Haven't been on here for a few days so I will catch up on things. First off the fawn. Haven't seen momma or baby since last week but I'm sure they are ok. The day after the momma chased the dog I was in the house and the dog started barking. My grandson (5 year old) said he would look and see what was going on. He opened the back door and didn't see a thing so, just the dog being noisy. Then I went in and checked the video for the driveway. I see momma and fawn behind the truck in the middle of the driveway looking toward the house. The doe proceeds to lay down in the drive trying to become as flat as possible. My guess is she heard the door and knew the fawn couldn't keep up with her if she ran so she was trying not to be seen. Just hadn't ever seen that before especially out in the open.
Remember the baby geese that were eating the corn as it was coming up? A couple of days ago they disappeared along with their mother. No feathers no signs of anything! Dunno what happened there.
We are now the proud "parents" of about 20 baby guineas though. Momma won't keep them still enough to get an accurate count. They are tiny compared to the geese when they hatch!
Our final batch of birds for now are some Muscovy ducks that we have in an incubator. They should be hatching this week so.... until next time....... as Jimmy Durante would say,"Good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Deer? Chasing the dog?
Every morning I get up before my husband goes to work to spend some time with him. Every morning we let the dog (our boxer Buddy) out as we head to the car. Every morning Buddy goes down the driveway or into the woods, rarely does he go very far but he is out of sight. Of course it is still very dark at that time. We do occasionally have neighbors dogs intrude the territory.
We have a camera outside so we can see the gardens etc. This morning we happened to see a doe very close to the house.
This morning wasn't "every morning". We go out to the car as usual. I'm standing talking to my husband as usual. Buddy takes off as usual.........then..........Buddy comes back running at full tilt *not* as usual. Something is chasing him. I am thinking it is another dog and I yell out as I see them approach. Then as Buddy zips between the car and truck the pursuer stops! I see to my astonishment that my dog was being run down by a deer! If I wasn't full awake before I was then. We have deer around here all the time and there hadn't been any problems. He doesn't chase them and they don't chase him. Until today. This animal just stood there after she stopped and stared him down. He wasn't going anywhere near that deer. She then turned lifted that white tail and walked off.
End of story? Not quite.
As my husband is headed down the driveway this deer is having an attitude with his car she is not wanting to let him pass. Slowly he maneuvers the car around her and is on his way. I return into the house wondering what the heck was that all about?
End of story now? Not quite..............
My husband called me a couple of minutes after he left to update me on the situation................
If you read my last blog you know we spent part of this past weekend installing a new water hydrant about halfway up the driveway. It seems that this particular doe chose that particular spot at very close to the particular time my husband leaves for work to deliver a new fawn and Buddy wasn't a welcome visitor at such early hours. Neither was my husband or his car!
All is well, momma and baby have moved on and Buddy doesn't seem too traumatized.
End of story? Yes for now.
We have a camera outside so we can see the gardens etc. This morning we happened to see a doe very close to the house.
This morning wasn't "every morning". We go out to the car as usual. I'm standing talking to my husband as usual. Buddy takes off as usual.........then..........Buddy comes back running at full tilt *not* as usual. Something is chasing him. I am thinking it is another dog and I yell out as I see them approach. Then as Buddy zips between the car and truck the pursuer stops! I see to my astonishment that my dog was being run down by a deer! If I wasn't full awake before I was then. We have deer around here all the time and there hadn't been any problems. He doesn't chase them and they don't chase him. Until today. This animal just stood there after she stopped and stared him down. He wasn't going anywhere near that deer. She then turned lifted that white tail and walked off.
End of story? Not quite.
As my husband is headed down the driveway this deer is having an attitude with his car she is not wanting to let him pass. Slowly he maneuvers the car around her and is on his way. I return into the house wondering what the heck was that all about?
End of story now? Not quite..............
My husband called me a couple of minutes after he left to update me on the situation................
If you read my last blog you know we spent part of this past weekend installing a new water hydrant about halfway up the driveway. It seems that this particular doe chose that particular spot at very close to the particular time my husband leaves for work to deliver a new fawn and Buddy wasn't a welcome visitor at such early hours. Neither was my husband or his car!
