Fun with Saran Wrap

Yesterday I was looking at blue sky and sunshine, why I even had to wear my shades. I was basking in the warm sunshine while I sipped my morning latte by the pond. Sigh…

It was a good day to do little seed harvesting for next year's garden. I clipped some seed pods for the Cupids Dart. I just love this plant. It was the most wonderful royal blue flush of flowers and then the seed pods looked so cool afterward. I kind of hated clipping them. I also collected some Candy Tuft seeds. Those little babies have been blooming all summer long. As a matter of fact even though we had excessive heat and drought everything in the garden really bloomed like gangbusters all summer. I will never use anything other than manure and leaf mulch. Best stuff ever!

I also clipped the last of the lavender and swooned. Now don't laugh at me. O.K. you can laugh at me, just do it so I can't hear you. I have never understood the attraction people have to lavender. I didn’t like it in the least. Apparently I have never actually smelled lavender. Nor have I been anywhere near real live lavender. I had only smelled it in those chemical cream factories with the wispy feminine labels they call lotion; when in fact it is more like French fries calling themselves French cuisine because they're French fries. There is absolutely zero resemblance. The fact that I did not know this tells you just how new to the plant world I am. I’m a tad embarrassed. Say, did I mention that I grew these little scent angels from seed? No? Yes!

Then we decided that it was time to cruise up the road a bit to our favorite “tractor with a wagon full of corn for sale on the side of the road” market for some fresh and I mean fresh, corn. We have one more week of corn from these guys for the year. I plan to buy enough to fill up the trunk and the back seat. I love how diverse the regulars are that come to this place every year. I also get a big kick out of seeing the new people because I know that when they get their fresh off the farm corn back home and take their first bite they are not going to know what hit them. We all buy corn in the grocery. I buy corn in the grocery and usually it’s pretty good. This is different. This corn bursts in your mouth like sweet summer sunshine in a delicious candy coating. You can smell the earth in the kernels, taste the sun sugars in the juice and smell the summer heat coming off the husks. I know those new people will never look at grocery store corn the same way again.

Next we decided to visit one of our local wild apple trees. The apples on these trees are not the best. Well they really aren’t good at all. The GOOD ones are coming up here pretty soon and we'll make our trip out for those but, we these for the horses and they love them. Tucker, the brown one, he starts to drool and lick his lips when he sees me with the apples. He gets very exicted. I have learned to step back a bit when I feed him these so I don’t get horse slimed. It can be quite disgusting. Jack has a little more dignity but you gotta watch your fingers.

I then decided that the new side deck was finally ready to be scrubbed and stained. Of course it had only been build last summer but you know, you can ever be too quick to take care of your new and unprotected deck wood I always say. It had been a lovely day all in all. All except that little business with the scrub brush and bucket of course.

While we frolicked in the summer sun there was a dark and ominous cloud lurking nearby that would soon spoil our fun. No, really. There was a dark ominous cloud nearby. It was coming from Alaska and it was freaking cold and wet. We did a 30 degree spread from last week to this one. My last and final act of the day was one of defiance. Of course my husband laughed so hard he almost fell over when he saw me. Why you ask? Well, because I did this:

Yes, that is Saran Wrap. So what? Haven’t you ever seen roses in Saran Wrap before?

Meet the neighbors

I would like to introduce you to Tucker (right) and Jack (left).
These are my neighbors. I actually have people neighbors but I rarely see them. These guys I see every day. They have a house just up the hill from me. I can see it from my front yard, front window, front porch etc. They are not the quietest neighbors but they do refrain from playing rap music at 2 AM so that's a good thing.

Initially I worried that we might have clashing lifestyles. They seemed aloof. They were morning types, me not so much. They liked to run, I only run if chased or if Starbucks is about to close.

I would also like to introduce you to my house mates. Because of prior bad deeds that shall go unmentioned their names have been changed, mostly to protect myself from litigation. "Big Dog" is the blond one and "Blaze" is the black one. This shot was taken as they came back from doing unspeakable things in unmentionable places.



With these two crews living in close quarters I knew eventually there would be a confrontation. It was inevitable. There was a lot of posing going on. A lot of swaggering and prancing about. Territory was marked and within 4 hours of arriving it was ON.

Big Dog decided that anything that big couldn't be trusted and Blaze figured anything with legs that long had to be a good runner. But the little scrappers underestimated the cunning of their new adversaries. Big Dog ran right up on their heels and began barking his fool head off. Then he nearly got his fool head kicked off. I am pretty sure I heard the horses snickering. Blaze didn't know what to make of the "really big dogs" and so she barked also. This new neighbor thing wasn't going so well and we hadn't even moved in yet.

After Big Dog got hoofed again (contact was made) something definitely had to be done. To be fair to the snarky horses they weren't actually trying to clobber the dogs. They were just setting some distance boundaries. Big Dog just took a little extra educatin'. I tried every Dog Whisperer trick I could find and some I just made up but nothing worked. They still barked and the snarky little horses actually goaded them on. The furry punks would wait to see the dogs and then begin charging at them. Big Dog always played right into their hands...hooves and Blaze was always up for a good bark and run.

One day it occurred to me that maybe I needed to establish the horses as part of the pack. I mean the dogs didn't try to eat the cats because they were part of the pack, right?

Hmm. So how to do that?

Feed them!

I had to lure them over to the fence line. I waved bright orange carrots, sprinkled fresh cut grass and eventually they came. Then I had to reach over the fence where they held their little snickering heads just out of petting range. This is right about the same time I found out that the fence was electric. Holy Cow! That will get your attention. Adjustments were made. Distance was measured...carefully. Soon I had them eating out of my hands. I pet the horses to rub their smell on and then pet the dogs to introduce them as approved members. Negotiations took some time.

Big Dog is still wary and keeps his distance after that last hoofing. Blaze now has long legged playmates to run with and I have a daily routine that includes feeding horses that I do not own or ride. Did I mention that I also do not have to muck out the stalls? Man, my life sucks. In the spring and summer they get fresh cut grass from the lawn. In late summer and fall we bring them apples from the orchards. Carrots fill in the winter months.

When we got our big pond going last year I wondered why I kept losing water so fast. Then I found this was going on! Nosy neighbors. Recently when I had failed to get carrots for their morning snack Jack decided to help himself to one of my daisy beds. He ate them and all the Lady Ferns down to the nub. I couldn't even look at it. Nubs! Nothing but nubs. Snarky horse.