Ramblings-n-Writings » down on the farm

A New Kind of Plant

Kara_S — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:18:55 +0000

I looked out my living room window earlier today and discovered this …

Mandy, the farm beagle, apparently decided that curling up in the flower pot equaled the perfect nap spot. Good thing the flowers in the pot had already died!

I’m glad for the little unexpected things in life that make me smile.

For more ABC Wednesday photos, click here (today’s letter is “C”). For more Wordful Wednesday, click here.

A Trip to the Garden

Kara_S — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:42:10 +0000

Why is it that whenever I get around to doing a blog post, something always goes wrong? This post was originally intended for Garden Vines, but little gremlins invaded the site and I couldn’t post. So, I thought I’d share it with you.

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you’ll know that I love my flowers. I haven’t shared much about my gardens this year, so I thought I’d give you a peek. (Clicking on a photo should make it larger.)

Look! More Water!

Kara_S — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:18:41 +0000

Why is it that whenever I sit down, dream up a bunch of writing projects, plan a blogging schedule, and am content with how things are finally fitting together someone throws a wrench in the wheel???

I was feeling so good about everything last week. Even my body was cooperating – for those that don’t know, I’m cursed blessed with a crazy ride on the hypothyroidism bandwagon.

And then Friday happened. I woke up to a loud crack of thunder just as the skies opened up and the rains came down.

We have a small mountain stream coming out of the hills behind our house. The stream feeds into 18 inch culvert pipe that runs under our yard and out on the other side of the driveway.

After an average rain, the stream looks like this …

That photo was from last November. Notice the high bank, about 4-1/2 to 5 ft, on the left side.

When I first looked outside Friday morning, the stream was barely running. In fact, it looked sorta like this …

That’s actually from 5 days before, but you get the idea. It didn’t even look like that first picture.

About 15-20 minutes after the skies opened up Friday morning, the stream looked like this …

Um, yeah… Quite shocking. Water was roaring out of the hills. And, honestly, I haven’t seen that much water in our stream in the 5 years we’ve lived on this property.

I immediately realized something was blocking the entrance to the culvert pipe. I called for help, ran to get a shovel, and proceeded to almost lose the shovel in the pipe. The suction was so strong against the pipe that there was no way to pry what we later discovered was a log away from the pipe entrance.

Because the log was blocking the bottom portion of the pipe, the dirt and small rocks washing down the stream started to pile up. Before it was all over, we had a 4 foot high island in the middle of the stream and a sandbar in the backyard.

Remember the photo with the daisies? Here’s Spot standing on the island.

Notice he’s almost level with the top of the bank? He’s standing where the bottom pool of water is in the daisy picture. Crazy, huh?

So, that mess is what consumed most of our Friday morning and afternoon. Then, just when things were getting back to normal, our electricity went off. *sigh*

Not only were all my ideas for Friday totally messed up, but it rolled over into Saturday too. No computer work. Almost no housework done. Seems like I did a little bit of nothing since it was incredibly hot Friday night with the humidity level at 90%. If you blinked your eyes too many times, you broke into an immediate sweat. Yuck!

What have I learned these past weeks after periodically losing our DSL, the flooding, and no electricity? Flexibility!!! And not to sweat the small stuff. What day I post a blog post is no big deal even though it stresses me out when I can’t do it like I plan. It’s all about flexibility.

And even with all the ugliness of the water, there’s still beautiful things, such as these …

A Ride in the Woods

Kara_S — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:28:23 +0000

We rode the 4-wheeler up into the woods last night. Naturally, the puppy pack followed along. And it’s quite the trudge up the mountain especially if you’re of the 4-legged species. Here’s the thanks we got for inviting the dogs …

Can you say MUD? Ack!

Unfortunately, that was the only watering hole with enough water in it for the dogs to drink out of. Why Honey insisted on getting a mud bath I’ll never know. All I knew was she WAS. NOT. coming in my house for the night!

We discovered that the dogs aren’t the only ones appreciative of this watering hole …

Those are deer tracks! Mandy, the farm beagle, was incredibly interested in the smells, but she behaved and followed us. Shocking, I know. Beagles can be soooo stubborn.

While the dogs appreciated the exercise and water, I enjoyed the scenery. Not much to look at except for trees …

But to me, that’s a beautiful site. I grew up in a heavily wooded area and sometimes I simply miss being surrounded by trees. We have woods that border our yard, but there’s nothing like being in the middle of nowhere in the woods.

Peace. Fresh air. Nature sounds. Freedom. Quietness. Praise God!

For more Wordful Wednesday, click here.

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Did you ever go to summer camp as a kid? I did! And today, I’m guest blogging over at Jendi’s Journal about one of my summer camp memories. Make sure you stop by and say hi!

