Odds and Ends

When I looked at the date of my last post I was shocked. I am sorry I have been away so long. I thought I would let you know that the skunks packed up and moved after I wrote my last post. No reason other than they are shy and we make too much noise. Sasha started not paying attention anymore and we set the camera for two days and nothing. We buried in the hole and nothing has dug around it since. They are still around though.

I went out early yesterday morning. I had walked one lap when I noticed that Sasha was staring intently at the pasture next door. Thankfully she is such a smart dog, that she doesn't leave our property unless I tell her to so she hadn't started the morning off by smelling to high heaven.

Here is what she saw:

I grabbed her by the collar and dragged her in the yard and shut the gate.  She barked and threw herself a little hissy fit. I didn't care. Then I watched it ramble off with its little rolling gate back three pastures over to the new place they must be living now. They are very small, just lots of fur. They are very proud of those tails. I have noticed they like to wave them around like flags.

I picked my first batch of boysenberries after the skunk was gone. Sasha was able to come back out and she rolled her eyes at me and walked on past giving me a cold shoulder while I was picking berries. She went out in the pasture looking very much like she wasn't going to speak to me the rest of the day.  She just ignored me and spent her time with my chickens.

Blue jays are very territorial. Apparently what I found out this week, is the berries are not mine to pick. I have been scolded and told off every time I even look side way at the berries. The blue jay is so brave that she will sit in a tree above my head as I am bent over looking for ripe berries. She will break off sticks and drop them on my head. She squawks the whole time. I have to put a lid on my picked berries as she will fly down and take every one. I thought the first day was just a fluke. She did it today as well. I just laugh because she is so brave. I will try to get a picture of her tomorrow.

  My hydrangeas are huge this year. In fact one bush is so tall its above my head. When I take pictures I have to stand on tiptoes. Of course, today is 103 and its so hard on them. My garden likes it though. My beets and sunflowers and zinnias are up in one bed and my row of sunflowers around my garden is growing so much that every day they look an inch taller. I planted cucumber and pumpkins this last weekend. I know I am going to regret planting as many cucumbers as I did, but oh well. My pickles turned out so good two years ago and I just opened my last jar. So its time.

 The other day I went to the library. I had a book in and one of the guys that now works there I knew as a kid. Which is weird because he is the same age as me but I remember as being younger. I was friends with his Mom and his sisters an eon ago. We visit when I go in and this time he wanted me to read some books he had found. Really not my cup of tea but I said I would. As I am reading along, the person in the book starts talking about Bakersfield and Valley Fever. I thought how come this always happens. All the time.
So today I was digging around and found that he and his wife used to live here and both wrote for our local newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian. My thought was, all roads lead to Bakersfield. Isn't that funny?

I have a friend in England and we used to exchange books back and forth. I sent her a package one time and as she was at work the post man left the package with the next door neighbor. When she went over to get her package. The people who were never very nice is what she said, were extremely chatty. She said they asked " Who do you know in Bakersfield California?" She told them and they said that, " They had lived there once upon a time." Even George Bush Junior was a little boy on a tricycle here. So go figure.

So just an odds and ends kind of post today. Not much going on other than me trying to find out how to keep from cooking my brain. It should be a tad cooler tomorrow. Sasha is snoring at my feet so I guess she isn't mad anymore. I am going to go walk and let her watch the cats that live at the back of the pasture. She thinks its beneath her to chase them, so she just stares mean eyes at them. She knows that smart animals don't go running around in the heat like her owner is getting ready to go do.

Have a delightful week!

~Kim~

“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine