Learning continues...

Not that I have an aversion to learning things, but learning from my mistakes is getting old. We haven't managed to accumulate any water in the tank, so I knew something was wrong somewhere, but we just couldn't find the 'where'. This morning, I went up to the tank to look around again, and this time, I found it. Water is spilling on the ground as it leaves the tank, just as fast as it goes into the tank. Another spot where I cut it with the blade. I must have been swinging that blade some crazy to have cut it twice without noticing, haha. Take that as a warning - I'm dangerous with the swing blades!

This is the cut, under the blackberry stems.

This is the partial repair. I need another pipe clamp because one of those are broken, and a pair of gloves so I can hold the pipe without it slipping when I try to push it onto the connector.



So, after I've rested, back up the mountain I go. The tank is shut off so at least it can gain some volume in the meantime. I measured the flow. We're getting a little more than one liter per minute, which calculates out to about 12 gallons per hour. Not very much, but it's usually plenty enough when you allow the tank to fill halfway before starting to use it heavily. Halfway is 750 gallons, so we have to use sparingly while it fills.

Spoke too soon.

Well, the tank wasn't full when we got home from work today, it was empty again. But I found what is likely the reason: I had left a faucet running, more than a drip, but not wide open, in the old house. What little had managed to accumulate in the tank was used by Gab when she took a shower when she got in from work today. Arrrrrggggghhhhhh! Bad enough that it is STILL not good, but worse that it was because of my own mistake. I am so tired of learning from my mistakes. Hopefully it will be better in the morning.

All is Good

The water is now back to normal here at the house, even upstairs in the bathroom. Last night we still didn't have enough pressure, but this morning there must finally be enough water in the tank to give us normal pressure at the house.

I'm getting ready to head out to work. The floors are now done in the kitchen, bathroom downstairs and the utility room. The interior doors will be delivered on Friday, and the next thing on the schedule are the doors and walls in the living room. I also still have to paint the bathroom and upstairs. The next item after that is baseboards, and last will be the cabinets. Hard to imagine, but it almost feels like I'm almost finished.

Forgot about the stairs - still need a more efficient way of reaching the upstairs than the ladder I'm currently using!

The problem

Okay, found the source of the problem. The blackberry bushes by the tank and over the line from the spring got so heavy that they snapped it off at the tank. So now I have to go buy the connector that broke, and go back up the mountain with a ditch blade to take care of the bushes. And there's such a layer of silt and algae that I might as well flush the tank while I'm at it too. At least the problem is something I can repair on my own. I was worried it might be more than I could handle. Garrison has been my helper this morning, too.

...

It's 1:30pm now, and I hopefully have the tank repaired. While cutting the briars away from the line, I inadvertently also cut the line. But I had extra connectors with me, and extra pipe clamps, and soon had that blunder repaired, too. Water was going in when I left, but it's not coming out at the other end yet. The other end is about 200' down the hill at the faucet behind the house. I hope that once enough head pressure builds up, if there's a slug of algae or sediment in the lines, it will blow that out. Not sure I can make another hike up there - that's a hard climb! Water is such a precious resource and living out here where my entire water storage depends on our own ability to conserve, repair, and harvest the water is a good lesson in preparedness. When I bought new fittings for the part that broke, I bought extra connectors, too. If not for that, I would have been in a real bind when I accidentally cut the line I was trying to repair.

...
It's 2:40pm now and we have water! it's nasty dirty water full of bleach, but at least there is flow. We'll continue to flush this out and soon we'll be back online. I had shut off the valve to the house so that none of this nasty water makes it into those lines. But we had drained the tank last night with showers and washing clothes, so I probably need a new filter inside.

