Where is Summer?

All winter long we've been hearing tales of how horrible last summer was. It rained all summer long, so the tale goes, and there was no sun to be seen. Hmmm. Sounds familiar. The past couple weeks have been less than summery, and I'm really hoping we start seeing some higher temps and more of that midnight sun. For now, I'm just happy that today we have seen less rain than days past, and we actually had some sun this afternoon. Much to my despair, there wasn't enough of that warm, yellow sun to ease the paste from my skin. Darn it.

Friday night I was back to my old rhythms. Staying up until the wee hours. I stepped outside to check the rain situation and I was greeted with this gorgeous sunset. I had to capture it, and I'm thinking this one is worthy of a frame on my wall. Beautiful. And pretty close to what it actually looked like. Only on a much grander scale, of course.

Brent has been working a lot lately, and worked Saturday as well. Sunday we were ITCHING to get out of Dodge, and decided to hit the road despite the rain. I like to think I'm made of sugar, and that I'll melt if I get wet, but even I was throwing caution the wind and the thought of a soaking rain was semi-appealing. Anything to get out of those four walls. Seriously.

As we were driving East towards the Gerstle River we experienced a downpour. Things were not looking good. I started to get a little nervous, but was confident that the break in the clouds ahead was real, and a good sign. Much to my sweet relief, the rain stopped and we trudged up and down the river bank.

Marching North down the river bed we stumbled on the carcass of a wolf. It was barely recognizeable, though the paws and head were intact. The wolf body was trapped under a tree, and we were left to speculate what might have happened to land him there. Brent suspects he may have fallen in to the icy water, only to be trapped beneath the heavy limb....I guess we'll never truly know. In total that makes two dead wolves we've stumbled upon, we have yet to see a live one.

One good thing about the rain is that it keeps the wildflowers in constant bloom. There are so many varieties, that the ditches, river banks, forest edges are a riot of blooms. Pinks, purples, blues and yellows are the primary colors, and there always seems to be something new to see.

The mountains are visibly growing darker as the snow melts and floods the rivers and streams. I was a little concerned that we wouldn't be able to walk far on the Gerstle, but I guess the rainfall and snow melt hadn't reached it yet. The banks were fairly dry, and we had to wander quite a ways in to find the murky, rushing water. It certainly isn't a river that I'd want to swim in!

In addition to wandering we were caring for the neighbors animals. Pigs, horses, cows, ducks, and chickens galore. Much to our dismay, the ravens swooped in and carried off about 80 little rock hens. But much to my relief, it wasn't my fault. The owners left them in an uncovered enclosure. Poor little chickens didn't stand a chance! We did enjoy playing with the little pigs, ranging from about 30-50 pounds. Cute little boogers. They LOVED Ches!

Ches was so curious and wanted to come in with us, so we opened the gate to see what she would do. She thoroughly enjoyed herself until the little ones discovered her. They followed her around like a bunch of little ducklings and Brent and I about laughed ourselves silly. She wasn't quite as fond of them as they were of her. When she would stop they would root at her, nibble at her, and she wasn't NOT happy with that behavior. So we'd let her out for a little break.

I think the best part of the deal was that we got to keep all the eggs we collected. I think we collected about 3 dozen eggs, so we have lots of fresh farm eggs. Yum! Our duties are over now, and I'm just okay with that.

Hoping you are warm and dry in your neck of the woods! Have a happy day!

Working, Playing, Living

Now that I’m adjusting to working, I promise to get better at blogging. I have been slacking a lot. Of course, it doesn’t help that Brent has been working a lot, and we just don’t have time to get out and see things. So, I promise bigger and better things from here.

This week has been great. I am enjoying my schedule, I enjoy my work, and I especially enjoy the work environment that I’m in. It’s less like work, and more like hanging out with friends, with work mixed in. Okay, even I know that doesn’t make sense, but the bottom line. It’s fun.

In addition to work we’ve just been having fun on the farm. It’s always entertaining here. This week we’ve had quite a bit of rain which of course means wet and mud. In addition to that our satellite works, or doesn’t work, depending on the amount of moisture in the air, or the cables, we have 1-100 channels. It’s just great! (insert sarcasm here). We are really hoping to find a new place to live this weekend, and hopefully we’ll be moving in August. Yet another perk of working for a real estate company. LoL.

We are growing increasingly impatient. There are so many little things adding up to our move towards moving. The best is the toilet. It seems that somewhere along the way someone decided it would be best to take the bolts out that hold the porcelain god to the slowly rotting floor boards. In addition to the cold sweats it has in 50 degree weather it also wobbles, bobbles and pivots as you sit, or stand. It’s GREAT! Sometimes in the middle of the night when a person is particularly wobbly and hits the seat too hard it will even growl at you! Last week I was convinced that something was living in the bathroom because I swore I heard something growl. Well, I did. It was the toilet. You might be a redneck if… I’ll let you fill in the blank.

As of tonight we’re playing farm. The neighbors are out of town so we are doing chores for them. I lack the equipment it takes to be a farmer, that equipment being the snazzy rubber boots of my youth, but I substituted my snow boots instead. I hauled feed, cleaned out water dishes, watered the horses, scratched the pigs heads, made wallowing holes, and got covered in mud, and whatever else there was in it.

It was fun except for the mud (poop) portion. When I looked in the mirror to see speckles of said mud on my face I had to remind myself that some snooty chick in NYC would pay gobs of money for that kind of spa treatment!

After I cleaned the mud (poop) out from under my newly growing nails (aren’t you proud Mom?) we scrubbed up a dozen freshly gathered eggs and headed to a friends house for fresh baked carrot cake. Oh, it was heavenly! We enjoyed a fresh made organic carrot cake made with spelt and cane sugar. They served raw milk on the side, and I don’t think I’ve had that wonderful of a treat in a long time!

I haven’t had raw milk since I was a youngster romping around in Grandpa’s barn, trying not to get hit by flying poop from the Holsteins. Of course all that flew out the window when I landed in a gutter full of poo in my poo brown snowsuit. OH WHAT FUN!

Brent is working tomorrow so I plan to do a little cleaning, a little cooking and a little baking. Then hopefully we’ll get out and SEE something to take pictures of! Have a happy day!