Soggy

     Holy humidity, Batman!  We've had a long stretch of rainy humid days but thankfully the sun will return shortly -  The ground is soggy, the air feels like - well a friend described it best - a wet dirty sponge.  I've got the fans on in the horse barn and the A/C on in the house.  It's too wet to trust the fan outside the chicken coop so they'll have to make do with the puddles that have formed in their coop yard.  We haven't been down to the cottage because the weather is just too yucky.  On occasion the sun peeps out and I take the dogs for a quick walk, only to witness the clouds fold right back in and another shower appears. 

   Our lone bunny, Cloud, she's not the friendliest - her brother Harley liked people better, but he passed on last year.  She lives next to the chickens  and has her own yard to run around in, when it's not storming out.  I've explained to her multiple times that her life quality would improve if she would only learn to trust us, but she'll have none of it. So, her hutch and yard are a no cuddle zone. 

      Some of the girls are molting and look like hell right now.  I also discovered mites in their coop and had to treat the whole thing, and them, with diatomaceous earth and I bleached the coop throughly as well.    DE is an all natural way to rid them of the mites that sometimes infest a coop, some people even eat it for digestive health.  It appears to have worked on the mites, two weeks later we are mite free.  I hope. 

 My giving tree - the ancient pear that stands in the mini's paddock, has more fruit than ever this year.   Considering the tree is half hollow and has lost major limbs in recent storms, that she still bears fruit is simply amazing.   The mini's love the fruit as it drops, some of which I have to scoop out each morning lest they get sugar overload from eating them all.

1,000's, I'm telling ya.  

     On days like today, when the weather may call for thunder and lightning,  I leave the horses in their paddocks where they have easy access to their stalls (and fans), shelter from any severe weather.  They prefer to be out on pasture, but I don't like to leave them out in the fields with potential lightning.  So they are bored as they wander around the smaller paddocks and their stalls, picking at their hay, while the much greener grass is on the other side of the fence.

    Opie peeking in the feed room, asking for a treat, please.

 

   My daughter's retired show horse, Max, likes his creature comforts.  If the going gets too buggy or hot or soggy  out in the fields, he much prefers the fans and soft shavings and hay offerings in his stall.

     The dogs nap as the rain falls, asking to go out occasionally, and only when it's not raining.

  Dear old Ben isn't fond of the rain or humidity either -  He's now on five heart pills -  living  on borrowed time, but he's comfortable and with these pills he's leading a decent life.  So we'll spoil him until his final day.

  One  good thing about all this rain is the lush gardens outside my doors... 

  I've made several batches of pesto from all the happy basil plants, my freezer is now stocked well into fall.    (This picture taken a day before the rains came - what a difference)

  The recipe and card I use was given to me at my wedding shower 30 years ago.   I love that idea.  Each guest to the shower brought a favorite recipe.  I still have most of them! 

 There are several variations of pesto out there, but this one is my favorite.  What's missing on the card is 2 teaspoons of pine nuts, and 2 cloves of garlic.  I make big batches and use lots of garlic. 

Delish! Fresh from the garden -   If you like pesto,  give it a try - 

Chicks.. on several levels.

   Some girls grab a book and head to the beach to relax.  Me?  You can find me at the coop with another kind of Chicks and Buns....  This life I live ain't always easy - it looks beautiful, but it's also hard work and my aching neck tells that story well.  There are some real perks, though.  This is one of them.

 My mom is a breast cancer survivor, as are several of my friends, Pam Fox is one of them.  Pam is an amazing person - a true champion for the Underdog - canines and humans alike.

   She's walking the Avon walk in NYC to help raise funds - Won't you please consider a donation in any amount, even $5. gets them that much closer to a cure.  Link for donation below..

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/NewYork?px=8114340&pg=personal&fr_id=2486

Rain and Relationships with a Garden Tour for good measure

 Come take a walk with me as I mull over family issues and do morning chores here at the farm... I'll show you how my garden grows, or doesn't... too.

First stop is the hen house and rabbit hutch.

Harley (black bunny) had an episode of colic recently and because he looked like he was about to die in ten minutes, off to the vet we went.  Did you know that too much of a commercial rabbit pellet diet is not good for them?  I sure didn't.  Collard greens, celery, carrots sparingly, parsley, berries, and lots of Timothy Hay are what they should be eating. The pellets you see in pet stores are not meant to be their main diet.  I've always given my bunnies lots of greens and such, but they always had a big bowl of the pellets as well.  Hence, the colic.  Harley is better now, and loves his collard greens.

The girls want OUT into the lush grass, but it's only allowed when I'm out there paying attention to hawk whereabouts. Not happening on a rainy day like today.   Their egg laying has been prolific latelely, have I mentioned how much I adore chickens? 

 Next stop is the barn, where horses have already been banging buckets because they've heard me down at the coop.

 They don't like being in, would prefer to be standing out in the rain, truth be told.. but when it's still this chilly I keep them in until the rain clears.  Admittedly, it's more for me than them. Kinda like their blankets in winter.

