When YA and I started our search for a dog, the #1 trait that I was worried about was “does this dog have a strong chase instinct”? For eleven years, Guinevere chased Nimue. It was just her instinct to chase, especially when startled. Any time the cat surprised her (like jumping off the bed when Guinevere was snoozing nearby), the dog would lunge out of her sleep. As soon as she lunged, the cat would run. The minute the cat ran, Guinevere would chase; she couldn’t help herself. Unfortunately this ended with the cat getting injured a couple of times early on. After that YA and I set up a couple of serious gates that allowed escape routes for the cat in the two places where the trouble was happening. That solved their problem – it was a pain for YA and me. We did not want to have this problem repeated with a new dog.
While Freya does chase squirrels and rabbits in the yard, she’s not shown any interest in chasing the cat. In fact, she is afraid of the cat. If Nimue is on the back porch when I open the door to let the dog in, Freya freezes on the back steps until I shoo the kitty back into the kitchen. If the cat is on the steps to go upstairs, Freya will stay at the bottom of the steps until Nimue has gone all the way up. And the only way I’ve been able to get Freya on the bed when Nimue is already in residence is with a bunch of treats; as soon as the treats are gone, the dog is gone.
Nimue is loving this. After all those years, she is definitely enjoying having the upper paw. She will turn and give the dog the stink eye. There has been some hissing and I’ve even caught her chasing Freya a couple of times.
It’s been three months and I’m starting to see the very first signs of an eventual détente. Freya is a little braver about coming in or up when she sees the cat. The cat is ignoring more. And a few times it seems clear that Freya would like to play with Nimue. She follows behind, doing some sniffing and then plopping into that classic “Wanna play?” pose with the butt in the air. Then yesterday morning, when Freya came into the kitchen, Nimue was sitting on top of the kennel. Fraya approached slowly, nose stretched out. Nimue didn’t exactly stretch to meet, but she didn’t back off and for a few moments they were nose to nose. Then Nimue moved back a bit to lay on the blanket, out of Freya’s reach.
I didn’t realize how much I was longing for this until I saw it. All my other dogs and cats have gotten along well until Guinevere came along to rock the boat. I do miss her but I don’t miss the chaos. Now I’m eager to see how long it takes for Nimue and Freya to settle into, if not friendship, or even companionship, but détente.
Tell me about someone you’ve had to learn to deal with.
When YA was four, we had a nice day at the zoo. As we went through the Minnesota Trail, there was a beautiful lynx right in the middle of its habitat. YA was mesmerized; she stood right in from of the glass and stared at the lynx. The lynx stared back; they literally had locked eyes. The two of them stood still like that for a good five minutes. YA broke eye contact to look to me and at that point, the lynx bolted for another part of the habitat. I probably should have realized at that moment that YA had some animal whisperer talent. Maybe it started that day – the lynx has always been one of her favorite animals.
We get emails from the zoo so we were aware that there were two lynx kittens born at the zoo in late spring. The email announcing that the kittens were out for viewing came a couple of weeks back; YA has been on me ever since to get to the zoo.
Yesterday, since I had Blevins in the afternoon, we zipped down to Apple Valley at opening time, 9 a.m. The plan was to go see the lynx first, then see other stuff, then circle back to the lynx before heading home.
Going in the cool morning was great! All the animals were up and about (except the beavers). We even got to see the two martins, who are NEVER awake normally. The wolves, who are usually all sacked out in the back of their area were up, rolling around and even coming right up to the windows!
Saw the red pandas, the sloth (who is usually sleeping when we’re there), all the otters, the caribou, the big moose. Even the prairie dogs were all up and working on their breakfast.
We did go back to the lynx – the kittens had found a way to climb up to the top of their habitat and were looking down at all of us. Even though we could hardly see them and they weren’t doing much, YA had us stand there almost 10 minutes.
All in all, it was a glorious day at the zoo. I think we’ll probably head out early and get there at opening from now on!
The soybeans are turning yellow and dropping their leaves. Another week will make a huge difference.
We spent a week outside of Charleston SC visiting my niece and her husband and their two cute little girls, age five and two. Boy, that two year old: She never stops moving! Better them than us. And a wonderful dog, Maggie. A female Doberman. I’ve not had anything to do with Dobermans before, but she was a sweetheart.
