May 2020

I saw a post on facebook two daysa ago....

Maybe this board has closed.......................

Ooops, time flies even when you aren't having fun! Sorry I haven't posted, it seems every time I get ready to post, I get interrupted by Donnie, cats, dog, chickens, horses, neighbors, weather outages, etc, etc. Life is a bit different now that Donnie is here most of the time and is now up and running, running, running!

I hope everyone had a wonderful mother's day! It isn't a day I tend to celebrate since I don't have kids and my mother and mother-in-law are both gone. But we did go thru the Wendy's drive-thru and had a Frosty anyway!

I have had an on and off somewhat temp and cough, then both my indoor cats got sick making me wonder if they caught it from me. They have both recovered and while I still have a cough, it is probably inspired by a developing allergy to hay dust. The temp comes and goes, but is much less now. I have been wearing a facemask to reduce the dust while loading up haynets. I probably wouldn't have thought much about all this if the dreaded virus wasn't lurking around.

I did ride Ivan for one entire mile the other day!! In the arena, 14 times around the edge. I have entered an internet ride called WarHorse Challenge on FaceBook. You have to ride 100 miles sometime between now and the end of the year, hence the one mile ride the other day. Only 99 more miles to go and Ivan and I will get a medal on a ribbon! It is mostly to inspire me to get out and ride for a goal.

No, the board isn't shut down, I just vegged out for awhile! I would let you know if we had to shut down. It is no cost and no problem for me to keep this board going forever.

The chicks have been moved into the peacock's dome and are living nicely. We had a couple of very cold nights, but they are fully feathered and did just fine. The peacock had been strutting his stuff for the little hens.

Donnie has put in two raised beds to plant small gardens in and planted our three tomato plants. We hope to have another, larger garden in a different area soon, too.

Virginia is still shut down and supposed to start opening up a few things on Friday. I don't trust going to restaurants or public places with lots of people, but do hope we can take the horses out on the park trails again soon. I am not sure when that will happen. The eastern side of Virginia won't open up as much as our area is supposed to because they have a lot of Covid-19 cases and our area doesn't have very much.....yet. I think our governor is doing a good job trying to keep us alive and if he says it isn't safe, I tend to believe him.

Anyway, I'm back!

Ark, it's good to see you back. This has, indeed, been a crazy time.
I know absolutely nothing about chickens. How long before your little hens start laying eggs? Home grown eggs are always a lot better than store bought.

The little goslings are growing and beginning to get something that looks like feathers, instead of fuzz.

I am so thankful for a few nice days coming up. A retired neighbor is now doing handyman work, so he's going to fix a rotted railing on my deck and then clean and stain the deck.

My fingers are crossed that we will FINALLY get the jet ski in the water this weekend. Can't wait. I'm sure the rest of you are getting sick and tired of hearing about my jet ski.

I've been lost for a time after upgrading to Windows 10. In fact, I'm STILL lost! Wrote a long post for here last night but it disappeared into the mists of history...

Or maybe I got censored? For writing that I was so excited at spring's finally arriving that
I was considering running naked in the streets crying, "The LEAVES are coming! The LEAVES are coming!"

I do say that every year, so forgive me if that's old news. It did occur to me that this might be the year to ACT on that impulse, 'cause all else is so cockamamie that nobody would notice...

But we ARE experiencing spring here at last! Green grass and forsythia in full bloom, and lilac leaves now bigger than mice ears. Gloriously sunny today, but a cold wind that's driven me inside for the moment. Trying to ready garden beds for vegetables once again. A dusting of snow last Saturday, and temps in the 30s forecast for tonight.

So far so good in virus-avoidance, though it creeps near in tragic news of friends' parents dying in nursing homes, which are Corona-19 hotbeds hereabouts. I resumed shopping for my own groceries a couple of weeks ago -- like almost everybody else, I was glad to see, in mask and gloves. Or masks anyway. Maine has been both lucky and smart, now relaxing rules to the north but not in the two southernmost counties where the population is denser. Total deaths thus far just under 70, I think -- a figure to be proud of only relative to others'.

I love hearing what you all are up to!

