Cousins and Other Kinfolk

It had been kind of cold and cloudy all week. I got up Thursday morning and it was beautiful out. Needing to keep myself busy I canned a gallon of stock and cut up a 16 lb turkey and canned that as well, checking my laptop frequently for emails, with eager expectation.

Pacing the floor and double checking that I had everything ready that I could get ready for the weekend, I waited. I had considered having Thomas the turkey as guest of honor at a Saturday night dinner. He misunderstood the invitation and I had to kick him out the back door.

 Taking my eyes off the ranch driveway for just a moment, I turned back to the sound of soft knocking. I scurried to the door and there stood 3 beautiful girls, Shyanne, Kaylee and Hannah, accompanied by my daughter-in-law Laura and oldest son, Matt. An absolute sight for sore eyes, and just what I had been waiting for!

After a quick tour of the barn and cabins, they took the 4 wheelers and went to investigate the processing corrals 3 miles down the ranch road.

 We threw together dinner with some homemade steak fries and BBQ burgers on homemade buns.

I had started some cinnamon roll dough in the morning so after some quick instructions, the girls rolled it out, buttered it and put on the cinnamon/sugar mix, I helped roll it up and they cut and placed the rolls in the pans to rise overnight. A batch of dough for our early Thanksgiving dinner rolls the following evening was also put together.

We had fun and after the kids went to bed, their folks kept me company, laughing and sharing memories until midnite. Sleeping didn’t come easily, as my other son  Cody, and Krystal, Abby and Kinley his family, were on the way up as well. I fitfully tossed and turned and wondered where on their 12 hour journey they might be, hyped up and excited to see them and before I knew it, Randyman shook me awake saying “They just pulled up”. 

We spent a most excellent weekend. The little ones played a rousing game of hide and seek and asked my friend if they could hide in her bedroom. She agreed and they took cover while Shyanne counted down. Their mom happened by and asked the little ones

 “Did you ask before you went to hide in Chery's room?” to which we all answered “yes” and I told her “You aren’t very good at this game are you?” amid laughter.

After a cinnamon roll,  sausage and fresh ranch eggs breakfast cooked by the Randyman, we headed out for some pokin' around. I double checked my list...I had already made 2 Butterbrickle Carmel Pecan Cheesecakes, had candied yams in the fridge ready to be baked,  bread and cornbread had been baked and cubed and seasoned to use for the cranberry cornbread stuffing in the 21 lb turkey, (NOT THOMAS) it was assessed that all I had to do was get the bird in the oven about 2 pm, and make the potatoes, gravy, creamed corn and bake the butterhorn rolls. That gave me 3 or more hours to play and there were plenty of hands to help out making dinner.

The old barn is the PERFECT place to stop and enjoy a sippy cup!

Abby and Kinley have fun playing with cousin Hannah.

Kids scampered up to the top story of the barn, way up, dizzyingly high in the air for pictures, happily gathered around the old wagon and various places for pictures, in between treks out to visit the critters.

Don't be fooled by this one's girly looks. She wanted to catch a live snake and go shooting!

(pictures courtesy of Krystal Plank)

One a trip out to the pasture to visit horses and cows, Laura vaulted to the other side of me at light speed, unable to exclaim anything other than...

“SNAAAAAAAAAKE!”

The little guy slithered a ways off, only as far as his terribly startled and rapidly beating heart would allow, as the kids all clamored to see.

Mister enjoyed lots of skritching and petting, as did EmmaLouMoo. Even Wimpy stood long enough to allow Hannah to walk up to him and rub his forehead, something he never lets ANYone do when he’s out in the open! Mister was pretty attached to Kaylee and was content to just lay his head on her shoulder.

Somehow the conversation came up “Where did last nite’s hamburger come from?” And the information was passed along that it was from one of our former steers. I jokingly asked where they thought chicken strips came from and they guessed rightly, then when someone asked where did ham come from, Kaylee shot back “HAMsters, of course!” We all found that pretty funny.

On the way back, I invited the kids to see “EmmaLouMoo’s Secret Clubhouse”. It is a path thru the huge willows by the creek where the cows and horses like to hang out in the shade by day or sleep at night. I told them “you have to know the secret password to gain entrance though...”

One of them asked me “What is the password?”

And I bent down carefully and whispered in her ear so as not to compromise security,   

“It's 'moooooooo'.”

They had a great time exploring in the willows and dashing across the rocky creek and doing whatever they did while they were out of OUR sight, but still under the watchful eyes of the Polar Bears. On the way back, they picked apples off the trees and munched on them.

The turkey was stuffed and placed in his cooking bag, the yams pulled out to come to room temperature, the rolls shaped and set out to rise. I took the kids out to dig potatoes and we got a pretty hefty basketful. 

Dinner turned out great. Everyone had a full plate in front of them. Seeing as how it has been just Randyman and I for the past several  years, we are short on serving ware. My nephew, the former cowboss, donated the last 4 dishes we required, but I didn’t have enough glassware, so I grabbed some handy Mason jars. Setting them in front of the teenagers, Kaylee piped up with 

“Oh sure! She gives US the ones that say “WIDE mouth!”

 I’m not sure, but I am suspicious that there might be a class clown in the group....

We had a vote on the elements BEFORE the cheesecake, as I knew that would skew the polls. 

Kitchen chaos=sign of a successful family dinner!

It all turned out better than I had hoped and after another night of chatting until our eyes would no longer stay open we retired.

After we all cleaned up I wandered through my darkened bedroom towards the bathroom. Hannah stepped in and asked if I knew where Abby was. I told her 

"I really don't know, she's not in here..."

Hannah thanked me, turned and continued her search. 

Suddenly a little voice from out of a dark corner startled me as it said 

"Good job Gramma!"

Apparently, I AM good at this game.

At about 6 am I awoke to 2 little bundles being carried into the living room as I had happily agreed to watch the wee ones while they went hunting with the boss’ oldest son. I found I was unable to utter a word or even whisper to them due to a very swollen and painful throat. It continued all day and into the night. Little Kinley wept for her Mommy and Daddy while Abby slept through several showings of Nemo. Hannah showed up and Kinley immediately brightened up and felt better. They are all truly something special. I've never seen kids get along so well as the 5 of them...especially not GIRLS.

Sadly, half of our little group had to leave for home,but not before Cody and Krystal came back with a nice 4x4 buck in the back of their pickup. Abby entertained everyone with a ‘puppet show’.

After a final quad ride, half the family packed up, along with some raspberry starts, jam, recipes and sourdough starter and began the long trek back to California, until the next visit. The other half will stay a bit longer and hopefully bag one more buck.

It was a great weekend. I couldn't ask for anything better. There's nothing that can compare to family.

Thankfully

So much to be thankful for.

My sons. I have memories of them growing up that never fail to make my heart swell. I laugh recalling their antics and when I close my eyes, I can sometimes still feel the soft little hands on my face and arms around my neck as I hugged them tightly and hearing them speak my favorite name in the world, “Mama”. Nothing can take that away. Now, when I lay eyes on them, I am breathless at the amazing men they have become both as husbands and fathers. I am pleased and proud, even though my heart often feels it will break because I miss them so very much. 

There are our daughters and daughters-in-law, raising their own broods of little ones, navigating life’s waters with an eye to the future and the kind of people they are molding their own children to become, learning to balance life between being mother, wife, friend and career woman, giving their all to each endeavor. I remember well those days.

Then there is unrelated family. That is, those who we love and love us back as if we were family. Sometimes it’s hard to believe I have not known them all my life.

This includes our ranch family. People we are blessed beyond belief to know and share life with.

Things have been so hectic here recently, I have had NO time to blog. Cleaning out cabins and houses for both visitors and new ranch family members. Moving stuff in, moving stuff out. The ranch is putting in pivots and much needs to be done, keeping Randyman hopping. Some of our little people came to visit and their dad worked hard taking down a mile of fencing among other things, helping out, while 9/10’s of the ranch crew was out fighting fire. It was a blast to have them here and it already seems like they have been gone too long.

A new family moved in to fill the cowboss position opened by our nephew leaving, a sad event in itself. I didn’t see him much, as he was always working and I have been sick the past couple of years, but it was comforting to just know he was here. On the bright side, Randyman’s mom, sister, daughter and newest grandson came up for a long weekend to help him get moved. It was bittersweet. A few tears were shed as goodbyes were offered.

An old friend is moving in with us, to help me on those not-so-swell-days, so everything stored in our back bedroom needs to find a new home. New shelves had to be built and there is much going on. 

The rocketcar people are coming back and there are supposed to be 42 of them staying at the ranch in various situations....cabins, tents, motorhomes. I think there has been more activity and more people here lately than I ever saw in the city. It's fun and exciting but I am also looking forward to the quietness of winter again, when things are not quite so hectic.

