Spring Flowers

I think it has been a busy May, but I'm just not sure where the days have gone.  That is one of the banes of retirement.  Days slip by.  I know I went to Rapid City to visit the folks, we have had a few doctor appointments and I took Wayne fishing.  But we have done little to no gardening. 

And despite our ignoring it, the yard is in almost full splendor.  That is one of the advantages of having all perennials in the yard.  The only annuals I plant anymore go in pots sitting among the bushes and on the porch.  And of course the vegetable garden.  

So today, I thought I would show you a few of the flowers blooming.  In the next month, you will be barraged with pictures of the peonies as they open.  Right now, I only have a few of them, but other things are blooming.  

 Laura Dessert

 Tree Peony

 Flowering Crab

 Lilac

 Flowering Almond Bush

 Bleeding Heart

 Apple Tree

Iris Bed

As you can see, the yard is alive with bloom.  This is what I have been working to get for the last 10 years.  Yes, 10 years this June.  

Now I just have to find someone to do the weeding.  

Heading Out

Sister Connie and I are heading out for our annual Mother's Day week with our Mother.

Mother and Dad taken by friend Josephine this year.

Of course, as normal, the weather is not the best.  Cloudy, possible rain, and very windy.  I can count on one hand the number of trips I have made across South Dakota without fighting the winds.  So, since I do most of the driving, I'll be tired and have sore wrists when I get there.  But it is worth it to see the folks, have a mini vacation and see other friends.
 
I lost my closest friend over a year ago, but made other new ones.  So dinner out with friends is on the agenda.  Along with a trip to my favorite greenhouse for annuals and possibly another bonsai. And this year, I have gotten to see my trees bloom before we go.  And the lilacs are in full bloom.  So I am taking some to Mother, since Rapid's are already spent.  It will be a fragrant trip with them in the car.

My lilacs in bloom.

I'm Back!

After 2 weeks of trying all my old emails and passwords, I have finally gotten back on my blog.  Since I closed my Facebook account, I will be doing all my musings and pictures on here.

I'M BACK!

Busy Fall

It's been real busy and will be more so until next week. I just got home from a beautiful wedding and now Hubby and I head to Marshall for his surgery. But I got a few minutes yesterday to take photos of our grove this fall. Some of the leaves are already brown because of our "mild" drought. But some, like the mulberries are really spectacular. So I thought I would share a few. I'll talk to you later.

Red Twig Dogwood.

Fall Mulberry Leaves.

Wood Vine.

Baby Buckthorn.

Corn Ready for Harvest.

Hubby's New Toy

You know how everything changes in the blink of an eye?  Well it has happened again here at Anniversary Grove.  We just got back from the foot doctor and Hubby has to have surgery on October sixth.  In some ways that is good news, and of course there is always a down side.  The good news is his foot pain will be gone, and after 6-8 weeks of idleness, he will be able to do all the winter work around here…foot pain free.   The down side: because he is on pain pills every day for a variety of problems, and because he will have to get off them 7 days prior to surgery….he will not be able to go to Rapid City for my best friend’s wedding.  He cannot travel very long, nor can he sit very long without pain pills.  It will be a very hard week for him. 

But Hubby has a new toy that will keep him occupied for the long recovery time and for a very long time to come.  Perhaps 15-18 years?

Meet Guy, a pug cross puppy.

Watching football together?

The boys will be able to watch football, tell guy jokes and generally hang out together during recuperation. 

I have always thought that what is meant to happen, does; and little life experiences lead you to where you should be.  So because Hubby went to the store with me when he usually doesn’t; because Hubby read ads on the bulletin board that he never looks at;  because Hubby has been especially missing little Cricket that we lost last year….we now have a new puppy.  Hubby’s best girl, Ren, is getting old and he wanted someone around to learn from her while she is still able to help train. 


Beautiful Ren.

As most of you know, I am a sucker for animals; especially dogs and cats.  So I would never say no to another pet. 

And I miss Cricket too. 

