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Photo Friday: the world according to my little dog

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Here on the Farmlet there are a few words and phrases that are never said out loud unless we really mean it.

In order of importance to the Little Dog they are:

  1. “Ball”  (ALWAYS spelled when we are talking to each other.)
  2. “Kong” (Same as above)
  3. “Who want’s breakfast/dinner?”  (abbreviated, when we are wondering if the other has already fed them their “B” or “D”)
  4. “Is daddy home yet?”
  5. “Clean-up on isle nine!”  (This one is handy whenever you have spilled something on the kitchen floor, or when it is time to go to bed and they are frolicking and barking with total abandon in the dark …  and yes, we do reward for an appropriate response at bedtime!)

This morning However . . .

Not even the number one word could get a rise out of the Little Dog!

 

 

When the north wind blows,

and a chill is in the air,

sometimes all that is needed

is a soft bed…

and a warm nose.

~*~

Stay warm, and enjoy your weekend my friends!

~*~

Photo Friday: over the river and through the woods

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Once upon a Monday I drove 68 miles (one way) to meet a woman who sells very inexpensive plants from her home.  I told Bob about going and he quickly quipped:  “With the price of gas being almost $4.00 a gallon just how much money are you saving here?”

Well, I had to admit that it was probably next to nothing in savings, but hey,  it afforded me the opportunity to get out with my camera and see some more of Alabama, as well as the chance to talk to someone besides kitties, dogs, and chickens!

On my way I stopped and took a few photos of:

A  derelict old building…

Lead Paint over Stucco

A covered foot bridge…

A Cowboy Church…

The church’s concept is intriguing don’t you think?

Note the hay bale bench on the left, and the corral on the side!

and the Dam Cafe which “…serves damn fine BBQ too!”  Or so I’ve been told… 😉

NOTE:  Having been highly recommended by the lovely Plant Lady, I wanted to stop in on the way out and get some for that night’s dinner,  but they were closed!

Then I followed a very curvy road through an oak forest to arrive  here!

(I wish this image was sharper, but you get the effect at any rate.)

The Plant Lady told me that they had found an old house that was being torn down, so they acquired these doors and retrofit them to make an entry to their screen porch!  I, of course, love her color choice!  Don’t you?

Now when I left that morning I had imagined that I would get my plants and be off, but as it happens, the lovely lady who lives here was a chicken lover like myself,

This is the biggest rooster I have ever seen!  He must have been over two feet tall!  Well, OK I’m embellishing a bit, but he really was very big!

and an artist as well as gardener of native plants!

This garden is a mix of native and other plantings, but it is done with a very natural effect!  It was very peaceful here.

And so it was that we ended up spending the afternoon together talking about the things that were important to us.   Her plants, native gardening, her children, and the state of the school system were among the many topics discussed.

During this time we walked across the road to see one of many inlets along the Tennessee River.

On our return I saw a shy Red Fox in the tree studded meadow behind her home.  How I wished I could have gotten close enough to get a better shot!  Having never seen one in the wild before I found myself holding my breath, as if in so doing he might linger for my camera’s lens, but he did not!  Instead he ran off into the deeper grass and disappeared from view altogether.  I must admit that I was only a little bit disappointed at not getting a better photograph, because after all…  the very fact that I got to see him was a gift.

All too soon it was time to go home and I had over an hours drive ahead of me.  It is a funny thing, but driving back the way you came, the miles seem fly by and you arrive home in no time at all!

So what did I get from the lovely plant lady?  Red bud trees, Joseph’s coat ground cover, Lamb’s Ears, Monarda (aka: red bee balm) variegated Solomon’s Seal, Wild Phlox, and May Apples!  All the native plants went out under the Fringe Tree at the head of the drive, and the trees (also native) are to be planted along the edge of our parking area giving us a gorgeous view in spring, and a bit of shade in summer…

Perhaps more importantly I made a new friend, and that is priceless!

~*~

Notes:  These photos of my visit were taken on April 24 of 2011,  three days prior to the horrible tornado outbreak in our region.  Hence, my delay in posting this lovely visit.  Sorry it took me so long.

Also, out of respect for the plant lady’s wishes, I’ve restricted my photos to the environment about her home.  Just in case you wondered.  Oh yes, and the lovely lady and her family were all OK!!!  🙂

First day

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OK, were done with that one and it’s on to this year, 2012, and what a start!

