All Packed Up

Okay folks let's be real.  You know how you feel when you have not "gone" in a few days?  All packed up.  The post surgery pain meds always did that for me. You feel all bound up and the need to unpack is constantly on your mind.  It's a physiological and mental thing and sometimes becomes emotional.  You know what I mean.  Well, I am still all packed up - not physiologically - literally - in boxes.  Packing began in February and ended around July 2011.  Yep.  You can imagine how I might be feeling.  But in the midst of everything who knew?  Spiritually I'm coming out of the box.  Freedom!  God is "unpacking" my spiritual life and revealing more of Himself to me.  How awesome that as I seek Him more I find more of Him!  Walking in His grace and love.  Wouldn't want to be anywhere else but right where I am.  All packed up and all.

The Dogs and The Scarecrow

Planted onions and garlic in our garden today!  Marmaduke and McGillicuddy had a grand old time running and playing in the garden and hindering the planting process.  Gonna have to figure out how to keep them out.  Sure would be a lot of fence to put up if we have to do that!   After planting and watering Fred and Little Ricky engineered and created a Scarecrow - because every garden needs a Scarecrow, right?  And of course I gave them pointers.  Turned out to be a creepy looking one if I may say so.  Early this evening as dark drew nigh we heard the dogs barking and causing a big ruckus, while maintaining their post at the fence between the garden and the house, at the Scarecrow!  Oh what amusement we have here in the country. 

Catch 22

As I write we have winds gusting to 22 mph and a temperature of 22.  And it is one COLD mammajamma out there.  I dare say we won't be accomplishing much today that involves being outdoors - which is a lot as we focus on building our country homestead.  I still must venture out of the "box" for the the trips back and forth to the main house carrying dishes and crock pots and food and laundry and water etc......I don't now which is easier - forging through the dismally dark, wet, heavy, rainy cold or the sunny yet cutting, will-knock-you-over-if-you-don't-hold-on cold wind.  I'd prefer sunny and seventy with a slight breeze.  Whatever it is I still must forge on - guess today you could say I'm in a Catch 22.  

Moods, McGillicuddy, and Mixtures

The rainy, cold, cloudy, gray, heavy, wet days of late REALLY affect us.  Physically, emotionally, mentally.    Our moods. We are acclimating.  From experience I can say the climate of a region has an effect on folks and if you've been in a specific climate for a long time you probably don't even realize the effect anymore.  Having moved from an entirely different climate we are going through a huge adjustment.  It is tangible.  Thankfully the sunshine appeared today!

We adopted a dog last week!  A lovely cream color lab/retreiver mix.  Wonderful temperament!  We'll call him McGillicuddy here.  He and Marmaduke are loving having each other to roam and play with on the place and they are the same age.  And Little Ricky and  Ricky have fallen in love with McGillicuddy.  Well, okay, actually we all have.  He is an awful mess now after playing in the mud and puddles.  One reason we wanted another dog was for security and to help Marmaduke stave off the coyotes at night.  Two dogs have a better chance against a pack of coyotes than one.  If you knew us before in the city you'd laugh - we now have two large dogs - we were always "cat people" more so.  Liked dogs, but they were too much maintenance we'd say.  Now, we're crazy about our dogs!  And there's plenty of space for them to run and explore - gotta love country life!

Fred's had a sore throat and was feeling icky, like you're coming down with something yucky, the last two days so I've been mixing him tincture "cocktails" of garlic, cayenne, ginger, elderberry, with a splash of water and a squeeze of fresh lime.  It's worked!  He's feeling better and he actually liked the cocktail!  My plan is to learn more about and grow herbs so I can create tinctures at home.  The garlic is already growing!

A Living Science Class

Little Ricky and I went into town today for errands which included visiting the County Extension office to inquire about getting samples of our soil tested for our garden.  They gave us a couple of sample bags and instructions and an envelope for mailing the sample in to a lab.  When we got home and saw the sample bags I laughed and said "barf bags".  Little Ricky exclaimed, "no, just dirt bags!"

It's awesome being in the country.  It is a living science class.

And the fresh air and sunshine are priceless.

Marmaduke, A Cow Leg, and Buzzards

                                           Little Ricky and Marmaduke checking out the cow leg.

Yesterday a friendly neighboring rancher brought a gift for Marmaduke.  One of the rancher's cows had gotten stuck in a feeding pen and by the time the vet got out and treated it and gave it meds it was to late.  It died.  But the vet said that the meat would not be good for human consumption due to the meds not making it through the body before death but it was okay to feed to the ranchers' dogs.   The rancher brought over a whole skinned cow leg as a treat for Marmaduke.  Oh, man! - I mean, oh, dog! was Marmaduke happy!  Well, as the cow leg lay in the field in front of our house we noticed buzzards began to gather in the sky.  Remember the old westerns when they showed the buzzards flying above an unknown something which would lead the riders to whatever it was they were looking for - well that was happening in front of our house.  Kind of spooky.  Every now and then one would land while Marmaduke wasn't guarding her cow leg and she would charge out and run the buzzard off.  This morning we noticed a small bloody skin scrape on Marmaduke's nose - maybe she got too close to a buzzard, or maybe something else came calling for the cow leg and she battled it off.  It will probably take her a week to finish off the cow leg.  Our country adventures continue.

The Tiller, Marmaduke, and A Good Neighbor

                                              Marmaduke wanting to play.

                                                       Marmaduke impeding progress.

                                                                  Progress.

Christmas Eve day Ricky decided it was time to begin tilling a garden spot for winter planting.  He had purchased a nice new big tiller and staked out a large plot.  Now we have always known that Marmaduke either loves or hates wheels.  When I roll my wagon she runs around the wheels like crazy, barking and growling.  When we roll the trash can to the end of the road she has a grand ole time.  So it should have been expected that she would go crazy over the motorized tiller.  She was so crazy that Ricky couldn't get his tilling done!  Finally Marmaduke had to go on the leash.  During Ricky's tilling one of our neighbors came over on his small tractor to spread our gravel, which had been pre-arranged.  He noticed Ricky out in the pasture tilling and said he could do that for him in less time with his "other" tractor and disc.  So when he was finished spreading gravel, he left and came back with his other equipment and made a few runs through the pasture and waa lah! we have a HUGE plot (about 3000 sq. ft) ready to prepare for gardening!  And to top it all off he wouldn't let us pay him anything - said we were his neighbors!