Holy cripes

I have a lot to blog about tomorrow...

Too much has happened the past few days, the emotional charge has been huge.

I'm still shaking after the adrenaline rush of this evening's improvised hen surgery and have cleared tomorrow's agenda of all but the basic stuff in order to recuperate a bit.

Hoping to sleep tonight, it's been weeks.

Melancholy

Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak;
sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.
~Author Unknown

Strange days

There are a lot of losses happening here lately.

Loss of trees on our property, loss of a laying hen this morning (found her dead on the floor of the coop, partially eaten by the flock), loss of two beautiful silkie hens this afternoon - one of my friends desperately wanted to adopt them so they went to a good home), loss of sleep (OK that one's ongoing) and now the loss of our dogue de bordeaux dog, Dante...

We've decided to re-home him as he's not happy here and needs more than we can give him, so a wonderful family is coming to meet him today to see if they click. If yes, he will go to a happy family in the countryside with lots of dogs he can play with, so he never is lonely and bored again.

It wasn't an easy decision to take but it's the right one.

Please wish us good luck...

/end of Endings And Beginnings post/

Cross it

Man is a credulous animal,
and must believe something;
in the absence of good grounds for belief,
he will be satisfied with bad ones.
~Bertrand Russell

Just one thing

I forgot to mention the other day how I had such a lovely time with my mom by the sea - we've hardly ever spent time together (just her and I) since I left home decades ago, so it was long overdue.

We got to talking about the past, about my parent's divorce, my dad and a bunch of other stuff. The sequence of events and the events themselves.

I found out a lot of stuff I had no idea about and it led me to wonder: what if?

What if one thing, one little thing in your past hadn't happened or if the timing of that thing had been different, what would your life be like today?

A missed bus leading to a missed chance encounter? A word not spoken, leading to a misunderstanding and heartache? A job offer accepted, leading to one life and not the other? An accidental pregnancy or miscarriage? Attending one school and not the other? Answering that phone in the middle of the night?

One little thing... changes the entire sequence of events that follow.

You would not be here, you would not have the life you have now if things had unfolded in any different way down to the smallest of details back then.

Good, or bad?

/end of Ponderings post/

Working for love

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.
~Jane Austen

Queen of the jungle

Not the urban jungle, the farm jungle!

OMG you have no idea how fast the grass, weeds, plants and flowers have grown the past few days - it's atrocious, there is no way to keep up!

When your four acre lawn is over a foot tall and looks like a sea of wild grasses and white dandelions, it's a bit discouraging.

And trashy trailer-parkish.

I think we need one of those grass-catcher bags for the lawn tractor, this is ridiculous. Mowing leaves endless thick trails of grass clippings that need to be raked up and thrown to the beasts (chickens and horses) for super snacking, or you end up with a green and brown zebra in your back yard - beyond fugly and also damaging to the grass under the brown crap.

Have you ever raked four acres by hand, filling up endless buckets of heavy grass clippings to be hauled to the fields?

I didn't think so.

I would only wish it on my worst enemies.

Not that I have many.

I only managed to mow half the lawn today, working on my tan and all. While raking for an hour afterwards, aka Back Breaking Work. And pushing the heavy hand mower over the difficult, hilly and twisty bits of lawn, which took about one and a half hours.

Who knew one could taste so salty? :-o

This was after I had hoovered this giant house, did laundry and washed the bed (king size! two duvets and lots of pillows! uggh!), started the new nesting box for the flock hut, tidied up the house and washed a crapload of dishes and let's not mention all that goes into the daily flock care...

But oh, I love them so :-)

After the lawn I gave the three dogs a full pedi and whisker trim (that's a lot of nails, people), brushed a big bag of fur off the two akitas and took them all for a long walk through the woods. Mosquitoes and all. Then fed the beasties and mopped up their mess.

And then... rewarded all this effort with a bowl of Kraft Dinner for... dinner.

Lame, or super lame?

I wish the maid, the gardener and the cook weren't all on vacation this week, it would give me a rest from the screaming mess that is my body now!

Let's not think about tomorrow, because it will be almost exactly the same as today as I only did half of everything... this place is just too enormous to get it all done in one go. Two goes. Three.

At this rate I should be all browned down and buffed up in a few weeks, woo! Who needs the gym and tanning salons?

Pfffssshhhht!

It's a good thing Vegas isn't home until tomorrow night, he doesn't need to see his wife so disheveled and stinky like this. Oooooo! Hot shower! Yeeesssssss!

After I go put the flock to bed for the night.

And make myself a hot chocolate to end this lovely day on a high note.

What, you didn't think I was complaining about all the work, did you?

I love my life :-)

/end of Green Goddess post/

Surrendering

I only ask to be free.
The butterflies are free.
~Charles Dickens

Road warrior: I gots it

Life's funny, eh?

I had a lovely time with my mom by the sea, the weather was gorgeous and it was like being at a spa with the good healthy food, a home-made foot treatment, hours of walking on low-tide rocky beaches - pics to follow at some point, once I've gotten them off my camera...

But why did a violent thunderstorm have to start two minutes before my departure and follow me for an hour?

Seriously - what a way to completely undo all the benefits of a relaxing getaway!

Ever been in a car wash? With the sheets of thick water hitting the car at all angles, the complete lack of visibility, the thundering noise and rocking vehicle?

Yeah, like that - only on a highway and add in continuous flashes of lightening, rendering you blind!

I couldn't stop and let the storm pass as Vegas needed the car, so I had to get my ass home asap - so like the other poor sods on the highway, it was flashers on and crawling at very slow speeds, white knuckles gripping the steering wheel, praying for it all to end.

Anyhoo.

I'm home now, safe, everyone's fine despite the crushing humid heat and I'm so taking it easy today. Four nights of no sleep will do that to a person.

So. Tired.

I need a burger and fries, that's what! LOL

Hope you're all having a nice week?

/end of Bikini Martini Linguini post/

"The City" - last of the series

This may seem weird as I'm gone now but yay for scheduled posts!

*grin*

I'll be back on Wednesday...

Hope you've enjoyed the photo series, the next one will be quite a bit more nature-friendly... But each has its own beauty, yes?

(do click for details!)

PS: THERE IS A NEW POLL UP, GO CAST YER VOTES!

/end of Enjoying Vacay! post/

Almost time to go! go! go!

Well, I'm off tomorrow morning for a few short days by the sea with my mom - wooo!

I'm meeting her at the campsite in the afternoon (it's less than five hours of driving for me) after a quick stop at my bro's to take some photos of my new niece. Yeah, a busy day but life is all about being busy, innit?

Or so it seems!

As promised, here is another installment of "The City" - one more pre-scheduled post to come tomorrow as there are just too many pics - hey when inspiration hits you just gotta go with the flow, you know? ;-)

Enjoy the show!

/end of Gone To Get A Brain Dump post/

Just like Santa!

I'm making a list
And checking it twice
Gotta make sure
The vodka's on ice...

Ha! That would be lovely, but the list is for Vegas as he generously offered to take care of hearth and home so I could escape for a little trip by the sea with my mom... I leave Sunday morning!

*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!*

I'm sure the flock and doggies will be in excellent hands, he's practicing the routines with me now and everything will be noted down on paper, I'll have my cellphone handy in case there are any emergencies so we should be all set.

Isn't this exciting??

My first real getaway since we moved here last year, and my first communion with salty sea water in almost two years.

Holy crap.

Time flies bitterly fast, it's frightening.

I don't know where today went. After shopping, groceries, cleaning and tidying up, flock care, dog care, gardening and laundry as well as a bunch of whodunnits - it's now almost dark, another day disappeared into the néant. Gaaaaaaah!

Do you also feel like your life is slipping and sliding out of control sometimes?

Or is it just moi?

I shall leave you with more excerpts from "The City", hope you're enjoying the series... I'll post the last pics tomorrow as I'm gone after that, upon my return there will no doubt be many refreshing blue ocean and beach photos: life is but one giant juxtaposition, no?

(do click to enlarge!)

