The Stockade

We woke up this morning to another gray, drizzly, 55 degree day.  It was our fifth in a row and none of us were amused.  And then just after lunch, the rain slowed to a stop, the sun came out and it warmed up to 70 degrees.  Emily, our oldest, rightly suggested that our weather has become bi-polar here in the last days of May. 

But that isn't unusual for those of us who live in the Northwest.  It's why we have so many shades of green in our gardens.  And lately, we seem to have a lot of mud--especially in our goat yard.  Those little hooves are amazing soil compactors and combined with our recent wet weather, their yard is a soggy mess.  And in turn, the muddy soils are so soft that their hooves don't wear down as quickly as they grow.  Which means we have to trim them more often.  Which is a bit frustrating for both us and the goats.

So even though we trimmed hooves about a month and a half ago, I noticed that they were badly overgrown again, and today became hoof trimming day.  Before we had a little stand to lock them into, the job would take three of us:  One to hold the goat, one to trim the hooves, and one to keep a bucket full of treats to keep the goats happy during the process.  This way of doing things though really hurt my back.  I would be bent at odd angles working on little goat hooves for too long and as I am getting older, this started feeling like a bad idea.  So I started researching goat stanchions.  They are meant for use in milking goats, but I had read that they were an invaluable tool for securing them for things like hoof trimming, or shots. 

I am grateful to be married to a guy who loves to build things.  I think part of the reason Brian agreed to the goats in the first place is because he was excited to build the barn.  So, when I showed him some pictures of stanchions, he went to work building one for us.  And now the job of hoof trimming is much easier.  It takes two of us now--one to trim and one to provide for treats.  When we lock their heads in the gate though, we simply think of the contraption as the stockade for it really looks like they have been put in the stocks.  

The crazy part is that we have two goats who are anxious to get in the stocks so they can have an almost unlimited supply of treats, and two who we have to capture.  Silver and Lily are of course the easy ones, while Blackberry and Sweet Pea have to be captured.  Blackberry will literally hide under the bench in the barn when he senses that we are about to get him.  He is getting huge, but he will slink into the corner and become absolutely silent, hoping that we won't find him.  And oddly enough, once he is in the stocks, he is the easiest goat to work on.  Sweet Pea is so little, and honestly not very bright, that all we have to do for her is give her a treat and then pick her up.  She always seems so surprised that we were able to grab her!  And her hooves are still so tiny.  

The sunshine and blue sky of this afternoon were absolutely glorious after the five consecutive days of rain.  And so after all of the goats' hooves were trimmed and they'd been given a dose of worming medicine, we decided they needed another field trip.  We let them roam around the yard and eat the salmon berry bushes that grow along the edge of our woods.  They are getting to be brave explorers so the field trips are getting more adventurous.  Today Silver and Lily went into the garage.  The door into our house was propped open, and yes, they found their way inside.  So for a short time we had goats in the house!  But at least their hooves were clean.     

Post-napping!!

I have had my first blog technical difficulty.  It was bound to happen.  It couldn't be this easy.  I mean in the world of websites and computers and links and languages that I don't even begin to understand, of course there are going to be some issues. It can't possibly be as simple as writing and clicking on the "Publish Post" button.

My problem today is that my post of a couple of days ago, titled Spiral Universe, is gone!  It was deleted by some unknown entity and I have no idea where it is or if I will get it back.  It's like the post never existed.  "They" left me with a very rough draft of the post, but that is all.  Some cyber hand reached into my blog space (during the night I might add) and grabbed it.  My writing has been post-napped!  The post was about ferns and slugs and other "gardeny" things, so unless slug slime (which I mentioned) is offensive, I cannot think of any reason why it was deleted.

I know my way around the garden, but I do not know my way around the cyber world. So my post today is more of a giant "Missing Post" poster and I am tacking it up on this board.  If any of you know how I can find the missing post, I would be most grateful.  Thank you tech savvy friends!!

A Leaf to Remember

I have an experiment going on in one of the gardens I care for, and I'm pretty sure it's going to end badly.  It involves a plant with giant leaves--really colossal sized leaves.  The plant is an ornamental rhubarb and this particular garden is the perfect habitat for them.  I planted two of them in different areas of the garden and the leaves are stunning.  Almost shockingly bold.  The first leaves to come out are the largest and on one of the plants, the leaves measure almost three feet across!  This is the third season for these plants and I swear they are getting bigger.

