Weddings.

I am not a fan of weddings, as weddings go.  I feel that all that money spent on caterers, flowers, parties, booze, etc. could go into buying a nice piece of land with a house and a barn.  But that's just my bias.  I attended a wedding on Saturday that was so beautiful and loving, that it made me happy that I had jumped into my party clothes and made the trip.  The wedding couple, C and S, have been together for a while.  They have had their ups and downs, but the relationship held together and love grew stronger.  C is the daughter of a very dear friend.  She is a beautiful young woman, smart and sassy, sweet and tender. 

The wedding was held on the grounds of the Darrow School, the site of one of the oldest Shaker settlements in the area.  The day was a rarefied one, the views were breath-taking.  The guests were a mix of young and old, from infants to a few nonagenarians.  Friends and family were involved in every process - an aunt made the cake, a friend forged their rings.  Love flowed -- you could almost put your hand out and touch it.  The bride, accompanied by both her parents, was piped in.  That, of course, had me weeping in the pews.  My friend, M, a writer and poet, read a poem she wrote for her daughter.  I think it took everything C had to keep from bawling.  I didn't need restraint, so I bawled.  Thank goodness my pew-mate had tissues.

I didn't get to stay for the dancing - there were sheep, dogs, and goats to feed and chickens to lock up for the night.  But I had a marvelous time and met some completely outstanding women from New Mexico (M lived there for many years) who, I am sure, added some whee-ha to the party!

Here are a few pictures.

M with the ring bearer and brother.

Directions to all the important places.

Breathtaking vistas.

Hank, the Best Dog, watching C approach.

The bride and family

M taking it all in.

Not so much Comings, as Goings.

Hasta la vista, Miguel.

Thursday evening, as I paced and fumed waited patiently for someone who never showed up, I took the time to look over the "grounds" and took a good look at Miguel.  You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned Miguel much.  After going through the winter with a nice 6-foot coat of snow, he fired right up this spring.  Then the tires kept going flat, then the battery connections got covered with acid stuff, then the mice invaded, then he wouldn't start.  I had thought about selling it to someone with car knowledge but, upon closer inspection of the incredibly rusted frame, I decided that if I was too afraid to drive him, I sure shouldn't sell him to someone else to drive.  I had loaded his bed in the spring with the last of the junk that had been bequeathed to me by the previous owners when the tire thing happened.  Then he wouldn't start.  So, there he sat, listing to port, rear view mirrors wrapped in feedbags to ward off the evil red bird, old bits of cages, broken glass, old mailboxes, broken hive frames poking out of his bed, parked in the driveway. "Cripe," I thought.  "This is a scene from the Beverly Hillbillies, without the Beverly".

Not ten minutes later, the dog alarm went off and a car pulled into the driveway.  Thinking it was the ingrate who was supposed to come look at my ducks, I approached the guy in a less-than-friendly manner.  Turns out, he was a neighbor who buys scrap metal and had spotted Miguel.  After about a half hour (mostly filled with detailed recounts of his entire life including ex-wives), we had a deal and Miguel (and most of the junk) will be leaving Sunday.  Sunday may also be the day the lambs leave.  And, if the idiot who wanted the ducks actually comes through and shows up, two of the ducks will be heading out as well. 

I am looking at this as an opportunity to spruce the place up a bit.  If time and weather allows, I will wash down the front of the house and rid it of it's mold coating.  I might even weed around the currants and mulch them.  I might even vacuum out my car.  Whoa, there!  I do find it difficult to balance all the animal needs/work with other things that need to be dealt with - home repairs, car cleaning, weeding, planting, etc.  But I do feel I need to work on gaining more of a balance.  I need someone to organize me -- Erin!!!  Sylvie!!!  Putting on my big girl panties, I have decided to take myself in hand and make three lists.  One will be animal-related (coop - still not finished; etc.), the second being house-related (mold, remove Christmas lights left by last owners), and car (vacuum, clean upholstery).  Then I will, each week, try to knock one thing off each list.  I will have to try and further balance the workload by breaking the major jobs into steps, and knocking off a step each week.  Am I over-thinking this?  Am I doomed to fail?

