The Good, The Bad, The Slippery

I awoke to the splattering sounds of rain, and the first thought that came to my mind was............

" Good rain,.... Oh, this will certainly make the bluebonnets sprout!"..............

then as my mind caught up in the process of waking, my next thought...........

"oh no............ bad rain............I have to drive into town today............the roads will be flooded."

When it rains hard..........the roads turn into lakes.

I had to be in town............and so I drove...... as the rain pounded harder and the windshield wipers fought furiously against it. And in an instant, the car started to feel as if it were floating, the trac/control light came on, and the windshield iced up............................sleet............. slippery sleet.............I don't drive in sleet...........but turning back was just as far to drive as going onward..............so onward I went, at a snail's pace.
But in all things, the good, the bad, the slippery, I still see the beauty in it all. Sleet has always looked like glass beads to me. Shiny.........sparkley.........
Now I'm home..............
.................home..............
I love that word.

Greenhouse Potting

The wind and dirt took the past couple of days off and I was able to get outside to work.

I dug up several shoots of the heirloom Jasmine and potted them into containers. These will leaf out by July, and I hope to sell them with other plants at the market. I have had this Jasmine for many years and it has grown out so well. This particular Jasmine can't be ordered from nurseries any longer...............at least that is what I have been told. I was advised to find an abandoned home or foundation where this still grows and dig it up, if I wanted any. I was able to do just that. A remaining foundation was about to be dug up and plowed over for a new parking lot.............I was able to get the Jasmine and am so glad I did.
In the greenhouse, the containers of Daffodils are sprouting!
I love these cheery yellow flowers!

On the fence post by my potting table, curious Salem is close by to offer his help. Snow and ice are supposed to be on the way, so I hope to get a little more outside work done before it hits. There is so much to be done yet.

Dusty Winds

For the past week, the early mornings have greeted me...........

looking like this...........

A wonderful welcome to the new day. A promising day of ground to dig in and things to sprout.
However, by noon, the days have turned to this...........
Dark orange skies and choking dust blowing from the strong gusts of the west Texas wind. With half of the cotton fields blowing over the farm. I didn't get the chance to work outside much this week. Just to feed and water the outside animals, was a process of hanging onto my jacket as the wind blew against me, and feeding and watering in a rush to get back inside..........
away from the charging tumbleweeds and the sting of the dirt. But living in Texas all of my life.......it's what I am used to and considered as a "normal day" during this time of year all the way to summer.

Life's Tap

Although I live the major part of my life in solitude and peace, where I can just shut the world's problems off with one touch of a button on the remote...............

life still has a way of giving me a sharp tap on the shoulder. This week has been full of such taps. The death of a close friend's spouse...............one who has been out to share our holidays, meals, and once in a while happenings............never to return to stop by and to say hello...........

the death of marriage among distant family members............

changing family times and memories.........

the word of death soon to come to a dear aunt...........who, for the longest time, has had the tiring battle of cancer..............

making me to stop and realize how fragile life and happiness is.........

.

and then there is the tap...............

of new babies being born...............grandchildren coming into the lives of friends............

the tap of hope and new memories to be made.

New Day Dawning

This is the image on my wall every morning..........the promise of a new day shining through the lace curtains. I have gotten to love this image more and more. Nelly, the tiller, got a good going over, and is now up and running, now I can break up the garden spaces. The stock flower and Italian Jasmine are budding and starting to show their first blooms among the grounds; it's time to separate and transfer the young plants to another space, and the onions from last fall have poked their heads through in the garden. My gardening season is beginning. I have my stash of accumulated material laid out and ready to cut........I am beginning to make the quilt I have so long been wanting to start...............

I have many plans and much work to do this week. My canvas is sitting blank and ready!

