A Short Post on Thursday-

 

I took this photo of the hedges a few weeks ago; they’re planted outside the Technology building, on the college campus. I think they’re so pretty, but I’m not sure what type of hedge it is.  Maybe you might know!  It’s officially fall now, but some of the interesting plants on campus are still blooming.  I’m hoping to get a picture of one that I saw blooming Tuesday; it was very pretty!

Today, I was outside with Haiden (see how I snuck in a photo of him?)  We found this Walking-stick on the side of my car, while getting the mail.

Lastly, I didn’t want to be over confident going into my English class this semester and I was really more worried about it than the Beginning Algebra I’m taking. I’m making an A in both classes; however, all my fears of over-confidence in English are gone!

Apparently, I have more problems with punctuation than just exclamation points and ellipses. 

Most people don’t use them; I use too many.  I apparently, have a problem with SEMI-COLONS as well.

Some people have a way with the English language…

and some people …Not have way.

*There is a new post on Lil’ Camper that Could, for those of you following along with the camper progress.

‘Til next time, blessings!

 

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. ~Psalm 90:12

:: Perspective::

From this view everything still looks pretty green and full... I took this picture with my *new to me* FujiFilm camera I bought from the pawn shop in June. 

I like it...because it shows the depth of our property...right up to the abandoned house and shared property line ...with their pile of rubbish and broken down boat. 

It's funny how a picture can show something that looks so pretty but if you look closely... you might get a different idea of what's going on there. 

I call this one 

"Shadow or Stopping Point?"

It's both. 

Which reminds me... I need to finish painting. 

I'm trying to get a good picture of the hummingbirds that are coming up on my porch... 

I call this pair... 

"Luring a Hummingbird and

Catching Flies" 

*notice the fly strip

"Tiny Things" 

1 inch long Praying Mantis 

Humming bird...and that little blip on the right?  GRASSHOPPER on a power line. 

This is how I feel about grasshoppers... 

"GrassHOPPERS!!!!"

And the last one

appropriately named...

"Birdbath"

And that is a trip around my yard in pictures. 

And let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we will reap, if we faint not.~Galatians 6:9 

:: In All things -Seeing and Trusting- ::

I don't know about you; but haven't you ever wondered what it must be like to be a photographer or a boom-mike man on National Geographic Television?  I've watched Nature: with David Attenborough  and wondered how hard it must be to watch nature take it's course...as the crocodile leaps from the water and latches onto the Gazelle , thrashing about; and drags it's frail body into the water.

Then we took up homesteading.

:: Birds of Prey ...OR CHICKEN EATERS! ::

Something has taken to eating chickens...
We've lost 4 in the last 2 1/2 weeks.

• 3 pullets 
• 1 grown hen (Gracie)  my cute and fluffy little Barred Rock. :(  

• This is Gracie chicken on the left in this photo... 

I am not happy about that folks!  

So... they are COOPED FOR NOW... I don't like it. I'd like my chickens to be able to free range... they are happy when they are strutting around the yard, having a fill crickets and grasshoppers, worms and other creepy crawlies...that they love to munch on and fill their gullets! 

This guy has been blamed for lots of things in the past...one of them being my dirty dishes... yes, I know ...LAME, but true!



While I can't be certain it's him...or her; because now I've heard them in the trees near my neighbors pond, obviously a nest.

 I've figured, apparently Red Tail Hawks are good parents for these reasons :

• They nest near local groceries
• They nest near a good water source (my neighbors pond)
• They live obscurely...making it safe for their children.
• They eat well...ehem! 

This is another bird that has been spotted a lot recently around the neighborhood and country side.
It is a Caracara ...it is said that this bird eats carrion and prey.  They are known to travel with Turkey Vultures...in fact I've seen a couple in my yard a year or two ago  after T.H. had to kill a huge snapping turtle. The Vultures came to clean it up...like they're supposed to do and a couple of these guys came along for the feast.



They also eat small animals, like rats, field mice, rabbits, and small nesting birds. (...pullets, perhaps?)

We've had a couple of these guys on our property before also... they cleaned up the RAT problem we had about 5 years ago... HUGE RATS out in the fields... the worst I'd ever seen... Gone now.
On occasion I still hear the Horned Owl off in a tree somewhere, but I don't see them much.



Am I upset by any of this?  Yes, upset that the order of things around our little homestead is being intruded upon. But at the same time... these birds have to eat too.  I didn't get chickens so that I can supply feed for the local wildlife. But it is what it is...and that is a little bit frustrating.

 I've not actually seen a chicken abduction in progress... So I can't say who , in fact,  is the guilty bird; I'm having to only let the chickens out mid- morning and making sure they coop by dusk (which they usually do). It's the pullets that won't coop. I've had to enclose them ALL going on DAY 3 now...so that when they do finally get let out in a week or so, they'll know to go inside as a whole flock!

