wordless wednesday

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that's one done

There has been a lot of rain lately.

Big rain.

Deluge-type rain.

In between, there have been projects;

many with the assistance of my new helper.

For example, last week we moved a section of fenceline.

You can see where the original fenceline ran behind the barn:

I had the barn built in that spot last Spring,
planning to move the fence back toward the stone wall
in early Autumn.
But many other tasks came first,
and then my helper lost interest in working.

And then Winter came.

And it stayed a while.

And what you may not be able to see

is that even the packed-down snow 

is deep enough to "shorten" the fence significantly.

By February, that six-foot perimeter fence

only came up to my chest.

I could reach over the fence without raising my arm.

If my goats had wanted to get over that fence,

they could have done it.

Easily.

I thanked them every day for not doing so.

Dara:
Well, of course we would never go over the fence!
We are all Very Good Goats!

Violet:
I am shocked that you could even think
we would go over the fence!
No matter how easy it might be!

Campion:
Certainly we would NEVER...wait a minute...
HOW short did you say that fence is?

Hahaha! Just kidding!

~~~

So last week, my new helper and I spent several hours,
on two consecutive days, moving that fence.
Finally!

It adds just a tiny area to the paddocks -

maybe a thousand square feet or so -

so it was a lot of work for a little difference.

Was it worthwhile?

Well, yes.

Yes, it was.

If only for the pleasure of watching Tsuga

lead her little girls into fresh browse

before any of the other goats could have a crack at it.

That's a first!

Fern making a careful selection.

Tansy tackling a kid-sized portion of white pine.

And Mama Tsuga, happily destroying the bittersweet.
Bless you, Tsuga!

~~~

So, how are your projects coming along?

Does your list ever get any shorter?

~~~~~

saturated sunday

~~~~~

in the mail

Sometimes I forget to pick up my mail.

Last Winter (which seems like last week), the snowplow buried my little letterbox under a massive mountain of sequential accumulations. For months I could only get my mail if I drove into town and picked it up at the Post Office.

Since 95% of my mail is requests for donations, I didn't mind fetching it weekly, after visiting the library or taking my rubbish and recycling to the dump.

But when Spring rolled around (which seems like yesterday), I needed to either repair my home box or formally switch to renting a P.O. Box.

And since lots of things cannot be delivered to a P.O. Box, I opted for (wonky) repair.

Now, I'm getting back into the habit of checking the mail daily, usually after moving goats to the Lower West Side, or weeding the (growing!) perennial bank along the driveway.

And it's a Great Day in Letterbox Land!

Along with a donation request from an antiquarian society...

and this month's electric bill...

I found one of my favorite things:

A Package!

Containing a surprise!!

A wonderful surprise from my bloggyfriend Sandra,

over at Thistle Cove Farm:

It's a special little vented stoneware pot for the microwave! I can hardly wait to try it out. It came with recipes for things like Broccoli Garlic Saute, and a quick way to cook an onion instead of slowly sauteing on the stove (which I don't like to do because it takes so long my entire house becomes filled with a tear-producing miasma for a day or more).

This is exciting stuff!

And look how well it fits in with my decor!

Thanks so much, Sandra - I appreciate the surprise gift and the kind thought behind it. Although we've never (yet) met in person, it seems you know me so well:

:)

~~~~~

flowers and rain

~~~~

tempus fugit darnit

Tansy and Fern are eight weeks old.

Where does the time go?

Both are already exploring career paths.

Tansy seems inclined to become a bonsai specialist:

"Bonsai...that's the thing where you take a normal tree 

and make it be tiny, right?"

While Fern is apparently interested in becoming a physicist:

"Look! I can already diffract light with my ear!!"

Meanwhile, I'm doing my very best to keep plugging away.
Repairing fence. Adding gates. Rebuilding. Replacing.
Very glad to have a hired helper for a couple of hours weekly.

My old friend HayMan stopped by for a chat last week.
I mentioned that I just can't seem to "get caught up"
and he said, "Everybody is still trying to catch up after last Winter. Doesn't matter what kind of place you have or how big or small it is, everybody got behind and is still trying to catch up."

So maybe that's the way the Summer is going to go?
Makes me feel a little more tired just thinking about it!

But now it's Sunday night, the chores are done,
and all is peaceful.
Here's to a fresh, new week for all of us!
~~~~~

newsflash

Guess what I learned at the Annual Plant & Bake Sale

that benefits our town library:

Spiderwort also comes in white!

I bought four pots of blue and two of white

(donated from local gardens)

and got them all into the ground

before the rain started this evening.

What I didn't do - as you may have noticed -

is take pictures when there was still enough light

for taking good pictures.

Normally, I wait til I have decent snaps before posting.

But this is different:

I felt you needed to know about the white spiderwort

right away.

Good pictures may come later.

After it stops raining.

~~~~~

nearly wordless sunday

I dozed off three times while loading this collage.

G'night now!

~~~~~