Hi Beech! I know what you mean about leaves. Ours are just a week ahead of yours. They are still mid-sized, not full grown at all. Everything is really late this year.
I just mowed the grass, but it's been most of two weeks. This time of year, we often mow twice a week. I am grateful for my tractor. I mow three neighbors' yards in addition to my own. 30 minutes and I'm back in the house. Nice tractor. (pat pat pat) Nice Tractor.

My neighbor came today and fixed my deck railing, swept and blew the dirt out of the garage, and sprayed for weeds. I told him they had better not move away. I need him here. This was a paying job, but certainly not the going rate. I will make sure that he stays supplied with ice cream.

ELLEN:
I think the little hens will start laying in the fall, so about 6 months old. I got three different types of hens, and of course have already forgotten what the breeds were.... So the different breeds may start laying at different ages. All of the girls are so cute! They are not bantam type hens, so will be more regular size. Donnie got inspired with naming them, he took the Borg of Star Trek's plan for naming. So we have One-of-Eight, Two-of-Eight, and so on until Eight-of-Eight. We know which ones are One-of-Eight and Eight-of-Eight, but have decided to let the girls fight it out over who are the rest.

BEECH:
Be sure to have someone take pix if you go running naked thru the streets!! Several years ago, Donnie looked up at the house across the road and up the hill and saw the neighbor's former wife walking around naked on her deck! He was in our yard and she was very visible from here....but may not have realized it. We don't know if that is why she is the neighbor's 'former' wife....We never discussed it with anyone...
We have been mowing for a few weeks now and if all goes well, should be ready to make hay at the end of May. With all the virus stuff, I suspect Donnie and I will be putting up our hay without any help this summer. Donnie mowed part of the barn lot pasture today to get rid of buttercups and some other weed that was starting to flower. The buttercups are having a good year.

Ark, when I was a little girl a friend of my dad's gave me a little banty hen. She had all kinds of pretty colors. However, the neighbors weren't too fond of her. In the mornings, she would go right beneath the neighbors' bedroom window and crow. Yes. A hen crowing. I was pretty small and I'm not sure what happened to her, but I think my dad gave her to a farmer.
We never got any eggs from her, but she must have had an acquaintance somewhere, because she did have a small clutch of multi-colored little ones.
LOL I hadn't thought of that little hen in YEARS.

ELLEN:
Awwww, the little hen sounded very cute! I do like bantam cochin chickens, I had them for about 30 years. The last one died a couple of years ago. The first ones I got were from eggs an older woman gave me to sit under a broody turkey I had named Turkey Breath. She was sitting on a white rock, so I got her some eggs to hatch. Unfortunately, the hatched chicks were so tiny, Turkey Breath couldn't keep up with them. We ended up raising them ourselves and they became the first of many cochins over the years.

It's going to warm up today today and even more over the weekend. It will feel more like spring. It's been fairly chilly, which makes me want to stay curled up with a book. We've been watching a British series on Prime called "The Durelles in Corfu". We have two episodes left. It takes place in the five years before WWII and has been fun to watch.

Whooeeeeeeeee. I got a beautiful load of hay today.............

It's cool and pleasant here in the mornings.......kids buzzing around, dogs running loose, kids chasing.
A couple of 12 yr olds are starting a business of pressure washing garbage cans. I booked for July.
They asked if they could do the lawn but I said "no", however, they could come pick up after storm after
monsoon starts. They were thrilled. It takes time to pick up all the windblown sticks. As they left they said
"thanks for the jobs". I always try to support kids that are trying.

I wonder what it's like being a kid today in these times...............VERY different, that's for sure. That's
really something about the virus changing in kids............what a sacare for the parents.

Everyone have a great evening.

Hello everyone.  Things have been quiet here in PA too but Wolf is being pressured to open things, only a few counties are still in the red.  People are out and about and more cars on the roads.  Of course, gas went from $1.68 to $2.05 in the blink of an eye.  I've been doing my own shopping also.  Not a big deal except for wearing that stupid mask.  Had a couple meetings with my girlfriends, sitting in her driveway, 6 feet apart.

George has been busy mowing, our grass is growing like crazy and it was 82 degrees yesterday.  The terrible winds have ruin my lilac bush, so we trimmed it down, it was dead on the inside.  Of course, it had been growing here since the 50's when my friend Dee lived here as a child.  Between the tornado last spring and the terrible winds & late frost this year it was doomed.  It will come back, but I doubt we will be alive to see that happen.

I had a little hen as a child, her name was Lucille...kept her at my Gram's house.  One day I went to see her and she was gone.  Asked Gram where she was and she said "in Katherine's freezer".  WHAT!!!!!  I didn't eat chicken for years just in case.  LOL

ARK:  The AQHA used to have a riding program.  We logged our riding hours and sent them in, we received belt buckles and patches for our jackets.  I achieved 2 buckles, 250 & 500.  Those were the good old days when I lived on my horse.  Hope you kick that cough, we have been dealing with our spring allergies.  That is funny about your naked neighbor.  LOL

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

It's RAINING! Boo hiss. We put the jet ski in the water yesterday. It was late in the day so Travis rode it from the launch to the lift. I haven't been on it yet. Today was gong to be THE DAY. If the rain stops for a few minutes, I'll be on it.

Indiana is beginning to open up, more or less reasonably. I have an appointment for a haircut on Wednesday. Whew! There's going to be a lot to cut off.
The license branches are opening by appointment only. My appointment is for Thursday to get the title work done for the jet ski. Usually, this branch runs so efficiently, that I can just walk in anytime and never have to wait more than 2 or 3 minutes, and I'm usually finished in another 5 minutes.

Memorial Day is next weekend?!? Where did May go?

ELLEN:
 I hope you get some sunshine to try out your new jetski today.  Your rain is supposed to arrive here tomorrow and then we'll get rain thru Thursday....possibly 3 to 5 inches.  That tropical storm, Arthur, is not going to hit here directly, but is influencing our rain from the west of us.  Today will be a mowing day.

I got another mile in on Ivan yesterday, in the arena.  He was very sweet.  I think he is getting used to working more, he had months off this winter.   Only 97 miles left on my riding challenge!  


TRUDY:
 It was 82 degrees here yesterday, too.  Ivan is always more mellow when it is hot, so we had a nice ride!  My cough is better, thanks,  I have been wearing a mask while working with hay and it seems to help.  

GRAYMARE:
 I could use some helpful neighborhood kids!  Yours sound great!  


I have to show you a photo taken yesterday.  Donnie and Kumquat were dancing around and I caught them!   They are becoming an item since he is at home more these days.  She was purring like mad while they were dancing.

Ark, is that a foxtrot or a tango?

Here is a video of a cowboy gymnast that will make you giggle.
https://www.wideopencountry.com/cowboy-gymnastic-routine/

Ellen, did you get on the ski today? Hope so and hope the rain stopped.

We were freed on SATURDAY but I'm still contained of sorts.......no running around or going to restaurants, etc............
Masks are still required here but many don't wear them...........

oh well...............

Nope. No ride today. It rained almost all day. The water level is coming up. Tomorrow morning, I'll tie the jet ski to the lift so it doesn't go wandering around. I might have to set some water buckets on the dock to keep it from leaving too.
We are supposed to have two more days of rain.

ELLEN:
I believe that was a tango! Kumquat has really changed toward Donnie in recent months. They are buds now. :-)

Woohoo! Call me a happy camper. The rain stopped long enough for me to take a little cruise around the lake. The water level is so high now that I didn't want to make any dock floating waves, but it was a nice ride nevertheless. I'll probably have to wait a week for the water level to go down before I can really try it out.

Hurray, ELLEN!
I bet it was fun. When you do finally get in a longer ride, take pix!!


The rain has arrived after dark, we didn't get any all day and it turned into a pretty one. We had to go to the feed store, so donned our masks and carried some hand sanitizer bravely into the store. No one else there was wearing masks, not the clerks, not the customers. There is apparently a political stigma on wearing masks. Luckily, neither Donnie nor I care. We plan to be the last people standing. We were going to stop at a couple of places that sell garden plants, but both places' parking lots were packed and no one we saw was wearing a mask either. So we didn't stop and will go early in the morning when no one is there.

Donnie has his first raised bed garden spot planted with tomatoes, garlic and a few flowers on each end. He put up a little fence around it, which was lucky because this afternoon both roosters were in the unfenced, and unplanted, raised bed having a wonderful dust bath. They made very nice rooster sized holes in it. He'll fence that one in after he plants it, too.