Fall is Coming

As much as I hate to admit it, I have been very distracted for the past few months.  And now I am paying for it.  Summer has passed me by.  Granted, we had months of cold and snow, months of flooding and rain, a whole month of sweltering heat and days upon days of biting bugs.  But that is no excuse for me to hide in the house and watch my gardens get choked by weeds.  Well…I think they are good excuses.  My poor plants don’t agree. 

But with all my neglect, most of my plants have survived and even thrived.  I attribute that to my hubby and the type of plants I have; hostas, peonies, lilies and iris.  All of them are very hardy perennials; lucky for them. 

The vegetable garden is a different matter.  Because of the heavy moisture with cool weather, then the oppressive heat….our garden and many others are not producing well.  So we have had to resort to buying produce to can and freeze.  Thank goodness some of the farmers around here have had good luck in their gardens.  Our beans are just now starting to produce, and not many at that.  So we bought enough green beans to put up 24 ½ pints.  We got some great sweet corn and froze 24 cups, enough for Hubby to have this winter while I am gone. The cucumbers are hit and miss.  Some have ripened, some just hang on the vine and rot.  And there not even enough to share, so no pickles this year.   I have harvested some tomatoes, enough to put up 12  half pints of salsa (I had to buy the green peppers).    I have bunches of green tomatoes on the vine,  but they are not turning red very fast. And I am not sure the weather will hold long enough for them to ripen. We are going to get very chilly soon.   The only produce doing well this year are the Fairy Tale eggplants and our raspberries.  Once the berries got started, they went crazy and I can’t keep up with them.  So the birds are getting a good treat this year.  I have already shared bunches, eaten bowls full and frozen 3 gallons for winter.  And they are still going strong.  Thank goodness they freeze well. 
 
Arkansas Travelers and Pittman Valley

Fairy Tale eggplants

Hubby using the mandolin.

So the canning season is here, although not as productive as we wanted.    And fall is coming, sooner than we would hope.  How do I know?   Because they are gone…left without so much as a goodbye or thank you yesterday.  And now you ask “Who”? 

Our hummingbirds are gone.  After a month of scrambling daily to keep 6 feeders full (they are in a feeding frenzy before they migrate), being buzzed by up to 6 per feeder and watching them fight for control of the food….they are gone.  And we won’t see them again until somewhere around the second week of May.

We’ll miss the little darlings.

PS…I wrote this yesterday, then last night we got a freeze.  The cukes, beans, squash and eggplant are gone.  We covered the tomatoes and they still look good.  Now I need a couple more weeks of warmth to get them off the vine.

Do You See What I See?

I know, it just looks like dying grass doesn’t it?   Look again.

I’m not sure, yet….but it has the distinct shape of a circle.   And it has pieces of cement hidden under the grass going around in that circle.  So, I'm not quite sure.....I think I know, I hope I know....I will know soon.

Most of you know that the home site we purchased here in SW Minnesota has a house built in 1910. This house was a step above the ordinary farm houses. It has an entryway closed off by double doors, a beautiful newel post on the staircase. It had a separate pantry and a small alcove separated from the living room by posts and railings. The woodwork is elaborate and it had a beautiful front porch with gingerbread trim. Rumor has it that the house also had a cement pond. And I think we have found it.

The people we purchased our home from are the children of the farmers that bought this place in 1950. We were told that the wife didn’t like the pond and filled it in with dirt. I have secretly been looking for it ever since I’d heard the story.  I want to find it and preserve it as much as possible.  And oh I do love ponds.

You are probably wondering why I care. Most people wouldn’t. Well, I have a love of history. I love antiques. And I spent 10 years working with South Dakota’s archaeologists; 8 of those were as the assistant to the curator of all of South Dakota’s archaeological collections. I learned to dig, and learned to identify, catalog and curate artifacts of all ages. I loved my work and especially the historical (instead of the prehistoric) artifacts. My passion is of course the textiles.  But to actually find the pond would be wonderful.  And then there is that one memory….

