Tadpoles and Frogs

Marcy has tadpoles in her rain barrels and tubs.

She places sticks in the water so when they transform into frogs they can climb out safely. There are many kinds that raise here: Bull frogs, Leopard frogs,  Tree frogs and maybe more we don't know.

I was fortunate to see one emerging with a small tail still visible.

The tiny tree frog made my fingers look very large.

I believe it may be one of these.

They love this tall ornamental grass.

Warming or bug waiting?

Your guess is good as mine.

Sometimes there are more than one

of different sizes.

When dark comes they will raise their voices 

so large and loud they sound much bigger than they are.

Not A Devoted Cat Person

Gasp!  Oh, the horror!!!!

But when my sister has such cute kittens I have to take a few pictures.

Purrrfect.

My Sister's House

Stands with a repaired roof today.  We were scheduled for repair but rain kinda moved up the schedule. This week the roof decided to leak and the sheet rock in the kitchen ceiling decided to fall. Fire department volunteers climbed onto the roof and laid a tarp to avoid further water damage.  Cleaned up, gosh, what a mess! Repaired.  On to other chores.

With all the work we have to do I am grateful for good help

and good equipment.

Hoping next week is not as exciting.

Fruitless Turns Around

Just like trying again and again to capture a humming bird, life sometimes seems to work against you. Fruitless....or it seems that way.

My oldest sister, Marcy, was a school teacher for the same school for thirty-seven years.  She retired and like me and our other sister moved to the farm to help Mom and Dad in their later years.  She left behind her house.

I'm not sure how long we've all been at the farm because the years have a way of piling up and mixing all together but it's been a while.

Marcy's plans to renovate and sell the house were put on hold with Mom's death, Dad's Alzheimer's and death,  Hubby and then Marcy herself became sick.  With odds and ends of semi-emergencies sprinkled in the mix just to keep us on our toes, time passed  Life has a way of interfering with your plans.

I'm not telling this as a sad tale but only as an introduction to a miraculous day.

I believe her house sat vacant for over five years.  The renovations were not completed.  She still had the power on and paying taxes with nothing showing for it.  Being the busybody sister that I am I became determined to change this for her.

On line I went looking for real estate agents. Checked their specs and contacted a couple.  Marcy got a letter outlining what she needed to do...and there it sat for a couple of months or longer.

Being the bullheaded determined person I am, I finally just said, This day we are going to look at your house and get it listed.

We headed out...in a car.

Do you have the agent's number?  No, the letter's at home.  Okay, we will just pick the first office we see. (I got funny looks),

Stopped to potty and we didn't have a clue where a real estate agent was. Marcy picked up one of those free real estate books to see if there is one close.  A lady walked by and asked Marcy if she was looking for a place.  Marcy said, No, selling.  She and the lady began to talk.  This is the same lady we had been in contact with by mail!  What are the odds of that??

I told Marcy I thought this was a sign and we were going with this agent.  It felt like God had put her in our path.  And the agent was not the only person God would place in our path this day.

We arrived.  Entered.  Remodeling material still there.  Every thing looked okay.

City Marshall showed up.  Visited for a while.  An old friend showed up to visit with Marcy. Then a new neighbor that moved in after Marcy moved out showed up.  The city was having a clean up and a recycle drive to pay for the city's fire works display.  He offered to take anything we were going to discard.  Out washer, dryer, refrigerator, out broken things and trash with an offer to clear the things that pile up around the shed in every one's back yard.  Done, done and done!

A past student of Marcy's stopped by to visit.  Offers to send the local boy scout troop to clean her yard! Good lesson for them on helping neighbors, she said.

Real estate agent is called and arrives.  Marcy does the paperwork.  As soon as the price is known people are on the phone calling neighbors.  One man came to look at the house before the agent ever left.

Sooooooo, we piled what we could in the car from the house with plans to return with a truck to get her last bit of possessions.  The house is almost empty but the shed is full.  I have feelers out (with Marcy's approval) to donate most of Marcy's teaching supplies where they can be used by teachers or the church or some place they will be loved.

Hopefully, soon this will be a past chapter for Marcy she can close with a smile and a happy ending.

This N That

fungi on a log

Here I share tiny pieces as we all do, glimpses into parts of our daily lives. This is not a reality show so you don't get the in your face daily living dramas, tragedies and triumphs...not all of them so I'm gonna hit some highlights.

Marcy, my oldest sister, has passed her tests and remains cancer free for another year.  The tests and checks are getting farther apart.  I do the driving.

Beverly, my second sister (yep, I'm the baby), is still operating The Shop, mostly by herself. I go up now and then to help.  Things are still moving out and moving on.

Hubby is holding steady on his heart health but I can tell some days are worse than others. We are relatively young, he 64 and I 61, but we seem to be going downhill.

Our outings are mostly grocery and doctor runs,

We have a boomerang child.

Andrew graduates this year.

We no longer have any livestock.  Down to one rooster...they were quite old.

Hubby has the garden plowed for spring planting.

