thinned out the radishes and then he built another raised bed and replanted many of the young radish plants he had taken out. We were not sure they would grow, but they seem to be doing well.
EJ and I had planned to work on organizing the garage on Sunday. He was going to drag his lumber out (I think) and build a rack for it all, which would give us space to organize other stuff. But the day was very rainy, so we couldn’t do it. I think we might work on the garage during the days he gets off for Independence Day.
I kept coughing throughout last night so I finally grabbed my pillow and a blanket and slept on the couch so I wouldn’t wake EJ. I woke now and then just enough to be aware that it was raining, raining, raining. We’ve had scattered showers all day. I don’t mind the rain because then I don’t have to water the garden and the plants along the driveway don’t wilt. It’s been raining frequently enough that the used straw that I rake out of the coop is soggy and squishy when I walk on it.
This morning while I was filling the ducks’ pool, I heard a terrible ruckus on the chicken side of the pen. There’s often a bit of a commotion as one chicken defends its position in the pecking order or a rooster goes after a hen–but this sounded different. I listened and I could distinguish the sounds of an angry rooster and a distressed duck. I looked over the fence and saw that one of the rouen ducks had gotten into the chickens’ pen and Sassy was defending his territory. I rushed through the gate to rescue the duck but they had gone into the coop, so I ran around into the coop, but they had gone back outside. I ran back into the chicken pen and found Sassy on top of the duck in the narrow alley between the coop and garage. I shooed Sassy and picked up the duck. We didn’t raise the rouens from tiny chicks so they are usually more skittish than the pekins (white ducks). However, the duck must have realized that I was there to rescue her because she let me pick her up without fuss and she lay quietly in my arms as I carried her back into her pen. She is unharmed.
After I released the duck, I searched around the coop for the place where she had been able to get to the chicken pen. If the rouens find an opening, they like to get under the coop–I suspect to lay their eggs. I try to prevent it. I figured that the duck must have gotten under the coop near their ramp, so I inserted a small piece of fencing and some rocks to block the access point.
This weekend I had to set a boundary, which was difficult for me. Survivors of abuse often struggle to set boundaries–because either they were never allowed to develop boundaries or their boundaries were broken down by abusers. Wikipedia defines a boundary as “Guidelines, rules or limits that a person creates to identify reasonable, safe and permissible ways for other people to behave towards them and how they will respond when someone passes those limits.”
Several months ago, I accepted a friend request from a woman. Overall she seemed friendly and warm although a couple of things she said caused a tremor or two of apprehension–but there’s always a bit of uncertainty when getting to know new people so I merely noted it and continued on. However, in mid-May I joked to her about EJ going fishing with “his imaginary FB friend.” EJ, friends, and I often joke about having imaginary friends on FB because we’ve heard people say that FB friends aren’t “real.” The internet can be unsafe because people can easily deceive others–but they can do that in person too, and we’ve met some awesome people on FB who certainly are “real” to us.
My newest FB friend got offended by my humor. I realize that people enjoy different forms of humor, and not every form appeals to every person. I, myself, enjoy puns, word plays, and laughing at the absurdities of life. EJ and JJ have the same sort of humor, but they also enjoy Monty Python, The Three Stooges, and the Farside cartoons. I dislike the first two and don’t usually understand Farside, but, oh, well, it is ok to have different tastes.
I also am aware that abuse victims get “triggered” by different things, and it’s impossible to be aware of everything that can be a trigger–a song, a smell, a phrase that is harmless to one person can trigger another if it brings up memories of their abuse. All we can really do is be sensitive to that person’s trigger and apologize if we accidentally trip over it. I repeatedly tried to explain my humor to this friend; she still didn’t get it. I repeatedly apologized to her and told her that now that I know that this upset her, I will be careful in the future. The FB friend kept telling me that she wasn’t upset, wasn’t offended, and yet–after days of silence–she was still asking me why I said what I did more than a month later. I had done everything I could to resolve the matter, I could do nor more, and I finally insisted that I would discuss it no more because we needed to move past it. It’s one thing to address a problem but another to never let it go–and even yesterday morning she was analyzing the psychological reasons of why people joke on her FB page. I’m thinking, for goodness’ sakes, a humorless person becomes a joy sucker. A person who can never laugh won’t survive the difficulties of life. And if you don’t “get” another person’s humor, oh well, consider it “not your type” and let it go.
Many of this FB friend’s actions were very similar to the manipulative abuse tactics I’ve experienced. (I’m struggling to write about manipulative tactics which make victims struggle without giving a detailed account of the conflict with the FB friend.) I’ve observed/experienced that toxic people often accuse their victims of “not trusting” when the victims are cautious about trusting someone who they feel is unsafe. I’m not sure why people think it’s healthy to blindly trust everyone. I wouldn’t trust a random stranger with my life savings, and I particularly wouldn’t trust someone with my life savings who I had reason to believe was dishonest. So why would I not be careful who I trusted with my own self, or my family, who are more precious than money?
