Stalking The Wild Asparagus

The games begin.

Where did he go?

Asparagus and Four O'clocks in a good place to begin looking.

Like Euell Gibbons, he begins Stalking The Wild Asparagus.

"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!

Of All The Things I Needed To Do

I chose playing with rocks.  I wish I'd taken a true before picture but did not think until I starting unloading the rocks from the stump.

When I first built this garden for Dad, Hubby made me a stump chair.  The years and critters have worn it down so I thought it was time for it to move on to another purpose.

The removal left a hole.  Flats rocks were gathered to extend the walk.

My ever present partner, Ms OCD, had me sort like kinds.

First collection rocks were separated from working rocks.

Round rocks, cave rocks, crystals and conglomerates had to be grouped.

Fossils, metamorphic and iron ore Ms OCD sorted and played.

At quitting time you could not detect where the stump had been. The animals and people have a solid clear area to approach the water to drink, swim or just enjoy the view.

Empty pecans, pecan limbs, leafs and other natural debris were picked and raked away to join my compost or my burn pile.  Yep, that's the stump sitting behind my bench.  Couldn't bring myself to remove it completely...yet.

Valley of the Dogs...

The farm pack playing

From back to front, left to right:

Junior, 

Lizzy, Maggie, Squiggie,

Diamond Lil, Ki-Anne and Bonnie.

They have deleted a few predators

and are friendly with the other occupants here.

Good dogs!

Diamond Lil

Lizzy with Bonnie, puppy in training

All love the water except Lizzy

she tip toes through it.

Every farm needs a good team.

Roses and Chain Saws...

Roses and skull

Trim and recharge with caffeine 

Another way to trim limbs you can't reach.

We cut and piled trees and branches until there was not a dry rag on us which did not take long in this weather.  Five useless trees too close to the house and miscellaneous limbs have joined a growing pile.

As TM rested I did some more digging, testing and digging and had a dry (wet) run before I put things in place permanently.

 I did a water test 

as the dogs played.

Whacha Doin'?

Eatin' a plum.

Wanna play?

How about Hide-N-Seek?

You're it!

New Life, Old Water Garden...

I began removing rocks with the idea of consolidating two water gardens.  I had my work cut out for me.

How many rocks were around and in this water garden?  I'm not counting.  I first made this water garden for Dad after Mom died. I used his rock collection and added more as the pond progressed.

Dad  would sit for hours watching the goldfish swim until he decided to rebuild the pond.  He dug canals circling the pond and to the fence line. There he constructed an earthen dam.   I didn't know what he was doing unless maybe he was routing an overflow path for flood waters.  I let him work.  The garden was for him.  He rounded mounds of dirt over the rocks and patted it into to place until he had the perfect dirt banked stock pond.  He had Alzheimer's.  It was his yard and his pond.  He was enjoying himself.

After he was gone I excavated the rocks and put it back together.  The fish had disappeared but there were frogs.

During the years Marcy has added lilies and parrot grass and planted surprise flowers around the garden for all to enjoy.  The pecan tree leaves fill the pond every fall so I usually deep clean it twice a season.

This season I had decided to combine my two gardens.  I began to remove the rocks...alllllll the rocks.  Picking our leaves and pecans as I cleaned the pond.

Here's the tractor tire water garden after a winter of animals and weather.  I saw bull frogs so the plan changed.  I could not empty this and lose my bull frogs.  The Blue Herons have almost decimated the bull frog population in our large ponds. I decided I'd just clean this one more year and then re-access...later after the eggs hatched and the new frogs were ready to be moved.

So back to Dad's water garden which I had almost completely disassembled.  A surprise awaited me there too.

Nestled under a rock was a "nest" of salamanders.

I love these creatures.

Again, I could not wreck their home.

You know a woman made water garden is good

when the wildlife moves in.

In this dark mess I found eggs

which don't look like frogs to me.

Spring has arrived at the water garden 

I didn't reflect for long.

The wildlife shall stay.

I remove the debris and add water.

I shall replace the rocks making it pet friendly.

The rock garden that began as Dad's will remain

one more year.

I Salute Thee, Oh, Beautiful Day!

A beautiful day means no coat,

becoming one with the farm,

joining in with the work at hand,

and relaxing.

Dog Days Of Summer

Saturday...

Was an amazingly beautiful day!  The air was warm, the sun was shining and green was peeking out.

We worked in mud.

The sunlight reflected off the water.

Ki explored with me.

We both got our feet wet.

Today was flip flop weather once again.

Ki had a snake/gun lesson today.

We played a little football,

and we played in dirt.

A chore done,

arrowheads discovered,

and time to play.

What could make a better day?