Biscuits for Brownie

"Did you miss me Brownie?"
"Yes, farmlady, but I'd like to talk about the colors of the new sleeping place."
"Why, what's the matter?"
"Well, three of us are brown and white. Bart is the only one of us that is gray and black."
"So you don't like the colors?"
"I just think you should have asked us what we thought."
"But Brownie, I was going to paint the house red and white at first and that wouldn't have matched any of you."
"That's true but those colors would not have favored just one of us. Red would have been politically correct."
"Come on , you mean that because I painted your new house gray and black that I wasn't being democratic?"
" Something like that. All Murph', Freckles and I are saying is that you were favoring Bart by using those colors."
"Good grief. I'm sorry that I have offended the three of you but I'm not repainting ."
"Hey, they all wanted me to say something and I have. This doesn't mean that I'm going to get less of that delicious grain does it?"
"No Brownie. I wouldn't do that. All of you have the right to speak out when you think there's been inequality but this is kind of picky. I have a lot of things on my plate right now and I don't need to worry about what the goats think of the colors that I painted on their new house."
"Plate? What plate? Did you come out here with a plate of food? Did I miss something? Hey guys, Farmlady had some food and she didn't give us any." Did you get anything Bart? She said she had something on her plate. I don't see a plate and I don't see any food. I'll bet she gave some to one of you when I was getting a drink of water. Who got something? Maybe it was Murphy because he thinks he's such a big celebrity. Murphy..., did Farmlady give you some extra food?Where are you, Murph'.

"I'm over here Brownie. Settle down. Farmlady has the camera and I'm giving her my sweet and wonderful goat look. You never know where these picture are going to show up. Maybe I should do a little dance for her."

"Farmlady, you are my very favorite two-legged besides the prospector. You know that don't you? You care about us and protect us
and I just want you to know that whatever you have on your plate will be fine with me because I'm not that picky. I was kind of afraid to say this to Brownie, but I really like the gray and black. It's sophisticated and classy."
"Thank you Murphy, I thought so too."
"Your welcome, Farmlady. Brownie will be all right. He just gets upset when he thinks that no one cares about him."
"I will be more careful next time. I didn't mean to upset him."
"It's ok. Do you have any crackers?"
"No, but I'll bring some with me, later, when I close you in."
"Oh, thank you. ..., and Farmlady?"
"What Murphy?"
"Bring two for Brownie."

And so the little goat house was finished except for a few things like overhangs and some gravel, in front, before winter. I checked later on that night to see if Brownie had been watching the Democratic Convention. What a commotion about equality and fairness; but then I thought to myself that some goats are right. Brownie needed to be heard. He wanted a say in how his life was affected by a decision that he had no part of.
This week I listened to all the speakers at the Democratic Convention and I will listen to all of the Republican speakers next week. I'm kind of undecided about this election, but my discussion with Brownie made me stop and think about the democratic process and how important it is that everyone votes and that I shouldn't say "I have a lot on my plate"unless I have food on it ,because some goats and people rely on others for their food and they don't use this expression as a euphmism for having too much to do.
The little goat house will stay the color it is, because it was a lot of work and I'm not changing it...., but I will take five biscuits out there tonight and two of them will be for Brownie. One for courage and one for affection (mine)...., and I'll serve them on a little plate, just for him.

Wordless Wednesday: Smile

Dragonfly Wings

On my way down to my mom's I needed to stop for some coffee. As I got out of the car and shut the door I noticed something on the ground. I reached down and picked it up...., it was a dragonfly. It was dead and kind of dried out but everything was intact. The wings were not damaged at all. There in the busy parking lot I found this lovely gift, waiting for me to save it from the wind, the wheels of a car, a curious dog or a childs awkward hand. As I held it in my hand I thought I saw it move. How could that be? It was dried out and was crush in on the top between it's wings. Maybe the wind made it move, or my hand touched it's wing and turned it's body just a little. It didn't moved again and so I found a safe place for it on the back seat , bought my coffee and continued on across the Delta and into the Bay Area.
I know the road so well after all these years of driving down and back. I laughingly call it "...the horse to the barn" road. I tell everyone that if I took my hands off the wheel, the car would just continue on and arrive at it's destination because it has driven that road so many times.
I was not sure what to expect when I arrived at Mom's, but my sister had just brought Mom home and even though she was tired, she seemed to be doing very well. She has Congestive Heart Failure and Diabetes. She went to the hospital because she couldn't breath. They gave her very high doses of Lasix, a diuretic, and she came home 20 pounds thinner. The pressure on her heart and lungs was greatly reduced by this procedure so the doctor let her come home. They don't let you stay long now. If you're still breathing and you can get to the bathroom by yourself ,they discharge you. There seems to be a kind of medical conveyor belt in hospitals these days. You are in and out of there before you know anyone's name.
Sis told me that the doctors were very nice and did as much as they could to help Mom. All Mom wanted to do was go home. She's 90 yrs old and she's getting very set in her ways. She just wanted to take a nap. She was tired and very glad to be home.

Over the weekend I showed her the dragonfly I found in the parking lot. We marveled at the beauty of this creature and talked about the wings; so fragile looking and yet with the ability to fly. How each dragonfly is, first, a thing that lives in water. It is born there and that it only lives for a month or so. Only a month, not years, not decades..., but for a very short time, this lovely creature flies around and catches other insects and flies above our heads and then it's gone. Where do they go? all the thousands of small bodies...., when there are so many of them? Why does the death of one Dragonfly seem so sad? Why does sharing this lovely creature with my mother bring tears to my eyes? Is this when we hold onto each other because we know that time is short? Will the fragile wings of my mother's life travel faster than the years she has been given? Can I make the dragonfly come back to life and fly over my head?...., no. I can do nothing to stop the reality of it's death. We are all creatures with fragile wings and now, with my mother sitting beside me, I can only share this knowledge in silence.

Cat waits for her return.

My mom is in the hospital. I'm leaving this morning for the bay area, Not sure when I'll be back.
Her cat, Honey, is waiting for her to come home.
















Please say a prayer for my mom.

Wordless Wednesday(almost); Pasturizing the Goats.

Murphy..., celebrity goat

I had to go down to Sacramento today for a doctor's appointment, so I decided to travel a few miles further and go to the Davis Art Center to see Terry Busse's art show. I have gotton to know Terry through her blog: Songs from the Garden at; terrybusse.blogspot.com. She does the most amazing textile wall art you've ever seen and a few months ago she asked me if she could do one about my post on Murphy (one of my goats ) and the night he danced on his hind legs under a full moon. I was delighted and so was Murphy....
By the way, the painting of the "acrobat" was on the outside wall of the art center(top left). Just thought it was cool. The two bottom photos are the room where Terry's exhibit was.

Photo's do not do Terry's work justice. The intricate piecing of fabric and felt have to be seen "In person" to really be appreciated. This one above is called "Murphy's Midnight Dance" ( that's my Murph') and if you look closely you will see the beautiful stitching and detail that each of her pieces have. I'm so impressed because I've never even tried quilting, let alone something like this. Her colors are wonderful and every piece has a poem and a story to go with it.

The exhibit is at the Davis Art Center , 1919 F street, Davis, Ca. and continues through Aug 28. If you live anywhere close to Davis you should stop by and take a look. Gallery hours are Mon-Thurs 9:30 to 7 and Fri 9:30 to 5. They are closed on the weekend. And please check out Terry's blog. She shows all her art work on her posts and sometimes shows the process or parts of the pieces before they're finished. Very interesting. Click on the photos above to see them up close.

The other goats told me that Murphy has been acting kind of "uppity" lately and they found a pair of sunglasses in his corner of the goat house. You think some of this has gone to his head? I'll have to have a little talk with him.

Congratulations Terry! It's a wonderful exhibit.

Full Moon of Misfortune

I think this is #5 now, right? Yes, they are beautiful. Yes, I'm getting tired of killing them . I'm beginning to picture the mine, on our property, with thousands of pit vipers slithering around in there. I'm thinking that there are thousands of them looking for the ones we have killed. They take a head count and one says, "Joe's missing, Bill, you go out tonight and see if you can find him."
I have had dreams where I walk outside and there are hundreds of snakes, everywhere. I'm trying not to step on them and they never bite. They aren't paying any attention to me. I'm tip-toeing around them trying to get through the mass of snakes and then I step on one and it rears up...., looks at me, rattles it's tail ..., and I wake up. I never get bit in my dreams and there are different kinds of snakes, not just rattlers. Some of them are non- venomous, harmless garden snakes and some are black.

Last night I heard Maggie barking, continuously, in the area near the goat house. It's always a different bark when it's a snake. We both went out on to the back porch and called Maggie. She wouldn't come to us. I held Moke while the prospector went out across the concrete and over to the corner of the garage to find Maggie. We could hear the snake. When my brain focused on the sound, I looked down beside the wall of the house and there it was. Angry and coiled. My husband walked right by the snake and didn't even see it. He's so lucky sometimes. So, now we both had a dog in hand and the prospector yelled "Get your gun." All Moke wants to do is get at the snake. Crazy dog..
I closed the screened door and went for my hand gun in the bedroom. When I got to the back door again, my husband was on the porch with Maggie. I said " Why did you do that? You had to walk by the snake again." and all he said was, "Please take the dogs in the house." and took the pistol from me. I closed the door this time and waited for him to shoot. One shot was fired. It was a clean shot to the head. Another Rattler was dead. The dogs ran to our bedroom and hid. They don't like gunfire.
The snake was big; at least 3 or4 ft. long and had 12 rattles and he was beautiful. The prospector said that he didn't see the snake when he first went out to Maggie and then realized he had walked right by it, but in order to get her in the house he had to walk back up onto the porch again. I was going to tell him that he could have put her in the garage, but realized that he was upset and it probably wasn't necessary to tell him what he could have done, after the fact. He went and got the big bucket, lifted the snake into it and walk into the garage.
We watched the Olympics until Midnight because we were so hyped up. Even then we had a hard time getting to sleep. When I finally fell asleep I didn't dream of snakes. I dreamed about the goats. They were dancing and I think they were singing, (I'm not sure.) They seemed happy.
It was a full moon last night and Murphy wasn't dancing.

I'm so sorry snake.

Does anyone have a sharp mandoline?

This morning a friend and I went to this class on preserving food. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about canning , freezing and dehydrating food. Dorothy Smith, the county director for the University of Calif. Cooperative Extension was a great speaker and gave us a lot of information.
Canning is wonderful but time consumming. You have to really love canning food. It's very satisfying to "put up" your own vegetables and fruit. All those beautiful jars of produce are there later in the year when they are gone from your garden.
Dehydration is inexpensive and easy. It doesn't require a hot stove or a freezer to produce great results. Of all the ways that we can preserve food, I think I like drying the best. It's certainly the easiest and has the least chance of becoming toxic. It's the oldest form of preserving and there are many ways to do it. She talked about the two that she liked the best. You can sun dry outside which can take a couple of days, or you can buy a dehydrator that works off of electricity and is much faster. I would think that most people might want the dehydrator because it's faster and you can control the air-circulation and the heat. Drying time for most fruit or veggies in a dehydrator is only 1 to 4 hours. That's a plus for people who work or have busy schedules.
I'm going to try some "drying" soon because it's so easy and look at the beautiful, colorful assortment of veggies that Dorothy brought as examples. You can use these all year in soups and casseroles, etc. You can keep them in the cupboard or if you like , the refridgerator.
If you click on any of these photos you can see them closer. They are absolutely beautiful and some can be used in collages or on wreaths, if they are thin and dry enough. Just look at them. Some are like small works of art. I had no idea that preserving food could be so artistic. By the way, a Mandoline is a slicer that will give you thin even slices of food to dry.
Clockwise, from the upper left are: Crooked neck squash, Sweet potatos, mushrooms, squash, onions and bell peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatos, tomatoes and in the middle are onions and bell peppers. Yum! Don't you just want to make soup?...., and then there is all the fruit to think about: Dried apples, pears, apricots, peaches, pineapple, cherries, etc. ..., Oh my gosh, I think I need to go have a piece of fruit right this minute.

Fragrance of sunlight

I hung my gown out in the sun.

Tonight I brought it in.

I cannot tell how sweet a scent,

the gown, from sun, 

my skin.

c.c. 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Three Gourd Haiku

Freckles Dilemma in the Pasture

"Hey, Brownie.....,look . We are in a different place. That's our house way up there."

"And look over there. That's a new fence. What happen? Why did they let us out here? I'm confused. Things are not the same."

" You guys keep calling this "greener pastures", but I think something is up. Why were the tall ones so happy and saying something about the goats finally earning their keep? Hey...., stop eating and think for a minute. This just doesn't settle right with me. I may be smaller than all of you ,but my brain is telling me something is just not right. You don't get oak and toyon bushes for free. Mark my words. Something is up!"

Tenacious Life

My Mom has had ivy growing on the front porch as long as I can remember. Mom planted it at each porch post and over the years it has grown up across the whole length of the porch . The house is on a "slab" foundation and I always thought that the porch was just an extention of the slab. But, maybe not.....
A wonderful neighbor comes over every morning and brings the newpaper up onto the porch near the front door, so Mom won't have to walk out to the street to pick it up. This is the same person that takes her garbage cans in and out for her and calls to see if she needs help when someone stands too long at the front door. He is 72 years old and tells really corny jokes: But he has always been there for my parents. He is a truly good person.
So yesterday morning I went out to get the paper and underneath the Sunday Times was this.....
Right were the stucco meets the concrete was this one ivy leaf growing out of the space between the wall and the porch. This spot is at least 6 or 7 feet from the edge of the porch where the rest of the ivy is growing. That little slip of ivy had to wiggle it's way under at least 6ft of concrete and find a crack where it could finally grow up to the surface and find light.
So now I'm thinking that the slab and the concrete porch may have been two separate pieces and that there is a gap just wide enough to let a very small ivy root squeeze through because..., there it is, growing where nothing should be growing. I'm amazed that this ivy had the tenacity to search for and find the "light" that it so badly needed.
When I asked Mom to "Come and look at this, your not going to believe it." She said... "I know what you saw." She said she had seen it a few days before and wondered if I would see it too.

Maybe this is a lesson taught by example; of a life that has been worth living and included a great struggle for identity while always finding beauty in every corner. Mom and this small ivy leaf know what life is. I guess they know each other well.

My Bordello Bathroom

My grandma and my great aunt would turn over in their graves if they could see my little half bath. I painted it one weekend when the prospector was gone fishin'. ..., and then I just went a little crazy decorating it. The Prospector came home and dubbed it the"Bordello Bathroom" Even the ceiling is red. I thought maybe I had over done it, but I get more positive comments on this little "outhouse"( well, it is off the laundry room so I like to envision it as an outhouse ). Ok it's not an outhouse! But being next to the back door it's convienent if you're outside and need to find a toilet fast.
Jo, at Moodscapes (jonjdsbitsandpieces.blogspot.com) has the ultimate outhouse. I want one like her's some day. It's a real working outhouse and it's a two seater. It has a wash pitcher and bowl, mirror, a chair, a window and vintage towels and ..., well...., it's the coolest outhouse I've ever seen. So until I get one outside like Jo's I'm happy with my "Why don't you come up and see me sometime" half bath .
There is usually an oil lamp on top of the medicine chest. I'm not quite sure why..., but now, it's in the kitchen. Maybe it got moved last winter in the power outage. The little one on the windowsill really works and I love it. I don't use this one next to the lace curtains though. That would not be good.
That's my maternal great grandmother reflected in the mirror. It's what you look at when you sittin'.
She kind of makes you want to get done and get out of there fast.

Well that's about it for today. I'm going to mom's for a couple of days and wanted to leave you with something thoughtful and inspiring. Aren't you glad that most of us have indoor plumbing now; especially in the middle of the night?

See you on Sunday.

Wordless Wednesday: Chainlink

Crow collage

This is actually three separate photos taken through a sprinkler on my mother's lawn. We don't have any crows where I live. They are very interesting birds. They seem to travel in groups and they are VERY noisy. They loved the sprinkler and appeared to be waiting for something to pop up out of the lawn. Bugs?, worm?, E. A. Poe? They're such a presence and so shiny black. I was lucky that they stayed long enough for me to get my camera. They stayed for about 10 minutes and then they were gone.

I love the juxtaposition of the crows in the collage and the sprinkles of water coming down. As I sharpened the picture it looked more and more like a painting. Very cool!

Introducing Freckles. Painting the goat house and flowers in the garden.

First of all...., I want to tell you about one of our goats. This is Freckles. He is the smallest, sweetest Nubian of them all. Bart is " leader of the pack", Brownie is our lovable loner with an attitude and Murphy..., well you all know about Murphy: He's the celebrity( immortilized in verse and art at: terrybusse.blogspot.com on June 8).
Our little Freckles still wants a bottle of milk, cries like a baby when he gets a shot, and tags along behind Murph' like a lady in waiting. Freckles is my sweet baby. He always get pushed out of the way when there is hay or grain to eat but he just goes in at a different angle and eventually gets his fill. He's never pushy, he doesn't complain too much and he always seem to get along with the other goats, even when they are being..., well, you know..., goats. He's kind and gentle and he ALWAYS comes to me with that sweet look in his eyes and no ulterior motives. He loves to have his neck and head rubbed and I almost expect him to say "Thank You" afterwards. He's a truly good goat.


Yes, I'm still painting. The gray color is the primer. The red is what I WAS going to paint the whole shed but then I decided not to. I did a test section and thought that it was just too bright for the whole building. I think I would like a gray-brown color with white trim. I know I'm being a bit particular about this, but color is important, specially when I'm do'in it. Also, I might look at red differently if it wasn't in the high 90's this week. I'm almost done with the primer coat which is soaking into this siding like a sponge. Then I can get the top coat on. Then...., I can decorate my windowless wall with STUFF. I'm still open to ideas for "the big blank wall".

...., and, to close, I want to show you my flowers in the vegetable garden.
I still don't know what was eating the leaves on the sunflowers but the two survivors are blooming anyway. I planted two packages of sunflowers and these are the only ones left. I'm convinced the birds got the seeds in the ground but it's definitely a story of survival

So, my friends, be like the sunflower and turn toward the sun, show the world your wear and tear, and "Bloom where you are planted".