Note from dry country

  We have at least 4 more banties this a.m.. Three from yesterday and another one this a.m...cute little babies. Okay, that gives us: the original 3 from Mike + 5 teenagers+4 babies=12...now if the dang heavy hens could learn to do that! Out of the seven Blackie had she only managed to save one after a few weeks. Barn cat at it again. What to do about that?

  Speaking of barn cats they are down to two most of the time and another that stops by to visit from time to time. Oh, and Mawmaw kitty is probably pregnant again. If she is I plan on capturing the litter this time and taming them. If I can catch her, I may have her spayed.

   All this month the sky has given us a show just before daylight with Venus and Jupiter showing close together along with the crescent moon a couple of days and a really bright star thrown in for good measure. I saw the one with the crescent moon and it was really cool too. My picture isn't all that great but you get the idea. I need to actually leave the ramp and maybe go to the other side of the orchard for a better view. But then I have nothing to stabilize my camera with. Oh woe is me! 

Automatic float valve, where have you been all my life? Sure is nice. 

Jose's cows looking at one of the horses. Some of them are so cute. The large one is the bull. Beefy little sucker even if he is short. 






  There's a little green on the radar that may bring a few drops of rain to Jose's pond but think it will miss us. Dang it! Gonna water the orchard again today. It's just after 11 and it's 93*.  The wind has calmed down a little from this a.m.. but still a breeze. Every bit of the green just disappeared! Dadgumit! Up to 97*

  

This was in 09 at Di's family reunion on the coast. Did you see on fb that Kathy and Joe are going to Puerto Villarta? Spelling? The same place we went to decades ago. 

  

  Don't remember if I've ever posted this one from the wayback machine. On the "Hill" in Scappoose about 1968. 
  It's been a diamond day. Visited on the phone with Kate for about an hour. Everyone's fine up that way. Enjoying her birds. 

Good morning!

  It's late morning and have done outside stuff. Tim has gone after a bale of hay. We'll see how much the price has gone up due to the drought. I bet it doubles. I pray it doesn't but bet it does. ....

  With a little luck I'm not repeating the pictures. I should go check but what the heck?! Not sure you can tell the one in the middle is two colors. White and sage of some sort. I like the primary colors.

  More than doubled on the hay but that's the way it goes when fighting mother nature and the greed of the big corporations. If he didn't get charged a bazillion dollars for growing it , he wouldn't have to double his price to break even. I'm just glad it's available this close to home. We'll be able to buy almost half of what we'll need for the whole winter (and now). Will have to start saving for the rest. The best laid plans as they say. lol

  Here's a few Cherokee purples and a yellow. The yellow are pretty tasty too. Less acid, you know.
The chains are what we use for hanging feed buckets.

 

  Here's our baby pool. Just the right size for the two of us. Could be the two of us and the two little ones. I've already enjoyed it a few times just all by my lonesome. lol  

 

 These are Ottertail tobacco plants. I spread hundreds of  seeds and got hundreds of little plants with no place to put them. How smart was that? I've seen tobacco on tv that appeared to be 4-5' tall. Obviously these will never reach maturity as they are in pots. Now I need to figure out how to cure what little leaves I get at the end of the season. I remember reading it takes 2 years before it's ready to roll. Any guesses?



  Was a stone very early this a.m. but turned into a diamond and will continue to be!

 

Started early

   this morning. Was around 5:45 when I saw the cat lurking around the chicken yard. We're down to only two babies and we're pretty sure it has to be the cat. We have kept the chickens confined for the most part and she still lost a couple over the past two weeks. Tim says he's still planning on moving the hen house to the carport and that it won't happen there. Hannah is becoming quite a hand at helping herd the chickens. She stalks and goes on point and slowly walks behind them as we move to the pen when rounding them up. How funny!
 I forgot to mention that on the Fourth I gave Mary Lou, Tena, Cheryl,Athena a small basket each and sent one with Ann so she could pass one to Jeannie. I still need to take one to Pam when we go up next. Guess I could mail Nelta and Erica one. Just wanted to be sure that everyone has one before I can't make them any more.
  After scaring the cat off, I let the birds out and started Buck on his breakfast. Painted another coat on a lawn chair. I may get them done before summer is over. I only buy paint every couple of weeks. haha
Topped off both tanks and watered flowers. Blah blah blah......oh, and mowed a few strips of the yard that needed it - don't intend to mow the whole thing as it's way to dry. Brushed down Buck really well and Cotton had his turn without the extra feed. Sprayed down Hank with flea spray. His hair is growing back but every few days has to be treated. We tried the spot on stuff even every 3 weeks like Chip suggested but it didn't work. Spraying and benadryl seem to work best for him this year.

  Chatted with this lovely girl about 3:45 this a.m.. She had been up all night I presume. Didn't chat long but was nice of her to say hey. Said she didn't know if she was coming down to see her dad or not this summer.