This FB friend described her actions as “caring” and “seeking to understand” but there is a difference between being treated as a beloved friend and being treated like a damaged project to be fixed. It’s sort of the difference between being there for a friend who is hurting and Job’s “miserable comforters” who had all sorts of theological theories about the causes of his suffering. Bene Brown describes the difference between sympathy and empathy in her short video called “Empathy.” The video is similar to what I am trying to describe, although I didn’t feel the FB friend was even offering just sympathy. I felt more as if she was a therapist making clinical observations about a patient–only I hadn’t given my permission for her to evaluate me. I felt analyzed, judged, labeled–caught in a sort of purgatory in which my joke was endlessly discussed, analyzed, and never resolved. There was no deeper meaning or attack hidden in my joke; it was just me laughing at life. I wondered: If I make a mistake in the future would I have to again endure this purgatory of endless analyzing and questioning? I felt I couldn’t be myself with this friend, but I had to be constantly vigilant to make sure I didn’t accidentally offend her.
All the abuse experts say set boundaries and “trust your gut.” If a relationship makes you feel uncomfortable, anxious, afraid, depressed then it’s toxic and you need to end it. That’s a vital but difficult skill for victims to develop. I felt as alarmed as my little duck did when attacked by Sassy the rooster. The FB friend made me feel inadequate, uncertain, anxious, stressed, unsafe. I dreaded any interaction with her, and didn’t want to share any part of my life with her.
Yet, the old guilt surfaced–the guilt that I didn’t want to be unkind or hurt anyone, I wondered if I was over-reacting, I excused her because maybe she had not meant it, I agonized “What if she is really a nice person and I’m wrong?” But I have always regretted continuing in a relationship/friendship when my “gut” warned me against it. EJ and I joked about it being like in the movies in which people are stranded in a scary old house. One by one someone in their group disappears and is found cruelly murdered, yet the remaining people still go down the dark creepy hallway or rickety basement stairs to investigate the odd noise. We want to shout, “Don’t be stupid! Run!” but, of course, they never listen. How silly it would be if when we finally see the monster standing over the body with a bloody knife in his hand, we say, “Well, maybe he just found the knife. Maybe he didn’t really mean to kill her, maybe he’s just misunderstood…” The moral of the story is that if your gut says this is not a good situation, get out of there.
I described wanting to end this FB friendship but feeling guilty about it with EJ, who said, “You could always just not interact with this friend and let the relationship fade away.” But I felt unsafe with the person on my FB page, and it made me feel powerless and helpless to passively allow her to stay. So I took action.
I didn’t want to just disappear–if she is a decent person I felt she deserved more than that. So I wrote a short message to her to tell her that I was going to unfriend her–and why. I sent it, and then I unfriended and blocked her. Discussing it wouldn’t change my mind and I didn’t want to get entangled in more endless explanations and debate.
Setting this boundary is another huge step of recovery because rather than be helpless to escape, I am deliberately choosing to walk away. I feel that even if this person is actually very nice, caring, and understanding, she isn’t a person who makes me feel valued, accepted, or safe. She makes me feel less not more, analyzed not understood, damaged not precious. My family moved to Northern Michigan to fashion the life that we want, and part of that is deliberately choosing the people we want in our lives. I want people who are kind, empathetic, who know how to laugh, and who build me up rather than tear me down. I already have good, loving people like that in my life, and they are more precious to me than I can describe. They make me feel what I imagine my duck must have felt as she rested quietly and trustingly in my arms when I rescued her from Sassy.
Yellowed-Bellied Sapsucker
Our alarm goes off every morning at 6 a.m. First thing I do is pull on my old raggedy pair of jeans and an old shirt and then go let the ducks and chickens out of their coop and fill the ducks’ pools. As I headed back into the house, it was beginning to rain. It was a deluge. It rained for a couple of hours.
All day the clouds looked heavy with rain but we didn’t get any more rain except for a few sprinkles now and then throughout the day. Radar shows more rain moving in this evening and meteorologists say we could get a thunderstorm tonight.
Once the rain stopped, I went on my walk down and up the driveway. I don’t manage to walk the driveway every day, but I’m trying to as much as possible. I walked down and up the driveway five times, then later I walked three more times for a total of eight. I had planned to walk two more times this evening, but I don’t want to get caught in the rain.
I enjoy looking at the flowers as I walk down the driveway. Yesterday I saw that four of the lilies I had transplanted along the driveway had bloomed and many more would burst into flower soon. I envisioned the driveway lined with beautiful orange lilies. But today I noticed that some of them looked as if they had been cut off. I suspected they had been eaten, but I wasn’t sure what would eat lilies. So when I finished my first session of walking, I searched on-line and discovered that deer love lilies. One site said that lilies are like bon bons to deer. Bummer. I don’t mind if the deer eat the birdseed in the winter, but I do mind that they eat the lilies. Besides, we planted a lot of yummy grasses just for them to enjoy. They shouldn’t eat my lilies.
Here are just a few of the wildflowers I see as I walk down the driveway:
The last couple of days, I’ve seen a bird clinging to the side of a power line as I’ve walked along the driveway. It was too far for me to see it clearly and it flew away when I got closer. It was obviously a woodpecker, but it didn’t look quite like the ones I’m familiar with. Today I was able to take a photo of it and after I uploaded the photo to my computer, I opened our Birds of Michigan book and easily identified the woodpecker as a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. You can see my photo at the top of this post. It’s always thrilling to spot a bird that I’ve never seen before. This is the second new bird this week!
I spent all afternoon working on this blog. With the help of WordPress support, I worked at putting together albums of photos. I also figured out how to put the list of posts at the bottom of the page, which I think looks much better. However, now I’m not quite sure what to place in the middle column where the posts used to be. I’ll have to think about it.