When I was in about the 6^th grade I went with my parents to visit my mother’s cousin Ester that lived in Big Stone, SD. She still lived in the family home amongst all the family heirlooms. I remember her taking me outside and showing me the cement pond that had been in the yard for years. It had lily pads and koi or goldfish. I spent hours sitting by the pond watching the fish swim around in the lilypads. It was in the fall and Ester asked me to help take the lily pads and fish into the basement for the winter. She kept them in some sort of tank and would put them out again in the spring. I have always remembered that pond. And I have always one of my own. I finally got my wish around the year 2000 when garden ponds again came into vogue and were easily obtainable. Hubby built me a pond and my own secret garden with a cedar moon fence and deck surrounded by hostas. And again, here at Anniversary Grove, he has put in pond for me.

Oh, look…..now I have another one.

We found it. And I will have more pictures for you when it is completely dug out. I am so excited.

Small Changes

Well, we have downsized to two vehicles.  Hubby lovingly sold his PT Cruiser to our daughter Brook.  He has always felt bad that we could not get her a car when she was younger.  She is now a single mother raising a teenager, going to school and working.  So, like many others these days, she has no expendable income.  NONE.  And as her old car was slowly dying, Brook was slowly panicking.   Hubby sold his car for the price of “you’d be a fool to pass up this deal”.  And trust me; we did not raise a fool. 

Hubby's F150.
So Brook is happy with her new car, Hubby is happy with just his pickup and I am happy that our daughter is safer and that our insurance rates will now go down. It has been a good day.

New Bloggers

Just a quick note to let you know I'm still alive and busier than ever.  But I wanted you all to meet the new bloggers.  Larry and Kathy have been our friends for around 30 years.  They live in Oklahoma and travel around about half the year in their fifth wheel with the cat Allie.  I have been helping them start up a new blog.  Give them a few days to get use to it and then go over to meet them.


Here are some of photos to share with you.  What to do on a swealtering summer day.....

Sleepy Time

Dreaming

Hello Again

I have had a lot of complaints because I haven’t been writing in my blog lately. Can you believe it? Complaints. I didn’t even realize that people looked forward to reading about my life in the cornfields. So I am going to try to update you on everything that has happened since February 3.

February? Oh my, it has been a long time.

So should I give you all of it, the good and the bad? No…not today. Today I’ll give you highlights of the good. It is too beautiful a morning to talk about bad. And I’ll start there…..It is a BEAUTIFUL morning. The wind is not blowing at gale force, it is not raining buckets and there is a strange yellow ball in the sky that we haven’t seen for SOOOO long. I couldn’t sleep in today because the sunrise woke me up. Yep, we had a sunrise. It was a glorifying site. With the heavy mist in the creek bed, the land around us looks like what I imagine an English countryside to be. And it is mornings like this one that justifies to me moving out to the country. Quiet, peaceful, green….everything I was looking for.


This morning’s sunrise.

It has been so long since I’ve written that I am apt to forget a lot that has happened. I should have kept a log. Let’s see….

Work went well in Marshall this winter. I finally got home April 19th. Because of all the bad weather and snow…Oh, right. No bad news in today’s blog. Work went well.

Hubby got to see something I have longed to see since I was in high school. A whooping crane. So it was exciting and wonderful news, even though it was second hand for me. It was migrating north from the Wisconsin flock of whoopers. Hubby saw it resting by the creek a mile away from our place and as he drove by, it flew up and headed out. To be able to see one of less than 400 wild whoopers was so special for him, and by proxy, for me. We find ourselves looking at the same spot every time we drive by, in hopes of seeing it again and probably will for years.

The garden is finally in and growing. I hope the fall frost holds off as long as spring did, so we can get a good harvest. This year we have the ever present onions, tomatoes, pole beans and yellow squash. We have shifted a few things around and are not doing bush beans this year. They take up too much room for so little result. We have added more cukes and broccoli; we double the amount of peppers, both green and frying varieties. And this year we are trying small eggplant and some of my favorite herbs.