Flight of the Hummingbird

Kara_S — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:46:22 +0000

If you’ve been around Ramblings-n-Writings for awhile, you’ll know that I love hummingbirds. I count the days until ours return in the spring, faithfully watching the migration map, and mourn the time when they leave us for winter.

Last year, at the old house, we had feeders hanging from our porch roof so we could watch the hummies come and go. This year, in the new house, we don’t have porch roof and I couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing the little ones buzz around.

I hung a feeder in the garden off of a shepherd’s hook, but I couldn’t see the feeder from the window. Then, while at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago, I discovered a neat suction cup thing that lets you hang a feeder (hummingbird or regular bird) from a window.

I came home and promptly attached it to our living room window. Now I can see the hummingbirds every day! And, even with all the storms and wind, the feeder has stayed attached to the window!

Besides watching the little ones, I love taking their photos. It takes some patience, but the more the hummingbirds get used to my presence, the easier it becomes to snap their photo.

Since I’ve spent a lot of time outside the past few weeks, mainly relaxing in the sun while reading a book or working in the garden, the dive bombers are finally getting used to me. They no longer detour away from the feeder when they spot me.

Then this weekend, we got a surprise. We had two, sometimes three, hummingbirds that frequented our two feeders (one on the window, one in the garden) ever since the hummies arrived in April.

Suddenly, I started hearing a lot of hummingbird screeches and tweets. I went outside to watch and immediately came back in for cover. We have 5, possibly 6, hummingbirds! I managed to count 5 in the vicinity of the feeder at one time.

I’m not sure where the others came from, but I’m glad they’re here. We averaged about 8 last year, but that was after the babies started flying about.

Even though it’s now life threatening to walk across our front porch as the hummies zip and zing around, it’s neat to watch 2 or 3 hummies sit together on the feeder and eat. While capturing some of their action today, I discovered that a hummingbird wing is translucent…

You can click on the photo to make it bigger. Notice that you can still see the outline of his head and the flower stems behind him through the wings. How neat is that?

And, here’s a little lady sitting pretty…

Here’s a handy tip: If ants frequent your feeders, smear a little bit of vaseline on the top hook and on the top of the feeder. The ants can’t travel through the vaseline. Also put small quantities of hummingbird food (I use 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup water, no red dye and no boiling necessary) in the feeder until the ants are deterred (that’s why my feeder looks empty). No sense in feeding the little critters more than necessary!

Doggy Swim Time

Kara_S — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:50:47 +0000

Warmer weather means time for the dogs to dip in the creeks to cool off. Mandy, the farm beagle, is the only one who swims in our pond. She’s already earned her swim badge for this year.

On the other hand, Spot, the giant horse puppy and onlooker in the photo, is afraid to go any deeper than 3 or 4 inches in the water. At one point he went far enough in so that the water was touching his chest. He did NOT like that!!!

Sadie, our mini collie, is a creek dog. She loves to lay in the shallow part of the creek and let the water rush around her. Of course, she’s a muddy mess when she gets out, but at least she’s cool. LOL

Honey, our Chow mix, really isn’t much of a water dog. She prefers lounging in the shade. I guess her reasoning is that with all her fur, it would take too long to dry off if she hangs out in the water.

Random Happenings on the Farm

Kara_S — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:11:47 +0000

Here’s a quick recap of what’s been going on around the farm lately…

Spot, the giant horse puppy, is learning to play frisbee, which is better than his other pursuit of duck- and chicken-chaser.
A farm cat had a litter of kittens about three weeks ago. We’ve searched everywhere but can’t find them. They’re somewhere up in the hills.
My bearded irises are soooo ready to bloom…if only the sun would come out. (Why do I have a song from Annie running through my head? Bet it’s in your head now too!)
The potato patch looks wonderful, but the potatoes need to be hilled again (hilled means more dirt added on top). However, the ground is so wet that it’s almost impossible to do.
My in-laws’ best friends moved to the farm last week. They left the rat race of Las Vegas to live in the backwoods of West Virginia. I wonder if they’ll have culture shock?
They arrived in time for the Great Flood of 2009. The creeks are back in their banks now, but the ground is so saturated with water that every rain drop makes us nervous. We’ve had a lot of rain drops too. According to the farm’s rain gauge, 6 inches worth in 10 days. Here’s to hoping we don’t have a drought this summer.
We spent the last 24 hours without phone or internet access. The culprit? A huge tree that fell and snapped a telephone poll. The phone wire stayed in the road with people driving over it for about 22 hours. Sad, huh? But all is well now.
We ate some lettuce from the garden last week. It was delicious! Personally, I prefer spring lettuce to fall lettuce. Fall lettuce tastes bitter to me. I know there’s a reason why it’s bitter but I can’t remember – something with the sunlight and temperatures?
I’m reading a really good murder mystery book called Blood Bayou. Watch for a review later this week.
I’m hosting a giveaway this week starting tomorrow (Tuesday). It features an amazing book that every person who works from home needs to read. Make sure you come back to check that out.
Mandy, the farm beagle, has decided that her new perch is the hood of my car. Whoever knew a beagle could jump up on the hood of a car, let alone sit there watching the world go by? Oh, and this is the beagle that has the supposed injured knee.
Buttons, the previously missing cat, has gained her weight back and is romping and playing with the other cats. In her 2 weeks at home, she’s only ventured outside once and managed to get drenched in a sudden downpour. I think that put a damper on her wanting to go out more. I’m still curious to know where she was for 3 weeks, but I’m grateful she’s back home.
I got my first deep fryer last week so we’ve been eating our share of fried chicken. Next up is homemade doughnuts. I adore doughnuts and really miss not living near a real doughnut shop. (Krispy Kremes don’t count as real doughnuts to me. My tastebuds crave the old-time bakery doughnuts with lots of icing and filling.) I’ve been known to make my husband get off the interstate at a random exit because I saw a sign for a bakery/doughnut shop in the distance. I’m hoping I can make yummy doughnuts right in my own kitchen.
And finally, if you’re new around here, I live on a farm where it’s never boring especially since lots of critters roam our farm.

