Category Archives: pets

2026, animals, crops, Family, Farming Update, Kids, pets, Travel, Uncategorized, work

BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS

September 12, 2026 xdfben 30 Comments

This week’s farming update from Ben

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.

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 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.

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.

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?

ANY GOOD BEDTIME STORIES?

2026, animals, Nature, pets, Uncategorized

Stickers And Prickers

September 10, 2026 reneeinnd 21 Comments

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?

2026, animals, Automotive, Family, Mysteries, pets, Uncategorized

Random Chatting

September 8, 2026 verily sherrilee 31 Comments

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?

2026, animals, chickens, crops, education, Farming Update, Music, Uncategorized

Chickens Love Popcorn

August 29, 2026 xdfben 54 Comments

This week’s Farming Update from Ben

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. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/P4e7q77LJ1c?si=dfzfUz5Dq5WL9T67

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.

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.

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).

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?

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?

2026, animals, Automotive, chickens, crops, Farming Update, Music, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

WARNING: TWENTY FOOT CIRCLE OF EXASPIRATION!*

August 1, 2026 xdfben 23 Comments

*Thanks to JimEd Poole for the phrase and T-shirt suggestion.

The vacation is over. Farming sucked this week.

The highlight of my week was putting a new windshield wiper on my car because it actually clicked into place and stayed there when I turned on the wipers. I’m calling that a win.

To sooth my mood, I listened to the music of Les Paul. Are you familiar with him and his wife, Mary Ford, and their multi track recording of “How High The Moon? It’s really pretty cool.

He’s a pioneer of the solid body electric guitar, and his use of recording techniques such as over dubbing and multi track recording was revolutionary.

Mary Ford was an outstanding musician herself. Reading about her reveals 4 marriages, alcoholism, and sadly, died at age 53, of complications from alcohol abuse, after eight weeks in a diabetic coma. Kind of broke my heart…

One of my favorite recordings is “Chester and Lester”, Les Paul and Chet Atkins. Which leads me to “Neck and Neck”, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. Which takes me to Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris and “All The Roadrunning”.

And that’s all the duos’s I can link because I don’t have any other Emmylou Harris.

So the farm.

Last Saturday the neighbors came out to combine oats. They made a round and a half, plugged up the combine with the grass, (remember, I said that was going to be a problem) And then, I think they were hot and dirty and mad and they went home. I’m sure he was as hot and frustrated as I would’ve been. I said that I thought they started on the worst field, and they should try some of the other fields because there was a lot less grass in them. And I don’t know why, but they never came back and they told me I’d have to cut the oats, sort of the traditional way of swathing it and then picking it up from there. That gives the grass a chance to dry out. Well if I’d have known I was going to swath it, I’d have got my swather ready before we went on vacation for a week. I tried Saturday afternoon to get the swather started and it’s always a bugger to get going at first. Sunday I was working on a show all day. And Monday was hot and humid and miserable and it was a Monday all over. I went to three different auto part stores, and I know I’ve talked about this before; the swather has a Chrysler ‘slant 6’ engine in it. These things were bulletproof and there was a million of them around back in the 70s. But the trick now is finding a mechanic old enough to know what a slant 6 is. And that’s been my problem. I’ve gotten a lot of parts that don’t fit and we can’t seem to find ones that do fit. John Deere doesn’t carry parts for the motors anymore. And I was in quite a foul mood most of Monday. By Tuesday I had mellow out a bit and by Wednesday hired a couple of guys to come and swath the oats for me. What’s a couple more hundred bucks to hire them…

And now, of course, after a month of no rain, now it’s raining on Friday. Need the rain, just not right now. Because now my oats is laying down. But at least the oats was standing well when it was cut! Yay! I’m afraid it’s dried up to nothing, so maybe some rain will help it rehydrate. And then eventually the swath will dry and then we’ll get it combined and then I’ll get some straw baled. The neighbors have had their Oats and Straw done for two or three weeks. But we’re not talking about that.

It was a nice gentle all day rain, and we have over an inch. I did bookwork, and other computer stuff, then organized the pencil drawer in the shop, and fixed a crack on the hood of one of the lawn mowers.

