Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Humidity ~ Wine Cork Herb Markers ~ Goat Capers Continue ~ Dog

Anyone else on a diet of cold fruit, light salads and yogurt?  Oh, and healthy popsicles?  And iced tea?

The humidity has been so thick, and it really makes gardening uncomfortable.  I literally woke up without an appetite.  Yesterday's brunch was watermelon.  

Today however, it is only going to be in the 60's - camping weather if you ask me.  Just gorgeous.  I told Hubby we should back up the camper and play hookie.  It was tempting for a short few seconds.

Well, that's not happening.  Garden duty calls today, and I'll admit, I'd rather work in cool 60°F weather than 80°F and 86% humidity.
 
 
 
I spent a few more rainy days making
more wine cork herb markers.  I found the synthetic corks are much easier to write on.  I have a large supply of corks from our last home.  We lived near a popular restaurant.  They kindly saved me several corks.

If you use real corks, simply boil them a bit to bring back their original shape.

I sprayed these with a clear coat.  I noticed the permanent marker will wash off after some time. I simply use a wooden skewer.  I can buy them for $.10/bag at the end of grilling season.

Orion succeeded in breaking his last (older) tie-out.  Thankfully daughter was home and we had the spare for grazing the ladies.  Hubby has since then replaced it with a brand new tie-out for 250 lbs. 

After the rain let up a bit, I took a walk to check the asparagus, and found a few more.  I decided to take a look-see and walked all around the garden.  I was tickled to see the squash and beans up.  And more cucumbers.

Then I saw it.  Every since collard chewed down to a nub, and all of them pulled out of the raised bed.  

Yep.  Orion must have had a bit of a snack when he broke loose.  I should have checked it sooner, to get the plants back in the bed, and pray for a rebound on the poor things. 

If you read this far, you get to see a somewhat focused picture of the dog our oldest daughter got.  I'm not divorced, and we agreed, daughter needs to really think on keeping this dog. 

I'll have to wait until she's sleeping before I can get a focused photo.  Her tail is huge!  The dog has a lot of energy, that's for sure.  She has not barked one time since she's been here, but has whined a bit.  

We took her on walks to see the homestead, and she was a bit shocked to see the goats.  She would perk her ears up and stare, back up and walk away.  She was intrigued, but not enough to give kisses.  I took her to see the bucklings, and she would tilt her head sideways, trying to figure out what they were.  She took one look at the chickens, and was not interested.  She, oddly enough, loves Alias.  

Alias reminds me of when we had Gus, and we brought Sadie into the family.  He was older and would just barely tolerate the puppy jumping and romping on him.  Alias is doing the same.    Jesse, at first was not happy to see another visitor, but he's doing better this morning.

Sasha, the new dog, loves cats.  She's met the barn cats and the house cats.  Tiger, however, is hiding in my room and won't come out.  He'll see the dog in the hall, and stand up really tall, stretch his neck way out, and his eyes get as big as saucers.  Poor guy gets extra nightly treats.

I'm going to go have breakfast (late) on the porch....before Hubby snaps his fingers and says "let's get crackin' on the garden work" and all the yard work we left for today.

6 comments:

Sam I Am...... said...

I like the idea of the corks for markers and so sorry your garden was partly eaten.
Looks like a great dog especially if it doesn't bother the chickens or the cats but can your daughter handle the financial end of it? Being retired there will be no more animals for me as I just can't afford them nor can I run after them in the early stages of training if I got a puppy. I have all I can do to afford my own medicine! LOL!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Sam I am, the corks make inexpensive markers.

Patricia @ 9th and Denver said...

Pretty pup!
I hope she is a good homestead dog and doesn't bother the livestock. My Buster-- cut his teeth on my meat chickens the year I got him (don't know if you remember that) but anyway, he doesn't bother them now.
Too bad about the garden. I have little Dollar General fence around the tops of my beds...keeps the chickens and the dogs out. But where I had my onions planted, I should have devised some sort of fence...Buster was laying in the dirt the other day, after that I spotted chickens scratching in there.
uh...such is farm life!

EMMA said...

Lovely looking dog!
Raining here again so garden work on hold, iced-tea - no thank you, it's hot tea and soup temperate here.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Patricia, I used to have small dollar store fencing, but the goat is 200 lbs. He typically stays where he is, but this year the garden went in early.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Emma, we got another cold spell here last night.