Fall

It has cooled off a lot, and it's looking like fall.  The main trees in my yard are Water Oaks and Yellow Poplars.  I knew the poplars turned yellow and they're one of the first trees to drop leaves.  They turn, and fall right away.  They're adding bright color to the ground in the backyard.  My last experience with oaks were the huge ones I had in Michigan.  They had big leaves that were a real chore to deal with in the fall.  I think I like Water Oaks.  Their leaves are small which means they'll decompose faster, and won't lay a thick carpet of suffocating leaf litter.  I don't plan to deal with them at all.  Since there's no lawn in back, they will contribute to the garden where they fall.

I was also pleased to see that the Water Oaks are colorful in the fall.  Most oaks turn shades of brown.  These are turning yellow first, then darken to an attractive shade of pinkish gold.  Very pretty while all the shades are on the tree at once.

Got all the big (as in EXPENSIVE) projects done outside.  At least for now.  There's a few other things I'd like to do, but they're not a priority, and can wait to see when the budget allows.  I'll be concentrating on the gardens from now on.  Well, except for the inside projects.  Still lots of those, but most are just a matter of getting it done, and not any more expense.

I spent some imaginary money at Home Depot the other day.  I just cruised in to see what they had for fall planting.  Yep, I want that.  And that.  And some of those.  I managed to walk out without buying anything, but I'll be back soon.

In Wildthings News:

I finally put out bird feeders over a month ago, but no one noticed.  The Carolina Wrens dropped in, but I think they were only interested in what they could find lurking in the deck flower garden in the same area.

This female cardinal was the first to notice this week.

Her mate was right behind her.

I'm sure I'll see more action now that birds are coming.  There was a House Finch the other day.  As migratory birds begin passing through or coming back, it should get quite busy.

I saw Pileated Woodpeckers for the first time when I moved to Tennessee 10 years ago.  The forest around me was full of them.  I was surprised and pleased to see them in my backyard here.  This neighborhood is surrounded by extensive forest land, and there's a lot of natural habitat all through the 'hood.  Apparently enough to attract the Pileateds.  I've been trying for 10 years to capture one on film, but they never came close enough.  

I finally got these this week!  Not the greatest shots due to full zoom through window screen, but I got him.  That was exciting.  The red spot in the chin stripe marks this one as male.

I'm enjoying the cooler weather.  The AC has been turned off for about a month, and I like that.  I'd rather have windows open, and the electric bill is happier.  I hope it will be a while before I need heat, but I might have to start running it at night.  Once it goes below 55, it's a bit too cool in the house for me.

The Wildthings list has been updated.

tnt

Natureschild

Light Play

One of the many things I like about this house is the natural light.  Every room has a large window, and most have 2.  I began to notice the interesting silhouettes on the walls.  On the east side of the house is the thick stand of trees.  The rising sun shines through them and casts animated shadows on the floor or wall.  The setting sun also gets through the trees on that side enough to add living art.

I've always loved suncatchers, and in my old house, I had several windows on the south side.  I took advantage with crystal rainbow makers in those windows.  One of my crafts is beadery of a sort.  I refurbish windchimes and suncatchers with glass beads and crystals.  I had quite a collection.  Alas, I don't have a good south window in this house.  The only one in the main areas is the living room, but it's under the porch roof and doesn't catch any light that way.  So I have to accept that my suncatchers will only be effective in a limited way.  I'll probably refurbish my rainbow makers again to get more crystals in one piece for the few windows that can do them justice.

This is the nook off the kitchen.  I thought for a long time about what to do with it.  It's not very big...about 9' x 6'.  I tried the table in here, but it took up more room than I wanted to give up, and I hardly ever use the table anyways.  I finally decided that this would be my crafting corner.  Then I realized I spent a lot of time looking at it.  My "throne" is at the end of the island where I drink coffee or wine depending on time of day, and just gaze out the doors at the trees where I'll see wildlife, and the deck garden.  I decided to make the room part of the view.

As you can see, there's a lot of light play here.  The doors face east and the window is north, so the light isn't intense or all day, but it's bright enough for most houseplants.  To maximize the light, I installed the mirror tile "window" on the right behind the plant rack.  Not only does it gather more light for the room, it reflects the view outside the door.  The houseplants turn the room into an extension of the outside.  So now I'm calling this "The Garden Room".  Next project will be to paint it.  It's going to be blue as will the kitchen.

One thing that became a special sight was the gazing balls.  I have 2 glass mosaic balls that I found at the discount store (Big Lots).  They were originally intended for the garden, but then I discovered the glass mosaic pattern reflects the sun when it's in just the right position, and shoots sparkles all over the room.  You can see a hint of that in the photo.  So those balls are permanent fixtures in front of windows.

If you have windows that give you interesting light, consider using that light in a creative way.

tnt
Natureschild

May

Not much to report.  Got a guy coming this week to clear out the backyard.  Before and after photos when that's done.  As soon as that's under control, I'll be ordering fence.  Whipper will appreciate that.  Then I can begin to think about gardening back there.  Ok, I've been thinking about it all along, but until it's cleared out and fenced, I can't really visualize what I have to work with.

At the top of the left-hand menu, you'll find a couple new pages.  One for Garden Tips, the other for nature identifications.  I'll be updating those pages as needed.

Weather has been wonderful.  Been getting some daily gentle thunder-dunders, but not a lot of storm or rain from them.

tnt
Natureschild

I am here!

I consider the official move-in date to be Feb. 25.  That's the day I handed over the keys to my old place, and the last day I needed drive back to TN.  Just had a few things left to pack into the car for the final drive home.  HOME.  I'm still adjusting to that.  It's just now starting to feel like home, even though everything is in piles all over the house.  Some needful things it's taken a while to find in the chaos.  I tried to pack essentials last so it'd be fresh in my memory where they went, but some things still went invisible.

Whipper has had a bit of a rough time adjusting to the move, but he's getting there.  When the delayed closing on this place and the really crappy snowy weather in both TN and SC set my time frames back, I was still running back and forth after the furniture came down on the moving van.  Whip takes up quite a bit of space in the car which meant less room for stuff.  Couldn't leave him in the house for 6-8 hours a day while I ran back and forth.  Couldn't leave him tied out either.  My good friend Alan saved the day by taking Whip in until I was done moving.  He raises show dogs, and often takes in houseguests of the 4-legged kind, and I knew Whipper would be a good houseguest.

The first night here, Whipper wasn't comfortable.  Long drive, strange place, paths between piles of stuff, tie-out instead of fence, and then a thunderstorm.  He stressed in a very messy way.  The good thing is that even though he's been an outside dog all his life, he tried to tell me he had to go, but I wasn't quick enough for a bout of diarrhea.  He also went off-feed which didn't help.  He drank a bit of water and that was it.

Alan had medication for the diarrhea, and got him eating.  He learned about potty times with Alan's schedule.  His stay ended up being a week instead of the 4 days I thought it would be, but Alan was the best about that.  I know his time there was much better for him than what he would have endured while I was still moving.  So now we are here, and he went off feed again the first day, but was eating normally by the 3rd day.  I tried to get him on a potty schedule but we aren't getting it.  Now I put him on the tether twice a day for a while.  Eventually, I'll just see if he tells me he has to go out.  Housebreaking has been no problem so far.  His fastidious nature, and apparently being able to hold it for a long time took care of that.  Can't wait to get the fence up.  I think part of the problem is the tie-out.  He's not used to it.  I have been crating him at night so he doesn't get the notion to wake me up in the middle of the night.  My own sleep habits are too iffy for that.  Happily, even though he's never been crated, he took right to it.  He goes in on his own whenever he wants, and actually spends quite a bit of time in it.  It's about the same size as the dog house he had in TN, so I guess it feels like his house.  I only latch it at night or when I leave the house.  Works for me.

The weather has been cool here (still warmer than TN!), which is good so I can do what I need in the house.  Gonna have to deal with the yard very soon.  I'll get some before pictures before I do anything else.  I'm going to hire someone to clean out the underbrush.  The back and one side are overgrown with privet and brambles (just can't get away from those damn brambles!).  They gotta go, there's currently very little usable backyard space.  This is also necessary before I can fence.  The brush has eaten up the property lines and then some where the fence will go.

