Just call me Dr. Dolittle...

I have a confession to make...I talk to animals all day long. I can tell if a cat is thirsty, hungry or wants to go out just by the sound of their meow. I can tell the difference between a dog's play bark and their "I'm serious, back off" bark.

I'm constantly saying "Be quiet", "Stop that", "Get down", "Drop that right now", "What's going on in here" and "Excuse me". Yes, I say "Excuse me" to the dogs and cats! I also say "Bless you" when a dog or cat sneezes.

One night (several years ago) during dinner I gave our dearly departed cat Ginger a tidbit from my plate and said, "Blow on it Ginger, it's hot". My sweet family burst into laughter and I am teased about it to this day.

I was grateful there was no one around to hear what I told Maggie this afternoon. We were taking our evening walk to the pond when she grabbed what looked like a very flat, very OLD mouse (a gift from a cat I'm sure). I immediately yelled at her, "Maggie! That's to roll on, not to eat!".

SIGH...just call me Dr. Dolittle.

Ye ol' persimmon tree...

Down near the pond in our front yard is one of my favorite trees...a persimmon. I was checking it out this evening and, unlike this photo that I took in late Autumn, it is currently full of leaves and big green persimmons (dare you to take a bite of one).

One year I made persimmon butter from the fruit of this tree, but we weren't that fond of it. Now I just let the wildlife and our dogs have them. Drake, our elderly Black Lab, absolutely loves persimmons. The other dogs munch on them too, but none of them are as nuts for persimmons as Drake. I've thrown a few to the chickens, but they don't seem to like them much. Sometimes Don and I will snack on a few when we're sitting at the pond enjoying the nice cool Autumn evenings.

When the house was being built we would come out on the weekends to enjoy our place. I would pack a picnic and, while Don cleared brush, etc. I would sit under the persimmon tree reading a book. Our beloved Border Collie, Huck, lived for those weekends. Sadly, we lost him to stomach cancer six years ago next month. Huck is buried under the persimmon tree along with other precious dogs we've lost...Tippy, Brawn, Bonnie and Aoife. Five markers make a semi-circle around the persimmon tree and we hope it will be a very long time before another marker is placed there.

One of these days when I am gone I'd like to have my ashes scattered around the persimmon tree. Until then I will enjoy it's beauty and delight in the sweet musky taste of its fruit each Fall.

I'm in a jam!

I'm not really in a jam...more like I'm in jam up to my elbows! Last time I was at the grocery store there were six cartons of strawberries marked down to $1 a carton...I bought them all! Above is the resulting jam. Strawberry is Don's favorite jam flavor, so I don't think this batch will last long. Some day I'll have a well established strawberry patch and will make as much as he can eat!

Don also helped me pick elderberries to make jelly. I plan to do those tomorrow. I'm about the only one who really likes elderberry jelly, so one batch is more than enough. If I liked wine (bleahhh) I'd try to make some elderberry wine, but I much prefer jelly.

In a couple weeks it will be time to go check the wild grape vine down in the edge of the woods. For the past two years it has been loaded and Don has promised we would harvest some for jelly. Every year he decides they are to high to reach (and refuses to let me sit in the tractor's front end loader while he raises it up high). This year I am DETERMINED to make some wild grape jelly. Think he'll let me stand up on a ladder in the back of the pick up truck?

I'm also hoping the kudzu blooms well this year so I can make some kudzu jelly. It is SO good and smells so delicious! I love going outside when the kudzu is blooming. The breeze smells like grape Kool-Aid. Yummy smelling and yummy eating!

I love volunteers...

Do you love volunteers as much as I do? You know the kind I'm talking about...those stray volunteer vegetable and flower seeds that sprout in unexpected places. I never disturb them as I prefer to let them grow where they chose to sprout.