These people love their hot weather. I was hot for the whole week we were there. They made a fire one night in their fire pit. IT WAS 80 DEGREES! I kept moving my chair back. But, it was a lovely night and It was a great, much needed vacation.
Our first night and I got to take the five year old to bed. I was pooped out.
Who doesn’t love chasing seagulls?
Daughter loved the beach.
While we were gone, our house sitters, G & E, did a fabulous job keeping our dogs occupied. They left the house cleaner than it was when we left. E does a lot of cooking, which was evident by the washed cookie sheets and bread loaf pan on the counter. We need to get them to leave some left overs. And G works at a local nursery and we always come home to fresh cut flowers and even some new plants on the front step. Great people. We’re not sure the dogs were glad to have us come back or not.
Plus our other neighbor, B, collecting eggs and taking care of the chickens. She said she loved her the dogs protected her from the raccoons.
The tree branch that fell down on the deck just before we left got cut up and hauled away. We are so lucky it missed the gutters and missed the lights hanging off the gutters. It broke a leg off one plastic deck chair, and bent one tiki torch. Driving around the farm, there are trees down all over. Lots of trees in fields, which will make harvest difficult. It’s hard to clean them up without damaging more crops. Our neighbors took their cattle out as there was so many trees down on the fence it was easier to take them out than to fix the fences. At least for now. They’ll be fixed before next spring.
And we’ve had a bunch of weird electronic issues since the power was out with that storm. Course the router needed to be rebooted a few times, and the extenders, and the security cameras… got most of them back, but it’s been a process.
The Soil and Water (SWCD) people, and contractor Clint built the new structure to stop erosion.
The front side with a tile inlet.
The back side. The tile drains down in the tree’s to the left.
Clint also built a ‘low water crossing’ at one of our waterways. It tends to be wet in the spring, (that’s why it’s a ‘water way’). He excavated down, placed geo-textile fabric, large rock placed underneath, smaller rock on top, and that way the water can still pass through but the equipment has a place to cross without creating ruts in the soft spring soil.
Bailey approved
I am very proud of the work we’ve done the last few year making the farm a better place for the future.
Including pouring concrete.
Last week Kelly and I were compacting gravel for this pad. This concrete is in the main part of the shed, right inside the main door, and is where just about everything gets parked. I’m as excited about this concrete as I have been about all the rest.
A pack of wire ties.
Wrap the wire around the rebar, hook the loops, and spin it five times to make it tight. Six twists will break the wire.
Rebar wired together and propped up with rocks, tin cans, empty bottles; Anything I found in the garbage that I thought would be useful. You can buy 2” plastic rebar chairs, but why would I wanna do that?
We had some good help leveling out the concrete. Our son came down with a couple of his buddies. I spent a little more money and ordered a conveyor truck to get the concrete in the shed, that way I could be in there helping and not in the tractor hauling concrete 1/2 a yard at a time in the loader bucket. I am supposedly, the ‘Brains’ of the outfit. I use the term loosely. Jokes on them!
I ordered 5000 psi concrete “garage mix” with fiber and air entrainment. See, sounds like I know what I’m talking about.
You want a bunch of help getting the cement truck dumped out and the concrete spread out. Then there’s a little more time to get it level and time for it to begin to harden before the finishing work begins. And that can be a one person job on a pad this small. It just takes several good people right at the start.
On top of the compacted gravel we get the rebar laid out and tied together using a homemade wire twister. I use fiberglass rebar. I buy wire ties with a loop on each end, then use a paint roller I’ve modified to twist them.
By the time we finished I was pooped out. Man, I am not 30 years old anymore.
The conveyor truck getting set up. We were all working so I didn’t get any pictures of it happening.
Kelly was in charge of the measuring stick and the laser level to get it level. 
Looks pretty good for some amateurs. Better than our first round last year.
Humphrey walk through it first. But I’m OK with that. I left his footprints.
HOW OFTEN DID YOU FALL ASLEEP YOURSELF TAKING THE KIDS TO BED?
On Sunday evening Husband took our terriers for their third walk of the day. They have rather elaborate hair styles, with skirts, beards, long brows, short hair on back and tail, and longer, curly hair on their chests and legs. They have short legs with long bodies that are pretty close to the ground.
