Finally...Insurance

Well, I finally got insurance.  Finally.  It took a month and ten days.  I should be good for a year at least and after that, who knows?   Things is gettin' crazy.

My long saga with the insurance started on Saturday the 8th of December when I decided to pay my monthly bills.  Lesson one was learned at the time--open your bills when you get them.  The 'bill' had come in earlier in the week, mailed on the 30th of November.  Naive me assumed it was my yearly premium payment.  It wasn't.  It was s short and sweet note telling me the company had decided to 'exercise it's right to non-renew my policy'.  It was really personal too--as it began Dear Sir/Madam.

I never been a Madam in my life, thank you very much.

Being Saturday I had to wait until Monday to call my local agent.  When I called them, my formally civil and helpful company could only say--yes, we did try to come out but your gate was locked.   Uhm, well, if you'd let me know there was a problem I would have happily been there or arranged to have the gate unlocked.  For what seemed long minutes this was the repeated response to my inquires.   It wasn't really resolving the situation, but I suppose that she felt if she said it enough it was all my fault.  Once that was established, we got down to the nitty gritty---it seemed the problem was the wood stove.  How in the world they planned to take pictures of my wood stove in my house without me there I haven't a clue, but there you go.  A photo shoot was set up for the next day.

Still being naive, I thought they were coming out to take pictures of the wood stove.   Silly me.  I hustled way up into the night cleaning and making things purty in the house, for the photo shoot.  However I did not clean and/or straighten my breezeway, which, granted did look a bit like an oversize junk drawer at the moment.   I also did not hide my dogs or tidy away their toys, beds or bowls.  I know, silly, huh?

The nice photographer came and shot pictures of the wood stove, declaring it 'nice', from all angles.  Measurements were taken, then outside he took pictures of everything--the house, the barns, my breezeway (unbeknownst to me) and unfortunately my friendly Collies were tagging along inserting themselves in several shots.

I was also told I needed to call the 'big' guy at the local company and talk to him about my locked gate. Due to him being so important it took me until late the next day to reach him.  We had a  conversation about the locked gate being the big (real) problem.  I was bewildered--I thought it was the wood stove.  Every other person out here has a locked gate and/or wood stove.  Well, the Fire Department couldn't get in he said.  My response was that they could cut the chain.  Not allowed he said.  Yes, allowed, I said, if they have consent.  I volunteered as secretary for ten years on our local department and saw many, many property descriptions that read--cut gate chain in an emergency.  Oh he replied, well it was still a problem.  I'll take care of it, it won't be a problem I assured him, if he could get the wood stove to pass muster.  The conversation ended on, still being naive, what I thought was a good note.

At that time I thought resolution would be simple and easy.  Insert here to say I had been with this company for ten years.  I've never, ever filed a claim in my life.   Insurance is for big things, unexpected things.  I was a good little dues paying member for ten years.  I received a reply from them in the mail the next day.  A letter he had to have almost had ready to send out when I was conversing with him via the phone.

The letter was long--a full page even--regrettably and with much sincerity and apologies they would not be able to offer me coverage.  It was the wood stove, you know, it can't be a primary source of heat.  Secondary yes, primary no.  They then referred me to a company in another county that evidently offers coverage to difficult situations like me. 

I called this company the next day.  The lady I talked to would get right on it, and probably have an answer for me later in the day.  That was a Friday.  I called them back at 4:30--they were closed.  I called again Monday morning and asked for the gal that was helping me.  She was on vacation, but the guy said he actually had that file sitting right on his desk, but hadn't gotten to it.  He wasn't very positive, but he would try.  He'd get back to me.  He called me back the next day.  He might be able to get coverage for me but it would be over a 1,000 per year since I was high risk and wouldn't include liability.  Also they would probably have to have an inspector come out and check things out. 

I asked what the problem was, if it was just the wood heat, if there was anything I could do.  He said no, not really, and well from the pictures.... (pictures??  what pictures???---seems my former company had emailed the pictures they took to him).   I kept asking what was wrong, if there was something I could do.  His response was that it was mostly the wood stove, the building was old, and well there is all that 'plunder' in your carport.   (The definition of plunder is "goods or money obtained illegally".  I can assure you none of my things were obtained that way.)   Then he said and then there are the dogs...   To be honest I was a bit stunned and didn't ask as much as I needed to at that point.  I kept thinking the dogs?   Maybe he meant the dog beds?   The dog toys?  I told the dude I would get back with him.    

Then I called a friend that would have the name of a local company that also often took on 'high risk' homes.  She found the info for me and also recommended another gal and her company, because she was so nice.  I emailed the high risk company (it was the weekend again) and called the 'nice' agent the following Monday.  (I think).   Somewhere in there were the holidays so there were a few 'short weeks'.  The nice agent thought she might be able to do it, and arranged to have someone come out and take pictures.  Believe you me, I worked hard to get the breezeway tidied up a bit.  It is a storage area so it's not empty, but it was neater.  Another photographer came by and took pictures.   Then I waited again.   In the meantime as I was waiting the other 'high risk' company called me and left a message.  I called them back, thinking it would be wise to just keep trying to get someone.  A woman called back and I swear she said her name was Lyle.  Lyle was not nice.  Lyle said some very mean things.  She asked me what date the courthouse had as when the building was built.  (I had no idea).  She said well you need to find out, as that is a problem.  (Later I did find out that 'a' building was built on this property in 1900 but it was by no means even close to being my home).   She also said with the kind of place I had I would probably never find anyone to insure it and if  I did I better just be glad even if it was a zillion dollars (yes, I exaggerate).  What she was referencing in a 'home like mine' is that it is part of an old school--actually the 'new' part that was built in 1965.   The rest was consumed by fire in 1972.   Also she stated because of my wood stove, flu, and age of the house it just wasn't ever going to happen.  I was baking Christmas cookies at the time and let me tell you I doubt there was allot of happy poured into them.  I was so angry and upset. 