Teacup version:

  • Polly ate something she shouldn’t have and she’s sick.
  • It is 57  and sunny for the moment, will reach 61 for a high with rain again later.   It was already raining like heck this morning when I went out to do my rounds.  Oh yes, and the (scary) wind turned my umbrella over when I set it down to water the chickens, and promptly filled it with water. Tonight will be 20 degrees and colder still tomorrow.  Well really we are just being plunged into the deep freeze for the whole week.
  • Took advantage of the sunshine and mucked out the chicken house before the rain leaks under and tonight’s freeze makes that job impossible.  (I’m brilliant that way sometimes.)
  • Read everyone’s New Year’s resolutions. . .

Which brings me to mine.  I’m not going there.  I just have to agree with DJ Lutz at Almost Out of Ink, when he penned this as his one and only resolution,

“I will simply resolve to try to be a better person each day. And if I can do something to make the world a better place, either through my writing or (gasp) by personal interaction, all the better.”

As regards myself, I will only add this to his statement,

I need to get my spiritual life back on track. 

NO, not to worry.  It’s not that I have given up my faith, nothing of the sort!  I’ve just been lazy about it, and that bothers me.

Something  I will do this year that is not really a resolution because I will do them regardless are:

  • Get my ETSY store up and running.  Now that all the home repairs are completed and I have a studio to work in.  * This makes me happy!
  • Continue my research for my book.

Why make it hard?  Why set myself up for failure?  This is simply the easiest and wisest choice.

*NOTE:  It is said that if you want to love your work, then work at something you love.  Now I won’t go into a whole treatise on the subject as this fellow already did that job HERE,  and its translatable into fourteen languages.  Why would I try to reinvent the wheel?   What I will say is this:   I love being a sewist/quilter/writer.  Better, it seems to come easily to me.   I could use more practice in design to get a handle on mixing patterns but that will come with practical experience and maybe a class or two.  The book could take longer.

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

 

Photo Friday: follow me!

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You’ve been here many times before, but I had so much fun discovering what’s been happening behind the scenes that I just had to share with you dear reader.

First, thing you’ll notice is that my sunflowers are now about 12 feet tall! Walking in the garden with these behemoths towering overhead makes me feel like a child again…

But now I turn your attention to looking closer, underneath the leaves here, where you will find squash blossoms and immature fruits awaiting pollination. 

What’s that you say?

You spy bugs in the blossoms?

Not to worry.  Keep up with me now.

Here’s a surprise!  Naked Ladies bounding up from the ground where I was sure they would be never seen again!   You see there was in incident with that rototiller earlier in the season…  Yet there were survivors and…

What?

Oh, yes I saw it too, another little bug in the flower, and it’s eating the pollen you say?  Don’t worry, just follow me…

 Having never grown cotton before I was enchanted with how the flower buds reminded me of ceremonial Thai hats.

We had a couple of 2 X 4 Tarter tank water troughs hanging about, left over from brooding chicks and geese.  So we moved one into the garden and attached a lovely faucet handle (brought all the way from the house in California) into the drain hole.  Now I fill it from the well and it gently soaks the garden on days with no rain.  I think it looks lovely and it is definitely practical don’t you agree?

I thought these were stunning so I captured them for you too...

 I’ve entitled it: 

A Mother’s Adoration

So as you have noticed I have bugs.  I chose not to spray and that’s what you get when you don’t use chemicals.  Lots of bugs!  Instead I planted flowers in the midst of the garden and that, my friends, brought in more bugs.

the reinforcements!

So, allow me to introduce you to my equalizers…

The Fairy Lacewing

A Dragonfly

(He must have flown in from my last post! 😉 )

Looking closely we see evidence that parasitic wasps have taken up residence amongst the tomatoes…  I know it offends your sensibilities, and for that I am sorry, but it is a bug eat bug world out there and without the beneficials we would go wanting!

And now finally…

SPIDER ALERT!

OK, you’ve been officially warned.

(Please do click on her for a closer look, and if you can stand it, click on her again to really see her in detail.)

I found this beautiful lady!  She’s one and one half inches long (including legs)!  Do you see her suitor in the background?

For those bugs who would seek to destroy my garden by their sheer numbers, Japanese beetles and squash bugs, well there is the bucket of water for them…  I gather them up every morning and take them over to my chickens and the WeeChoo.  The chickens make short work of the Japanese beetles, and My guinea hen “WeeChoo” eats the squash/stink bugs!

Yes, my garden is full of insects.  Some of my plants have holes in the leaves and I lose a few to the bad guys now and again.  However, as time goes by the good should outweigh the bad.

In the end, I have the confidence of knowing that I can eat what I grow without fear.   It also makes me glad that I have not added anything to the environment that would do harm.

It is a great feeling.