What Blew In

Yesterday morning was bright and beautiful.  Bess and I weren't the only ones enjoying an early walkabout.  These two toms were promenading through the backyard.  Their chest beards are readily visible, a sign of maturity, as are the spurs on their legs.  The truck had gotten a good bath from the rain.  A disadvantage of so many oaks is that at this time of year everything is covered in yellow-green pollen.  It's easy to spot flatlanders on the road;  their vehicles are all different colors.  Locals' are the same shade of green.

With storm warnings on the news, I did a lot of prepping throughout the day, including bringing more wood to the porch.  Turned out to be a good thing.  This morning it went from overcast and dead calm to gale-force winds in seconds.  It sounded like a freight train when it hit and the trees are dancing and bending like...well, like nothing I like to see.  No rain as yet.  Oops, spoke too soon.  Even tiny drops are hitting the window like hail.  Crum.  Not looking forward to barn chores today.

In an attempt to use up some of the Easter leftovers, last night I put the potatoes, peas and ham into a scallop casserole.  Gosh, it was good.  The problem being that now I have leftover scalloped potatoes.  Hmmm.

No dawdling today.  I need to get the girls milked and get back to the house.  Losing power is a distinct possibility with winds like this and I need to be prepared.

Bed Of Roses

Goats are so perverse.  I explained to the girls when I went into the barn that company was coming and I needed full cooperation.  Yeah, and how's that workin' for ya?  I could, and should, have saved my breath.  Inga had been very good lately, but chose yesterday not to come into the milking room.  Precious time was lost while I...you know the drill.  Milking went better than the day before, thank goodness, but the clock was ticking.  Deb and Craig drove up as I let Esther out and it was Tessie's turn.  I should call her Tessie the Teaser.  Close, but no cigar.  She'd come right to the doorway, even put one foot inside, and then back out and walk away.  "Psych!"  Finally had to do a couple of laps through the pen and chase her down, while Deb and Craig did a walkabout and waited.

Deb and Craig had been redoing their landscaping and had brought three rose plants from their yard.  For protection from the deer, we decided to put them in the defunct pig pen.  My first choice would have been right in the front garden, but I knew they'd be chomped down before the first bud opened.  Deb and I pulled weeds and Craig did the heavy work of digging holes.  Well fertilized from the years when Louie was in residence and covered with a heavy mulch of leaves, the pen is a perfect place for roses, and the Kids had brought big, beautiful plants.  A mist began falling as we patted in the last one.  My mother had always said that a rainy day was the perfect time to plant roses to give them the best chance of survival.  For these roses, it was a perfect day.  But that wasn't the end.  Deb and Craig gave me another peony, a red one to add to the herb garden.  Deciding exactly where to place it, we discovered another peony had emerged from last year.  With the new addition, that makes eight of these beauties!

The mist became rain by the time we went in, and it was cold enough to need a fire in the wood stove.  It wasn't long before Dave drove up and from then on, all I can remember is the laughter.  Deb and Craig brought a variety of Easter candy.  Busily taste testing the different kinds while waiting for the ham to bake, suddenly I heard, "Mom!  Dave just ate your peanut butter egg!"  (They'd brought just the one.)  Big sister tattling on little brother cracked us all up.  Some things don't change.  Holiday menus are cast in stone and the only variation this year was adding avocado to the deviled eggs; I was forgiven the deviation as the plate of eggs dwindled rapidly.

A good, steady rain fell while we ate and watched the multitude of hummers feeding outside.  Seats at all three feeders were full to capacity, with latecomers waiting for a space.  After the plates were cleared, the guys went into the living room for another tradition, an after-dinner nap.  Deb and I talked in the dining room, listening to their gentle snores.  Far from feeling abandoned, it gives me a wonderful sense of the Kids coming home when they're relaxed enough to fall asleep here.  They are company, yes, but they're family.

Most of the rain had passed by the time the Kids had to leave and was over when I went down to put the other kids to bed.

It was a very good day.

