Saving Leaves

This is from last week before I started raking. Below is after I raked today. I messed up and down loaded the after twice.

You can tell I not through. Hopefully I will finish soon. Also you can tell no sunshine. It is late in the day.

One Last Flower

My lily is blooming again. I thought it would be the last time, but I see some more buds. I didn't look at the other lilies to see it they had any buds. It was thirty-two degrees Friday morning when I took this picture. I think it made it because it is close enough to the house and didn't get hit with the frost.


Saturday night Chili was sniffing around my fireplace tools and got soot on her face. Cute, huh?

Lost Little Dog

This little Sheltie is lost. She has been seen around here for about a week. She is still in good shape. I caught her yesterday at my cousin's house and brought her here. This is her in the yard this afternoon. I'm not sure which one was more afraid of the other one.

This is her on Skylar's bed. I feel so sorry for her. She is a older dog because looking at her teeth is has some tarter on the back and looks like she is missing some front. It is hard for me to believe that someone just dumped her because of the age and because of her weight after a week of being lost. I have arranged for an ad in the paper and after Thanksgiving I will check with all the vet's and take her in to see if she has a chip. I hope I can find her owner.

Firewood Time

Yesterday afternoon we worked on firewood. My son, Tony, my nephew, Michael, and my brother, Johnny. Since Johnny is still not well, he just worked on the chain saw and worked the controls to run the log splitter. Tony and Michael did the chain saw and I loaded the truck and stuff. These pictures are of Tony on the tractor after Johnny had to leave and Michael putting the logs on the splitter. Michael cut the tree down; it was already a dead tree that hadn't fallen.

Chili was looking for something in the hole that a limb made when the tree came crashing down. I was so tired last night, I just could not post the pictures on the blog.

Birthday Party

Today is my birthday and this is the birthday cake my friends brought. They also brought food. Great food!

My brother Johnny is on left with Dolly (the back of her head) and on the right Norma and Mike.
This is a better shot of Johnny and Dolly. Did you notice everyone is like propping their head up with their hands? Not bored surely. Johnny is the only one that has an excuse. He has second degree burns on his back. That happened at his work this past Monday. I think he is doing good just being here.

Growing Koi

I tried to get some good pictures of my Koi to show how they have grown. I didn't do so good.
I think I am going to disconnect the spitter for the winter and then maybe I can get better pictures.

Is It A Squirrel Nest

This first picture is kind of hard to see; it is in the very center. I think it is a squirrel's nest.

This is a better view. I think it is too big for a bird; so I guess a squirrel.

Last Leg of the Garden

This is all that is left of my garden. This one bell pepper. I just picked most of the peppers left; I think maybe two or three or left.
Then is the basil. It is tall and leggy; but alive. And below that is baby basil plants and some baby parsley plants coming up. What I need to do is transfer them into some pots so I can have some for the winter.

Get this! This is a potato plant coming up. Of course, it won't make it through the winter or even last long enough to have little potatoes. But it did come up.

And last, the squash. They haven't been very good so I just give them to the chickens. Well it is November and time to wrap up the garden. Really it has been gone for a couple of months. I think the bell pepper started up again because of the thirty-five or so inches of rain.

New Pullets

Saturday I went to Bonnie and Clyde Trade Days and bought six four month old pullets. I gave my sister three (she likes to raise chickens, too) for her birthday and I kept three. These are mine. Two are Ameraucanas and one Rhode Island Red.

When they are next to the big chickens you can really tell how small they really are. They have done really good. I kept them in the cage Saturday afternoon and then I put them in the hen house with the other chickens. Sunday morning when I opened the hen house they stayed in. So, I put them in the pen and put a little chicken wire up to keep them in. Later that morning I came back and the chicken wire was down but they were still in the pen. They came out into the back yard for a little bit, but when everyone one else started going into the hen house that evening so did they. They seemed to know they had to go in last.

This last picture is of one that has been pecked on her back. Hopefully it will start growing more feathers soon.

My Baby Calf

My cow had a baby calf last Tuesday. It had a problem though. It just bawled the first day so, the second day Johnny went to look at it but couldn't get close enough to it. Thursday he didn't think she was nursing; don't know what the problem is. Friday morning we go up there to pen them up so we could give her a bottle but, Johnny looked at the cow's bag and said she had been nursed on the left side. Later that day, my cousin called Johnny and told him that he definitely saw the calf nursing. Thank goodness. I don't know why she wasn't nursing the first few days but she does seem to be doing better now. Hopefully I can get a better picture soon.

Yikes, It's Another Opossum

Tonight about eight pm, Michael was leaving and we and the dogs went out to see him off. Before long Oscar is really cutting up. Yep, a opossum; they were under the house. Finally, out they come and Michael catches the opossum.

I'm running around trying to hurry and get my camera. I got one picture and then messed up my camera. (wrong dial somewhere). So I grab my iPhone and try to get some shots. Of course someone is yelling "you need to hurry up". (putting stress on my picture taking). I had to delete some of my shots, but I got a few. I can't imagine why he kept yelling for me to hurry; other than it was a BIG opossum. Oscar did good, though.
You do get how big this opossum is, right? Look at poor little Oscar and then this opossum. Sorry for the poor picture taking.

Walking Again

I started walking again this morning. I quit in the early summer months when it got really hot. So on the days I don't go to the gym, I am going to walk a couple of miles.
This is a picture of my brothers pond. I can remember when my grandfather had that pond dug; and also remember my grandfather taking us swimming in the pond.

This is the front for my grandparents house. You can just barely see the roof. It is really gone; falling down on one end.

This is the back section. Since I am the grandparent age now, you can just image how old this really is. Lots of good memories though.

Allergies

Chili has allergies and she chews her feet. When she is chewing on her back feet, she holds it down with her front foot. She noticed I was snapping shots so she just quit and moved her front foot.

See the bottom of her front foot. Chewed and licked. She goes to the vet next week for her yearly shots and probably get some more allergy pills. Then we will be good for another four to six months.

A Little Color

The first picture of my little oak was taken last week. And I still have a few leaves left. I wonder why the leaves in the middle fall off first?

My big oaks are mostly brown leaves. This was a shot of trees across the road in the front; the extreme left and right are pecan and I don't know what the little red is. Not much color; but some.

Pretty and Sunny Day

Saturday was really pretty. Thankfully, we had a pretty week. My chickens are out looking for a bite to eat. Except two. They are nice little girls laying some eggs.
This is Barb, my Barred Rock. When I first saw her she was in the bottom middle nest. When I came back with the camera, she had moved over to the end nest. This one must be move comfortable. You can see the golf balls I keep in the nest. I got five eggs yesterday and another five today. And today Jodie, an Ameraucana, laid her first egg. So now I have seven hens laying. The last three should start laying around January. That's a guess.

Finally, A Green Egg

I only got three eggs today, but one was green. Can you tell? I'm so excited! Of the four Ameraucanas that I bought as biddies in March, I think only two have been laying eggs. Pepper and Jodie have not been joining in on the fun. Today I saw Pepper on a nest; later, when I checked, voila green egg. She has been squawking for a couple of days. Finally, an egg. The three pullets I bought in August still aren't laying either. Probably around January.

Chili Found It

Chili jumped in the chair and started trying to get something on the window. It was butterfly on the outside. It was just hanging there on the screen. Must have been nap time.