As an aside I (and my Mom and sister and even my nephew's wife) did some research on the place to try and nail down some facts.  Being raised here we all knew 'most' of what needed to be known, but getting times, dates, facts was interesting.  I even contacted the architect firm that built the place--and they responded by sending an attachment of a copy of the blue prints.  I had thought it was built in 1960, but it was actually built sometime in 1965.  I plan to go by the library sometime to see if I can get copies of an article that surely ran about it.  Also the reason the assessor's office doesn't show any buildings built here since 1900 is because they were school property, which is not taxed! 

Eventually that same day, I had to go outside and do chores and my 'nice' lady called and said she thought they might be able to handle me, she would let me know more after Christmas.   I was so happy.  At least I had a less worrying Christmas.  

After the holidays though, when she called back, it wasn't such good news.  They just couldn't do it, however there was another company that would be expensive, and wouldn't include liability.....   She was very nice about it, so I asked her if she had time to talk to me and she said yes.  I asked her if there was anything I could do to have it reviewed again, where they might possibly consider covering it.  Her answer was absolutely!   What??   So she told me.  

There were several things:  1)  The woodpiles by the house had to be moved away from the house and there had to be a clear path for firefighters to approach the house.  2) There was a large cedar tree located at the back corner of the house near the chimney.  While about 15 foot from the house, it had grown large and shaggy.  3)  The dogs.  YES...the dogs.  Seems their little butts showed up in the pictures again.  She explained to me that while she understood having dogs, farm dogs, that some of the agents just didn't 'get' it.  However she thought she could work around the dogs if the other issues were taken care of.  

I was in shock.  Someone told me what was wrong--something that I could fix.  Something that made sense.  

That was the Thursday before New Year's weekend.  My Dad offered to help.  The weather was awful--very cold, a little misty rain off and on, some snow.  Friday we moved most of the round stack of miscellaneous dry wood gotten off the place to a point way away from the house.   Saturday I worked on the main wood pile moving it away from the house to where the 'green wood' was stacked and moved some of the cedar debris.  Dad cut down the cedar---the 'little' cedar that I had failed to realize had grown as tall as the house.  Sunday morning Dad worked on moving  a good deal of the main wood pile and somehow got most of the cedar dragged off to a burn pile (the tree was full of vines and a mess to deal with).  I spent the rest of the day moving the rest of the wood pile and starting on moving some other things from up by the house.  --Big plastic tubs for my 'garden', a wooden box on wheels that I scavenged--not plundered--and brought home.  On the other side of my little wool trailer I had stacked about six bags of Chaffhaye to make room for real hay in my garage.  It was on pallets and had a wire panel fence around it to keep Minty from ripping holes in the bag and eating it.  There were also a few other odds and ends.  What I didn't get done that day, I finished on New Years Day.  

I called her back on Wednesday to arrange to have more photos done.  She had offered to come and look if I was unsure it was what they needed.   After I called her I got to looking at a small tree that grows up behind the house and had some vines that were touching the house.  It was dark by then, but I decided the vine was coming down.  After I walked into a low board and banged my head and stepped on the rake and whacked my head, really hard, nearly falling off the ladder and then just getting mad, the vine came down.  The tree is coming down too--eventually.  

So new pictures were taken--the dogs were stashed in the house since only exterior photos were needed.  Nearly a week passed and I was despairing, since I'd tried to get in touch with her a few times.  I just knew all that work had been for nothing. 

Then she called.  And the news was good!  Great actually.  Bless her heart, but she had gotten a very good package for me, for the same price (actually I think a little less).  I cannot even tell you how very thankful I was.  I was without insurance for 15 days.  I do not have the financial resources to 'start over'.  I had been made to feel like I was 'trash' and that my beloved home was worthless.   It was a humbling and sobering experience. 

So very thankful.  And even with not getting insurance on the home, my biggest concern was liability which did not seem to be in any of the high priced last resort packages.  If I had to I guess I could live in a tent, but if some how I lost my land......   

And that is the insurance saga.  I switched my truck over to the new place too---and surprise--better rates, better insurance coverage.   

It does something to you, I tell you....what it did to me to me was make me observe everybody else messes as I drove along.  Wow, look over there--woodpile stacked right up against the house.  Hmmm...that house has trash and 'plunder' all over their yard and porch and.... That house burns wood...and that one..and that one... Ah, and the locked gates..everywhere.   Dogs.  Oh yeah.  Dogs too.  

I'm not sure what the value of this little blog post is, but it seemed like something I should write down for my own memory purposes.    It irritates me that so much of my time and energy were spent on this.  I am thankful for the coverage though.  Very thankful.

Tortie Tuesday--The Big Secret Revealed...

Tempe says...hold on to your whiskers!



Well...it's finally happened. After saving every spare dime for the past two years and after almost 25 years of wishing and wanting it--I now have a deck off my back room!

If you ask the cats, of course it is phase one of their 'catio'.

Blank Slate

Earlier this summer, I sketched and planned and stewed about having a deck--at first I thought I could build it myself, but quickly became in over my head, just in the planning stages. So I contacted a Mennonite that someone had recommended and he came by, looked it over, measured and called me later in the week with an estimate--for labor and materials. It was within what I had saved so I was ready to go forward. However he couldn't begin work until September!