Are you curious about anything that happens on our farm? If so, leave me a comment (I love comments!) and I’ll tell you all about it later this week.

The Great Flood of 2009, Pt 2

Kara_S — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:06:50 +0000

Yesterday, I showed you the flood waters on our farm.

Here are a few more as well as some from the area.

The creek in front of the barn. The ducks moved to higher ground for the day.

Looking to the left up the creek in front of the barn. The foot bridge was under water. The water is normally 2+ feet below the base of the bridge.

We took a drive in the big red truck. This is the mouth of another gravel road about a mile from our house. Notice the road sign. It warns that there is a “low water crossing bridge” and not cross when flooded. Hmmm… definitely ain’t crossing it! We guessed that the water was about 9-10 feet deep instead of its usual 6-8 inches.

To give you an idea of the average creek size (when it isn’t flooding), look at the left side of the photo. See that straight piece of water? That’s the normal creek width when contained in its banks. At the narrowest point, the creek is about 5 feet, widest is 10 feet, give or take a few feet. Remember that when looking at these next photos…

When we first left in the big red truck, we turned left at the end of our gravel road. A little over a mile down the road, we encountered this. In the distance is a house on the right and a mailbox on the left. The water was almost to the bottom of the mailbox. Good thing the mail lady didn’t come!

The creek expanded from hillside to hillside. On a regular day, this is green field with a narrow creek (like the one I pointed out earlier) winding through the field.

Again, think green field, narrow creek. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

See that line in the middle of the water? That’s the horse ring where the local riding club has its shows. About once a year, this area floods but nothing like yesterday! That line is the top rail of an approx 4-1/2 ft high fence. The actual creek is not in the photo either so the water was much deeper in other areas.

Close up of the horse ring.

So, I’ve seen enough water for a long time. Unfortunately, it’s raining this afternoon. Are we getting round two?

The Great Flood of 2009

Kara_S — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:54:59 +0000

On an average day, this is what it looks like out our front door. (This photo is from last summer.)

This is what it looked like at 7:15 a.m. today. Flash floods hit our area again, but this year’s is by far the worst we’ve seen. When all is normal, a large culvert pipe runs under our road and comes out under the forsythia bush. Two mountain streams and ditch line typically feed into the culvert pipe. In the previous picture, the red truck is just on the other side of the culvert. The culvert couldn’t handle today’s rains.

Looking left up the road.

Looking right down the road.

Looking across the road at more streams on the farm.

Water coming around the forsythia bush. Normally it should only be coming out from underneath it.

Mandy wasn’t too thrilled about getting wet feet walking across the road.

But after the water went down, she realized that flood waters leave all sorts of fun things behind.

Not so pretty, but this about two feet worth of river rock and silt left behind.

See that bit of grass sticking out to the left of the ditch line? That’s the normal ground level, pre silt and river rock.

Stay tuned for photos of our adventure down the road (The Great Flood of 2009, part 2). I’ll probably put them up tomorrow because I’m beat – my in-laws basement flooded and we spent hours dealing with that water.

She Came Home!

Kara_S — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:26:39 +0000

Imagine my surprise when the Farmer walked in tonight with Buttons in his arms!

Buttons had been missing for 3 weeks to the day, and we assumed she had met up with some local predators.

The Farmer was out on the front porch when he heard a cat meowing. Way across the road, coming down the hill behind the chicken coop, was a black speck that looked like a furball. It was Buttons! And, yes, she is very vocal, and yes, you can hear her meowing a mile away.

Needless to say, we’re quite excited to have one of our furbabies back. Just last week, I wrote about our two missing furbabies, Winks and Buttons.

P.S. – Buttons isn’t allowed outside for a very, very, very long time.