This morning I woke up and turned on the faucet to wash my face. The moment I heard the hiss, I knew there was trouble. No water. It's a long hike up the mountain to the tank, but hopefully, the tank is just empty. And if it's empty, then I have to know whether it all leaked out, or someone left a line open, or if we just used it all. If we used it all, that's easy enough to remedy; we will just begin our later summer water rationing. It takes about 24 hours to fill the tank and from there we will will know to only use what we really need, wash only one or two loads a day, and no tub filling for hot soaks. If it's broken somewhere, well, this will be my first time figuring out how to fix it on my own. I'll let you know how it goes, and I sure wish my horse was ready for riding. If it wouldn't be more trouble to lead him up there than it's worth, I'd tie things onto his saddle, but I'm worried it will be more tiresome to coax him up there than to just hoof it on my own two feet. First I have to figure out what kind of repair items to bring with me.

At least I had a gallon of water so I could make some coffee this morning while thinking about my game plan to fix this issue.

Lowe's delivered the stove and refrigerator on Wed. last week. They brought it in a huge delivery truck and I was worried they wouldn't be able to get up to the house in it, but somehow they managed to get in AND out. Getting back out was harder than getting in. It feels so good to have a gas stove again. It was hard to find the one I wanted that fit my budget, though. I wanted gas, because I love cooking on gas ranges - it's easier to adjust the temp to simmer when you want to simmer or sautee without burning your dish. Also, I like to use a lot of cast iron and most of the ranges had small burner grating. But I finally found one that had heavy cast iron grates and the burner in the middle that I wanted for the griddle or oval dutch oven that I have.

The fridge is just a basic white freezer-on-top refrigerator. The 21cf one cost a bit more than the 18cf, but the operating cost per year was significantly less for the larger one, so I went with the larger one. In a few years, the energy savings should pay the difference for the upgrade.

Today's plans include moving Sallie's old glass door cabinet to the porch so I can refinish it. We are also laying the first course of rocks for a retaining wall in front of the house to help with erosion around the porch piers. We also need to move all the stuff from the living room into the kitchen so Eric (our contractor and neighbor) can begin working on the paint in there.

On thing is sure. I will never run out of things to keep me busy, and I should never get bored with life. This place is a lifetime project, and it's a good thing the work is something that makes me feel a sense of accomplisment and satisfaction. Without that, it is punishing to live out here. I guess that is how my husband looked at it and one of the reasons he left; punishing and enslaving. The experience here is quite the opposite for me; rewarding and liberating. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

Okay, I didn't get the pictures taken or posted last night. When I got home from work, the kids informed me that the computer was crashed - again - so I scratched the whole thing. This morning, though, I got a couple pics, and even though the quality is bad (not enough light) you can see the colors on the wall and the floors. The tiles are rough on the edges, so it's not clean lines, but that is the way I wanted them to look. I'm still mopping grout haze from them; hopefully I'll be able to finish that up and get them sealed this weekend. You can also see my messy kitchen workstations, lol. I'm taking the old cabinets from the old house and refinishing them. They're good quality cabinets, just been painted over one too many times, and the hardware is outdated on them... in other words, I think they're ugly. But a little time and attention will fix that. To buy new ones is just too expensive to justify right now. Today, I'll look at some curtains during lunch.

Just updating...

Tonight I will try to get some pictures posted. So, the kitchen floors are finished and they look great. Wednesday my stove and refrigerator should be delivered. I hope the truck can make it all the way up to the house with them - the driveway is in pretty bad shape. The bathroom floors are underway, and the utility room will be next. Then onward to the living room...and it's a big job with lots to be done. After that, I'll be focused on getting the old house torn down.

Last week I had to make a run to West Virginia for work, so I was afraid I wouldn't get home in time this weekend to get much done with the house. But I did get the kitchen moved back into the kitchen. Everything has been in the living room while the floors in the kitchen were getting done, but the refrigerator would not have been able to make it through the maze with it like it was, so my priority was clearing the path.

On my way down the county road as I headed out to W.Va, I spied a Joe-pye weed growing. It's the first one I've seen out here, so that was interesting to see. The entire WV trip was so fast, I didn't get any scenic pictures.

Tonight I'll post a pic of the kitchen.