Husband is usually careful to only walk them on paved paths and not let them stray into long grass. They both got into some longer grass Sunday night though, as Husband gave some other walkers wide berth as they passed one another. He doesn’t want the dogs to jump on other people. The grass was full of tiny burrs the size of BB’s that stuck to the dogs’ coats in every place imaginable. It was impossible to brush them out as they stuck so securely.
Boommate is a former vet tech and also worked for a groomer for a while. She came to the rescue with a small electric clipper. Husband and I held the dogs securely while she patiently cut the burrs out of their fur. The dogs were very unhappy being manhandled and restrained. She said she had encountered these burrs before, and they can cause severe problems if animals ingest them or get them stuck in their mouth or throat.
After about an hour of clipping and brushing, the dogs were burr free. In the event this happens again I ordered a portable dog grooming table for easier management. The dogs go to their regular groomer next week so they can get their coats all evened out and trimmed.
Who has come to your rescue? Any incidents of burrs or stickers on you or your pets?
I’m pretty sure that if you asked YA if she would want anything about me changed, the top of the list would be “stop talking to strangers”.
I admit to this freely. No big, long conversations; most of my talks to strangers are one-off comments, usually having to do with whatever situation I find myself in with strangers. Lots of “beautiful dog” or “cute dog” or “does your dog like to say hi” or “does your dog like to be petted”. YA was mortified about a month ago when I rolled down the car window to call out to someone that their Irish Setter was gorgeous. I have a friend in Wisconsin who can start a friendship with anybody she meets; I’ve been with her when she got name/phone/address with a stranger we met at the zoo. I’ve told YA she should be lucky she’s got me. This has never mollified her.
Waiting on line for the State Fair Park `n Ride buses is the exception to my short yakking with strangers. We’re all there for the same reason. We all have stories to tell about various parking/bus situations. It’s always interesting to find out where people are from (we met someone from San Diego this year) and there’s usually good information to be had about foods and entertainment. YA has to admit that even she has taken part in these bus-line conversations.
So I felt completely exonerated yesterday morning while Freya and I were walking along in Tangletown. I woman drove by, slowed down, rolled down her window and called out “beautiful dog” before driving away. I felt like I had met one of my people!
Do you still say “rolled down the window” or “I typed my answer”? Better yet, do you talk to strangers when you’re out and about?
It’s been so dry here this summer that hint of possible precipitation gets me all worked up. So, when there was a forecast for rain for yesterday morning, I was happy to hear it, even if it meant getting a bit damp doing my errands. When it didn’t rain… well, grumpy-city!
Time to cave and set up the sprinkler. I did the backyard first and about 20 minutes later, as I was putting something in the recycling on the back porch, I looked out the back door and saw a good handful of sparrows having a frolic! It was so cute. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture – the dog barked before I could get a shot. But here is a video that looked a lot like the scene in the back:
(This is a bit long for what it is… won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t watch it all the way through!) I’m not sure why I was so taken with this. Maybe because we are barraged on all sides daily with such ugliness, seeing something sweet and unspoiled is even more special. I know, I’m getting a bit mawkish here, but it was just one of days!
Anything sweet and unspoiled to report in your world this week?
I mean who doesn’t love popcorn, right? (I know there’s a few of you).
Daughter went to a movie the other day. It was Tuesday so we did the Large Value popcorn (we usually have the refillable bucket, but this came up spur of the moment). Shortly after she got home it was already soggy. Dang, we love leftover popcorn. I threw it out to the chickens the next morning. You know, back in the ‘70s, when I was in the hospital for three weeks with my leg injury, my mom would make popcorn, put it in a leftover bread bag, and freeze it. Then she would bring it to me in the hospital. You don’t often hear about people using bread sacks anymore, do you? They worked for boot liners and they worked for leftovers.
See this video of me calling the chickens; they love leftovers, and popcorn all the more.
Finally got the last of the straw baled on Sunday. Saturday, I baled and stacked 110 bales in a wagon for the strawberry farm in the neighborhood. He’ll take them in November just before it gets really cold or snows. He’s got a shredder / blower type machine that he can stack about a dozen bales on, then wife or child feeds them into the chute to chop it up and spray it over the berries while he drives down the rows. Looks pretty slick for that job. On Sunday, Neighbor Craig was over and round baled the rest. Got 18 large round bales, called 5×5’s. Five feet wide and about five feet diameter. At some point I’ll get out with the tractor and loader and bale fork on the front and bale lift on the back and pick them up and put them in a row until neighbor Dave picks them up for use as bedding this winter. As I’ve said before since there’s no under seeding planted with the oats, they can sit there for a bit. If there was something planted underneath, and they were left sitting, the bales would smother whatever was growing. I do want to get these fields dug up and planted to rye, so I need them moved sooner than later.
I called John Deere to come out and check why the big tractor is overheating. I pulled the side panels off.
Hmmm. Maybe this pipe?
And I decided, yeah, let’s call a guy. I don’t have that much time right now anyway being back at college and all. I bought this tractor used. It has 11,000 hours on it, which is equivalent to 50,000 miles on a car. And I put about 100 hours on it per year. It came from a local farm, so my local dealer might have some history on it. I don’t. I can tell the radiator hoses are soft, meaning they should be replaced, and it probably needs a water pump and new thermostat. I’m guessing $3500 parts and labor. Will let you know in a month.
Got new lights installed on a trailer, then went to pick up rebar and a 6″x6″x16′ green treated post for a fence down in the cow yard.
Fancy new lights
We’re also prepping for more concrete in the shed. Padawan and I excavated dirt this week. Got two loads of gravel delivered for the base. Rented a plate compactor for the weekend. Padawan was out for a couple hours, and he and I worked on digging out the dirt and gravel next to the existing concrete. Man, I am so looking forward to having concrete in here! Another one of those things I wish I’d have done 20 / 30 / 40 years ago! But, you know, money. And life. And I’ll appreciate it more now. (Padawan 2 is back at college).
Another project
This looks like work.
I changed the spark plugs in the swather, and then I was tired of looking at it. Remember I said I’d drive it around for an hour so it felt needed? I drove it for 20 minutes and called it good. It worked, it made all the scary noises I’ve come to expect, and I parked it back in the shed for next summer. I’ll try to start it once a month and move it back and forth until winter. I say until winter because usually I have something parked in front of it, so I can still start it, but not be able to move it after that.
At the college I am taking two classes: Music Fundamentals, and Introduction to Humanities. I don’t usually do two classes. But music only has 11 students and I was afraid it would be cancelled so I registered for Humanities and now they’re both going. I signed up for music because I wanted to learn more about WHY I like the music I like. How is a song created? What makes rock sound like rock and country sound like country? And what do they mean when they say, ‘This is in the key of A’?
And the teacher for Humanities is a great teacher. I’ve taken 3 of her classes before. Both these are online and so far, so good. From what I’m learning so far in chapter 1, I’m pretty good at the Humanities already. I am mostly open minded, and I use a Socratic method of teaching. (Trying to get others to think and answer questions themselves and not simply lecturing).
Anyone familiar with Rhaphidophoridae? Otherwise known as Camel Crickets?
Eww!
We have had them in our house the last few years. They’re creepy. We have an exterminator / bug guy that does bait stations outside to control mice and rats, so we had him spray the basement too.
The ag co-op had me apply for my crop loan for next year. Got that approved. Saved a $250 application fee. Looks like I can farm again next year.
I’m seeing a few soybeans starting to turn yellow. Haven’t seen anyone chopping corn silage yet, but that will be happening soon. I picked a few ears of corn the other day. It is well dented. Counted 14 kernels around, and 38 long. Usually they’re 16 around, a really impressive ear will be 18. They were both filled all the way to the end, meaning the plant had everything it needed and didn’t need to abort any kernels to survive. Now that was just this one place in this one field. I could go to another field with more rocks and it would look worse.
Acorns are falling too. They are good sized this year. Must have been a good year for acorns. And it seems like some of the barn swallows have started to leave. The world just keeps going around.
THINGS YOU USED TO USE FOR LEFTOVERS YOU DONT USE ANYMORE?
Finishing a book that I started was a “rule” of mine for more than half my life. If you had asked me, I wouldn’t have said it was a rule, but that must have been what it looked like from the outside. My three copies of Ulysses are a case in point. Ever since my college years, I have thought I should read it but could never make it more than a couple of pages. Then I would forget I ever had a copy and eventually buy a new one.
At some point I read some place that so many books are published each year that even if you read a book a day, you would never get to all of them. That’s when I did make a rule for myself – if I’m not enjoying the reading, I quit and move onto the next book. I can be ruthless about this; more than once I have dumped a book after just a few pages.
