Sunday Walkabout 8-18

It certainly doesn’t seem like summer anymore…

47* at choretime in August...
more than a little unusual

The break in the heat and humidity is really nice, but the odd weather patterns are making the predictability of summer harvest…well, more than a little unpredictable. 

This time of year we should be awash in tomatoes and waiting impatiently for the fall broccoli crop.  Not so this year!

The peppers are GORGEOUS

We’ve reached that point in the season where a lot of things in the garden just look “tired”…the weeds and bugs have overwhelmed some crops…and it’s a real temptation to take a bush hog to the whole place and look forward to next year.  But, that can’t and WON’T happen.

This week, we changed things up a little.  

The Boss was hired by the management of the R’ham County Fair to “shoot” the fair for a second year.  We took a day away from farm work to capture the sights of the largest agricultural fair in Virginia.  A trip to the fair is really worthy of its own entry… but, for now, here are a few things we saw.

bovine love

happy hog

fine specimens in the ring

prizewinning vegetables

truly creative vegetables

the REAL dairy princesses

only at a fair in the South

just walkin' my cow

Yep...the fair makes everybody SMILE!

Back at the farm, it was time to play catch-up. 

Those green beans FINALLY ripened!  It seemed like they ripened all at one time. I picked and picked and…picked green beans.  Nearly 100 pounds of green beans off that small patch…and there will be more!

 **Toughchick came for a little visit and got pressed into service.  But, we did give her some beans to take home…’cause we’re just nice that way. ** 

Most of the green beans sold at the Market. The few that remain will be put up for winter use.

As further evidence of the inevitable shift of seasons, we began to see lots of the swallowtail butterflies of late summer.  I’m pretty sure the Monarchs will be making their annual stop at the milkweed blossoms, but I haven’t photographed any yet.

Virginia's state insect

This is a swallowtail, too

Milkweed blossoms

Remember I said that the battle with the bugs would be epic?  That is proving to be an understatement. Check out all the juvenile squash bugs! Pretty sure we lost this particular skirmish in the ongoing battle.  

On the other hand, the garden spiders are doing their best to keep the “bad guys” out of the crops. I apologize to anyone who finds spiders creepy…I think spiders are awesome...READ this.

It looks like the corn will be ready this week.  I think we won the battle with the ‘coons and we will have plenty of corn for winter. (unlike last year…READ this)

The upcoming week promises to be a busy one.  It’s time to get the hoophouses cleaned out and filled with crops for winter sales, weed, mow,  process corn, green beans (and hopefully some tomatoes) and switch up the sheep/lamb flocks.  …and a few hundred other things.

What a beautiful view

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you'll come again.  

Tess has become my new office "helper".
She feels it is her responsibility to check out EVERYTHING
coming from the printer.

Happy Sunday!

A Quarter Century

August 16, 1988-Fauquier County was in the middle of a heatwave.  The heat and humidity had it feeling like it was in the triple digits.

August 16, 1988-the air conditioning in Fauquier County Hospital broke down.

August 16, 1988-our eldest daughter made her much anticipated, much delayed arrival into the world.

      ...at the Fauquier County Hospital...
 
                                              ...during that heatwave.    ugh!

That was some of the hardest work I had done in my life up to that point.  I suddenly understood why it was referred to as labor.

While the Boss headed out to make the obligatory phonecalls, I watched our newborn daughter stare at me rather bemusedly in the early morning light and wondered over this new person that we had in our lives. What would the future hold? 

If I had only known.  Honestly, labor was just the beginning of the hard work.  …and I wasn’t the only one who was going to work hard.

Lately, Toughchick has been reminding me that she’s going to be a “Quarter Century” …I’m not sure if it’s because that is a good-sized accomplishment (keeping in mind that she was considered almost certainly a “goner” at one point) or if it’s to remind me that I am much farther down the road. (that HALF century is looming large)...or maybe it's just because she doesn't want me to forget the chocolate cake and fried chicken supper she was promised. (There is a definite down-side to a summer birthday in the country.  It's smack-dab in the middle of harvest AND fair season!)

sharing a special moment with Great-Grandpa Bing

Of course, when Toughchick was born, she wasn’t Toughchick at all.


She was just a round, wise-looking little person....

                                  ....with a propensity for smiling.



 I figured I had a lot to teach her.  What I didn’t realize is just how much SHE would teach ME.

Toughchick has taught me much about love and loyalty...

enjoying life..

Lake Anna with Papa

             

Sister fun

                            …and being your own person.

She's fearless, too!
yes...that IS a snake and she IS smiling!

As she grew up on our small farm, we taught her about hard work and that tie to family and the land. Homeschool lessons were nothing compared to the life lessons that farm life offered on a daily basis.

Her love of animals, particularly chickens (and other birds) means that she’s the “go-to-person” whenever we have poultry issues.  She also served as our introduction to a whole host of interesting “chicken people”. I suppose the proper term for the group of friends from shows and sales would be poultry enthusiasts. Regardless of term, they are a great group of friends who have always been there to provide encouragement and support.  Today, she and the Beermeister have their own poultry business.

Toughchick and I have had our tough times when…well, I don’t think either one of us liked the other one too much.  The tough times in our relationship made me realize that for all my “open-mindedness”, I really wasn’t.  For all my talk about “be true to yourself”, I wasn’t real accepting of anything other than my own definitions.  I learned a lot in those tough times.

I guess I wasn’t ready for my little baby to sprout her wings and fly.  But, fly she did.

That round, wise little baby somehow became a responsible adult (it seemed like overnight!) .  Before I knew it, she was all grown-up with a husband, a job, a nice home, a business and a life of her own.

 My daughters amaze me sometimes.

When tragedy struck, I was amazed again.

Honestly, NO mother should have to watch her child learn to walk a second time.     But, I did. 

I learned a lot during that summer of recovery after a drunken, drag-racing teenager nearly killed our daughter, her husband and their dogs on that horrible April night.   A little bit of that story can be read HERE.

Every day I saw new evidence of LOVE, PERSEVERANCE and DETERMINATION.

 Toughchick and the Beermeister are amazing examples of just what love can accomplish.

After she recovered and returned to work, Toughchick took on a challenge that completely floored me. 

Not only did she go and visit the Rescue Squad that was responsible for saving her life…she joined them.  

She spent hours and hours (days/weeks) studying to get her EMT training and her EVOC (ambulance driver) certification.  The girl who was given a 5% chance at survival (that was just to make it over the mountain to the trauma center) was now out there working to help others. No one can comprehend just  how amazing her old mama finds that one. You might want to read Read THIS! 

So, Toughchick…on your 25^th birthday…that quarter century mark…

I just want to wish you many, many more.  I can only hope that Life is everything you wish it to be.

Here’s to you being that super cool 100+ year old lady who has done everything on that ever-growing "bucket list". I know you can do whatever you set your mind to.

Just remember this one thing…

“Yer old Mama luvs ya!”
     

                       (…and of course, so does PaPa!
                                                and the rest of the gang)

                                               Happy Birthday, kiddo!

P.S. Fried chicken, all the sides and chocolate, chocolate cake...next week...promise!

The Housing Incident

There are perhaps a million reasons I could list for not getting my work done. But, most of the time it’s my own fault for lacking focus, for being so very easily distracted. 

But, singing IS distracting.  Not my own singing…that’s far worse than distracting…but, that’s not the subject. 

Someone was singing…loudly…the sound seemed to fill the office as I tried to work.  I really didn’t mind the distraction and the sound was nice, but where was it coming from?

No, it wasn’t the Boss.  He was quietly working on his side of the office. But, he heard it, too and commented on it.

I looked out the window. No one was in sight.

I sat down.  It started again.  It seemed to get louder.

I looked again.  Nothing.

I went outside, checked the apple tree next to the house, the top of the shed, the fenceline…nothing. But, I could still hear it.

Then, I found the performer…

It was a little house wren, singing with all his might.  Singing to impress….oh look….little Mrs. House wren!

Look real close...Mrs. Wren is inside the tube

…and they weren’t in the apple tree, or on top the shed, or along the fenceline.  They had chosen to build their nest INSIDE the pipe---the metal tube---that is the top of the clothesline pole!  I couldn’t believe that they would fit.  But, watch this! (It’s not great quality; I shot it through the office window.  And, as you can probably tell, window washing is not a real high priority around here)

Okay, I was hooked.  How often do you get to do any birdwatching from the office window?  The bookwork could wait.

Mr. Wren would sing.  Mrs. Wren would answer.  They were quite animated and it was amusing.  However, this wasn’t the joyful singing of courtship…something else was going on.

Suddenly, a villain appeared.  (cue the bad guy music) A sparrow came flying in to “check things out”.  

Sparrows are notorious for stealing housing from the other little birds and a lot of people hold the entire population in great contempt.  I understand why. 

I figured that the wren’s chosen home was safe since the sparrow was a much bigger bird.  But, no…somehow, he squeezed in the little tube and poked around.

Mr. and Mrs. Wren were getting quite shrill at this point.  As the sparrow came out, they flew at him repeatedly, not seeming to notice the size difference.

Eventually (about a thousand frames later…that really is an exaggeration) the sparrow finally gave up.

Mr. Wren claimed victory.

Mrs. Wren went back to her nest-building/house-cleaning.

…and I…

                well, I was left trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing in the first place!

VICTORY!

**the incident occurred earlier this summer...the wrens were successful in raising their family.  The fledglings are grown now and singing all around the farm.**