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yesterday I finished the Peppermint Candy Coasters that a woman ordered from Teric’s Treasures. I boxed it and was going to mail it this morning. I had to get to the post office and back before JJ had to leave for work at 9:30 a.m. JJ’s new hours limits my use of a vehicle. I went out to the Buggy, started it, but I couldn’t move the lever out of “Park” even though I tried several times. I finally gave up. I was a little concerned that JJ wouldn’t be able to get to work, but he had absolutely no trouble. He has been teasing me about this.
We’ve been having a lot of trouble with a lot of little ants coming into the house. I spray them, but they keep coming. It would help if I knew where they were coming in. EJ said we need to get Boric Acid, but so far we haven’t gotten to the store to get any. Do you have trouble with ants? What have you found to be useful?
I have noticed a little pile of debris in the back of our mail box–like a small pile of shredded toilet paper or something. Today we had one envelope in the mailbox, so I used it to nudge the pile. I discovered that the small pile was actually a group of ants with eggs. Apparently our mailbox is an ant nursery. If I remember tomorrow, I will take the spray with me when I go get the mail and give the mailbox a good spraying.
I’ve moved my preferred “place” from the couch to the new recliner next to the window. I really like this new spot because I have a better view through the window. This afternoon I was sitting in my chair and I spotted a bird sitting on the bird house that I just moved near the big rocks. I couldn’t see him clearly, but I thought he looked unusual. I was going to get the binoculars, but I remembered that I left them in the suburban. So instead I got out my camera, zoomed in, and took several photos. When I transferred the photos to my computer, I saw that it was, indeed, an unfamiliar bird. I opened our Birds of Michigan book and discovered that it was a Great Crested Flycatcher. I read that they are a
“Common bird of wooded areas throughout the state. It lives high up in trees, rarely coming to the ground….Feeds by gleaning insects from tree leaves. Nests in old woodpecker holes, but can be attracted to a nest box placed high in a tree….Frequently stuffs its nest with a collection of fur, feathers, string and snakeskins.”
I had never seen one before so I was really thrilled. I showed EJ my photos when he got home from work and he said he had never seen one before either. I love my recliner by the window!
Hundred-Acre Woods
With my Premium WordPress upgrade, I get access to a lot of new layouts. I was really drawn to this one, which enables me to give my guests the option of going to the blog or my store, and which I think has a clean, uncluttered look.
I discovered, though, that in order to have a store here at my site, I have to upgrade to the Business Plan, which costs more. I think we will eventually do this, but at this moment, I have my hands full of remodeling this site, and we really have a lot of research to do, as well as discussions about our goals for our store. Eventually we hope for EJ to begin making items to sell, and we have a few other ideas as well. So we decided that we aren’t quite ready yet to upgrade to the Business Plans. Meanwhile, I’m going to try to set up a link so that clicking on the store column will take a person to my Etsy store.
It’s kind of fun doing all this, although I haven’t had as much time this weekend to play around with it as I anticipated. I have an Etsy order to fulfill, but as soon as I get the peppermint coasters finished, I will be able to devote some more time to setting up my blog. If you notice anything not working right, please let me know.
After breakfast yesterday, I went outside to mow the lawn. I wanted to mow while the morning was still fresh and cool because I knew the day was going to heat up. It takes me about 2 hours to mow the lawn. Usually I try not to take any breaks, but yesterday I took three because it was so hot and humid that I could feel myself overheating. The first time I stopped to take a break was when I saw JJ come out of the house to go to work. I always pray with my guys before they go anywhere. After he drove away, I stumbled into the house to drink iced tea and sit in front of the fans. I looked at the thermometer, thinking that it was probably up into the 80s or 90s. I was surprised to see it was only 70 degrees. I don’t think the temperature went above 80 all day. I thought that my friend in Texas would laugh at me because she says that when it’s in the high 80s in Texas, she’s tempted to put on a sweater. But in my defense, it was extremely humid yesterday.
I finally finished mowing the lawn. I love the look of a freshly mown lawn. After a break to cool off, I hung the laundry on the clothesline. Later I decided to dig up another wooden post when a birdhouse that the birds never use on top. I dragged it over to the big rocks and put it up next to the climbing rose bush growing there. I nailed a piece of chicken wire on the post so the roses can climb up it.
This morning we drove across to the Lake Huron side of Michigan to the 100-acre woods, where EJ’s best friend’s parents live. EJ knew the family from his school days and he considers them to be a second family. He usually goes deer hunting at their place. T’s parents had recently ordered some new living room chairs. I think it’s sad that T’s Mom ordered the new furniture a month or so ago, but she suddenly died before they were delivered. T’s Dad, who looked very feeble, gave us the old recliners. EJ’s recliner was getting old and becoming uncomfortable so we were glad to get the new chairs. T’s Dad also gave EJ a wood splitter.
The drive to and from the 100 acre woods is very beautiful. We went through elk country, but we didn’t see any elk. On the way home, EJ drove on a road where he and JJ had seen a bunch of bald eagles on their deer hunting trip years ago. He was hoping we would see some today, but we didn’t see any. We did see a large flock of turkey vultures feasting on a deer carcass. EJ counted 22 turkey vultures! That is the most we have ever seen! Here’s a video I took of it. I’m sorry it is so shaky, but we were bouncing down a rough rural road. I probably should explain that in western movies, vultures or buzzards are always circling over dead cowboys so when we see the scavengers circling overhead, we always say there must be a dead cowboy.
