Rain and Rainbows

My neighbor, Emily, took this great picture of my house at the end of a rainbow! Lest I forget.... I do feel blessed!

It's been raining a lot for a couple of months making planting tricky but possible and so far things are looking good out there. Raining so much even the dogs don't want to go out! But the forecast is for sun ......

progress

I thought I'd take a moment to celebrate having come to some milestones in my life. For some years I have worked on several projects that are coming to fruition.

I started building my home in 1998, getting it out of the ground and under roof and dried in by the end of that year. I have been slowly working on it ever since as time and money and energy allowed. While I may never completely finish it, I have come to a point I have been looking forward to for many years. I am putting trim on, giving the rooms a much more finished look.

On another important front, I have put as much ground under cultivation as I feel I need and want. I'm about through with busting sod. There's plenty of work to do on the land I have already claimed.

I have a warm, comfortable studio set up in my home that I can access most any time. Doing art work and playing music have become regular activities.

The dogs I raised from puppies are almost ready to breed. They are beautiful, intelligent and delightful dogs and I look forward to seeing their offspring.

There are many areas of my life that are a work in progress, as I hope it always will be. I am grateful to have come this far with some of the projects that have meaning for me. I can't even begin to express the significance of friends and family in my life. The material accomplishments pale in comparison.

My family is far flung and has had it's share of emotional distance. In the past year relationships have strengthened and improved, estrangements have been healed and I am hopeful of renewed love and increased contact.

If this is the accruing of the benefits of maturity, bring it on, I embrace it fully. I am more content in retirement than I can remember ever being before. Yes, there is still much that I can long for, much to do, much to look forward to, much to learn, much to share. I'm not done yet. Many tasks remain, projects are ongoing, relationships, houses, gardens, and dogs require maintenance. It is satisfying to take stock and realize that progress has been made. Onward.....

another animal sighting

This summer I saw the largest snake I've seen outside of captivity. One hot August day, I was walking from my garden to my back door, slightly uphill, when a flash of moving blue/black caught my eye. About ten feet in front of me was a LARGE Bull snake sliding across the grass of the lawn. I watched it pass in awe of it's size, maybe nine feet, it's beautiful shiny deep color, it's fluid motion. It stopped, stretched out in a long squiggle, and when it lifted it's head to look around, the head was about 18 inches off the ground. It moved toward my open kitchen window which is close to the ground on the outside. A snake had come in that window a few summers ago. I ran inside and closed the window. The snake stopped again under a tree near the house. Wanting it to move out of my yard, I started talking to it, tossing little pebbles near it. After a few minutes, the snake slowly moved off. I walked behind it, talking to it. I was saying how much I admired it's great beauty and how fortunate I felt to have seen it but that I really would prefer that it not live in or very close to my house, thanks. I've not seen it before or since but I have seen several snakes this summer, mostly in the garden.

Bear Sighting

I think I saw a bear. I saw something, with my poor vision, and I'm pretty sure it was a bear.

I was in the yard, beautiful sunny day. I had two dogs on tie-outs and Rosie, the alpha dog, loose. The dogs sounded a quick "There's something!" bark. I looked in the direction they were looking to the west, open field. Rosie, quick, was by my side in her guard stance and completely quiet. I saw a large, dark, rectangular bear? run across the far field in front of me from west to east It was moving fast and I didn't have time to go to the house for binoculars. I know it was too big for a dog, no long legs like a horse or deer, very dark color, moving like I've seen bears move. The dogs were very attentive and very quiet. They don't bark at things they don't want to mess with. So yes, I'm pretty sure that was a bear.

There have been many bear and other wildlife sightings this year. I can only assume it's because their habitat is being taken over by people. This bear was moving so fast I wonder if it was upset about something, dogs, people, vehicles? I now see three houses where there were none a couple of years ago. Where's a bear to go? I felt very blessed to see it. I do love livin' in the boonies, no joke.

more garden notes

Gardeners are the eternal optimists. Even when we know all the things that can go wrong, with hope and faith we approach this labor of love. Sometimes we are rewarded, sometimes not. Education, experience, luck, weather, water, attention, a higher power all take their part in this dance. The garden is a complicated world.

Outside the garden I feel almost powerless to have an impact. I only hope that by putting my energy toward what I know to be good for myself and the planet, my efforts will ripple out to others.

One of the great benefits of being at home has been the time spent in the garden. It was somewhat successful this year. I've been eating from it for months and have put up a goodly amount of fruits and vegetables, pesto and tomato sauce. I have a garden bed full of various greens which should go on until a hard freeze.