Waiting

Larry:  "Hi, Mom.  Whatcha doing?"
Me:  "Not much.  Just waiting for weather."  (Rain is predicted for today.)
Larry:  "Waiting for weather?!  Mom, you gotta get a life!  #twiddling thumbs."
There's no way to describe how we laughed about this last night.

Nothing bad happened, but the morning was a disaster yesterday.  For whatever reason, each of the milkers was hard to get going and difficult to milk out.  A goat that normally takes about 350 squeezes (yes, I count) took over 600.  My hands were going numb after Inga and it was downhill from there with two more to go.  Barn chores normally take a little over an hour; yesterday was closer to two and I was exhausted.

When company is coming, I wait until the last minute to vacuum and dust.  To do it sooner is an exercise in futility.  Every time Bess goes outside, she brings a little of it back into the house.  Celeste and Ralph get into a tussle and bits of fur fly here and there.  It makes no sense to shower and dress in fresh bibbies before going to the barn.  The girls, especially Esther, rub against me and nothing I'm wearing stays clean.  I'm going to be on a dead run today.

Sundown comes about 7:30 now and I wait until then to put the kids to bed.  In the brief time it takes to get the girls into their stalls and walk back up the hill, the colors of sunset have changed.  Last evening I took probably fifteen photos, each one different, and narrowed them down to these two.

I'm always so grateful that Joel left the three pines standing when he cleared his property for a vineyard.  They add such perspective to my view of the horizon.

Today I'm waiting in anticipation of my Kids coming up.  Even though we need the rain so badly, I'm hoping it waits until after the Kids leave.  They drive a long way to get here and it's not a pleasant drive in the rain, and that doesn't begin to address my disaster of a driveway.

Happy Easter!

Trend Setter

I'm seeing a trend here, purple to the left, right, front, back.  I really prefer the French lavender for its perfume, but I won't turn down the Spanish lavender that grows behind the first shed or the potted one on the deck.  The Spanish is a bit of a showoff, blooming early with flashy topknot flowers.  It just doesn't smell as sweet.  Both lavenders are slow to settle into a new home and need a little TLC to get established.  After that, they are very low maintenance and are drought resistant, perfect for me and the current drought conditions here.  Their companion plants are grey and green santolinas, both of which have loads of little yellow flowers and neither need much water.  An added bonus is that deer do not appear to like either lavender or santolinas.

I've worked out a barter agreement with a young family.  They need milk for their feeder pigs and I like fresh vegetables.  I could just give them the surplus milk, but I explained to Nicole that past experience has taught me that which has no cost is not always appreciated.  Pick-up days and times were ignored as if they, and I, didn't matter.  I may not leave often and may have little to nothing on my agenda, but I do try to accommodate and maintain a schedule.  She was fine with my conditions and brought a box of veggies to trade yesterday.  Milk for pigs does not need to be refrigerated and they seem to prefer the sour milk.  In fact, I was just reading articles that state soured milk is actually easier for pigs to digest, and definitely eliminates the need for GMO-based grain.  That's a win-win.  It was fun to meet Nicole and her two little children.

Getting up early as I do, I had the opportunity to see the lunar eclipse this morning, the so-called "blood moon."  Stumbling around in the dark had me wondering why I was doing this thing, but it was worth it to see that red orb in the sky.  I made it back to the house without falling flat on my face, stepping into a squirrel hole, or running into anything.  When the full moon is eclipsed, it is very, very dark.  It was a good start to the day.

Beauty and the Beast

Wisteria and weeds are the only things growing in my garden, but the wisteria is spectacular and the perfume is heavenly.  Once the wisteria took hold, it took off!  The one lonely plant has spread around three sides of the fence and has not been watered in years.  Every couple of years I prune it back, but otherwise it gets no maintenance.  The California poppies are a nice accent.