  Remember at the end of the day you can always relax by the fire.
Forgot to tell you that I talked to big brother a few days back. He's doing okay and still living up north.

It's a diamond day....

Post Fourth

The end of the neighborhood parade 

Coolest sport umbrella 

Fun had by all most! We didn't swim as I don't even own a suit. 

I did however just get out of our baby pool and boy did it feel good. Just enough shade for my shoulders and had my cowboy hat on. Isn't that a picture? lol 

  We had the little ones for 4 days and that was a blast. I loved having little ones in the house again but I had forgotten how many questions they could ask. Felt like the guy in the commercial with the little boy asking all those questions and him finally telling the little guy to go ask his father. Linda came down on Friday to visit with us for a few hours. That was nice. We had a good time just playing with the kids.  

  Took the other 3 dogs in for their vax and rabies. That was a quick $135. Good thing it's an annual thing. Just had Hank in there a few weeks back and got his then. The rabies are good for three years. I was getting concerned about the rabies since there seem to be an awfully lot of them this year in surrounding counties. Can't be too careful. Would like to get the horses theirs but that is a little too much this year. Got enough going on with bills, doesn't everyone? 

     Speaking of bills, I filled my tank again this morning at $3.17. Tim must have used the van in the past 2 weeks......oh, we used it on the trip to Spfd! I was thinking good gosh, I never leave the house and still cost $38 and change to fill it!

   Checked the water troughs as it is so hot and dry everything is drinking twice as much. The bird bath is empty two - three times a day. Poor little birds. Even some that never come down to drink have been visiting. Topped off the horse trough. Cow trough was full. That auto fill valve is great! Gave the chickens some left over watermelon. They love that stuff. 

   

   Hard to see through the screen but look at all those dirty birds! One day there was about 15 at the bath. 

 

Noah's Ark

 

Got somethin' in her shoe 

Look at that dead grass. The pasture is so bad. Have already started feeding hay! Gonna be a long winter trying to keep hay. If we can find it. 

  Been a diamond day! 

   

Simmering Sunday

  Good golly miss molly! It's been so dang hot. I get my outside work done before 8 or 9 so I won't melt. Had to buy hay already as the pasture is used up.
 The hens may actually be learning how to care for young. I think the banty is teaching them. She raised 7 with one hens help with 2 of them and is sitting again. Now we have 7 "heavy" chicks that are a few days old that one of the Marans has hatched. Actually Maran 1 hatched 5, went to ground, Maran 2 hatched out 2 more . Those 2 fell to the ground and Maran 1 took them over. Anyway, we have 7 more babies and so far they have lasted about 4 days. Almost a record for the heavy hens! lol
  Oh, before I forget! I took a look at why I might not be able to comment on my sister's page. She needs to change the settings to allow me to! From members only to public maybe. I think that was the choice. Oh, and the picture in my last post (I think) was of Izabella- "Bella"- Frannie's daughter.
  Went to town, got groceries etc. Back by 10:30. And got gas for 2.98! Yay! Under $3. Should not have to be excited about gas being UNDER $3.
 Was already 92* when I got back. Dang, the poor animals are just miserable. It's so dry and crackly out there. Cotton is having a hard time breathing with his COPD. A horse with asthma or something similar. Good grief. A dog with a flea allergy and two humans with more things that are wrong with them. It'd be funny if it wasn't so sad.

  It's a stone day.

Beautiful start to the day!

  It's so nice this morning. A slight breeze and only 70*. Wish it would stay like this all day. Actually I think the perfect temps would be 65*-77*, year 'round that is. That is 65* at night and topping out at 77* in the day. Haha. I wouldn't really like it but it sounds nice. I can imagine the amount of bugs you'd have to live with!
  May have the air fixed~ put the new motor on and it still didn't work. Ended up calling a tech. I believe he's about done. Yay! Been too hot for this old gal.
  It's still a diamond day!

Backyard looking good

  Got the whole back yard done. All T has to do now is the orchard and weed eat in the back. And of course the whole front yard and easement. Every 3-4 years I re-paint my lawn chairs. This is the year for at least 2 of them. One will be yellow and the other will be orange. I like the primary colors 'cause they are bright and cheery. I like to have  new cushions for them and the other metal ones but you know how that goes. Even the outdoor material is too expensive.
  Also got a little done in the shop. Need to get Sandi's can and scoop back to her now that I emptied it. The cat's appreciated a change in diet, I imagine. I always feed a cheap something to keep them around. I like the fact they keep the mice at bay. Have not seen a mouse in the shop in a couple of years.

 Bella 

Betty saying hello. She had a bath this morning. She likes to drink from the hose so I gave her a bath. She liked that too.
  Nothing much else to say. Gonna be a diamond day.