Praise the Lord that things went well and you are back home safely. We look forward to seeing pictures when your daughter shares them with you. Speaking of pictures, please post that darling picture here of your cat and the dog together. The cat looked so happy to see his pal again.
You have said that your daughter is the only one who can solve your picture loading from camera to computer problems for you and she won't visit for several months. My son can control my computer from his home by using Windows Live Messenger. Maybe there is a way for her to talk to you on the phone and instruct you on loading the program and then letting her take over control of the computer to solve your problem. Just a thought. We want you to once again be able to take pictures to share with us as soon as possible. Welcome home. You were missed!
That's interesting. Technology is so amazing, but I will just wait on the computer fix because she is the one who is just about now arriving in Romania for a month of very intense summer ministry. Thanks anyhow. Meanwhile, yes, I can post the dog and cat picture because it is in my picture file. New ones, stuck in my camera, I can't download because I might be missing a disc or something essential for one gadget to recognize the other.
Here is something I copied from an email this morning:
Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce!!!
And the picture of two little critters who sure do love each other! Neut is trying to have all of his body in contact with the dog, even his tail, and the expression on his face just makes me smile every time I look at the picture. He just oozes love!
I hope the picture transfered to this post. When I clicked upload file nothing seemed to happen. Sigh.
Yesterday might have been the hottest day so far this year, it was at least 92. I was in town part of the day, and bought a bunch of herbs in gallon pots, plus other flowers for 75% off. I will get them all planted this afternoon when the barrels where most of them will go are in the shade of the shop building. My daugher in law gifted me with a cute little wooden planter for my birthday, so I needed a few plants to fill it. She also made an apple cake from a recipe in the heart healthy cookbook, and left it on the counter, a nice surprise when we came back from our trip.
The fence crew is coming this evening to put wooden stays between the posts and staple the wires to them. Our old pickup has a big load of stays in it, sawn at a mill a fellow and his son operate in a neighboring community.
My daylilies are just starting to bloom. That is the domestic ones, the old ditch lilies have been blooming for a couple of weeks. I've got one gold one that is a real standout. Maybe I can locate a picture of it, will try. My picture files are not well organized, they are in folders that say the date, or just summer pictures, fall pictures, etc. It made sense when I did it that way, but in hindsight, it wasn't such a good plan. The hollyhocks are also putting on a good show. One especially hardy group of plants is along a fence near where the computer satelite dish was installed later. I might have to tie them to the fence or to a stake or two, but that is better than taking the clippers to them if they interfere with the signal.
Oops, time to change the sprinkler, again! I'm watering something, or several somethings every day, most of the day and until dark I have a sprinkler or soaker hose running somewhere.
Last edited by Mary on Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
I itch! Saturday when I was deep watering the asparagus, I was also pulling some tall weeds growing near the row. Apparently some 6 legged creatures living there were upset with the changes I was making in their neighborhood, and although I was watching for ants or other crawlies on my shoes, pantlegs and arms, I got 4 bites. Two are on my knee, one on my side just above my waist, and another on my chest where I can almost put my chin on it. They all itch. Why do I taste so good to the bugs? Maybe I should try a garlic juice bath to deter them next time. Actually, I do understand that they probably were just trying to defend their home from a two legged monster!
So today I'm doing laundry and inside domestic things and staying out of the sun and trying not to move much because my clothes rubbing on the inflamed area makes the itching worse. I could weed on the shady side of the house, but instead here I sit moving an icebag around to whichever bite itches the worst. The antihistamine makes me sleepy but should begin to take effect tomorrow or the next day.
On Thursday I will be on Grand Jury duty again. The DA has a case he wants to have us consider. I have a feeling it has something to do with the Miner's Jubilee that was held in town over the weekend. Not everyone celebrates in a civilized manner. Every town has it's local festival to try to bring money into the town, and Miner's Jubilee celebrates the Baker City's early years. There are still some working gold mines in the area, but I don't think anyone is getting rich. The people who provided goods and services to the miners often made more than the miners who came to town to celebrate their sudden wealth. Most of them left town for another hot mining strike with the clothes on their backs and little else unless they were wise enough to invest.