And this is how I see the world :-)

PS: Ginger slaphead is at the vet's until tomorrow morning, standard procedure here after an operation - even a simple one such as ball chopping. I have to say, it's been refreshingly peaceful and quiet here all day - my stress level has decreased greatly and I'm enjoying every minute of him not being here. It pains Vegas for me to say (and feel) like this but what can I say? It is what it is.

/end of Sweet Life post/

Being a good girl and all

Does anyone actually like going to the dentist?

Really?

I kinda do... I mean I've had the same one for over 20 years now and still have all my teeth, never had to endure much pain and he's amazing with the insurance and waiving fees (today cost me $0 for exam, cleaning, regular x-rays, panoramic x-ray and sealing a chipped filling). It's such a nice office, too - I saw it evolve from a tiny place to a big fancy gig so that's pretty cool.

But the truth is that I love having my teeth scraped.

Am I a freak?

In other news, the ginger slaphead (aka Dante our french mastiff) is getting his furry plums lopped off tomorrow morning, hallelujah and happy birthday, boy!

Slap chop!

No more penis glue splatters on the floors and walls and hopefully this will calm him down a bit. We'll see by September, once the t'rone has left the building, if anything changes. Better do.

I'll leave you with a few pics from my new series, "The City" -
All pics click bigger ;-)

I'll post more pics from the series tomorrow...

G'nite, world!

/end of Busy But Bountiful day/

Public announcement

Winnnnddds!

The winds are blowing something fierce this morning.

I'm using that as an excuse for my complete and utter inability to wake the hell up this morning. I feel like I got run over by a dozen trucks. How is it possible to gain 50 lbs in your limbs overnight while sleeping?

Must. Get. Going.

Brush teeth. Clean cruddy bathroom.
Put laundry away.
Then head outside to get some yard work done...

It's NOT going to get the best of me, I refuse!

Wishing you all a lovely Hump Day...

*yawn*

A post in green

I thought to tell you about my day but I'm so wrecked from physical labor it's best to just let photos talk. I'm lazy like that.

OK not lazy, just very, very exhausted.

In a good way.

For over three hours, I mowed some lawn:

Then I mowed some more lawn,
this one very lumpy and bumpy -
my teeth hurt from head rattling!

...and then some more...

Totally more lawn:

I think you're getting the idea now?

Mow mow mow your lawn,
Gently down the sloooooope...

Yep... mowed...

Then one of my friends came over
to help with one of the massive flower beds,
we spent over three straight hours weeding that pile of crap,
pruning and relocating plants -
and it doesn't even show!

Add to that the regular flock care, walking and feeding the dogs, keeping the house tidy, washing piles of dishes and such - yeah, I'm going to bed very early tonight after a long hot shower and crunching a handful Advil! LOL!

I do love our place though, specially in this weather. Feels like I got a sunburn on my arms but I sprayed SPF 30 0n three times today and it seems to have worked, thankfully. I did get a sunstroke though (forgot to wear my hat), my head is throbbing - bah, who am I kidding, everything is throbbing!

If I were a guy that would sound dirty.

This is my favorite time of day. The sun's setting itself to bed, the breeze is cool, the birds are a choir of happiness, the frogs are about to start their evening tunes, everyone's fed and taken care of and this is my time now. I can breathe. I can sit down and just do nothing for a few minutes...

Well, except prepare my "to do" list for tomorrow!

It includes cleaning out the rhubarb patch, which looks pretty pathetic all choked up with grass and weeds like that. Poor things. Mommy will fix it tomorrow!

And then those pesky weeds invading the gravel driveway have got to die. It's a long driveway, there are many weeds... but I've got the killer spray and I shall psssshhhht pssssht them all to death! That's the plan, at least...

I also would like to finish cleaning out one of the big flower beds that will be converted to grass, screw all this weeding. Most of the plants are gone now, just a few left to move and the rest to be pulled out and disposed of, then the dirt needs to be raked, I'll add some composted horse manure (lord knows we have plenty of that shit available... no pun intended...) and throw in some grass seeds. And hope something grows that can be mowed!

Yeah, I like mowing :-D

/end of Hope You Enjoyed Your Visit post/