My sons and their families are due next weekend so I am excitedly making plans and figuring out strategy of how to get things done and still have time to enjoy them. If I can do the food planning ahead of time we will have a little better chance to do some fun stuff. One set will be hunting all week, the other will have but a day to see their way around. I'll be trying to fit a weeks worth of stuff into just a few hours that day.

I personally, am in a period of transition and also one of great expectation. My mind and body can’t quite keep up and grasp it all, hence no blogging. A great percentage of the time, my mind has been pretty much a blank. Trying to settle into a 'new normal' has proved to be a little more challenging than I had expected.

The ranch kids have gone off to college, all but the boys. I sent them along with 'care packages' of home canned soups and meats as well as sending some along with one of our daughters, which has left our own shelves kind of bare. I got some beef chunks canned this morning in the new All American Canner (which I LOVE). In a couple of weeks I will begin to restock the rest of the shelves with soups and stews and more sandwich and dinner meats. Unfortunately, our cold summer kept my tomatoes from ever ripening or even getting close, so there won't be any bruschetta, BBQ sauce or any of the other goodies I had hoped and planned to put up.

Beyond that, two amazing cheesecakes are in the freezer, a special salad is marinating, turkeys are defrosting and plans are in the works to get yams and stuffing made before Saturday so I can just stuff the bird, bake the breads and heat everything else up. It is the first time in 8 years the whole family has been able to get together so I am celebrating with a very early Thanksgiving Dinner. Bread cubes from the last loaf of homemade bread are drying in the oven and will be seasoned tonite, after we eat homemade pizza. There were just enough basil leaves left for me to make pesto for the sauce on one of them.

More good news, EmmaLou is about 3 months pregnant, per the vet and SushiMoo is big enough to be bred, whenever we can get her to a bull or a bull to her. The Polarbears are diligently protecting the sheep from what sounds like record numbers of coyotes. One night they woke me up, the howling was so loud and pitched. I went out with a flash light and the hair stood up on the back of my neck as I listened to large packs in three different directions around me. I was concerned for the dogs, that they may have become separated, attacked and overwhelmed. But they returned in the morning, as usual, unharmed and the coyotes seem to have moved on as its been pretty quiet lately.

I've managed a couple of rides with my friend which makes all the difference, not having to ride alone. Even though I am getting on and off to open and close gates, it helps tremendously for her to be there to block Mister when necessary from stepping away while I balance precariously on rocks, stumps or next to ditches to remount.

It's all good.

In the Company of Company

It’s been a whirlwind of a month. 

I can’t remember a lot of it as we have been very busy, but it was great seeing so much family and friends. Randyman’s sister, niece and her family came up for a surprise visit to see our nephew, the cowboss, who will sadly be leaving for another job somewhere in October. (I think I was the only one surprised by the visit, the guys often forget to tell me stuff, but at least it’s always a GOOD surprise!) We also have a new guy, who is an exchange student from Okinawa and speaks english very well...probably better than I do, but with an accent. He’s fun and laughs a lot. The boss was gone so we had him for meals the first few days to welcome him to the ranch. That put 8 at our little 6 person table for a few days.
It was great to see everyone and I hope the kids all come back to visit again, even though their uncle will no longer be here.

They are putting in several large ‘pivots’ here at the ranch. These are 1/2 mile long irrigation systems that will pivot around the center, watering a square (actually a round) mile. Lots of fence needs to be removed and ditches filled. It will change a lot about the landscape of the ranch and will be a big improvement for feeding and irrigating,  I think. Randyman put out a distress call, and we have some great friends who we also consider family, that answered. They all arrived the day after his sister left. They stayed for 2 weeks helping us all out and the second week a friend of mine arrived for her scheduled visit. That kept 8 at the dinner table.

Of the 8, three were my little people. The little people had a great time. They played at the pond, hugged on the polar bears, played with Thomas, who allowed them to pet his little bumply head. One of them made the observation "It looks kinda like his brain is on the OUTSIDE of his head..."

they helped  process the last 7 meatie chickens, which became a source of great hilarity as well as a biology lesson. The oldest little people person can now identify a chicken's heart, gizzard, lungs, liver, intestines and crop.

Chicken calisthenics

Grabbing the tendon to do the 'chicken wave" 

They climbed with Annie in the Octopus tree where they also found 'sheep hair', a dead hawk (most likely caught by the Maremmas who take offense at predatory raptors attacking their flock) and underwent construction of what we were told but were afraid to investigate, was an outdoor potty.

 They rode Wimpy and Mister, pushed the leppies, Sushi and EmmaLouMoo  to the top of my pasture for a little experience in moving cows...