The ancient pear tree that is half-hollow is full of blossoms again this year.  I loath the day it keels over, but for now it still appears very happy up there on the hill.  Thank you powers that be.

After barn chores now that spring has arrived, I head over to the garden to do whatever needs tending. The Arugula is coming up, but not much else.  I'm concerned all the rain and cold air temps have thwarted the seed efforts.  Time will tell.

 Same thing happening in our little greenhouse... slow growing.

 I planted six purple sweet potato plants... we'll see how that goes, first attempt at potatoes.  Any advice?

 The ancient stand of lilacs are thriving.. Mike limed them last year and it helped.

 Will anyone move in to this $7. bird house? 

So far, nuthin. 

My grandfather was a gardener.. and oh, what a spring tulip

garden he had across his front lawn. 

I remember each spring he would take his scissors 

outside with me and careful cut a bouquet for me 

to bring to my teacher the next day. 

When I look at my garden beds this time of year,

I am reminded of him and his love for his gardens..

and the birds, even the squirrels, who he fed peanuts 

out of his hand while sitting on the back porch. 

 So, the rain in this post is obvious, but not the reference to relationships.

 Rain IN relationships is inevitable, we've all figured that out by now, haven't we.   I have always been a worrier and as a mother that is tenfold in my being.  I don't like it, as the old saying goes... worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere.  But it's not something you can just set down like a heavy purse.. if you're a worrier.  No, it's more like an extra skin that you can't shed.  
 
   Being a mom, and particularly  that mom... when my kids are hurting, I hurt.  I always believed the teen years would be the most difficult, and they did have their challenges.  I niavely  assumed as they got older the worry would subside, the protective instincts.  But ooh, nooo... the circumstances just change, not the concern.  As they grow into adults they have their own relationships and they need to learn as they grow, just like we did, how to make them work, what doesn't work... who is worth the effort, who isn't.  It's painful to watch them struggle when things aren't going well, but as my wise mother said, no one gets through life without struggle and pain and loss.  It's part of living.  The hard part is leaving them be, letting them sort it all out without interferring, because you want to FIX IT for them.  Raising children to be good, strong adults means letting them do for themselves, not just being there to FIX.   As it should be... but Lord, it ain't easy.

Sending it up into the Universe - Why ever not

     I'm what some have referred to as a high-rev person.  Even my heart rate is higher than the average Joe, always has been - jeez, I hope I'm not wearing the old ticker out.  I've got a lot of energy, some of it -nervous- energy.  That's not  the most awesome thing,  and because anxiety has seeped into my being at a few difficult points in my life, I've searched  for ways to alleviate it over the years.
     One of the benefits of being a fifty year old... and there are indeed benefits, ( who woulda thunk it!?)... is I am willing and able to slow down and appreciate all the little things in life so much more than I ever did when I was younger.    I actually sat down on the porch yesterday at around 2 pm and read a chapter out of the book I'm reading -  All the Light We Cannot See -    (Wow, great read.  Gives you a little unusual perspective on a time in history we are too young to have known.)   I hardly ever take that kind of time, and you know.. why ever not?

    Today I stepped out into a glorious early summer morning with the sun shining, dew on the grass, and gentle breezes from up over the hill that carried the slight scent of ocean.  We're about five miles from it but we're way up high, and occasionally the sea air makes it to us. The awareness of it always makes me stop, turn toward the water and breathe it in.

   

      The chickens love their morning treats - today it was left over hard boiled eggs (I know that sounds cannibalistic)..and sunflower seeds.  Then, because the manchild is out there mowing the lawn, I let them out for some free ranging . While he's making noise on the mower, predators won't feel comfortable attacking.

 
    Our bunnies, Harley and Cloud, love to get out too.

    After the chickens and rabbits are fed, watered and  pens cleaned up, I head up to the barn to feed, water, turn out and muck stalls.  Glamorous, it ain't.. but there's truly no place on earth I'd rather be.  I've had the office job, the factory job, the zoo job, another office job.  I've known the 8-4:30 deal in a windowless office.  I did it well while I had to... but I can't express enough how grateful I am that I was able to get away from it and raise my kids myself, till soil and shovel sh*t and pluck eggs from nesting boxes and sweep isles and pull weeds etc. etc. etc.

   On the crappiest weather days I do have to remind myself that I really shouldn't be complaining.  Well worth the slight discomfort or rain and cold and heat.

     This morning I stopped to watch the boys head up to their favorite grazing field, admiring the shine on their glossy coats from all that pasture grass.  They are lucky lucky horses, and I am a lucky girl to be able to provide this life for them. 

Sometimes, lately, my "barn" clothes consist of something like today's ensemble...

an upcycled twirly skirt and my red  paisley floral sloggers. 

Why ever not. 

So glad I've learned to slow down enough to see and appreciate it all.

Especially the little things.

It's also refreshing to not take one's self too seriously, you know?  

I'm sending this up into the Universe....

THANK YOU to the powers that be...

for this life that I have and cherish.