All is well, momma and baby have moved on and Buddy doesn't seem too traumatized.
End of story? Yes for now.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Weekend fun!?!
Once again we had a pretty busy weekend. This spring we have gone from constant rain for close to a month to extreme heat and no rain. Everything is drying out so....... bring on the irrigation (hoses and sprinklers). Problem is that it's not just hose or two, some areas we have to have 200+ feet of hose. THAT is a pain to move so........... we decided it was time to install a water hydrant closer to the pumpkin/ watermelon patch. Not a big deal right??! Except we weren't real sure where the water line was. We had a general idea but digging 16"+ inches deep to locate a 1" line is pretty much a crap shoot. After about an hour of digging and producing a really nice trench we went in and had breakfast to rethink our strategy. The conclusion was it's time for the big guns....... here comes the tractor. Digging with the front end loader was so much easier, within 10 minutes I had found the waterline........... fortunately we had already turned off the water so when I broke the line there weren't gallons upon gallons of water gushing just a constant stream ...... well kinda like a bubbling brook.
After we baled the water out of the hole so we could see the pipe we plumbed the hydrant and shutoff valve to the main water line turned on the water and HOLY COW no leaks! So we got the hole filled in and turned on the sprinkler using only 1 hose. Mission complete!
On to the new cultivator for the garden. It adjusts up and down and side to side and will eliminat a lot of weeding. I 'll let you know how well it works.
Did I mention it was pushing 100 degrees on Saturday?
Good thing we got that water hydrant in it's been so dry........
Did I mention WE had a thunderstorm with wind gusts up to 60 mph.
( It moved the satellite dish so we aren't getting full reception...ugh.)
I woke up Sunday and my husband was already out running the weed eater around the pasture. The electric fence wasn't working as well as it should. After breakfast we went out to find where the gate was catching the fence charge. It's not supposed to shock you. We made some adjustments to the gate and changed some insulators solving that problem.
Along with the regular "stuff" we do around here it was another hot, busy and productive weekend.
Thanks to our oldest daughter and her fiancee for the help with the water and lunch on Saturday.
After we baled the water out of the hole so we could see the pipe we plumbed the hydrant and shutoff valve to the main water line turned on the water and HOLY COW no leaks! So we got the hole filled in and turned on the sprinkler using only 1 hose. Mission complete!
On to the new cultivator for the garden. It adjusts up and down and side to side and will eliminat a lot of weeding. I 'll let you know how well it works.
Did I mention it was pushing 100 degrees on Saturday?
Good thing we got that water hydrant in it's been so dry........
Did I mention WE had a thunderstorm with wind gusts up to 60 mph.
( It moved the satellite dish so we aren't getting full reception...ugh.)
I woke up Sunday and my husband was already out running the weed eater around the pasture. The electric fence wasn't working as well as it should. After breakfast we went out to find where the gate was catching the fence charge. It's not supposed to shock you. We made some adjustments to the gate and changed some insulators solving that problem.
Along with the regular "stuff" we do around here it was another hot, busy and productive weekend.
Thanks to our oldest daughter and her fiancee for the help with the water and lunch on Saturday.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Well no more rain anyway!!
Ok so we have been WATERING the garden and strawberries! I knew this would happen, torrential rain for weeks then *POOF* rain is gone heat is here almost 100 degrees. We had to replant some of the corn again. Baby geese didn't eat the entire plant but enough that they didn't survive (I'm talking about the corn here although the geese had better watch out!). Oh well now we will have two harvests of the corn. Blueberry bushes are doing ok (if we can only keep someone from running over them). We transplanted some large bushes a couple of years ago but the drought took its toll last year. Running water buckets out to water the new plants.
This weekend we plan on installing a frostproof faucet by the punkin patch so we won't have to pull so many hoses to get water there.
The rabbits, poultry and goats are all pretty much set up with automatic waterers so that helps and they get a cooler supply of water consistantly.
