Little Happy Dances

Above is a snap of me sitting with Charlie on the porch. There is the little weed whacker that my hubby bought me for my birthday a few years ago.

At that time I wasn't as strong as I am now in my shoulders and arms so it was a chore to use it for any length of time and I was always sore afterwards.

[Yep, I'm giving CrossFit a bit of a nod here. Not only has it helped but my first happy dance of the day was in CrossFit class. I had a PR of 82 lbs in the Back Squat. I know that may mean nothing to most folks but to me it was huge! My first back squats were with a pvc pipe and I actually graduated to a weighted bar. It wasn't until this past few months that I actually added real weights. 
Anyway when I finished my little PR, I did a joyful happy dance and rang the bell.]

Well, I decided it was time to get after those pesky straggles of long grass that Sven couldn't keep under control. So I fired up the Weed Eater and went after the grasses.
Whoops! The little trimmer string wouldn't advance.

Uh oh. I know last year I just asked the boss to help me. So I poked my head in the house and asked Rich, "Do you recall how to do the string 'thingy' on the weed whacker?"
He looked at me and shrugged, "Nope. Sorry."
There was a time that he'd take charge and I'd be the go-fer. I'd get the tools and he'd take care of what needed being done.

Hmm.
I recalled seeing the manual to this Toro Trimmer in the *Manual Drawer*. It is a dresser drawer in the basement that has every manual that ever passed through this property. I rummaged through until I found the Toro Trimmer Manual. I made about 10 trips to the spot where Rich keeps tools [this area will get organized eventually!] and came back with two wrench things that I could work with. The instructions were nearly as clear as mud.
So I looked at the pictures and followed them, but was stumped when I couldn't get the bump nob off.

So I used my Smarty Phone to look up similar issues. How odd. A Yahoo Question and Answer discussion came up with the solution. The manual said to turn the bump knob counter clockwise [Lefty Loosey], the discussion said that was wrong. Clockwise.

And they were right!

I followed the suggestions to clean the spring the knobby thing, and all the other parts. While I was at it I cleaned up the shield and dabbed a bit of oil on the other suggested parts.
Then I proceeded to follow the written instructions on how to re-string the trimmer and put it back together.
I started it and went at the weeds. Imagine a sort little happy dance while whacking down long grass, thistles, and burdock. Giddy again.

Success! I set it down after I was finished and went to put the manual away. On the very next page it had some instructions on how to clean an air filter. Oh, I don't ever recall having that cleaned.

Looks like I have some more work to do.

I never imagined I'd be happy over being able to just string a little trimmer.

Meet Molly

Molly is 18 and just graduated from High School.

In the fall Molly will be starting an Equine Science program at a Tech School in Iowa. How I wish they'd had a program like that when I was her age! She says she will learn to ride, train, AI a horse, collect from a stud, be present at the birth of a foal...and many other cool things. When finished with her program I hope she will be able get a great job.

A few weeks ago I was lying on the ground trying to clean grass gunk out from under the riding lawn mower. I was full of grass goo, dirty, hot sweaty, and frustrated. I'd just learned to change the oil in the simple little mower and had wet juicy grass to unclog under the large mower.

Molly came walking down the driveway. When she walked up to me, she smiled and stuck out her hand to introduce herself and let me know that she and her family had just moved in on the ridge to the house that had been empty since last spring.
I stuck out a gooey hand and we shook.

Molly explained that she'd heard there was two people on the ridge who owned horses was I one of them? I laughed and said I had one horse, but I owned mules.
She commented that she'd never met a mule and that her dad said they were stubborn and mean.

I laughed and immediately took her to my mules. She was surrounded by the red headed sisters and Siera, all who were curious and wanted to a pet.
I took an instant liking to this 18 year old and decided to ask her if she wanted to learn a bit more about equine before she went off to school in the fall.

Last week she came out and helped me curry some winter coats. I introduced her to some of my basic safety rules to have around the mules. We quickly went over body parts and I showed her how to saddle Siera.

Sunday morning she arrived along with my neighbor farmer Linda. Linda had been checking her field for planting above our place on the ridge when she'd seen Molly walking and offered her a lift.