We have a list of work that NEEDS to be done as long as all our arms put together.

Sadly the elders here all woven together would not make one healthy person but we keep on keeping on.

On the brighter side, we are still here, pecking away at daily living.  We have acreage to explore, fishing, hunting, fresh water, sunshine and rain.  We are blessed.

Family

makes good neighbors when they help build a new porch.  One set of steps done, one to go.  Marcy is glad.  The boards are straight the tags are crooked.

Waiting for warmer temperatures to finish.

It's Sunny with 80 Per Cent Chance of Rambling

as I type.  The cold front that swept through here Friday and Saturday night dropped the temps to freezing at night but the days have been in the fifties. Today back into the sixties.

My sister, Marcy, plucked and gathered and shared the bounty from her garden.  With a positive outlook she draped the remaining plants with sheets to help them survive.

In our part of the country we don't get cold and stay cold.  There may be another frost tomorrow or it may be a week or two.  We have learned to keep the garden going as long as we can.  We have all kinds of peppers, turnips, tomatoes, and many greens. I even have green tomatoes growing in my worm bed!!!  Check here for the beginning of my worm bed.

The worm bed has progressed nicely and we have night crawlers and red worms handy if we decide to go fishing.  If not, they work the compost and multiply. The hefty volunteer tomato plants are large and healthy. I couldn't be prouder if I had grown them myself.

I have been playing with my blog on these cooler days instead of playing outside.  When the cold comes fast it takes a little adjustment on my part.  Be open with your opinion please and tell me if I need to return my blog to its previous state.

Hopefully I will be more creative another day.

The Back Forty and Weekly News...

Marcy and I ate out on doctor day.

Our nephew, Toni, met us at the doctor's office.

Stormi, Toni's daughter joined Aunt Marcy (cancer free), Toni and me for lunch.

Zander, my youngest grandson, graduated Kindergarten the 22nd. He's headed to Big School for Big Kids.

Hubby found me an amazing rock and delivered it to my water/rock garden.  That guy knows the way to my heart!

Bonnie, the pit bull and Sir Loin, the meat giver, have become fast friends.  They are now exchanging licks! They say never name an animal you are going to eat but, alas, we did.  Marcy carries him fresh clover and we all pet this bull calf.  I will remember to thank Sir Loin for his gift to us when I bite into that first meat.

My other sister, Beverly, and I keep on working every day at the shop. The farm keeps us busy, too.   I wondered what happened to retirement??

Down and Dirty On Easter

Many know we have live water from springs.  This is pumped into the house for our convenience (I have carried many a buckets from this spring).  Our water is far better and sweeter tasting that any city water I've had.  The rock circle is where the pump sits suspended in clear spring water.  My grandpa and Dad made this years ago.  

The bad part about all this is we have to clean and flush the spring at least twice a year according to conditions.  Well we missed last year (Hubby's and Marcy's illness).  Our water remained clear and sweet but this day of work was long over due. 

This is not a one man job.  So we invited family with the lure of Marcy's cooking and they went to work.

First you make a plan.  The culvert for over flow was removed to flush out the area removing moss and two years of natural deposits in the bottom of the holding pond.

Then you jump in and start moving the mud.  The more mud moving out the better.  The blanket moss goes out with the current.

Basically it is like making wine.  You squish the mud and work it down stream with your feet.  Andrew kept us hydrated.

Second grandson Jake ran to get whatever we needed, sometimes driving the Ranger or running as fast as he could go.  Andrew and Jake played some foot ball

and then they deserted us.

Shoveling muck is fun.  Now maybe we won't have to clean it again till next spring...hopefully!

We scrubbed everything, dug muck and pushed water.  We've done this since childhood but it was all done by hand then.  We would dig grass from this branch all the way to the creek.  It was an all day job for four generations.

 We rescued critters

and moved them to a safer place.  Our plan was to bleach the main spring to kill the blanket moss but not the live things.  The bleach will do its job and it will dissipate before it reaches the pond or creek.

Boots were no good.  

All was work was done barefooted.

Melissa, my oldest daughter,

captured a mother/daughter portrait.

The work continues and the water level lowered.  Melissa said she never saw any pictures on my blog of her.  I wonder if she will be proud of this one!  Bev, my sister, is working that mud so it can move on out.

Marcy, my oldest sister, came over to tell us she had cooked a feast.  Toni, my nephew, did work although I have few pictures of it.

We chlorinated while Hubby dammed the creek.  We ate a mouth watering belly filling delicious dinner at Marcy's and returned to the spring.

Busting the dam.

Replacing the culvert with Toni looking like a Highway Department employee we are nearing completion.

Now we are back in the pure water business again.

As the world celebrated the Resurrection

we resurrected our water source.

Spying On The Tractor Man...

The secret photographer, Marcy

spies on Tractor Man for me

She reports the damage

but keeps an eye out

in case he gets into trouble. 

Really not able to do much

he doesn't give up.

Marcy, not well either,

keeps sharing the evidence.

Thanks, Marcy, for all you do.