Early this spring I noticed that one of them was putting together a giant flower pod.  This particular variety is prized for its leaves.  And generally speaking, when you are growing a plant for its leaves, you remove any flowers that form.  (You don't want the plant putting its energy into reproducing, which is really what the flowers are all about.)  But this flower stalk was looking so immense that I was really curious about it and decided to throw out the rule and see what would happen. 

I stand just under 5 foot 5 inches and this flower stalk is now well over my head.  The leaves are now spaced out on this stalk and aren't quite as fabulous as the sister plant who is focusing on her amazing leaves.  I'm really not sure what will happen to the plant once it blooms.  It's possible that it will be done for the season, which would be sad as this particular plant and its placement allow for an interesting conversation piece in the garden.  It's also possible that the flower will be so spectacular that my experiment will have been a success.    Either way, it's a good bit of garden drama to keep me entertained. 

Nest Tension

How long does it take for baby birds to hatch?

As we are hosting a mama robin right by our front door, I am starting to wonder.  Since Mother's Day, she has devoted most of each day to sitting on her nest of eggs.  She is so nestled into the cozy home she's built that we barely see her--unless of course, we scare her and she flies away.  And we are really trying not to scare her.  Yet once or twice a day, one of us forgets to open the door quietly and off the mama bird flies, all spooked!  I would hate to see her abandon the nest because of us.  When I mentioned that I was worried about this, Grace remarked that if the mama left, it would be really fun to scramble up some blue robin's eggs!!  (Now seriously, how do these girls get so sassy?)  I think I'd rather meet the babies.  But didn't mama bird realize this was a busy place when she chose to build her nest here?  I suppose some of our nest tension would be alleviated if I just went ahead and oiled the screen door --something that has needed doing for longer than I care to say.  Or we could use the side door, which would be a perfectly good option that we can't seem to remember.

I haven't even mentioned yet that there are two other active nests on the garden gates...that I use every day.  So not only do I have a mother bird by our front door, but I am also trying to be careful around nests that mark the only two ways into my fenced garden area.  The only explanation for this "nest event" is that God has a really funny sense of humor.  And it's all because I didn't go ahead and get the chickens this Spring as planned.  Here I realize my limitations and follow the chicken intervention of my friends, and a robin comes along and decides to give me baby birds after all.

Goat Field Trip

Today was barn cleaning day--a job that none of us enjoy.  In fact we all dislike it so much that we have put it off for the past several weeks!  But it could wait no more.  As it is my birthday, Sophie and Emily did most of the work today.  I helped them because they were taking turns gaging and complaining of not being able to breath!  I can't think of a better character building experience for our daughters--another plus to owning farm animals. 

The goats ordinarily do not like barn cleaning day.  For starters, we shut them out of the barn so that we can shovel the urine soaked wood chips and hay out the back door without them in the way.  They are so curious that the job would never get done if they were allowed to be a part of it.  Today with the sun shining and the goats already basking in it, they didn't mind being locked out.  And we decided to give them a field trip which they liked very much.   

 They are always most comfortable in their yard, but on nice days like today, they sometimes like to wander around the property and see what else they can eat.  We keep a pretty close eye on them so they don't eat things like rhododendrons or cherry trees--two plant groups that are toxic for them--but otherwise they are free to explore a bit. 

Blackberry and Sweet Pea are our more skittish goats and if they get spooked by a loud noise they run back to their goat yard.  Silver and Lily are fearless and curious and really enjoy the time.  Lily, however, is getting so comfortable that she goes a bit too far.  Today she was wandering around the driveway.  We are pretty sure that if we didn't stay with her, she'd be on top of one of our cars, climbing it like it was a goat mountain put there for her amusement. 

They ate blackberries and salmon berries along the property line and climbed the firewood pile and some rocks.  They skipped around, played and pretty much enjoyed themselves until some internal clock told them it was time to go home.  Like the herd they are, they all trotted back to the safety of their goat yard.  I'm not really sure if they like their clean barn.  It's quite possible that they like it with layers of wood chips and hay all soaked with goat poo and pee.  But we presented them with their clean barn anyway.  And now they are all napping on the bench in their barn, worn out after a day of exploring just like the kids they are.