When we arrived home, JJ helped bring the two recliners into the house. They are very comfortable and look nice in our living room. We had planned that EJ would have one recliner and I would have the other. I can more easily see the view out of the windows from the recliner. However, at the moment I don’t have room to set my stuff on–my computer, drinks, crochet stuff, books, etc. Both EJ’s and my stuff won’t fit on the end table between the recliners. I might have to keep my place on the couch. I will give it some thought.
The Plunge
So I took the plunge and upgraded my WordPress Blog!
The upgrade gives me a lot of new features, including new templates and fonts. I will be playing around with them over the next few days so expect surprising changes when you visit. If you like a look or feature please let me know. I aim to please.
I think I have a new domain, whatever that means. I think that my new site URL will be ilovetogoagardening.com. Or not. Hopefully I will not get lost in cyberspace somewhere. If I do, please come find me because you all mean a lot to me and I’d hate to lose you.
So here we go…..!
Down and Up
As soon as EJ left for work this morning, I walked up and down our long steep driveway three times. Well, actually I walked down and up, but it’s easier to say up and down. I came into the house and took my shower and ate breakfast, and then I went down and up the driveway three more times. A little later I went down to the mailbox, and I took an extra trip down and up for a total of two more times. That’s eight trips.
It was quite cool this morning, but there was a clammy tropical feel to the air so I knew it was going to be a very hot day. The high temperature reached only 80 this afternoon, but it was so humid that I melted whenever I went outside. At times I could feel sweat trickling down my back. I took a lot of breaks in the living room with two fans blowing on me to cool off.
My beautiful happy yellow chicken shoes arrived in the mail. They are awesome. I will wear them whenever I am in the garden/chicken/duck pens. If they get all mucky, I can easily hose them off.
I made the chickens a nice treat by pouring some mixed vegetables into a bowl and freezing it. I put it in a bowl of water in the chickens’ outdoor pen and they keep cool by pecking at the ice to get the veggies. I didn’t make any for the ducks because I figure they can keep cool by swimming in their pools.
We installed drainage tile when we worked on our driveway our first summer at our new home. There was a length of it that has been sticking out of the ground at the top of the driveway. We had been planning to find some sort of basin to collect the rain water and funnel it into the tile, but we couldn’t find anything to use and I got tired of it sticking out of the ground, so this morning I cut it off, put the cap on the end remaining in the ground, and buried it. Then I carried stones to build a small dam to funnel the water into the tile. Good enough.
I also removed some of the boards from the pallets that were not good enough to to use in our raised garden. I want to use the boards to paint an Enchanted Forest sign welcoming wanted visitors and delivery people and warning people who come to sell us something to turn back. Actually, EJ said he would do the lettering for me.
In between working outside, I researched how to set up a e-store. It’s more complicated than I thought–but then things usually are. When EJ got home, I told him the results of my research and we discussed our plans.
After supper when the temps had cooled a little, we walked down and up the driveway twice. In totally, I made ten trips down and back again. I’m going to try to do that every day, if at all possible.
Stormy Heat
The heat and humidity have been terrible since Saturday. I sometimes joke that I must have some snowman DNA because I feel as if I’m melting in the heat and all the energy drains out of me. I seriously don’t know how people in the South can endure it. I’d much rather have cold than heat.
Saturday my sinuses were throbbing–I suspect it was because of approaching severe weather, although the storms ended up going north of us. A couple of years ago my friend sent me a mask that I can warm up or freeze to sooth my sinuses. I put it in the freezer and then wore it until it warmed up, and then refroze it again. JJ came out of his bedroom, saw me wearing my mask, paused, and gave me a look like “NOW what crazy thing is Mom doing???” I told him it was my Superhero mask and when I wore it, he couldn’t recognize me. EJ piped up, “Trust me, if you ever wore that in public, there is no way I’d recognize you.” Ha ha. Everyone is a comedian.
The other evening, before it was dark, I opened the door so Danny could go outside and Little Bear escaped. I shouted, “Help! Little Bear is out!” and then I ran outside to try to capture him. As I ran out, I grabbed a can of moist cat food to help entice him to me. He is an indoor cat only and he was under the vehicles but was too nervous to be interested in the food. I ran to the other side of the vehicles so he couldn’t run into the forest. He was nervous and ran toward the front door, but when I followed to let him in, he got scared and ran under the vehicles again. We did this a couple times before JJ came out. I yelled for him to hold the door open, and then I went around the car, Little Bear ran toward the house and through the open door, and the story ended well. Silly cat.
We keep blankets on a stand in our bedroom for when we get cold. It really is the best place for them so they are there even in the summer. Yesterday I was refolding one of them and a large black spider scurried across it. I think it was a wolf spider. EEEEK! I dropped the blanket and ran and got the spider spray. I sprayed the blanket, sprayed under the bed, sprayed the blanket, sprayed under the cabinet. Then I nudged the blanket and the spider scurried across it again, so I sprayed it again. I took the blanket outside and drapped it across the patio chairs and sprayed it some more. I couldn’t see a body, and if there isn’t a body, I can’t know for sure that the spider is dead, so I sprayed the blanket again. Then I thought that with all the spraying, the blanket must now be very toxic and unsafe for humans. So I stuffed it in the washer and washed it, and then dried it in the drier. I didn’t see a body, but the spider surely couldn’t have survived all that….right?
