Out of the habit...

I note that I have not written for a while.  I can do internet now, fairly well!  I even had a video "exam" for a briused elbow. (Nothing serious, just have to have an Ace bandage, and baby the darn thing. Pbbbbt.)  But being that sitting and typing hasn't been regular, there has been no blogs.  I have been doing a bit more here, garden is in (more about that another blog), and knitting, and cleaning, well, some anyway.

So, a catch up on the animals.  Outdoor kitty Buzz had a nasty cat decide to rough her up continually, but it went away somewhere, and she has recovered from scratches and bites, and finally is looking fit, and not scared of her shadow. 

Much.

Indoor kitty Ding is enjoying her new "kitty channel", where we put up hummingbird and songbird feeders out front of our living room window.  We enjoy watching the birds, and figuring out what has flown in.  (We also get a kick out of the Hummers flying to the OTHER window where my lava lamp is. Bright colors, ooooooh, pretty...) Ding jumps on the sill and wants SO badly to play with the Hummers.  The other birds, too, but especially the wee birds.  I really suspect she thinks they are toys.

No chicks. Siiiiiiigh.  I let Edgar try twice, and Marshmallow even took over once.  Then I let Marshmallow try once. They would sit for about a week and a half, then wander off, leaving the eggs cold.  So No more chick attempts, they are shooed off the nests, and the eggs are brought in.  Poo.

So, I will get back hopefully to more regular blogs.  But for now, all seems to be safe and well.

Hope all my blog friends are, too.

Happy New Year, and all that stuff!

So, what is it with me and blogging, or, more accurately, not blogging?  In three words, "I don't know".  I can't say I have writer's block, exactly, I have written at least a dozen or so blogs, in my head.  They just didn't go to my fingers, and out the computer.  In fact, when I was at the computer, I would just look.

Yep, the cursor is blinking.

Yep...  (sigh)   (crickets chirping.)

I have looked at Face Book, I didn't write much there, either.  I now have found that I know much more about some of my friends and family than I ever, EVER wanted to know.  Until I found some controls, I found out about the heavy right wing political leanings of one family member, the heavy left wing leanings of a friend, the ultra Christian leanings of another friend, found out another friend checks in with her coven online, via FB.  Yet another lets the virtual world know of his personal proclivities and choices, sexually.

Mr. Chatterbox, when you said I had a good seat in the asylum, you have not one idea how accurate you were!!!

I have been taking care of the animals, we had to finally remove several of the roosters, they had decided to get out of the pen and go, literally and figuratively, all around the house, leaving holes that they dug in one of the gardens, throwing dirt all about, or just... deposits.  I was sort of sad to have to do it, Cop Car was one of the first, and worst, offenders.  But, we have lots of chicken in the freezer now...
 
We had to take some wild turkeys to a local wildlife center, Husband had been walking up to check something for a neighbor, and some (censored) driver just blew through a small flock of turkeys crossing the road, with Husband in the road nearby!  Didn't slow, didn't look to see if there was damage, nada.  Husband and I took the two injured birds to a wildlife rehab place, and we found out they had pretty bad damage, but are recovering...  They were kind of impressed how we'd put them in a kennel deep with hay.  Um. Well, they like to hide, and they are used to grasses, figured it would put them a little more at ease...

After a ridiculous summer, with cracks in the ground that would catch feet, and nearly turn legs, (one crack in the back yard measured about 14 inches deep by about 5 inches wide at one point!), we are now getting rain.  Lots of rain.  All the cracks are closed, and our "half moat" around the house is draining a lot.  In fact, I have to be careful feeding the llamas, as the drainage by the feed area is more than ankle deep, and I really don't care to fall into cold, running water...  BUT, there is snow in the mountains, and we are not worrying about the wells in the area running dry.  So it all balances out...

Husband bought me raised beds for my birthday, so I will be setting those up for use in the spring.  I am hoping to have flowers on the side of the hill where the raised beds will be, to attract pollinators... And hopefully not too many deer.  Meh.

And 2016?  Major plans? Resolutions?  Nothing much.  I am going to scale back on one volunteer group I am with, I have come to the point I still like working on prep for the group, but it's been made clear to me that I am not "necessary", so I have decided to join with some other folks there, and let the proverbial chips fall where they proverbially may.  It will help the ones I am joining with, so they can have some free time, it will help me, so I don't have to lead or round up anything, and will, hopefully, stop the continual headaches I have each year, from pounding my head against what's turned out to be a very hard stone wall...

A-Hem.  "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,"  Yes, Mr. Einstein, I am finally listening.

I am seriously considering joining Nanowrimo, maybe then I will have motivation to get some sort of book like thing written, if I have a set time I need to do it in.  Maybe.  November is sometimes a busy month, however, so I am a bit gun shy.  But, what have I been told, I do my best work when I am under pressure?  So, maybe I need the internet version of a C-clamp...

