This Dang Cold......

Well, I THOUGHT I was on the down side of this cold but, it just keeps hanging around. It will be ok one day, then come back the next.

At least it hasn't come back as bad as it was the first time....
I'm HOPING to get over it SOON.

This week has been fairly busy.

I managed to start a few Osage Orange (Hedge) Trees from seed. They take a long time to sprout, so I wanted to get them started early. I did a few a couple years ago and they were going nicely until a goat got out and had lunch....

I mixed up some "potting soil" from good, black dirt, some sandy dirt, and a good dose of goat "dirt".
Then I cut toilet paper tubes in half, filled the tubes with the "potting soil" and, with one end on a flat surface, firmed up the soil in the tubes. I didn't "pack" the dirt, just firmed it enough so that it would hold in the tube.

I then dug into a Hedgeapple and removed the seeds. They are covered in a slimy mess and need to be separated from all of it. If you have ever seen a pile of Hedgeapple "guts" underneath the tree, now you know why. A Squirrel has been eating on the Hedgeapple, and tossing the scraps on the ground. They only eat the seeds, so there is a LOT of mess on the ground....

It will be about a month before I know if any of these germinated. I planted them about 1/2" below the surface and lightly watered them.

I've grown other trees like this before, and plan to use it on other species this year. I want to start a few garden plants as well. It's a good use for toilet paper tubes....

The other day we went to visit a teacher of mine. She was the teacher in the second one-room country school house I attended. The last time I saw her was in 1974 before we moved and I went to a different school.

I had thought of her several times, but wasn't sure where she lived until I saw an obituary for her husband a few weeks ago. It turns out, she lives about a mile from where we moved our house from in 2003. She was a good friend of the lady that used to live in the house.

We were "out and about", so we decided to stop in. It was about 10:45 am, and we figured we'd just stop in for a few minutes to say hi. It ended up that we stayed until 2:30 pm!

It was great to see her again and we had a wonderful time talking about all sorts of things. I had told Deb that she was a wonderful person, and now she saw for herself.

Everyone always says that there is one teacher that most influenced them. I'd have to say that Mrs. Stutheit is on top of my list....

This week, I even managed to get ahold of some free Turnips. I only have a few but, I love them. I had one that was about the size of a soccer ball, that was a little mushy, so I tossed it out to the chickens. It looked like a football (soccer) match in Europe, complete with fights and scuffles....

It only took them about 20 minutes to COMPLETELY devour it.

This morning, we loaded up the "kids" and took them in for a Vet visit. All three dogs need Rabies shots, Yani needed worm medication, and Rascal needed his claws clipped. His grow so fast and thick that it's hard for us to do them. He fights and squirms so much that we can't hold him.

Naturally, He fought very little when the Doc did it.....

Weasel mutt....

Yani (Great Pyrenees, LGD) weighs in at 94 pounds. When she first got here (August), I could pick her up and lift her. Not anymore! You could see her ribs and she was VERY thin when we first got her. I would estimate that she has gained at least 25 pounds in her stay with us. She really looks nice.

She defends the goats well. I went out to feed the goats one morning , a month or so, ago, and saw her with a large stray dog that has visited several times in the last 3-4 years. I had seen the dog in the goat pen before, but it was before Yani arrived. The last couple of times it has been around, it didn't get into the pen before it saw me and ran. It has always been lucky that I never have had the opportunity for a clear shot, or I was unarmed.

That particular day, it was behind the barn, being pummeled by Yani. I heard the sounds of a dog in pain before I saw what was going on. I thought it was Yani yelping so I hurried through the barn and called her name.

As it turned out, I should have kept quiet.

It was my calling that caused Yani to pause and the other dog to escape. The last I saw of it, it was LEAPING gazelle-like over the back fence and running over the neighbor's pasture.

Haven't seen it since.

Now, if I could convince the goats that Yani is their FRIEND and to stop head butting her.... They all have accepted her as one of them (she smells like a goat...), but she is definitely FAR down on the "pecking order".

She sure can chew down the deer bones, though! The Vet made a remark that some of her teeth were worn down.

I guess eating "high on the deer" has it's down side.