After supper, EJ decided that he would cut my hair. He actually does a very good job, I really like what he does, and I think he could easily be a hair stylist. He wanted to do something new so he cut it very short. It almost worked, but we agree that he didn’t quite achieve the style he was trying for and he cut my hair a little too short. He wanted me to comb my hair down in front of my face and then flip it over (I can’t help but think of Prince Charming’s hair flip in Shrek). He said I looked better without a part. However, despite my efforts my hair insists on falling into a part. I told EJ that I really think he needs to give me bangs. I told him that it was ok if this current effort didn’t exactly turn out as planed because the only way to get good at cutting hair is to do it and hair will always grow out–although perhaps he should cut my hair in the winter so I can wear a hat if it doesn’t turn out. Ha ha! I told EJ that letting him cut my hair is an indication of how deeply I trust him.
Although the first storm that rolled through during the weekend missed us, we were hit with a couple others over the following days. The storms did not diminish the heat and humidity. I continued to melt and feel drained of energy, so I didn’t accomplish a whole lot this week. This morning, however, the temps were in the mid- to high-60s. It was perfect. After EJ left for work, I walked up and down the driveway six or seven times for exercise. I’m going to try to do that every day, unless it’s too hot in the mornings.
While it was cool, I did a bunch of stuff outside. I dragged the old unusable garden hoses to the old green pickup truck and threw them in the back. We are going to get new hoses soon–like by this weekend. We want one hose for the back yard so I can more easily water the chickens, ducks, and garden, and one hose for the front yard to water the flower garden and EJ’s beloved apple trees.
The climbing roses in the front flower garden needed something taller to climb. I eyed the wooden posts at the edges of the forest that hold my bird houses. They would be perfect if they didn’t have bird houses on them. Then I thought, Oh! They would be even more perfect if I kept the bird houses on them!!! They would be very decorative. And it’s not like the birds ever use the houses. This is the third summer that we have lived in Northern Michigan and I have not yet seen a single bird build a nest in any of the four houses I set up. Why would they be interested in a bird house when they have a whole forest of trees to nest in? Duh.
So I took out the t-posts/fencing that weren’t tall enough to adequately hold the roses. I moved them to the smaller rose bush near the front of the garden. Then I pulled up two of the bird house posts out of the ground, dragged them to the flower garden, used a post-hole digger to dig holes, and set the posts in them. I cut off two 10 foot lengths of chicken wire and nailed them to the posts, stretching them between the posts. I put one length of chicken wire high and one length low so all the roses would have something to climb. Then I twined the roses onto the chicken wire. I think it looks really good–although despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to pack the dirt around the posts firmly enough so the posts keep leaning toward each other a little bit. EJ said he would fix that for me.
The heat rose during the day and overcame the coolness. By the time I finished with the posts and roses, I was melting and drained. I took a small nap before beginning supper preparation.
This evening a big storm came through. The National Weather Service for our area said we could get 60 mph winds and 1″ hail. We saw the storm getting closer on radar, so just before it hit, we went out to shut the chickens and ducks up for the night. Usually I have no problem putting them in because the chickens voluntarily go into their coop at twilight. However, tonight it was an hour earlier than usual and they didn’t want to go in. It’s very difficult to get unwilling chickens in their coop. I picked some lettuce from the garden and tried to lure them in while EJ and JJ went into their side of the outdoor pen and chased them in. They were not happy, but I did a headcount and when I knew that they were all in, I shut their little door. It was no problem herding the ducks into their coop. We got the coop shut up tight just before the storm hit. It has been storming for a few hours now. It rained really hard for a while, but I haven’t really heard strong wind or hail.
Both Etsy and Facebook will “promote” products for an extra fee. It’s steep enough that I can’t really afford to promote my products, so I think those who can promote their products get more notice and those who don’t get lost in the crowd. EJ and I have been talking for some time about paying for an upgrade to this blog so I can move my store here. I’m not getting rid of my blog; I’m just adding a store section. I will try not to make the store part annoying. We have discussed items EJ can maybe make and sell too. I’m going to take the plunge soon, I think, so you might notice changes that come and go as I try to learn how to do it. It’s sort of an adventure and might be fun.
Happy Yellow Chicken Shoes
After several days of working really hard, my energy sort of crashed. I’ve had low motivation days in which I’ve taken naps and done only my daily chores–nothing strenuous. Both EJ and I are still struggling somewhat with the sinus infection, although there’s been improvement. If the sinus infection lasts for too much longer, I’m going to give it a name.
My friend and I are finally back to studying Hebrew together! Whoo hoo! We live in different states so we learn together by videochat. We studied Hebrew for a couple of years but then had to stop because of JJ’s cancer. Our life situations since then have prevented us from studying, but we are finally back to it. We have forgotten a lot of what we had learned so we are pretty much starting over, but we don’t mind. Hebrew is a very beautiful, amazing language. Unlike other languages, Hebrew is more than grammar and pronunciation. Each letter or word has deep meaning so our lessons involve discussions of life and faith. We love it! We are so glad to be back to studying!
Yesterday afternoon EJ texted me: “I got a huge sliver in my left hand so now at hosp. I am ok, waiting for Rx for antibiotic before heading back to work. It is stiff, swollen & sore…” I asked him how big the sliver was, but he ignored my question. When he got home, I asked again and he told me “You don’t need to know.” I told him that I really wanted to know so then he told me that the sliver was several inches long–about two inches of it went into his thumb. He pulled it out and almost passed out with pain–and he can handle a lot of pain so it must have REALLY hurt. He wasn’t going to say anything to his boss, but his hand began to throb so he told his boss who told him it was company policy that he needed to go to the hospital to have it checked out. So he went, and they did an x-ray even though they didn’t think a wooden sliver would show up. It didn’t, although they did find a sliver of something else in his hand–probably magnesium from his previous job. There is no way to tell if there is still a wood sliver in his hand so they gave him an antibiotic to prevent any infection. Hopefully if there is a sliver, it will work itself out.