Our pastor's father in law, who retired from pastoring several years ago, is in failing health. A few months ago he could still walk unassisted and was talking about growing a community garden on part of the church property. Now he is in a wheelchair, bent over, held to the chair by a chest strap, and so weak he is almost unable to raise his head. Most people just walk on past him. My hubby got down on his knees in front of the man, greeted him with a hug and a smile, and prayed with him. I don't think he will be with us much longer. It's sad to watch the decline in his health which seems to be picking up speed. His body is giving up, but his spirit is ready to soar.
I was just reminded of a fellow in our church 30 years ago in another state. He had kidney disease, had transplants, when the proceedure was very new, and was on dialasis for years. One night, as he and his wife lay in bed, he suddenly said "Vickie, I hear angels" and in a few minutes he had gone to join them. It the story gives me goosebumps just to type it. We should all make the transition so joyfully and easily.
This morning I went to move hollyhock stems back behind the satelite dish so I could get a signal, but ended up snipping them off since they wouldn't stay back there. They only had a couple of flowers left and NO leaves (grasshoppers are eating everything!), stood up and looked right into a wasp nest from 2 ft away, in the pipe that supports the dish.
Out came the can of Raid and the hunt was on! I got 25 nests killed this morning, several in and under my horse trailer. I had thought about going for a ride this morning, cancel that! A few stray wasps are flying around the trailer confused and not too happy. My tack room is in the trailer, and the rings on the outside are the only places I have to safely tie the horse while I saddle him. It's not worth the risks of either getting myself or the horse stung!
The itches from last week's bites have settled down and the last 2 days have been comfortable. Praise the Lord!
Last edited by Mary on Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
Patch and I have been out riding in the hills twice and had nice trips both times. He wants to go faster than I want him to go for now, but we will work up to his speed soon. We scared a few deer out of their beds in the sagebrush and under a juniper tree, saw some elk tracks, watched for rattlesankes, and got HOT! I'm trying to go every second day. There are a couple of places where the Scotch thistles are so thick we can't walk through them without getting poked a lot by the spines, so I will have to do some cutting. Hubby found and sharpened our machette' which will do fine to clearing paths. It has a heavy canvas scabbard. I will wrap it up in an old jeans pantleg so I can tie it behind the saddle.
The weather is perfect for making hay, that is to say hot and windy. Our neighbors are all busy with cutting, raking, baleing, and hauling it to stacks. Some day soon I expect my neighbor to tell me he has a load for us.
My itchies have been replaced by new ones. I was reading something on an alternative health website about taking extra vitamin B-12 to keep the bugs from biting. The vitamin-mineral formula I take every day has that in it of course, but not enough. So, now I am taking vitamin B-12 every day. I wonder how long it will take me to taste bad.
The website I found is http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/insect_bite.html There are a lot of things to read about on that site which will be good for when I'm hiding out inside the house on hot afternoons when it is 90+ outside and I am wilting!
Yesterday we went to the farm store to get more staples for the fence project, and I bought some herbal anti inflamatory for Bullwinkle. Last night I skipped giving him the chemical stuff and just fed him the new pellets. This morning he was quite uncomfortable, so I gave him Bute again and now he looks better. I'll double up using both medicines for a few days until he gets enough of the herbs in his system to work. I remember, when I started taking an herbal supplement for hot flashes, it took about 3 weeks before I noticed the difference. The main active ingredient in the anti inflamatory is commonly known as "devils claw root". If it will work for him it will cost about 1/3 compared to the cost of the Bute paste from the vet and it will allow me a bit more freedom when I want to go somewhere, as not everyone would want to administer an oral medicine via tube to an 1100 pound patient.
