Part II

Day Tripping part I

Although these pictures appear totally unrelated, they were taken during an afternoon outing. We drove about an hour to a small , rural town. Much smaller and vastly more rural than our own.

In just one day we encountered such a diversity of life it was amazing. I can't do it justice in just one posting so here is part I:





pic 1- Dante' and Rex by the river. Note the greenness of the water.

pic 2- An utterly gorgeous bloodhound sits watchfully on his porch.

pic 3- Max on the 'upside' of a teeter-totter.

It's a dog's life

Last Sunday we took Rex for a walk in a huge field behind the church. He even found a playmate while there. The cute little Boston Terrier in the pics is named "Omar".

You just can't make this stuff up

Here is a play-by-play of a typical day in our life. It really should be titled, "The Good , The Bad , and The Ugly, (with yours truly playing the part of ugly) but that has already been taken. Read on. You'll laugh, you'll cry, it will become a part of you. Grinning- Ellen.





AM- * emptied the rabbit cages, lined the bottoms with newspaper, and filled both food and water containers. Shoot! We forgot to get more straw for bedding. It will have to be gotten today.

* Fed the dog and the cats. Rex generally fulfills most of his caloric requirements eating the neighbor's cat food. Aphrodite eats the dog's food. What's up with that?

* Friends come over to knit, crochet and talk. We exchange patterns, ideas and life stories.

PM* Dante', Max, Rex and friends pile into the van. We go to the community garden to tend
our plot. Surprise! Over the weekend potatoes have come up. We are jubilant. The
peas, radishes and green onions are tall. What ever happened to the beans, we
wonder? Organic slug repellent is sprinkled, stray calendula from last year's garden is
ruthlessly yanked.

* Rex ate a chocolate Easter bunny we didn't watch carefully in the car. We panic and
take him to the vet. She smiles and says he will be fine as he didn't eat enough to
make him sick.

* Next we head for the stable where we board our horse. The dog
comes along and usually causes trouble by trying to chase a horse. Max searches out
puddles and gets soaked-again.

* The goats need more grain and the girls want to see the cute guy at Milk-E-Way feed
and seed. So we drive 12 miles and buy the grain. The cute guy isn't there today,
which leaves the girls feeling rather deflated.

* We grab sandwiches and sodas at the McKay's. Full bellies make for good spirits.

* At Melissa's house we drop off the goat grain. Our pregnant girls are really fattening
up. Dante' takes some of the goats straw home for the rabbits.

* Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. We drop off Dante's friends and go back to our
house. The dog goes into his kennel, Max goes into the bathtub, and I go into the
kitchen to clean up and start dinner.

* Our cat, Aphrodite has brought a mouse inside. It promptly gets away from her and
is lost somewhere in the living room. Is that it? Did I see it? Paxson moves
furniture, Dante' shrieks, and Aphrodite grows bored. She leaves without retrieving
her prize. This would never have happened in her younger days. I realize she is
beginning to grow old.

* Phil comes home, dinner is over, we all scatter to the far ends of the house. William
helps with dishes. I fold laundry. Phil is working on taxes.

* Bedtime ritual for Max: Brush teeth, wash face, hands and feet. Read a bedtime
story before prayers. I steal a few moments of computer time before doing it all
over again.
Believe it or not, today was relatively quiet.(minus the dog drama) That is our life. It sounds crazy sometimes but it's real. You just can't make this stuff up.

Goodnight and God Bless,
Ellen

ps- I still don't know where the mouse is.

Calendula From Hell

Last weekend I put Dante' and her friends Mariah and Danica to work. They planted most of the seeds that are set aside for the front yard garden.

I started by planting 6 asparagus plants. These things come back every year so that space is permanently occupied. Then the girls planted rows of salad mix, broccoli, soy beans, peas, cabbage, etc.

Each row was labeled with permanent marker on a wooden stake. Now for the challenges:

1. How to keep the cats from digging up the garden and pooping in it.
2. How to keep the dog from digging up the cat poop and eating it.

UGH!!

Today I went outside to admire the garden (such as it is at this point) and discovered soy beans and peas just sitting on top of the soil. What happened??? Probably a combination of two things.
1. Not planted deep enough.
2. watered too much.

At the community garden, plants are popping up everywhere. The problem is, I can't tell what the heck any of it is. Let me explain:

Last year, someone made use of their plot by haphazardly emptying TONS of Calendula seeds into the dirt and then never coming back. This resulted in hundreds of flowers that went to seed last fall. I remember thinking " I pity the poor guy that is assigned that bed next spring!".

Needless to say, that person was ME!! There are not words for how "less than thrilled" I am. Until all the plants are bigger, I have no cotton-pickin clue what is calendula and what isn't. And How many times a week am I gonna be pulling those blasted things out of the garden?

If I find out who planted those things last year, I may drive by their yard and empty packets of calendula seed.


Plotting,
-E

So what now, Ellen?

I'm so glad you asked! We've planted lots of herb and veggie seeds in little peat pots.

I've also included pics of our homemade fire starter, as mentioned in a previous post. It looks just like my cat's hairballs. Maybe that is why Rex is sniffing it. mmmm, yummy.


Dante' made a sweet and cute cake for Valentine's day so I had to put up a pic of it.

And the pic of Max is just because he's cute.

We are loving life here in Oregon. Hope you all are happy too, no matter where you live.

blessings,
Ellen

Winter Blues

Poor February, it has always been my most hated month. (August comes second.) My prejudice comes with good reason. The holidays are over, the cold weather is no longer novel and on the Oregon coast it's all about the rain.

There are no more mushrooms to pick, it's too cold to go fishing and crabbing. Ordering seeds and garden planning for spring brings just a little satisfaction.

And boy, does cold weather up the crazy quotient at my house! Max, in lieu of constructive outdoor time, cruises the upstairs looking for ways to make me scream "knock it off", "put that down!" or "Be quiet".

Every time the UPS truck rounds our corner, Dante' and I are pressed against the living room window like hungry homeless children. When the package turns out to be for the lady across the street, we turn ugly.

Even the dog hates February. Rex is so disgusted with only being allowed outside to pee, he has taken to running away. The next door neighbor keeps a fabulous smorgasbord of cat food on her front porch. Whenever I can't find Rex, he's there.

Only my 16 yr. old, William seems to handle this weather well. He sleeps. When he's not in school, he sleeps.

I'm going to bed. Wake me up when the temp rises above 65.
-EJ