My busy messy gardens. Hannah update too...

A post by a friend AC, got me thinking about my own gardens and yard. The mowing is done by a zero turn and push mower and it looks pretty nice. Unless you count all the overgrown areas of pasture [not safe to mow] and weeds growing around old equipment.

So I've always tried to make a very colorful and brilliant bunch of little gardens.

They may be messy and weedy, but the birds and the bees are really enjoying them.

Creeping Thyme flowers.

Morning Glories on the porch.

Self seeded Sunflower in the yard.

Happy Birds

Sunlit Nasturtium. These flowers literally take over the SE section of the porch.

 

Not a hummingbird.

Blazing Stars being watered.

My outhouse garden looks amazing and is nearly surrounded by Bee Balm plants. I can sit on the back stoop and watch bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds dodge around in the flowers. 

If I move closer and am patient I can get photos of them.

The East garden. It is one of my free for all gardens. I have creeping thyme, vinca, iris, day lilies [not shown] bee balm, zinnias, cosmos, a pumpkin plant...😁 along with nasturtium and corn flowers. Basically I took a jar of seeds to the one side of the garden and tossed them in, raked, and stomped and thought I'd see what happened.

There is actually a hidden path that goes through the garden. The dogs and I use it.

Yes the garage is still there crumbling slowly. No word from Frank on when he is thinking of tearing it down. I'm okay with waiting because Frank is also busy with working on two farms with crops. He also raises cattle and runs a Excavating and Gravel business along with hauling things for farmers. His wife believes he should clone himself.

Below is another mess. I had Borage Flowers that grew to 4 feet tall and got taken out by last week's winds and 6+ inches of rain. But the surviving flowers are filling in. I don't do a strict border, but just mow close to the plantings. Love in the mist, Borage, Morning Glories, and it looks like some self seeded black eyed susans are going to appear between some marigolds and nasturtiums. I like my untidy messy gardens. Lots of crazy textures to admire.

I've ignored this spot-- below.... 

But this spring I had a tiny field of tall Sweet William which I just let grow. I'll probably save some plant seeds from these and dig the whole thing up this fall to start over or let it grow to grass. It is a mess and overgrown.

I'm going to pick my battles and do less next year as it is obvious I can't keep it all up. I didn't have time to properly care for it last year either. So perhaps it is time to go. Though I hate to dig up the black eyed susans that put themselves here too!

My one tidy garden is this one.

I may do the same for the other half of the porch next year. But I'd rather have cosmos and zinnias along with all the reseeded Love in the Mist flowers.

I love looking at tidy well done gardens, but for the life of me, I like to mix up as many things as possible and see what happens with no rhyme or reason.

I'm finding out what flowers like to grow together on my own and which plants like which places the best.

I suppose I could study some garden books, but the gardens they suggest are too rigid. I like wild and untamed.

Hannah and I saw Dr. Grimm, she is an awesome vet and Hannah loves her! Hannah does have what is called a seroma or pocket of fluid that is to the side of the incision. Her surgical incision is healing perfectly, the seroma is a small concern and we want to stay ahead of it.

So instead of my solution to keep her from licking it open...we changed tactics.
The area must be open to the air yet keep her from irritating it. 

I have a cleanser to swipe the spot twice a day.

So not a gross shot but here is a photo of the incision and the area points to what seems to be a seroma: Clear fluid that is next to an incision. 

Doc and I want to stay ahead of this as it could be serious and hard to treat if not taken care of.

I learned something today!

She has a new look with a PJ top from Olive's house, she gave me some shirts that her kids didn't wear anymore.

So Doc gave me some cotton balls in a solution to swab the sight and she came up with this to keep the area aired out and keep her from licking it.

It is a toddler t-shirt with leg holes. It is super easy to do and she was embarrassed at first, but is not bothered with it by bedtime.

Farm stuffsss

Farm life for us.

Hannah and I did fence and field inspections via the 4 wheeler on Saturday morning before the smoke moved in. 

She has adapted well to being a 'farm' dog. 

Since she is part terrier she believes she is a super dog. She is fearless. She tags along when I lead Little Richard from one place to another. She will bark at and chase any animal that may stray into her vision. She thankfully is smart enough to return after a chase.

I went back to putting 'clothes' on her and wrapping her incision area with ace bandages again. She has developed a spot to the side of the incision that looks like a little bubble. Trying to keep a 'Terrier-Terror' calm without jumping, running, and chasing is a tall order. 

For most of the week I've been stuck inside during the worst of the smoke and the other night both dogs had so much pent up energy that they had the most crazy Major Zoomies/FRAPping I've ever seen or heard. Charlie chased Hannah, Hannah chased Charlie around the house.

Both surprised me by leaping onto the couch and using it as a springboard to leap to the area rug and take off again. 

I thought it was hilarious and let them do it. Afterwards, they fell sound asleep on the couch together. In fact I posted the photo of that peaceful moment in my last blog.

While doing belly rubs the next day, I noted that Hannah had a little 'seroma' which is a pocket of fluid that is generally a reaction to the inner stitches of her incision. It is usually caused by activity after being spayed. You know, like what pups normally do. Jump, run, play. 

That means we are back to limiting activity. The advice to keep her calm from internet searches are: Crate Time, only leash walks, keeping the dog from jumping and so forth. 

Hannah Hannah. 

I will call the vet today to see if she would like to check Hannah's Seroma out. This morning it is back down but I rewrapped her. Otherwise she tends to lick that area and I imagine that irritates it also.

She tolerates the clothes and the Ace Bandage very well. 

This dog really loves her food bowl. She will lay next to it in the late afternoon and sleep on it so she won't miss her supper. This after a busy morning of being a porch dog [anchored to the porch by tie out!].

Below, 10 seconds of Hannah's eyes from ground view while she is watching me. It is just pretty funny. This was late afternoon when she was sure that it was feeding time.

How's Mr. Charlie? He is fine but most of the time he doesn't engage much with Hannah if he doesn't have to. They will lay on the porch bench together and watch the world go by.

Charlie. Carlos, Chuck, he always looks so serious and dignified doesn't he?

I did get out to see Sunshine on Sunday. We went for a short ride because the smoke was moving back in. It felt really nice to ride again after all the hot and smoky days. 

No pics. Sunshine was really bothered by the huge herd of sheep that rotate through sections of Kristi's farm [they rent the pastures and forest to an Amish who raises sheep]. Sunshine was not impressed by their bleating and the guard dogs barking. My guess is that the sheep were just moved to that section and had been herded in by the sheep dogs.

I figure once the sheep get pastured next to her and Cash's pasture, she will have the opportunity to get used to their noises. She has already accepted the pygmy goats and mini donkeys that live on the farm.

We turned away from the sheep's temporary pasture [we'd ridden that area last week] and headed towards another field. Sunshine spotted movement not far off in a cow pasture. A white cow was making noise and others were moving around. She has seen them before but this wired her up a bit more. 

Meanwhile Cash just gave Sunshine the 'whatever' look and walked past her. 

By the time we rounded another field, and headed back to the indoor, Sunshine was back to her old self. While Kristi unsaddled Cash and rinsed him off, I had Sunshine practice 'heeling' to my shoulder. It gave her some ground work to think about. She did great and we ended up on a very positive note.

[I've taught my mules to 'heel' to my shoulder for ease of leading them. Hands free heeling is fun to do. They stop when I stop, walk when I walk, and back up with verbal commands. It took a lot of time and effort, but it is fun teaching it to them.]

I rinsed her off afterwards and when I turned her out with Cash she acted very ho-hum. But by then the nasty noisy sheep had all quietened down.

I wonder if she thought all the bleating sheep were a sign of distress and in her head it meant danger. Once they quietened down, she absolutely chilled out.