Riding Comanche

I didn't take pictures again, but this weekend was an exceptionally good one for me. First, I finished painting the kitchen (with some help from a friend). Then I finally found a stove I liked and bought the refrigerator and the stove yesterday; they're scheduled to be delivered next week. To cap off all the good progress of the weekend, I finally 'officially' rode my horse Comanche for the first time. We've sat on him a good bit, and he has taken voluntary steps around with someone on him, but this is the first actual ride and I'm so thrilled to be the one to actually have gotten to do it. Gab rode Snippy and I rode Comanche, with his new bit and bridle. Rode bareback because I don't have a saddle for him, yet, for one, but also because the ride was spontaneous. We were worming, cleaning hooves, and brushing them and then decided to just go for it. We did great, considering that I have never really ridden bareback and considering that he has never really ridden anyone with a goal in mind. I didn't hit the ground, at least - and that's saying a lot! We went past the burn pit, down through the creek, up to the field on the other side. Rode around on that side for a little while and then headed back to the house, me begging the whole time for Gab not to break into a run with Snip because I knew there was no way I could handle anything more than a fast walk with Comanche yet. He goes downhill really really fast, so it was scary, but he stayed upright and I stayed on. He just turned three in May and I was waiting until he plateaued a little on his growth before beginning his (and my) training. It was exhilarating.

Moonshadows

I didn't get around to taking a picture, but for the last few nights the moon has been shining so bright that it was making good moonshadows everywhere. I have a hard time sleeping during full moon to begin with, but with it so bright that it lights up my room it's even harder. But it was beautiful and I got to enjoy sitting on the balcony in the chilly moonlight, listening to whippoorwills and frogs.

Kitchen Floors

Thought I'd post a pic of the new floors going down in the kitchen. I've always wanted terra cotta tiles and can't wait to see how this all turns out. So far it looks really nice. The walls have the first coat of paint but they'll need a second. This weekend it looks like I'll be painting, again. Next week I should be able to get some appliances, so I can cook some real food for a change - can't wait.

I thought you might like to see how Comanche has grown - and Gab and Snip, lol. When Garrison gets back from visiting his dad in Louisiana, I'll post a new one of him, too. The next time Zack fires up the barbeque, I'll get a pic of him. He's a great grill cook; coincidence that his last name is Cook?

The white duck is 'Duckie' and he was very lonely when he was a hatchling. So I went to the feed store to get him a friend, but they would only sell me at least 6 birds. The ducks were expensive, so I only bought a couple of those and a few chicks. He adopted the chick babies like they were his very own kin, even encouraging them to go swimming. Unfortunately, one drowned, but he still has 2 chick babies and 2 duck babies. They all sleep and forage together. The chicks don't know they're chickens, but one of them is beginning to get the inkling that he may belong over in the other crowd. He's started to hang out with them more than his duck family lately. The other one still has no clue.

The black cat is Lynx. He's a very lazy tom cat who never needs to defend himself from other toms because the dogs protect him, too. He's fooled Badger, the great pyr into thinking he's one of his wards. Sometimes he sleeps on top of Badger and massages his head. I guess the old adage 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' holds true even between cats and dogs.

The Calling and Random Thoughts

I've been having a lot of random thoughts lately.

Today I've been thinking a lot about our calling. Each of us has a purpose in life, but most people have no clue what theirs might be. It's not something you can learn from a book, and it's not something someone can point out and say 'here, this is your purpose'. No, it's an elusive thing that each individual must learn for themselves. And then there's the tricky thing; no one can tell you if you're right or not when you think you've got it all figured out. God does seem to give us signs, but then those same signs can be interpreted differently by different people, so unless you trust your instinct, it's hard to know if you're right in the interpretation of your sign. If you trusted your instinct to begin with, you wouldn't be asking for signs, though, right?

Some people never hear the calling. They go right through life and never agonize over these issues. Those people probably think the other people, the people dedicated to finding or following their calling are nuts. Or selfish. Or weird. Or a mix of all three.

Some people hear the calling and ignore it, or don't recognize it for what it is. They think somehow they'll find the cure for their nagging unhappiness and dissatisfaction in life. Some people smother the calling with alcohol or drugs, or other forms of addiction.

Some people hear the calling clearly and know that if they do not respond, they will go insane or die.