Ralph, oh Ralph.  In addition to checking in the refrigerator for sell-by dates, secretarial duties, and redecorating rooms in his unique style, it seems he has become a librarian.  I found signs of his labor when Bess and I came in from weeding in the lavender bed.  It might be asked why these books have not been put away (by me).  There is at least one bookcase in nearly every room in the house and an entire long wall of bookshelves downstairs.  Some shelves are stacked two deep for lack of room.  I packed and moved over 3,000 books when we came to Farview and have continued to add as the years went on.  Someday I may have to face the fact that I'm a book hoarder.  If Ralph intends to take on librarian duties, he's got his work cut out.

With Ralph around, I have job security.  All I have to do is follow him around and clean up his messes.  It's a full-time job.

Starring Celeste

Celeste complained recently that she was not getting her share of publicity and that Ralph has been hogging the spotlight.  It must be said that Celeste's complaints were very quiet and ladylike, much like her personality.  She has the tiniest, squeakiest voice, unlike Ralph the Mouth (remember Happy Days?) who talks to himself constantly as he plans his next - oh, who knows what his "next" will be!  Celeste does not involve herself in Ralph's shenanigans.  Unless she is giving him a beat-down when he finally gets on her nerves or she is herding me into the kitchen for a treat, this is how I most frequently see Celeste.  The photo was taken on a rare occasion when Bessie Anne was not in residence on my lap.  More frequently, Celeste has to squeeze into whatever space is left over, but squeeze she does.  In the evening, Ralph might make a brief appearance but he never settles down and is soon on his way to take care of Ralph business.

In order to give my lap a rest and because the day was much cooler, I fired up Fu Manchu and mowed the front yard, the driveway, and the frontage road yesterday.  We're looking mighty spiffy!  It was such a lovely afternoon, I didn't want to go back in the house so I got a bit of a start on weeding the lavender bed.  When the weeds are green as they are now, the product of this enterprise go over the fence to the chickens.  They scatter and scream as if I'd thrown a bomb, but immediately come back to chatter and pick out the best of the goodies.

Every time I turn around, all three feeders are empty.  More and more hummers show up and are sipping more than two quarts a day.  I can't imagine what it will be like when it gets really hot.  As the saying goes, "I live to serve."

A lap is a lap wherever it might be.  Celeste has pushed her way between me and the desk (trust me, there's not much room).  It's very difficult to type with this lump and her head on my arm.

It was a good day.

Heavy Duty

Ralph takes his self-imposed responsibilities as house cat very seriously.  I wish our means and methods coincided.  I posted photos of his secretarial work with the tax forms.  His filing system made sense only to him.  (A little like the woman I replaced years ago and I found paperwork for the elevator filed under "L."  True story.)  In addition to redecorating the living- and dining rooms, Ralph has now taken on the duties of housekeeper.  I've always tried to keep the guest bedroom neat and tidy in readiness for an unexpected stay-over.  Ralph has redone the room to his own liking, remaking the bed to suit.  He is very proud of his handiwork in the guest room.  I have learned never to ask, "What else?" because I'm afraid of the answer.

There's nothing like having a dinner guest make their own dinner.  Half the work and twice the fun!  Arden had not made pizza before, but she's always up for something new.  Making pizza is carte blanche to play with your food, a real hands-on experience, beginning with pressing out the dough.  We worked, if it can be called work, side by side.  Arden was rather pleased to find she'd have her very own pizza all to herself.

Toppings were a choice of sausage, pepperoni, salami, olives, onions, a ready-made sauce, and several cheeses.  One can get quite artistic with the placement of ingredients.  A few minutes in the oven and then came the best part, eating our creations!

I'd always avoided making pizza in the past, thinking it would take forever and needed special equipment:  a pizza stone for the oven, hours to make the dough, etc., etc.  Then I found the easiest recipe ever for a quick yeast dough and that a 400-degree oven and oiled parchment paper on a baking sheet would do the job.  It's become a staple in my diet.

Ralph is busy in the bathroom.  I can hear him brrrp-brrrping as he rearranges the bathmat in front of the stall shower.  He prefers it bunched up and over to the side instead of flat.  A cat's work is never done.