Beams, Berms and Boards

 

This is the story of our lives! We have two corgis who are not content with 5.8 acres. It's boring. They chase the squirrels away, and then they have nothing to chase. Well, accept for the crows. They love chasing the crows, who dutifully fly a bit, tease the girls, who chase them again, and then the crows light in a tree just on the other side of our fence! The tortoise (more than one?) is no challenge. 

We have several burrow entrances on our property. Some appear to be abandoned, but others show signs of activity. We were witness to a tortoise doing his/her spring cleaning a few weeks ago. There was dirt flying out of the hole! 

The torti (yeah, the plural is supposed to be tortoises, but I like this more creative form!) also are not content with our acreage, and burrow under our fence. Here's one escape hatch. with my creative means of keeping the dogs in the yard. I stuck sticks in the sand to create a fence....since we have begun to put boards along the bottom of the fence where escape is possible, I propped a board up against it as well. At some point the Mister and I will install the board properly. 

Kaitlyn has perfected the sidestroke to get under the fence. She plops down on her shoulder and uses her hind legs, helped by swimming motion of the front, to sidle under the fence. When I come across a possible point of egress when I am walking the fence line (I've started doing this each day) I stuff prickly shrub cuttings into the gap. 

The original owners of our hacienda had a dressage arena of sand, outlined by long timbers, like railroad ties. Originally the Mister thought he could use the tractor to move the timbers over to the fence line and push them against the gap under the fence. Unfortunately many of the timbers are rotted out underneath and crumble as he tries to move them. However, he has placed a few here and there. 

As a temporary measure the Mister has also built up mounds of dirt (sand) at the base of the fence. Both the dogs and the torti can dig through these, however, given enough time. 

But it at least slows the dogs down a bit!

Revisiting a Saturday Centus

I used to participate in a blog challenge called "Saturday Centus". Bloggers were given a prompt or a picture, maybe with a required writing style, and were to create a 100 word post from that. Recently I was looking for a different post and stumbled on this one....

I thought I'd throw it out there again! Much of it seems apropos. Although were I to write it again, I do see some areas that I feel don't quite mesh with our current political climate. I added those substitutions in blue, but kept the poem to its original 100 words. What did I miss?

From the Saturday Centus, June 29, 2013: 

 

It is time for another Saturday Centus. Jenny* has provided us with a picture prompt again this week. Appropriately, for our Nation's "Birthday", this week's picture is Old Glory.... an Old Glory who has seen better days.

Jenny provides us with the rules:

Write 100 words about the picture

Style of writing: Any

There she is, 

tattered and torn...

Some say, like the flag, 

our Democracy is worn.

Our forebears came together

and fought for our rights.

Now selfishness rules

and apathy impotence blights.

The Government legislates,

And the courts uphold.

The courts don't uphold

Laws seem to contradict

the ideals of old.

Their measures This dichotomy splits us apart

like the threads on the seam

of the flag in the picture.

Is this our American dream?

I say it’s time 

to revisit the plan.

Recall freedom of choice,

and justice for each man.

Tattered, or whole

the flag is still there.

Remember the values.

Show our nation we care.

* Jenny Matlock posted these challenges on her blog. Her last post was in 2016. In that post she talked about her pain and chronic illness. I suspect that Jenny has passed. God bless you Jenny, for all you did to encourage and challenge so many people. 

Shopping

Look what I found in Aisle 18 at Hobby Lobby!

I had to take Queen Victoria, commonly referred to as Vickie, to the vet yesterday. She had the remains of a sticker in her foot. She wouldn't let us touch it, and she was very gimpy. Of course, by the time we got the appointment, nothing could be seen. It always seems to go that way. But the Vet gave me a topical spray to keep it from getting infected, and she did get a pedicure. 

I ordered some things at Hobby lobby and received a call that my items were in. So, I decided to treat Vickie to a side trip on the way home. Although this is not part of her usual routine, she handled it like a pro! Of course, she garnered a lot of attention, and she loved every minute of it!

I'm going shopping today, too. The Villages quilt guilds have Marketplace. Evidently it is an amazing collection of quilting, crafting, sewing vendors. I'll let you know! 

 

Quack, Quack, Gobble

Whenever I go to a farm supply store that has chicks, I must stop and visit them. Recently I ran by our local "Rural King" farm store. I could hear the chicks....so went on a search.

Way back when I volunteered with the local 4-H to support an embryology project in local classrooms. The 4-H/County Extension supplied everything; an incubator, some educational materials and a dozen fertile eggs. Over the years I added more materials to the curriculum, which enriched the program for students from first to seventh grade. 

Over several years I never tired of helping the teachers, seeing the kids' excitement,  and seeing baby chicks. 

I have many wonderful memories from the years of leading this project,

as well as a few bittersweet. 

When I had the program in my class, I would find myself watching the chicks. I loved how they would all run around, then as a group, stop, stand for a moment, and then 'ooze' down into a little chick puddle, sound asleep. 

A few of the chicks in the picture above had just fallen asleep. 