Birds and messy gardens

We added a room onto our house last year.  It was a huge project as we don't hire out the work--we hire our children instead.  The upside is that the girls know how to build things and we save a ton of money.  The downside is that we spent most of last year in various stages of construction, though not everyone in my family thinks that is a downside!  (Brian and Sophie in particular love these projects.)  But we spent three weeks with a giant hole in our house, and months with our kitchen pretty torn up, so as exciting as it all was and as happy as I am with the results, I at least remember the downside. 

I am seeing some garden effects from this project that I didn't anticipate.  Because we were working non-stop on construction, I didn't do much gardening last year.  And I'm fortunate that my garden is mature and survived just fine, though it is way messier.  But it feels even more full of life this Spring.  Though the weeds are as big as some of my plants, it is also full of birds.  Aside from the robin who is sitting on a nest of eggs right by our front door, we also have a chickadee nest in one of our bird houses up in the garden.  In fact, the whole garden is brimming with bird activity and their beautiful songs. 

I was really lamenting my garden last year.  It was hard to watch the beds go unweeded and the shrubs go unpruned.  I simply didn't have the time.  I did put in a very small vegetable garden because I couldn't help it, but even that got little attention from me.  I was grateful for the vegetables we got and surprised that my small amount of maintenance seemed to be enough--at least for a small harvest.  But I very much thought it was a "bad" thing that I was neglecting my garden.  I'm starting to reconsider this. 

My garden, though wild, is really colorful and looks good--so long as you don't look too close.  And the wildlife seems to be loving it.  We always have deer and the occasional river otter wander through and we've always had plenty of birds.  But never can I remember this much bird activity or this many nests.  I wonder if perhaps the lesson here is that I don't need to work so hard.  Maybe a garden is supposed to be messy.  And as I frequently compare a garden to a life, maybe it's a lesson for my life too.  Maybe full and messy is what it is all about...

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!  I especially want to wish Margaret (my mom), Karen (my mom-in-law) and Marianne (my step-mom) a beautiful day.  And I also want to wish a happy day to all of my mom friends.  I think that no matter how many kids we have, or how we came to be mothers, once you become a mom you join an amazing group of women. 

I don't know what I would do without my mom friends.  When I am full to bursting with the gifts of raising three girls, or down in the dumps feeling like a failure, my friends are right there with me.  How could I do this job without these women in my life?  Becoming a mother has given me the "opportunity" to feel every emotion in the entire range of human emotions--sometimes all in one day!  Honestly I think it's a job that pushes us into bi-polar behavior.  Or maybe that's just me. 

I do know that I am blessed with many mommy friends who share this journey with me.  It truly takes a village to raise children, but not in the way I initially thought.  It takes a village because we are in this tough job together, and supporting one another is how we keep some semblance of sanity for ourselves.  On this day, I enjoy being reminded of the ties that bind us.  We celebrate this incredible life role and know that it is the most worthy, the most fulfilling and also the hardest job on the planet. 

And a huge note of thanks to Brian, the guy who shares all of this with me and gave me a beautiful day today.

Nest Building

For the past few days I've been watching a bird.  My desk looks out this window and since the clematis vine is a popular spot for birds, there is always activity to distract me from my work. What I realized yesterday is that it seemed like the same robin kept visiting, and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe she had other plans.  Yesterday we saw her with a beak full of moss and twigs and my suspicions were confirmed.  She is building a nest! 

This is all good except for the fact that her nest is two feet away from our front door.  And our deck.  And pretty much the grand central station of our house.  I'm not sure how this is going to work.  Do we quit using our front door until her babies are hatched?  Or did she choose this spot knowing people go back and forth here and is comfortable with our human activity?   

