Tuesday TwitterZippedydoomyohmy

For two days straight the sun has been shining.  Maybe those seven straight suns in the papers and on Tom Sherry's weather forecast last week came off the press a little early.  Anyway, I'm not complaining.

My horses didn't know what to think last night when Debbie and I led them straight from the pasture to the barnyard rather than to their stalls.  They survived their first night out, though, and possibly they kept away the deer who have been coming in the middle of the night to check out my garden.

Somebody ate the top off from one of my growing asparagus spears three nights ago. Growing asparagus at the Lovestead involves a little memorization.  I know exactly where each of my spears is  located because there are so few of them.  So, I notice when one that I've been monitoring so closely  for a few days is missing its top.

Two nights ago, just after darkness began, I walked to the front deck to call in Festus (the cat).  As I opened the door,  a deer,  coming from the direction of the asparagus patch,  went bounding out of the yard toward Love Canal.  Three of its buddies had already left, probably sensing trouble.

Two were at the far end and the straggler caught up with another; then, they just stood there and stared back at me, as deer are known to do.  I had to resort to the same measures I do when the horses start eating the board fence in front of my very eyes.  First, I yelled.  Then, I ran at them, yelling.  The asparagus thieves finally left and went to Kaubles.

I'm hoping the mean-sounding, raging monster woman scared them enough to reconsider any plans for returning, but I also took measures yesterday.  The once-decorative garden fence (now twisted into a variety of shapes) went up yesterday, all around the asparagus.  If those deer are gonna steal at night, they're going to pay for it by getting their legs all wrapped up in green wire.  

This morning the asparagus appears intact.

For Mother's Day, Bill also bought me a solar-powered butterfly to stick in the garden.  He was very proud of it, and we both oohed and ahhed Sunday night as what little sun we had that day powered it up enough by nightfall for the butterfly to turn red, green and blue and then turn red, green and blue . . . .

Bill was so proud that he suggested getting more for the garden.  I concurred, adding that the asparagus patch could use one of them to scare away late-night thieves.  So, we may have a very colorful garden area each night this summer, and with luck, we'll get to eat some of it.

Now that I have no barn stalls to clean, my efforts for the next day or so will focus on the round pen.  It's got a few holes where horse hooves sank into the sand over the winter.  Plus, I fed the horses out there a few times during that endless mud season, just to give them some dry ground to walk on.  

So, it needs to be prepped and smoothed out for some ground work with the young 'uns.  I'm hoping to have time to get back to that and to see a time when we can start riding them. 

~~~~~~

Debbie finally made it back from San Francisco last night.  Her flight was cancelled Sunday evening, so United put her up in a hotel and gave her a voucher.  After a week in the beautiful city, she was anxious to come home.  We enjoyed a nice visit last night when she came over to pick up the dogs.

Willie now terms it "going to work" when he or Debbie bring them over for the day.  Believe me, those pups do work hard.  In fact, I guess they work so hard all day, they just go home and go to bed.  They're learning their boundaries after several days here, although Brooke still likes to disappear at least once a day.

The neighbors know, though, to send her home, so I don't stress out quite so much as I did a couple of weeks ago. 

~~~~~~

I enjoyed a pleasant Facebook surprise yesterday.  I noticed the name "Ray Gapp" as one of Bob and Ruth Hamilton's new FB friends.  Ray Gapp taught me how to do what I'm doing at this very second:  to type.  Quite often the teachers who have the "cream-of-the-crop" classes get all the accolades for their work with students.

Too often, it seems, we take for granted those whose classes taught us life skills, generally used every single day for the rest of our lives.  It takes mere seconds for me to realize how different my life would have been if I did not know how to type.

So, when I saw Ray's name on Facebook, I befriended him and expressed my appreciation for what he taught me way back when his daily mantra for getting us sophomores to listen to instructions was "Leave your machines alone please."   

~~~~~~

More seeds are waiting to go in the ground, and the dandelions are in need of beheading, so I'd better quit this Tuesday babble and get on my way.  

Happy Tuesday.