First Week Under Our Belts

The first week of 2023 is safely past.... and all is well.  

I noticed Friday that there are buds on the maple tree! 

I have had so many small and large branches come off this tree during the fall that I am going to have it assessed when the tree eaters come to take down the saplings in the pasture. 

It's been cold, but not so cold that Bullseye spent hours doing this.  He is outside almost all the time. 

I was under the weather this week, necessitating a trip to the doctor and meds, but am on the mend.  I just took it a little easier. Bully was glad to help me stay in one place. 

Zoey was glad to sleep late several mornings. 

And I found Alien, the feral who has been coming and going, in the garage one morning. 

I have a theory... I think he lives around here and just stops by to eat, because he is in good flesh, and he disappeared entirely during the terrible weather at Christmas. 

I thought it would be interesting to look back at the end of the year from years past. 

12/31/17 had a full moon, just like this week's.  

(ours this week came a few nights after). 

On 12/31/18, I still had Donald and at least two Duckingtons.  How I miss them!  I miss ducks! 

On 12/31/19, I saved this picture of two big raccoons on my porch. I am not longer leaving food out on the porch to put a stop to this.  The skunk's suffering last week led me to believe it is better for the wildings not to become dependent. 

On 12/31/2020, my beautiful Rusty was still coming here daily and nightly.  He has moved over the road to my friend's house, but has now disappeared from there.  What a beauty he was, but truly feral, even though he was  raised by me as a kitten. 

Last year on the 31st, I posted pictures of the wonderful train in the front yard of one of our National Agricultural Center volunteers... this was his labor of love.  Sadly, he was not able to display his train, the Seven Dwarf passengers, and the Grinch sneaking up on them this year.  I was privileged to see it. 

This is what the feeding area looked like on January 2, last year. 

And this year! 

Speaking of crows... 

These guys came down to eat sunflower seed yesterday, and I took their pictures through my front door.  The funny thing is, I can go out and take pictures of them, they actually don't fly unless I get within six feet.  They are such beautiful birds.

Mama and Cleo are beauties, too.  The shop is staying nice and toasty for them, since I put plastic across the door opening and put two small heaters in there.  

Teenie also sleeps in there, but spends hours outside daily. 

Granddaughter Paiton and her bestie got a late Christmas gift from me of a short day camp and ride at a local stable.  She was so glad to be back in the saddle again, even if it was a Western saddle.  They had a blast in the chilly temps that day. 

(I rode Western and English for many years... Paiton had two years of English lessons, not a slam) 

That's about the wildest thing I have seen in the shop this week.  I only have seen one raccoon in there, one time.  The water bowl has only been dirty once.  As the day gets warmer, I will have to change it daily. 

I hope we have many more beautiful sunsets this year. 

Happy New Year! 

 

 

 

How Can it be September?

Whew, it seems like it was just April!

The milo in my compost heap is turning.... telling me that summer is over and the season of harvest is here. 

The salsify says the same thing (and I hope it re-seeds itself a LOT) 

You know I planted in containers this year, and I planted a mix from Burpee that I thought was wildflowers, but turned out to be zinnias, marigolds, and these lovely little sunflowers that have just opened. 

The coleus is leggy but still hanging on.  

Tomorrow, my helper, Grandson Jax, is coming and we are actually going to pull out the tomato plants in the tubs on the patio.  They were started from seed by me, and with one exception, the tomatoes were not to my taste.  I also have realized that the chickens do not eat them (strange!) and many went to waste, since you cannot give a tomato away around here. 

So... no more.  I may plant ONE next year (it will be a Burpee Big Boy) and that's it. 

I did have two planters on the porch with volunteer tomatoes, and I am hoping one re-seeds itself, as those tiny cherries were the sweetest ever!

You all know that I rarely post about my family.  I used to, but I grew to think that for the young kids, it was an invasion of their privacy.  However, I am going to brag a little. 

On Sunday, I drove down to La Cygne (Kansas) where my oldest son Jim has a lot at a lake development. 

He and his family have many friends there and they are all really close.  I have heard about them for years, but have not met them. 

I also had not met my newest great grandson, Wyatt, because his mommy and daddy, his sister Maci, and he all live down there in a house.  

My son Jim met me in La Cygne to lead me to the lot.  

Here are Wyatt and granddaughter Madison, his mom. 

Almost five Maci, and my daughter in law, Amy. 

Son Jim. 

Granddaughter Paiton, on her ATV.  Jax's was out of gas, so she was the chauffer. 

Jax in front of Clifford, the Big Red Truck.  Clifford is his, and that's why Jax is working for me in the yard.  He has to pay for the registration and license, and get his permit.... so he will be working for grandma for a while.  Since Ben left for school, Jax has become my main man. 

