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Hi Everyone,
I got a late start on recording my daily adventures this past week—but that is because I have enjoyed my evening visiting with my sister. So since it really is almost my bedtime, I think that I shall tell a few “Bedtime Stories”.
“The Dog and Her Cookie”
As the day was coming to an end I headed out to do the evening chores. I put four scoops of feed in one pink bucket for the ducks and a little over 2 scoops of alfalfa in another pink bucket for the calves. I headed out of the feed room and placed the buckets in the back end of the Gravely when I noticed that all the sheep were running up to the area near the fence. I saw one of the ewes pick up something big and brown and I took off running—fearing that someone had thrown food over the fence and the sheep had found it. As I approached the fence the sheep all ran off and all I saw was a doggie cookie—that is shaped like a bone, lying there on the ground. I guess it didn’t take very long for the sheep to realize that a doggie cookie wasn’t edible to a sheep. Seeing the commotion, Yasha came running up to investigate. I asked her why she had a cookie lying around on the ground. In answer she picked up her cookie and ran down the fence line to the corner where there was a dirt hole. She dug the hole deeper, dropped the cookie into the hole, and then used her nose to cover it up. With her cookie safely hid for a “rainy day,” Yasha headed back out to the pasture to guard her sheep.
“Planting Future Tear Makers”
Onions are one of my favorite things to grow—but the sweet Vidalia onions do not have a very good storage life. Twice I have tried to grow yellow onions—but every time the weeds take over and the onions do not grow. I am determined to successfully grow yellow onions this year. In November I headed to the seed store to get some onion bulbs—but they were sold out, because I was a month late. So I came home and ordered a packet of onion seeds. Once the seed packet arrived I emptied the whole package into three 72-cell seed trays and kept them watered and safe and sound in the greenhouse. I would say that 99.99% of the seeds sprouted, and some of the seed cells had two, three or five onions growing in them. After six weeks of growing, the seedlings were big enough to transplant to the garden—but the rows needed to be weeded first. We spent days removing the dead luffa sponge vines and broomcorn stalks, then we spent a few more days weeding out the little weeds. On Monday we marked the rows and added some mushroom compost, woodchip compost, chicken manure compost and wood ash to the rows. Once the piles were all spread out, then we broadforked the rows, leveled it out, ran the gridder down and began to crawl around on our hands and knees. Together, Mom and I planted 264 onion transplants—now all we have to do is make sure they stay weed free! Being that they are yellow onions, I am sure that they will cause us to shed a few tears when we get to cook with them.
“Some like it hot”
Some like it hot, and some like it cold—but when it comes to our cats, they like it cozy and warm. When the nights are cold outside we turn heat lamps on in different places—one at the well, so it won’t freeze; one at the water spigot at the milking parlor, so that the hose will work in the morning when we milk; one in the greenhouse to keep the plants toasty; one in the garage that shines on Papa’s boots, so they are warm when he puts them on in the morning; and one on the front porch; so my Christmas cactus doesn’t freeze (it got so big that I don’t want it back in my room—and besides, it blooms so much better on the front porch). Well, two of our cats have adopted two of the lights as perfect beds on cold nights. I am pretty sure that Catapus hides out in the hay in the barn—but Catalina and Sunny boy have different ideas. Sunny boy will curl up on the rug beside Papa’s boots and sleep there—but sometimes he knocks Papa’s boots over and sleeps on top of it under the light. Catalina has found the front porch lamp, and you can look out the window and see her sitting just inches away from it. Last week I had mercy on her and added a little cat bed for her to sleep on. Sometimes we find Sunny boy sleeping on the bed when Catalina is not.
“The Water Mystery”
It was a black and dark night, and I had just finished cooking dinner. Papa was still out doing chores, but we needed him to take the yogurt over to the walk in cooler. I decided to save him some time and go and grab a crate for him to carry it over in. As I walked out of the garage I heard water running over near the milk house. I immediately realized that I forgot to disconnect the hose from the greenhouse—but why was there running water? Just as I reached the milk house I heard a commotion over by the brooder house. There was running water on the right side of the milk house, and noises on the left—I got scared! I grabbed the crate and headed back to the house for a flashlight—and moral support. I asked Mom to come out with me. We headed back next door and when we pointed the light on the concrete we saw that the concrete was wet in spots—but that the hose was still connected to the greenhouse. We got scared and ran for the house, and locked the door behind us. We served up our dinner, and set down to eat—with fear running through our veins. I was very anxious for Papa to return so that I could go out with him to investigate the “Water Mystery”. A little later Papa finished up his chores and the next thing we heard was him trying to get inside. I ran to unlock the door, and sheepishly explain why we had the door locked. Papa headed next door to check out the water, and a little later I headed over there to so that I could show him what we saw. Besides seeing some wet concrete—we saw nothing. A week later, on another black and dark night, Papa came in from doing chores and said, “Tiare, I want to show you something.” I quickly headed outside with him and followed him over to the milk house. Once we were on the left side of the milk house Papa shined his flashlight up into the sky—and there I saw a long stream of water shooting out from the solar panel valve on the roof of the brooder house. The stream of water landed some on the left side of the milk house, some on the milk house roof, and some all the way past the roof and onto the concrete on the right side of the milk house. Our water mystery was solved! When the outdoor temps get below 40 degrees the solar panel has a valve that empties all the cold water out of the solar panel so that hot water can fill up the solar panel and prevent it from freezing and breaking the solar panels. I am so glad that the mystery was solved!
Now it is bedtime for sure, and I hope that you have a wonderful week!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare