Rescue Me

One day I got a call from my daughter-in-law saying we need to go adopt a dog from the SPCA.  I had been reading about how they were overflowing with dogs from recent disasters in other areas and were in dire need of help but I already had two big dogs, Molly and Diesel, and had been dogsitting my daughter's dog for four months, so I did not think I could handle another one.  I also didn't think I could love another dog as much as I love Molly and Diesel ,but rationalized that since we have plenty of room and could help, we probably should. 

When we got to the SPCA, I fell in love all over again.

Hannah is all energy and 100% affection.  She adores Molly and Diesel and keeps us laughing all the time.  She has never met another animal she didn't like and will stand very still under the horses so that they can sniff her from one end to the other and will play tag with the donkeys.  They love her!  When we first got her, she'd run around playing for awhile, then jump into the horses water to cool off.

When I first saw Hannah at the shelter, she had a burn down her back.  Apparently whoever had her before had done it with lighter fluid.  It has something to do with dog fighting from what we're told, but her traumatic start in life has not altered her loving personality one bit.  She loves everyone.

I guess if I have any advice about adding another animal to your life, do it.  I didn't want another dog, didn't think I needed another one, but you know what?  She's been such a great addition to our family, we can't imagine not having her now.  There are so many dogs like Hannah at the shelters, just hoping for a family of their own.  If you can help by adopting one of them, you won't regret it, I promise.

Moving Day

I guess the ultimate project so far has been moving our house from the front of the property to the back of the hay field.  We lived in the cookhouse with two mastiffs for about a month while the house was prepared for the move.  The weather the day of the move was beautiful and it went very smoothly.  Check out the pictures of our moving day.

Across the hay field - away we go!

Once in place, new porch columns and bannisters were added to the front porch and a new porch was added to the back of the house.  Originally the house had an old screened back porch where the washer and dryer were.  I thought doing laundry outside was kind of crazy at first but I actually really enjoyed it so once the house was moved and the new back porch was added, we put the washer and dryer on the back porch again.  I love being outside folding clothes as they come out of the dryer. 

Is that Normal?

We have our two donkeys, Lilly and Sunny, in with our old horse, Daisy.  One day I looked out the window and it looked like Sunny had a long string hanging out of her mouth.  Turns out she was eating Daisy's tail.  We kept noticing Daisy's tail was getting shorter and choppier all the time.  Both Lilly and Sunny were doing it.  We couldn't believe Daisy was just letting them eat her tail!  I told Fred maybe they are planning on eating the whole horse, but just started at one end. 

I "googled" donkeys eating tails and apparently I'm not the first person with this problem.

Weird. 

About those Baby Chicks

Remember I told you about the baby chicks and how they were making me crazy?  Well, they are all gone.  No, I didn't get rid of them, they died.  Yep, every single one of them.  I tried it all - heat lamp, heating pad, inside the house, out on the porch, I just couldn't figure it out.  They didn't die all at one time, but one or two each day.  Apparently they all died from "pasty butt".  I don't think I need to go into detail about what that means.  The term "pasty butt" is pretty self-explanatory.  Anyway, after buying 14 baby chicks on Monday, we were down to 4 by Saturday when the kids came to see them.  One of them actually died while the kids were here!  Of course I told them he was sleeping.  I was actually relieved when I had to go out of town and they were all gone when I got back.  It was very frustrating and I vowed to only buy grown chickens from now on.  Just call me the "Chick Terminator".  Lesson learned, moving on.

You Probably Live in the Country . . .

I have made a list of things that probably apply to you if you live in the country.  I am not making any of these up, they actually all apply to me:

1.  Every vehicle in your yard has a trailer and a 4-wheeler attached.

2.  You buy deer corn for your husband at Ace Hardware in town.  Side note:  Don't put deer corn inside your vehicle.  It usually has weevils and they are tiny little bugs that get everywhere.  Ew - now I know.

3.  You buy your entire wardrobe at Ace Hardware while buying deer corn.  Carhartt shirts, Carhartt pants, Carhartt jacket.  Oh, and maybe a Carhartt hat for good measure.  Done.

4.  You have horse treats in the pockets of your jacket.

5.  You wear rubber boots out to get the newspaper or hang clothes because of the recent snake movements.

6.  You are well versed in what a "good snake" looks like and what a "bad snake" looks like. 

7.  You buy yogurt for your horse because she has stomach problems.

8.  You can't get anything done around the house because now it's shrimping season AND deer season.

More to come I'm sure . . .

Fig Preserves

Fred and I have a big fig tree and I was exciteded to make fig preserves this year for the first time so I asked my daughter-in-law, Sarah, to come over and make them with me.  

I washed and prepared 18 pint jars in anticipation of lots of preserves to share with everyone.   Sarah brought her niece, Caroline, over and we cooked our sugary concoction according to the recipe and waited anxiously to fill our jars.  Turns out, it only made 2 jars!  Needless to say, I'll be heading back up the fig tree to get a whole lot more figs to fill the remaining jars.  Last time I went to pick figs, I had on shorts and my rubber (Hunter) boots.  I knew I looked ridiculous but didn't know if I'd run into the local black snake or not, and didn't think anyone would care anyway how I looked.  I was just about finished picking figs when I decided to go up the ladder to the top just one more time to reach some really high ones.  As I was coming down, the ladder tipped over.  Luckily, I was holding on to two limbs so I was left dangling.  I was able to lower myself and leave with the little bit of dignity I had left.  Fortunately no one was around with a camera phone or I'd probably be on UTube or at least the Holly Hill paper.

Fred said next time he'll take the tractor over there and raise me up in the bucket.  Well, won't that be a sight?! 

By the way, the label says Kettle Figs because Sarah's niece said they smelled like kettle corn when we were cooking them, so she named them Kettle Figs!

Fred and the Couch

I looked out the window of the kitchen one day and spotted Fred on the tractor with a couch on the front.  He had gotten it from the cookhouse and was heading to the burn pile with it, but started clearing land on the way back and was out there like that for an hour, driving around with a couch on the tractor.

I stood in the window, smiling and shaking my head, wondering what would go through someone's mind if they saw him out there -

1.  Is he looking for a good place to have a "man cave"?

2.  Is he just keeping his couch with him in case he gets tired out there?

3.  Is he so focused on clearing land that he doesn't realize there's a couch attached?

4.  Does it even occur to men how they look sometimes?

Oh what fun men are!

 I love this guy!! 36 years together and he still makes me laugh.