Landed

I had been at a loss as to where to display the dragonfly that I made last year from a spindle, ceiling fan blades and a tennis ball. 

Then last weekend when I kept Allie, she had fallen asleep in the car. I just stayed in the car with her until she woke up.  While sitting there I was looking out of the garage window at the grapevine wreath.  The dragonfly was being stored on a shelf in the garage in front of the car. Then it came to me, the dragonfly needed to land on the grapevine. 

Perfect! 

Also, last year I moved a couple of volunteer grapevines and planted them at the base of my wreath.  

I am hoping that they will reinforce the wreath without me having to drag and weave anymore vines. Maybe these will grow large enough before the original wreath rots. 
 

The Trapper

Joe has a calf at the barn he is trying to get started on feed. The problem is that the ground hogs are eating more than the calf.  

So Joe set a trap.  Yesterday he caught two at once. 

Today he caught two more. 

Sorry, but they were not relocated and released.  

 

Broccoli Overload

Joe was able to find some broccoli plants early in the season. 

They have grown fabulously. I harvested 7 of them this weekend. I saved one for Virginia and got the rest ready to freeze. 

It was a sink full. 

I normally freeze it in quart bags. Last year I used the vacuum sealer and made single serving sizes. This was too much to deal with like that. I used gallon size bags and ended up with five gallons. . Anyone have some good broccoli recipes?
 

Horsy Update

I managed two rides on Otoelene last week. 

They were both in the barn but I did skip lunging her first. Before my injury in November I never felt the need to lunged her.  But after the injury it gave me a little more confidence before getting on.

Both ride went fine, no issues.

It had been a month since Draper’s stillbirth. Her vaginal hematoma had healed and it was about time for her to be coming back in heat. Her ultrasound was great, no infection and a developing follicle. We took her back to the stallion Wednesday.  Hopefully, I will get a good update from that soon. 

Then today I got to keep Allie by herself.  I took her for a walk and she asked to brush Otoelene. Of course you can. 

She did a lot of brushing but did not want to ride. I could tell Otoelene was expecting a treat since a small child was involved. But Allie is not Sadie and never reminded me about the treats.  I am pretty sure Allie would not have wanted to hold the treat anyway. But at least she wanted to do the brushing. So I feel she is making progress. 

 

New Collection

I have heard it take 3 to make a collection.  

I have had this variety of Hen and Chicks for years.  It started out as one someone gave to my brother.  Then I got a start of it when we moved here.  

It is growing in lots of places around the yard, but I like it in this pot. 

Recently, I got this one.  It seems subtly different than the previous one.  

It had arrived in this pot with a clearly different variety.  I purchased it at Rural King a couple of weeks ago.  Don't worry, it was on clearance.  

Then a friend at work gave me this variety several years ago.  I love the spider web appearance.  

And look, it is blooming.  This might be the first time I have seen a Hen and Chick bloom.  Pretty cool.  So, I am counting 4 different varieties, definitely a collection.  

 

Cattle Work Day

We finally were able to work a larger group of cows and calves today.

These are the ones just up the road.

The calves got two shots,

and an ear notch.  Joe is notching the ears for id instead of ear tagging.  We will put tags in the heifers that we keep for replacements. 

Thankfully, Mike was there to help.  My duties decrease dramatically when Mike is around.

We did the calves first so the cows wouldn’t crowd the chute area checking for their calves. 

No drama, and finished in a couple of hours. 
 

Yet Another Loss

My Birdfi camera stopped working Thursday.  I thought the adult birds were making so many trips in and out that the solar panel couldn't keep up with the camera charge.  So Friday, I got an extension cord to plug in the charger.  When I opened the box I thought, "wow, those little birds are like rabbits and have just froze to protect themselves from a predator"  Then on second thought, that just didn't seem right.  So I took a closer look.  They were all dead.  

I don't know what happened.  It had been pretty warm Thursday so over heating could have been a possibility.  Emily said bird numbers are decreasing, especially Tree Swallows because of pesticide use.  Whatever the cause, it is very depressing.  Emily suggested cleaning out the box and the parents might try again.  And it looks like they are.  I will hope for a better outcome.  

 

Moving Around

All 6 are still there.  They are moving around a lot more now. Joe killed the 6 foot long black snake that was making his way towards the bird house.  The flower beds are safe again for Sadie and the rabbits.  

 

Dollywood 2025

I joined Mike, Virginia, Sadie and Allie for a day trip to Dollywood.

We arrived at 10 am for the opening.  Everyone was in good spirits after a 3 hours ride there.  

River rampage was our first ride.  Nothing like starting the day off soaking wet. 

Allie wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but she ended up enjoying the ride. 

The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold.  And there were no lines for anything!

I tried to get a family picture, but Allie wasn't interested in holding still.  The little ones started to get just a little grumpy around 3:00.  They had eaten all of their snacks so I suggested the all you can eat buffet.  Amazingly, after that their energy was renewed and we went for another round of rides.  

We finally had to drag them away. 

One the way out, Sadie really wanted to pick some flowers.  After I said no, she asked if she could pick up the ones that had fallen off.  Ok, I couldn't see any harm in that.  She carried them all the way to the truck.  I found a container and put in some water and she held onto that for the whole ride home checking on them periodically until she fell asleep.  She really loves flowers.  

After 10 hours Allie was still dancing. 

It was a very nice day.  
 

More Than I Could Handle

I have gotten back to expanding my rock garden. It is becoming my favorite part of the yard. 

But I got in over my head when I got this rock down the hill. 

It started up above that big tree. I was able to get it to the driveway but couldn’t get it all the way up on my plywood sled in order to pull it to the yard with the 4 wheeler   I asked Joe to help. 

A week later, he came with the tractor. 

And dumped it near where I had planned on putting it.  Then he said since he moved the rock for me I could help vacuum out the tractor cab.  Fair enough.   

After some digging and scooting, I had it in place.  I love it.