Redbuds

I love redbuds in spring.

Not that many years ago I didn't even know what they were. Really. We lived in a parsonage in Michigan, and when spring arrived and that pretty tree bloomed, I took a picture, which I then took with me when I visited my grandmother, a former Texan who had migrated to California during the Depression.

She knew immediately what it was.

The first years we lived here at Oak Hill, I was disappointed that we only had one redbud tree way out in the woods.

Then last spring, I was surprised and happy to find a few more on the edge of a ravine on our property.

As we drove to town on errands last week, the redbuds were in full bloom along the roadside and were so very pretty. I couldn't wait to get home and see if ours were in bloom too - and they were! And then I found a couple more!

I've looked up how to propagate redbuds from cuttings, and hope to remember to do that this summer. I really want one or two in our yard so I can see them without having to take a hike.

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Silver Sunday

Give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God's will for you.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18


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Friday Follow-Up

This week:

-- Our peach and nectarine trees have bloomed; the wild sand plums are in bloom now.

-- Purple henbit and dandelions decorate the front yard, and blue-eyed grass is blooming in the hayfield.

-- We had almost two inches of rain over the weekend. Water and warm sunshine are encouraging the grass to grow.

-- The hens are laying well and we're currently getting 3-4 eggs a day, which is plenty for our family. One day there were 4 brown eggs, and the next day 3 green eggs; since then the nest has been integrated and I've gathered a mix of colors.

-- I've seen robins in the hayfield and watched a pair of Canada geese fly overhead. I love how peaceful it is here.

-- We saw a flock of wild turkeys down the road at the abandoned homestead.

-- One of our outside dogs disappeared a week ago. I wish I knew what happened to him, but then again, maybe I don't want to know. We had an influx of coyotes after the nearby wildfires, and we assume that he was chasing some off and met an untimely end.

Oh my, I MUST plant daffodil bulbs this fall!
These are blooming at another non-occupied homestead
nearby. They are so gorgeous this year.

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Thankful Thursday

I am thankful to the Lord, my God, for:

- lovely weather: warm temps, rain, and flowers
- robins, geese, and wild turkeys
- green grass and clover
- blue skies with white puffy clouds
- watching the sun come up

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The Second

Phoenix obviously needed a buddy. An only goat is a lonely goat. These are the ones that climb on top of your car.

My friend Sue-Ellen offered one of her doelings as a companion for Phoenix. It was so sweet of her. Thank you again, Sue-Ellen!

And so one day our mutual friend Julie went to pick up the kid she was buying and brought mine as well. I met her in town, and Firefly came to her new home.

That first night there was some crying as Firefly called for her siblings and Phoenix called for her bed in the mudroom, but in the morning they tumbled out of the doghouse as best friends.

They're doing great, and are as close as sisters. Firefly is about two weeks younger than Phoenix.

I'd built a small pen in our backyard. I can see the girls out the dining room window, and it's so close for bottle-feeding them. One end of the pen is a chain-link dog kennel with a plywood roof to keep them dry and a doghouse inside, stuffed with fresh hay to snuggle in and to munch on.

During the day I let them out for awhile in our backyard, where there are more things to climb on and play with, but I stay out there to watch them. It's "dog-proof" but not "goat-kid-proof".

Eventually the girls will live in the much-bigger goat pen - hopefully we'll get a new goat shed out there soon - but for now I really like having them so close to the house where I can watch them play.

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A Slice of My Life

More farm junque

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A Walk Down the Road

Last week I took a walk drive down the road. I wanted to walk, my destination wasn't far and I enjoy walking. However, if I'd walked I'd have been followed by a parade of dogs and cats. I'd worry about whether they'd follow me back home again, so instead I drove down the road and around the corner where they couldn't see me, and parked at the side of the road.

The wild peach tree was in bloom and I wanted pictures. I've wanted to do this for the past several years, but this was the first time I actually made it happen, even if I had to drive instead of walk.

The tree grows in the fenceline of an old homestead. This old house is deserted and desolate nowadays.

The poor old house looks like it will fall down in the next windstorm, but it's always still standing when I drive past on the way to town. Someday it won't be.

I know the owners were the grandparents of our now-deceased neighbor, but I don't know who now owns the land. I think it is leased to someone who keeps his cows and hay in the pastures.

There is evidence of its past life. Daffodils still bloom in the yard.

There used to be a clothesline, but the wooden poles have fallen in the past year or so. Behind the house is an old wooden barn. One day I saw a red-tailed hawk perched in the open hayloft window.

And the peach tree. Were its blooms once much-anticipated as spring approached? Or was it planted by a bird in a more recent year?

The fruit are white-fleshed, and tiny, and it grows outside the fence, so I tend to think it was a wild-planting. I've tested an occasional peach, waiting for just the right moment to harvest some from the tree, but I've never managed to beat the wildlife. In one night, they completely strip the tree of its fruit.

I'll have to be on my toes this year and pick some early, to let them ripen on my kitchen counter. I wouldn't take them all; the wildlife depend on it as a food source.

That day, the cows on the other side of the road watched me from the time I got out of the truck until I climbed back in again. The fuzzy-faced calves are so cute.

And then I drove back home. My dogs and cats were none the wiser.

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