Get along, little lambies.

Yessiree, three of the little squirts will be heading to lush new fields (we are keeping this news from those who are left behind) either Sunday or next weekend.  Although I did end up parting with a lamb that I had intended to keep (Juni), I am happy that they will have a good home and even happier that I will have three less mouths to feed!  Their new home is a large (70 acre) reclaimed horse farm a couple of hours from here.  They wanted Juni because he is the only ram lamb that wasn't wethered and they want to breed Icelandics.  I will miss his knobby little head and funny blat-blat voice.  But I WILL NOT miss Hazel's glass-shattering baas!  I figure, with 70 acres, they won't notice what a bigmouth she is.... Ah, but I am sure it will be very noisy for a time after their departure. 

The ducks may be going to a new home as well, as soon as the person who answered my ad and I get our connections connected.  Things are settling well towards winter.  I aim to make my life a little more streamlined this year. 

The last of the corn went into the canner this morning!!!  Yowsah!  Just as I was about to pat myself on the back and put my canner away, I discovered a ton o' beans on the vines.  Looks like there is still some canning in my immediate future.  At least the canning time is a lot less.  My poor dogs haven't been on a nice long walk all week - I don't ever leave my pressure canner unattended for more than 15-20 mins.  I have permission to walk the perimeter of my neighbor's field with the dogs so, if it doesn't rain Sunday morning, I will make it up to them.  It is a very LARGE field and I am sure there are lots of interesting things to see (and smell), so they will be very happy dogs.

Today I am wearing a skirt.  I am adding this to shock my friends.

Well, Shush my Bunny!

I have been working on a little crafty-type thing to put on my Etsy site.  These have been very popular with the grand-daughters of friends, so I'm working on a mess of them.

Lying down on the job.

Introducing the Shush Bunnies!  They are made from flannel (or terry) and lightly stuffed with lavender buds and polyfill.  While their main purpose is to provide a sweet, soothing sleep companion for you on your pillow, they also tend to become the boon companions of small people, and are dragged around until they are soft, flat little rags.  Once I get more of them made, I will link to my Etsy site.  (Nothing like some good, old-fashioned and blatant self-promotion.)  I used to try to make the faces all the same, but that rarely worked.  My sewing skills are different from early morning to night.  But it gives them each their own 'look'.  I am also working on another crafty-type thing but that, my dears, is at the polar opposite end of the degree of difficulty scale.  It will be a while before I post a picture of it.

So far, I've canned 11 pints and 3 quarts of corn, and have one more batch to process.  Preparing the corn in the evening, then canning it in the morning has been successful so far.  But I will be happy to see the last ear of those 4+ dozen safely in a jar.  Tonight I am meeting a prospective lamb-buyer at the homestead.  Please cross your collective toes and fingers.

My Life as a Country Western Song.

(All together now) "Oh, I'm a drivin' down the mountain with my front wheel comin' off!"

Given that I drive an older model car and have driven it for many miles (just passed 180,000), I am very tuned-in to it's little squeaks, grunts, bangs, and other noises.  This morning on my way UP the mountain, I detected a different sound - a sort of quiet 'thump, thump'.  Hmmm. It was just barely detectable and I was thinking that I ought to stop at my garage and have them look at the wheel.

Then, I was coming DOWN the mountain and the volume turned up.  And got louder with a definite metallic quality to it.  By then I was running through what I thought it might be and how serious it was, and if I could make it to the garage.  Then I was praying and inching along and finally (and fittingly) was able to pull into the parking lot of a church's community center.  I called the garage and they sent someone out.  Did I mention it was pouring rain, too? 

He turned the wheel, looked at it with a flashlight, then grasped the wheel and... it almost came off!  The lug nuts were so loose they were within millimeters of coming off.  Holy Crap! (as Kayten would say).  He tightened them up and followed me to the garage.  Where the verdict was that they were old and worn out.  Well, aren't we all?  Speaking for myself, of course, especially after that drive.  They replaced all of the lug nuts with shiny new (read: expensive) ones.

I am wondering if, just by some odd chance, it was because they were not tightened all the way after my last visit three weeks ago?

"Oh, I'm a drivin' myself on new lug nuts, straight into the poorhouse, m'dear."

The end.

This is fun!

Thank you for the idea, Carolyn  - I love haiku(ing) 'tho I wouldn't quit my day job...

Chickens lay few eggs
Must I send in a masseuse
walk on chicken backs

Family fun is not
birthday full of miffs and sniffs
orphan status optional?

Beans and greens get cut
Pressure not just in canner
Ears coming out my ears


Although rain threatened all day yesterday, it didn't fall in earnest until last night and into this morning.  Thankfully (this is Scrappy talking) there was a let-up just as I let them out in the yard.  As soon as they came in, it started up again.  After a weekend of everything out-of-sync, it was a nice feeling to be in rhythm with nature again for, even as I am Princess DeNial, daughter of the Queen of DeNial, I am facing up to the fact that I may be gluten intolerant.  And, even though I am facing up to it, I have already worked out in my fevered mind ways of sneaking in bits of the bread I love.  Cripe.  Isn't it funny how, when you know you can. not. have. bread/chocolate/dairy/etc.  it becomes the only thing you want?

I noted in my daily egg-laying journal, my hens have produced 8 eggs every day for the past four days.  I would be thrilled with this if I had 8 hens.  But I have over 20.  So, I am not thrilled.  I've checked them for parasites, I've upped their feed rations, I've cleaned their nesting boxes out every other day.  Ergo, the masseuse crack.  Heads will roll if the eggs don't.

I did a lot of pressure canning over the weekend - 12 pints of green beans, 6 pints and a quart of mixed vegetables, with 3.6 dozen ears of corn to go.  I also dried six zucchini squash, four yellow squash and a large bunch of Swiss chard.  I doubt if this will end anytime soon, as the beans, squash and chard are going gangbusters.  Wish I could say the same for the tomatoes.  Plenty of fruit on those miserable plants, but not a blush of color on most of them.  My next indoor project is to catalogue my canned goods.  While I can feel the first stirrings of tomato-mania in my heart, I need to come to grips with what I already have.  I need to battle the seasonal "Channeling of the Prairie Housewife" (the one with a family of 8).  I may need an intervention.

"I want my Grandmother's vegetables!"

or "What happens when you fiddle around with Nature".  Somehow, I wasn't really surprised when I read an article today that reported that the handful of green beans my mother was eating in 1950 had 43% more calcium than the handful of green beans I am eating today.  And less flavor, apparently.  (I had not yet appeared on the earth to eat said green beans.)  All those carefully developed high-production crops have given us lots and lots of bland, less nutritious food. 

I am completely flummoxed by our (as a society) inability to catch on to the "more is not more" reality of food, clothing, gadgets, appliances, cars, you name it.  I tell you, if everyone was forced to live with all their trash, you'd see a new dawning of the "use it up, wear it out, make it do" motto.  Imagine a world where mothers couldn't toss disposable diapers into the trash.  There would be quite a few cloth diapers hanging on the line.  We are such a throw-away country, that it's not going to be easy to turn it in the right direction.

So, hurray for us'ns who plant gardens with heritage, non-hybrid vegetables.  And hurray for all those mothers who suck it up and wash diapers. 

I will now get off my soapbox and eat my heritage beans (am currently enjoying a large crop of Navajo Trail of Tears).  What heritage and non-hybrid seeds have you planted in your gardens with success?