In the end, I waited fairly patiently and in about mid September the deck project was commenced. If it were me doing it it would have taken weeks and weeks --so I was a little surprised about how quickly the man and his son created the deck for me. It took them exactly one and half days to build a lovely 10 x 12 covered deck!

The first day I came home from work to this----the floor in and the roof rafters on. The next day they put in the cross pieces and ties for the roof, and added the roofing (a light filtering white). I was amazed. I hardly ever hire out for anyone to do anything so I guess my experience is small with how quickly people can accomplish such projects! :-)


The collies were quite amazed too, and did a little happy dance to test it out.

The kitties were not amazed and were considerably stressed out and exhausted from hiding in small spaces all day--next to sworn enemies at that. (from left is Meshach, Gabe, Noah & Sage)

So everything went so wonderfully well, and I had enough in the saved fund to buy a patio door... I had to do some scraping to come up with the labor to install it..but we were on a roll and couldn't stop without a door. Here Minty (and Sage in the window) test the new deck and you can see the new door under the blue tarp, waiting for the guys to come back.

The dismantling and removing of the windows was quite loud and not so easy. Once they got them out it was (much to all our dismay) easy to see that it wouldn't have been as big a deal, if we'd known the 'key' to removing them. (It seems they are actually two windows, and the center metal piece once removed would allow them to be easily dismantled.) Still and all they got them out in two pieces with only the center strip being damaged. Once the windows were out, then they had to remove the monstrously heavy cement sills, dismantle brick and cement blocks and bring it down to the deck level.

This photo shows the old windows removed, the new door tacked in place, with a temporary board across the top (to keep the cats in)--you can also see the open area that goes into the dropped ceiling. This was the first day of operation door installation! They had left for the day to go and pick up supplies to finish installing the door, sills and inside steps. We were able to re-purpose quite a bit of the free shelving wood I got from work a year or so ago--it was used for sills and inside trim.

Here the kitties check it out after the guys left.

Another view of it before sills and steps (and door knobs!) were added.


Sage wasn't handling it very well, and lay with teddy bear and eyes squinched most of the night.

And here we have the finished product! Stairs installed--we could only have a half stair since the dryer blocked it from going all the way across. You can also see the new sills, around the door and over the top, with an unexpected and nice bonus of a shelf over the door! I will need to do some finish work--staining and painting to make it all match. I installed the locks myself, since when picking out the door I got a little overwhelmed and couldn't decide on locks. So upshot was they were boughten after my construction guys left or they would have installed them.

And here it is from the outside. They finished off the gap over the door with vinyl siding (insulated on the inside) and I think it looks pretty nice! In one of those odd coincidences my Adirondack chair was also made by James, the Mennonite builder of the deck! When he came to figure an estimate for the job, he walked into the yard and said 'you have one of my chairs!' in a tone much like a mother seeing one of her long lost children. I was pretty sure from that point that he would be doing the deck! It just seemed to providential and I knew he did nice work from the chair.

And here Sage relaxes in his chair enjoying the view...

I love it too. It's a lovely place to sit and read or just relax. Haven't gotten to do allot of that, but still, over my vacation I made good use of it.

I'm working on enclosing the deck with wire. It's a lightweight green wire that should blend in nicely with the scenery. Once that is done, the kitties can sit out there with me.

The final phase of Operation Catio, will be to construct a large pen alongside the house (see photo one) from the deck to nearly the front of the house. It will extend to just to the outside of the sidewalk. It will be enclosed wire and the cats will have access to it via the house windows (I'll install a couple of kitty doors). The deck will be included in their new outdoor area. It will be a happy thing for us all I believe. Eventually the pen will have lots of shelves and places to play and hide.

Oh. But this will take longer since I'll be doing this work myself...and we know that I'm not going to get 'er all done in two days!

Exciting stuff all the same.

Saturday Musings

Trinity melts into a fur puddle

July is here! In all it's hot glory. It's been pretty warm this summer, but we've had a few breaks from it, here and there. I took a few extra days vacation off to tack onto the July 4th holiday, so have enjoyed being home part of this week.

I've gotten a few things 'marked off the list', which makes me glad. Not much new going on, but here are a few of the 'big events' of the last week or so.

Picked 16 tomato horn worms off one tomato plant in the course of three days. I know it's hard to handle that kind of news....

The new generation of greeters....

The puppies are growing like bad weeds and are becoming (sometimes) more reasonable. Having two creates it's own special challenges but they do keep each other occupied. Most small 'life teaching moments' end in a brawl on the puppies part, because they are each so busy trying to be the center of the universe until one of the other gets ticked off. Despite this they are learning many things and do not lack for intelligence. How they choose to use that intelligence can be another matter. Can you say stubborn?



The sable merle is pretty independent and tries to negotiate many things --for instance she won't go into the crate willingly unless I toss her treat in first. Yes she gets pushed in anyway, but still sticks to her guns. The tri on the other hand runs right in the minute the crate door is opened. Sable merle also will occasionally not come in the yard. "No thanks, I don't want to right now." Last time she got locked out on her own while the rest of us did fun stuff for a few minutes. That seems to have worked. However she is very good on her sits, cookie command (i.e. standing with ears up, intensely staring at cookie), and puppy recall. She also has a bladder the size of a basketball, just like her mom, Ashley, and can go hours and hours without needing to urinate.


