A Weekend full of Gardening

I adore busy weekends. They have to be be busy on my terms though. Okay, so I am selfish but I get things done.

It was beautiful so I decided to tackle some of the gardening. I got out my nifty tiller and decided just to till under several beds, whether they had perennials in them already or not. Only the strong survive!! I plan to get some old horse poop from the pasture and till that in next weekend. My goal is to get that clay transformed to beautiful soil.
I trimmed the roses, which is a bit late, but better later than scraggly. I left the climbers and super bloomers alone because they seem to do will without my help. Mrs. BR Cant has so many thorns anyway that I am sure she will take over the garage wall eventually. The wildlife love her, she protects them from Gatsby the killer golden.
The volunteer vitex by the front porch got a new home. I put in on the side of the driveway where an old mesquite fell down a couple years ago. As the vitex grows, it will help shield the horse trailer I plan to park at the end of the driveway. The neighborhood covenants say no trailers visible from the street and hubby is beginning to get irked that it is in the driveway behind the house. It does make it challenging to get the riding mower out.
I am finally getting the sand delivered tomorrow for kiddo's sandbox in the back. I did a dry stack of stones that we got from a neighbor's deconstructed patio and wall. I put heavy duty week block down and we'll put the sand on top of that. I suspect that will be my main project this coming weekend. As Kiddo gets older and tired of the sandbox, my 6X9 rectangle will make a wonderful kitchen garden! It is right next to the rain barrel too so watering will be easy.

I hope I get it done before my friend comes over with her kids for a play date! We could always saddle up Bailey and do pony rides. Next weekend, I will remember sunscreen.

Life with a 4 Year Old

I post this blog from kiddo's bed because he insists that he is scared without me here. I know it is pure manipulation but the alternative is listening to him cry and whine for me at the top of the stairs for an hour before he finally conks out or I give in. This way, I know he will be out in about 10 minutes and I can go about my business.

This morning on the way to pre-school he was full of questions. Why are poo and pee disgusting? What are germs? What do they look like? What do kid germs look like? Are the green squiggly worms? What do grown up germs look like? Do angels have germs? What are angels made of? Why do they fly? Why do they like flying better than walking? Why can't they just drive a car? That is what I would rather do. And so it goes....I feel like I am a bad parent if I don't try to answer his questions. I am sure that if I had another kid I would tune them both out and be in my own world on a car trip...or I would be yelling at them to quit whatever it was they were up to.

It takes some concentration to navigate rush hour traffic and then more to answer the questions being fired at me from the brainiac in the back. I am so in need of quiet after I drop him off. I often ride to work in silence. The newsroom is also quiet at 8:30am. I need it.

Hey! No Hay.

The drought has hit Central Texas pretty hard. HAving horses, this always freaks me out because I am worried about getting hay. My usual source (who is also the neighborhood source thanks to my big mouth) can't grow it because of the no rain issue. The feed stores are up to $9/bale (I remember when I was getting it in the field for $2.50/bale 5 years ago). There just does not seem to be affordable coastal horse hay anywhere. I bought 40 bales of tifton from a source who had to get rid of it because he is moving. The horses took a few days to get used to it but they are eating it now. They get alfalfa trucked in from New Mexico when I can get it. They only get that once a day. It costs $21-23/bale for a bale that is $110 pounds. I can make that last a week or so with the 3 horses.

They take longer eating the tifton so they are not eating the trees as much. That, in and of itself, is another issue. The horses strip the bark off the trees and then you lose your good shade trees. I want to shout at them, "Hey dummies! You are going to kill your shade and in the 104 degree weather you will be really sorry!" I strategically wrapped a bunch of them with chicken wire so the horses could not get to the bark. The wire is fairly invisible to the causal passerby. There are still the trees they will be killing but then I will have some firewood and a sunny area for more grass to grow in the front pasture.

They are banned from the front pasture now because the rye is starting to come up from the 2 days of damp weather we finally have had. It should last until May once it comes up if I am careful to keep them off it. When I think back to how much grass we had before the horses and how often I had to cut it, I can hardly believe that it is gone. Part of me wishes we had fenced the front yard so we would never have to mow that as well (that is about 250 yards square).

Such is residential farm life. I would not trade it for city condo life at all.

Sahil's Lessons

I really would not say which one of us gets the most from the lessons, Sahil or me.

Sahil is an Arabian. Arabians have the reputation of being wild and high strung often choosing flight over fight. I have experienced the flight when the helicopter buzzed the facility where I have my lessons. Since then, I have had this in the back of my mind, worried that he would do it again over something I would not expect.

Here is the truth that I have learned since the fall. Sahil is not spooky. I walked him up to an open trash bin. Most horses would dance around it and pretend they thought the trash bin was going to eat them. Sahil walked up to it and put his head in it. Plastic grocery bags also freak out many horses when the blow in the wind and get stuck on trees. I led Sahil up to one and he sniffed it then picked it up in his teeth and shook it a bit. He is sweet, smart and curious.

