Nothing Better to Say

 Not much to talk about lately, so here goes nothing.   Every night, along our walking trail, the dogs stick their noses into a series of holes at the end of the lane.  So far, luckily, nothing has come out, so we don't know what it is.  It must be good though, because the dogs just can't get enough of sniffing and digging at it.

 We hauled 2nd crop hay this week.  The yield was about half of what we took first crop, but it isn't rained on and has very few weeds.  Anybody need some hay?   The 2-ton repair job Boyd did worked wonders!  The truck was much more stable and you didn't feel like you were going to tip over when he loaded the bales.   And we had two tractors which made it go much faster.   Ironically enough, we got the repair bill, for the tractor that was broke during first crop, on the same day we hauled the hay.  Good timing on Brigham Implement's part, we appreciated the tractor enough that we didn't cringe too much at the bill!

2nd Crop

1st Crop

 We have a small and poorly tended orchard consisting mostly of apples and apricots.  We eat very little of the fruit, which leaves a bunch of it to fall to the ground. It really attracts the squirrels, skunks, raccoons and deer.  I have been noticing apricot pits in odd places around the farm, but today was the topper.  I went to get in my car only to discover an apricot laden pile of poo close to the door.  90 acres of farm land and the raccoon has to poop inches from my car?  He's messin' with the only friend he's got on this farm.  Not smart!

   Every night I let the goats out to eat for about an hour.  They try to help vacuum up the fruit, but there's too much.  Maybe I need more goats?!

And for some unexplainable reason, the goats like to scratch themselves under the swather.

A Journey to Narnia

I have taken to calling this section of the farm Narnia. 

I am not sure why.  It could be reminiscent of a student I had last year who told the whole class that my big wooden storage closet was the wardrobe to enter Narnia. I, of course, didn't know this until late in the year when I told a student she could get something out of the closet.  She looked at me with such a scared and hesitant look on her face.  When I asked her what was wrong she told me so and so had told the whole class that if a kid opens the doors they would fall into Narnia. Or it might be because all the animals seem to enter and exit the farm from this portal.  I have seen deer, birds, my foxes, and even a mother skunk and her cute babies come and go from this spot... until recently.   Lately, nothing has been anywhere near it.  I finally got curious enough to see for myself what was going on. 

What I found was...

And, no mom, I did not try to sneak them in the back of the van and take them home like I did with the bones I often found on Blue Mountain.

All types and shapes of weeds, most of which were taller than I am.

This cat watched me the whole time.

Fred, the neighbor dog, knew I was in there and stared me down as I left.

These pictures are looking out from inside Narnia.

 This is a shot of the safflower I walked through to get to Narnia.  Those tiny needle edged leaves hurt!  I plan on going back in when the safflower is off, only I am driving a tractor.

Sunset

We always seem to have beautiful sunsets.   The problem is that the sun is setting while my sisters and I are doing our walk-ersizing.  I am too lazy to carry my fancy camera with me, sometimes it is all I can do to finish the walk.  Tonight I took the point and shoot, the whole time telling myself it would be worth the trouble to carry the better camera.   Anyway, here are some shots from tonight.  

Yeah, I know, not a sunset.  It was taken just before we started walking.

Canoe

The dogs and I spend a lot of time at the river.  Buddy has yet to enjoy riding IN the canoe.  Jasmine, on the other hand, doesn't let me take off without her.

On Vacation

Sorry to those who may have checked in and found the same old posts, I have been away from the farm every day this week.   A bunch of us spent a day at Lava.  It was fun even if two of us almost drowned.  A few injuries occurred both on water and on land.  Kenny slid off the truck because according to him, he was "trying to get out carefully".  All the other times he just jumped. I bounced my bum and body off of rocks for a ways while tubeless.   I have a deep purple heart-shaped bruise on my tailbone and scrapes on my leg. Anndee ended up under water for a scary amount of time.  Aside from all that, it was really fun!

The Easy Life

Jasmine had fun the day my nieces came to visit. She even got to spend some time in the hammock getting undivided attention. 

No Wonder

Boyd often asks me why we never get asked to watch my nieces/nephews.  Well, it might have something to do with the fact that on the rare occasion that I do watch them, I let them swim in a disgusting river. 

We also went canoeing, but they liked swimming better.  The two girls made a scavenger hunt for my dogs, decorated the old house and made invitations and money. 

You know you're a failure when...

Your dogs are growing a better garden than you are.


This plant (pumpkin??)is growing in the dog pen and is at least twice if not three times bigger than anything I have growing in my garden.  It survived without water, unless Buddy watered it :),  until I started watering it last week.  I give up!

Dogs' plant.

My plant.

Oh, well!  The dogs haven't learned to take pictures of sunsets... yet.

The Moon and Venus