And now for the really random and cryptic thought I came up with. Anyone who's ever raised a wild animal and then released it will understand. A wildling can never return to captivity once freedom has been tasted.

Which leads to the last thought for the this blog entry, which is derived from the above random thought and combined with the previous thoughts. The calling, once heard, and acknowledged, cannot be denied. I think someone said that before, but I can't find a source for the quote. If you know it, please let me know so I can properly credit the author.

Rain, rain, go away...

It's been raining pretty much since yesterday. Our rain gauge is broken, so I'm not sure how many inches exactly, but it was enough to send the water over the bridge by a foot or more, and enough to move a small boulder into the branch where the county road crosses the creek so that we can't get past, and enough to position a sand bar in the middle of where the branch crosses our driveway so that the car can't get past. Now, if the rain would just stop, Zack could get out there with the tractor and see about moving some of those obstacles, but the water over the bridge is going to be a problem for a couple more days from the look of the forecast. They are predicting still yet a couple more inches through tomorrow.

Yesterday before the rain got good and started, my new neighbor, Carla, came to help me with a little rock project. We stacked rocks in front of the pier on my porch that is washing out. Hopefully, this will catch any silt and small rocks passing it as it washes down toward the creek and build up underneath the pier again. Garrison made some really nice rock steps going up the hill on the other side of the house, but it hasn't stopped raining long enough for me to get out there and take a picture yet since he finished.

The new picture on my title of this blog is a pawpaw flower, with a baby pawpaw in tow. Every year lately, there haven't been much fruit. But this year looks promising, so maybe I can get a few before the coons and possums do.

Sounds of Spring

I know spring is here now because last night I heard the first whippoorwill. Since we've moved here I've worn earplugs to sleep because they are so loud it keeps me up all night. But the good thing is that in my new house, I can't hear them. Now I have to sit on the porch to listen and then I can go inside to blissful quiet.

More Pictures from the Road

Here's some more pictures from today. I left York around 8:30 a.m., then drove to the outskirts of Philadelphia to a laboratory in a suburb named King of Prussia. Then back the way I came, all the way past York again, but on a different highway than the first time. Now I'm in Waynesboro, VA.

This picture is from downtown Hershey, I think. I can't remember exactly where it was, but I think it was Hershey.


Notice the lamp posts in this one - they look like giant Hershey Kisses.


If you are ever traveling and need your hotel to be your office space, Residence Inn is an awesome hotel - or at least the one in Waynesboro, VA is. My room is complete with full-sized refrigerator and kitchen. It is large enough to be an apartment for one or two people. Too bad I will only be here overnight, but I can get my laundry done and catch up on my writing and plot my course for tomorrow while I'm here. This has been, by far, the nicest hotel I've visited since starting the consulting work.

I'll try to check in and post more pictures tomorrow night.

Traveling Lab Tech

Darn, this one didn't come out too good. It's hard to take good photos while driving! No one seems to think the speed limit signs mean anything here, by the way. I was trying to take a picture of the farm and the church steeple.

Those big things over there are windmills. Only a few were turning, and not very fast. It must take a good breeze to turn those giant blades. Sorry, it too was taken while driving down the road. Maybe I'll find some better scenes tomorrow and hopefully they will happen in places where I can actually pull over and take time to get good shots.

Since yesterday afternoon I've been in York, PA. All of the downtown streets in most of the cities/towns or boroughs/townships look similar to this. The houses and shops are right on the street and you have to be so careful driving through to make sure you don't hit someone crossing the street or opening car doors. I've managed to get lost a few times, but I always seem to end up where I'm trying to go in the end. And I always get to see interesting sites along the way. There was no where to park and just get out to take pictures, though, so all of them have been taken from inside the truck while stopped at red lights.

Tomorrow it's onward to King of Prussia to drop off the first set of samples at the lab over there. What a name for a town! After that I'll be heading for WV, but I'll stop over in Waynesboro, VA to sleep. Beckley and MacArthur are the WV stops and then onward to Kingsport, TN where I'll stay overnight again before heading out for Knoxville.

Traveling Lab Tech

In a few minutes I should have some pictures to upload. And I'll add more to this post...