As EJ was telling me all this, I said, “Yuck, yuck, I think I’m going to be sick.” He said, “Next time you need to trust me when I tell you that you really don’t need to know.” I said, “But I care about you!” He said, “I know you care, but you don’t need to know.” I agreed. Even as a child I was so empathetic that I almost fainted (and sometimes did) when I saw/read/heard about suffering.
One a happier note, yesterday these really cool garden shoes appeared on my Facebook timeline. They are called “sloggers” and they are
- Made in the USA
- Waterproof garden footwear with farm-inspired designs
- Wide opening shoes make them easy to slip on and off
- Deep-lug tread provides extra traction
- Made from 100%-recyclable materials
- Easy to clean—rinse with water and let dry
Best of all, they have chickens on them and are my favorite color of yellow! I have never particularly liked pale yellow, but this yellow–what I call “school bus” or “construction sign” yellow–fills me with strong feelings of warm happiness whenever I see it. It’s the same happiness that I feel when I see cute puppies or kittens. It’s very difficult to resist garden shoes in happy yellow.
I’m in and out of the house all day so I like slip on shoes that I can quickly slip on when I go outside and kick off when I enter the house. I don’t want to have to keep pausing to tie my shoes whenever I go outside or risk tracking dirt, straw, or poultry poop into the house. My current “work” shoes are dirty, worn out, and scruffy. Often I accidentally slosh water on them as I water the garden, fill/empty the ducks’ pool, or carry buckets of drinking water for the poultry. I save my good sneakers for going out in public. I wistfully showed the yellow garden shoes to EJ and he said, “They aren’t that expensive. Buy them.” So I ordered them this morning. In a few days, I will have happy yellow chicken shoes to work in.
Tasks, Chores, and Jobs
This morning I glanced out the kitchen window and was surprised by a breathtakingly beautiful iris in our flower garden. The flower garden was planted by a previous owners and we are often surprised by what unexpectedly appears. We also are overjoyed that some flowers that we love were already here when we moved. For example, EJ always wanted climbing rose bushes. We tried to plant some at our old house but our yard was very shady so, while we did get roses, they didn’t grow as well as we hoped. We found climbing roses waiting for us when we moved into our new home and they are growing beautifully in the sunshine. At our old house, we did have a beautiful lilac bush. I love lilacs (so does EJ) and I was sad to leave it behind. Our new home doesn’t have a lilac bush–it has THREE. They are light, medium, and dark lavender. I love them! Usually I cut bouquets of lilacs and put them in vases in the house. Their fragrance is heavenly! But this year our noses were all stuffed up with our bad colds and we couldn’t smell anything so I didn’t bother cutting bouquets.
After EJ left for work this morning, I went out to the garden to put up a few more posts. Yesterday we had put up posts at the corners of each raised garden bed and then fastened chicken wire fencing to them. The previous owner had left behind raised beds that were long and narrow and four posts were not enough–the fencing sagged in the middle. So I nailed wooden posts to the middle on each side of the boxes and then nailed the fencing to the posts.
After I competed that task, I started washing clothes but I waited until after JJ left for work at 9:30 a.m. to take the wet clothes out to the clothesline. Well, actually, I had to mow the lawn before I hung up the clothes because it’s not smart to mow under and around the clothesline when there are wet clothes hanging on it. The day was perfect for mowing–beautiful sunshine and a coolish 70 degrees. I like working when the temps are cool; heat drains me. EJ had put the wheels of the new mower at a higher setting when he mowed last time because the grass was so long, but he instructed me to lower the wheels two notches before I started mowing this time, which I did.
I mowed under the clothesline first, then mowed around the chicken and duck pens to the back yard, and them the front yard. I had wanted to get all the lawn mowed, but despite the cooler temps, I could feel myself over heating, so with just a little bit to go on the far side of the hill behind the large rocks, I stopped the mower, went inside, drank tea, and sat in front of the fan for a few minutes. When I cooled down, I took the baskets of wet clothes out to hang on the clothesline and then I finished the lawn.
The lawn looked beautiful when I finished. Our neighbors mow acres of their property but even though it looks nice, mowing so much always seems to me like a waste of time, energy, and gas. We only mow up near the house and leave the rest of the property wild for habitat for wildlife.
After I finished mowing, I put the mower away and then walked down the driveway to get the mail. As I walked, I admired my anti-erosion efforts. Our hard work seems to be paying off. We were told that the first owner of our house had only a two-wheel drive car. In the winter, he had large barrels of salt placed up and down the driveway so whenever he got stuck–which was often–he would shovel salt on the driveway. I suspect that all the salt killed the plants along the driveway, which allowed rain to rush down unhindered and cut deep gullies on either side. We spent our first few months in our house shoveling topsoil and stones into the deep gullies. We spent last summer building small rock dams every few feet down the driveway to slow the rush of water. And we’ve planted grass seed, wild flowers, and lilies because plants grip the soil and prevent water from washing the soil down the hill. The following two photos–one from June 2015 and the other from this year–shows the difference. From the driveway to the right edge of the rock dams was bare ground in 2015.
