Friday, May 25, 2012

LATEST FROM CANEY FORK VALLEY

The pups and I have had an interesting couple of days. I’ve never had any hesitation to let them have access to the dog door at night. A few years go I had to abandon the bird feeding ritual for a year because we were over run with raccoons but there has been no sign of them since then. Wednesday night I woke up to hear both of my brats carrying on something fierce in the yard. Several times I got up and went to the door calling for them. My calls fell on deaf ears. The commotion which woke me several times during the night seemed to travel around the yard. It was raining and I was getting leery about going out after them and yet leery about not going. In the morning all four bird feeders were on the ground somewhat the worse for wear. That came as no surprise. The thing that gave me the creeps was the faux wrought iron stand in the yard with two hooks designed to support potted plants or bird feeders. It was not only down; it bent 90 degrees at the ground level. My only available conclusion was that a bear had visited us. Conclusive evidence was discovered yesterday evening when the young man who mows my yard came across a significant pile of bear droppings. Needless to say the dogs will be shut in at night until further notice. Ever since Al died I’ve worried about the dogs being trapped in the house if I stroke out or something. Same thing applies when I’m gone. If there is a fire I sure want them to be able to vacate the premises.


Friends who live four miles down stream of me have gotten very involved with bee keeping and recently they transferred eleven hives to some property near me at this end of the creek because they were having trouble with Winnie the Pooh visiting the hives for a bit of a smackeral. They are installing an electric fence around their bee area and will then move the hives back. It’s fairly obvious where my bear came from. He showed up elsewhere in the immediate area last night. Unfortunately the bee owners, I hear, are on their way to visit family in Tallahassee for the weekend. Nobody else around here has a bee suit. Bears are out of season so the many bear hunters around here are no help.

Well, that’s the latest news from the Caney Fork Valley. My rehab is coming along nicely and I’m driving myself around at long last. I’ve bought myself a hiking pole and a pricey GPS “locator”. There is no wireless service in this area because of the mountains so, of course, it cost a bundle for this device. I have to register it with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and sort out the myriad directions (if you excuse the pun) that are published in English, French, German and some other languages I don’t recognize. The device is used by mountain climbers, pilots, sea going types. With a push of a button the small device sends your coordinates to the appropriate authoriaties so they can rescue you. I might fall again but at least someone will come and pick me up unlike the Feb. fall within sight of my house when I was forced to use the fractured wrist and torn rotator cuff to get off the ground. I love my dogs but they are NOT Lassie and wouldn’t go for help until they’d missed a couple of meals. Instead I got cold noses in the neck inviting me to play with them.

Jane in NC

PS My email address associated with this site is no longer active.  Let me know if you want the new one and we can talk on the phone or I can send it via snail mail.  I've become leery of giving my location away because there are no doubt a couple of my former clients getting out of prison who have the miss understanding that it was MY fault they ended up where they did.  Right Jean?




Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Remember Gucci?

For those of you who remember the incredibly heart warming story of Mary and Charles Luney driving the rescued black Standard Poodle from Tulsa to Blaine, so we could pick her up there and bring her into Canada for her 'happily ever after', we have some very sad news. Gucci has been diagnosed with an oral squamous cell carcinoma and it does not look like it will be possible to remove it completely with surgery. No final treatment decisions have been made yet, but it does not look like this is going to end well. We are devastated.

Prayer and positive thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Jean
still at Mill Bay

Sunday, May 20, 2012

More spring flowers


Here are a couple of garden shots taken today.  The rhody is in full flower right now.  It's companion didn't bloom as well this year, though.  I'm thinking a bit of judicious pruning will be necessary after the blooms.  The clematis is also putting on a show.  These blooms are about 8 inches wide.

Thanks for the recipe, Rosey.  Sometimes I substitute applesauce for the oil in bread recipes.  It doesn't always work, but most times it does.  Hope yours turns out OK.

I'll agree that this new format isn't as user friendly, particularly for adding pictures to the posts. Old dogs...new tricks, I guess.

Kathi

Rhubarb loaf or muffins

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup veg. oil
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped rhubarb.
Toping:
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp butter melted
(I put this all in the microwave for a few seconds till butter is melted)

Bake 35o F
20/25 min. muffins
Loaf 50/60 min.

Cool. Freezes well.

I posted this to the last board but here it is again for anyone having access to late spring rhubarb...and having just put two loaves into the oven, I realize that I've left out the oil in this batch. Hmmm....old age catching up??!!

Fran, what a long drive to see your kids but truly, I've seen more parents move to be near their kids in their older age, only to find the kids are too busy with their families or they've moved to some other place to live. I would rather be in a place I chose, stay in touch by phone, email, visit but then, go back to where I know people, a place that I'm familiar with...never end a sentence with a preposition/proposition (lol)....right!!

Rosey