StarzAbove

Do you know what happens when I fall asleep before 11 p.m.?
I wake up at 3:30 a.m. unable to go back to sleep.

But, an hour later I’m going to give it a try – wish me luck!

We lost an animal today. That is not unusual on a farm, I know, but it was still pretty upsetting. It was one of the 4 baby guinea fowl that we acquired this past weekend. It seems something(s) upset their nursery (playpen) and toppled it over on a rather cold and rainy night/morning. They were scattered. A Search & Rescue mission ensued. All were recovered but this little one was in bad shape. Soaked, frail, eyes closed, barely breathing. But as our rescue efforts continued in the house, the ill-fated one seemed to get better and better. Soon he/she was standing, chirping, and back to it’s still a bit weak self – but so much better! And then later on one of the girls brought this one to me and said it was getting bad again. And then within minutes the poor little thing was starting to stiffen and was no longer breathing. I’m sorry that my children have to go through loss, even though it builds character, etc. But it is part of the world we live in, so it’s something they must learn to deal with and understand as best they can – and me, too.

We plan to visit the farm where we adopted the guinea fowl to see if we can get a new 4th one for our wee flock tomorrow, hopefully. This time I’ll try and remember to get a photo.

If that doesn’t make me feel old…. or accomplished.

Previous goals list:

Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Project work a few hours this is now a daily thing
Spin – if only for a little while
Knit – again, only if a few rows
Water the garden we have little tomatoes! and like 100 popcorn plants!
Plant some more in the garden
Call septic dude for M & D and V & M
Help sister put up mailbox
Finish President’s Park.com

So, not so hot. It appears that I’m mostly going to retread.

Tomorrow’s goals:

Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Project work
Spin
Knit
Water garden
Plant some more in the garden
Help sister put up her mailbox
Finish PresidentsPark.com
Research recycling some barn wood
Harass the phone company for not showing up for 2 days as promised
Call clinic to check on allergy serums

Watching the trends of my goal lists, what gets done and what doesn’t, is sort of enlightening. Now, the trick will be to put these observations to work for me.

I woke up with a horrible sinus headache. Lack of ZyrtecD, lack of sleep and missing my shots last week are all contributors to weakening me against my allergies, I am sure. Zyrtec D has been acquired, I’m planning to go to sleep soon, and I’ll go for my shots Friday, so long as my serum has been received at the clinic that I go to for my shots – which are monthly now – Yay!!!

Quite a few things have sprouted in the garden: pumpkins, cantelope, watermelon, red/yellow onions, popcorn, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, yellow straight neck squash, zucchini squash, beans and radishes. Several things have not sprouted and need to be re-seeded: carrots, spinach, green onions, and possible peas.

We picked up a round bale of hay for the horses and moved them back into the upper pasture. Some headway was made on expanding the lower pasture, but not much. The chickens have a larger, renovated coop. And we have added Guinea fowl chicks to our menagerie, 4 of them. I’ll try and get a photo of them tomorrow. I keep reading that they are awesome at eating tic and other bugs – Yay!

I’m off to hopefully wrap up this meandering research project that is a couple of days over due and get some sleep. Tomorrow afternoon/evening will be spent with my 2 youngest nephews after a fairly busy day of project work. Good Night!

That pretty much says it all. I’ll update more tomorrow. Everything will hopefully make more sense then.

Last goals set:

Go into town to apply for replacement SS Card for Angel done and received already
Pick up wire for horse/cow pasture & animal feed done and built, but need more now
Set pole for mailboxes in concrete was finally taken care of this weekend, complete with shiny mailboxeS
Plant some more in the gardensome done, including popcorn! but more still needed
Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Call shearer and setup appointment
Spin – if only for a little while

Well, halfway through that list I felt some sense of accomplishment. Never mind the fact that it has been over 2 weeks and some of that stuff was just done this past weekend. But the second half of the list…. stragglers.

….pause…..

Okay, knocked another one out on the fly:
Call shearer and setup appointment June 13th or sooner if he gets a cancellation

As HOT as it was today and will be hotter yet tomorrow, maybe I should attempt to schedule a nice early morning walk and a lamb tail docking. There, I typed it “outloud.” So we shall see how that works.

And while on the topic of ‘typing it outloud’, Christine, whose blog I have followed fairly consistently for YEARS, has taken on a month-of-June-daily-blog challenge. And here I am agreeing that I should do the same. Her and I live in a somewhat parallel universe, too. We have much more in common than when I first started reading her blog so many years ago. (Well, years ago for blogging may be relative, but it’s what it is, okay?) We’re the same age, have very similar personality styles, have dabbled in web hosting as well as web design, and both have a passion for photography. She’s also one of the people that ‘hooked me up’ with knitting 4 years ago, and did you see where that led me? There are other things, too, but when your brain is melting it’s a little tough to recall them all. Christine, I’m proud to say, has really followed her dreams and is a FABULOUS wedding photographer. Go! Look! Fabulous, isn’t she!
Our paths do diverge a bit when it comes to specialties. Though I’m not set on mine – I don’t see myself ever doing the wedding photography thing, or even boudoir. But after watching Christine’s portfolio grow, I’m very happy to leave those specialties to her – she owns them! Is it silly that I am so proud of someone that I don’t really know? Ah well, too bad if it is – silly is not so awful anyhow. So someday I hope to grow up and be a photographer like Christine – I’ll just have to work at it a LOT, and find my niche, whatever it might be in the end.