I did take a couple hours of one afternoon, when I wasn’t doing anything else, and painted our downstairs bathroom that’s almost done being remodeled. It’s done except for the countertop and sink, and toilet. The countertop is coming August 10 and I would expect a plumber a day or two after that. And while I was painting over the pink bathroom I was singing to myself Lou and Peter Berryman’s “Why Am I Painting My Living Room“.

The padawans were out and we started replacing boards around the bottom of the pole barn. It was hot and one of them complains a lot. Eventually I give him a new rule: “No Bitching”. Then he gets moody but I can handle that.

Front boards done; working on the side. And the door needs to be rebuilt.

I had rock delivered for the road. Ten loads of 18 tons each. Spending money hand over fist again. Can’t take it with you.

Never underestimate the value of a good driver who knows how to spread rock.

I also got stung by a bee working with the boys. Cripes. No allergies or anything, just another annoyance.

I cleaned the radiators on the big tractor, (AC, hydraulic oil, and water radiators) and worked up a small field that a friend plants for a deer plot. (His theory is the deer will eat that instead of my crops. It’s a nice thought that doesn’t work). And after the oats and straw is finally done, I’ll be planting cereal rye as a cover crop.

Chicken mama is down to 3 chicks… but the co-parenting guinea mom still has around maybe 15? She keeps them out of site most of the time and it’s hard to get a good count of them.

I mowed some more weeds. I finished lighting one show and started another, and this one is a drag show and a lot of fun.

There was a turkey buzzard sitting on a fence post one day. I thought, ‘well if that doesn’t sum up my week.”

I’ll end with this:

WHAT GETS YOU OUT OF A FOWL MOOD?

HOW MANY YO-YO’s DID YOU HAVE AS A KID? COULD YOU DO TRICKS?

2026, books, Mysteries, pets, Technology

Rookie Mistake

July 29, 2026 verily sherrilee 35 Comments

I made a completely rookie mistake this week.

As you know, I have a highly curated library account. My Holds list includes books that are on order still, that I am on the waitlist for and quite a few books that I have “paused”. Every couple of weeks I go through all the paused holds, resume a few of them and then reset the pause date to some time in the future – usually three to four weeks out. This has been my pattern for a couple of decades.

The past month my attention span has been fairly limited to the new dog. Paperwork, initial vet intake, spay, the cone of shame, then the sleeve of shame (she got razor burn from where they inserted her IV and she just could not leave it alone). Now we’re through all that and have started working on preliminary training and walkies every day. Add the early morning potty breaks and the last in the evening journey outside as well and I feel consumed. In a good way.

So it was shocking when I opened up my library account Monday night and saw that I have THIRTY books in transit. THIRTY! I completely forgot to check my Holds, so everything that had been set to July 27 is now on its way to me. How could I do something this dumb?

I called my buddy who’s the manager of my library and he said there is really no way to circumvent this process short of calling the origin library for each book and asking if they can catch it. I’m not doing that. In addition to being a serious pain in the patoot for me, it would be an even bigger pain for the libraries and as my buddy said, probably wouldn’t work anyway. Sigh.

So I guess I’ll have to seriously step up my reading for August. For fun, here are some of the titles that are on the way to me right now!

And to My Nephew Albert I Leave the Island What I Won Off Fatty Hagan in a Poker Game (one of the long-titled books I found earlier in the month)
The Chinese Parrot (a Charlie Chan novel)
The Concord Quartet (Alcott, Emerson, Hawthorne & Thoreau)
Crock of Gold (people, gods, Irish fairies…)
Cursed Cocktails (blood mage tries to retire)
Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (“biography”)
Elizabeth I, CEO (what you think)
Ex-Wife (1925 woman finds herself after divorce)
Illuminations in the Flatwoods (wild turkeys?)
In Seven Stages (Elizabeth Bisland side of the Around the World story)
Kipling Sahib (Rudyard Kipling bio)
The Last Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes knock-off)
Lost Believers (novel inspired by true story… we’ll see….)
Margaret Fuller: A New American Life (2013 Pulitzer Prize)
Marie of Romania (queen consort of Ferdinand, King of Romania)
Murder and the First Lady (Eleanor Roosevelt solves the murder)
No Matter How Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain’t Never Coming Home Again (another long and intriguing title)
A Short Bright Flash (lighthouses!)
Enuf is Enough (a book about English spelling – yeah, I know I lead an exciting life!)

What’s a rookie mistake you’ve made? Any good books on your nightstand?

2026, animals, chickens, crops, Farming Update, Movies, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized

Where in the world has Ben been?

July 25, 2026 xdfben 38 Comments

This weeks farming update from Ben.

We’ve been gone for a week. Returned to one last day of nice weather before it gets hot again.

Where were we?

Every restaurant was so loud you couldn’t have a conversation. We postulate the ambient noise level was so loud that everyone else has to get louder.

There are many wonderful parks, lots of free green space, art, and statues.

It seems like we had a hard time figuring out the subway ticket system but we got around and managed to make do with the kindness of strangers and only losing money on one ticket system I still haven’t figured out what I bought that didn’t work. Que sera sera

Took a Commuter train to visit a couple attractions. First time for that for us.

Sunday after the World Cup finals, one train was packed, but everyone was very nice. We laughed about how tight we were crammed in there. Kelly and I joked a full train on Sunday is probably different than a full train on Thursday at 5:00 PM.
The Wednesday 5 PM train was full, and seemed to skip one stop, and at the next stop, which was the one we wanted, only one door opened and we couldn’t get there before it closed and the train moved on. Daughter was VERY put out. A guy on the train said “I have missed so many stops…”

Traffic lights seem to only be a suggestion to some people.

A few more street signs would be really helpful.

I didn’t pack any shirts with sleeves!

We travelled there as Kelly had a work conference. We all had a few vacation days together before she had to ‘work’ work.
Daughter and I made our own fun after that. Saw some movies – in 3D!- and had a good time.

My steps the last week average about 8500. Daughter, constantly moving, averages 12,000 a day.

We had lots of help on the farm to keep things in hand.

The chicken from last week still has some chicks left; I haven’t gotten a good count as they’re hiding in the tall grass. But maybe 5 out of her 13. We’ve always said, the real world is a tough place for chicks.

And now we have multiple baby guineas.

At least guineas are good at co-parenting.

We want more guineas, but didn’t want to stick a guest with baby chick care. So we’ll see. The photo was from Tuesday when the Palawan’s saw them. I haven’t found them yet on Friday. Kelly saw them briefly, and then the mom seems to hide them so she can get out and eat. That’s kind of unusual.

Padawan 1 is broke, so I left him a list of projects. Darn if those missing soft skills don’t make it harder than it had to be for both of us as I had to remind him to do a few jobs, and offer help by text when he’d ask questions. And he made a few jobs harder. Which is how we learn, right?
P2 came out few times too. I’m not sure how much I’m paying them for work, or how much was goofing around.
Well, QSS all over again.

Thanks to Rick and Betty for picking up the mail. Thanks to John and Tamsin for taking care of the chickens, Tamsin, and the dogs, John. Gracie and Evan house sat and watered flowers.

I’m hoping to get the oats harvested Saturday. It’s still standing good, which is great, but the grass in it is getting bad. That only means it will combine a little tougher (because a combine harvester doesn’t like green stuff) and the straw windrow will have to dry out before I can bale it.

The corn got sprayed with fungicide by helicopter. Corn fungus’ have become a big issue the last few years as they move up from the south and the hot weather acerbates the issue.

I’ll post a few more photos after the location has been determined.

EVER HOUSE SAT? OR HAD HOUSE SITTERS? TELL US ABOUT IT

WHAT DECOR DO YOU MISS FROM THE 1950’s or ‘60?

Extra photos:

2026, Family, Food, Gatherings, home, pets

ADOPTED!!!

July 22, 2026 verily sherrilee 25 Comments

If you remember, the organization that rescued Freya would not let us adopt her until her spay was done; it’s an inviolable rule of theirs. So technically for the last four weeks we’ve been fostering her. The rescue calls it “Foster to Adopt” and they are very serious about it. You can’t believe how much paperwork there was. Oh, and I got to pay the entire adoption fee right up front.

Anyway, her spay is done and the four-day wait (to make sure there are no complications) is done. We filled out yet one more piece of paper and coughed up one more fee of $5.00 and SHE IS OURS!

In classic fashion around here, we decided to have a little family celebration. In case you can’t read it, the banner says “Freya’s Fur-Ever Home”. I made a little cake (some dog food loaf iced with whipped cream cheese). The #1 candle is because we are her #1 fur-ever home. We put her rabies tag and her new name tag on her collar.

She thought the little cake was just yummy; we only let her eat about a quarter of it so she doesn’t get an upset tummy. The rest is in the fridge to be doled out over the next few days.

Been to any good parties/gatherings recently?

2026, Family, home, pets, Travel, Uncategorized

Meet Freya

July 1, 2026 verily sherrilee 26 Comments

First off, no we did not go get her in Columbus.

We officially started our dog search about a month ago. It went quite quickly – adoption application, meet and greet at the foster’s home, a virtual home visit (which we passed with flying colors), more paper work. Took our Columbus trip, got home last Monday and picked her up on Wednesday!

She is one of five siblings who were “breeder release” dogs from Missouri. There are a couple of scenarios for this. Some BR dogs have been over-bred and the breeders don’t want them anymore. Then apparently many breeders quickly get in over their heads, especially if they get too many puppies around the same time or they just have other issues that keep them from getting their dogs adopted out. We think she is this latter category of “overwhelmed” as she clearly has not had puppies. The rescue organization (which is actually in Wisconsin) goes to breeder release events and purchases dogs which they then adopt out.

She came up as “Olga” on the rescue website. The foster mom said that they just make up the names – theses siblings came with just twine around their necks and little hand written tags. Olga’s said “37”. That was it. Apparently most of her 18 months have been spent in a kennel.

On the way to the meet & greet, YA and I decided we did NOT want Olga as a name so we came up with a short list. Isolde and Jorinda were completely shot down by YA immediately. We also added Arwen and Galadriel from Lord of the Rings. YA wasn’t crazy about these either but she didn’t rule them out. This lead me to Freya, Norse goddess of love. YA grudgingly thought this was OK.

As we entered the house to meet the dog, the foster mom said “she responds better to Freya than to Olga”. YA and I looked at each other and smiled – was there ever a better omen?

She is about average height for a female Sammy, although she is skinny at this point. Hard to tell with all that fur. She is extremely skittish and shy but she adapts well. After the first couple of airplanes overhead, she is now ignoring them although low-flyers that cast a shadow still bug her). She is very very curious and has already shown a passion for standing on her back legs and looking out the windows. The cat has decided she isn’t a threat but Freya doesn’t feel that way about the cat yet. She loves other dogs, so in a few more days, we may introduce her to some of the other canines in the neighborhood.

The rescue organization has some strict rules about adoption; they prefer to still have “ownership” of the dogs until their medical exams and spay/neuters happen. So right now we as “fostering to adopt” and the adoption will be finalized three days after the spay, which will most likely be towards the end of July.

We are ecstatic – she is very sweet and we already adore her. Now the race is on to find an Irish Setter to complete our little household!

What happens after it rains cats and dogs?

2026, chickens, Farming Update, Uncategorized

More of this and that

June 27, 2026 xdfben 30 Comments

This week’s Farming Update from Ben

It’s been a good busy week on the farm. Got lots of odds and ends done and I’ve marked several things off my ‘To-Do’ list.

The chickens enjoyed the straw bales left over from Movie Night on the Farm.

Sunday, we met Son and DiL at an outdoor wood fired pizza place near Waseca. It was perfect weather, and good pizza. As we were leaving, the owner asked us if we’d come back? Daughter loudly proclaimed, “No, I don’t think so.” Well, they asked.

Monday I got the haybine hooked up and mowed the roadsides. The haybine is the machine that cuts a swath nine feet wide using a sickle that goes back and forth very fast to cut off the stems of alfalfa or grass. Every now and then an individual section will break. Notice the missing one here:

It has been a lot of years since I had to replace one of those, just because I don’t cut much anymore, and I’ve forgotten what a pain it is to do it. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten the techniques needed. Or maybe it’s because I’m older. I used to do this out in the field with a hammer and chisel to knock off the old rivets, and then a punch to knock the stub out. Then there’s a gadget to smoosch the new rivet to hold the new section in place. I remember it was always a hassle and I’d be hot and sweaty and covered in bugs and I’d be mad about the whole thing. On Monday I was doing in on the concrete in front of the shop. I’ve also forgotten how little room there is in there. I had one end jacked up to give me more room. And I had a cordless grinder instead of a hammer and chisel. And I use a pneumatic air hammer instead of a hammer and punch. I didn’t get so grumpy about it all. But it sure did bring back some memories.

Daughter had come to the shop for a visit and she rode with me as I was cutting the roadsides. She took this photo.

Padawan 2, Max, was out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We moved a bunch of stuff around in the shed and I put things on the pallet racks. The trick is only to put stuff up there that won’t be used very often. The shop looks big until I try to get a tractor in there sideways.

Neighbor Dave was down checking fence in a section of pasture. It’s the area where the gully was filled in and the new waterway created, so we needed to build a fence to keep the cattle out of that area for this year. I hooked up the brush mower and mowed a path for the temporary fence, then went to the back of the pasture where Dave said the thistles were taller than he was.

Boy, yeah they were. It has been a long time since I was back in that corner of the pasture. It’s a valley with lots of smaller valleys bisecting it. It is easy to see how thousands of years of erosion have created our farms rolling hills.

On Thursday Dave and I built the temp fence. It’s just one hot wire. Meaning it’s an electric fence. And his cows are smart, and they know and respect an electric fence. And by ‘electric fence’ I mean the kind of fence that gives you a good “JOLT” when you touch it. It won’t kill anything, but it sure makes your arm hurt for 10 minutes. I supposed it’s like a taser. If cows learn about electric fences as calves, they do fine. You can’t take wild cattle and expect them to respect an electric fence. I’ve tried that. Electric fences also require insulators on the posts, and not too many weeds. There’s a whole skill involved in building an electric fence. Different skills than are required when making a 4 strand barbed wire fence like the padawans and I did a couple years ago.

(One of the blogs here; https://trailbaboon.com/2024/06/29/rusty-summer/)

P2 Max and I reshingled the feed building on Wednesday. The old shingles came off surprisingly easy. I had some left over shingles from doing the south side a few years ago. I bought two more bundles of the cheapest shingles the big box store had. Turned out to be a different color but no one cares or can really see the North side of this shed.

I’m not sure what look he’s going for here.

I put more stuff on pallet racks. A pallet of steel fence posts, and a pallet of wood blocks. A few years ago when I had to move these blocks out of what would become the shop, and I first put them on a pallet, I remember Clyde talking about all the blocks they had on their farm. And I have some blocks on a lower shelf so I can get them as needed, and I wondered, why am I saving this pallet of wood blocks?? Just what do I think I’ll be doing that I need that many blocks? Evidently I’m saving them for our kids to throw out when we die. And I threw out a few blocks. But still…I think I am saving too many blocks. But you never know.

Max and I also got the secondary lawn mower running. Then I did something and it wouldn’t run again. Fixed it and then broke it again. But now it’s running! The hood has a big crack in it. I think I’m gonna have to zip tie the crack together. A new hood top is $176 and I don’t think it’s worth that much. I ordered a new bumper, which is the hinge point at the bottom, and that was $76. This was Kelly’s parents lawnmower, so I need to ask her if she wants a zip tie scar across the top.

We got .6” of rain on Tuesday evening. A real nice gentle rain.

I got the roadsides raked and baled on Friday. It wasn’t much. Only 25 bales.

Next week the hot weather is back. I’m thinking of inside jobs.

EVER SHOCKED YOURSELF? I mean electrically, but whatever makes a good story.

KNOW ANYONE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING?

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