I did not get a group picture of everyone else, or Wyatt with his daddy, but by the time I left, they had started a fire in the fire pit, and everyone was gathering. 

Let me just say this... I am not a lake person... but it was nice to see what it was all about, and finally get to meet my little great grand.  I am guessing I won't get to see them again until Christmas time. 

Labor Day weekend, to my family, was going with my dad, a union electrician, to the Labor Day Parade in Kansas City, Kansas, on "The Avenue"... Minnesota Ave... where we celebrated union successes with many other families. 

Things are different, and I am not saying worse.  I am so glad the kids have a place to gather with their friends, relax, eat some good food, and have fun. 

Look who is back!

OUT OF THE BLUE. 

After eight days, I heard a noise while doing chores last week, looked down, and there was Mama at my feet! 

I did not even see from which direction she had come. 

You can see in this picture from the porch cam that she re-attached herself to me immediately. 

She is hanging on the porch or here.... 

You can just barely tell, but she spends hours laying under the bird feeder.  Needless to say, NO ONE is using this feeder. 

I have not seen a bird on it all day today.  I will scoop up the feed I put on it this morning and put it back in the bin so the raccoons don't get it. 

IF she does this for a while, Jax and I will store the feeder in the barn and bring it out when it is colder. 

While she is focused on this one, the birds are eating from the more permanent one in the garden. 

I am rarely seeing squirrels now, they are too frightened of the cats. I miss the squirrels, I admit it. 

Both Bullseye and Mama are lethal hunters. 

After literally a year and a half, the beautiful Cleo will let me stroke and pet her. 

I feed her at the Little Red Hen House, whose porch is slowly deteriorating.  I had to feed her up high, 

so the sheep would not get into her food.  There is a bowl out during the day, and I leave a little at night. That was a project I had for Ben to do that we never got to... rebuilding that small porch and tightening up that building. 

A week ago today, I looked out my bedroom window to see this in my front yard! 

A man keeps a small herd of cattle in my neighbor's pasture.  Twice before, his cows have gotten loose on the road, and I ran them into my yard.  Two years ago, he brought a trailer over, caught the cow and took her back.  Last year, despite my request that they not do so, his wife and daughter ran the cow back through the fence, and of course said "We'll come back and fix it".  They did not.  

I noticed when I mowed last Tuesday that the fence was low in the corner, but by Wednesday, when this big girl came through... it was down to the ground.  Why the rest of them did not follow her, I do not not know. 

My good neighbors from across the road came over and helped me run her back into her pasture... and then, Gary came back after they did an errand, and he and I (well, HE pounded) three tee poles in, and we pulled the fence up and Gary tied it to the poles.  No other cows have tried it since then, thank heavens. 

That afternoon, Jax worked for me.  He called out to me to tell me there was something black in my garden area.  I said "That the water fortex for the birds" and he said no, it was something else. 

It was THIS.  I came over and said "Cow pat" and he looked at me like I was nuts. 

I still don't know if he was pulling my leg or not. 

Can you see the hummer sitting on the light wire on the left?  They are feeding furiously now, getting ready to go.  As I type this, there is one sitting out there! 

I hung two tiny little feeders a friend suggested I order last week.  They have one feeding port on them, and that is one in the picture.  The hummers seem to really like them.  I have two regular feeders hanging too, but they have to be cleaned almost every day with our humidity. 

Regular scene.  I am going broke buying wet and dry. 

(that's Bully, Mama, Molly and Coco) 

Since I am making this about family, 

here is my husband Keith as a teenager.  One of his relatives sent it to me last week. 

His birthday and my stepson Brandon's, Keith's youngest boy, are on the tenth. 

Keith would have been 63, and Brandon, I think... would have been 30.  (I cannot remember his birth year since I wasn't there!) 

I remember all my loved ones on their birthdays. 

 

Back where she should be. 

Falling Into Fall

 My goodness, I did not realize I had not posted in three weeks!

Life keeps whizzing by. 

In that time, several things have happened. 

My friends have gone home for the winter, and 

it is likely different ones will come next spring. 

The goat, seen in the background, will be back. 

I miss them, I look out the window ten times a day to check on them... but... I will also not have to carry water buckets this winter, and drag hay in the cart clear across the yard. 

Whew. 

My sweet little Fritzi is blind now, though I think she can 

still tell light from dark.  The vet and I are having trouble 

getting her blood sugar balanced... she has Cushings and diabetes... 

and she had a crisis a week ago.  I don't know what the future holds, but we 

are trying to enjoy things day by day. 

These guys are piling up my walnuts, though he is eating bird seed here. 

I hope that doesn't mean we have a hard winter coming. 