...helped move portable fencing, made fettucini noodles...

... we also made homemade ice cream, flaming banana crepes with dark rum, leg of lamb and lots of other good stuff. Oldest little people person learned to sew a little and made a skirt for school, collected eggs and cleaned out the lambing shed, while their Daddy worked like a machine taking out over a mile of barbed wire and hog wire fencing, etc. A combat experienced US Marine, he also shared his warrior's perspective on Bible passages that was really awesome to hear and gave us a greater understanding of some OT passages that described the massive armies of their time in the mornings while evenings we all spent watching Duck Dynasty reruns, laughing and being grateful that finally there is a show the whole family can enjoy together.

Their Mom worked on my house, organizing things I didn’t even think could be organized and helping out with every possible thing. They were all like little ants, each day carrying out their missions. It was great to see them and I hope next visit they can just rest and enjoy the ranch, although a little of that was done too.

They brought a new family member with them, a little Rottweiler puppy named Achilles. Cute as a bug, he’d play out front with the kittens and dogs then flop down on the ugly, old, turquoise linoleum floor that graces this house, seeking to cool off. He’d flatten out like a rug. One day the guinea fowl ventured into the front yard. That was their BIG mistake. Achillies took out after them, anxious to play with a living squeaky toy, but the Maremmas saw him through the fence. That was HIS big mistake. My big white polar bear-looking dogs are pretty flexible, but they do hold a grudge. From that point on, Achilles was on their hit list. It made for some interesting times, as the polar bears are used to coming inside if its very hot, but so was Achilles. There was a lot of dancing around going on, pushing dogs in and out in a hurry every time they nearly crossed paths. I’m not sure how future visits are going to turn out, I guess I hope it’s when the Polar Bears are content to just stay outside.

Meantime, a friend from long ago, that I haven’t seen for many years, came by bus to visit. It began as a visit for her to just get away from the heat and bustle of the city she lives in. We went horseback riding, took the 4 wheelers up to the weir...

...fed leppies and handled the sheep, calves etc. She enjoyed the little people and their family as much as we did, in fact they were giving her very big hugs when they left. She has helped process meat birds in the past (well...actually she helped process one turkey but it counts). She likes riding, loves dogs, likes fresh fruits and veggies so the garden is a plus. All in all it seems a perfect fit, so I took her back to the bus station a week later with plans for Randyman and I to drive down with the trailer to pick up all her worldly goods as she is moving in to help us out, as it is getting more and more difficult for me to do regular things.  

It's great the way things work out sometimes.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Things have been quiet on the ranch lately. The trainer who does his “ranch schools” here is done for the year and the boss’ kids are ready to return to college. We are down to one hired cowboy and Randyman, plus a pair of brothers, one who is manning the hot springs and the other assisting Randyman. A crew has come to put in giant pivots which will water a square mile of pasture each, which should be pretty exciting. This year was pretty droughty and all the snow is gone off the mountain. I believe this is the first time I have ever seen it all melt before the new snow comes. All in all, there hasn’t been too much activity around the houses here. This weekend the ranch family has been at the Idaho ranch working cows for a few days so it’s even quieter than usual.

Our nephew, the cowboss has his nephew which would be our...great nephew? He’s been here for a week helping bring strays down off of the mountain. I haven’t seen much of anyone but the good news is, I have been feeling great! I had 5 days in a row with NO Ra pain at all. I have been struggling with pretty nasty sciatic pain from my back and down one hip to my knee, but the REALLY good news is, horseback riding helps it. I got old Mister out one day and padoopeedooped around the pasture a bit and felt pretty good. When I got off, there was no pain and I was not limping. I did a few chores that night however, and it all came back. A day or so later, I got Wimpy and went for a three hour ride. It was so awesome to be out again after all this time. The grass is still green and more than belly deep where I was riding. The colors and textures of the limey green grasses, the grey blue sagebrush, purple lupine and some kind of yellow daisie like flowers was breathtaking. The sky was clear blue and the mountain looked awesome, in all its craggy splendor. It just felt so wonderful and in my head I could remember past rides, moving calves or gathering with the kids and whoever the current cowboss would have been at the time. Good times, always. Maybe not so far away to do again.

