Paladin is in full bloom among the flax in Effieland, the garden our cat Effie and Paladin share. The garden is fenced all around with gates and locks. The top is also fenced to repel raptors.
Category Archives: Rural life
Touch of fog. . .
This is the viewshed primeval.
I normally have a view of the hills of Hell’s Canyon. Today I had hoped to go to Walmart, but I called my friend who works there and she assured me that she could not see across the street from her house or across the Walmart parking lot a few rows. My aspiration of new towels was dashed, utterly and for hours, if today at all.
Filed under Home Life, Photos, Rural life, Scenery, Weather
I’m dreaming of a grey Christmas. . .
A grey and cloudy vista can be morale boosting or demoralizing. Personally I have no real preference. I like clouds. I can’t imagine a bright sunny Christmas day in the northwestern prairie where I live.
Skunked
I walked up to our chickens’ house yesterday with their usual daily apple core treat and to check for any eggs. It wasn’t a usual day. There were four hens. There should have been five. They had never before left the confines of their relatively large chicken house. I walked around the chicken house, seeking clues. A mass of feathers ten feet or so to the west lay on the damp ground. My impulse was to put some of my blood in a kettle to boil.
I assumed a neighbor’s dog had killed one of our hens. They bark constantly and enter our property presuming dominion.
My husband knows far more about farming than I do. He grew up on a farm and, like his father, became a lawyer with a heart for farming. He thought a skunk was a more likely candidate for a chicken killer than a dog. I Googled “do skunks kill chickens?” and discovered that skunks are notorious killers of chickens. Good. There are no residences close enough to our chicken hutch to make it illegal to shoot a chicken-menacing skunk.
Thanks go to Ellen Pilch of the https://15andmeowing.com blog for reminding me I hadn’t posted in a month. I appreciate you, Ellen!
Filed under Animals, Nature, Gardens, Chickens, Home Life, Nature, Rural life
Two cats and a tiny snake
A very small baby Gopher snake (center, looks like a brown cord between Effie’s and Paladin’s paws) fended its way through Effieland yesterday. Effie, a veteran of carrying a full grown Garter snake around in her mouth, and Paladin, treating the Gopher snake as a living toy, took turns carrying the snake in their mouths and playing harmlessly with it on the ground. Eventually they freed the tiny reptile, which slithered its way to the fence. Paladin laid on top of the snake. Somehow the snake made it out of Effieland.
Filed under Animals, Animals, Nature, Gardens, Cats, Effie, Effieland, Nature, Paladin, Photos, Rural life
Oh deer!
M’lady Doe has no tea, but she has a lawn good for a brief rest.
Filed under Animals, Nature, Gardens, Home Life, Nature, Photos, Rural life
Preview of Thanksgiving Families
Wild turkey Mom and kids
Mom Turkey
Turkey family
While having breakfast, we noticed these wild turkeys joining us as we watched them through our dining room window. It’s early for Thanksgiving, but not too early for wild turkeys making rounds. They come through our yard every year, and they are always welcome to enhance our scenery. My husband Vic dashed out with his SLR and took these photos.
Filed under Animals, Nature, Gardens, Birds, Home Life, Nature, Photos, Rural life
Corn at 23 mph
Corn is resilient, taking a bow at 23 mph. This is a multi-colored popcorn variety.
Filed under Gardens, Nature, Photos, Rural life, Weather
Purple meadow
Vetch is a legume that provides fodder for deer and farm animals. Its purple flowers cover part of our meadow where deer frequently feed.
Filed under flowers, Nature, Photos, Rural life
Promises
Halvor: I promise I will not drive the tractor until I get my license.
Grapes: We will ripen in summer and we will be delightful. You will have many pounds of us from many vines.
Filed under Animals, Nature, Gardens, Effieland, Gardens, Halvor, Photos, Rural life