As I walked back up the driveway, I noticed the berry bushes in Deer Meadow. We call it Deer Meadow because the deer often bed down there. There are many blackberry and raspberry bushes in the meadow and also along the edge of the forest near the house. I just love our property with our garden, and fruit trees, and berry bushes.
When I got back to the house with the mail, I made myself some lunch and then did a bunch of little jobs:
When we had returned home after our visits to the various garden centers on Saturday, I was surprised to find two morning glories among the other plants. I thought, well, EJ must have wanted morning glories, which is fine. Yesterday I asked him where he wanted to plant the morning glories he bought. “I didn’t buy the morning glories,” he said. “I thought YOU did.” I said, “No, you bought them.” He replied, “No I didn’t.” Somehow the morning glories made their way into our shopping cart. Oh, well. I planted them near our little deck where they can climb up the bird feeder poles. They are crimson. Maybe they will attract hummingbirds.
A few weeks ago I read that chickens do a tremendous job breaking down a compose pile. We can throw whatever into the compose pile and the chickens will eat what they want and scratch up the rest. Sounded good, so I made a small enclosure with pieces of cattle panels in the back corner of the chicken pen near the right side of the garage. The holes of chicken panels are large and the chickens went through them and scattered the scraps I threw into it all over the pen. So today I fastened chicken wire fencing to the cattle panels so the chickens can only enter/exit through the door way. I’m hoping it will cut down on the scattering. The chickens are cute because they have quickly learned that when they see me come around the right side of the garage I have possibly yummy things to eat. They all come running to the compost enclosure and wait for me.
My house had been neglected over the weekend as we worked in the garden so in the midst of my other odd jobs today, I vacuumed, swept, and mopped the floors. I brought in the dry clothes from the clothesline. I fixed supper (leftovers) and after we ate, EJ and I made a quick run to the grocery store for a couple of items–the most important was kitty litter. I was out. Then I washed dishes and folded the clothes and put them away.
I was really tired by the time I was done with all my tasks and chores and jobs. But it was a good day and a good tired. I enjoy working around home.
Our Kind of Fun
Usually we make sure we have quiet, restful Saturdays, but this Saturday became busier than we had planned. We were going to make a quick trip to our favorite nursery to buy Strawberries, Peppermint, Spearmint, Chocolate Mint, Chamomile, and Borage plants. I had seen all of these plants at the nursery when we there last weekend, but the Memorial Day rush depleted a lot of their stock. I found (and bought) Peppermint and Orange Mint plants, but no Chocolate Mint or Spearmint. I bought two flats of Strawberries, but they were ones that ripened in June and not all summer like we wanted. They no longer had any Spearmint, Chamomile, or Borage. I think EJ bought some seed potatoes and maybe one or two other items.
So we decided to drive on to Lowes. We found a couple of plants there, including a twisted apple tree–two varieties that are twisted together. We got a Braeburn twisted together with a Gala apple tree. We didn’t find Spearmint or Borage or Spearmint, so we decided to go on to Home Depot. At Home Depot we found small planters filled with Strawberry plants that ripen all summer. They were fewer than a flat and more expensive, but we bought four planters full because we want strawberries all summer. For the most part, I can’t really remember what plants we bought where, but I tried to list the plants we ended up getting:
Sweet mint
Orange mint
Chocolate Mint
Peppermint
Chamomile seeds
Aloe
Pepper plants (more of them)
Strawberries (2 varieties)
Seed Potatoes
Cantaloupe
Sunflower Seeds
Lettuce Seeds (because the other ones were in my jeans pocket and got washed)
Bok Choi (2 different kinds)
Radish seeds
Beet seeds
Braeburn/Gala Apple Tree
As you can see, a few plants we didn’t intend to buy found its way in our cart. I think going to nurseries/garden centers is a bit like going to a book store–very addicting. Those plants were added to the ones we bought last weekend:
Tomatoes
Bell and hot peppers
Watermelon
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Squash
Thyme
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Cabbage plants
I already owned Rosemary, Bay, Sage, and Chives.
We brought our new plants home and worked together to plant them. Since we had bought more plants/seeds than planned, I was concerned that we wouldn’t have enough boxes/pots to put them in. However, we had enough–with three small pots left over. I dug up a clump of chives from the front flower garden and put it in a pot and EJ planted his new apple tree with the one he bought last weekend and the three he bought last year. We now have two twisted Braeburn/Gala trees, one twisted Honeycrisp/Honey Gold, one twisted CandyCrisp/Haralson, and an Empire. We now feel we have enough apple trees to provide us with a good supply. Now we will concentrate on cherry trees.
While we were planting, EJ noticed the ducks nibbling at the all-summer strawberry plants and they were also nibbling my chives! Not good! We aren’t planting a garden as a smorgasbord for the ducks! So we stopped our work, EJ shut the ducks into their smaller pen away from the garden, and we drove to TSC to buy two 150 foot rolls of 24-inch chicken wire fencing. Chicken wire has small holes that duck bills can’t get through. Then we came home and fenced in the strawberries.
By this time it was beginning to rain and we were really tired, so we quit for the day. A big thunderstorm rolled into the area at about 11 p.m. One clap of thunder shook our house! The storms were still going on when we went to bed but we didn’t hear them. We obviously got a ton of rain: In the morning, a kitty litter bucket (we use them for everything!) was filled to the top with rain water.