And, I really need to sit down and catch up with all of your blogs.  CenturyDink is slowing our speed down to the point that we rarely get the speed we are paying for, and sometimes are at near dial up speeds.  So, we get on early in the morning, or late(er) in the evening, and that helps.  Some.

Rudee is doing well, if a little stove up, he is getting to be an old dog, and seems to have arthritis a bit.  He is losing his hearing, and I think might be getting a little questionable in the sight department, too.  But he's still a great dog, and we are working out the problems, to help him out as much as we can.

Ding, well, she has taken over the house, we have learned to cat proof what we don't want her into, and most of the time it works.  (I am SO glad cats do not have opposable thumbs...)  She and Husband get into mock battles, I find toy mice in the strangest places, she and I have conversations that would have me burned as a witch, in another life, and we all get along great.  Now if we could just convince her 4 a.m. is not the time to figure out how the door works...

The llamas are doing well, they will be shorn next spring, but now, the heavy coat they have is serving them well.  And eventually, when I have it made into roving, it will serve me well, too!

Lastly, Buzz is fine, fat (sorta) and so lovely fuzzy.  Her winter coat would put a mink to shame.  She loves being a barn cat, and except for one or two unwelcome visitors (guesses are either other cats or possibly raccoons), she has the run of the area, and seems to genuinely enjoy staying close, assaulting vermin, playing coy with Rudee, then getting scritch time with Husband and I.

So, here's hoping for a great 2016 to all, and may it be a happy one!

An update! No, really!!

Good Heavens, it has been a bit since I last blogged.  Some because the (censored) internet won’t let me on… (I time out, before I can log on to Blogger. Sooo much fun. Ahem. Patience is a virtue.  I am not a virtuous woman, in that case…) Also, because I have actually been doing a bit, and haven’t been on the computer as much.  Meh.

I’ll get there eventually, right?

So, in farm-ity type news, I have four new chicks.  I really wasn’t wanting them, but it’s my red Mama Bird that will stick with it, and so I let her.  Photos at some point, when I can.  The animals seem to be liking the cooler weather, most especially Rudee.  The exception is, everyone is shedding summer ‘fluff’ for winter ‘fluff’, and so it looks like my animals blew up!  I call my place Fur ‘n Feathers Farm, well, at the moment, I have it graphically displayed, there is loose feathers all over the place, some rather bedraggled looking chickens, Rudee looks… ratty, and just drops fur all over the place when he moves.  I ‘rake’ him regularly, to not much effect, his new fur will come in eventually, but right now… Ugh.  I will not mention what Husband and my bathroom floor looks like, as I hate to admit that it’s more OUR “fur” than a certain cat.  Ding, last I checked, doesn’t have 6-8 inch long locks…  The llamas didn’t get shorn this year, we were going to, but decided it was getting late in the season, and we’d shear early in the spring instead.  (When we find a new shearer, the one I used tore up his back and retired, his replacement, not such good reviews… Sigh.)

I went to Shrewsbury Faire.  It was the 20th anniversary.  I have been there 19 years.  Well, I went to the first one, but as a through the gate, paying customer, almost all the rest have been as faire folke.  I didn’t have the best time, there were some definite problems for me one day, but the next day I was able to rest, and my Dad helped out a lot… Like when I managed to lock my trailer with the screen door locked.  You cannot get in, because even if you unlock the main door, it’s attached to the screen.  So, after some creative digging and screwdriver work, we undid everything, and I was again able to enter my portable abode.  I think that was only the third or fourth meltdown that day… Eeeep.  But, I was able to visit with several friends I only see once or twice a year, and tell some stories and jokes to kids, some receptive, some not, so it worked out.

I signed up for a class to be trained a little more on my Neighborhood Watch work, and I even managed a scholarship, which is nice!  It was also cool to find out I know at least two of the teachers, so, I am looking forward to that.  The bit of a drive, not so much, but I guess it might be too much to ask for them to have the class in my hometown, since it’s a statewide thing, and folks are coming from ALL over… It’s at the facilities where they train the police forces, (Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, DPSST), so I am looking forward to some people watching, too.  Especially if there is exercise involved… :)

And, lastly, for now, I have drunk the Kool-Aid.  I, heavily begrudgingly, and with MUCH annoyance, joined Facebook.  I have so many people that I don’t seem to be able to reach any other way, I decided to try the nonsense again.  Facebook doesn’t exactly like how I didn’t answer all the questions, tho, basically, it has my name, and location, and age.  I wouldn’t have put that much down, if I could have figured out how to circumvent it… The ones who need to know, already know, and most of the rest couldn’t care less, if they made an effort.  We shall see what happens.  I found some relatives, and a few ‘real life’ friends that I don’t see much.  I will see about blogging, and Facebooking in the very early AM, perhaps I will be able to get through. (Facebook doesn’t like slow internet, either…)

So, all is relatively well here, and I am going to try getting on other folk’s blogs on Tuesdays when I have a fighting chance of reading them without the whole thing going futzy…