If we could only get into animal's heads!

No pictures during the ride, we were concentrating more on the vicious biting flies and our mounts, and the monster creatures. It was still quite relaxing.

As I left for home, the smoke move in with a vengeance. On the ridges it looked like this, but on the highway the road disappeared at 1/2 mile intervals.

I'm glad we got our ride in before the smoke descended on us again.

FRAP

 Frenetic Random Activity Period

also known as Zoomies.

Release of Excitement
Release of Pent up Energy
Pure Joy
Stress Relief

This is a new term I've just learned recently. I've always called them Zoomies, but Veterinarians have come up with a more technical name.

Some people say that it is a sign of dogs being under stress. Others say it is pure joy or the release of energy.

I say, I enjoy watching my dogs practice zoomies. Especially when Charlie joins in on the fun. I watched them charge into the kitchen, race into the living room, leap on to the couch and bounce off from furniture.

Last night the barks, growls, and frantic joy made me laugh.

This is the result after the FRAP was over.

I don't blame them for having the super zoomies in the house because I kept their outside exposure to a minimum for the past couple of days with the very smokey air.

I want to do FRAP! Imagine if I started just zooming around in the yard with unbridled joy, leaping and shouting, spinning and running willy nilly.

Wait.
Yeah. Sometimes I do that. 

According to Google humans have their zoomies and stress relief by pacing rooms, cleaning in the middle of the night [or day], and sudden mental energy.

I prefer to run around in the yard. More fun. But the neighbors on the ridge might hear me and think something is seriously wrong.

I'm going to go out and FRAP in the garden!

Have a day.

In sanity?

 I'm not going to blame MN or Canada for the fires. The dry remote areas are on fire and firefighters are trying to hard to contain the fires. 

The winds changed and sent the smoke into the Midwest and other parts of the US.

This morning I checked the Air Quality site and was rather surprised that the particulates were this bad. My eyes stung yesterday. I could smell what seemed like a garbage fire and camp fire mixed in.

Now. I don't want to criticize some folks, but when I posted this on social crap-media and commented that I'd not go to work out at the gym, I got some comments from others that said it 'would not be a big deal'.

Now our gym is simply an old garage for repairing vehicles. The bay doors are always open in the summer and there is no A/C. I don't mind working out in the heat, but breathing in heavily polluted air seems counterintuitive to exercising for better health.

Especially if you are working out and increasing your rate of breathing.

Yes, by noon, the Air Quality should be much better if the smoke moves off like it did yesterday afternoon. But I'm an aged athlete and I don't feel like working out and smoking a pack of cigarettes at the same time.

According to the DNR website along with medical websites, they caution against breathing in particulates --> smoke. It is not a gas, it is pieces of burnt plant matter among whatever else burned up. Think of breathing in miniature pieces of burnt matter and it changes they way one would think of the smoke.

That is my opinion and decision. Meh.

Here are two photos of this morning when I did chores. Little Richard looked as if he was in fog. Don't worry, I move him a few times a day in this heat so he can get into the shade. He also spent most of the heat days in a tree shaded paddock.

I grabbed this shot of Charlie when I was watering some flowers on the porch. 

At least by noon there will be a breeze to move the nasty smoke out of our area and move it towards Madison which will be horrible too.

I did get some plants watered so the won't wilt in the sun and heat.

Brown atmosphere...yuck!

Thankfully I was able to see the workout that we were to do and did the home version. It was nice to do it with the dogs watching to monitor me. 

Hannah is on towels because some pup thought 
it would be awesome to dig in the garden

while I was sprinkling in it.
She had mud up to her

eyeballs.

Gotta love a pup! 
She harmed no flowers in her morning 

adventure.

😁😂👇

But THAT look when I asked her:

What did you do?

I think I'll work on the stick house today. It is coming along nicely.

Mornings around here

So mornings have been pretty much the only time I've been doing a lot outside. The bugs have been awful in the mornings unless there is a good breeze.