My peonies were glorious this year, if only for a short time. The high winds managed to shorten the bloom time, but since all are finally staked, I didn’t lose any plants. And I got enough blooms on most to finally identify them. Of my mother’s plants I have a Festiva Maxima, Monsieur Jules Elie, Myrtle Gentry and two I can’t identify. Of the homestead rescue plants I have a Memorial Day, Laura Dessert, Felix Crousse, Sarah Bernhart, and Shirley Temple (I think). Of the rescues there are some I haven’t been able to identify and some more that are not blooming yet. Then I have purchased a Chocolate Soldier in memory of my brother, a Philippe Rivoire and a Raspberry Sundae to replace those left behind in Piedmont and a Duchesse de Nemours because I wanted a pure white. This sounds like a lot of peonies and it is. Between what I brought from my parents house, saved from the old fence line here and purchased I have about 27 plants. Some of the rescues will be duplicates, because I dig up all the little shoots that come up in the yard and replant. After a couple years, they are full grown plants and blooming. I hope I have them all now, because I am running out of room in the sunshine. Don’t tell Hubby I said that.

Rescued Sarah Bernhart.

We finally have outside work done enough that we can go fishing. Hubby got a new (very used) little boat for lake fishing and I have my entire fly fishing gear ready. We just need a good day. Today would be perfect……

Daughter and granddaughter both have very good grades in school. Brook has figured out her majors and is focusing on Psychology. Along with work and raising a teenager, she is busy studying hard and hopes to be finished in a couple of years. I am proud of them both.
We have had some medical scares in the family, most have turned out well. But I think I’ll leave that for another day.

This blog is starting to sound like a Christmas letter, all the year laid out in little paragraphs. And as much as I like to know what is going on in someone’s life, 365 days is a lot to put in one letter. Or in my case, 145 days. So I am going to finish up and try to get this posted.

It’s good to be back. Hope to talk to you soon.

Surprise

Yep, it’s all gone.

I got tired of my long hair always in my face or pulled back. I will probably grow it back just because I am not too fond of beauty shops. But for now I love it. Easy to wash and go.


Hey, you can see my earrings!

Hello Again

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. I have been so neglect lately and haven’t even been reading my favorite blogs. But I did get goodies baked for Christmas, a trip back to Rapid City and a safe trip home in the time I have ignored my computer.

And now I am packed and ready to head up to Marshall to work the tax season. I was going to leave today, but the storm yesterday and the bitter high winds with ground blizzards today have kept me home. I hope to go tomorrow when the plows have been out to clear the roads. Once I get there and set up, I am going to try to get reconnected with my blogger friends. I know there is a lot of reading for me to do. And I’ll strive to even do a little more writing.

In the mean time, I’ll leave you with a few photos.


Yesterday’s storm with HUGH snowflakes.


The grove during the storm. Somewhere in there are a lot of deer.


And last, Obie and Gandalf squirrel hunting. A constant pastime.

PS. My brioche did not turn out a pretty as the earlier photo, but it was very tasty. And after 3 trys, I had good enough loaves to give some away.

Wow

Look what we have. It was 7 degrees this morning with a -6 degree wind chill. And we still have sheet ice on the ground. But the sun is shinning. So it’s gonna be a good day.

Look at all that blue sky.

I love sunrises.

I Am So Ashamed

Did you know that November 17 is National Home Made Bread Day? No one told me. So I was out shopping instead of observing the day. It doesn’t matter that I had no idea I should have been celebrating. I had already made plans when I heard the news. So I messed up and take full responsibility.

But I will make up for it today. Today I will bake that bread, feed a bird bread crumbs and maybe even try Bread Painting. I will make my wheat/rye bread and try Brioche again.

And it looks like it is not just a US holiday. As far as I can tell at least the UK and India also celebrate the day.

So let’s all get our yeast and flour out and go make bread. A day late is not necessarily a loaf short.

