Life in the barn was very good…
More than one. Could be two, three, ten, twenty-five.
“Look! Horses! Two horses!” Says TG as she points to a group of four horses.
I think it’s pretty typical for a child her age but it’s cute anyway.
Bonzo was a dog of Col. Panic’s who would excuse himself after a burp with a low, small “woof”. This became an inside joke between us. I guess we “woof” fairly often because I was in the bathroom with KJ the other day when she burped.
“Woof.” She said.
Now, why doesn’t she pick up real manners like that?
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We bought KJ a new bike not too long ago. It has training wheels on it but they are raised up pretty high so she can get over the rocky areas. When she is on the pavement her training wheels are quite loud so it can be heard whether or not she is balancing. We were down on the pavement the other day- KJ and HP on their bikes and TG on her “Dirt King” Trike. KJ was yelling excitedly “I’m balancing! I’m balancing!”
TG came peddling along behind yelling “I’m balancing! I’m balancing!”
That’s a good thing.
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I pulled into the Library parking lot yesterday as TG excitedly said “Can we go see the mountain?!?!”
Mountain? I looked around the flat parking lot. Mountain?!? At the Library? What mountain? Then it dawned on me.
“Yes, we can go see the Fountain.”
I am a pantry type of person. I buy things on sale and stock the pantry. When I notice something is getting low, I write it on a list on the refrigerator. I even remember to take it with me once in awhile. We usually don’t have troubles with things going unused or spoiling because I buy what I know we will use. However, this past week, I have found myself in an uncomfortable position of being out of some very vital things. Things that this household can hardly live without- like tortillas! Then some basic staples- like sugar, flour and baking powder. I was going to make a dessert using zucchini (we do have an abundance of that!) for our Church Potluck but had to scrap ideas like Zucchini Chocolate cake and Zucchini brownies because of the lack of baking powder. I found a very nice looking Chocolate Zucchini Roll with no baking powder in it and scraped the last of my flour out of the bin- barely managing to have enough. It was tasty! Even got a request for the recipe. In Potluck Land that is a high complement!
But the lack of sugar is what has really thrown me for a loop. No, I don’t eat it from the canister! In fact I often go for a long time without opening the sugar container. But it’s awful hard to can things like peaches, jams and zucchini relish (did I mention we have lots copious amounts of zucchini?) without sugar. I ran out after the Chocolate Zucchini Roll but during a batch of Zucchini Relish- that batch will be a tad tangy! So I am at a stand still. Which is probably good because I needed to tend to some other things- one of which is making it so you can walk around in my kitchen without fear of sticking permanently in one location.
Col. Panic will be bringing some home with him and I’ll be able to make some more peach jam, zucchini relish and, maybe even, some zucchini jam. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! You want some zucchini?
TG has been calling our Pastor- “Master Bill”. I think she must have confused “Mister” and Pastor- blending the two to create “Master”. This has tickled us and provided some teasing fodder. But in this little exchange she got it all right.
I was saying night time prayers with the girls and said something along the lines of “Bless Pastor Bill and Ms. Bea. Amen.”
TG looked up at me with a tender look on her face and said “I love Pastor Bill!”
KJ, not to be out done, chirped “I love Pastor Bill too… and his husband!”
That will be news to him in more ways than one!
Gardening is a particular challenge in our part of the world. The combination of a western semi-arid climate, relatively high pH soils, and aggressive wildlife spell disaster for most crops.
Our typical last frost date here is May 10 – 14, when sensitive plants can be finally planted outdoors. Our first killing frost of the autumn usually comes around September 20 – 25. This leaves us a scant 4 months with which to grow most tender vegetation. Unfortunately this “growing season” is fraught with other difficulties, not the least of which is daily temperature extremes. It is fairly usual to have differences in temperature of 50° to 55° F (28° – 31° C) between the daytime high and the nighttime low. Thus, on a day reaching 100° F (38° C), an overnight low of 45° F (7° C) is not uncommon. For the last few years — including this one — we’ve had near-freezing temperatures occurring even in early August. Most plants will not thrive under such conditions, and blooms on plants such as tomatoes and peppers will not set fruit except for on those occasional nights with much warmer temperatures.
JustMe’s help in preparing, planting, weeding and watering the garden this year has been instrumental in making it look the best it ever has. As we receive almost no rain all summer long, just keeping things irrigated can be a big job on our acreage. The potatoes and onions were looking fantastic, leaf lettuce was growing nice and lush, zucchini doing great, and some other vegetables struggling along, but mostly surviving.
Now we expect deer to be destructive, so I put a motion-sensor “scarecrow” impact sprinkler in one corner of the garden to keep the deer moving along. Unfortunately, the scarecrow isn’t supposed to be out when it will freeze, so our early season crops were picked over until mid-May when the deterrent could be permanently placed. Since that time it has proven to be an expensive device that seems like a good idea, even if the current implementation has definite room for refinement and enhancement. In the end, I think our strategically placed dog (tied up in the vicinity of the garden) has proven to be more effective than the scarecrow.
We have gophers, too. They have destroyed some of our young trees in the past, so their presence was anticipated. I placed another modern technological marvel in the soil of the garden, a battery-operated “sonic” probe that is supposed to dissuade ground-dwelling rodents from burrowing in its proximity. Within a week after the gopher chaser went in the ground, we had new mounds appearing in the garden. …sigh…
But, to be honest, the deer and gopher problem has paled in comparison to a much greater menace. This menace has decimated all of our leaf lettuce, damaged radishes, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes (some of the few fruits that had actually appeared). It has stripped ears of corn, damaged a few canteloupe fruits that were barely growing, and — get this — dug up and destroyed many potatoes! What on earth could cause all of this devastation, and prevent us from enjoying the fruits of our labors?
Pheasants.
Yes, pheasants! Amazingly they sneak in, peck most anything they can, and they are *very* destructive. In all fairness, we think they are more after the moisture in the fruits and vegetables, particularly the potatoes, but the end result is the same.
We’ve tried being nice. We even spent some more money putting in a bird bath in another part of the yard where they could enjoy some water. Bird baths are not cheap, you know. Do they use it? No. Apparently the garden is much more attractive.
Of course you realize, this means war!