Today I am returning a book to the library that I have not finished. It’s a Maggie O’Farrell, an author who I normally adore. Every one of her books that I’ve read has earned 5 stars. But yesterday, while listening to it on CD in the car, she broke one of my rules… the dog died. When it happened I turned off the CD immediately to think about it. That’s when I realized that even though I was about 1/3 of the way through the book, I hadn’t really connected to any of the characters and wasn’t enjoying it. When I got home I looked up the summary online and found that continuing was probably not going to be enjoyable to me. That made me ponder my reading rules. I’ve never written these down before, in fact have never really thought of them as a list before, but here things that can put me off:
The dog dying (specially if the dog is killed)
Children dying (same caveat as the dog…)
Torture/rape (I quit Rob Roy because of this)
Graphic violence (Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy went back to the library quickly)
Child abuse (a fairly long string of abandoned books for this rule – Demon Copperfield, Swamplandia, Where the Crawdads Sing….)
Vapidness. This probably seems a silly rule, but if the main characters are all shallow and full of themselves, I don’t see a finished book in my future. (These tend to get rejected very quickly so I can’t even think of a title!)
I realize that these are all negative rules. I’ve been pondering if I have any positive reading rules; the only thing I can come up with is things that draw me to books and that list is way too long to put here. Suffice it say that the list would start with dragons and fairies!
Do you have any reading rules? What draws you to a book?
Our grandson is spending a few days with us this week while his daycare is closed. We plan to take him swimming and to the local library. I also plan to bake with him and we will make Franzbrotchen, a Hamburg pastry. I want him to learn about where his ancestors came from. He loves to bake and cook and is an excellent sous chef. We will have Pasta Carbonara, one of his favorites. We also will enlist his help with some gardening. He loves to grow things. We are Oma and Opa, to distinguish us from his Grandma and Grandpa on his mom’s side of the family.
I spent time with both sets of grandparents in the summer. My father’s parents lived on a farm outside of Magnolia, MN. That grandma was a great lover of cats and had a regiment of them. She loved to feed them buttered sweetcorn cobs after we were done eating the corn kernals. I would help her collect eggs and work in the garden. The hens pecking at my arms as I took their eggs were scary. I liked talking to the cows and pigs. My grandfather was partially paralyzed from a stroke. He had a wonderful library of history books, and we would talk about his recent read and the history discussed in the book. He really liked talking about Napoleon, someone who had such an impact on his family in northwest Germany.
My maternal grandparents lived on a farm close to Hatfield, MN, a small town with a notorious dance hall, near Pipestone. That grandma (who we called Omie) and I would bake sweet rolls and cook wonderful suppers together. She was a great story teller and related lots of reminiscences from her childhood in Hamburg, Germany and her teen years in New York City. Grandpa was a really quiet guy who kept busy helping my uncle on the farm. His English was somewhat limited and we didn’t talk all that much. He was kindly and gentle.
I hope our grandson has positive memories of his time with us. We have books, a garden, fancy food, terriers, cats, a library, and a really nice swimming pool. What more does a kid need?
Who were your most memorable older relatives? What did you learn from them?
Boommate and I hoped to go to a matinee at our local movie theatre tomorrow see The Odyssey. Our theatre, the Palace, is a 100+ year old former Vaudeville theatre that the community has restored and renovated for our local theatre group productions, movies, and concerts. The Missoula Children’s Theatre was scheduled for a workshop and a production as well. Tuesday we got the word that everything was cancelled. During the recent Green Earth Players production of On Golden Pond a bat was noticed soaring around the very tall ceiling. It apparently brought quite a few friends along, too. The bat mitigation company can’t come until next week. The Missoula Children’s Theatre has been moved to the Catholic church.
I am pretty sure the Palace was first movie theatre I went to as a child. Boommate and I took a trip to Sioux Falls on Tuesday to run some errands. Our travels took us to downtown Sioux Falls where we noticed the State Theatre, where we both remembered seeing The Sound Of Music when it first came out. It was the only theatre that had a big enough screen and modern sound system to accommodate the movie. My dad took me and it was memorable. I was about 7 years old.
Our 8 year old grandson is coming to stay with us for a few days next week and I hope the bats get removed before he arrives. The Palace always has children’s movies during the week and I would love to take him. I really want him to experience the Palace.
What was the first movie theatre you remember going to? Any bat or rodent stories?