I haven't got bird feeders up yet, but so far I've seen Blue Jays, Titmice, Robins, a woodpecker I haven't ID'd yet, and gray squirrels.  Lots of squirrels.  Guess I'll be chasing them off the feeders.  Haven't had to do that since MI.  The trees are oaks and pines.  Not sure what kind yet.  That's the kind of habitat squirrels and the birds I've seen like.  Many of the trees have ivy (it's evergreen) growing up their trunks.  I don't mind ivy, it looks cool.  I will want to control it to some extent.  Also some heavy vines on trees that are either Virginia creeper or poison ivy.  Please oh please be creeper.  Won't be able to tell until they leaf out.

There are some new landscape shrubs (still have tags) around the front of the house.  Haven't investigated what they all are.  Azaleas for sure, but I'll have to bend down and look at the others' tags.  Don't know if I'll leave that landscaping as it is, but I like azaleas, and they don't like to be moved, so I'll probably work with them.  A boring shrub would have to go.

Stay tuned as I transform the yard into the lawnless garden I envision.  I hope to hire a neighbor kid or somebody to cut the grass until that happens.  Don't even own a lawnmower and don't intend to.

tnt
Natureschild

Happy New Year

The move is happening!  Sold my place, found my new place, and it's all over but the final signatures.  Where am I going?  South Carolina, just outside Greenville.  I ended up with the house that's been at the top of my list all along.  If all goes well, I'll be moved in mid-February.  Almost finished with the packing, and then it will just be the essentials that I can't pack yet.

So there won't be much posted here for a while as I settle in.  Already planning my new garden...sorta.  Can't make real plans until I'm more familiar with the lay of the land, but I have a lot of ideas about what I want to do.

Whipper has been learning to be a full time house dog.  As you might know, he's always been an outside dog and nightwatchman.  Now that all the animals are gone, he can be retired, and he deserves it.  He just turned 10 years old, but doesn't look or act a day over 5 (except for sleeping a lot).  The extreme cold weather this month was the first factor in bringing him in.  I don't completely trust him to be fully housebroken, but he's always been so fastidious (he goes as far from the house as he can get, cleans his own feet, etc), I didn't think it would be difficult.  The 2nd bathroom has been serving as his "night crate".  It's not very big, and I knew he wouldn't do any damage in there.  I couldn't take a chance on him damaging the carpet before I turn it over to the new owners.  The new house has no carpet (yay!), and a small laundry room that can serve as a temporary training crate.  He'll be used to being confined to a small room at night when we get there.  He'll have to be tethered at the new place until I get the backyard fenced.  I'll be working on that as soon as I get down there.  Taking a dog outside to a tie-out for potty breaks is a pain in the arse.  And I'd like the fence in place by spring so I can begin gardening the space.

That wicked cold snap gave me my record low here.  I had never seen zero in 9 winters, but that day, it went down to -1 with a high of 17.  I'm really looking forward to slightly warmer winters in SC.

See you on the other side (of the mountains)
Natureschild

Dumb Bird

Not much else happening these days so here's more of the Bird saga.

Shortly after I took the last photos of Bird's attachment to Whipper, I was able to catch this scene.  Bird was on Whipper for quite a while.  This one looked a lot like mating behavior.  Bird was vigorously drubbing Whipper's shoulders, and it must have been a pleasant massage because Whipper barely twitched through the whole session. 

Still no reaction.  What a dog!  Since this, Bird has been concentrating his efforts to mount Whipper at the other end.  Apparently not as pleasant for Whipper as he won't allow it.

Bird was roosting in a tree whenever he could.  I tried several times to reprogram him to roost under the carport where he'd be dry and safe.  I lured him into the pen with birdseed, locked him in for the night, and then let him out in the morning to forage.  It seemed to be working for a few days, but when I tried letting him come and go as he pleased, he again went for the tree at dusk.