I am watching her go back and forth to her nest, carrying bits of nest material, so I don't think she has laid her eggs just yet.  I am desperate to see closer but of course want to respect her privacy.  I snuck out the side door yesterday morning and climbed a chair to get a better look.  I managed to get a picture of her but then my precariously perched position on the chair faltered and I tumbled to to the deck--making a good deal of noise.  She flew away of course, but even that loud clatter hasn't stopped her from nest building.  I'm excited to have baby birds right outside my window.  I'll try and get pictures without disturbing her.  The thought of blue robin's eggs and baby birds is a very nice Mother's Day gift.

May Day Plant Sale

I have a particular love for any holiday that revolves around celebrating flowers.  And May Day has always been one of my favorites.  When I was little, I loved the tradition of giving flower bouquets to our neighbors--hanging the bouquet from the door, ringing the doorbell and then darting into the shrubbery to hide while they found the bouquet.  I'm sure they never heard my giggles.  Our girls have continued the tradition with our neighbors, and I think the local plant sales this time of year are another way of celebrating May flowers.

Every year our local Thriftway has a May Day plant sale.  It starts at 6 AM and I've heard that it's quite crowded that early in the morning.  I've never seen those early crowds as I am not the type to set my alarm unless I have to!  And I'm completely OK if something I wanted is gone by the time I arrive at the more reasonable hour of 8:00 or 9:00.  But I admire those who choose to get up early simply to buy flowers.   

Probably what I love best about this May Day plant sale is that it signifies the beginning of annual planting season.  I am, at this point in the year, really tired of weeding and composting.  I love being outside right now if nothing else because the birds are so entertaining, but the unseasonably cold weather these past few days has been downright depressing.  And I am really tired of Spring jobs.  But with trays of annuals at my disposal, I am looking forward to going to work.  Finally my job has shifted again, as it always does with the seasons.  This is one of the best parts about my work-- nature gives me this built in job change every season.  And this one is particularly satisfying because unlike the weeding and pruning jobs which are only noticeable when they are not done, freshly planted annual flowers are instantly eye-catching.  Who can resist May Day flowers?  

Hummingbird Rescue

We had to initiate a hummingbird rescue operation this evening.  We left our garage door open, and when we got back Grace thought she saw a giant insect on the ceiling.  I got out to look and it was a hummingbird! He was buzzing along the ceiling of our garage looking for a way out, and we felt terrible watching him struggle.  We didn't want to scare him, and I wasn't sure it was a good idea to even try and catch him, but we thought if we opened up both garage doors and the window maybe he would find his way out.  We did all of this and went inside to make dinner, keeping our fingers crossed that he would find his way.

After dinner, I sent the girls out to feed the goats and Grace came in all panicked that our little hummingbird was still trapped and not looking good.  I know very little about bird rescues but it felt like it was time to be a bit proactive.  The only thing I know about hummingbirds is that they need a steady intake of sugar to keep doing that insane flying thing they do so well.  And this little guy was looking awfully tuckered out.  I put on my garden gloves and climbed up to where he was perched on our garage door opener.  Very gently I lifted him off and cupped my hands around his little body--he felt like nothing, no weight at all.  And then I slowly went outside and opened up my hands.  He stayed.  And he looked terrible!  Flying up on the ceiling he had collected some cobwebs on his beak and on his feet.  And it looked like some of his feathers were worn off on the top of his head.  He was still breathing but his eyes were closed and he seemed to be resting.  I took him close to some flowers I've seen hummingbirds feeding from, but he wasn't interested. 

He was in my hand for so long that I had time to ask Emily to get the camera so we could take a picture.  Sophie felt that was not very respectful of him, but it is a rare thing to hold a hummingbird and I wanted to get a close up of him.  It was amazing to be able to study his features.  His wings were so small they looked like single feathers.  And his beak was long, black and had a slight curve in it.  Even in his worn out state, his feathers still gave off that iridescent shimmer. I've never had the privilege of seeing one so still for so long. 

Finally, he opened his eyes, appeared to take a bigger breath, and spread out his tail feathers and his wings--as if he was doing a pre-flight check.  Then in a whirl he took off and flew to the top of one of our pear trees.  I hope he is OK.  I'm not sure how he is going to get the cobwebbing off his beak or his feet, but I'm hopeful that he will get himself cleaned up.  I said a little prayer for him and am already thinking of more hummingbird-type flowers I can add to the garden.  This little guy has some feathers to grow and he's going to need a lot of sugar.