Brioche. Photo borrowed from Food.com.

Just Some Rambling to Pass the Time

I’d thought I’d just talk about a few things on my mind and give you some pictures of our first “real” snow while I gab away.

Window from the grove looking south.

Definition of PROCRASTINATE: to put off intentionally and habitually. This is according the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I was glad to read the correct definition for this word. Now no one, me included, can say I am a procrastinator. Everything that I have put off, that I have meant to do lately, was not put off intentionally or habitually. I just haven’t gotten around to it. I do not habitually (I really like that word) stop writing my blog. I definitely do not habitually stop reading my favorite blogs. But I have unintentionally done both. And although not writing for a while has hurt nothing, the not reading everyone’s blogs has kept me out of the loop and uninformed on my friends’ activities. That being bad enough, my unintentional neglect has left me hours of reading to catch up on. That means hours of sitting at the computer and going through over 2 months of postings for over 19 blogs. That’s a lot of reading. And I have no excuses and no one to blame but myself.

The opening of the grove on the southeast.

I often marvel at the scope of the World Wide Web and how people from around the world can connect almost instantaneously. Take our blogs, for instance. They are out there for anyone to see, and sometimes we are lucky enough to find out who is reading them. I was excited to have a comment from John, a man from Wales on one of my posts this summer. I found his blog, read it and then added it to my favorites (Going Gently). John is a wonderful writer and posts almost daily. So I have enjoyed reading about his life on a “farm” in Wales. But I had no idea that he still reads my blog and was even more excited to hear from him again. So….Thanks John, for the nice thought. Your blog is one I am looking forward to catching up on. I’m sorry you had so much damage from the storm.

One of our wonderful trails in the grove, heading west.

I had thought I’d told all of you about Bob. But people in the know say I never did. Bob is no longer with us. Remember the poor dropped off cat that showed up last winter. Even after all the medical attention and food, he stayed rather frail. He never got over his intestinal problems, and then he started fighting with Pickles again. Unfortunately, none of the rescues around here would take him. There are just too many stray cats in the world. So we sadly put him down. It’s probably needless to say, but I will say it anyway. I was devastated. Poor Bob, the only one that loved him was me, and I couldn’t save him. So I lost my brother, Edith, Bob and Cricket this summer. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me….

Another opening out of the grove. However, it was blowing, so you can’t see the field.

I love to bake. And on snowy days like today, there is a certain peacefulness for me when I make bread. But I just made bread the other day. So today, I think I’ll make a cake. I am a King Arthur flour fan, and unless there is none available, I only use their flour. I even buy it in large 25 pound bags and pay for the extra shipping because it is not available in our stores here. So I was very excited to recently purchase their Original King Arthur Flour Cookbook Commemorative Edition. It’s more of a bakebook really with lots of recipes for breads, cakes, pies, muffins….just about anything that you can make with flour. And a lot of history and hints mixed in. I love it. Hubby has been grumbling about cupcakes lately. So the cake I decide to make will be put into cupcakes. Later.
I just have too many types to choose from….. Maybe I need to look at some more recipes.

Remember, I’m not a procrastinator.

Sorry, No Pictures. It Was Dark!

So instead, I’ll tell you a story.

I’ll start with the characters. The main character: a woman too old to be young and too young to be old….a middle aged, overweight, out of shape ex-hippie. We’ll call her Candy.
Candy’s pets: Ren, a 10 year old, 30 pound Blue Heeler cross; Obie, a 10 month old, 9 pound Papillion; Gracie, a 2 year old silver tabby barn cat. And the last player in the story: Big Buck, a large, large, very large male deer, age and weight unknown with protruding horns on his head and eyes that shoot fire.

It was a morning much like today. Dark and still. The recent rains had left the dawn damp with dew. The dogs, in their persistent way, woke up Candy and demanded to go outside. No amount of shushing would settle them down. These dogs were use to going out at 5 am. In the dark and early hours, Candy grumbled, put on her glasses and stumbled down the stairs.