Thursday morning looked like it was going to be foggy/smokey so I jumped in the 'Ru to avoid the skeeters. 
The smoke and fog were moving in when I parked.

In the skies above, I could see the clouds and sky...

Soon the smoke really decided to move across the landscape.

Chart of the air quality:

Neighbor's cattle on the ridge.

A doe and her triplets. There is a third in the weeds you 

can't see. I caught them in 

the next shot.

A cute little family.

So most of the day was spent doing something I don't like that much. Moving everything and doing a deep deep clean. Walls, floor trim, and even anything else that could keep me going.

I used the left over water in the shallow water tank to wash some pieces of rugs that needed freshening up but can't go in a washing machine.

Wednesday morning I did walk out to the ridge with the dogs and saw some incredible fog and sunlight shining through the logged forest. It almost was worth the attack of skeeters that I encountered.

Mornings and late evening have been the only times I've been out and about doing chores and gardening until the bugs start to chew me up.

Here is to staying out of the smoke and heat. Hang in there. Winter will visit us once more, I hope.

Hot Summer Daze

But first!

Not long ago, I got a surprise package delivered. Mary came to visit me and go on adventures. Immediately I had to follow her around to see what she would be up to.

She seems quite comfortable going on adventures and exploring. I even found her holding 'court' with my dinosaurs.

Mary doesn't look perturbed at all. She looks as though she has everything under control. It must be her sunny attitude they admire. One dino even brought her Forget-me-nots!

In 'other' non important news:

The heat has been exceptional. The dew point and humidity are some of the factors that make it feel so unbearable.

Of course the dogs wanted to be outside for a while. I was with them to make sure Charlie didn't overheat. He has a hard time with intense heat because of his Dachshund and Pekinese background.

Hannah isn't quite as bothered by the heat, she often goes out to lay on the gravel driveway in the sunshine.

I put my shallow stock tank out the day before and put water in it so it wouldn't be super cold for them. The water was actually warm, but it seems that they didn't mind. Hannah jumped in and out of the water while Charlie just stood there quietly.

I thought I'd do a little bit of 'work' with Hannah. She, like Charlie, is food driven. Unlike Charlie, she is extremely brave and curious. It took only a second for her to notice I put a dog treat in the Lego Robot's hand. 

We worked on 'wait' so I could try to get a photo of her taking the cookie from the Robot. Anything more than a two second 'wait' is a bit beyond her at this point, so I had to work fast.

Charlie wanted a treat too but he wasn't willing to push Hannah to the side to get it. He waited patiently. He was still soaking wet from his time in the stock tank.

I didn't know that Wednesday could get that much worse but it did. The humidity is worse and the breezes we had the past two days stopped. With that wonderful combination, the smoke from the Minnesota and  Canadian wildfires have descended on our area.

Just a couple of hours ago my son in Wausau sent me a photo looking down his street. It looked as if brown fog had descended down his street. It is about a 3 hr drive northeastward to where he lives. 

No wind. Smoke, humidity, and heat. Looks like another good day to read a book and work on crafty things. 

Sticks, glue, moss, and cardboard. Maybe a new 'forest house' for my Lego Minifigures. Hey the stuff is free out in the yard and forest, I just have to build it!

No night shots right now unless the mosquitoes let up a bit. Right after dark and just before dawn they are murderous. 

It isn't worth going out and trying to shoot stars when I'd get carried off by monster Skeeters.

Stay cool if you can. Doing chores this evening is going to be a soaker.

 

Night Moves...

Bob Seger's Night Moves is one of my oldy favorite songs.

So the past few days with the 'new' moon phase arriving, I've been spending quite a few nights trying to 'catch' star trails and the Milky Way.

That meant spending some time in the tent so I could just pop out of the flap and see the night sky. That did not worked out well since I missed that night sky but got to see some amazing Saturday morning fog and the Crescent Moon over the Meadow.

I decided to try it again on Saturday night.

I went out to the camp with the intention of seeing the night sky appear and getting some amazing shots.

Hmmm. That didn't happen either. The dogs and I spent a little bit of time out at the 'camp'. It was hot and sticky, but I thought it would be nicer at the campsite. It usually is.

But.
It wasn't.

It was horrible. I could handle the humidity and the heat, but I couldn't handle the mosquitoes! There were hoards of them!

It was so bad that when Hannah came up to me, she had mosquitoes all over her nose and face. I abandoned the 'camp' and headed home to the 'safety' of the house.

At home there was a very slight breeze from the southwest that hadn't been drifting through the trees. I decided to try going out much later and seeing if I'd get eaten alive.

Thankfully, I wasn't!

I experiment quite a bit when 'shooting' the stars and the night sky. I really wanted just to get the Big Dipper the first night.

I got part of the Big Dipper along with a bit of clouds and even a firefly squiggly.

So I tried another shot with a longer time of exposure. The clouds moved through and again and there were more firefly squiggles.

I thought, okay, now I've done that, now I need to try the Milky Way. 

The first shot is turned to black and white. This was the night that had a few clouds. The clouds were an odd color as well as the Milky Way. Everything had a weird green tint.

[I am still trying to learn why I get the odd colors, is it stray light from a town 3 miles away or is my color balance just really awful. I need to study that some more. Sometimes I do a great job and at others? I suck.]

I quit after an hour or so of trying to get a proper shot. 

Oddly enough, I wasn't bothered by the hoards of blood sucking mosquitoes.

So I went back to the old standby of doing another Star Trail. If I were a true Astro photographer, I'd seek out a wonderful exotic place and position the Milky Way over a barn or some other scenic place. But I am not that good at it, so I spend my dark summer nights practicing over and over again in my own yard. 

Travelling to another location seems to be frivolous for me since I am still learning.

Plus--> I have pretty good dark skies in my hollow.

I really like this Star Trail shot. There are little tiny streaks of green in the sky from the Fireflies flying above the camera. By this time, the clouds had moved away. 

So maybe I was getting just a bit better with the star trails and I still sucked big time with the Milky Way. [That just means I can practice more late at night!]

I'm not one to give up. The next night was supposed to be clear. Just as the stars came out, I decided to try for the Big Dipper once more. In the shot below, I can see where it is...just barely. 

Our little house is right below the Dipper. I rather liked the blue in the night sky in the early evening.

I tried again when it got a bit darker and cropped the photo. 

Now I can see the Big Dipper. 

Mission accomplished!

I wanted to try another star trail so I set it up. 

It wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be, but I decided to just go with it. 

There is something about the streaks of stars that appeal to me. 

The night sky is

so incredible even in a boring setting.

 

Failures of the Milky Way:

Maybe one day I will be successful. I have really good luck sometimes and really poor luck other times.

I wonder sometimes if it is light reflection from far off and if humidity has an affect on how the camera sees the night sky and the Milky Way.

In my head, I was photographing this instead. 
[sky swapped--> which I don't believe in doing. I want to truly do this proper!]

😢

I keep studying and learning, that is what feeds my curiosity. Eventually, I'd love to say that I've done a shot just like the one above on my own.

I can adjust my white balance more to a lower Kelvin temperature [I know this doesn't make sense to others but apparently the right temperature should be somewhere between 3600-3800 for a pleasing bluish night sky.
I've looked at a filter that is supposed to cut light pollution, but not sure I want to drop $ into something that is more of a hobby for sleepless nights.

I think I'll watch some instructive videos for my particular camera to see if I can improve my star photos.

It would be a good choice today with temps outdoors that are rising to 95 this afternoon.

I could go out this evening and try some more skies. After all the sky will be dark.

It would also be a great day for a nap and reading a mystery.

After all, a year ago, I got pretty close to what I felt was satisfactory.

[View from the porch]