We visited and then got to work.
Molly hadn't forgotten her saddling lessons, she did everything properly. I explained what a crupper was and why we used both a crupper and a breast-collar while riding in our hills. Most flat work doesn't require it, arena work doesn't require it... but we were not going to be on the flat or in an arena. I was going to show her a different aspect of riding.
Hill riding. We first worked in the relatively flat area of the pasture in front of the house.
Molly had learned mount and dismount and how to softly drop into the saddle. She had to combine that with making sure that Mica didn't walk off while she was mounting or dismounting.

Mica can be a 'creeper' when she wants to.

Her posture in the saddle was nearly perfect. And once we worked out all the commands, I took her on a small trail ride. Mica had been a roping mule at one time and she was a 'heeler'. She'd also been my husband's team penning mule as well as his speed event mule. 

I didn't take any photos of us down in the woods other than a view from the top of Sunshine...who really needs a trim on her mane! That will be one more job that I will inherit. Rich says he won't be able to do it.

We ended up doing a bit of brush busting so I could locate the path that takes me to the neighbor's ridge top and snowmobile trail. I hoped to take Molly on a ride through the neighbor's land one of these times.

I told her that what I was introducing her to would be a lot different than the riding she would do in school so I hoped I was not teaching her any bad habits.
I also told her that she can share her knowledge that she gains!

Since Molly works part time at a Dairy Farm, she will now have Fridays and Saturdays off. I know she has duties to be done at home but we are hoping to spend a bit of time each week to work with Sundance and some riding.

I'm pretty happy that Molly came walking down my driveway.

What a great young lady.

Fencing and Fencing!

Last year in July I restarted a 'fencing project'. I wanted the mules to be able to get in down into the woods and clean up the briers and some of the other underbrush.

There had been a good two line electric fence there until the 2007 storm which washed out banks of the creek and dumped trees on both the electric and the barbed wire line fence.

I only sectioned off a small section of the woods though. It had been tough hot work and the mules did a nice job working in the woods.

This is a photo from last year. The original fencing went all the way back to the creek. I put this up with a gate so I could walk down ... or take the 4 wheeler to the creek if I wished.

I didn't think I'd ever get up the energy to be able to complete this task. But I decided to work on it a few hours a day if I could to get the brush whacked away from where I wanted to run the lines. Now that was hard work.

At least with both Sven and Charlie for company, it wasn't lonely work but pretty pleasant. Both of them helped me run the new lines.
Well.
Help wasn't really the word I'd use. Sven kept moving into the wire and somehow got it wrapped on his leg .. or neck.. and he'd walk to me dragging wire and stop and look as if I'd offended him somehow.
Or Sven would pick up a glove and walk away with it.

Goat Fencing could be an Art. Much more difficult than Goat Yoga, I'd think.

In the above photo, you can't see it, but this is one of the banks above the creek. Here it drops 20 feet to the left of the posts.

Today I hooked it all up and drove the 4 Wheeler down to the end to test if it was 'hot'.

It sure was. And the grass I'd seeded had come in quite nicely.

This is how the area looked when The Bulldozer guy was working on it last June.

Looks better now doesn't it?

So as I was driving the 4 Wheeler back to the house, I thought to myself. A job well done! I had completed the project! 

And then after I started mowing the yard I looked at one of the areas that is impossible to mow. It is a section of yard that never got landscaped after the basement was dug. It was a series of holes, bumps and two washed out areas.

Last year and the year before, I had spent time with the weed whacker and chopped it down.

I stopped the mower and looked over at the mules.
Why indeed!
I could build a mini fenced in area and ... hmmm...
let them do the work.

They could handle the rough ground better than I could and then I'd just be left with a few odd weeds to cut down.

I started to smile and then chuckle. I like making temporary lots and using them wisely to feed the critters.

Maybe I am a fencing Diva?

Day Dream

Day Dream:
noun
A series of pleasant thoughts
to distract one's attention from the present.

Sometimes on a dreary day, I can go and just find a place to walk around or sit on a rock and daydream. [Well, any day...really.]