Safety first citizens!



Sunny Simple Life



 The grace of the LORD Jesus Christ be with your spirit. ~ Philippians 4:23 




The first image is mine...taken in my yard. You may go directly to the source by clicking on the last two images... thanks! 

The Ugly Truth about my Dirty Dishes~

Homestead Barn Hop #36

This guy was out my kitchen window today… not far from my Chicken Coop! Dangerous, I know, for the chickens.
He was busy doing my favorite thing for birds of all kinds to do in my yard… he was filling up on GRASSHOPPERS!  {SMILE}
 He looks distracted or maybe cautious, doesn’t he? There actually was a squirrel ‘flirting with disaster’  on the ground near the Oak tree out the kitchen window. (Not pictured) 

I’ve been spotted… here he is…

Looking right at me! 

He flew away after this and I didn’t get anymore pictures of him.

SEE what happens when you have a window above your kitchen sink… 

…AND YOUR binoculars close at hand? 

These aren’t just excuses folks… these are legitimate reasons! 

God bless you and Thanks for reading!

(I’ve got to get back in the kitchen now…funs, over.)


You can read more about why all the displaced wild life in my yard HERE .

My Neighbor~

  I have a NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR…his house is miles away. I can’t even see it from here. 
Really, I guess you could say he is my NEXT PASTURE Neighbor.
You see we share a FENCE together.  Looking at the photo my land stops where the fence row is; about the middle of the photo. You can see the cattle panel on the left of the picture. Right about even with the water mark.

See how lush and green everything is in the pictures above?  That picture was taken I think some time in March or April of 2011…this year!

Not to mention~ The cows!
I also have mixed feelings.

See how bare everything looks now?  One lone tree standing in the middle of a pasture.  The Greenery to the right, is also trees…PILED HIGH IN A MOUND.

See?  A mound of trees. They are all over the place out there. I didn’t get a picture of the Bull dozer…but this man has been driving around like mad, knocking down trees.
He’s left a few.  He’s trimmed some up nice enough to get under with a mower or on horseback. We’re not really sure what he’s doing back there.  He may just be turning over the growth - making way for new growth.   Everyone around these parts has taken to digging new ponds during this drought we’re having.  He’s not dug any NEW ones , I don’t think; but he has dug out the old ones—cleaning them out getting them ready for rain. Perhaps, new life in the ponds.
One problem is, it bugs me- as his NEXT  PASTURE NEIGHBOR that I don’t know the reason behind it.  I don’t even know if the man driving the bull dozer is MY NEXT PASTURE NEIGHBOR or just some guy hired to knock down all the trees!   He is NOT the man that used to own the land, years ago, the one I’ve met in the past.  That man has probably passed away—he was old as the hills back then, when I met him.
Secondly… the wild life.  This acreage behind us used to be teaming with wild life.  Beaver, Crane, Raccoon, Owls, Wood-Pecker, Red-Tail Hawk…he’s pushed over living trees and huge gnarly looking dead trees, habitats for all types of wild life.  He didn’t ask me, his NEXT PASTURE NEIGHBOR  if I thought that would be okay. 

He also didn’t return any of our wayward golf balls that he may have unearthed; that we may have over- looked, in the past, while retrieving them from driving practice  a good ol’ competitive game of ‘KNOCK-THE-SNOT-OUT-OF-THAT-BALL-AND-SEE-HOW-FAR-IT-GOES’ 
See?  I told you I have mixed feelings. 
My only THOUGHT NOW is… that he’s not about to ‘Pave Paradise and put up a parking lot.’ …you know what I mean?  I haven’t even met the man—but imagine if I had to meet a whole bunch of NEW NEXT PASTURE NEIGHBORS AND I COULD SEE THEIR DOORS from here.  I’d have to call them NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS!
God Bless you and Thanks for Hearing Me Out!

Wild Things~

*edited to say: Adding this to the Barn Hop

This is the Elephant Garlic that grows wild in our field.  It’s always grown here as long as we’ve lived here.  These were taken in October (2011) after a very dry and harsh summer.
Honestly, I’ve never EVER taken notice as to when it starts emerging from the ground. This patch grows on the north side of the property, along our neighboring fence line…directly to the NORTH of us. This patch of Elephant Garlic grows directly behind the barn; also on the the North side.   This is what I believe to be plantain.  I’ve found it growing in a few spots in our field. I’m wondering if this in fact what  I believe it to be…anyone know for sure?  The only reason I’m not so sure now is because of the photo below.  I’ve also got this growing on our property, not far from the other bunch.  But upon closer inspection… the leaves are shaped differently. One has a red veining the goes predominately through the leaves and one has a little bit of fuzzy feel on the leaves. 
Am checking out the medicinal properties of the plantain.
Any ideas or experience with plantain?

Linking here
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God Bless you and Thanks for reading!