April 13, 2010

Outdoor time

My man and my boy made me a garden this weekend.
I've wanted one of these for years. But since we live on a bed of CLAY AND ROCK, it never happened.
That is until........... our generous neighbor gave us three whopping loads of manure and three loads of black dirt. FREE!!!!!
I am officially a farm girl now.

And besides that...........

Rick finally trusted me to drive his "new baby".
I must be strange because I sorta enjoy mowing.

1. It's mindless!!!

2. I can sing really loud and no one has to hear.

3. Plus the neat freak in me likes the look of all the lines. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. (Gracie calls this a pattern, I call it back and forth! hehe)

It took me a bit to catch on (nearly all day).

Let me just say........ donuts are fun for teenage boys, not so fun for 34 year old moms. I'm debating whether I gave myself a small case of whiplash the first round or two.

It also goes much faster than our tractor mower. This baby has some horsies in the engine.

I actually had my camera in my lap the entire time I mowed.

1. I'm weird.

2. I wanted to take a picture of a snake.

(note: It is impossible to take photos while driving this machine. You definately need both arms to drive!!! That is unless you don't mind if your back and forth lines are a little wavy?)
So, I'm mowing our four wheeler path and I see a snake. A big, long black snake. They are mostly harmless but I still want it DEAD!!!!!! DEAD, DEAD, DEAD AS A DOORNAIL!!!! He takes off through the high weeds.

He's not getting away that easy (remember this machine is FAST!). So, my inablility to drive has gone out the window. I am now "a mowing master". I take out after him.

He make's a right. I follow.
He zig-zags through the pasture. So do I.
I follow this vile beast for what felt like 10 minutes. (probably 10 seconds)
I increase my speed, so does he.
He outsmarted me.
He got away.
But that's OK because except for the debree in my ear and my nose after mowing, I must say.... I had fun!

I planted five more rose bushes this week and cannot wait until they begin to bloom. My favorite shades of pink and cream came via, Jackson and Perkins. I've always had the best luck with this company. I have high expectations for these babies. Until they begin to bloom, you will have to look at photos of the only rose bush blooming. This yellow gem.






While I was cleaning out the rose gardens I found a nest of bunnies. Gracie was asking to keep them before she even saw them. Of course, my answer was no. I explained that these bunnies had a mommy. She would be so sad if her babies were gone.


We settled with holding them and that seemed like a good compromise. I had her put on gloves so the mommy wouldn't detect human scent. Hopefully they will be OK. T-bone picked up on their squeals and his ears perked up. We had to lock him up until we had them all safely covered back in their soft nest. Gus was tied up (and not happy about it, might I add).


All was well until 2:30 in the morning. Rick and I were sound asleep in bed. We both sat up in bed when we heard a squeal, squeal, squeal!!!!! I was the first to speak. "What was that". Rick was in zombie-land and didn't respond. So I lugged my hiney out of bed to find the critter. I knew that it was IN THE HOUSE. I knew that it was probably small and rodent-like. I was praying that it wasn't larger than a raccoon. But in the back of my mind, I was praying it wasn't a mouse. I really do NOT LIKE MICE!!!!

I was pleasantly surprised to find it was one of those cute little bunnies.

I carefully took him outside to his nest. I was in my under-roos so I didn't stick around to see if he was comfy or not. I did check on them this morning and all is well.










THE TAME BUNNY UPDATE:
"The long ears" are doing quite well and adjusting nicely to their new home. Besides one eensy weensy episode, things have gone very smoothly. (Gracie was a little eager with the lettuce. Let's just say that Cookie had a tummy ache. We took him to the vet and now all is well on the ranch. There was a small side effect to the little fur ball that required ointment for a week. Trust me, ahem........... it's probably best left unsaid.)

We placed the bunnies in the largest Longaberger basket I own. (Because a laundry basket isn't good enough for a Easter bunny gift. No worries, I won't be bringing you supper from this basket.) We carefully explained Cookie's dilemma to the vet and Gracie trotted back to the exam room to get "it" all fixed up. I say "it" because we aren't quite sure whether Cookie is a boy or a girl. Gracie is praying that it's a girl. I'm praying that "it's" a boy (Nibbles is a boy............. doesn't take a rocket scientist). If Cookie is a girl, then a minor surgery may be in her future. If it's a boy, then we might tell a little white lie to Gracie and say he's a girl. Anyway, we aren't going to know for sure until Cookie's bottom gets better. So, another$20.00 vet bill is in my very near future.

Sorry if this post seems a little jumbled. I have started and stopped it for five days straight.
I'll try to do better about blogging this week. :)


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