Archive for the ‘Country Buzz’ Category

« Newer Entries
Older Entries »
h1

Seeds of Hope

September 21, 2011

If you’ve been following my blog, you know of the recent computer failure, the immediate need to raise funds for a new PC (the one I’m using is seven years old, slow, and tired), and the special friend who donated a carload of goods for last weekend’s garage sale.

Saturday’s sales were slow. Ninety-five percent of the people were men. Of course, I didn’t have ‘guy’ merchandize so the sale was a bust.

Sunday morning, another special friend—who loves garage sales—showed up early, filled several bags, then gave me a sizable donation that nearly started a brawl. We argued for some time. In the end, she won. Then she offered to look at my printer and external backup drive that also went on the blink. Within twenty minutes, both were working! No brawl, just hugs. Lots of hugs!

Although sales were low both days, I met the most interesting people. One couple talked about the old town buildings in their backyard and the fun they have hunting for more structures.

A big guy tossed a lace tablecloth over his shoulder, gave me fifty cents, and said with a flushed face, “It’s for my mother, honest. She loves these things.” Another man, after seeing the computer speakers for sale talked for thirty minutes about his internet woos and being a tech dummy. I knew how he felt and wished I could help.

A true country dweller walked into the garage asking if I had a sickle bar mower. “I plow my fields with a team of horses, he said proudly. “There’s not one tractor on my place.” Amazing! Somebody actually lives on manual mode. Love it!

Then I met a genuine American Picker, the last person before closing. A well-dressed man with hair white as snow and a gentle voice with such clarity I clung to every word. He sells all over the world through other dealers, people, he said with so much integrity they’re honest enough to tell him when one of his hundred-dollar items, for example, goes for $1,400.

Hearing about the integrity of others seemed to go with the weekend’s theme of special friends planting seeds of hope. I have a long way to go before earning enough for a new computer. Nevertheless, the donations and sales will allow me to make a modest contribution to the Susan G. Komen Beast Cancer Foundation, buy a heavy-duty surge protector, and start a small fund for a PC.

Small beginnings lead to big finales. Can you hear the fireworks?  

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

h1

Moving Forward

September 15, 2011

I took my computer to two repair shops and it is fried. (Discovered this morning, there’s also a problem with my printer but I think I can fix it–not sure yet.)

I received one carload of donations so I can have a garage sale this weekend to help with the cost of a new computer. If you have any sale-able items you’d like to donate contact me at inthegarden@softcom.net.

Ten percent of the profits will go to a charitable organization. I haven’t decided which organization yet so please feel free to submit your favorite ones for consideration.

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

h1

Facing Storms and Life

September 10, 2011

Yesterday, I stacked firewood, a chore on my to-do list that I wanted to complete along with washing the westerly windows and patio furniture. It felt good to scribble a line through these tasks written on scrap paper, to look at the finished work with satisfaction.

I hadn’t listened to the weather report for the last couple of days and had no idea that a storm was coming. Wind, thunder and enough showers to wet the earth arrived late yesterday. The hens’ premature molting (which usually starts in November) cautioned me of an early, wet winter. But, hay, what happened to fall?

I don’t like winter. It’s dark, dull, uncomfortable, and hazardous.

Hazardous indeed! Little did I know this peewee storm, which felt like humid Hawaii days, would surge through the house and damage my main computer. The computer given to me by my son. It’s as old as the computer I’m typing on but POWERFUL. Photos upload from my camera in a snap and there’s lots of computer space for all that I need to do. I can have more than one program open. I can have dual monitors (the one I’m looking at and the one my son gave to me). I had planned to backup my files this weekend. Did you catch the words ‘planned to’ ‘this weekend’?

All my work could be lost.

The moment my stomach begins to turn and I feel stressed over a computer, years of work, I stop myself. It would be easy to cry, to wail boohoo. This isn’t fair. For over a year, I’ve been trying to save enough funds to get DSL so I don’t have to spend hours uploading photos and posts. So I won’t tie up the landline. So I don’t have to limit my online research to midnight sessions. So I can download software programs needed to create and sale eBooks. So I can upload images to sell online.

I’ve also been trying to raise enough funds to buy a professional camera so I can produce images larger than 5×7. I’m trying to save funds to build a demo garden so I can hold workshops. But paychecks are hit and miss. Benefits are lost. The tractor died—a cracked head. I lost my prescription glasses. My car is wheeling around on three worn tires and one spare.

These challenges (and more) are real. But they are minor issues in a world of hurting people who have lost far, far more. Although the plans and dreams I’ve been trying to carry out for over a year get stuck in one mud puddle after another, I am happy. I am grateful for what I can and do accomplish. For what I do have.

For those of you who have encouraged me and continue to hang out at In and Around the Garden. For my guest writers!

For Ralphie who loves me without question. My children and their families are priceless. Moreover, I am the sweetheart (according to Joe) of a man who chooses to put up with me year after year. Like the peewee storm, the mud puddles in my path will dry up. Someday. I have faith.

Taking a moment to remember those who lost their lives a decade ago tomorrow.

Taking a moment to remember our soldiers and their families.

Taking a moment to remember the jobless, the homeless victims of the economy.

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Change: It’s happens, but I don’t have to like it.

August 24, 2011

This year, spring through summer, many changes have occurred throughout the seasons. One major, uninvited, alternation on our country property where we live was the removal of four beautiful trees. Now, at the threshold of autumn, the open rolling hills along our northern pasture are about to transform. The neighbors are putting in a vineyard.

In the following days and weeks, huge equipment will rip through the land. Dust will hover like low, lingering fog. Field workers will come and go. Parked cars will sit on the shoulders of our PRIVATE dead-end road. Voices and perhaps a little singing or whistling will drift over the foothills and into the valleys. After the plantings and later when the vines have grown, chemicals will contaminate the air, the land, and most likely on the volunteer oats where our beef cattle graze.

I know what to expect. Clements Vineyard is a few feet east of our property. During harvest season picking machines HOWL in the middle of the night. We don’t sleep. Yellow slow-moving headlights glow like dinosaur eyes and spook Ralphie. He runs from window to window barking repeatedly. I tell him, “It’s only headlights, Ralphie. Go to sleep.” Like a comedy portraying poor communication between characters, he doesn’t listen.

Staged for change at autumn’s oncoming approach, man is capsulizing my world into metamorphosis. I’m beginning to feel small, sandwiched in . . . overrun via alterations. Sooner or later I will adjust. So will Ralphie. Like my husband said, “It wouldn’t bother us if we were putting in the vineyard.” © 2011 Dianne Marie Andre

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

h1

Friends

July 7, 2011

Meet Rascal, the beloved pet of a newly acquainted friend, Em, who lives up the road and around the bend. Rascal is a White Bellied Caique. Em says his color will change some when he matures and his head will lose the black spots and be very orange.

He’s already a beauty with a personality that will make your heart sing. One day, while I worked with Em at her computer, when we laughed Rascal laughed too. I got a kick out of watching him pitter-patter across the desk, tilting his head left and right trying to decode our conversations.

The next day, Em wrote in an email to me, “He is so funny, he got out of his cage through the open feed bin today, and I heard him saying, “where’s the baby“.  

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

h1

The Gift of Freedom

July 4, 2011

A couple of days ago, I finally had time to spruce up the perennial garden which was in dire need of my attention. There are other outdoor projects still to tackle. But today, on our country’s Independence Day, I’m claiming liberty and staying indoors. Taking our nation’s celebration to heart, I plan to rest, chow down on chilled watermelon, strawberry shortcake, read and maybe do some writing.

Thanks to our soldiers and their families, past and present, I have the freedom to choose how I spend my day. Liberty is a wonderful gift.

Happy Independence Day everybody!

Posted in Country Buzz, Dianne's Blog | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Lumberjacking

June 29, 2011

Splitting wood isn’t my idea of a fun weekend, but it had to be done or at least started. So I threw on my lumberjack attire and set my mind to karate chop wood bigger and heavier than a cast iron potbelly stove. Although I tried to help my husband maneuver 3-foot diameter logs in line with the wood splitter, grunting was the only action I had to show for my effort. Joe, of course, was the one who moved the hefty, brown stumps.

Ralphie snoozed on the tractor seat while we worked. He looked up now and then, curious about a slow screech that put a chill up our spines or a loud pop as the hydraulic wedge forced open a log.

We still have a lot more karate chopping to do. We’re not even halfway done. The chronicle of Considering Tree Rights seems endless. There are so many steps involved in cutting down a tree.

  1. Facing the loss
  2. Grinding the stump or applying stump treatment
  3. Giving the tree trimmer your life savings after the job is done (unless you did it yourself)
  4. Spreading wood chips (no easy task)
  5. Sawing the trunk and limbs into fireplace lengths
  6. Splitting
  7. Hauling and stacking
  8. Waiting for the wood to cure 
  9. Then finally, blazing fires to warm your chilly bones during wintry months, BUT NOT BEFORE hauling and stacking wood near the backdoor.

The only benefit to all this hard work is eliminating a monthly four- to six-hundred dollar utility bill during winter, and maybe, just maybe, loosing a pound or two.

Posted in Country Buzz, Dianne's Blog | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Pullets

June 8, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, I moved the pullets* from the cow trough (in the garage) to the chicken coop. The pullets are growing rapidly but they’re not large or old enough to defend themselves against the hens. Without a shielding mother, hens will peck at a younger flock. For now, segregation is necessary. Therefore, each morning we play musical chairs. Both flocks sing (not all that well) while I rotate them. Until sundown, when rotation takes place in reverse, the hens free range with access to the coop for egg lying while the pullets play in the running pen. Twice daily, the music stops and everybody’s happy in their prospective stations.

Soon the pullets will know the coop and running pen as home base. There they will find a small supply of organic feed, water, and little nesting boxes to lay eggs next spring. As the pullets familiarize themselves with the new surroundings, routine patterns will fall into place. When the hens are nearby, free ranging, the pullets can observe scavenger skills and dust-bowl baths. Although these behaviors come naturally, like humans, even pullets can learn from peers.

Soon, when I open the hatch at twilight, the pullets will learn to go into the coop. Right now, I have to chase them. I’m glad there’s no hidden camera. Scurrying after seven pullets, dodging poop, bumping my head on the perching bar, and nearly landing on my face as I reach out to grasp one is a shoe-in for America’s Funniest Home Videos.

This flock is different from the breeds I’ve had before. The Buttercups are nervous around humans and are the first to take flight if I get near them. They’re small, active and quick, white egg layers that don’t do well in confinement.

The Australorp is from Australia. Known for their high brown-egg production and sweet temperament, they’re also good meat birds. I have yet to hear a peep out of these quite, black beauties which make them suitable for town folk concerned about annoying their neighbors.

The Silkie bantams are from Japan. They’re so cute, calm and friendly you want to cuddle them. They’re feathers are fur-like, slick and fluffy. Silkies stay small and produce mini, ornamental eggs. With their motherly instincts, they make great brooders** and loving mothers. Children adore them.

*Pullet:  A female chicken less than one year old.

**Brooders or broody:  The desire of a hen to sit and hatch eggs.

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

h1

The Weekend: What I did, discovered, and sat on

June 5, 2011

Fair time

Throughout the countryside, fairground employees are gearing up for community showmanship, amusement rides, entertainment, and food.  For months, entrants—adults and youth—have been working hard at their particular craft, from wine making to hog rearing, constructing bottle rockets to canning pickles, and much more. Hundreds of people convey his or her skill in one form or another at the fair.  I am one of those people.

Friday, with my exhibits in the backseat, I drove to the fairgrounds with a smile on my face and hope in my heart. This is my fourth year entering amateur photography exhibits, and first year venturing into the craft arena.

Every year, I have blue-ribbon dreams and even though I’ve only won a couple, I still walk away pleased for having tried. Sharing one’s craft isn’t just about blue ribbons. It’s about creative thinking, goal setting, and staying up all night to finish what you started. I may not walk away a champion but I will have expanded my inventive juices and had fun along the way. I’ll let you know, when I know, if I won a blue ribbon.

Amy Stewart

If you didn’t make it through the rain to Amy Stewart’s presentation, you missed an enjoyable, educational afternoon. I’ve heard her speak twice now and Stewart is an excellent presenter.

While conducting research for her books, Stewart looks for little, or unknown, facts. As a speaker, she brings her research to life in a friendly, educational, but humorous way. One shocking fact that Stewart shared from her latest book, Wicked Bugs, is that the world contains 10 quintillion insects. That’s 200-million bugs per person. They out number us, and unfortunately, we can’t exist without them. After telling the crowd this shocking fact, Stewart went on the say that the good news is, most bugs can’t hurt us. Bugs are not physically able to penetrate the skin even if they wanted to. However, “There is a dark side of the bug world,” Stewart said, “but not much.”

You’ll have to read her book to learn more on wicked bugs.

Karma

Before Amy Stewart’s presentation began, I noticed a familiar-looking love seat at the back of the room. Upon closer examination, and after plopping on the cushion, I floated down memory lane. At one time, I was its first owner. I also had a matching sofa with throw pillows, and coordinating window valances. Country blue was the trend back then and I went all out.

Somehow, the love seat made its way from my garage sale (where I sold the set to a Lodi couple) to Concord, past Clements to Sutter Creek. You never know what, when, where, or how karma will surface. In this case, in the form of a love seat still wearing well despite a split up with its partner, the blue sofa.

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Preparing to Defend my Flock

June 1, 2011

MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected

A predator crept onto the property then quietly left with a hen in its mouth. I didn’t witness the scene but that evening when I stepped into the running pen to gather eggs, a large clump of feathers and hide was lying beside the feeder. The headcount was one less.

I had spent most of that day outside spreading wood chips. I didn’t hear a peep. No loud squawks. No rush of flapping wings. No warning honks from my pet turkey, Miss Boo Boo. On the rare occasion that the chickens have fled for safety, I’d hear their shrieks from inside my house. This time, I didn’t even hear them while I was working outdoors. Whatever species the predator, it was sneaky, rapid, inaudible as a silent movie, and as deadly as a bear trap.

The next evening, a sick hen that I had nursed died. For several days, I had carried her to the water bowl then the feeder.  She seemed happy to be eating and drinking. Still she was fading. Afterwards, I’d put her into a nesting box to protect her from the other hens. A flock will peck at a sick or injured hen to establish hierarchy status or to remove a weak member.  It’s a terrible scene to encounter so I do everything possible to stop muggings in the running pen.

When I discovered the hen’s body in the nesting box, it was late and nearly dark so I laid her in the tall weeds outside the coop. Early the next morning I returned to bury her but the mysterious predator had come back. (The details are too horrible to share.) Angry with myself, and the beast that robbed a hard-working chicken of a dignified, humane burial, I decided it was time to learn how to handle a gun. Later, I called my son, Jason, and the following weekend he came over with his 22. He set up water bottles then gave me safety instructions and shooting lessons.

The distance between the stock and the barrel was a little long for my short arms and my eyes kept seeing double. Still, I managed to hit the bottles. I also hit the nearby silver maple leaves and the foxtails. When Jason went home, he left his gun so I could practice. Having done so several days now, I realize that by the time I get to the gun, unzip the case, take out the 22, get to the bullets, load, and go outside, the predator will have eaten the whole flock. I suppose I’ll have to set up camp in the running pen. I too can be a sneaky, inaudible predator. Copyright © Dianne Marie Andre

Posted in Country Buzz | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

« Newer Entries
Older Entries »