I have been experiencing a strange phenomenon. 

I spend more money on the birdseed blend I buy than any other feed I have ever bought. 

It is mixed at a local mill, Valley Feeds, in Bonner Springs, and 

is called Backyard Blend. 

These Mourning Doves are modeling it for us. 

About halfway through the summer, the red-winged blackbirds, 

voracious feeders, migrated home.  

Starlings disappeared in their entirety. 

I literally have had the doves, the woodpeckers, the blue jays, the cardinals, 

and all the little birds, only. 

About a month ago, the goldfinches disappeared.  I still have lots of house finches. 

(the goldfinches will be back). 

The hummers were here until a week ago Sunday. 

I did see ONE black bird a week ago, but no others. 

Oh, except for these: 

I love them, you know that. 

I am spending about a fourth of what I normally spend on bird seed, and I'm glad for that. 

I am also spending less on finch mix. 

Three weeks ago, a good friend asked if I wanted to bring Paiton and Jax, my youngest grands, to Angel Falls Creek to spend some time with his great grandson.  (The kids are friends). 

We spent a couple of hours and finished up by eating at Freddy's.  

Jax, who just turned 13 on Saturday, and Paiton, who will be twelve tomorrow. 

Here are the boys (and another little girl) playing in the pool below the falls that day. 

Brayden took his bike into the pool. 

(with grandpa's blessing) 

This is from the bridge, today.  The falls are stopped, dried up completely.  There is no water coming downstream at all.  If you look closely, there is a blue heron standing in what is left of the pool, and I did not see him when I stopped at the bridge to take the picture.  

I walked down to the creek and scared him, but could not get the camera up in time. 

I used to walk Lilly and Jester there five years ago, and I have never seen it this dry. 

There was a tiny pool of water upstream in this picture, out of sight.... the pool at the foot of the falls where the boys played is almost dry.  Brayden saw a fish that day, it won't live if it dries up any more, I'm afraid. 

We need rain in NE Kansas, friends. 

This is Spot Yoder, who is happy here now. 

I suspect he was someone's pet at some time, because he lets me 

love all over him. 

He suffered some wounds recently, on his ear and his side.  He has let 

me put triple antibiotic on the ear for the last five days, and it is looking MUCH better. 

He is waiting at the front door for breakfast now every morning. 

As soon as I can safely get him into a carrier, he is going to get vetted. 

When Ben was here last week, he and I moved my last dog house from the 

henyard to the patio, and I can tell Spot is spending at least part of the night in it, there 

is a depression at the back right. 

It faces south.  During the day, his dry food sits there. 

Rusty is still around, and even though he was raised here, he will never be anything but feral.  He will come about three feet from me, but if I approach any closer, he snarls.  He does not come for canned food every day, the way Spot does.  He has dry food in the pasture feeder, and canned food when I see him, (and he waits for it). 

Rusty is neutered and had some shots as a kitten.  His three siblings all disappeared. 

The deck cam caught the two little girls laying out enjoying the sun. 

Can you see the squirrel suspended in air on the right?  How do they DO this? 

There is a narrow greenbelt along my north fence line, the trees are in my 

neighbor's, the Spehars, pasture. 

I have a camera hanging there once in a while, pointed into the pasture. 

Hmmmmm. 

Yesterday, I cut grass, the whole yard, for what I hope is the last time. 

The dust was so bad, especially out along the road, that I was 

covered when I came in, and had it in my throat and ears, UGH. 

I do need to cut just a strip at the top of the pasture before I put the 

tractor away. 

I WILL keep the area around the house trimmed for Fritzi's sake, 

though. 

Fritzi can't see but she can still hear.... she woke me up 

barking her head off one night.... I ran out the front door to find THIS going on. 

I had forgotten to latch a gate in the pasture.  It was the only time it happened all summer. 

As soon as I got my shoes on and yelled to them, they trotted right back into the pasture through the open gate. 

We have had some spectacular sunrises, and yes, that is the influence of smoke in the atmosphere. 

It is a pleasure just to go outside, lately. 

I have not been able to see the Spehar's shop all summer, because there are so many trees now.  I am going to get a quote to find out about taking out those pine trees (with their permission) because they have grown into my east fenceline so badly.... and.... broken up my view of the beautiful ponds. 

I visit Keith pretty often, still, and he could not rest in a more beautiful setting. 

This life size statue of St. Francis of Assissi is near the trail where 

I took pictures this morning, I stopped to pray for family and friends, and all the animals here. 

We are so lucky to live in a world where there are Octobers.

Do you follow this guy on Facebook? 

He has something pithy to say every day. 

This sign is particularly true. 

Stay safe out there, friends.