barns,buffalo, bounty and babes

***********************************





This is a shot of our wood barn...

The roof has had its repairs, and now we have to concentrate on getting the sides repaired. It is amazingly straight for such neglect through the years. It is not used for much but storage for our renters, but I would like to use the top for hay storage at some point.



When in New Hampshire I stayed a few nights at The Moore' farm. Kim is an old friend, and her family has a 200+ acre farm adjoining her home, and they have taken up raising beefalo. The three darkest critters in the center are baby buffalo. Very cute, but quite wild still, although they are getting along well with their pasture mates, I couldn't get too close to them. They are apt to run when scared. I would love a buffalo, as that is my totem animal, but they get really big and need very strong fences. Besides, I make pets of everything, and couldn't bear to eat an animal I raised.

While up north we went apple picking...

I love picking apples, but I knew that with as many orchards as there are here in Virginia, it would be foolish to pick up there and then ship them here.

My plan is to go this weekend to an orchard up near the Peaks of Otter near the Parkway, and get some apples. After all, it is time to start baking my apple breakfast breads that I give for Christmas! Ummmmm, I can smell the aroma now!!!!

This next picture is one taken of my dear friend Sandy and my Mom up at the Moore Farm. Sandy, who is exactly my age, was stricken with M.S. when she was just 40. She's a stubborn Italian, and is not giving in easily to her disease. My Mom is 85 now, and her health is pretty good, but her mind is failing. She is going to come stay with me for a while, within the next few weeks, I would imagine. At least here I can get her out more easily than the frigid North.

We need to count our blessing every day. We need to be grateful for what we have.

"To dream of the person you could be, is wasting the person you are now."

Enjoy every day of your life, and love with all your heart...

****************************

Late October

Autumn....

****************************

My 4-wheeler down by the creek...

We are coming into the last of October. Autumn is my favorite time of year. Walking the woods is the best in Autumn, the smell of the leaves and the earth is sweet. The dogs love a 4-wheel romp, and this morning we rode around down to the creek and they had a little drink. Good thing I put color to their collars, Belle blends well with the leaves!

Some say that those who prefer the fall are morbid people...you know, the dying of the leaves and the grasses and all.

I don't beleive that at all. I look at Fall as the 'exfoliant' time for mother natures skin. She sloughs off all the old dead skin (foliage), and puts on a nice coating of cream (snow), and awaits the sleep of winter that replenishes her , and in Spring she will once again blossom with fresh green, supple foliage.

These are the last of my roses for this year...

Becky gave me some seeds from her garden, I have forgotten what they were, and now they are sprouting up in a pot on my kitchen sink!

The last few tomatoes are here, and they were cut up and eaten with last nights dinner.

Another favorite thing in Fall is Halloween.

I live it all year long.

This is a centerpiece with a bumper sticker in front of it, that says,"Witch Wagon", "All others will be toad." I got a few bumper stickers when I went to Salem, Mass. while I was in New England.

This hat is a permanent fixture....

As is the "to do" list hung in my kitchen...... I love Halloween almost as much as Christmas!

Today Bob and I went and saw my horse Rebel, that I sold before going North. He's the bay looking at us. His field mates are all geldings, two black registered Walkers, and one paint. They all seem to be getting on well together, and although he came when I called him, Reb didn't seem too anxious when the cookies and apples stopped, he just went back to his new pasture and his buddies. He looks well, and has gained weight...

I'm happy that he seems content.

The Holidays will be on us soon, and I will have my mother here with me for a while. She's 85 and has some health and mind problems, but we will work through them, and it will be nice to have her with me for the Holidays. My grandson Caine is almost 9 months old now, and I am going to try to spend more time with him, and have him around my mother. She loves babies and it will be good for the both of them... family is very important.

In the end, all we have are family and friends, and the friends are hard to come by when your a Yankee woman with a college education and a hippie-ish outlook on life living in rural America...where woman should be subserviant to their husbands, no matter how they are treated.

Happy Halloween...blessings.

**************************************

Autumn in New England

***********************************************

I have just returned from a visit to my family in New England.
One brother is in Maine, one in Massachusetts and the other in New Hampshire.
This picture is taken from the roadside in front of a friends cottage on Merrymeeting Lake in New Durham, New Hampshire.



Below is a rainbow trout.
I would love to tell you that I was fishing in a pond with trout this large, but I must tell the truth.
These trout are used for breeding , and they are in a holding pond at the Merrymeeting Lake Fish Hatcheries.


This next scene was taken roadside when we drove around Lake Winnepesaukee.

The last shot is this tree in Halifax Massachusetts, near where one of my nephews live. I think it's a pretty shape and color, and the house looks typical New England, especially near Cape Cod.

I got to see family and a couple of friends, and I connected with an old friend that I haven't spoken with in years, which really warmed my heart. As always, there just wasn't enough time to see everyone I wanted to, and I have more to tell about the visit, but I will blog again soon with more information. For now, I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do.

**********************

Elizabethan Penny and greens

*******************
Poor Penny!

She's been collared and she isn't happy at all. She was spayed last Wednesday while she and Belle were kenneled during our vacation.

Arriving home from our trip to Ocean City Maryland, Bob's surf fishing tournament, in which he did fish even though he had food poisoning and lived on immodium that worked a little...the man is tough, but the trip was tainted by him being so sick and my brother had a terrible cold. The weather was nice and Jan and I did enjoy the beach and the pool (indoor) and the sauna and the hot-tub..I actually read on the beach!

We came back Sunday evening, and got the dogs from the kennel on Monday. Penny jumped up when she saw me and pee'd blood. The vet took samples and ran it right away and found she had an infection of the urinary tract. He was amazed, because she never went in the kennel, and he said that never happens...usually the dog has to go...not my Penny..she held it, the love, and suffered through. She came home on antibiotics and pain medication, and within the first 24-48 hours she is much improved. Both she and Belle have been velcro'd to my side!! They will be really upset to find me leaving on Sunday, but at least they will be home, alone days until Bob comes home from work. Rebel is still here and will be leaving this weekend I think, if not they will take him next week.

Creasy salad.....
Thats what the neighbors call these greens, which have mustard greens and turnip greens..
Does anyone know if the spelling is right? What actually is creasy? (I am spelling it phonetically)
The rinsing was long and the soaking overnight....
the cooking was done in a huge pot with sea salt and hog jowls..for 3 hours.
We had them tonight and darned if they weren't really tasty!!!
This is the pot before cooking...




I can hear my girlfriend Kim laughing now..
Hog jowls and greens...
I may be becoming a tad more southern day by day!!!

*************************