Ella & Fella my Sebastapol geese enjoy the long hours of summer by eating grass , swimming in our pond, and following me around as I tend my flocks and weed the gardens. When I sit on the porch and spin my wool into yarn they sit under the bleeding hearts plants nearby and watch me , sometimes poking their bills through the porch rails just to make sure I am still there.
Hawk, our Viszla is afraid of Ella & Fella. I'm not sure when they taught him to run away from them , but they did a very good job of it. He sits on the porch with me, but when he spies the geese he runs to the opposite side of the porch. The geese are not allowed on the porch and at least Hawk can count on it being safe , but he makes sure he is as far away as he can get from them. We seem to have our own little comedy show here on our front porch , but Hawk probably thinks it is not so funny.
My Jacob sheep lambs are growing up quickly and some are already stretching their necks for the trees and bushes growing overhead.
I have four hens raising chicks they've hatched out and two batches of chicks brooding in the garage. They are my future laying flock , plus some bantam chicks I am adding to my Silkie and Cochin breeding program. ( Yes, I have a plan and a program ! ) The chicks shown here with their mama are Porcelain D'Uccles my grandson gave me. The father of these chicks did very well in an open poultry show recently and we have high hopes for the chicks.
Here Ella & Fella are walking their babies around the gardens. Their babies are actually ducklings Ella hatched out. The ducklings have been well tended by their adoptive parents but bit by bit they are becoming ducks . Waddling, quacking, and eating like ducks ...not geese. Poor Ella & Fella try and try to keep the ducklings with them but the ducklings are spending more and more time with my other ducks, leaving the geese to forlornly follow me without them. I hope next year Ella & Fella are able to successfully hatch out their own goslings , they're good and devoted parents.
We had the last Thursday Ladies Bible Study of the season last week. We won't meet again until the fall . This Bible study has had a tremendous impact on me and I am so thankful for the ladies God has brought into my life. It was an eventful year for all of us and all the ladies involved have had life altering events . One of the ladies became a widow, another happily remarried. One of our members has moved to the east coast to live happily ( yes ! ) with her daughter and daughter's family & to spend much time with 4 of her beloved grandchildren. There are other big events not to be shared publicly, but all the more a blessing we have been able to meet, study the Bible, pray with and for each other and always bring it back to the One who knows and loves us perfectly.
This must seem a long post, but the days are long and the hours I need to be working outdoors in the summer seem to stretch from very early to very late and when I come indoors there is little time for me to spend on my computer, so I am summing up my thus-far summer days in one post . Weeding, tending my herd & flocks, spinning wool when I have time , training my dog, playing with the old dogs, keeping my home neat & clean, and as I get older, I am working on taking the time to sit and appreciate the bounty of my blessings. The best part of all is sitting on the porch with my husband, sipping coffee as we watch the birds at the feeders and enjoying each others' company. Summer time and the living is busy, but not too busy to enjoy !
Hawk can often be found in the sun room striking this pose, and he can hold this pose for long periods of time.
Miss Marple can often be found in the sun room striking this pose, and she can hold this pose for long periods of time.
Can you say "obsession" ?
Yes, OBSESSION !
Poor Bob & Belle, they are so oblivious to the fact that if they were not safely housed in cages they, the objects of so much attention are really the objects of natural appetites. ( Belle whistles 'Thy Loving Kindness' & 'Jingle Bells' all day . She has a musical obsession.)
Look at her, she likes the dog and cat's attention, little does she know...
"Well, I am a BIRD dog!"
"Meow~Just let her out of the cage once...purrrrty please?"
Record high temperatures for the Pacific Northwest make for hot doggies! Hawk has retreated to the swing by the pond for relief, but at 90 degrees or more, even near the pond, there is not much relief at all. This Vizsla is having a harder time coping with the heat than my 5 Labrador Retrievers. Go figure!
The plants, even heat loving plants, are wilting and shriveling shortly after watering.See these beautiful plants and blooms? While watering them I discovered .....
...this cute little frog hiding in the spear shaped leaves. "Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it." Mark Twain
The pond, though wet, seems hot and humid, and though green, is not the respite from the heat I need. The temperatures around here were higher than anywhere in the U.S. We beat the deserts. Goodness, triple digit temperatures frazzle us North westerners who are very happy picnicking and camping in the rain under tarps and wearing sandals with our rain gear. "What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance." Jane Austen
But Hawk did enjoy the swing by the pond.
"As a rule , man is a fool,
When it's hot he wants it cool.
When it's cool he wants it hot.
Always wanting what is not."
anonymous
