Sunday Walkabout 9-22

It’s been one of those weeks that left me wondering…

WHAT did I do all week?

I mean…it was Monday…

…and then…just like that…it was Saturday.

What happened?  Did I actually accomplish ANYthing?

Well, let’s review.

Monday was…well…Monday.  A half a day of town errands and then home to take the dog to the vet.

As the “mother-nurturer” around here, I get all the fun jobs like vet visits.  Gus had fleas. Seriously?  What is it with fleas this year?  First the kitten, now the puppy.  I swear…I’m beginning to itch! But, he also needed a check-up, heartworm preventative and all the stuff that is seen as necessary when you’re a dog owner.

Anyway, I figured since Gus was SO good coming to the farm that the vet trip (about 20 minutes in the vehicle) would be a breeze. Right? WRONG!  We didn’t even get out the farm gate before he began to howl.  I turned on the stereo.  He howled louder. I cranked the volume.  We repeated this cycle a couple of times before I figured I would probably deafen us both and just let him howl.  As we cruised along, Gus howling and me singing along with the CD, it turned into a nice drive through the countryside. When all of a sudden…hey, wait…that dog…no, deer…is gonna cross the road! RIGHT here! Well, at least I now know that the Xterra brakes are pretty awesome.  No deer dents in my front grill and Gus didn’t even slide into the front seat. Once my heart rate returned to somewhat normal, I stopped singing and started scanning the roadsides.  Deer are a real problem around here…but, more than a little unexpected in the middle of the afternoon before mating season.

Gus kept "smiling" while at the vet
and he thought my phone looked tasty

The vet visit was uneventful.  Gus had gained over a pound in the 5 days he had been on the hill.  Maybe we should have named him Clifford! (certainly you remember Clifford the big red dog of pre-school literary fame) He did indeed have fleas and parasites, so we left the vet with a little bag of puppy meds and headed back home.

On the way home, I paused to take a picture of something that has puzzled me for a long time.  Check this out.  There is a pair of shoes hanging from the phone wire.  They’ve been there for a long time.  Such a long time that I look for them whenever I drive over to the vet’s office.   Yes, I really do drive along wondering…are the shoes still there? (I know, I need to get out more)

Look close...see the shoes hanging from the wire?
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Tuesday, since I wasn’t careening through the countryside while singing with a howling puppy, dodging deer and looking for lost gym shoes…the Boss and I processed broilers (again).  This batch was quite nice…they were fairly uniform in size and we’ve gotten so we can do our monthly batch in short order. The rest of Tuesday was spent at the dentist…but, since I wasn't certain which tooth was troublesome...I was sent on my way...only to return Friday after harvesting for Market.

On Wednesday we had a frost.  Yes, I know that our thermometer showed 41* when we went out to do chores (and yes, it is accurate) and nobody else in the county seemed to have frost. But, there was definitely frost in the lower spots.  It was just a “wake-up” frost.  The real deal is coming…just wait. The frost (real or otherwise) meant that we needed to rearrange a few jobs to start to get ready for the cold reality that is winter.

The Boss ran the bush hog through the weedpatch I mean fall potato patch. (Yes, he DID get the bush hog AND the tiller back in working order. Yay, Boss!)  Cutting the tops of the potato plants will cause the potato tubers to stop growing and will toughen up the skins just a little.

cut potato plant in foreground

This will help the potatoes to keep better through the winter. It also makes the garden look a little neater and will keep the weeds from engulfing us when we begin the potato harvest. If you ever wondered if we use herbicides…just look at the weedpatch I mean potato patch…and you will see the answer to that question!  All that green, weedy looking stuff in the background is...well...WEEDS. (ugh)

Sometime this week, we moved the broilers from the brooder to the field, got MORE broilers in the mail (last batch for 2013!), picked beans…beans and more beans, did some bookwork and a little planning for next season, started more seeds, moved the sheep and lambs to fresh paddocks,

lambs at sunset

The sheep are still wary of Gus despite the size difference

 planted in the hoophouses, pulled out spent crops, took a few photos...

Come on, Ellie....PLAY!

Sometimes...you just REALLY need a nap!

morning light 

Whenever I miss my cows...
I just watch those belonging to the neighbors

Gus is learning to watch and wait

We worked on training the dog and gave up on ever even trying to train the cat.

If I could just get her to dust when she's up there!

While it’s not actually farmwork per se, we also finally brought the canned goods off the front porch and put them on the shelves in the utility room built specifically for our winter larder.  Yes, I realize some of them sat out there for months and months…but…that’s just the way it goes sometimes (most times).

rows and rows of full jars
ready for Winter

Then we harvested, washed, packed and chilled this week’s harvest.

After months and months of a low-grade headache and just feeling generally yucky, I finally got that bad tooth pulled. (I will spare you a picture)  I must say a big THANK-YOU to Dr. Bang and Dr. Bigelow.  I feel amazingly better…which just goes to prove that I indeed did need another hole in my head! J

vegetable portion of Market stand starts to look like Fall

Saturday morning found us at the Market hoping against hope that the dire weather prediction would prove to be wrong and that the rain would hold off until closing time. It was a very close call. Despite a few sprinkles and very threatening skies, we got off virtually rain-free for the morning. The real downpours didn’t start until around 5pm after we had gotten back, gotten unpacked, had lunch and finished afternoon chores. All right!

We really needed some rain, so I wouldn’t mind a rainy weekend, but that doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen, either.  We’ll take what we get…and be thankful for it. J

1984-seems like SO LONG ago

We ended up with a little over a half an inch of much needed moisture.

Today, the Boss and I note the 29^th anniversary of our wedding day.  (I almost typed WEEDing day…that would be oh, so very appropriate! ha) It’s been a most wild, incredibly amazing ride (yes, we’ve had more than our fair share of absolutely ordinary, somewhat boring and mundane, too) and I feel safe in saying that neither one of us ever expected to be here, doing what we do, having experienced all that we have and loving (almost) every minute of it. …I, for one, am looking forward to the next 29+.  I guess I could have just re-posted this.

So, today I leave you with a song that we both really like---it's a good anniversary-type song. ...and Darius Rucker has an astounding voice.

Oh, and to answer my original question...yeah, I guess we did accomplish a little bit of something this week. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Come on back now…ya hear?

Happy Sunday!