Spring Photos

A little of this....a little of that! 

The irises have put on a stunning display this year. Wish they could last all summer.

This tiny turtle was so colorful on the underside. What a cutie! I turned him loose by the creek.

 The spring morel mushroom season was pretty good this year. We had this stray one pop out by Don's boat. It was spared the frying pan. Maybe the spores will spread for next year.

Another snake painting was completed for the Snake Man. This one is the Timber Rattler. He might want me to do a hawk this fall. That would be a nice change.

A oil painting of spring loveliness in a baby lamb. All soft and wooly amongst the pussy willows.

We lost kitty Paisley last Sunday. We had no idea he had a tumor in his tummy until he took a sudden turn for the worst. He was an FIV kitty (feline immunodeficiency virus) and was always sneezy but survived with us for seven years. Rest in peace, dear one. Your friends here will miss you.

We were thrilled to spot Stanley across the creek and he seems to be doing well. His antlers should be amazing this year.

Molly had a visitor on the patio. Not sure what they are chatting about.

Had friend Susan Yergin here with Bruce Miller to collect and process red willow bark. It is used as a tobacco for indian ceremonies and it was really interesting to join in the process.

Cool moth out on the chick waterer. Haven't been able to identify it yet. Very unique markings. Kind of like Paisley.

And finally, an old lady taking selfies! Got my official old lady short haircut, too. Keeping things simple as the days are busy. Not quite used to all the wrinkles!

Black Cap Season

Tis the season for the lovely wild black raspberries - aka Black Caps. Our lanes are lined with these delicious beauties. If you arrive at our house and no one is here to greet you, you might find us out foraging and filling our faces! With such tasty distractions, it can take many minutes more to get out to the greenhouse and garden.

Spring Cleaning Days

We have had a couple nice days and I have been doing lots of little things that need doing. Don has continued to improve but needs lots of rest. He has had visitors every day and sometimes two times a day. Keeps us both hopping. 

It's also the time of year when you see the multitude of things to clean. The barn is a dusty disaster area. The hen house is in hysteria. The greenhouse is 95 degrees and full of winter straw. The people house--well, it needs more work, too! The yard--don't get me started. The last two day break from rain and wind allowed me to take 9 JD wagon loads of yard debris to the compost pile. I was beat after that one. We moved lawn chairs from the green shed to take a break--and, you guessed it, they need to be cleaned, too. 

The power washer is going to get a huge work out when it gets warmer.

Thunder Snow

Today started like any other winter day, some filtered sunlight and I was really surprised to see on the 7 AM news that Wabasha-Kellogg school, across the creek (Mississippi) from us, was CLOSED for the day! We went to Wabasha for feed and chuckled with the feed store staff that they had better close now and get home before the BIG STORM prevented them from missing dinner tonight. At this point there was not a flake in sight and there would not be one until 1 pm. I don't know about Minnesota schools, but in Wisconsin if they show up and get sent home at noon, they count it as a completed school day which equals dollars to the district in state dollar support. Which made it feel so strange that schools were closing just on the prediction that there would be snow later in the day.

So that brings me to Thunder Snow. At 1 pm when we started getting our blast, it came with rumbles of thunder which sent the horses flying from under the eve out to the pasture. I was in the studio and grabbed the camera as they went charging past. The snow and wind did their thang and it was over in about two hours. I hope the kids had a fun snow day--even if they didn't actually have much snow--and I hope they don't mind making up for it in the last days of May. 

New Year arrives at Catfish Corner

Our first day of 2009 was a big one with the annual lutefisk feast with the Benson's. Don's brother-in-law and nephew with his wife and three kids under 8 made for a very full, active and noisy, house! I made foods galore, because not everyone will eat lutefisk, which included a big lasagne, ham, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, relishes, dips, chips, pecan and lemon pie for dessert. 

The kids had fun with their shooting gallery toys Don picked out for Cade and Carter. Unfortunately the digital camera for Paige refused to operate so I have to look into replacing that in the coming week. 