Last year we had sunflowers and grains sprout up around the bird feeders in the front yard and this year I've enjoyed watching the sunflower that sprouted just behind the duck pen (pictured above). I'm not sure how it got there because I don't recall ever feeding the ducks sunflower seed!

Currently the chicken pen is full of some type of grain that's sprouted from their scratch. For the life of me I can't recall what it is, but I'll figure it out before long! The ducks were eating it so I decided to keep them out of the rooster's area. Once I remember what it is I'll let them eat to their little hearts' content.

We also have peas growing around the front porch. I know how they got there. There was a bag of dried peas in the box where the wasp nests were. Don dumped the box out in the yard to make sure he'd gotten all the wasps when I got stung. Now we have a pea patch in our front yard!

At times it seems like I have better luck just throwing seed out, rather than planting it in rows. Hmmm...wonder if that would work with coins? If I toss a few out do you think a money tree would sprout?

I can feel it coming...



What a beautiful day today! We had a high of 82 degrees with a nice steady breeze. There's a big orange moon peeking over the tops of the trees right now. While I was out feeding the ducks and chickens just now a fIock of Canada Geese flew by overhead.

Now, I know it's the middle of August, but I could feel a hint of Autumn chill in that breeze and I loved it! Autumn is my favorite time of year (summer is my least favorite) and it always gives me a thrill when I catch that first promise of Autumn's arrival. I'm pretty sure that's what the geese were heralding as they flew overhead.

I can officially say I was thrilled today while at the pond catching fish. It was a lovely way to end a pleasant Sunday and I am looking forward to more of the same!

Mothra landed on my front porch!

Okay, it might not be Mothra, but it was definitely a large moth that flew into our front porch the other night. Don said he thought it was a bat at first! The thing was almost three inches long!

Actually, it was a Catalpa (or Catawba here in the South) Sphinx Moth. To give you an idea of how large the Sphinx family of moths are, they are sometimes called Hawk Moths or Hummingbird Moths.

Now, I'm not surprised that we found one of these (although they are rarely seen) because we have two Catalpa trees close to the house. One is in the barn lot and the other is just across the driveway from the house. These are very pretty trees in the Spring with their pale lavender blooms. Catalpa caterpillars can strip a tree of all its leaves, but we haven't had a problem with that (so far). Plus, the caterpillars are excellent fish bait!

I'm glad the Catalpa Sphinx Moth paid us a visit and was gracious enough to let me take a photo. It was an awesome moth and was gone a short while afterwards.

Don't tell though...next Spring I'm going to use its offspring for bait!

When it rains, it pours!

I can't help wondering why we made it almost the whole summer without any critters getting sick, snake bitten or injured in some other way, only to have a snowball effect start this week. Molly, fortunately, got to come home this morning and is doing very well after her bout of heat exhaustion. In fact, she's been lazing on our bed all day enjoying the air conditioning. Unfortunately, Eoghan (pictured above) will be heading to the vet's in the morning.

Last night Eoghan had what we believe was a mild seizure. He hopped down off the love seat to eat his dinner and collapsed on the floor halfway to the kitchen. Eoghan's legs drew up and stiffened, his feet curled up and his eyes were wide and blank. He was trembling all over and unresponsive to us. Don sat in the floor talking to him in a calm, soothing voice while stroking his trembling body. The seizure only lasted a minute or so, but it seemed like forever to me. When it was over Eoghan walked around on stiff legs for a few minutes and then seemed fine. He even ate all of his dinner and finished off some of the other dogs' dinners!

Of course, I spent the rest of the evening researching and reading. I've come to the conclusion that Eoghan is suffering from hypothyroidism. He has almost all the symptoms...dry itchy skin, thin brittle hair and weight gain. He's also half blood hound, which is a breed prone to thyroid problems. Needless to say, Eoghan will be going to the vet's in the morning to have blood drawn for testing.

Sigh...when it rains, it pours. I only wish it were the actual wet kind of stuff falling from the sky, not a metaphor for one sick doggie after another!