Thistle? Or Not

I don’t know if you remember,  but last year I bought some blue sea holly roots from Walmart after seeing them on a British gardening show.  Only one survived.  I bought another pack of three this year and two have lived.  

The one from last year is blooming now.

 I cannot decide it it looks too much like a thistle. 

I like how the blue color coordinates with my pinks and purples. Maybe next year when the other ones bloom, they won’t look so much like thistles. 

In Season

I have started getting fresh garden produce. 

Right now I am covered up with zucchini. I have been trying to give it away but it is coming in faster than I can get rid of it.  I am getting cucumbers too. But I have been able to keep up by eating those. 

Today I harvested my first broccoli head. I will most likely freeze this one. 

And the blackberries are starting to ripen, yum.

Morning riding is also in season.

If I get an early start I beat the heat and most of the bugs. It was a nice morning for a ride on Otoelene. 

Bull Rodeo

Our Hereford bull started limping 5 days after being turned out with the heifers. Joe wanted to get him up to treat then turn back out. The bull was not that interested in leaving the heifers. 

We were finally able to get him into Hugo’s lot. Hugo was pretty excited about that. 

 The bull went every direction except where we wanted.

Success finally.  After a big dose of LA200 (long acting antibiotic) getting him back to the heifers was no problem. The next day he was walking fine.   Joe is always frustrated that after researching pedigrees and EPDs, paying thousands, then feeding it all winter something always happens to them shortly after turning them out with the cows.  If it’s not limping it’s an eye problem or a breeding injury. It is always something. 

Weekend With Sadie

Virginia and Mike brought Allie and Sadie over Saturday afternoon for a visit.  Sadie asked to spend the night. I try not to let too many of those opportunities pass by so I said of course you can. 

The first thing she wanted to do was for me to blow up the pool to play in.  Instead, I got a bucket of water, a couple of rags and the hose and we washed the car. It was just as fun I’m sure. 

Then we had to go help Joe fix a fence that some people delivering hay broke. It was hot and Sadie was thirsty. I told her she would have to tough it out until we got home. And she did. She didn’t fuss or whine or complain. Just asked a lot of questions about “contrisity”.  Her word for electricity. 

Meanwhile, don’t try this at home.  Joe managed to get everything put back in working order and we headed back to the house. 

There were goats to feed,

And cows to check.  Then dinner, bath, a couple more chapters of Charlotte’s Web and bed.  But before that, she wanted to pick out my dress and shoes for church the next day. I thought she just might wear the pretty purple dress she came in. I was wrong. Sunday morning she wanted to pick out a dress from the dress up rack. 

She chose one that I had as a little girl.  Which meant I needed to iron it. 

After church there were more flowers to pick. 

I think I wore her out because she actually took a nap. 

Then before heading home one more trip to the barn to feed the goats. She was trying to get them to eat out of her hand. 

Then she said it was horse riding time. Unfortunately, we were out of time and could only take them a treat. I love that she loves all the things to do here. 

New Cow Pony?

 Joe wanted to move the cows today to the field across the creek.  It is sometimes one of the more difficult rotations, making sure all the calve come with the cows.  I would usually pick Otoelene to ride.  But today, I decided to give Hugo a try.  I have ridden him through the cows but never really asked him to do anything other than walk past.  

Joe was on the 4 wheeler. 

He went up to the gate we wanted the cows to go though as started calling them.  I rode through the woods and to the end of the bottom to push the stragglers.  Not really a high energy task, just steady walking.  

I went back to a different area and found a couple of strays.  When I got them near where Joe could help we were at a steep hill that heads toward the house.  Hugo decided that it would be a good time to take off running.   Sometimes it is better to run than to risk circling on a wet slick hill.  He has never bucked with me so I was pretty confident I could stay on and get him stopped.  And I did.  And he was fine after.   Occasionally, you just may want to run up a hill.

Anyway, we were successful in rounding up and moving the cows!

Looks like I put in about 4 mile of Hugo walking and not me.  Maybe I have a new cow pony. 

Day Lilies

The day lilies were starting to bloom before our trip to the beach.  I was a little worried that I might miss the peak blooming. 

But I didn’t. 

I love the long sweep of color along the driveway. 

They usually last for about 3 weeks.

Aren’t they gorgeous!

Then I was surprised when Virginia and Mike came over with Sadie and Allie.  Yes, we picked flowers.  Sadie is always picking them for her mother.  Then she will ask if I want to pick some for my mother.  She is so thoughtful.

I asked Sadie and Allie to stand in front of the day lilies for a picture.  Sadie cooperated.

But the only was to get Allie to was to ask her to give Sadie a hug.  Sweetness overload.

Jaws

When Joe and I went for a walk on the beach last night, we passed a man that had just hooked something surf fishing.  He had some heavy duty equipment.  The line was running out and he put on a harness like captain Quint on Jaws was strapped into.  He commented to his partner, “it’s not something small.”  As much line as we saw run out we thought it would be awhile before he got it reeled in so we kept walking.  When we came back we saw this…

He had caught a shark.  

 There was a group of kids around wanting their picture taken with it.

Afterwards, he released it back to the ocean.  Just remember that next time you are swimming out there. 

I managed to get up early enough to see the sunrise again, beautiful. 

After that, one more trip down the beach to the pier.  

We are home now and back to the real world.

Beach Life

 We have been doing a lot of walking.  Walking up the beach and down the beach. 

Is it a vacation when I walk more than at home?

The answer is yes!  I saw a beautiful sunrise. 

We walked to the end of the island.

There has been considerable erosion up there.  Joe wore his boots so his feet wouldn’t get sore. But you can tell he is on vacation because his jeans are shorter. 

Having a happy time so far.

Change Of Scenery

I managed to get Joe to go on an impromptu trip to the beach.  But only because there were only 2 cows left to calve, no hay needed to be delivered and most importantly, Mike was available to check on things. 

 We made it down in time to take a walk to the pier. 

Looks like we are in for some good beach weather. 

Last Monday

I meant to post about this last week but there were too many other things. So I have pushed it to this week. 

We worked our cows up the road Monday. 
 I was happy that Mike was able to help. 

At one point we had to take a break and put a gate back on the hinges. 

Everything went smoothly after that. 

We did the calves first so we wouldn’t have to deal with the cows crowding the headgate waiting for parent pickup. 

After we finished I went to open the gate to turn them all back out. I think Joe has gotten more paranoid. There was the regular gate chain, two wires and an extra heavy chain. He said the cattle were hard to get up and he did not want them getting out. 

Back out to pasture and ready to turn the bull out soon. Thanks for your good help Mike.