Same old stuff

Hummingbirds are swarming like bees around here; I've never had so many, but the World Wide Web tells me this time of year is best for hummingbird-watchers.  Six cups of nectar placed in the feeders lasts only about twenty-four hours.  
Have you received an email saying that on August 27, 2010, Mars will be as big as the moon?  Check it out on Snopes; it's a hoax.  
Bonnie and Clyde seem to be doing fine, and we're consuming raw milk again.  
The horse guy was back yesterday; since I helped him put an ad on Craigslist, guess who gets to email the people who respond to the ad wanting bigger pictures and a copy of the horse's pedigree?  
That'd be me (imagine me taking a bow... NOT).   
The oldest granddaughter is spending a couple of days here; she and I might do a little shopping after Cliff goes to work to meet his quota of overtime for the month.  Two Fridays a month will satisfy his employer's demand for twenty hours of overtime work.  
I'm hoping Cliff and I can work in a motorcycle ride tomorrow.  
After all the earlier worrying about my tomato crop, those pitiful, bedraggled plants are still giving me tomatoes.  That late zucchini plant is still thriving and supplying zucchinis, the first zucchini plant I've had in years that haven't been killed by squash bugs!  
We've gone several days without rain, and there's none in the forecast until Wednesday.  The past three days have been heavenly, with early-morning lows in the fifties.  What a treat!  
So, that's my report for today.    

Today's update

A friend came and took away all my ripe tomatoes, so hopefully I won't have to can any more until Monday, at least.

This friend has a lot to do with our present happiness and contentment. You see, when Cliff was going through a bad time employment-wise, she put in a good word for him and got him a job at the place where he still works.

She didn't know us, had never met us. She is a longtime friend with former neighbors of ours, and I guess she took those people's word for it that Cliff was a good worker, and saw to it that he got a job. We will be forever grateful. I'd give her half my gold mine, if I had one. Tomatoes are nothing.

We're looking at a quickie road trip, but of course we'll have the laptop along. Thank goodness for the loved ones nearby who take care of our dog and keep an eye out on our place.

Wednesday I will be going to the Green Day concert with two grandkids and one other person. I can't wait! I will be taking earplugs. Not because I don't like the music, but because the screaming is going to be top-volume. Oh yes, I am taking my camera.

I took care of my hummingbirds today, since they had been sadly neglected.

I froze some green beans. We did some quick grocery-shopping.

It was a good day, as are most of my days.

Oh, I see a neighbor who checks in on my blog often finally took the time to actually read a few entries! Welcome, Classicnet neighbor. I wondered when you'd spend some time here.

This and that

The pile of wood you see there was deposited by the flood last spring. Blue had to step over some driftwood in places on the levee.


Yesterday was a sunny, breezy day... too cool for a comfortable motorcycle ride, but perfect for a horseback ride. The Missouri River has the nickname "Big Muddy", and normally it does look muddy and brown; but yesterday, as you can see here, it was blue.

I should explain that I don't own the river bottom land where I ride; most of the local farmers have given me permission to ride there, and others don't seem to care when they see me riding my horse on their property. I avoid riding in the corn and soybean fields when crops are growing, keeping on the access roads or on the levee as much as possible. From November through April, it's all wide open to me; oh, there are patches of winter wheat, but riding a horse across wheat doesn't damage it.

There's something about the vastness and solitude of the area that I love. Yesterday Blue and I scared up a couple of deer. He always sees them first, and will stop, put his ears up, and stare. Then I'll look in that direction to see what has his attention. One deer stopped and stared back at us for a minute. When I get a camera with a 20x zoom, I'll be able to take pictures of things like that.

The pictures in the preceding entry are taken on our property; we own forty-two acres at the top of a river bluff made of sand that the wind blew here. There are no rocks on the place that weren't brought here, except at the very back where our land goes to river-bottom level. The picture at the top of this page with my husband on a tractor was also taken on our property; you can see Cliff's shop in the background.

We aren't farmers, although Cliff has so far managed to raise enough hay for our horses and the two that are boarded here. Cliff works in a factory some forty miles away. He car-pools with a neighbor, which is a wonderful thing with gasoline prices at an all-time high.

To answer a couple of questions left in my comments:

From Diane: Is the grass any longer down by the river? Have you ever tried riding Blue and leading Libby? Maybe you can lead Libby to some longer grass and get her used to being outside the fences.

Indeed, Diane, I have "ponied" Libby many times on this place, and a couple of times away from here and down on the river bottom. Unless you're on slow dial-up, you can see a video about that HERE. It'll give you sort of a tour of our pasture. (You'll also see our renters' trailer house, our barn, our neighbor's house, etc.) The video was taken in December, 2006 when Libby was still a yearling. As far as leading her, she leads anywhere just fine. This part of Missouri just isn't warm enough for the grass to grow; it's been a long winter. The horses have plenty of hay, so they aren't hungry.

Muhd asks:
One question if you don't mind. Do you bury or cremate a dead horse? It would be a big grave.

Our Son just buried Andy, his hamster under a palm tree beside our block a few days ago.

I've never had to address that question. I've had several horses, but none of them died while in my possession. If I can remain here until Blue dies, he'll definitely get a proper burial because he's so very special to me. He'll be fourteen years old in May, so he's middle-aged; I'm hoping he's one of those horses who lives to be thirty or so. I'll be eighty years old if he lives that long, and I imagine we'll both be pretty tired by then.

We have buried a couple of special dogs in a peaceful spot in our pasture.