I've been lounging in my chair by the fire thinking about all of my friends.  It seems that the folks haven't been doing much lately, but then they reminded me that they haven't exactly been slacking off.

We had a quiet Christmas and a fun, but flu-ish New Year!!  We've had some rain and some gorgeous spring-like weather which has given us a jump on landscaping projects.

All the blackberries along the creek behind us in this picture are now gone!  You can't usually see the water unless we get a couple inches of rain.  Dad burned all the blackberries too.  Now we'll just have to keep up on the new sprouts.  There's still more trimming to do, but we have some beautiful creek beachfront now.

 They also removed the old, unmanageable, table grapes in the field near the house looking down to the creek.  Dad wanted them, Mom didn't.

The rock pile in the same field has been removed.  Mom wanted them, Dad didn't.

The field has been tilled once and will be done a couple more times as the weed seeds sprout.  Hopefully, when the wildflower seeds go in, the weeds will be gone!!  The goal is to have large areas of wildflowers and grasses that only have to be mowed once and don't use much water.

We photographed the lion for 6 nights.  We have about 2500 gross, time-lapse, pictures of him eating his dinner right outside the fence!  He showed up as early as 5pm.  One of the neighbors had seen the mountain lion cross in front of her car the night the deer was killed.  News spread and people were actually stopping alongside the road pointing at the deer.  Ranchers want him killed because he may kill livestock.  Hunters want him killed because he kills the deer.  We called Fish and Wildlife.  They said that we live in cougar country and we need to take precautions.  If we saw him during the day or he was after me and Osker, then they would come and shoot him.  They do not   trap and relocate because it's too dangerous.  We made sure we were inside by 4pm.

After a few days, Dad put a rope around the deer and pulled it away from the road.  He said it must have weighed 100 lbs.  That night the cat came and picked up (didn't drag) the deer and took it to another spot that me and Osker found!!  The night after that he hauled it further away and we finally said game over.  


However, the icky stomach fell out and Dad tried to bury it, but didn't go deep enough and me and Osker had a good roll in it!!  I just dabbed it behind my ears.  Osker covered his chest and back in it.  We smelled really fine and were quite proud of ourselves!!  It took 3 showers to get Osker clean!

Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne MA

Gosh, I have to admit I've been lazy lately.  We've had some rain and it's so nice to snuggle in my chair near the fire!  Time to catch up:

Mom went back east to see Grandma and Grandpa for 2 weeks. Then our friend Jim came to visit.  Then Dad went to Reno to visit his buddies, and mom's girlfriend Karla came here to visit!!!  Lots of fun for all of us. 

A few weeks back one of the neighbors saw a mountain lion crossing the road at 8pm right below our barn.  That prompted Dad to buy a game camera.  While Karla was visiting, she and mom discovered a dead deer down by the creek at the north end of the property; one of my favorite swimming holes.   Without going too close to examine the deer for fear the mountain lion was watching, they assumed the cat had killed it and scampered back to the house.  To validate their theory, they took the game camera down to the creek armed with a pitchfork and hunting knife for protection.  The next morning the camera had not been triggered, and upon further inspection there was no damage to the deer.  He was a familiar 4 point buck with a very white nose and face.  After googling all about the life span and graying of deer, and how mountain lions eat their kill, they decided the deer died of old age.  We've also heard that a virus is going around killing deer.  He needed to be buried quickly because he was beginning to smell, and since Dad wasn't due home for a few days the girls knew they had to take care of it.  They like to think of themselves as farm girls who can do most things so they had a cocktail for courage, drove the tractor down to dig the grave, and used the winch to pull the old guy out from the creek to his final resting spot.  They also sawed off the antlers so he would fit better in his grave. Then they had a somber toast to show respect for the deer's life. 

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend with lots of yummy food, friends and family!!!

Now we're back to projects. The guys installed a different radiator in the chipper, tuned it up, and it's purring!  This is the last of the crust bucket, rotting porch boards being chipped for mulch around the yard!

Our big excitement started a couple days ago when me and Osker noticed another dead deer right outside our front gate fence.  This one was a 3 point and since his gut was ripped open we felt certain that this was a mountain lion kill.  The game camera was set up again; the first night no pictures.  Last night we got great (but graphic) pictures of the lion visiting his prey.  He was there from 10:30 to 11:15 pm, then came back from 6:00 to 7:00 am!!  Wow!!  We went out to tinkle at 9:30, then had Dad take us out at 5:30 am.  He takes us on a little walk at that time!!    Maybe we should try harder to sleep through the night!!!!

Our vineyard didn't do so well this year because of the -5 deg temps we had last winter.  So we traded 2 six-packs of beer for 40 lbs of chardonnay from a guy in the Applegate!!  We pulled the grapes off the stems...

 Then Mom stomped them!  Then we pressed them with the cider press, put the juice in a bottle, added the yeast, now we wait!

 Dad moved a bunch of pvc pipe from the back of the garage which exposed the Styrofoam block.  The chickens started eating the Styrofoam so Mom had to stop what she was doing and finish putting rock around the base of the garage.  Don't ya love it when chickens decide what you should be doing??!!

This is the rock border and flower bed that Mom has been working on.  The boulders are from the basement excavation!

Dad got all the gutters sloping the right way and replaced the broken screws. 

This is the area where the double-wide sat!  It has been graded, raked, and seeded with grass.  There's a spot for a "memorial" bench!











We got all these pumpkins from one plant!

Let's see...  We picked 15 lbs. of elderberries and have them fermenting in the basement to make wine!!!

Dad has trapped 21 digger squirrels!  They continue to make Osker crazy.  Now we have 4 gray squirrels in the walnut tree each morning.  They take a walnut and bury it in the holes that the digger squirrels make!

This Great Egret stopped by to play in the sprinkler!  We had to watch from inside.  Once it took off flying, we were let out and Osker chased it all the way down the field!

 There has been quite a bit of bear activity on our path through the woods as evidenced by giant piles of blackberry poo.  Looks like a mom and at least one cub!

 Mom is playing in the rock piles working on a couple of walls.


Dad is readjusting the slope of the rain gutters.  Some of the screws have already broken off, probably from ice build-up.


Me and Osker keep Mom busy by laying in the dirt then coming in the house!! It's fine pumi like flour.  We heard her say that farm dogs stay outside all the time.  Dad said we're not farm dogs, we're family members!  Whew!

Well!  August flew by!  Mom and Dad traveled to Croatia for 2 weeks leaving us behind. Luckily our brother Matt stayed with us.  He's great fun!

Now we're settling in:  picking blackberries, canning a few garden vegies, doing yard work.  Trying to motivate for some bigger projects.

We've had a population explosion of digger squirrels.  They're in the wood piles and sheds.  So far Dad has caught 11 and relocated them.  There are still so many.  They don't really bother me, but they get Osker very excited.  He checks the trap throughout the day and barks when we catch one!  Dad keeps them comfy in a temporary cage until he has a load

We've been having a bit of a tough time here.  My human sister got married and we weren't invited.  We went to a KENNEL!  It was crazy in there.  Full of barking dogs, lots of smells.  We were ready to get out of there.

Then we took some friends on a walk down Old Elk Creek Road and Osker got covered in burrs.  His ears were stiff with burrs.  It took hours to get him cleaned up and he lost a lot of hair.

Then Dad decided we smelled like the kennel so we had to get baths!  Geez!

Now things are getting back to normal and we have some time to relax.

Mostly watering and mowing going on around here.  Folks are taking a break.