Annabelle

The first week I moved here and walked the grounds, my first thought was.......I, at last, can get ducks and chickens! Annabelle, is one of the first fowl that has been here since that time 8 years ago. I brought her home,a tiny bit of soft yellow fluff, with two tiny orange feet......along with two other little ducks. As the years have passed.......there has been many new broods of chickens hatched out here and purchased, along with other small amounts of ducks. Time and predators have taken a toll on the barnyard..... dwindling down the group, but somehow, Annebelle has survived it all. She has two drakes to keep her company.....and I am thinking about a new "box of quackers" to get in the spring. Annabelle has been the one to teach me every thing there is to know about ducks. What they like, what they don't like. I am amazed at how resilient ducks are. When the rain is pounding down and the chickens run for cover, the ducks are out in it all, splashing and running their bills into the mud, having a party. When the pools are frozen over and the water is icy, the ducks jump on top of the ice, breaking into the freezing water and plunging underneath. I am not sure how much longer Annabelle will be with me. I keep the drakes separated from her during the day, because they are just too rough and she doesn't get the chance to eat or relax in the pool. She gets with them at night only. She limps now as she waddles about, but she still loves to do the "duck things" that she has always done. Out of all of the ducks I will raise through this journey, it will be Annabelle that will remain in my memory.

Waiting On The Man

We have had below freezing weather for the whole past week.......leaving the water faucets, the pond, the barn yard water, and the ground solidly frozen.

vintage tools from previous grandparents

........

This weekend, to my delight, the temperature got up into the 50's!

I haul out Nelly.........the tiller..........and just about wore my arm out trying to get her to start.

No matter what I did, and no matter how much I tried,

no motor starting.

I had to put her away, and I have to wait to get her looked at. It's at times like these, that I really appreciate man's progress in creating wonderful machines to get the hard work done. When I had lived in town, with no Nelly, I spent a week forking up the front yard with a fork much like the one pictured above. Then Nelly arrived, and I got soft and lazy. Out here, with as much as I want to plant and watch over, there is no way I could ever get it forked over. This weekend, the man with the "Midas " touch, the man who can just look at something not working, and it instantly starts working, the man who always bales me out of my impossible projects..................my husband...........will be off from work.........and save the day!...........and my farm dream!..................what would I be without him?????

Just A Thought For The Weekend

" She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."

Proverbs 31:27

Grass

Last night's heavy fog left us a thick coat of ice stuck on the brush, trees, and grounds, here at the farm. A good time for picture taking. Sophie has gotten so used to the things I do, that at the moment she sees me grabbing my camera,she knows that it is a sure unspoken statement that we are going for a short walk.

Now my complaint..........grass.

I spent the last part of yesterday afternoon, until sundown, clearing the flower/asparagus bed that surrounds my greenhouse fence. The small area that my greenhouse sits on was once made and used as a small garden by the folks who previously lived here. I used it for that same purpose, and then for flowers for the first couple of years I was here as well, even placing a chicken wire fence around the posts to keep varmints out. Now the greenhouse takes up half of it and I have room for my potting table and to grow some things if I wish to do so. The asparagus was here when I moved in and has done very well in production. In the rest of the bed, I plant flowers of one kind or another. No matter how hard I work to cut and clear, grass always comes back and grows the thickest I have ever seen! You know, it's funny, where I want grass to grow, and no matter how much I water and take care of it,.......it doesn't grow like the pictures in the magazines show.........and where I don't want grass to grow, and spend all of my time and strength to dig it out..........it grows supremely well! Isn't there a Murphey's Law about grass somewhere?? I am sure there is!

Reading Tools

I have gotten all of my garden books out and have been going through them, making notes on the things I want to try and reading notes that I posted inside of them of things that have worked over the past years. One book I have followed for more than a dozen years is a very old book whose print was last in 1935. It was given to me by a neighbor. It holds such good and common sense advice and everything I have tried in it, has proven to be worthy of it's print. The grounds around the farm have been too muddy to work in since the last snows, but with the sun shining the past 2 days, I may be able to get out and work tomorrow. I have new garden spaces to till as well as the old ones. I need to check on the grape vines as well. I am also planning on starting the work of sprouting seed for plants to place in the greenhouse and to hopefully sell at the farmers market.