The Fat Farm

That's what we used to call them.  You know...the "retreats" where you go to lose some weight ...get refreshed and then go back home to your normal routine.  Political correctness decrees that we shouldn't call them that anymore...but, I ain't politically correct...so I call it just that.  The Fat Farm.

This one is my sister's acreage.  We have joked about it being that since the first time I went there and did a lot of physical stuff ...and did come home 5 pounds lighter.  Since then, I don't always manage to lose, but still do a lot of things while I am there ..so at least I am in a bit better shape when I get home ...except last time when I had an infected fingernail area... which had nothing to do with work or even her place.  It was wrecked before I left home ..but,  progressed to the point where I needed antibiotics by the time I got back here. 

This time we picked major weeds, made a new little garden area where we planted pansies given to us by a guy that had accepted the last of her spruce and fir 'baby trees' that she has been trying to get rid of for ...oh....about 8 years.  She bought them in a silent auction.... thought she was only buying a couple... she ended up with a couple of "lots" ... which consisted of plenty.  The total number of trees was well into the many hundreds. This was the last 20 or so .. by now, they had rooted right through the bottom of small pots and straight into the ground.  We had to pull them out by the roots to move them.  some were pretty big ..and heavy........... some even had 3 trees to a huge pot...

On the day before that she had begun to dig around the leaky yard hydrant, which is near the horse waterer and just outside the fencing around Mickey's paddock.  Not much room to work around it as it was situated between the waterer and a fence post, but it had to be replaced.  Digging commenced... but had to be abandoned on the first day...    too hot and it became too late in the day and ...well, one can only do so much in a day.  I forget what else came into play...but it was something..........

Next day the digging continued.  We needed to get down deep enough in our narrow trench to see the bottom of the hydrant pipe and the coupling ... everything was totally rusted and wrecked.  It was a narrow dark space; we were running out of daylight and brought out a trouble light... there were rocks and roots and rootlets everywhere and it was damp and smelly.  I hated having my head in the narrow space..could hardly breathe.  She was the trooper, as usual, and was right down in there with the crowbar.... digging around behind the pipe as well as in front of it.  We had to make enough room that when we took out the old pipe...no dirt would be dislodged and fall into the lower pipe as we tried to carefully place the new one onto the threaded portion.  Once we found the lower drain area we made sure it did drain out a bit ...then, of course, there was also mud..... oh it was great.  

In the end... we got the old one off...  guided the new one into position and tried to lower it into the proper area..... et voila ..... success!  It turned into the threads nicely... we got it tighter.... tested it and it worked perfectly.  A lovely new blue handled yard hydrant.  Woohoo!  I'll just add that to our résumé  ....... along with massage, dental assisting, secretarial skills, .. re-jetting a motorcycle carbureter, baking pies, churning out muffins and cookies, doing landscape rock work, house painting,   etc...  ...  stitching up things (and, in her case, even making clothing and costumes, I don't really sew)   .. worming horses, and all the other stuff that goes with that.. etc, sheeesh.... she's got me well beat in the 'extras' department of any résumé  . ... we can now also claim to be able to replace a frost free yard hydrant.  Hah!  As if anybody would hire a couple of 60s women to do the task.  Not that I want a job.

I'm not going to tell you about the weed eater episode ... suffice to say...some things turn in the opposite direction than you may think... especially when they need to stay in position while operating in the other direction..... nobody was injured in this process as it can't even be turned onto the threads unless you get it right.

So, the upshot of it all is.....I lost 5 pounds!  

Now, off to get some groceries.  The fridge is bare.  

Oh, and.... deer.  These two came down from the top of the property one night when I was on the porch .. sitting quietly.  I'm not sure if they recognized me as a human..or if they were just not afraid...I quietly took several photos and they never did seem nervous.  Finally they moved off back up the hill.  That was fun.
Click on them to see their little faces up closer .... 

As you can tell....they were pretty cheeky and nibbled on every leaf or flower that looked like it could be tasty .... and wandered around the yard at will.  Checking out every single thing.

So, I drove over to deliver some books....

.... and, erm.... wasn't quite sure if I should get out of the car when I saw this on the lawn.  I know elk can be dangerous...but, a deer ...well, I suppose if they get spooked or ticked...they could lash out.  But, the thought of seeing that particular elk almost kick an idiot that was photographing it lingered in my brain ... I sat there for a few seconds more.

It doesn't look that big in the photo...but, man...that head was huge when I was standing closer... the ears alone had to be about 9 inches tall ... no lie!

Finally, I decided she didn't seem to be too bothered by me... and I also noticed there was another one on the neighbour's lawn....and  .. . a third, much smaller, one on the lawn across the street....what the? ...??  The place was positively littered with deer!  What's going on here?

I was even a bit more concerned now... what if they were guarding the smaller one? ..or worse yet... the little one was wounded or something... I sure didn't want to scare them up and cause more damage if they felt they had to move in a hurry...

Still I sat there and waited ... then, decided I would get out quietly, walk up the lawn about 20 feet over to the left of her and just talk softly, to nobody in particular, while doing it.  I had to go behind a big shrub too...so I quietly warned her I was about to saunter out from behind it as I was doing it... managed to sidle along the lower part of the porch and got to the steps that way...whew...she didn't even budge... and I found out they had all been there for some time already.

I was there for several minutes.... quietly went back the way I came;  got in the car and drove away.  Then, thought...darn it, I wish I had my camera.  Went to the bank to do some business... drove home, got my camera and immediately drove back.  They were still here.  I got a shot of each through the window so I didn't scare them off and drove away.  It made my day.

They may still be there .....