So Sunday when I led him down to the neighbor's house for my lesson, I was not bothered by the wind picking up (it has been really windy my last 3 lessons). I was not worried by the 4 yr olds running along in front of us (kiddo and his best friend were along and Sahil wanted to run with them). I was not even concerned about all the horses along the way who wanted to greet Sahil (I let him have a little touchy feely nose time with them).

I DID have a problem with the Tyvec wrap that was blowing off the house under construction next door to my neighbor's round pen. It was so loud. Picture being on the beach with huge waves crashing constantly on the shore. I thought for sure Sahil was going to freak.

As it turned out, I was the only one worried. He could not have cared less. He was more concerned with what the other horses were doing in the pasture. We kept him busy and thinking during the lesson and he was fine. We trotted and did well. The confidence in each other is building. He is going to be a wonderful horse to trail ride on. His movement is smooth and elegant so he will also be good in the dressage arena. Not bad for an ugly little runty throw away. He is truly the ugly duckling that has turned in to a swan.

creationsim vs. evolution

I know creationists must have an answer for this but the question I have always wanted to ask is "How do we know a Genesis day is the same time as a B.C. day or a A.D. day or what? Why couldn't a Genesis day have been 10,000 years or such?"

If you thought outside the box a bit and understand that the Bible is a collection of stories told to someone, think how many mistakes there can be! How many interpretations of the story told to them. It all depends on the interpreter's view.

The other day I said "Nell is wearing my cleverly patched shirt that the dog ripped last week, while trying to eat the cat."

Now what I meant was that the dog was trying to eat the cat, not me. But the way it was said left some question over who was trying to eat the cat.

For that matter, how many times has a woman said something to a man that was completely misinterpreted or vise versa? If God is a woman, and the Bible was written my men...well you get my drift.

All in the matter of interpretation. I, for one, believe that Adam and Eve came after the dinosaurs. I still think of myself as a Christian.

Anyone else have a take on this?

Oooohhh the Light!

The sunrise is one of the simple pleasures I enjoy in the morning. I try to wait to feed the horses until the sun is rising so I can see the sunrise. My favorite ones are when the clouds turn pink and are rimmed with gray. I try to remember my art history education to think which painter painted these sorts of clouds. Then I try to identify how many colors I actually see instead of what common sense tells me I should be seeing. I do this with kiddo too. I ask him to name every color he sees during a sunrise or sunset. I try very hard not to negate anything he says. it is subjective and I want him to see what he sees.

We see the sunset from the front porch. Sometimes it looks better from the bedroom because we can see over the tree tops. I love right before the sun sinks in the horizon. The light is golden and it filters through the trees in shimmery beams. I can see the light dancing off the wings of the insects buzzing in the pasture. The horses are rimmed in the light as they lazily swish their tails at the flies. I want to play in this light. I want to capture it in a photo. I want to hold onto those moments in that light that bring me such peace. As the sun disappears, the sky turns orangey red. It is almost angry compared to the sweet, golden light from just moments before. I still love the intense color and the way the blue sky become purple peaking through the magenta clouds.

Late at night the stars are thick in the sky. There is not much light pollution so we can sit in the Adirondack chairs on the front lawn with a drink and just stare at the sky. Sometimes I am treated to a shooting star. I feel lucky those nights.

VALENTINE'S DAY

My colleagues are complaining about how much they HATE Valentine's Day. Too much pressure whether you are married, involved or not.

Back in the day, I used to go all out. I made hubby hand painted heart boxers, cookies, and got a card or two. This was before we were married. After we got married, it was a baked something special and a card or two. He used to get me flowers. He even sent me flowers when I was in Norway working the winter Olympics. All the men hated him. After we moved into the house, I asked him to give me live roses that I could plant in the garden. He did this for a few years and then seemed to forget about it.

This year I had time to do something nice for him. I made cookies Thursday for kiddo's class and made two HUGE cookies for the guys. I got hubby a couple of cards, almond clusters and a chocolate mixer to make chocolate martinis.

I honestly was worried that I would be disappointed but I was not. They guys let me sleep in. I didn't even know kiddo was up. They made breakfast for me and brought it up to me in be complete with a rose on the tray. Very sweet. Kiddo wanted to hang out and eat with me while we watched his TV shows.

No matter what your relationship status is, I think Valentine's Day should be important. It should be the day you remember to tell someone you love them. How nice would it be if we heard that from our friends, and family more often? I don't do it enough, I know. Why is it so hard? We should just give love without expecting it in return. It will come. We need to get over our fear of rejection. I believe that you get what you give. To quote Todd Rundgren, "Love is the answer". Listen to that song if you have not heard it. Very wise.