Tenacity, Perserverence, and Persistence. These are my three favorite words. Recently I noticed a dandelion growing in the concrete; she embodied the word 'Tenacity' perfectly. It was how she maintained her precious hold on the tiny speck of dirt that sustained her form. Perserverence and Persistence are related and very similar to Tenacity; the meanings are difficult to separate from each other and there is overlap between them. I would say that Tenacity is the overall circle with Perserverance and Persistence being smaller overlapping circles inside. You know the circles I'm talking about, right? The ones we learned about in grade school to define sets and subsets? Some things might be inside one circle, but not the other and all of the items in each circle are within the larger circle? Well I know I haven't defined any of the words, but just wanted to spark your mind to see if you think of these words like I do. There is much going on in my life right now and I've learned that some people have tenacity and some don't - much like tender plants and hardy ones. I am a dandelion.

Garden Fun

Garrison and I started on the garden last weekend. I uncovered the row that had been covered for the most part with cardboard and newspaper, and it was by far the best soil in the area. It looks awful messy, but sure seems to draw the earthworms from far and wide. I will continue to use newspaper and cardboard in spite of how it looks. You can see my row in the picture below - it's the messy one, haha. It was nice to get my hands in the dirt again after such a long and cold winter. I'm so ready for spring! The bluebirds are out looking for nesting sites, so I need to get our box hung very quickly now. Bluebirds are great garden companions; they eat many of the bugs that like to eat our garden.

Garrison planted strawberries and green onions and I planted yellow onions and lettuce, and asparagus. He tilled up all the rows on the right. Later, we'll plant potatoes in some of those. In the dark row to the front, we transplanted asparagus that was located way in the back, where they weren't getting enough light. That's where the strawberries were too. I moved the raspberries, which were getting too much sun, to the spot where the strawberries were.

Gary and Lee got the septic tanks installed. We have black water going into the one on the right and the effluent from that will lead to the graywater tank on the left. We'll have to make adjustments to our system based on lab results later when they get full enough to have an effluent. Eventually I'd like some ferrocement ponds below the effluent pipe where the water will cascade from one to the next, with plants efficient at nitrate and phosphate uptake, like cattails and other water plants.

Garrison was the lucky one who got to get inside to hold the pipes in place while they leveled and glued or attached (I'm not sure what exactly they were doing to them, but I know they were after a certain angle from one end to the other) from the outside.

Here's a picture from Garrison to demonstrate to all the young boys out there that you should NOT take a screw driver to a full spray-paint can. We're still trying to get the paint out of his hair.

Ginseng Workshop

March 14 2009
Choosing the site

Even though the season is almost past for planting seeds, now is a good time of year to get a good look at potential ginseng planting sites on your property to get ready for next year. Or you can transplant seedlings from now to the end of spring. Join me next weekend for a walk-about and site inspection of my ginseng plots. We may even find some very early spring plants out - at least there will be rattlesnake fern and putty root orchids around, and possibly we'll see the bloodroot buds and ginseng furls.

$25/ea, about 4 or 5 hours, Saturday Mar 14. Please RSVP by email.

Please note: This hike is rated 'challenging' or 'difficult'.

The next herb walk is scheduled for April 4.



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contact:
roxann @ ancientearthwisdom.com

Pics from recent ice storm

I finally got the pictures from my cell phone put on the computer. There were only 2 that were clear enough to post. The first is on the county road going up past Doug and Don's toward Bernie Mountain Rd. In the picture it looks like little more than a logging road. It is normally a fairly decent road, wide enough for the school bus, at least. The second is looking out toward the east from our porch. The camera didn't capture the splendor of the light coming through the ice; that was something incredibly beautiful to see.

It Hailed Today

Gary went to get Garrison from school and they looked off up the river valley and wondered if someone was burning off woods on ground in distance or if it was raining. We went a little further and it started sleeting and hailing.

Whew! I'm glad they weren't in my car.

Louisiana Visit

Almost since the power was restored, I've been on a business trip down to Louisiana. It's incredible how much difference in climate there is between here and there. Temps were in the upper 60's there and barely above freezing here. But overcast and rainy at both spots.