Living in the country with no houses in sight, she was use to letting the dogs out the door, putting on a light jacket, and joining them to enjoy the morning. This morning started out like all the rest, with Gracie joining the group and the dogs doing their business and sniffing the clear, quiet air. But today, Obie and then Ren, started barking and growling towards the Cat House. And little Gracie went into a cat alert mode, slinking down and hiding behind Candy’s feet.

To give you some idea of the lay of the land, the Cat House is an old one car garage, converted into a shelter for the barn cats. The yard light is on the north side of it and the main house lies southwest. The bright light casts a large shadow to the front and west of the Cat House, but its east side is well lit.

Now Ren is an old expert on the farm and when she growls, everyone listens. So as the dogs were growling at the Cat House, Candy turned to look and out from the northeast side stepped a deer. A very big deer. We all know that the dark can distort our views, but she swears that deer was as big as….well just BIG. And because Ren has a habit of chasing critters from the yard, Candy grabbed quickly and put her in the house. Little Obie started to run toward the deer, barking and growling, but then stopped and backed up. This deer was not running like most of the deer do. So brave little Obie came running back to Candy, who was yelling and waving her arms, and was put into the house as well.

Now Candy has come up against a lot of questionable animals in her middle aged life. She has gone into a pen with an “evil” Saint Bernard and made a friend. She has been cornered by a “killer” toy poodle and won. She has jumped in the middle of dog fights, cat fights and cat and dog fights. She has stood her ground against mad horses, crazy sheep and annoyed chickens. All of those experiences just got her heart pumping faster and her adrenalin flowing.

But this was different. This buck, this very big buck, was not running. He was not scared. In fact he was mad. Candy stood at the back door of the house, yelling at the deer to leave, with Gracie still huddled at her feet. And the buck, after staring with angry eyes, and sniffing, wheezing and grunting for what seemed like “forever”, majestically sauntered toward the bean field. Soon he was hidden behind the tree line, but Candy could still hear him, and followed his progress by watching Gracie’s head slowly pan the dark. The last she heard of him were two very loud and angry grunts and then silence. The buck had disappeared into the shadows. And Candy took a deep breath and slunk into the house.

We’ve all heard the stories of hunters doing stupid things and getting attacked by bucks. Well, I now believe those stories. Big Buck could easily have attacked instead of walking away. So was I scared? Yes. I am still very leery of wandering outside in the dark and I now always have my heavy duty walking stick with me.

But like Hubby says…”you’re gonna need a bigger stick”.

PS. My apologies to George for always snickering when she worried about her pets being killed by deer. OK George, so maybe you were right!

Beauty

The beauty you miss if you are always looking down; down at your feet, down in the dumps or down your nose.



The beauty you miss closing yourself in; in your house, in your mind, in your heart.

Wake up, look around you and open your heart. I think it's time I stopped mourning and do just that.

What about you?

Not Big Enough

When is a kitchen not big enough? During canning season of course.

Our kitchen, recently redone, is more that adequate for most of our culinary adventures. But I don’t care how big a kitchen is, it is never big enough when there are tomatoes to process, beans to freeze, cukes to make into pickles, with squash, elderberries, and raspberries to deal with.

Right now I have a pot of tomato sauce on the stove. I have two sinks full of tomatoes to can. I have a dozen jalapeño peppers that we smoked, ready to finish off in the dehydrator. I have more squash that I can use, cucumbers too big to pickle, elderberries that need to be cleaned and frozen and the raspberries are getting ahead of me. WITH NO WHERE TO PUT IT ALL. So the dehydrator will have to go into the dining room. The elderberries will stay in the bucket until the tomatoes are out of the sink. And I finally got a juicer, so I can deal with the squash and extra large cucumbers. But the juicer is big too, so it will go into the dining room too.


Getting the tomatoes ready to pack. There are tons more in the garden ready pick.


The elderberries are ready. Anyone want some?

