Rumors of my abduction by aliens is greatly exaggerated.

But not totally out of the question.  I have been a captive of an alien lifestyle. 

There's so much to catch up on that I will just do it in snippets.

The Pack

Going from alone-ness 24/7 (not including the dogs, who are an appendage of my being) to almost never being alone takes some adjustment.  Instead of coming home, doing chores and squeezing in some to-dos while there is daylight, I come home to chores done and am expected to sit and talk about our respective days, then make dinner, sit at the table and eat it, more talking, washing up, closing the chickens in, more talking, then early to bed.  Mostly early to bed because I am exhausted from talking.

The garden is finally becoming fruitful!  After struggling with my zucchini (why am I the only one on the planet that cannot grow zucchini in abundance?), I tucked in a couple of tropical fruit flavored Tums around the roots for calcium, and it seems to have worked!  I also garnered two pickling cucumbers and three yard-long green beans -- and a tomato!  I will have to check with Marianne to see what type this is, but it is a pink and green beauty.  There were more blueberry cherry tomatoes, but I ate them before they made it into the house.  We have been having zoodles in abundance - along with kale and chard with scrambled eggs for dinner.  My neighbor gifted us with green beans, bless his heart, but I'm glad to see that one of the varieties that I planted is finally coming to bear.  I decided to go exotic this year - red noodle and yardlong beans on a trellis.  I also picked Black Hungarian peppers, not pictured, which are the size and shape of jalapenos, but - not surprisingly - black.  They are milder than a jalapeno, and I love them.  The poblanos are coming along, but the eggplant are dragging their roots.  I hope this is not another eggplant-less season.  My garlic crop was the worst in my gardening history, thanks to endless rain and cold temperatures throughout the spring.  Ah, well, next year.

OMG

This little beauty arrived in yesterday's post (thank you again, J) and considerably brightened my day, week and life!  It is now my centerpiece because I need to see it every day.  You will probably not be able to notice, but I now have a new-to-me dining room table.  I will take a full photo of it for a later post.  Rosie came bearing (many) gifts, including this table - made from two repurposed Mexican pine doors.  I love it, but it caused me to scramble to find a home for my existing table.  It is now housed with a couple who were thrilled to get it.  I get a lot of satisfaction from the process.  My little maple table was given to me by a local woman who came to get a lockset I put on Freecycle when I first moved in.  When she came to pick it up, she noticed that I was a little light in the furniture department.  I had moved in with a rocking chair, a bed, a small bedside table, a lamp and a patio table and chairs that I was using in the dining room.  She invited me to 'go shopping' in her barn, where they had stored furniture from her late mother's and MIL's estates.  Bless her heart.  I have enjoyed that table for 13 years.

I am so glad I had that highly successful yard sale (can you hear the drip, drip, drip of sarcasm?) since I now have had an influx of objects from Rosie and from a neighbor/friend who sold her (chock-a-block full) house and 'gifted' me with numerous treasures.  I am going to have to start all over again.

We had an unfortunate chicken incident late last week.  Rosie had spotted what we believe to be a small mink, racing from the corner of the house to the chicken coop.  It was small enough not to bother the chickens, but was probably poaching eggs (pun intended).  She came home from getting her windshield replaced and, as she let the dogs into the fenced off area next to the chicken yard, the mink shot across the Pat's view and he was off like a torpedo, hitting the gate low (admittedly, the gate closure was shaky), and pushing through.  He missed the mink, but discovered the chickens, as well as the other two dogs, who were close behind.  Rosie was right behind them, but all three had chickens in their jaws by the time she bellowed for them to DROP IT!!!  Fae and Lovey obeyed instantly.  Guess who did not.  Maybe I should rename him Beethoven.  There were a lot of feathers, a few limping hens and one who did not make it.  Needless to say, the gate is now bungeed to within an inch of its life.  Rosie yelled so loudly that her voice was an octave lower for days.

Rosie and Fae are up North for a few days - giving us all a break.  Slimmie has been glued to my side, while Lovey spends most of her time standing outside of Rosie's door, waiting for her to appear.  

Things on the family front are sticky.  My dad, who suffers from dementia, continues to worsen.  My mother is dealing with depression.  My middle sister is dealing with them both, as we try to find a solution that will help everyone.  I know a lot of you are dealing with, or have dealt with the same.  We are living too long.

A snapshot of a happier family gathering:

I am on the left.  I think I look like a young
Temple Grandin.  

This was taken at our family camp in northern Ontario.  I'm not sure what we're looking at, but it might have been the Little Redstone Lake Monster.