The little hens are growing up! Their voices have changed and their feathers are all grown out. The little hen, Eight-of-Eight, likes to escape thru little holes in the fence just about every day where we haven't finished replacing that part of the netting. She is quite clever and when she sees us coming, dashes back in the hole, telling us where it is.

TRUDY:
What are you planting in your garden this year?

Woohoo! I'm home with 2 inches less hair!
The water level is really up, about 2 feet above normal. All the docks are floating. Mine was floating, but hadn't floated away. The guy came back to secure it, and will have to come back again when the water goes down. The jet ski is securely tied to the lift. The DNR has restricted boating on this group of lakes. Waves would tear up docks, take some boats out to sea, and some low lying houses will probably have water in them.
I'm guessing it will be most of a week or more before things can get close to being back to normal levels.
At least the rain has finally stopped - for now.

We got back monday in the rain and it hasnt stopped yet.

We also drive thru a narrow dust haboob in nevada! Thats unusual.....and was snowing in the mts in nv and idaho again in may.

Glad to sleep in my bed....and we sat in the recliners only moving to eat or take dogs out on tuesday....we were pooped.....

Just looking out my windows, there is usually decent entertainment. As I've said, the water level is about 2 feet higher than normal. Docks and piers are floating. My neighbors' dock was floating in spite of several buckets of water sitting on top, along with a really heavy concrete planter.
Their son got here a little while ago and along with a friend decided to just pull the pier sections out of the water and stack them on shore. The water is about 60°, not exactly swimming temperature. "Son" wade into the water thinking he might just swim out and pull them in. The shriek I heard when he was knee-deep explained that was a bad idea. So, he decided that he'd get one of the kayaks and retrieve them with that. He was out at the end of the dock where the water is about 5 feet deep.
Another yell and a splash said he overturned the kayak and was swimming, like it or not. I laughed. Knowing this particular guy, I wasn't at all surprised. It was just funny. I told him I was waiting to see him go after the concrete planter. LOL That will happen another day.

ELLEN:  You got your haircut.  I'm so jealous.

Things are getting better here in PA and us rednecks are protesting and going about our business no matter what Wolf says.  The Keystone Barrel Racers had a show last weekend and the dirt bike arena is having a race tomorrow.  ENOUGH of the craziness. 

Big Ben (the Steeler QB) had his hair cut and shaved, getting ready for some football.  Governor Wolf went wild.  LOL  He better listen to that old Charlie Daniels song where it says "never lay your hands on Pittsburgh Steeler fan."  LOL  Don't mess with our QB.

I took my freind Karen (the lady with the brain cancer) to Walmart yesterday.  There were no lines and all the departments were open.  There were people with no masks.  Usually Karen is the only person wearing a mask but she had a lot of company yesterday.  

Still no church services but our Bible study on Angels is starting June 2nd.  Can't wait for that.  Our contractors are coming today to finish the projects we started after the hurricane last spring. I'm off to buy paint today.

Stay safe and healthy.

Rain, rain, rain..... We have about 6 inches so far from this system. Rivers and creeks are flooded. We actually saw some sunshine today for a little while, that was different. It has rained for 3 days. Now we could use some drying so we can get our first cutting of hay done.

The parks are still closed, so no riding in them yet. With the rain, the paths are probably way too muddy anyway.

We ordered online from 5 Guys the other day, then picked it up outside. We sat in the parking lot and had the most wonderful hamburger and french fries we have had in months!

Our water level is just starting to drop. It went down about an inch overnight. At that rate, it will take at least two weeks to get to something close to normal - IF we don't get any more rain. Unfortunately, there is more predicted. I hope it won't be like Ark just got and we got last weekend.

The summer people are back. Since they can't play in boats, and the water is too cold to swim, they are all driving around in their golf carts. We had more traffic on our little road yesterday than we've had in the last 3 months.

Boy, our "hood"was closed today...............everybody has gone somewhere. Our neighbors across the road are home.
We had a BBQ.....that's it. We honored the service men/women we know and watched two memorial services on
TV. Our flag out front needs replacing and we didn't get it done. Maybe tomorrow. Our local memorial services were cancelled.
Everything has changed. To those who served, THANK YOU!!!

We are still social distance knowing the covid virus is still a threat................