We fed the horses carrots and picked eggs out in the hen house for the whole rural experience. The kids are used to going to their other uncle's farm so it's not a big deal for them, but they do get to have the pony experience here. This year they were brave enough to feed carrots by themselves to those big bossy noses.

Friday was clean up day and Saturday Fran came over and we took the horses out for the first ride of 2009. I only rode once or twice in December so I felt pretty out of shape. We went out to our snowy 66 and let the girls have a run. All was fine until Fran took Cheyenne on a turn and she lost her footing. They both landed in the snow and weren't hurt, thankfully! Glad it wasn't me--I would have probably broken in two! The footing isn't that bad.  The problem is that the snow cover has hidden the icy spots so we had to just generally be careful. It was sunny so we didn't really notice the cold until we got into the blue shadows of the woods. Then the fingers and toes told us it was time to go in for tea.

Fran leaves for the Parelli center in Ocala on Tuesday and will be gone for a month so I'll be without my riding buddy. It's very motivating to have a youngster around to get the old lady out to ride so who knows how much ponying I'll get done while she's gone.

Guess what....

....it snowed.....again....yesterday......to the tune of another 6 inches on top of what we already had. So we probably have a foot or more to slog through. It's 5 degrees out right now and was minus 10 this morning. The horse waterer froze up sometime overnight and the girls were eager for me to get it going. The top was frozen on and the bowl was dry. Kicked it until it came loose and I got the parts out. Chy and Cerra were very helpful - as usual. I went in to get buckets to run water for them so I could distract them from the project at hand. By the time I got back they had it going! Horse noses are very warm and I think they mouthed the frozen spout and brought it back to life. They both drank a long time and took turns jostling each other out of the bowl until they each had their fill. I can't help but pray for the horses and other creatures who are out in this weather without food and shelter. Cerra had the chicken door open again so I rounded up the hens and locked them in this time.  Sorry Cerra. It's too cold to have them out running around. Horse hay went in the box stall this morning so they can be out of the wind. They usually don't like to be inside, but today was an exception. A few visits during the day with carrots should make the day more interesting.

Redtail Menace to Mink

Don came in carrying a limp furry carcass yesterday. My first thought was the black squirrel that has been visiting the feeder but it was a mink! He found a redtail hawk in the backyard working on it's prey before he intervened. Too late for the poor mink who had been reduced to a bag of skin and bones. Keeps one in mind of the rules Mother Nature has mandated about prey and predators. Our geese were reluctant to come to the house yesterday morning so perhaps they knew what was going on and the potential threat to health. 

Thoughts on snow and.....food

It's been snowing all day at Catfish Corner and since Don was feeling cruddy we stayed home and postponed an eye appointment for him at Eau Claire until after the first of the year. I made a nice roaring fire in the fireplace and he rested while I made more Christmas treats. Today was two batches of peanut brittle and all things covered in chocolate. 

It's only 5 degrees out and I saw that Cerra had opened the door on the chicken room. (A special talent she has--opening doors, gates, hearts) So I had chickens out running around instead of staying indoors and doing their job of egg laying. The little golden Buff Orpingtons - affectionately known as "The Buffingtons" - seem to think they are above living in the hen house and are constantly forming their own colony in the other box stall, or on the hay bales, or out in the woods. I have found that my Parelli carrot stick works well to round them up and get 'em moving back to home. Just call it Chicken Savvy.

They are this year's chickens and were late bloomers. Some are just starting to lay tiny little eggs. My daily gathering has grown to up to 21 eggs. Today was good at 19. I'm getting more customers than I have product. The pullet eggs are small but so good. Deep orange yolks that stand right up. If you wanted to eat a raw egg, I think this would be the variety to use. There is no comparison between a battery raised egg and a home flock egg! Fried in a pool of butter........but I digress.

Since I got the chickens in I figured the horses could be fed early and then I'm done with the outdoors until morning. Cheyenne (pictured) came running and thought that was the best idea I have had in a while. A scoop of black sunflower seeds for a treat and a thick leaf of hay and it was bon appetit at Catfish Corner.