The tri still has her hangups, and her favorite response to anything is to bark. However she is turning into a bit of my shadow and doesn't like to share. I'm working on eliminating the sisterly body slams when she gets jealous, but it's slow going! I really didn't think she would be the one to turn out so affectionate since as little puppies it was pretty much reversed. Back to the barking---she can do this for hours, unfortunately. A carpenter bee burrowing into a fence post at puppy level can become hours of bark-y puppy fun. She is very good about most commands--especially coming when called and going into the yard and/or crate. She can be a bit stubborn on the sit. I'm also teaching her to fall over 'dead' when I point my finger like a pistol and say 'bang-bang'. This is a very useful Lassie skill. Unlike her sister her bladder is the size of a peanut so she lives on the side of desperate by morning.

Ashley continues to grow hair. Finally. She got down to about bald. She is looking better, but that isn't saying much. Her tail is still ratty and she has long coarse hairs hanging around her neck. Otherwise she has a very short very thick coat of fur coming in. She stunk to high heaven though, so this morning she got a much despised bath. I hope it takes care of the stink, as collies usually don't smell (unless wet).

The kitties are 'enduring' the heat too. It really doesn't seem to bother them, except Meshach seems a little bit slower moving. They will actually lay out in the front room where it is sunny and hot and slowly melt into fur puddles. They insist on snuggling close at night and having four or five kitties lined up and down ones person is not very comfortable in this hot weather.

I managed to bushwhack back the old fashioned roses around my front gate posts. There was allot of dead wood in them and some branches that just needed to be snipped back. It was painful all around, but it looks better down there, if a bit bare. Also got another small shade 'garden' started, as I try to reclaim some of the barren grass less areas under the trees. Hostas and ferns were the first ones in, with a temporary fence to keep them safe from marauding puppies. It's a good time to buy plants since most places are offering them half off. They tend to be pot bound and a little sickly looking, but seem to revive quickly.

Next weekend, on Saturday July 9th, I'll be going to the Fiber U event in Lebanon. I'm just going to be there one day, and am going in with two other Shetland breeders to share booth costs. It's an indoor event, which will be so nice--no worries about the hot weather, rain, flies etc. I've been working to produce more rugs (five so far) and scarves (five as well...), and have all the roving packed up and ready to go. Should be interesting as this is our first year with a booth. Last year we scoped it out to see what it was about.

The sheep and chickens are as usual not comfortable in this extreme heat. They have deep shade and water, but the flies are beastly. It's hard on the old ones especially. I'll soon be turning the sheep onto the lower pasture, which is full of clover and lespedeza, they'll have to be introduced gradually so as not to bloat.

That about covers the small farm doings of the week. Not much goes on when it's hot like this. I get up and do what I need to in the morning, or late in the evening. Midday finds me inside working on house projects, crafts, or just wasting time on the computer!

Hope you all have a great Fourth of July!

Other Things...

The Thinker

Despite what it may seem like, I have been doing other things, besides playing with and taking pictures of the collie puppies! Although they are a big distraction and tend to make many chores much more time consuming.
This is an especially 'hard' time of the year for me, when Spring is sprung and suddenly everything is growing like crazy and everything needs to be done right now. I have a tendency to get overwhelmed and a bit discouraged. Usually though by the time June rolls around, things are a little more under control.

My yard is a mess, but I've slowly been whacking it back. Got it mowed last week for the first time, and while it's raggedy looking at least the puppies don't get lost in the jungle. I've also been working on one flower garden at a time. By the time the goose grass, henbit and creeping charlie have their way, you really can't even tell there are flower gardens there. Fortunately goose grass and henbit have a quick growth and equally quick die back (after they've produced eleventy zillion seeds for next year...). However the creeping charlie, it's another story.

I've been rotating the sheep through all the smallish lower pastures, while letting the upper pasture get some good growth on it. I'm re-seeding the pastures as we go, letting the sheep work the seed into the soil. This year I used the lower pasture as the 'sacrifice' spring pasture while giving the upper one a rest. The upper pasture needed this, as it has rarely gotten a good rest and time for a good regrowth over the years. In about a week, I'll put the sheep up there and then hopefully the lower pastures will rebound and I can switch back in a month. Lotta hopefuls there. Blue was switched over to his other pasture last week and was in a grass induced stupor for several days! He is fat as a tick now.

How Does My Garden Grow?

My garden is starting to emerge. Last weekend I spent quite a bit of time planting tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, onions, and some lettuce and spinach seed. Later in the week I put in a few beans and corn. Almost all of it will be container gardening this year. I have about a dozen Cherokee Purple tomato starts growing (slowly) that I will transplant out into the tomato patch and hope for better results than last year. Bedding plants, like everything else are getting more expensive it seems. I hope to get some squash, pumpkins, more beans and corn seed planted, as well as some mint varieties that I also bought. Then I'm calling the garden 'done'.


The weather has been cooler than normal and very, very, very wet. The grass (and weeds) are growing like crazy but the garden plants are just kinda sitting there.

Skirting Station--Blackberry's Fleece on the table

Of course it's also that time of the year, when the fleeces need to be skirted, bagged and tagged in time for the Marshfield Fiber Fair on the 21st of this month. My helpers on shearing day went through and did an initial skirting to remove the yuckiest parts. This time through I'm more picky and remove any of the questionable bits. So far I'm not impressed--five fleeces in (of 21)--it looks like the sheep bathed in the hay. As I get them processed they will be added to my website in the fiber for sale section. With all the wet weather it has been next to impossible to get this skirting started let alone finished! So it goes. Only 15 to go!

Persia--Staple length photo

Other things on the 'back burner' are plans for a large outdoor kitty run (attached to the house) and if I've the money a patio door to replace the large window in back. This will access onto a deck (I hope) and the kitty run. More about all this later, as I have to wait until I get things ready for the fiber event before I can tackle another large project! There has been some trouble in paradise with the kitties as they mature into their second year, so more space is needed and hopefully this will help.