That brings up another problem. Do I use our dining room table for processing and not have a table to eat at? Do I bring up another table to use? Or do I take everything down into the basement, use the table down there, and run up and down the stairs multiple times a day to check on everything. All the while I am running up and down, I also have to keep an eye on the sauce on the stove, blanch, cut and pack the tomatoes, and strip and wash the elderberries.


Smoked jalapeños. After drying, I’ll grind them for chipotle powder.

I think the powers that be are having a wonderful time watching all of us that grow our own food this time of year. It’s probably their big joke that all the garden ripens at the same time. No one, and by that I mean no one that I know, can handle all that produce in a sane and timely manner. We will all be exhausted, cranky and crazy when it is done.

But we have the winter to recoup and enjoy the “fruit” of our labors. Then by next spring, we will have forgotten it all, plant big gardens and hope for large harvests. And next year I'll have apples too.

See, we are crazy.

Good News

Little “Boy” has a new home. After a week of searching for owners that would not be found, and calling rescues and shelters that had no room, we have found someone willing to take in a homeless Pointer. With help from a local English Pointer kennel, a hunter with 2 other pointers took Boy, promising to find him a good hunting home. Shane took him yesterday afternoon and he called this morning. He has already found Boy a home. Boy will be living with a family that has another Pointer and will be out there hunting like he was bred to be. So my faith in the goodness of people was partially restored.


An adult English Pointer on point.

We are sad and happy. We really fell in love with the little guy and wanted to keep him. But we knew that was not feasible. And like Shane said, “Why do people buy a hunting dog if they aren’t going to hunt. Just go to the pound and get a poor dog that needs a home.” Now Boy will get to do what his genes are telling him to do. Life will be good for him.

I had gotten so discouraged, first because someone dumped an 8 week old puppy out in the country with no homes for miles around, not caring if he lived or died. Then, there are so many abandoned animals out there that the shelters are full and no one would take him. So even if some sap like me picks up a dumped dog or cat, they are going to be responsible to take care of it, or humanely end its life. All this trouble because of the greedy, selfish, cowardly, despicable jerks out in the big wide world that are too lazy to care for the animals they have.

Now to top it off, Hubby has asked that I quit rescuing these poor animals. Rescuing is too costly, too exhausting and too heartbreaking to go through again and again. So when I see a starving animal, or a hurt animal or an abandoned animal left on the side of the road, I am supposed to pass it by.

If you think my heart breaks now, wait until I have to ignore a helpless dog or cat.....So now what do I do?

Our Guest

Well it happened again: another probable drop off. This one was found by a nurse on her way to work. I just happened to be going to the lab for blood work and ended up bringing “Boy” home. They couldn’t keep him in a medical lab and didn’t know what to do with him. He was very hungry, skinny and VERY young.


Meet “Boy” who is looking for his owners or a new home.

We think he is a purebred English Pointer. He is about 8 weeks old, very affectionate, very smart and VERY hungry. Hubby already has him sitting on command and sitting when he comes. Of course he is food driven so treats work well. But still, being so young, that’s impressive.


Skinny, but beautiful.

We don’t know a thing about him. I have called all the law enforcement, vets and animal shelters in a 100 mile radius. No one has reported him missing. Today I will take him to town to see if he has a chip. I am also in contact with a breeder in the area, and he is helping to look for the owner too.

But if we can’t find the owner, are we keeping him? The answer right now is “NO”. Hubby is very impressed, and would like to keep him. But we are not hunters. We live right “next door” to prime CRP hunting land and have always had trouble keeping our lap and herding dogs away from there. Can you image trying to keep a born and bred bird dog out of the neighbors land? We think it would be next to impossible. And being older, retired and partially disabled, it would be a nightmare. A nightmare that we are not, at this time, willing to live through.


It didn't take him long to get comfortable.

Then you look at that face, and feel the soft muzzle nuzzling you….. it’s hard to say no. But we are trying. I’ll keep you posted.


Who wouldn’t love this face?