My thoughts aren't earth shattering and generally they aren't even about anything important.
Yesterday I was in the valley and I just slowly walked along admiring moss and listening to the creek make noise and the birds sing.

I was surprised at how many birds I could now identify by song alone. I didn't need to see the bird to know which one was singing. It pleased me. I thought about my grandmother Pearl and how she always seemed to know exactly which bird was singing in the woods.

I found myself sitting at the edge of our property and gazing down into the water. My mind took in the shape of the rocks below and the soft silt that covered them. I listened to a Warbler, a Wren, and an Oriole.
And I day dreamed of nothing but just the noises and the feel of the forest and the creek.

I found tiny things that interested me and of course had to stop and take photos.

Little fungi in all sorts of stages, from start to finish.

 I just loved the way these had tipped and set up.

I'd photographed them a week ago when they

were just 

developing.

Coral Fungi. I don't recall seeing them 

this early in the year before, but maybe

I just haven't noticed.

Jacob's Ladder. 

Pretty 

Blue

so delicate looking.

Columbine. Wild and plentiful.

I never have been able to grow them

in my gardens.

So be it. 

I can find them in 

the woods.

So maybe I'll go back and do some more daydreaming. It's nice.

I think it is a good idea.

The Day Dreaming Pool

Catching up busy...

Some infrared photos from this past week

This past week has been a busy one. Appointments at the VA and an appointment for the Subaru.
Struggling to mow the yard on the days when I won't float the mower.
Changing the oil and doing maintenance on the 4 wheeler, the zero turn mower, and working on the tiller. All jobs I that were deferred before to 'the boss'.

Thankfully, my neighbor was been kind enough to spend most of Sunday afternoon showing me how to go through these engines. I learned new terms.
Two cycle and 4 cycle engines. He even found an adjustment on my little mower and it mows better!

Now the yard is shaggy again, but I have my flowers all in and the flowers I wanted seeded...are seeded.
There are family 'things' going on but I choose not to address them on a public blog of course.

 The hill that we normally let the pony graze and keep trimmed. It has

been too wet for that this year. I 

had to hand mow it this last weekend. 

I think it looks nicer mowed than pony

mowed.

 West side of the house. I have some very hardy

plants in here,

and I moved the hosta as it 

never does well in the heat

of the summer.

I added mulch to keep

the moisture in during 

the dry spells.

Not showy flowers, but some interesting

colorful herbs.

One day I may actually put a border

around the edge.

The innards of the 4 wheeler.

It was cutting out so we took it 

apart.

I think it should be okay after

all the work we did.

I put up a hummingbird feeder next to the east window in the eating area. The Hummers are plentiful. Today I'm going to grab an Oriole feeder and put it up as well. They are trying to get into the hummer's feeder and keep landing on the porch and singing to me.

They will only be around until late June, but I would like to enjoy seeing them close up. Besides Rich enjoys seeing them also.

I've been visiting my MIL in the Nursing Home and some days she is really not very with it. Her dementia has progressed or she is confused as she is in the 'home' for now. They ... the care team is considering returning her to her apartment with more help.

Two nurses stopped me yesterday to ask if I could help them come up with an idea to keep her feet up because of her edema.

Such the rebel. MIL puts her feet down as soon as PT/OT leaves the room or one of the nurses or aids. She needs to have them up so that the edema can be controlled. I guess she has trouble figuring out night and day also. 

All this is expected going forward with dementia and her kidney failure. MIL is rather unconcerned about anything other than getting back to her own bed.

On the days I visit, I always call home on my cell phone and let mother and son talk for a while.

I did take some time for myself yesterday and managed to take a nice quiet walk in the dreary weather. I even found more morels!

I'm looking forward to a few more fun things coming up at the end of the month....

Yards and Gardens, Goat, Dog, Pony

I got the yard mowed again before I had to put pontoons on the mower! Well, I got most of the yard mowed. I left a section for the pony to clean up and did some manure raking by hand.
I couldn't mow the hill by the shed as it is steep and was still wet under the grass.

But my supervisors watched me carefully.

Charlie and Sven tied out so they can enjoy sunbathing 

together.

If Sven sees Charlie in the yard, he cries and Charlie

runs to be with him.