Meanwhile I do what I can. Yesterday I grabbed up Mister only to find him with a snotty nose and cough. Hopefully it is just a cold virus. He has a very low grade temp so antibiotics aren't called for at this time. I am hoping against hope he is well by next week. I took care of him and caught up Wimpy and we went for a short cruise to the bottom of the pasture to get a closer look at one of the new pivots going on the ranch. It will water a square mile of grass...well, technically it will water a round mile of grass. On the way back up I looked to the North and saw blue skies, whereas to the South, it was squalling over the lakebed. The storm was going to hit us pretty soon. EmmaLou, SushiMoo and their cohorts were huddled up by the octopus tree having an afternoon siesta.

I was reminded however, of how I truly wish that when a wife buys a gate to make it easy for her to get her horses in and out of a pasture, that her dear husband didn’t repurpose it somewhere ELSE and leave a crummy chunk of cattle panel with very sharp edges on it, in its place. Luckily, as they say, it’s a long way from my heart. I am more horrified over how hairy and swollen my hand looks than anything else. Gak!

No harm no foul. As long as I can ride, it works.

Meanwhile, we are getting ready to wean the leppies and are kind of shifting things around. I’ve been weaning the 3 lambs as well, so they are in electric netting which has to be moved every couple of days to keep them in feed.

They eat down some of the thistle which has been trying to take over the pasture. There is a huge difference in 48 hours, with 3 little lambs and 2 small goats in a 1600 sq ft. pen, as you can see.

 They are like pasture piranhas. We wanted to lock the sheep in the big corral to take down some of the weeds so I had to call them in.

I couldn’t see them and they weren’t responding to my voice. There was a cow not far away in the tall weeds. Bruno suddenly charged her and ran her back aways. I hollered at him because we don’t want the dogs chasing the boss’ cows. It does no good to call an LGD when he’s doing something like that anyway, they won’t listen. When he’d gotten her to jump back about 20 feet or so, he was satisfied and headed back my direction. He cleared the brush and stopped, looking back over his shoulder. Moments later, the sheep appeared, walking single file and I shook my head and marveled as he led them past me to the corral. He had clearly understood what I was wanting as his behavior was so deliberate.

This morning I let the sheep out and again, there was a cow close by. Bru ran past the sheep and placed himself between them and the cow. One ewe went to pass him and head that direction and he gently nudged her and changed her course. He stood until he was satisfied all the sheep were heading where he wanted them to, then he sat and made direct eye contact with me. It was as if to let me know he understood I didn’t want him chasing the cow off, so he used a new tactic. These dogs are just scary smart! 

It truly saddens me when people dump these dogs or abuse them because they think they aren't working out. Usually it is a case of owner stupidity and not  being willing to learn how these dogs think and react. They are NOT like other dogs and often dog handling experience is a deficit not an asset unless your experience is with bonafide LGD breeds. (Pyrenees, Maremma, Akbash, Anatolian, etc.) They are extremely deliberate in their behaviors and almost never do something without good reason. I've learned from experience, I am often wrong about them more than right, when I criticize something they have done. I've had to eat crow more than once.

Speaking of which, we invited the nephews for dinner. Randyman wanted fried chicken so I grabbed the meatie roosters I had parted out and decided to cook it all up. It would be nice to have leftovers for lunch. I fried it all up in two batches, 8 drumsticks, 8 thighs, wings, the works. I made some corn bread to go with it, and mashed potatoes and gravy made with home canned chicken broth, milled some pastry flour and made some whole wheat brownies with it. It all came together perfectly and the boys dug in. One of the brothers from the hot springs showed up and hadn’t eaten so we invited him in as well. By the end of the evening all that was left was a couple inches of the original 9x13 pan of brownies. So much for leftovers! But they went to a good cause and I love to think the bachelors enjoyed something besides ramen noodles or beanie weanies for a change. I think we will need more chickens next year, for sure.

Petey's Most Awesome, Pretty Good Day

The freezers are full. In order to relieve some of the ‘congestion’ I grabbed the few chicken carcasses left from when I parted out meaties and tossed them in the stock pot, along with some onion, peppercorns, carrots, a couple ribs of celery, fresh from the garden thyme and parsley, a little rosemary and some garlic. I added a couple of necks and of course, the feet, which had been cleaned. Chicken feet make the best kind of stock because they are mostly cartilage and supply all the glucosamine and chondroitin you could want. I let it simmer all day and the smell is heavenly. Once it is done and everything has been pretty much leached into the broth, I let it cool down some, then strain it into another large stockpot. That goes to the walk in to chill, while I pick through the solids that remain, putting bones in one bag, the veggies in a bucket to throw on the compost and the meat into a bowl. I gleaned enough meat off of the 3 carcasses to make  Chinese Chicken Salad, with more than half a bowl left over. This is one of my favorite summer salads so I was tickled to have it readily accessible. The only things I don't always have on hand are fresh celery, bean sprouts and the chinese noodles, but I grabbed some last trip to town. The dry noodles will keep a pretty long time so I’ll be picking up extra next trip and I have ordered mung beans to make our own sprouts, as they don’t last long and often, I can’t find them in the stores I go to. Green onions are always available in my back yard, winter and summer. I always have dry celery on hand, but not fresh, so that is something that is always on the grocery list and I always make something that requires it when we get it home. Then whatever is left over, goes in the dehydrator for soups and stews later on.