While not a fabulous shot, this was sure a fun and surprising one. I sat outside LATE one night/morning watching a truly amazing lightning storm pass just north of us. It was an almost continuous display – better than fireworks! I finally decided to grab my camera and just shoot it. Seriously. I didn’t grab my tripod, and I barely messed with the settings. I basically hand-held it, aimed towards the storm and just held the shutter down for continuous bursts off and on.

Sometimes spontaneity pays off.

I’ll wrap up with a new and revised goal list:

Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Project work a few hours
Spin – if only for a little while
Knit – again, only if a few rows
Water the garden
Plant some more in the garden
Call septic dude for M & D and V & M
Help sister put up mailbox
Finish President’s Park.com

Yesterday’s goals for today:

Set pole for mailboxes in concrete
Plant some more in the garden some
Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Work for a few hours
Spin – if only for a little while

One thing was done, at least partially. We planted 4 more hills of zucchini squash, to go along with the 2 that we planted as starts. We planted 4 more hills of cucumbers, also in addition to the 2 that we planted as starts. We planted a row of spinach, that probably won’t make it, so I’ll have to pick up more seeds. Most of the seeds in the packet had sprouted, I think the package somehow ran into some dampness. And Angel planted some herbs: basil, oregano and tarragon (a family fave). She plans to start some chamomile in pots.

We also did some hoeing, weeding and blackberry plant removal. There is a patch nearby and the suckers were trying to invade, so we dug them up as best we could. There are still more out there to remove, which we will do as we plant those areas.
I love blackberries but they can easily take over an area if you let them – so we are attempting to garner control over them.

Something ate our little strawberries that were growing on our starts. I imagine it was either chickens or the bunny. She’s been running around loose in the chicken coop (funny bunny) and has also been seen outside of the coop a few times, though she does run right back into the coop to hide if anyone goes out that way. She’s our Angora bunny, Fauna. She’s 3 years old, I believe.
So we are planning to fence in the garden, hopefully this weekend.

Husband and Son worked on the new lower horse pasture. They ran into quite a few problems with large rocks, but they persisted and have a row started of fence posts – mostly, if not all, cedar. Cody has been escaping the temporary pasture in the Oasis, over and over. In fact, Son and I just went out, in the middle of the night, and put him back in the temporary pasture. I pray he stays nearby long enough for us to finish the lower pasture this weekend. It’s going to be a large job, but a very necessary one.

I didn’t make it out for a walk, but I sure did sweat in the garden doing so much weeding, cultivating and planting. It was a rather warm, humid day, too.

The work I had planned was canceled today. However, I did work with Jillian for a bit on a new revision for President’s Park. They have an exciting tour project coming up very soon, so we took the opportunity to give the site a bit of a refreshing.

So here are tomorrow’s goals:

Go into town to apply for replacement SS Card for Angel
Pick up wire for horse/cow pasture & animal feed
Set pole for mailboxes in concrete
Plant some more in the garden
Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Call shearer and setup appointment
Spin – if only for a little while

Yesterday’s Goals for Today:
Temporary Horse Pasture done!
Posts for Permanent Lower Horse Pasture
Plant some more in the garden – some
Possibly work for a few hours done
Spin on my spinning wheel – even if just for a bit

The Boy I mean our son, eldest daughter (and the little girls for a bit), helped to setup a temporary pasture in our “Oasis” today. All three horses stayed in until husband came home and we were working on reinforcing it. While we stood there working on the entry area (no gate), after going all the way around it, Cody slipped right under both strands right in front of us! So we gathered him back inside, proceeded to reinforce further, and he went and did it again, on the other side of us! The nerve! I guess it was best we were there to see the weakness. My super husband tightened up the strands (big time!) and further reinforced things, along with posts between the larger spans (including the two escape points) and things seem much more secure. At least I hope and pray we don’t have an experience like we did in the wee hours this morning again. The husband and I were outside, he was leaving for work, it was still O-dark-thirty (approx. 4:30 a.m.) and I look out to see only Cheyenne. Now this is not a surprise, since she is a lighter color, and stands out better in the dark than the other two, who blend in with the night. And then I heard a strange sound in the Oasis. I shone the flashlight over to find the two escapees: Cody and Serenity. Coaxing them back into the pasture with grain as I was half asleep, not dressed for the occasion, and Cody (the leader) was a little skittish, now that was a pretty picture I’m sure.

The little girls and I planted lettuce and carrot seeds in the garden tonight, at dusk. BooHopper planted her favorite romain (red & green), a ‘gourmet blend’, and black seeded simpson lettuce. MnM planted danver half long carrots.

So far in the garden, planted from starts, we have around 30 tomato plants (different varieties), around 20 bell pepper plants, 6 or 8 strawberry plants, 2 cucumber and 2 zucinni squash mounds. The Son planted a few rows of corn from seed. We’re off to a late start – blasted rains!

I didn’t spin – again. So very sad. And now it’s just too late.

So here are my goals for tomorrow:

Set pole for mailboxes in concrete
Plant some more in the garden
Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Work for a few hours
Spin – if only for a little while

These are in addition to regular, daily routines, of course, such as the house, the children, the schoolwork, etc. Work is an exception, but I like to cross that one off of the list.

New blog find added to RSS: Woolwytch
She’s a spinning, techie, homeschooling mom – right up my alley.

My LOST season finale’ download is running, my desk is only half as messy, and I’m tired, thank goodness.