We'd appreciate a kitty pen addition allot--says Trinity!(she also probably says we could put all her rotten brothers out there and let 'em freeze and bake...)

Anyway...like everyone it's a busy time of the year, but I sure hope to get back to blogging a little more oftener!

Have a great week.

Who Turned Off the Bird Channel?

L-R--Tempe, Trinity, Verity & Noah

..That would be me, and you would think the world ended.

Here's what happened. Over the summer the volunteer millet patch really exploded and took over. Normally I let a dozen or so plants mature for the 'free' self harvested birdseed in the fall. This summer after my tomato starts failed to thrive the garden spot went to seed as it were. The end result was that there was virtually a field of millet beside the house--some of it right outside the windows.
This was a bird paradise. Hence also a birdwatcher's paradise.


It had to be dealt with eventually as it really was messy looking. I let it go as long as I could, but it was time a few weeks ago. First I went through and cut off the seed tops. Some of them I wired up on the fence for the birds to help themselves. The rest went into a bucket to dry. I then chopped down most of the larger stalks. Finally I went over it all with the rider mower. My yard has been reclaimed!


The sheep enjoyed picking through the stalks, first eating off any missed seed heads, then eating the dry leaves.

While I was on that side of the house working, I went ahead and cut off a some Virginia creeper vines that had twined up the side of the house. This was a double whammy on the bird front as they were using those to hang off of while preparing to land in the millet patch.
As you might 'glean' from the title it was the cats that were most disappointed. They were used to the bird channel from sun up to sun down. Sometimes it was quite wild out there. There is still lots of seed out there on the ground that the birds will eventually start working on. And I'll soon be feeding the birds again, so the show is only on hiatus.

There were a bunch of these odd looking sacks on the millet stalks and the house. Not sure what made them. Any ideas? I hadn't seen any of these before. Hopefully they aren't Alien Seedpods.

This little project was done a few weeks ago when the weather was sunnier and very mild. It is not that way anymore, although so far we've missed the snow. The bitter cold though has found us. I spent this morning doing last minute winterizing, trying to get the critters set before the temperatures dropped this afternoon. The wind is suppose to get really gusty tonight so wind chills will be terrible.

Now, just for a minute let's revisit that first picture...this time with commentary:

1. Windows smeared and smudged by kitty noses and paws.
2. Current tied up out of the way, so it won't get in their 'way'. (i.e. I would rather them not tear the curtains down in their bird watching impatience)
3. Old tattered comforter covering the couch to keep it from getting hair covered and nail sharpened.
4. Screen on cockeyed because certain kitties keep hanging from it.

The world of a multi cat household! Have a great weekend.

"Now I'll have to entertain those brats!" says Sage

Signs Of Fall

Finally it seems like fall might be here, temperature wise.  Today is a lovely sunny day with a cool breeze.  Fall chores have commenced with a vengeance now, trying to get the many things taken care of before winter sets in. 

Today, participating in a fall ritual, I worked on cleaning out the garage of the accumulated hay and other debris that tends to collect even when I am looking.  I've started a little pile of things to burn when the wind dies down.  The old hay leavings will go on the gardens.  Soon the garage will be ready for the winter's supply of hay. 

Lots of laundry today too, since it's a prime day to hang it out and dry.  Slowly I'm pulling up or cutting back plants, as most of them already look straggly even before we have had a frost. 

The sheep are starting to get feisty and lots of ewe fights breaking out.  Not sure how things will go this year, since this is the first time I'll not be putting any of the ewes to a ram.  I have four wethers in with them so will see how that goes as well.   The Shetlands in particular can become quite the handful at this time of the year.  I should be able to rotate them one more time on to grass in the lower pasture, which will hopefully keep them in enough pasture until November.  If that pans out, then this will be the latest that I've ever managed to not have to feed hay. 

It really seems very odd not to be making plans to set up breeding groups!  

 

The other night I picked four pounds of wild grapes.  There are more, but I'm not sure I'll get to them.  I de-stemmed and washed the picked ones and then crammed them in the freezer to make jelly out of later on.  I'm astounded at the size of these wild grapes!   All that rain we had over the last few weeks must have been timed perfectly for them.

There are also a bunch of pears that need to be worked up that someone gave me...and some apples on the tree that need to be picked. The pickings in the garden are slim to none.  I did eat a small tomato off the vine today, but most of the fruit is small, and withered looking--even the green ones.  There are a few onions that have had a resurgence of  growth after I cut them back in early summer.  The peppers are doing outstanding right now, with quite a few nice plump peppers on them. 

This little flower is a volunteer...although I'm not even sure where it came from.  I believe it might be an impatiens, and I believe I might have  had some in a flower pot last year.  This plant sprouted up on the concrete, where the wall meets the ground, and seems to be rather proud of itself.  It was a nice little surprise. 

This little guy falls in the 'uh oh' category.  Supposedly the more black a woolly worm has on it, the harsher the winter.   So what does it mean when they are all black?  This may not be a positive sign.

"Homecoming" is tomorrow at the church and cemetery that my Mom's people are buried at.  Another sure sign of fall is this yearly tradition.  I have chicken and noodles in the crock pot and a pear crisp to go in the oven soon.  

Vacation will be in just two weeks and that is a very good, very definite sign of fall!  

The leaves are slow to turn, but I have a feeling they are going to be really showy this year. 

And finally a sure sign of Fall and cooler days and nights---the cats start to gather and puddle up in a pile with each other. 

