Leap Year

Normally I dislike February with the same kind of sinking feeling that I get in my stomach when my husband offers to make me a steaming bowl of oatmeal.  I feel like there are so many other breakfast things that I do like (some of which are also made with oats) so why should I bother trying to choke down porridge just because "it's good for you?"  In the same way, I feel like there are so many other months and seasons in a year, why deal with February when it's always cold and grey and long Long LONG?  And this year, to make thing more difficult, February has to go and add an extra DAY???

This year, somehow, February has been tolerable.  I can hardly believe that it ends this week!!  Maybe it's because of the days and days of sunshine and blue skies that we've been experiencing this year in our neck of the woods.  Who knows?  I'm just grateful that I haven't sunk into the deep depression that I typically face this time of year.

There have definitely been bad days.  L had another low low day last week, but doing better now.  Stella returned to the vet a week after starting treatment for external ear infections because she was doing worse instead of better - vet noted that she now has ruptured ear drums on both sides.  (No wonder she can't hear a doggone thing!)  She is now on both oral antibiotics and new ear drops, and actually seems to be doing a bit better - I think she heard me calling her this afternoon.

We hide her pills in peanut butter...

By the way, one breakfast food utilizing oatmeal that I really enjoy is granola.  I have been making this recipe from America's Test Kitchen lately, that is a real winner with all of us:

Maple Almond Granola

1/2 C vegetable oil (I used 1/4 c coconut oil and 1/4 c avocado oil)

1/3 C Maple Syrup

1/3 C brown sugar

4 t vanilla

1/2 T salt

5 C Rolled oats

2 C raw almonds, chopped

2 C raisens (I used 1 1/2 c craisens instead)

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with vegetable oil spray.

Whisk oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla and salt together, then fold in oats and nuts.

Transfer mixture to baking sheet and spread into an even layer and press until compact.

Bake at 325* for 35-40 minutes, rotating sheet about halfway through.

Cool thoroughly and then stir in dried fruit.

I got a new cookie cutter from an Etsy store just in time to make Valentine's Day Cookies:

Fridge Facts - Valentine's Edition

A week ago, JP & I, and a friend (L was being a butt and backed out at the last minute) drove to Wheeling for dinner and a concert.  We heard Renee Elise Goldberry (Angelica Schuyler from "Hamilton") sing with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.  It was a great concert!  JP drove us home in a blizzard that dumped about 4 inches of snow on our town.  It was gone by Saturday afternoon.

We got another 2 inches of surprise snowfall yesterday morning, which disappeared by nightfall.

This week I made 60 newspaper pots and planted 20 different varieties of seeds.  My SIL recently gifted me with this fun container of heritage seeds.  They are packaged in 5 different lots, and I have only dipped into Lot A this year, but from that have planted tomatoes, peppers, winter & summer squash, 2 types of melons, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, eggplants, okra and dill.  I also dipped into my previous stash to plant pumpkins, jalapenos, sweet basil and Thai basil.

Fridge Facts - Gardening Edition

My Lenten Roses are blooming with abandon, and Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow, so spring is on it's way... hooray!

A Fresh Grave

I dug another grave today out under the big oak tree, where our Pet Cemetary has grown to include 6 of our pets.  We found L's bunny, Chaz, stretched out in his favorite spot in the grass, but no longer living last night.  He was 10 years old, which is at the upper end of their typical lifespan!

He started out as a 4H project for J when she was in 5th grade.  She did show him at the Fair in 2015, but then lost interest first in 4H, and then in having a pet rabbit.  When I finally got tired of taking care of him, J was given the ultimatum:  find a new home for him.  This is how L adopted him, and she has taken excellent care of him for the past 6 years or so.

Chaz was sweet and super soft, but not super smart.  He loved dandelion leaves, carrot peels and apple cores.

He would walk on a leash albeit tentatively.

He was interested in his visitors.

I enjoyed taking him treats and chatting him up while he nibbled.  He will certainly be missed.

How My Garden Grows

Just a quick post and a few photos tonight...

My garden is actually starting to produce a few things FINALLY!

I've picked a few tomatoes and enjoyed the thoroughly summertime lunch of tomato sandwiches exactly twice so far.  There are pumkins and winter squash growing to decent size, and tiny cucumbers and yellow squash starting.  The 3rd planting of beans came up, and have since disappeared.  I think I have a total of 8 corn plants after 3 plantings as well.  It's very disappointing.  

I did send a soil sample in for testing.  The results show that the garden is low in phosphorus and high in magnesium.  They gave some suggestions for correcting this, so we will try to make those amendments this fall.

In other news, J and I made these delicious and colorful spring rolls out of crab meat, seasoned rice noodles and veggies last week.  They were lovely!

L and I finally finished painting the grave markers for the kitties and Kali.  Here is our complete Pet Cemetary:

From L to R:  Lizzie, Ernie, Kali...

Kali, Zach, Daisy

And finally, I am enjoying using my new glass fronted side by side freezer/fridge as a giant bulletin board.  I write a "Today in History" factoid on the left, and a quote on the right.

Miss Elizabeth Bennett

We had a sad, sad weekend.  Our remaining kitty, Miss Elizabeth Bennett, or Lizzie for short, disappeared.

She was acting a bit strange on Friday evening, mouth breathing and not as active as usual, but still appearing happy to see us, and purring quite loudly.  I had planned to try to get her in to the vet on Monday morning.  But she didn't come back Saturday or Sunday morning, so the girls and I went out in the woods to search for her on Sunday.

We found her body in the little hollow in the brambles where she liked to hang out when it is hot outside.

I got poked and cut from all the twigs and brambles, but I was finally able to get her out.  We buried her under the big oak tree, next to her buddy, Ernie (and Kali and Zach and my parents' dog, Daisy.)

Lizzie joined our family after my dad inadvertently caught her in the raccoon trap as a tiny baby.  She chomped down HARD on my finger when I tried to rescue her, but we all fell in love with her in the 2 weeks that we kept her in a cage on the veranda and observed her for signs of rabies, so we ended up keeping her as a friend for Ernie.

The two of them spent a lot of time together until Ernie passed earlier this year.

Her favorite things to do were to find shady places to relax...

...and roll in the dirt...

She would also visit me in the tree house now and then, by climbing up the tree!

She went from being a scared little feral kitten in a trap, to the sweet and beautiful cat that spent a decade as part of our family.  We miss her so much.

Nine Lives

Back in 2010, a friend gave us 2 kittens, who came to be known as Bert and Ernie.

Bert disappeared long ago, but Ernie has been with us for the past 13 years until yesterday when the last of his 9 lives came to an end.

He was such a funny cat!  He loved lying on the woodpile in the sunshine.

He preferred to drink out of buckets, or with both front paws IN the water bowl.

He had a foot fettish, and if you let him near your bare pigs, he would be sure to bite them.

He was a good hunter, and frequently left "gifts" on our doorstep.  After he arrived, we did not have to worry about mice in the house any longer, even though he lived outside on the veranda.

His first buddy was Bert, but his longest friendship was with Lizzie.

Towards the end, he became very ill, but he would still purr, rub fur all over us, and drool.

I prefer to remember him like this:

Out with the Old...

You know how the symbolism for the New Year is an old guy leaving, and a baby in diapers coming in?  Out with the old, in with the new?  Well, I've been thinking about it lately, and realizing that all the animals on our farm are elderly, and JP and I are definitely feeling our age recently as well.

Our 5 surviving hens are laying 1 or 2 eggs daily, some of which are so thin shelled, that I have not always been able to get them into the house whole.  They are almost 2 years old, which is middle-to-late aged for hens, and they definitely do not produce as well during the shorter daylight hours in the wintertime.  We will likely get new peeps in the spring.

One is wearing an apron to protect her from picking
 by the other chickens

Stella turns 11 in a week or two, and she has been acting like her energy is waning as well.

Ernie cat is almost 13, and has recurrent eye infections that we are unable to effectively treat, so he looks terrible and is basically blind.  Lizzie kitty is a mere 10-ish and doesn't appear to be affected much by age yet.

L's bunny, Chaz, is about 9.  We were told that the average lifespan for a mini Rex is 7-8 years, but he's still kicking (literally), although he does seem to enjoy the old towel that we put in his cage, and we find him curled up under the heat lamp most mornings.

J also has a goldfish, Copernicus, who is now over 2 years old and shown no signs of slowing down.  Unfortunately, J has chosen NOT to take him to her dorm for the 2nd year in a row, so Mom is taking care of him again.  JP discovered that he enjoys eating fruit flies, so he's been chowing down on organic food lately and getting bigger and bigger.

We're all aging up here, and it isn't always pretty.  Except in L's case - she had another birthday on Dec. 27th...number 17.  Last week we finally went to the DMV and she got her Driver's Permit!

Before that birthday went down, we enjoyed our Christmas!  L got her Elvish cape, so both girls can now dress up!

JP's sister, brother-in-law, and niece came on Christmas evening for dinner and stayed for a couple of days.  They helped us make tamales, as did J's friend.  I cooked the pork up a couple of days before - 6 lbs of pork roasts, 6 onions, 4 complete garlic bulbs, plus a bunch of jalepenos and spices turned into this:

I also made a bunch of other new things:

Santa Hat Brownies

Loaded Potato Waffles

And last, but not least, my Christmas present:

That's right, I'm building the Titanic!

JP and J drove back to school this AM, and L starts back tomorrow (along with the 7th and 8th graders who will be having their first day at the newly created Jr/Sr High School) - should be totally NOT chaotic tomorrow!  JP heads back to work tomorrow, and I'll be back on Tues.  (We did work last week as well.)  So...in with the new!

Snakes in the Hay

I have now lost 6 of the 8 pounds that I gained on vacation.  JP insinuated that my thyroid is overactive again, but I insisted that it is because I have been working so hard!  Not only am I working out on the elliptical 4-5 mornings a week, I am also spending several hours outside daily doing things like weed-whacking, digging, hauling, pushing the mower, or otherwise expending a great deal of energy.

Dad and I have been working on the gray water drainage issue for most of the week.  Tuesday we went out to buy pipes and supplies, and Wednesday we installed all of the drain pipes and began filling the ditch.  There were several yards of ditch that had to be filled in by hand before Dad could begin filling it with the tractor.  Yesterday he was smoothing things out with the tractor, getting it ready to seed with grass, when the tractor died.

For some strange reason, both of the girls are disappointed  that the ditch that has run through in front of the house for nearly 2 years is now missing.  L thought it was a good way to stop our sleds from going all the way down the hill.  Mom kept falling in it when she was trying to walk the path that circles Poplar Ridge.  Dad and I were unable to drive our normal routes on the ATV or tractor.  This is no longer a problem!

I made a call to the tractor place down in WV yesterday.  Lo and behold, they sent out 2 guys, who showed up last night, and were able to fix the problem (and another one, too!) in a matter of 20 minutes!  Hooray for workers who show up ahead of schedule!




Here is how things look after the ditch was filled in.
The tractor down at the bottom will die in just
few more hours.

This morning I went out to begin seeding the area.  The approximately 30 lbs of meadow grass seed that I had in the barn, only went about half way down the hill...disappointing.  There has been an old, round bale of hay sitting in the garden for 2 years, mouldering away.  I loaded it by hand, bit by bit, in the the trailer, which I then hauled to the site to spread over the seed.  The bale was full of ants, who got into my gloves and shoes, and bit my ankles and wrists. 

After spreading several armfuls, I noticed a tiny head poking out of the hay...the garden snake!  I'm ok with snakes, but I didn't like the idea of reaching blindly into the hay and coming across him.  He didn't like the idea of me reaching in and grabbing him either, so he slithered deeper and deeper into the trailer load.  I started pulling out armfuls with the garden rake, and finally uncovered him enough to gently lift him out with the rake and take him back to the garden.

I used up my moldy bale of hay, so Dad encouraged me to use the one out behind his wood pile.  I started loading my trailer with armfuls of hay from that bale, wondering what the chances could be of there being a snake there as well. 

The chances were really good, as it turns out!  Before long, a small, triangular head poked out, and then turned around to slide deeper into the bale.  I found a long stick with which to pull off layers of hay from the bale without actually touching it.  It wasn't until I came back to get a second trailer load full of hay that I finally uncovered this snake.  I quickly scooped him up under my stick, and relocated him to the nearby woods.

Luckily I did not run across any more snakes in this bale, but I used the stick the entire time...just in case!

So, 3 hours later, I had seeded roughly half of the area, hauled 4 trailer loads of hay and spread them over roughly 1/3 of the area, and I was completely pooped.  I still managed to can 13 quarts of beans this afternoon, and shell 2 pints of peas.

This, my friends, is why I am losing the weight!

On an entirely different subject, I have not managed to get into my flower beds yet this year to weed or mulch.  The big bed has a lot of weeds, but otherwise looks pretty good...very full and colorful.  This is sort of the look I was going for -  English garden style, and so full that there is no room for weeds and no need to mulch!

 

 Oh, and more good news:  Kali gets her stitches out tomorrow.  There are a bunch of them, as she was cut stem to stern.  She has been off pain meds for about 4 or 5 days, and has also finished up her antibiotics and Pepcid prescriptions.  Our next plan is to get her a paying job so that she can cover her Vet bills!