We may have a cold winter this year so says the old tale that a cold winter follows a good fruit year. It has been a wonderful fruit year, everything large and tasty. I'm just now putting up pears, apples are next. I may pot up and bring in some lovely pepper plants loaded with little peppers, along with some parsley and basil plants. An experiment, they may grow slowly in my garden room. Was just given some mango trees, now a foot tall. They and several other houseplants cry out to be repotted.

Looking forward to putting the garden to bed as soon as frost comes. I'll pant a large bed of garlic and one of strawberries. The rest will be put in winter rye as a green manure crop to be turned under next spring. And so it goes...

I do wish I'd taken pictures even with my %^&*()/ camera. In true gardener logic...there's always next year.

garden notes

A bit of background. Gardens have always been part of my life, from earliest memory. My mother, at 90, is still a wonderful gardener. A child of the depression, she grew and processed veggies from necessity. She quietly put up jars and jars of summer's bounty. Good home cookin' is one of my fondest childhood memories. She also built patios and retaining walls, terracing our back hillside, has always grown loads of trees, flowers, etc. When her new house was barely built, the gardens surrounding them looked like they'd been established for ten years. Her landscapes are lovely all year long. Mother gardens in Latin, her knowledge of plants extensive. On walks anywhere in nature she shares her knowledge and love of flora and fauna. My daughter shares her scientific curiosity. My trees, perennials, shrubs are direct descendants of hers.

So how could I not garden, I've got the gene. All my adult life I've lived in the country and had gardens large and small. I've been on my present property 10+ years more or less. (I was on the road a lot until a few years ago.) When we bought the land in '95 there were no trees; it had been summer pasture for cattle for about 50 years. Where I garden is an upland saddle, high, wide, with deep meadow sod. In the time we've been here it's been wonderful to watch the progression of reforestation.


After years of frustration from feeding the deer, I fenced with 8' deer "invisible" fence. It works great and really is very see-through. I first fenced a quarter acre vegetable garden. I then enclosed the house, shed, gardens, yard and some meadow in a 2+ acre invisible fence. I love it, I can now grow flowers, fruit and trees all around. The deer stroll past just outside the fence. The dogs announce them and watch them go by. The deer seem to have respect for the fence. The dogs don't but that's another story.

Post note. When I learn how to do it properly, I'll post some pictures though I'll make excuses in advance for my $%^&* camera. Post post notes. So here's a couple of old pictures. The first two taken in the front yard, the last at the pond.

coyotes

It was like a dream, 4 am, moonless, very dark. I woke to coyotes howling, high, long, loud, several at once, very near, a beautiful, eerie sound.

I know it was coyotes and not dogs because the dogs were standing at the window, SILENT and alert. Had it been dogs, they would have gladly answered in barks and howls, as usual.

The howling was soon over, maybe a minute's worth. I lay awake a long time listening. I heard no more, slept, woke with vivid memories.

The dogs kept very close to home all the next day. My two cats are keeping close. They're not crazy about the owl that's been around... Ah, I do love the boonies.

Ok, so it's been over a year....

since my last post and I've plenty of excuses...you don't want to hear them? To catch up a bit...

In August of 2007 I had a head on crash that totaled my car and effectively ended my driving career. My license was up for renewal in December and I knew I would not be able to pass any eye exam or find a doctor why would say I could see well enough to drive. Frankly, it was a relief to give up driving. It had been extremely stressful with my poor sight.

So, I've copped to being a blind person after so many years of trying to pass for sighted. Well of course I have some sight but it is genuinely lousy. Like while I have perfectly fine light and dark reception, color differentiation and peripheral vision, I have almost no depth perception. A real hazard in driving. I'm so glad I never injured myself or anyone else. I was a super careful driver and it took enormous amounts of concentration and attention, very nerve wrecking.

I've depended on friends for rides since. I live in the country where there is no, NO, public transportation, not so much as a car to hire. So far OK, my needs are being met. It is a stress of another kind.

On a lighter note, I found that I could collect disability and while it is very little money it's surprising how little money one needs when one rarely leaves home.

I quit my job. I told people it was because I had too many hobbies to hold down a job. That was only partly in jest. I found I could live on disability and using my rides to go to work...well I had better uses for rides. After working for myself for so many years, working for others was difficult.

And the hobbies...The gardens are flourishing. The dogs have had more attention, training and grooming. The house looks better. I read some books, played some music, did some art, put up food for winter. I experimented with having a house mate...enough there for another post. Life is sweet here. The weather has been delightful. I do sometimes long for travel but I've tied myself down with dogs. I hope to find a way to have it all, if not all at once.