Uncharacteristically, I awoke before dawn one morning and not from being in any pain. In fact, I felt like a million bucks, so I quietly snuck outside in the dark under what was left of the moon and headed to the back pasture. I’d heard Cletus barking so I figured something was out of place back there, although he was quiet again so whatever it had been, had already been handled. I snuk up to the alley fence and peeked over to see all the sheep had been huddled together out in the open at the top of the pasture. Both Maremmas were trotting toward them so apparently it had been an encounter of the sheeple-threatening kind. The pups suddenly became aware of me and seconds later I was met in the corral by 200+ lb of highly enthusiastic, wagging polar bodies. After establishing that our infatuation for each other had not dimmed, we watched the sun rise together. It was a wonderful beginning to the day.

EmmaLouMoo has been out back with the bull and about a dozen cows for the past several weeks. SushiMoo has been isolated as she is too young to breed, and we were using the opportunity of her being lonely to get her to bond with us and become a bit more social. She was able to come and go from the corrals and out to the horse pasture as she pleased. Unfortunately, she found a way thru the fences and was loose out with the rest. I was able to capture Wimpy and saddle him (something I had not been able to do in months) and rode down to bring all the cows up from the bottom of the pasture and separate Em and Sushi out into the corral. They tried to pull a sneaky by racing back around the octopus tree and trying to double back on me while we were caught up in the wet, mucky ground, but Wimpy was a good boy and we managed to head them off and accomplish our objective. It made me a very happy camper.

A couple of days later Sushi came in heat which was a relief because #1 she for sure didn’t get bred over night and #2 it means she can go back out there for a couple of weeks until she is due to come in again, at which time I will bring her up and separate her again until her heat is over and turn her loose again. It makes her a much happier little cow.

The Red Rangers are STILL not ready to butcher. We definitely won’t be buying anymore of them as they don’t hold a candle to the cornishX as far as being economical and quick to finish. I know a lot of folks like them because they are hardier, but as we’ve not had problems with the CX, we’ll happily stick with them. 

When I had gone to visit Wimpy and Mister, Thomas followed me into the big corral and waited at the gate. When I returned, he wouldn’t let me pass. The next thing I knew, he began attacking me. He was running at me and jumping up, flapping his wings and kicking at me with his feet. I was using a foot to kick him back each time but he continued. I finally hollered for Bruno, who rescued me by body blocking Thomas and keeping him from getting too close to me. The heavy socialization and bonding I did with the Maremmas, once again paid off. It looks like Thomas might grace our Thanksgiving table, after all. He’s happily residing beneath the raspberry bushes with the Rangers for now.

It’s been unusually hot this summer and the garden has suffered for it. The flowers and hidden veggies have been making a valiant effort to survive and compete with the weeds.

I love sneaking stuff like cabbage and squash into the flower gardens

Hopefully, next year I will be more successful in my battle with weeds and dirt. For now, I'll just settle for what we have and plan on starting more perennials next spring to fill in the spots that need it.

Going out with Randyman to feed the other night, Cletus roared and took off out of the corral toward the orchard. He was upset because THIS guy and his co hort were parked in the trees. Apparently, Cletapotamus has not forgotten that they killed a bunch of his meaties and he was unable to stop them.

As for the rest, he's been fairly vigilant so I've got no worries.

Yesterday I pulled the stockpot out of the walk in, skimmed the fat off the top and canned  2 gallons of chicken broth as well as 7 qts of mixed veggies-carrots, potatoes, corn, peas and butter beans. The plan is to be able to grab a jar of veggies and a jar of chicken I have canned, dump them in a pie crust with some gravy and have a quick chicken pot pie. I tested the theory last night and it was a GOOD plan!! I think I will can more veggies and perhaps a couple different mixes with mushrooms and such as this would be good for sheperds pie, beef pot pies and some other stuff too. It's been a pretty good week for me and I'm looking forward to August!

 Hope you are too.