 

 

Gabe says--me too! 

Hope your weather is lovely this weekend, wherever you are!

Labor Day...Day of Labor

Newly planted mums in the wire basket garden.

Having a little time off sure is nice. This summer has been so miserable hot that allot of little chores were piling up outside. There is still much to be done, but even marking a few off 'the list' makes me feel better.

This coming Saturday is the Celtic Festival...already. I'm planning on taking Rosemary's spotted wethers, who sadly still aren't named. Tomorrow morning I'll be putting them in a pen by themselves (they can still see the flock) in order to get them somewhat accustomed to being on their own. At the same time I hope to worm all the Shetlands.

This morning I have been 'all over the map' working on projects. First I moved some panels around to set up the catch pen for tomorrow, then I sorted and skirted three more fleeces. This is the last of the Shetlands. I have two more of the white merino/dorset ones to do. Then some laundry and other inside chores, and finally I worked up the nerve to use my electric chainsaw.

Here she is after her first real sawing job...

My Dad got the thing for me over a year ago and I've been 'thinking' about using it since. I've spent the last three days looking over the manual, and the saw and the extension cord. Laying everything out, thinking about it some more. As I've mentioned five hundred times before it's been so hot and dry (when it wasn't pouring down rain) that things have gone to pot around here. It seems the trees have just had a hard year of it too, with quite a bit of damage.

About six weeks ago, the redbud right out the front window, had one of it's limbs slowly start listing to the southeast. Over the course of weeks, it has eased itself ever closer to the ground. It just really added to the look of overall neglect the place has acquired over this (hot) summer. Very charming.

Little bit of kindling and fire wood to add to the stack--winter is a coming.

So today was the day, and ta-da! The limb has been sawn up, with the salvageable wood added to the fire wood stack. The top limbs will go on the burn pile. While I was at it, I trimmed up some of the other redbud limbs as well. It was really quite easy, but it's clear I have some things to learn. The best part of this little saw is that you don't have to choke it or gas it or pull any cords to get it started. Just add bar oil, plug it in and off you go. It's also very lightweight. Just the thing for limb trimming and adding to the kindling pile.

Since its been so hot and dry my tomatoes, peppers and squash plants have all just either died or look like death warmed over. My little bucket garden was looking pretty harsh, and I was sick of it. So up came the non-producing bean plants, pathetic marigolds, three tomato plants and quite a few weeds. The remaining tomato and pepper plants were re-staked, trimmed and moved up in a tidy line. In the wire basket bed I planted four mums---just for the color. I'm sick of the baked in the oven look and wanted something cheerful. The view out my back door is much nicer now and it makes me feel better when I look at it.

Tidier view of cleaned up bucket garden

As for the flood. Thursday night we got around 3.5 inches in less than an hour--on top of the 4.5 we had gotten through Wednesday and Wednesday night. The ground was of course saturated and so most of what fell on Thursday ran off. We had been very dry, so dry that the grasses in the fields were turning bone white, and weeds were even keeling over, so the rain was very welcome. Until it became too much of a good thing! (and sorry no pictures... my blogging yen just wasn't strong enough to record that mess while I was in the middle of it)...

Around 8 p.m. Thursday I noticed Gabe was sitting by the front door looking at the floor. I went over to see what he had, and instead of a bug, saw water flowing into the house under the front door. Yikes. I ran and got some towels and threw them in the floor, then opened the back door (both doors open onto the breezeway) and water gushed in over the door sill. Double yikes. I shoved my muck boots on, grabbed the broom and went out. The breezeway was flooding with about three inches of running water. It was gushing over the outer door's sills. I used the broom to 'sweep' the water towards the front of breezeway and out into the yard. My brain obviously wasn't functioning at this point and I thought it was just a 'little' problem. The whole time it's still pouring rain, and lightening. Finally I go back inside and that is when I noticed that the rain had seeped in along the wall that runs alongside the breezeway and that the back of the house was flooding.

The water was rushing out from under the bed and spreading rapidly across the house. Boone was laying on the corner of his bed, oblivious to the fact that water was soaking into the beds and creeping across the floor. I booted the dogs out, and Boone just had a fit about it all. I'm not sure if he thought he was in trouble, was upset that his inside time was being used up or what. Ashley went and got one of the outside cats and they curled up on the breezeway bed (one of few dry spots) and had a nice little bonding session.

Boone hangs on...

I grabbed towels and a couple of blankets and tried to sop up the water, I carried out the dog beds, I ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off, and the water still kept coming in the house. As an old boss I used to have liked to say--I was discombobulated. The power strips over in the corner couldn't be reached, so I just prayed I didn't end up fried. I finally remembered my beloved shop vac and slopped out to the trailer and got it. I had to empty it (of course) and drag out the instructions for the wet vac part (uhm...flood could you wait a minute while I read the directions??).

Finally after some false starts and much frustration I got the vac doing it's thing and slowly, slowly made some headway. By about 10:30 and 8.5 gallons of water removed from the house later, I was finally just running a fleece blanket (all the towels were wet) over the floor to finish drying it up.

I don't think anything got ruined. My computer desk did get some water on it. Not only did it flood through the breezeway but also in a little from the back wall. I've worked at building up the backyard over the last few years, but there was one small low spot and it came in there.

Friday was shoveling along the outside of the breezeway to make sure the drainage isn't being stopped up and washing and drying a million towels. I still need to fill in the low spot behind the house and then wait for the next deluge and see what happens. The house has flooded about three times since I've been here (25 years on September 1st!), and I had thought some of the things I've done had stopped it, but I guess it ain't so. This was probably one of the worst.