I tried to get a video, but they wouldn't cooperate! 

This sign made me smile....

and brought forth more memories!

 

Long ago, BC (before children) Easter was approaching. I had stopped in at our small Mom & Pop (and Sister, Son and Aunt) market to pick up something for supper. There was a cardboard box on the counter with ducklings in it. I asked about buying one but was told they were all spoken for. 

My in-laws were visiting, and my MIL was in the car with me. She and I both thought a duckling would be a great gift for her son. Like me, she was a kid at heart. So, we drove on to Savannah, GA, about 30 minutes away. We walked into the feed and seed store. I could hear cheeping coming from a far corner. 

I was approached by an employee. I asked about ducklings. He replied that they had none.

I asked what was cheeping, and he told me they had baby turkeys. 

Hmmm, maybe an Easter turkey would be a fun thing for my hubby!

The employee looked at me as if I was crazy,  saying, "Naw, you don't want no dumb turkey. They be so dumb they'll hold their heads up in a rainstorm and drown."

I was even more determined to take a poult home, and surprise my hubby with a turkey in his Easter basket the next morning!

Oh, and the employee gave me as much food as he thought I would need before the turkey died.

It was probably less than a cup of poultry starter!

Well, things didn't go according to my plan. 

The turkey was bereft without his brothers and sisters and was screaming. 

I had him in the car, in a box, planning to wait until morning to gift him, but my husband could hear the plaintiff cries from the back yard! 

None of us could stand the cries, but by then it was too late to go back to the 

feed and seed store to get a pal. 

My FIL felt terrible. He decided to go back to our local market, just on the off chance that they had a duckling left. And, lo and behold, someone had not returned to get their duck. 

(Perhaps they were smarter, had more common sense, than I!)

Here's a picture of my FIL that evening, with the baby duck.

You can see his joy in having saved the duckling, and providing a pal for the turkey.

(apologies about the poor quality)

Sadly, I can't locate a picture of the turkey, but trust me, he wasn't cuddly and cute! 

This was an almost 'happily ever after' story....

the duckling and the turkey were instantly best friends. 

The duckling/duck would swim in our little fish pond.

The turkey would try to follow him, 

and would come squawking indignantly out of the water! 

As they reached maturity, the birds wanted girlfriends.

One of my friends had other ducks, so she agreed to take ours.

Another friend had chickens and turkeys, 

so our tom went to live with her. 

Ah, yes....memories! 

All triggered by a sign at the local farm store saying that individual chicks could not be purchased!

It was all fun and games until the Vet Tech came and took us to the back! 

No, no, no! Don't make us go!

We're done. Let us go! 

Faster!

We want OUT!

Hurry up! Get us out of here!

Kaitlyn and Vickie needed a Bordatella vaccination. Even though they love people, and seeing other dogs, they much preferred to be anywhere but at the Vet's!

 

Winter Wonderland

 The temps dipped down to 22 at our house in the morning on Monday. The Mister has decided that the colder air sinks down into our  area as we are lower than some properties around us, so we are about 5 degrees colder than neighbors just up the hill. 

Our sprinkler system ran in the night. We are only allowed to irrigate on Mondays. (As a former Master Gardener I will put in my two 'sense' that we do not have enough natural moisture in the winter to support plants without irrigating at least twice a week.) It was fun to discover the winter wonderland when I got up to let the dogs out. 

Sparkling threads of Spanish Moss*

A Crepe Myrtle looking like it is strung with spider webs

Frozen Muhly Grass

Ice designs in the bird bath

I almost felt the joy I recall from childhood experiences of walking across crunchy grass...almost!

*the teacher (and Master Gardener) in me requires that I tell you (in case you didn't know) that Spanish Moss is not a moss at all. It is an Epiphyte. This means that it is a plant that grows on another plant, but is not parasitic. 

Not a Sunny Sunday

As was predicted, we did get rain on Sunday, about 1/4". The temperature at the beginning of the day, when we were uncovering the plants around 7 AM, was 57. It dropped as the rain came to 46. We are going below 32 again tonight, so after the rain, the blankets will go back on the plants. 

The dampness made the day feel especially cold.

The stag horn did not like the cold....

but it did appreciate the rain!

I stayed inside almost all day....and I loved it! 

I did some of the PT exercises for my back.

I cut some fabrics, and sewed some others, to work on blocks for the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. 

And I got back on the computer for my long arm machine to try to get the computer to stitch what I wanted and where on this small quilt. It is still taking me a long time to translate my ideas to language the program understands. After a few attempts I was able to tell it to stitch a design around the pineapple. I struggled with communicating where I wanted it to stitch after I had to move the quilt. I will figure that transition out....and some day I will look back and laugh at my ineptness! 

(You really can't see it, but the background of this piece has been quilted.)

The pineapple design was stitched in a class I took in the spring 0f 2019....

I guess it's about time that I finished it! 

I still need to decide how to quilt the pineapple itself, 

but that will be done on my regular machine...I think!