I planted the two flats of June-bearing strawberry plants this morning. I didn’t plant them yesterday because we didn’t have the fence up yet to protect them. EJ and I spent all day today fencing in all the raised garden beds. We used some of the smaller t-posts until we ran out and then EJ made posts out of wood. He put in the wooden posts while I pounded in the t-posts. I sucked at nailing the chicken wire to the wooden posts so EJ fastened the wire to them while I fastened the wire to the t-posts.
It was really hot today–about 80 degrees and humid. Ugh. Not particularly pleasant for working. Sometimes we overheated and had to take breaks. However, we worked until we got all the raised garden beds protected–about 6 p.m. or so. Even though it was hot and tiring, we both agreed that we had tons of fun. We would rather do this than almost anything.
Oh, and EJ found the time to hang up the xylophone in the coop for the chickens.
Here are some photos of our garden. You can click on them to make them bigger.
This and That
Tuesday I worked really hard in my garden, which I described in my post, Expansive Dreams. The next day I had absolutely no energy. It didn’t help that we had scattered rain showers–just enough rain that I couldn’t work outside. So I slept instead.
Later in the afternoon, the UPS delivered the metal bed frame that I had ordered. Danny was very excited and he ran up to the delivery truck door when I let him out. The UPS man gave him a couple of dog biscuits and a bit of lovings.
The package was large and heavy so I enlisted JJ to help me take it into the master bedroom. As soon as we had eaten supper, I put the bed frame together. It wasn’t difficult, but I still felt satisfied at my accomplishment. Our bed has a headboard, footboard, and side boards that fasten together. I put the metal frame inside it. I was able to connect the headboard and sideboards together, and one side of the footboard, but for some reason I couldn’t get the last corner together. The bed frame was a hair too big–although why it fit at the headboard and not the footboard, I don’t know. EJ came home as I was struggling with it–he had to work late and got home at 7:30 p.m. He worked on it a bit and finally “corn-cobbled” it together until he can work on a permanent fix at a later date. Since the metal frame and the wooden bed aren’t connected, it won’t cause us any real problems.
The bed frame is very comfortable so we might have finally solved our uncomfortable bed problem. EJ said he even woke up pain-free–although he had to plunger the toilet and that hurt his back again. But still….! There is improvement!
Yesterday was a beautiful day and I had regained my energy so I worked in my garden all day (except for a brief nap). I scrounged around in the garage and found some more wooden boxes. I took photos of some of them with my phone and sent them to EJ at work, asking if he minded if I took them. I didn’t want to take any that he wants to use for projects. I also found some pots. I arranged them on the wooden pallets I had dragged to the duck pen the other day. I gathered some old straw and put a bit in each container and then I shoveled three wheelbarrows full of dirt from our black dirt place and divided the dirt among them. I ran out of time and energy before I got all the boxes/pots filled so today I filled two more wheelbarrows with dirt and finished filling the containers and then I mixed in a little mulch in each.
Now all I have to do is get more plants to fill the containers. I would like to buy strawberries, chamomile, mint, and borage. We also need to plant the garlic and EJ’s onion sets. Oh, I finally found the package of lettuce seeds that I had misplaced. They were in my jeans pocket and went through the wash. Oops. I don’t know if they will grow now, but I planted them just in case they are still good. We will buy more lettuce seeds in case they aren’t. We will go to our favorite plant nursery on Sunday.
The ducks are doing what they are supposed to do: wandering among the pallets eating insects. I call them my Duck Patrol. The chickens are responsible for the compost pile.
Last night I was sitting at my computer when I heard a cat growling. I know what that means–and sure enough, Little Bear had a mouse in his mouth. Timmy and Luke followed Little Bear around as Little Bear growled to tell them to back off. He let the mouse go and it ran toward me so I screamed and climbed on a chair. I’m not exactly scared of mice but I don’t want them climbing up my leg either. JJ laughed. (EJ was asleep and my scream sort of woke him up). Little Bear caught it again, but then released it. I didn’t find any dead mouse body this morning so I assume the mouse got away. I wish the cats would just kill the durn rodents. At times like these I really miss our cat, Princess Winter. She didn’t really like the other cats so she mostly lived upstairs at our old house. Whenever she caught a mouse, she immediately pounced on it and killed it. Sometimes we could hear her crunching bones under our bed. Sort of gruesome, but she got the job done quickly and efficiently–no playing with mice and letting them escape.
This morning when I came back into the house after letting the ducks and chickens out of their coop, I happened to glance outside–and then I shouted, “OH, WOW, WOW, WOW! I NEED MY CAMERA!” Alerted, EJ went to the window and he was overcome with WOWs too! There was a beautiful vibrant rainbow in the sky. We agreed that it was the most vibrant rainbow we had ever seen. I went outside with my camera, but I was unable to fully capture the intense colors of the rainbow. It was much more vibrant than this photo shows. I felt as if I truly live in an Enchanted Forest.
By the way, the Jews say a beautiful blessing whenever they see a rainbow:
Baruch ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu melech ha’olam zocher ha’brit v’ne’eman bivrito v’kayam b’ma’amaro.
Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His promise.
This afternoon I talked on the telephone with one of the co-founders of the abuse ministry who wants me to join their team. He told me the vision for their ministry, and we discussed our abuse experiences and beliefs/thoughts about it. I think it’s important to make sure that we are on the same page. He planned to only talk to me for an hour, but we ended up talking for an hour and a half. He never did get around to talking about what part he would like me to play in the ministry so he is going to call back later. We will see where it goes from there.
