Moss Walk

We followed the sandy road

Lil wanted to play stick

Ki-Anne made splashes again and again.

Checked the May Apple crop

and traveled through the old orchard that was a hundred years or more.

The walk was up hill and hot.

Lil found a treasure...a water hole behind a terrace doing its job.

The trapped rain water felt so good and cool

even prissy Lizzy had a sit down.

I gathered moss,

with low environmental impact, 

 to add to my water garden.

It makes an amazing natural filter

and it grows! 

Fungi

fungi

 toadstool

fungirl

Snake Alert! Retraining The Dogs

Farm dogs have certain jobs.  Sometimes those jobs are sad but necessary for the continuance of life on a farm.  Can't have 'possums, skunks or 'coons in the chicken house and can't have armadillos digging holes for stock to break their legs in. We can't have poison snakes close to the house to bite unaware children and busy adults.  It is what it is.

The trained farm team choose snakes by smell.  Poison snakes, or pit vipers, have a very distinct smell.  The dogs eradicated the dangerous and left the harmless snakes alone.  Last year the dogs cornered a huge non-poisonous snake consuming all life available in my water garden.  This snake made the mistake when cornered of striking out and biting one of the dogs.  It was over in seconds. They didn't care about my rules one smidgen.  Their rules in that moment...if it bites my friend, it's gone.  I was not happy but you can't reassemble a snake.

Yesterday I found a harmless young snake about three feet long.  It was terrified.

Lizzy inspected as I told her no.

Poor snake was horrified and frozen in fear...good thing for it.

The hardest one to convince was Lil, our matriarch of snake watch.  Oh, she wanted to do her job so badly!  I kept saying, No, Lil.  It's a good snake.  Lil didn't like it but the dogs got a good smell and left it.  I'm hoping this will redirect them to eliminating only the poison snakes once again.

Jumping Into Spring

with all feet in our neck of the woods.

Flexing those winter slow muscles, 

joyfully playing in the dirt,

and tracking down jobs.

 Things are going swimmingly

even with all the sh**.

ABDUCTED

by life

by spring

by circumstance

Happy April!

"Boogering" The Dogs

not to be confused with "buggering".  "Boogering" is simply making strange noises and changing your outline to "booger" or make your dog think it is some monster invading.  Hubby loves this game.  I think it's horrible.  The dogs always look so embarrassed when they've misidentified  a threat.

 Lizzy, all noise, runs to safety.

Lil is moving in for the attack of this strange creature.

Bonnie and Ki are still unsure.

Lil has been embarrassed but Bonnie still is not sure.  Ki simply waits.

Bonnie's alert tail is still up

and they charge each other.

Oh, the things some of us do for fun!

Shotgun!

The sheer joy of riding upfront is indescribable. 

Long Time Coming...

You've watched Lizzy avoiding water like the plague.  She will go out of her way to find a crossing that only wets her toes.  In the heat of last summer she laid in an inch of water to cool off one time.

 Today after a long walk/run

she waded in belly deep like an old pro.

It wasn't an extended soak

but Lizzy is finally a semi-water dog.  Way to go, Lizzy!

After much enthusiastic rolling and some beach time

Lizzy dashed through again!

Some of you may remember when Lizzy came home with me Labeled Number Eighteen. Lizzy has grown and changed much from the young rescue that came home with me.  She is many things...the farm announcer, the snuggler, the cat companion...but never a water dog. Finally, after almost four years she has discovered the joy of water on a very warm day.

Welcome to Nirvana, Lizzy Number Eighteen. 

I Saw

Reflections With Lizzy

Spring pond with Lizzy

Top pond

water garden

Lizzy

Top pond reflections

Lizzy at the New pond definitely not thinking about swimming.

Fishing With Me

Retrieved my fish bait from my worm pit/compost pile, grabbed my purple rod and reel as Hubby gathered his little tackle box with all his lures etc.  Headed off in the Gator to the top pond with out the dogs that can't stay outta the water.  Lizzy got to go because you know she doesn't care too much for swimming.

Hubby starts reeling the bass in before I even get my bucket of worms unloaded.  My first cast I hang on a log and have to break the line.  Hubby says they're feeding deep so I trudge back to the Gator to get a float to hold my hook at the right depth.  I cast again.  

Oops!  Tangled up in a Button Willow in the edge of the pond and I'm NOT losing another hook, much less a floater.  After I retrieved the clippers from the Gator, off with my shoes and jacket. Pushed my pants legs up as far as they would go and stepped carefully into the mucky bottomed pond to save my float. Success.  Muddy feet are happy feet.

Contemplating which worm would be prime bait I wondered if they could feel that hook as I strung their little bodies on it.  Fished all my life and, believe me, the way they wiggle, they feel it! My line is still not in the water.

I was distracted by a rock.  Who, me??

I found another rock that fit my pocket.

Then decided to change fishing spots since I had no bites...

remember my line is not in the water.

Lizzy finds her spot

and I find mine far across from Hubby

where he continues to notify me with glee of how many he's caught!

My mess of fish is growing too!

Final tally...Hubby six, me twelve...but who's counting.

His stringer may be bigger but we all know size doesn't matter.

Mine were released into the spring pond

and

we're having Bass for supper.