Fortunately the fur brats were so traumatized by the shop vac and water everywhere that they stayed in the front part of the house where the flooding was contained by towels. Boone stood grimly looking in the back door from the breezeway the whole time.....

But no permanent damage, and it could have been much worse--there was allot of flood damage in homes around the area.

Well, I best get busy putting together things for the Festival this weekend! Have a great Labor day!

Weekend Musings

Much needed rain moving in

What a week. The weather continues to be hot, humid and just miserable. Last weekend I worked most of the time dismantling, boxing up and cleaning the old computer desk and surrounding areas. I think it was Monday night that my Dad helped me move out the old washer and dryer. Then I had to clean a whole lot of accumulated gunk from out of that corner (where it had been seeping) and get things ready to paint.

See all the 'help' I had???

Tuesday & Wednesday nights I painted, stained and reglued some tile. Wednesday night we also got a surprise and much needed rain--1 1/2 inches. In between the rain, I loaded up my truck with junk. At work we had a big dumpster brought in to move out a bunch of stuff out of the rental house and our boss told us if we had anything (within the 'list' of acceptable items) we wanted to toss in, that we could. When I got the little travel trailer it came with quite a bit of it's own nasty junk. I ended up loading up two t.v.s, two vcrs, three fans (grills removed as they are handy for lots of things!), a bunch of pots and pans and hotplates, and some old antennas. I was very happy to get rid of this stuff.

Thursday the washer and dryer were delivered with Dad hooking it up and Mom standing guard duty at the door so no errant cat would dart out. The kitties tend to scatter and hide when strangers are around so it's not as difficult as it sounds. I went in to work a little early to unload the truck into the dumpster...and nearly started an avanlanche when I opened the dumpster door. Yikes. Thursday night I used my washer and dryer--and the washer wouldn't spin out.

Friday the guy came back and fixed the washer. Friday evening Dad and I moved the new computer cabinet from the garage to the house, using two, two wheeled dollies--one on either end of the bottom of the cabinet. It was a little scary, but it worked like a charm with only minimal lifting and shoving. Once in the house we transferred it to two towels so that it scooted easily across the floor. Once it was in the house, I cleaned it and let the cats 'inspect' it.

For several days the heat indexes were around 109.

Saturday I was pooped. My back is still bothering me (not sure if I mentioned it, but I was 'down' in my back for three or four days several weeks ago). I got up early and wormed the three Shetland lambs and then walked the upper pasture to check the fences and for thistles, beggar lice and cockle burrs. The sheep have been off this pasture since May and it's grown like crazy. Unfortunately one section has quite a crop of rag-weed--nearly as high as my head! I've been putting off moving them onto new pasture due to the heat and the stress fresh 'greens' might cause. But they need to be rotated. They've been working on the front area around the house of the evenings and on their pretty gnawed down regular pasture during the day.

Because I use Ivomec wormer I didn't want to worm anyone while grazing them around the house. (Ivermectin can be fatal to collies) I hope I didn't wait to long on the lambs. I was also hoping for cooler weather to worm them anyway, but that ain't happening.

Once I got those outside chores taken care of early in the morning, I started working on getting the computer hooked back up. There sure are allot of wires that make these things possible! There were some glitches, but everything got straightened out fairly easily.

Then frankly I haven't done much on the productive side for the rest of the day! I'm still trying to decide how I want to set up the computer cabinet with all the misc. junk that I have (paper, books, office supplies etc.)

Oh, and one of the lambs got caught up in a bit of old barbed wire that I didn't know was there. Since it was down by my folks house, my Dad called to tell me, and I headed out to unwind the lamb. Only when all the sheep saw me they came running and screaming in so that the little guy felt abandoned and freaked out and broke free--dragging about three or four foot of barbed wire. Thankfully he doesn't seem to be injured, but it wasn't much fun convincing him to hold still while I cut and untangled it from his wool...all with sweat pouring into my eyes. I hate this summer.

This next week will be taken up with preparing a whelping area for Ashley, so I doubt much painting will happen---maybe a little squeezed in here and there. Still praying for a break in this miserable weather!

I do love my computer cabinet---oh my how I love it! And the orange walls are starting to grow on me. I think once the room is done, it will be very mellow and inviting. At least I hope so.

Have a great week.

Kitties first birthday--a rare picture with them all in the frame (plus Meshach)Starting lower left and working clock wise--Noah, Tempe, Trinity, Gabe, Verity & Chaco--Meshach is in the upper right.

Just Wow.....

...Or the Mighty Have Fallen.....

The other morning I was getting in my truck which is parked out front right now---garage full of computer desk yada yada---and I happened to look down towards the road. I noticed what looked like a very large limb had fallen from one of the Catalpa trees. The lilac bush was blocking my view, so I went ahead and got in the truck and drove down to the road gate. I couldn't believe what I was seeing---not a limb from the tree, but the tree itself was completely fallen on the ground.

I still can't believe it. Remember a few months back when I waxed rhapsodic about these mighty old Catalpa trees? Somewhere in there I noted that they had surpassed their projected life span of seventy years. That was kinda dumb on my part, evidently.

Damage Inspector Boone

To re-cap these trees were planted sometime in the mid 1930s. There were five of them still surviving from that original planting. There are now four. I am sad about losing this beautiful tree. Hopefully once it's all cleaned up (which will be quite a while!), I can eventually reseed a Catalpa there. Maybe from the tree itself.

Now, for the part that persists in creeping me out. The night it fell, there was no wind, no rain, no nothing. Granted I had the fans and air conditioning on part of the night, but there was also no sound. It appears as if it just gently, with nary a whoosh or a groan laid itself quietly down forever. Not two weeks before I was mowing around and around that tree for a half hour or better as I trimmed up the paddock. It's hard not to look at the rest of the trees with jaundiced and suspicious eyes now.

Looking the tree over it is obvious it was in distress--on the inside. Much of the trunk was rotted out, and when it fell it simply snapped at the base. If it had to fall, it could not have picked a better direction. It missed all major fences and except for a branch or two it also missed the other trees. It is also a blessing that there was no livestock in the paddock as well, since this is Jeff and Cal's old pen and I'm letting it rest for most of the summer.


I'm sure the ice storm a few years ago weakened it, and we've had some crazy storms this summer, with high winds, which probably completed the job. I still find it sobering that it fell on a quiet night. It'll make some nice kindling and fire wood. Nothing is better to get a fire good and hot quickly than Catalpa!

As for my truck that is parked out front? Well it's parked under two more of the Catalpas.....Time to get that garage cleaned out!

Rest your weary leaves on the ground old tree....you've been grand

Time Flies....

It's been a busy few weeks, but hopefully things will settle down a bit now. Here is a sort of update....

Two views of my booth...

Marshfield Fiber Fair
As you know Jeff got suddenly sick and died, despite all treatments. This was the week before the fiber fair, and as usual I was running 'last minute' on everything. The extra time I spent trying to nurse Jeff through left me a bit behind, but in spite of myself, I did manage to pull enough together to have a good showing for the fair. None of the roving I had sent to be processed made it back in time, but so it goes. At the last minute I pulled four fleeces from the skirted and bagged ones that were going to the fair. A repeat customer had requested them via the website. I believe I ended up taking six fleeces plus two 'back ups' that had only been skirted once. I sold four of them plus two pounds out of one of the skirted-only-once sacks. It was a merino/dorset cross and the lady wanted it for the heavy lanolin to make pin cushions! I also had some roving in various shades of fawn, plus a little black, and some grey. There were also batting of white merino/dorset--some I had cut into squares and sold according to the ounces. These went pretty well. I sold 64 ounces of roving plus the fleeces and the two silk/wool scarves I had made, making this my best year yet. Had some great neighbors, and lots of good help and company with my family and visiting with sheep and fiber friends.

Tempe was very happy I brought her box back from the fiber fair (I had to use it on the scale to weigh roving...)

Vacation:

At home, the following week I boxed up and sold six fleeces (counting the four I pulled). I think I still have about six or seven more to skirt and get listed. Monday the first day of vacation, I mostly just worried the day away. The little black ram lamb had only one descended testicle and I had scheduled for him to go to the vet's to be operated on. (I hope to post that story later too!) Sheep sometimes do not handle anesthesia very well, and can sometimes just not come out of it. At this point, almost a week later, the little guy seems no worse for wear, and is as friendly as ever. He had a very long day at the vet's but didn't really miss his stride once he got home! Also the week before his surgery I had him and his twin at the vet's ---the vet went ahead and castrated the little grey ram lamb at that time. The next evening I went ahead and banded the other three ram lambs. Jasper (the oldest lamb) and his mom went to their new home the day before. Now we are a ram free zone. Except for rotten Blue.

Two pictures of my 'view' for a day and half. See all that 'treasure'? And note two important items for manning a yard sale--cheez it snacks and a good book to read!

I also was preparing for a yard sale off and on all week. Digging out those treasures (aka junk) I've been hanging on to. It's just ridiculous how much stuff I can accumulate. The yard sale was all day Friday and half day Saturday. Since we live out in the country, there were four different outfits that scheduled the sale for those days, in hopes of drawing a bigger crowd. It seemed to work. I did 'okay' and sold allot of stuff, but seemed like I still had too much left. I've boxed up the books for the library store, and two sacks for goodwill to be dropped off Monday. Not sure what to do with all those VHS tapes! There are a couple things I'll list on Freecycle (recliner, etc). It got terribly hot and humid yesterday and it seems we are in for a stretch of that type weather. In the last few weeks I bet we've had 6 to 7 inches of rain or more. The ground is so saturated that it makes walking around hard! (esp. if you are a sheep in a mucky paddock....) Of course all that rain can really crank out the humidity once it warms up.

High cotton, er, grass for the sheepies

Finally got the ewes turned out on the lower pasture. They are less amused than you might think, since the grass is well over their heads and very wet. They lose each other often (all those bitty lambs) and there is quite a bit of squalling throughout the day. With the intense sudden heat and humidity they are really not happy campers. I sure can understand that....

Just a picture of the light on the leaves of a catalpa tree...

I transplanted some tomatoes outside but they aren't doing well at all. They got quite a beating with rain, and now the sun is intense. I stretched a light weight sheet over them to shelter them a little. I didn't get any of my garden out like I thought I would either....

Jeff's fleece getting stuffed into the tub of rainwater...

I am trying the 'Fermented Suint Method' on Jeff's fleece this year. Usually I just mulch the beautiful thing because of the rammy smell, but this year I thought I'd give this a shot. We shall see. I'll try and remember to give an update. (The FSM is basically filling a container (outside) with soft water--rain water being ideal--putting the fleece in and making sure it's all covered with water, letting it soak for seven days. From what I hear the smell is horrible, but in most cases washes out. This method uses the natural suint in the fleece to clean it and breakdown the vegetable matter. I've also heard it can go horribly wrong...)

The clematis are in full bloom. Very pretty this year. The peonies got beat down by the rain and never got to display their full glory.

It's hard to believe my vacation week is over. I hardly got started.