Now this particular tree is actually a large wild privet shrub just the other side of the back fence.  It held leaves longer than most other trees, but it's not a substantial tree and the branches are flimsy.  I didn't know how he was getting up there.  I always missed that small window at sunset when he went to roost.  The fence is 5 feet tall, I really didn't think he could fly over it.  I thought maybe he was using the tree in front of the fence to sort of climb up and then hop over to the fence and then to the privet.  I finally caught him in the act, and he was flying straight up off the ground to the top of the fence!  Well heck.  I threw up my hands in defeat.  Fine, if you want to be undomesticated, you're on your own.  I knew it was just a matter of time before he came down in the morning on the wrong side of the fence, it's happened before.  And being a dumb bird, he wouldn't remember that he could fly back in if he wanted.  If I wanted him in, and he seemed to want in, I had to spend some time and birdseed to lure him in the gate.

Then we got our first snow this week, and it was a pretty good one.  It started out as all day rain, and turned to snow overnight.  When the sun came up, it was a winter wonderland.  A good 3" or maybe a bit more.  It stuck to everything, and it got so cold that night, it was ice under the snow.  Not a good night for a chicken without a roof over his head.

I couldn't see him in that privet from the house.  I heard him crow once that morning before the sun came up,  so I knew he was there at that time.  I thought about how disorientated he would have been when he saw his surroundings after sun-up.  Nothing but white everywhere.  He was hatched this spring, he's never seen snow before.  He wouldn't have known where to go when he came off his roost.  The weight of the snow on those weak branches would have changed his roost, and maybe even dumped him on the ground.  After that one crow, I never heard or saw him all that day, and I was watching for him.  I figured he was history.  He would have been very cold and probably wet to the skin, and maybe not able to walk in the snow with those fluffy leggings of his.  He'd be easy pickings for a predator.  If I had seen him outside the fence, I would have gone back and lured him in, but I didn't.  As usual, I have afterthoughts.  As soon as I saw he could fly over the fence, I should have penned him up so I could clip his wings.  I felt really bad that I didn't think of it soon enough.  So with regrets, I bid Bird R.I.P.

Then there he was the next morning pacing along the fence!  Looking hale and hearty as ever!  Where was he all the day before???  I got him back in the gate, and penned him up that evening.  Just before full dark after he went into roosting stupor, I went out and clipped his wings.  Now he's leery of me again, but at least he went to roost in the pen on his own last night.  Maybe he realized that the carport was much more comfortable than a tree when there's cold wet stuff falling from the sky.  Or he realized he can't fly now.  Nah.  This is a chicken brain.  Doubt he can process that much.  We'll see how it goes.

Sure hope this cold snap breaks soon!  20's at night and barely 40's during the day even though it's been crystal clear and sunny since the snow.  Way too cold for me.  

tnt

Natureschild

November

After observing this scene several times since I posted it the last time, I've come to the conclusion that Bird just likes hanging with Whipper.  I wasn't quick enough with the camera yesterday.  Bird pecked the ground between Whipper's front and hind legs.  It was only when he pecked his body that Whipper reacted.  He swung his head at Bird with a show of teeth.  Don't blame him.  I've been pecked by chickens and it can really hurt.  That's as far as it went.  Bird left, and Whipper resumed his doze.

Bird is also warming up to me.  Especially since he learned I'm the keeper of the bird seed.  He forages under the bird feeder for dropped sunflower seeds.  I began giving some just to him, and now he's liking me a little better.  He's even coming up on the porch when I'm out there.  I picked up a bag of the cheap mixed/cracked corn bird seed I used to feed my flock of chickens.  Pickings are getting slimmer now that we've had a few good frosts, so I'll supplement his grazing with the bird seed.

The next shot is a rare capture.

This is an Eastern Towhee (previously called Rufus-Sided Towhee).  I see them now and then under feeders, and this is the first time I've caught it on film.  This was taken at full zoom through the window so not as clear as I'd wish.  They're secretive ground feeders, and prefer forest floor where they forage for seeds and insects.  They have a unique method that's very chicken-like.  They scratch and hop back to see what they uncovered.

Our first frost on 10/26 was actually first freeze.  It went down to 23F that night.  That and the lack of rain hurt the fall color show.  Usually a light frost or two gets leaves turning, but a freeze will kill them before that can happen.  The crape myrtles went immediately to dull brown dead leaves instead of the pretty pastels they usually give.  Then the first hard fall wind last weekend blew most of the leaves off everything.  So disappointing fall color around here this year.

tnt

Natureschild

Random Shots

So this happened.

I had gone into town, and had been back home for about an hour.  I heard the neighbor's dogs carrying on so I looked out to see what was up.  Saw these 2 horses in their front yard driving their dogs crazy.  The horses were not the least bit intimidated, and in fact, went after the dogs a little bit.  The horses even went right up to their front door and putzed around between their car and house.  That was when she came out and shooed them off.  I was waiting with my camera because I was pretty sure they would make their way to my place for a good shot.  They did.

They checked out all of my front yard before heading off down by the creek, and I assume back home wherever that was.  It seems to me I saw these in a field on my way into town, but don't remember exactly where.  Somewhere not far down in the neighborhood I think.  So this was a fun diversion.

This next scene I've been waiting to capture because I've seen it more than once.

This rooster is one of the 24 chicks my hens hatched this spring.  When I sold the flock, he was the one I could not catch.  The attempts to catch him must have traumatized him because he won't have anything to do with me.  He takes off if he even sees me in the window.  He has done just fine on his own.  I don't feed him, but I do maintain a water bowl for him.  He doesn't seem to fear Whipper at all.  I'm not sure if he just likes being near him, or if it's the fact that they both like this patch of bare ground under the crape myrtles.  He spent some time getting snuggled into his little wallow for the mutual siesta.  If Whipper knew he was there, he didn't show it.

Because of this bird's semi-feral attitude, he will stay as part of the landscape when I move.  I wouldn't be able to catch him anyways.  He's roosting as far up a redbud tree as he can get which is farther than I can reach so I can't even snag him at night. 

Getting our first taste of winter this week.  They're calling for first freeze and maybe snow tonight.  I finally got all the daylilies (16!) I want to take with me potted up.  Just have a few other perennials I want to dig up, and the beginning of my future new garden will be good to go.

tnt

Natureschild

Flutterbies

The butterfly gardens are a huge success this year!  They're constantly animated.  The main one is the Porch View daylily garden (see previous posts), but the Bird Garden in front has some action, too.  The flowers they are hitting are Butterfly Bush (of course!), Tall Garden Phlox, Coneflower, and Joe Pye Weed.  A few seem to like the Altheas (Rose of Sharon) and Crape Myrtles as well.  The Joe Pye I have was a dwarf cultivar, but I think it's reverting to the species as they are now taller than me, and I couldn't reach to get good photos of the butterflies all over them.  I just enjoy that one from the window.

Pipevine Swallowtail warming its wings.

Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtails

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  Yes, some of the black ones are the ladies.

Great Spangled Fritillary.  This was a rare capture.  Freshly emerged and still wrinkly.

Same Great Spangled Fritillary.

Silver-Spotted Skippers

I couldn't resist the pollen-covered Bumblebee butt in Althea flower.

Hummingbird Moth (old pic because I couldn't get a good one this year).

The daylilies are pretty much finished except for a few sporadic reblooms.  I was really impressed with Moonlight Sail (see previous post) for its first year.  Even though it's very immature, it shot out flowers over a long period.  About one per week, but I'm sure when I have more splits in a mass, it will put on a really good show.

The house is finally listed.  Now I wait, and continue packing non-essential stuff.  My realtor said there were some inquiries but so far, no one has scheduled a viewing.  I still have to finish getting the Goodwill stuff together and out of here, but I'm making progress.  I'm on Realtor.com almost daily, and have quite a few prospects.  It was my plan to start viewing houses, but I decided to wait until there's more action on my place before I go gallivanting long distances to see houses.  Can't make an offer until I have an offer unless sellers will accept a contingency contract.

tnt

Natureschild

A.C.

No, I'm not talking about air-conditioning.  In this case, A.C. stands for After Cat.

I told how I found a new home for Abby.  I've never been a cat person.  Until her, and her mother before her, my only experience with a cat was my mom's Siamese who was a real character.  I liked having yard cats, but Abby was such a good hunter, she was a serious threat to my beloved wildlife.  She was about 3 going on 4 years old, so I don't really remember what it was like B.C.  In those nearly 4 years, the landscape has matured a lot, and it attracts more wildthings.

Abby has been gone for about 2 weeks now, and I can really tell the difference.  The birds seem to know they are safe again, and there's more of them in the yard.  There's also bunnies.  Abby was known to snag young cottontails, but I'm seeing quite a few of them now.  I'm not completely deprived of the company of rabbits.

The Carolina Wrens are nesting somewhere I think.  Maybe in the bird house I hung on the porch a long time ago which was never used that I know of.  They investigated, but didn't seem to stay.  I love this chipper little bird.  I found some tiny blue eggs (sadly broken) on the ground under a crape myrtle but don't know what bird was nesting there.  Not a robin (the only bird I can think of right off hand that lays blue eggs), they don't nest here.  Robins only pass through here on their migration routes spring and fall.  I suppose I could do a search to figure it out, but I'd rather discover the nesters myself.  Maybe I'll catch them going into the tree if they use that nest again.

There is one other difference A.C.  I can hear mice (or rats) under the house again.  Ugh.  They can't get in, I stuffed wadded up chicken wire in all the cracks and holes under sinks.  Haven't had a mouse in house since.  The original tip was to stuff steel wool in such holes, but I figured a really determined rodent could figure out how to pull it out.  No way they can move chicken wire.  I had to resort to the old standby to cull the population a little...DeCon.  I shove a couple boxes under the house.  Nothing bigger than a rat can get under there so no other animals are in danger.  In that respect, I do miss Abby.

Still working at the dejunking and all.  Took another carload to the dump today.  The timeframe has slowed a bit.  The house I had fallen in love with was sold, and I don't have another at the top of the list yet.  There's still prospects but since there isn't one I'm afraid of missing out on, I'm back to a more organized approach to getting the place ready to list.  First get rid of all the junk, then declutter my stuff, and then the thorough cleaning.  I also have to put some money into a couple minor repairs to make it saleable, and that should be taken care of within 2 weeks.  I pled "need to sell ASAP" to the contractor so they'd put me on a priority list.  He came out this morning to scope the jobs, and will get the estimate to me next week, and said he should be able to do it the following week.  So I have that much time to continue what I'm doing inside.

The daylilies are hitting their stride.  Perfect timing.  I can tag the ones I want to dig up for the move.  I have a list of things to dig up, and I know where most of the daylilies are, but it helps to have confirmation when they bloom.

Speaking of house-hunting.  Mano, is broadband internet a big help!  My last move, I could only see a little remotely.  Now I can see almost everything I need to know before I decide to view the house in person.  Google Maps aerial views!   I punch in the address to see what's around a property.  Realtor.com and Zillow.com are my main sites, but I will visit individual realtors to see if they have more info on their website.  I eliminate a lot of houses using those tools.

Still don't know where I want to end up.  Could be SC, NC, or maybe even TN.  I don't really want to stay in this immediate area, but I'm open to possibilities in my state.  It would be easier to move within TN than going over the mountains, and it might be financially prudent to stay here.  I think TN has the lowest cost of living of the 3 states.  We'll see.

tnt
Naturechild

Busy weekend

Got so much accomplished this weekend!  First, there was the rendezvous in NC on Saturday where I delivered the last of the bunnies.  It was nice to see everyone, but I didn't stay for the whole day.  I still had a lot to do because people were coming for stuff Sunday, and then again on Monday.

Once the buns were gone, I could finish gathering up the rabbitry inventory for pick up on Monday. I had most of it packed up already, there were just a few things the rabbits were still using, so that didn't take long.

I concentrated on the furniture that was being picked up Sunday.  I had to get rid of some big excess items that I didn't want to move with me, and the only other option would have been to leave it behind which a new home owner might not appreciate.  Found an ad on craigslist for "free hauling".  Turns out the guy really wanted scrap metal (big business around here), but when I described the furniture, he said he could use it.  So I had to hustle up and get the stuff that was on the furniture off.  It was a nice young couple who were just starting out and needed a lot of things.  They took quite a bit of small stuff off my hands as well, so I don't have to haul that to Goodwill.  They even offered to move anything around that I needed.  I played the "old and no longer strong" card (mostly true) to get out of doing any more heavy lifting than I had to.  Same for the rabbitry stuff.   They couldn't get all the furniture on their truck, but said they could come back the next day.  I told him there was quite a bit of scrap metal that he was welcome to as well.  It's not a priority for me to deal with it (it's out back and out of the way), but he was so nice and helpful, I'm glad to help him financially in that way.

Then the gal who bought the rabbitry called and said she couldn't come Monday as planned but she could come that afternoon.  Sure, we can do that.  She didn't show up until 7 pm, but we managed to get her loaded up before dark.  She let slip that she was a single mom, and I warned her again that she needed to bring muscle to move that stuff.  She said no problem, her 14 year old daughter was strong.  She wasn't kidding.  That young girl was tall and efficient.  The family was pretty interesting.  At first, I thought she said she had 2 daughters, but a little later, 3 little boys piled out of the truck.  Oh my.  They lived a homesteading style of life, and utilized their animals.  She raised some heritage rabbit breeds for meat.  Turns out she's not a show breeder, she just had some dwarf breeds that could use the equipment, and a friend or two that would take what she couldn't use.  This passle of little kids were very well-behaved, and pitched in where they could.  Mom was very patient and never yelled at anyone.  She deserves a medal for raising that brood so well.

As they were tying down the truck and trailer, I stood on the porch to continue chatting.  It had started to rain again by then.  I was stunned to see the smallest boy do a face plant off the truck's tailgate!  It's almost like he did a cannonball (like into a pool) on purpose.  His face landed in the grass, but he barely missed smashing it on the driveway gravel.  His hands and knees hit the gravel.  He just got up like that was normal!  I wonder how often she has to visit the emergency room!

Now that all that big furniture and the shed is cleaned out, I can get back to the job of getting the house ready to show.  I have so much room now, I can actually see what I'm doing!  There were just narrow paths through the junk in the back bedrooms and it was hard to organize the piles into trash, Goodwill, and what I'm keeping.  Now I can.  A lot of it can go out in the shed.

I decided that getting the entire house ready to list wasn't going to happen as quickly as I wanted.  Now my goal is to get the main part of the house presentable so I can list this week, and continue to plug away at the chaos in the back rooms later.  Potential buyers will just have to look past that part.

Haven't had time to start digging in the gardens.  It's been raining for the last 4-5 days anyways.  After good soaking rains is the best time to dig so I'll try to do a little each day.  Oh yeah, and I have to drop everything to cut the damn grass again now that all this rain has been feeding it.  Need a dry day to get to that.

A friend gave some insight into downsizing as I'm doing.  It's liberating.  It really is.  Getting rid of all the unnecessary stuff in one's life is a good thing.  When I realized how right he was, I feel I can be even more ruthless about what I keep for the move.

Yes, I miss the bunnies.  And the chickens.  I'm sure once I get settled I'll want a pet rabbit.  No, I'll never breed again, but I'm a gardener, and every gardener should have a rabbit or two.  I already have a nice outdoor hutch being planned in the back of my head.  If my new home allows for it, I'll probably want a couple birds, too.

tnt
Natureschild

The new plan

When I last wrote, I hadn't yet made a final decision, and the blog would likely have just been the sporadic posts about this and that in the gardens.  Decisions have been made, and so the plan changed.

I've been putting my affairs in order towards the new goal...moving.  First order of business: because I'm downsizing, most of the animals needed new homes.  That has been successful.  The chickens and the cat are gone, and the rabbits will be within the next 2 weeks.  I had posted a craigslist ad for Abby (free to good barn), and a very nice couple came for her the day after the chickens were picked up.  They were in dire need of a good mouser for their horse farm.  I'm confidant Abby will do the job for them.  I had posted her first in the pets section but got no bites.  The same day I reposted her in the farm section, this couple contacted me.

Getting the chickens rounded up was a workout!  The buyer said he could come and get them that day.  If I'd had more notice, like the night before, it would have been easy to nab them at dusk.  It took me over an hour to catch and cage the young chicks.  They were confined to the pen but I had to chase them around it with a net.  Whew!  Then I took a break after I got them all.  Went back out to start on the adults, and there were 2 chicks running around the pen.  WTH?  How did you get out?  I think what happened is that they were hiding behind the food can.  I thought I had it blocked off so they couldn't get back there, but guess not.  I wasn't counting as I nabbed them.

Catching the adults was a lot easier than I thought it would be in broad daylight.  Several hens were on the nest, and I just picked them up and put in the pen.  The ones that weren't in the box immediately went in when I vacated a hole.  So I just picked them up, too.  Once all the hens were penned, I threw out some cracked corn for them (their favorite treat), and that lured the 2 roosters in.  Oh and I wasn't done yet.  I had to pack up all their stuff, food, etc, as the buyer was getting the whole kit and kaboodle.

However, there is one chick I couldn't catch.  I had put the 2 biggest cockerels out of the pen about a week ago, and they were adjusting to free-ranging with the adults.  One walked right in when I opened the gate.  The other wouldn't.  Later I put the cage full of chicks out of the pen, and he was very interested in them.  I tried again to net him but he was really wary and quick!  Later that day, after the others had been picked up, I left the gate to the pen open and I found him in there.  I shooed him out because there's no water in there for him, or food, and I didn't plan on leaving the gate open all the time.  He is now very leery of me.  I tossed out a little of Whipper's food which I did see him eat, but other than that, he doesn't seem to want anything from me.  He's mostly staying at the back of the yard, and I guess he's finding plenty to eat.  I assume he knows where water is.  There's bowls scattered around the yard.  OK fine.  I guess he'll be part of the landscape after I'm gone.

In the meantime, I'm also getting the house in order to list it.  Starting with dejunking it.  Good lord, did I accumulate a lot of junk!  There was so much, I separated it into recyclables.  Plastic, paper, metal.  I'm lucky that a dump (convenience center)  is just down the road on my way to town, and they do recycle many things.  I spent several days going through the bedrooms and kitchen, and got ruthless about throwing stuff away.  I think I had over 200 lbs of magazines alone!  I kid you not!  I sometimes read them again when I ran out of reading material.  Garden mags, rabbit mags, poultry mags, and a lot of miscellaneous mags.  And I just didn't throw them away.  I went through the garden mags as I was bagging them up to cut out articles I wanted to save.  Plastic filled 2 large garbage bags, and scrap metal and hardware filled 2 feed bags.  Oh and then there was the usual household trash on top of that, including quite a bit of junk that couldn't be recycled.  My car was stuffed!  But it's done and outta here.  I'm sure I'll find more as I continue the dejunking, but at least that's most of it.  Next car load will be to the Salvation Army.

Now that the animals and most of the junk has been dealt with, I'll spend a little time in the mornings in the gardens.  I'll be digging and potting things up to take with me.  When the heat runs me inside, I'll work more in there.  I hope to be ready to list within 2 weeks.

Where am I going?  Don't know yet.  I spend a lot of time on Realtor.com, and have bookmarked a lot of interesting prospects.  The one at the top of my list is in SC.  Another reason I want to get listed asap before that house is gone.  It's my plan to run down and see it in person as soon as my place is on the market, and if I still like it, I'll put a contingency contract on it right away.  My realtor was very encouraging about the market in this area, so I hope to sell pretty quickly.

tnt
Natureschild

Spring 2013

Wow, it has REALLY been a long time (3 years!?!) since I touched this blog.  This post is just a quicky to update.

Out of sheer laziness, I began to do all the garden/nature blogging at the other blog, Spring Creek Gems.  It was laziness because there's 2 different logins.  I was usually logged in (or half logged in) at the other so I just stayed there.  I decided today that I should use this one for garden and nature stuff again.  So that's what will be happening here from now on.  In the meantime, you can read past posts about all that at the other one.  I'll probably begin transferring some of it from there to here as time permits.  I might create some pages as well.

tnt

Daylily Daydream

I wrote this one lazy hazy day in the garden during daylily season. I just came across it in my archives. Anyone with a large daylily collection might appreciate the sentiment.

Daylily Daydream

Daylilies like fireworks
Bursting on high.
Daylilies like starbursts
In the summer sky.

Starting out slowly,
One bloom at a time.
Charming me, teasing me,
One day at a time.

Then the Grand Finale,
Building in tempo.
Filling my senses
With the final cresendo.

Alas, the Grand Finale,
It comes much too soon.
The last sparks fall and fade,
And leave me wishing for June.
~ Natureschild ~