Magic of Jack Frost

Yesterday at noon it was a balmy 45 degrees. A few short hours--4 to be exact--we dropped to the teens. The drop continued though the evening with brisk winds that are continuing today. And we woke up to -2 degrees! For our two above freezing days we will now probably have icy footing until spring. I took a walk around the loop this morning and the ice cleats need to be worn next time! 

The frost on the windows looks pretty, but the prospect of no horse riding on the icy trails is depressing!

Little Miss Ladybug & Fran

I finally got up the hill to see friend Fran's miniature horse, Ladybug, on Friday. What a CUTIE! She is so tiny and fuzzy and adorable-- I think I need one! She is only 18 months old but it sounds like she could run the lives of much older, larger horses. Helga and I took the milk run to Arkansaw (I know it seems like a long way to go for milk, but this is ArkansaW, Wisconsin!) It was a beautiful fall day and I had the camera along so it was fun. 

This is so silly, but the county road signs in "downtown" Arkansaw alway crack me up! Sorry, Don! The main street was packed with hunters in the local establishments getting "ready" for deer hunting.

Flakes Outside....and inside

Our 70 degree days of last weekend are officially gone. Gray days, wind, rain, snowflakes and snow pellets are our new visitors. Unfortunately, we both picked up a cold bug and have been coughing and schnorteling all week. Between cups of hot tea I got enough energy rallied to go out to check the greenhouse and covered up the lettuce with flannel sheets. The plants have been doing amazingly well inspite of some freezing nights. I pulled the last of the turnips and found the deer have been eating the tops off the remaining carrots. I pulled up a few to take to the house and found this funny guy. Another sure sign of age--finding great humor in mutant veggies!  So, Don says maybe I should put it on eBay. I checked out "carrot" and got it narrowed down and found SOMEONE ELSE HAS AN EVEN BETTER MUTANT THAN I DO!  I haven't figured out how to get the photo but check it out--search "human carrot" and you will be as amazed as I was. It really looks like a little human boy body. Nobody has ponied up a bid--starting at $1. That is probably because they want $12.50 to UPS it to the lucky bidder. Now I'm wishing I would have photoed the giant radish that went to seed. It looked exactly like the very sunburned hips, thighs and calves of a very lumpy chubby lady! I have an eyewitness--(right, Mary Ann?!)--who will attest that we chuckled over it because I expect to start looking the same way.

Sunday afternoon at Catfish Corner

Had the family out to enjoy the day! Don and Helga were having fun. Our girl, Helga, is only four years old, but she's really big and it's hard for her to tear around. But she did it today! She knew mom was taking pictures and she tackled me a few times in her exuberance. She can knock me down without a problem.

Our Rooster Louie

Rooster Louie--Took a pic of this big guy yesterday. It was a gorgeous fall day. I'll post more photos later. I know how to do it now! Louie is OUR LAST ROOSTER. Last year I got chicks -- Barred Rock and Reds -- straight run. That means you get whatever hatches. Boys or girls. So I had a multitude of BOYS who grew up into roosters. Roosters have specific needs and they got to be really obnoxious. They wouldn't leave my beautiful hens alone. Hens without feathers are not pretty. Heads rolled. Yes, folks, country people know where food comes from and it's an unfortunate reality that it involves a harvest. At the end of the day there were three roosters left.

They were named: Larry, Louie and Lucky, inspite of the fact that farmers never name animals that are intended to enter the food chain. Lucky was so named because he ran into the woods and survived the day. Larry, Lucky and Louie lived in their ways until one of the hens showed up totally broken down. The next harvest arrived. All of a sudden Larry was going to spend winter in the freezer--with his compadre (not so) Lucky.  That left Louie. He's a Barred Rock rooster--he is magnificent (although I think the red ones were much prettier) and he is the "cock of the walk". And he knows it. Eyes are on him. Hens are growing new feathers. If he can find a way to contain himself he might see spring.