On one of my endurance riding websites there was a posting about a fellow endurance rider who is suffering from the final stages of bone cancer. I have ridden hundreds of miles with him, and haven't seen him for a couple of years. Now he is staying at his daughter's house, she is a nurse, and he isn't able to stand or walk anymore. It's hard to think of him in such a weakened condition. I found a card to send him, a plain note showing rimrocks and a bobcat looking down at something below. One ride we used to do together went along a trail under rimrocks like that, and once we did see a big cat up there, silouetted against a blue sky, looking down as we passed. So, I wrote a few memories on the page, and said goodbye old friend. I'm sure he is comforted by his faith, and by having his daughter and her children nearby for his last days.
The wasp nests I have been spraying are small disc shaped ones, about 3 inches in diameter, with not many occupants. The queens overwinter in sheltered spots, emerge with warm weather, build a paper nest and lay eggs. They raise the first few themselves, and the next generation produces workers who tend rest of the eggs that the queen will lay over the summer. I should take a picture, which you will not see this summer because of my camera to computer incompatability problem. No doubt I have missed a few active nests somewhere. When I find one that will photograph well, that is not in a really inaccessable place like under a rock jack or under the barn roof 25 ft off the ground, I will attempt a picture.
Yesterday I went riding again, earlier in the morning than before, to beat the heat. Well, in snake season, that's a mistake, because they crawl out of the sagebrush on to the jeep road and lay there soaking up the sun's rays. The first one we encountered was rattling and leaving the road. Patch heard him and moved to the other side of the road, which is only the opposite tire track, so not very far, and stopped. We watched the snake crawl away. I looked for a big stick or some rocks to kill it with, but there were none so I stayed on the horse.
Half a mile later, there was another one. I saw him and stopped Patch. Since the snake didn't seem to have heard us, and he was only a few feet away in the middle of the road, I had some time to consider what to do. There were no rocks or sticks handy, so we turned around and went back down the hill to where there were fist sized rocks.
I converted the reins to a leadrope by unclipping both ends from the bit and clipping one end to the halter ring. Now I had about 8 ft of rope between myself and Patch, enough for him to feel safe I hoped, and not pull away from me and run home. I picked up half a dozen rocks and we walked back up the road. Ten feet from the snake I stopped and started throwing the rocks. The snake woke up and started crawling toward the bank that went up from the road, and disappeared under a sagebrush, rattling his warning all the way. Patch kept a respectful distance and didn't pull on the rope at all.
Once the snake was clear of the road, we moved to the other tire track and passed by him. He was still rattling so I could tell where he was even though I couldn't see him. I walked, leading Patch until I found a place where I could get back on, which I can't do from the ground. My legs just don't go there anymore, so I need a bump. I wasn't about to stand in the sagebrush beside the road, where there might be other snakes lurking. We continued our ride for a few more miles and didn't see more snakes until we came back, and there was snake #2 crossing the road again. We waited, he crawled and rattled, then after he went down the bank we moved to the other tire track and went on home.
After dinner, when the sun was getting low and the temperature was a bit cooler I took a .22 pistol loaded with birdshot shells, and the machette', got on the four wheeler and went snake hunting/thistle chopping. I thought maybe the snakes would be out in the open and I could eliminate one or two. No snakes, lots of thistles, and now I have a path through one of the thistle patches and a sore shoulder and arm. Progress usually comes at a cost.
I'd like to get those snakes before they migrate down into the hayfields, pastures, and possibly my yard. In the last few years we have killed 2 in the yard, one was about 15 ft from the back door, and last year I killed one about 2-3 ft from the door, way too close for comfort!
Tonight, or more likely tomorrow morning since it is 96 degrees now at almost 6pm, we will go out into the neighbor's field and pick up broken hay bales. His old baler is giving him fits again this year, and it is being repaired again. Sometimes it makes itty bitty bales, sometimes it makes big, double length bales, and sometimes it just refuses to tie them, resulting in a pile of hay that has been chopped into pieces too short to hold together if it was chopped and baled again. The baler picks up a windrow of hay and it is chopped to the width of the bale. That's great if it works the first time! The bales need to be a uniform size so they can be picked up with another big machine and stacked. Haying season has got to be the most frustrating time of the year. The hay is getting overripe, or dried out, or being eaten by grasshoppers, and the equipment keeps breaking down. We are both glad we don't do that for a living!
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