It was nice to visit friends and family for a little while, but time was much too short for more than drop-in-and-say-hello kinds of visits. I put a few more personal miles than I intended on the company truck, so I hope I don't have to pay them back or otherwise be punished for them. And the trip has lasted a few days longer than I originally planned. I thought I'd be home by Saturday night, and here it is Monday night and I'm back in Shreveport. Traveling for work is fun, but it's getting kind of stressful knowing that my work back at the lab is just piling up because no one else is trained to do it yet. Not only that, I am scheduled to be off this Friday and I hope they didn't forget that, because I cannot reschedule that day off. Someone is coming down for an herb-walk/ginseng-workshop and it's been planned for a while now.

I tried to take some pictures today while on the road, but unless I am very very good, it's unlikely that any of them will be good. It's hard to photograph things out the window of the truck while going 70mph down the interstate, haha. We'll see. When I download them if anything is even remotely recognizeable (not sure about that spelling, but spell-check didn't underline it), I'll post it.

Lights On

The power was restored Tuesday night. I have to admit that it is nice to have lights at the flip of a switch, and it is good to have the internet back. Oh, and it's also nice to wash clothes at home rather than the laundromat.

However. I think I could survive just fine if it never came back on and that gives me a sense of security of sorts.

The sheetrock crew should be here tomorrow to start on the job and the septic tanks should be delivered tomorrow. I can't wait to get moved in.

Quick Update

We still have no power at home. Yesterday (Friday) was the first time we were able to go to town and restock provisions like lamp oil, milk and bread. After getting a few supplies, Gary and the Garrison rode back home from Kingston with our neighbor and I went on to work. The little car might be able to make it up Snotgrass hill (maybe it's 'snodgrass', but it sounds like they call it 'snotgrass', lol), but yesterday it would not have. So I stayed overnight at work and caught up on all that I've gotten behind on and am still doing that today. Maybe tonight I'll try to get home, but I can stay another night if needed.

Woodstove cooking has been the highlight of my week without power. I learned how to cook full breakfast (eggs, sausage and biscuits) on the stovetop. Also made cornbread, chicken pot-pie, and a delicious deer soup. So we definitely have not been going hungry, haha. Extra lamp oil would have been nice so we could have had more light. Otherwise, we've been good out there hunkered down in the ice.

Zack got out this morning to go to work. He called while on the road to say that Highway 21 north of Kingston appears to have no standing trees left. The path cleared through was only wide enough for one car and all the trees have been pushed off to the sides. Many are still without power and it might be a week or more before we get it back because there are so many downed power lines and trees. I imagine a lot of fencing repairs will be in order for all the farmers out this way, as well. In my immediate community, there has been no injuries or losses that I know about.

So, until we get power back at home, this might be the last post for a little longer. When power comes back, I'll also have a couple pictures to upload from my phone camera. Charged camera batteries is another good thing to have ready for long power outages and I wish I'd have remembered to bring my charger and camera with me to work.

Good luck and stay warm to all you others out there without power and stuck at home.

Ice Storm

We are in the midst of a serious ice storm. Full grown trees are snapping and falling outside. This morning I actually witnessed one falling; usually I hear them and can't tell where they are, but this one was across the creek on the mountainside opposite and I had a clear view. It was so loud, the dogs were barking and the horses were alarmed. I hope none of the big trees on our side fall. Lots of limbs have been snapping under the weight. I moved the horses over to the paddock because our power feed line passes right over the stall and the tree over it is drooping precariously. I'm afraid if the limb breaks it will snap off the feed line to the house and electrocute them in the stall. Or me when I try to help them. Tonight the temps are going to be low enough to freeze all the slush and water solid and we won't be able to get out again tomorrow. Right now temps are just above freezing so the rain is puddling over all the ice already on the ground but it doesn't seem to be melting it off the trees and powerlines, only causing longer icicles to grow everywhere. Power went out shortly after I got up this morning, but now it's back on so I'm trying to get all my email checked and my news read before it goes out again.