Charlie doesn't really need to be tied when he is with his Goatie friend. But since I had a huge mower out, it was a safety thing.

I have been calling Sven 'Goatie Goat' and he seems to not mind. I refer to Lil Richard as Pony and he doesn't mind. Charlie gives me a look when I call him Dog.

Later, my supervisors were bored...

An old picnic table top

serves as a place to

sleep.

Lil' Richard was in his area cleaning up around the machinery and the old Jeep which has finally been sold. I'll move him and then rake out the manure there. The next trouble spot are two places I can't mow. I could weed wack it. But I'll wack down the weeds he doesn't eat..

The mules moved to what will eventually... I hope, be a picnic area overlooking the ridge to the north. I just love to sit under the big old Box Elder and enjoy the view.

After my mowing and whacking, I decided to plant some flowers. I'd gotten marigolds for the right half of the porch and planted seeds on the left side with a mix of cosmos, zinnias, and sunflowers. Some of the sunflowers reseeded themselves so I will move them around when they are big enough.

I tried something different this year.

I picked up the logs from a tree that was cut down last year. It was hollow and I thought it would be fun to try planting stuff in them. I moved other logs to the Morris Garden to be used as holders for my pails with plants. It is fun to try and get a bit creative with plants and planters. 

I have one spot under the kitchen window that may need more color this summer. I may transfer some seedlings or pick up some more Marigolds. I never liked marigolds as a kid, but now they are fun and I love their late summer hues.

My bleeding hearts are doing well and as they fade out, the iris's will shoot up with purple. As the iris flowers fade, the Blazing Glories will burst into color.

After that the zinnias should show up along with the 4 oclocks.

I don't know that I will do a veggie garden this year. Seems I have a lot of vegetables left over from the abundant garden of last year. I still need to string the electric wire down by the creek. 

At least I am not running out of things to do.

Hope Glimmers

Sometimes things look slightly better with a glimmer of hope.

You know dreary days can be SO darned dreary! We've had endless bouts of gloomy and rainy cold days mixed with wonderful warm days. Those days involve me trying to mow the areas I can without floating the lawn mower.

So that leaves out the hills as the ground under the grass is so saturated I'd leave brown tracks. Hmmm. I may have to wait on the lane for the land to dry out. By that time the grass should be at least knee high.
But wait!

I know Sven can't keep up with it, and Lil' Richard is doing his best around the old tractor and vehicles...
So I may wait until the lane is nice and dry and let the mules in to clean it up all at once. Then I just need to spread the manure they leave behind.

Problem solved!
I may have to do that to the hill in front of the shed too. That will be a bit more difficult to organize, but since I am so good at temporary fencing, I just may do it.

May is proving to be interesting. I've really had good luck on the warm afternoons hunting morel mushrooms. I will probably go out this afternoon with my electric fence roll and string one line and then since I will be at the creek...I will do a quick hunt before walking back up to the house.

I know where there were some very tiny morels on Saturday, so I'd like to go back and see if they grew.
So far I've had plenty to eat and I've dried a lot for soups and stews this winter.

Rich's depression has lifted quite a bit with the help of Dr. S.
Wow.
We saw Dr. S yesterday and he said the difference was night and day. The Gnarly Witty and sometimes bizarre husband of mine was bantering with his psych doctor.
Rich's Pulmonary Function Test was no surprise.
Severe COPD.
Now we didn't get the official numbers but as Jim the Pulmonary Therapist who evaluated him last week said, some Pulmonary Therapy and better Oxygen delivery would make him physically feel better.

Community Care from the VA just called to make arrangements locally for PT for Rich. We know that Rich will never get rid of his oxygen tether and that for traveling he will need a constant flow rather than the pulse flow he has now. At home he is on a constant flow.
The 02 metering may have to go up too, but...they want to see if PT helps first.

The biggest hurdle will be getting some strength back.

But never mind that. The thought of Pulmonary Therapy gave Rich a glimmer of hope and a small sparkle in his eye. I knew it.
I knew that without lifting some depression that nothing would make him see hope.
We all know the end game of life. But if there is a small chance of still enjoying moments...it is worth the trip.