We are trying to sell off some of our goats that don't meet our criteria for our newest endeavor. Hope fuul this will happen soon
If you would like to see our farm just go to
www.possumridgefarms.com
See ya'll soon out in the old cotton field.
This weekend we plan on installing a frostproof faucet by the punkin patch so we won't have to pull so many hoses to get water there.
The rabbits, poultry and goats are all pretty much set up with automatic waterers so that helps and they get a cooler supply of water consistantly.
We are trying to sell off some of our goats that don't meet our criteria for our newest endeavor. Hope fuul this will happen soon
If you would like to see our farm just go to
www.possumridgefarms.com
See ya'll soon out in the old cotton field.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
It is now HOT
Well no rain so here in west Tennessee that means it's HOT and humid. Today it will be close to 100 degrees. Come on it's June 100 degrees? Really? Two weeks ago we couldn't get into the garden because it was too wet. Now? Breaking out the hoses and sprinklers. The animals look at us with a confused expression. Oh well that's what happens here, five nice days in the spring if we are lucky then BAM summer. Some like this heat but me? Not so much. Oh well I will deal with it. Better than the severe weather we were having.
Out into the heat I go.................
Out into the heat I go.................
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Busy weekend
We had a weekend with NO rain! The garden dried out enough to work it again. After having to replant the corn we were getting a bit disappointed to see such poor germination. I told my husband I thought the seed might have been exposed with the rain and the birds then ate them. Other crops are coming on strong onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, raddishes, beets, peas, cucumbers and zucchini are all up and growing well.
We finally managed to get the tomato and pepper plants out this weekend with the help of our grandson (5yr old).
Next project was tearing out old landscape fabric, preping the soil and planting pumpkins, watermelons and cantaloupe.
Next project cutting, splitting and stacking the wood from the tree limb that came down in a recent storm. Did I mention the tree that almost broke in half about 15 feet off the ground? That was fun! We cut at it a little pushed it with the tractor, cut a little more, pushed again you kinda get the idea. Finally got it disconnected with no human injuries but alas it was wedged in another tree and sticking up in the air! Kubota to the rescue (again). We hooked a chain to that sucker and pulled................ hoping not to get a slingshot effect and decapitation anyone ( insert husband here). The plan worked like a charm so now we have more wood to split and stack..... That's Ok though.
Next project fix the driveway. Big ruts from all the rain means tractor time for me. I get to do the driveway repairs and enjoy doing it.
Next project ...... uhoh...... they decided to get the tent out.
and light the pile of wood that has been accumulating since last summer...... BONFIRE! It was a fun way to end a long couple of days.
One final note for now we also moved the baby geese (actually all of the geese) to a pasture further away from the garden, ya see THEY were trimming the corn as it was coming up! Didn't ruin the plants but they aren't being tempted anymore!
There's always something!
We finally managed to get the tomato and pepper plants out this weekend with the help of our grandson (5yr old).
Next project was tearing out old landscape fabric, preping the soil and planting pumpkins, watermelons and cantaloupe.
Next project cutting, splitting and stacking the wood from the tree limb that came down in a recent storm. Did I mention the tree that almost broke in half about 15 feet off the ground? That was fun! We cut at it a little pushed it with the tractor, cut a little more, pushed again you kinda get the idea. Finally got it disconnected with no human injuries but alas it was wedged in another tree and sticking up in the air! Kubota to the rescue (again). We hooked a chain to that sucker and pulled................ hoping not to get a slingshot effect and decapitation anyone ( insert husband here). The plan worked like a charm so now we have more wood to split and stack..... That's Ok though.
Next project fix the driveway. Big ruts from all the rain means tractor time for me. I get to do the driveway repairs and enjoy doing it.
Next project ...... uhoh...... they decided to get the tent out.
and light the pile of wood that has been accumulating since last summer...... BONFIRE! It was a fun way to end a long couple of days.
One final note for now we also moved the baby geese (actually all of the geese) to a pasture further away from the garden, ya see THEY were trimming the corn as it was coming up! Didn't ruin the plants but they aren't being tempted anymore!
There's always something!
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