This was not a good week for me to have to miss days at work. We've got a huge new project that will take me down to Louisiana next week and I needed this week to prepare. Hopefully I can get out if not tomorrow, then by Thursday or Friday. I'll have to spend all weekend at the lab catching up again before I can leave for the trip.

Blizzard!

Last night on my way home from work, a few snow flurries wiggled down from the dark skies. No snow or precip of any sort was in the forecast, so I didn't think much about it. This morning it looked like a blizzard on our way to school and work - beautiful powdery snow, and large flakes! We left Snippy in the stall with hay and water and Comanche is on the outside because they fight too much if left together in close quarters for too long. Comanche handles the cold better anyway. The kids were disappointed that school was not called off, but excited at the pretty snow. We haven't had a good snow yet this year.

Here are some more pictures from today's walk, which this time was with Garrison. This is a strange rock that he found down the road at his friend's house: This is another strange rock that Zack found outside at our house. It's rounded and looks a lot like a turtle sans legs and head.

The picture really doesn't show this one well, but it looks like fossilized coral or sponge. The entire rock is full of holes on all sides.

And this one has an imprint that resembles a brain. It is probably a shell or something, but we like to imagine it is a brain fossil, lol.

Here's Garrison, eating an apple on our hike with Bobbie Sue beside him. Bobbie Sue is the dog we got from the pound as a puppy to be Badger's companion. She has turned out to be a great dog, after a rocky start. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stop her from chasing the chickens, but she learned and is now a very good guardian to them. I never could understand why she always got in front of the things she tried to herd, as she has a very strong herding instinct. Then I learned that herd dogs come in two types: headers and heelers - she must be a header. She escorts all the cars up and down the driveway, and harrasses the horses from the front of them constantly, trying to make them chase her.

Here is our collection of arrowheads and flint pieces that we've found around the place:

And this fossil looks like either fish scales or the bark of a tropical palm-type tree.

The cave entrance. It's very difficult to access:

So those are the photos from today's walkabout. Hope you enjoy them!

Today's Fun

The first thing we did today was work on the fence. It was steep and hard to do, so we only got a short distance finished, but what we did looks good. For now, the horses will have to stay in the paddock because it's not ready for them yet. Here's a pic of Gabrielle in rare form. She helped me do the hard part today. I bought a fence stretcher, and I can't believe it took me so long to find out about this handy tool.After we wore ourselves out on fencing, we took the horses out for some exercise. They enjoyed themselves and ran from one end of the field to the other, back and forth. Gab is riding Snippy and that's Comanche beside him. This summer, I'll teach Comanche to ride me around. He'll be three in May. He lets me sit on him, but he doesn't know what to do. He likes wearing his saddle and bridle.

Comanche kicking up his heels:
Well, the horses ran off to the other end and didn't come back, so we went off in search of them. They have to go back in the paddock before tonight. We made it over to the cedar grove. The cedar grove seems to be a bone yard, where cows and deer go to die. Zack found a nice 8-point deer skull and skeleton. There are lots of cow skeletons lying around out there among the moss. There are also a few portions of rock walls lost in that area. You can't get to them hardly in summer because the rose and briar brambles are so thick. Here's Gab and Badger. The dogs always go with us on our hikes. I forgot to get a picture of it, but there's lots of bear poop lying around, too, full of persimmon seeds.

Some plants were out to see, and today I saw a sort of grape fern that I've never seen before. It's frilly, very pretty. I think it's red because the frost touched it. But it might just be that color. I don't know exactly what it is, but I'll be looking it up. If you recognize it, send me an email or comment so I'll have a clue.

I didn't know what this pretty little plant was, but Bev let me know that it is a Downy Rattlensake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens), and that it is an orchid, not really a plantain at all. Later in the season I'll go check on it to see if it has flowers and how big it has grown.

Another partial wall:

Another red grape fern, this one more like the others I've seen, with less frill:

And we found a little waterfall, just right for fairies:

Badger on another rock wall, with a cow skull on it:

We made our way down to the gate and there the horses were, wishing someone had left it open.


Here's a bear claw rock: