Pete got another job and left me in the lurch for help. He left me a voice mail telling me he found work on a farm in the next town, but he could work for me next week. I got to thinking about where he might find a job...and called my friend who runs a certified organic market garden. Several years back, I told him about that farm when he was looking for work. Sure enough, they hired him yesterday. I told my friend he was supposed to come work for me this week...she said he hadn't said anything about a previous commitment. I asked her to kick him in the butt and tell him I tracked him down...I have "connections"! But I did give him an unsolicited good reference. I hope to have his help one or two days next week.
After I heard Pete's voice mail, I called Bonnie, a gal who is a great worker and today she and I cut and moved the pine branches and other unwanted stuff from the area where I will park my camper. I called my other friend, Hollis, to ask her about grooming BB the dog. She is coming down with a cold...the worst kind...a summer cold. Hollis had open heart surgery in April. She needed a new atrial valve. She went through all kinds of challenges after the surgery...and is still on blood thinners. She tires easily now. I won't be in the same room with anyone if they are sick since there is no back-up for me on the farm, so BB didn't get his grooming. Hollis will move my camper from where I am now to the new location. I hope we can get it done sooner rather than later, but I don't want to have her do it when she is sick with a cold.
Bonnie and I worked for about 2 hours today on clearing up my new camper site... in the horrid humidity. At one point, both of us were dripping sweat from our heads into our eyes. But we got the job pretty much done. Tomorrow, we will prune back some live branches over the driveway and turn-around area so none will drag on the camper, rake up the pine needles and get things in order for parking the camper. I am not sure when we can move the camper, but Steve wants me out by the end of the month.
I have some things in Steve's garage and storage container, so I need to move them out before I leave. My fridge and freezer are in his garage and I have nowhere to put them at this time. I have them advertised on Craig's List, but there doesn't seem to be much interest. Maybe I have the price too high, but these are new appliances and I have them priced at half their original cost. They are four years old and in like-new condition.
I think I have all the condo units (for hatching and raising chix with their momma hens) sold as of tomorrow. That is one less thing for me to think about. If only I could sell the Muscovy ducks and not have to put them into freezer land.
Every night, I climb the 6 foot step ladder and take the Dom chix out of the Mulberry tree. I still have some vertigo and last night it was pretty bad. I almost fell off the ladder. I will be happy when the chix have gone to live somewhere else.
Tonight, I am going to have a Gin & Tonic with several slices of lime. I deserve it!
To continue the previous saga...
Today starts the last full week of August, 2015. I will continue with the story from the previous blog.
As far as the Fed Social Security, they had cut my benefits off for the month of March. I filed a request for reinstatement of benefits via the US Postal Service (snail mail). Soon after, I got a phone call from Fed SS office and spoke to a fellow who actually was NICE! What a pleasant surprise! He heard what I had to say about the letter that was returned to their office, looked up my records and saw that I had changed my mailing address and said he would reinstate my benefits within 48 hours. Well, he did what he said he would do and my benefits were restored. My friend drove me (I had no driving license) to the Fed SS office for an appointment to reassure them I was not dead or lost at sea. I was not able to see my file since they didn't have it in the New Bedford office. But I got all straightened out, health insurance restored, benefits back in full. Big Sigh of relief!
I don't know if I mentioned that I re-registered my Volvo at the end of May, 2015. Reason was I figured the cops wouldn't see that the previous registration had some mis-information listed on that registration (license revoked) and pull me over, take my new plates and I would have to get my car towed again. Just because the RMV doesn't keep up with all the new information. I figured a clean registration would be best. Meanwhile, I had been keeping my dirty laundry in the Volvo since I had no way to wash clothes. I was wearing a lot of recycled dirty clothes! My friends who live in Rochester were kind enough to help me refill my 100# LP gas tanks for the camper. The furnace and cook stove run off LP gas, I had no way to get the tanks to be filled. Thanks to my friends! They also took me and some of my dirty laundry to their house (and back to the camper) so I could have some clean clothes.
After I got my license back and the car was re-registered, I began to pick up the threads of my life. The pile of snow on the north-west side of my camper melted around April 15. Spring came. So did the Winter moth and Gypsy moth larvae. Both hatching at the same time was a historic event. In May, I sold the pair of Narragansett breeding turkeys to a starting farmer in Taunton. I also set a broody chicken hen on five turkey eggs and 7 days later added some Dominique eggs to the clutch. The first week of June, five poults and three chix hatched under the broody hen. The first of July, a gal came to buy some Dominique hens. She wanted all the layer hens. She said she would be back for the rest of them soon. I am still (as of August 23) still waiting for her to pick up the hens! The fellow who bought the Narragansett turkey breeders bought the five poults when they were about 8 weeks old. The three Dominique chix remain on the farm to date aloong with ten Dom layers and eight Muscovy ducks. I am on the farm 2X a day, still.
I had hired a lawyer to represent me in a petition to partition in February of 2014. When we went to court in May, 2014, the fat man asked for discovery (which means he can ask for certain information from me) but he wanted my attorney to do the discovery! That is not how it works, the judge told him. We were continued to July. When we went to court in July, the fat man had not finished discovery, he asked for more time. We were continued to October. When we went to court in October, the judge gave the fat man more time...and so we waited all winter of 2014 -2015 for the judge's decision. When we had heard nothing in January, my lawyer began to call the Probate court on a weekly basis and if he was in that court house, he would go to probate and ask about my case. Nothing from the judge, he was told. My lawyer made numerous calls and visits to probate court and nothing from the judge...for nine months. Finally, my lawyer contacted the judge's clerk. She said she would look for the file and find out what was going on. The clerk couldn't find the file! After looking for some time, she located the file. It had been LOST in the court house for months!
It seems the judge had decided to hire a commissioner (someone who is in charge of the sale of the property) in August, 2014! The first commissioner declined to take the case. That is when my case file went missing...and was lost in a corner of the court house till my lawyer insisted on talking to the judge's clerk in late June. All the personnel in the court house blamed everyone else...but it remains that my case had been dormant for nine months! My lawyer waited until after the July 4th holiday to contact another commissioner, who accepted the case. It is now the end of August and the warrant allowing the sale of the property I co-own with the fat man was just issued by the court. The property is still not on the market. It seems there might be a boundary dispute again since the party who won the boundary dispute in 2013 didn't file a corrected deed with the Registry of Deeds, didn't have a new plot plan filed with the town assessors or have property boundaries marked. Sigh...
Is it me or is the court system in MA really screwed up? Really? How can so much bad things happen to one person when they are going through the right channels? No wonder there are so many bad drivers in this state!!! They probably all have something going on in the court systems! EEEEKKKKK!!!
Summer came and the trees were bare from all the caterpillar larvae damage. Caterpillar frass covered everything. In some areas, the ground is covered with slippery caterpillar poop. When it rains, it gets very slippery, but the rain stopped, the drought begins. Over the summer, there is little rain. I am irrigating the small patches of fenced plantings to 3 clovers, alfalfa and oats or they will crisp and die. I am mowing some of the wild asters that have taken over my pasture & poultry yards. It gets hot and humid, I am happy to be driving my car to the farm and not walking in the 95% humidity with temps in the high 90's or above. And grateful that I am only 1/2 mile from the farm.
In late spring, I have managed to fix the mis-information from Fed SS, the mess with my driver's license, the problem with mail delivery (nor not-delivered) and feel as if I am making some headway. But things seem to be falling apart where I am staying. I don't know why, but the guy who has let me stay on his land is now keeping his distance. Seems he is asking me to do things (part of our deal for my staying on his land is I help him with some of his projects) that are very difficult. Things he doesn't want to do because they are too hard for him. Seems he forgets I am disabled. Happens with an invisible disability. That would be a disability that is not openly seen. Like mine, one that is in the bones and does not surface on the skin. After he has asked me to do a couple of things that I can't do, he withdraws more and more. In mid-July, he asks me to leave. No deadline, but he wants me to get my car fitted with towing and lights so I can move my camper. He wants me to keep him updated with my progress...
The first week of August, he says he wants me out by the end of this month. So, now, rather than focus on relieving myself of my personal belongings, I have to find another place to park my camper. Sigh...
Through a friend, I meet another woman, around my age who owns property about 3 miles from where I am now. We connect and hit it off. She takes me to her place and says I can park my camper there. What a relief! I think this will work out nicely for both of us. She needs help recovering her property from very bad tenants, I have the skills to help her out. There is some clearing that needs to be done, mostly pine branches that fell last winter during the heavy snows...and some other small things need to be done. I hope my friend Pete can come this week to assist and we can move the camper to the new location by the end of this week. But rain is predicted for Tuesday...and things may get a bit muddy.
To be continued...
I am adding this information on what has been going on with me for the past nine months so those of you who read this can understand how things can get really screwed up without any reason. This is a partial dialogue to be continued in the near future. I hope by sharing this with you, my readers, you can have a better understanding of how coping with every day life is complicated by outside influences. If I knew how to avoid these unwanted insertions, I would surely exercise all my efforts to avoid them! I share this only because once you have read it, you will know just how bad things can get for one person who feels as if the weight of more than the world, yes, the entire solar system, is on their shoulders. Maybe a but dramatic, but read on...
I lost the
boundary dispute and was evicted from the trailer I lived in for 11
years in mid-July last year. I had been sick for the prior two months,
one month with tendonitis in my left wrist, then I got bronchial
pneumonia. That left me with bronchial asthma. I had been packing for
many months. I didn't realize how much stuff I had packed into that
trailer! July 14, I had my storage container moved from by the trailer
(had to empty that out completely into my girlfriend's horse trailer) to
by the garage where there was no conflict of ownership.
6 months
earlier, I had been given a camper and that was placed by the garage. I
was packing the storage camper with what I could cram into it and after
the storage container was put up on blocks, the contents of the horse
trailer was edited and put back in there. I packed that with a lot of
stuff, too. I put the bird aviary and other stuff into the
garage. But there was a lot of stuff to move still and I didn't get it
done in time since I had a lack of help to move the big stuff. The night
before the sheriff came to physically evict me, a neighbor came and
helped me move my large school desk, book cases, pack up the computer and
move a bunch of stuff. He went home about 3 AM. I took the storm door
off the frame, put it into the back of my Volvo and took it over to my
neighbor's house. I wasn't going to loose a $200.00 storm door!
I had rented a small storage unit and moved my cook stove into that as
well as my apartment sized dryer.. I gave away my front loader washer to
a friend who's washer failed. She has two kids and really needed it. It
was a second hand washer to me and I had made my money back from my
investment. I really miss the washer the most. I had two refrigerators,
one I gave away, the other one my neighbor let me put in his garage
along with my new upright freezer, which was full of chickens in FoodSaver bags.
I set up a tent site at my neighbor's place and put my twin bed and one
chest of drawers along with some plastic shelving and an outdoor chair
inside with my dog's kennel. The neighbor has been very kind and let me
stay on his property for this past year.
I camped out all summer and into October. I had a porta-potty and was
able to empty it at another friend's place. She has a septic tank with
an easily removable lid so I could do the emptying outside and clean the
potty out with a hose. All summer, I slept in a tent, rain or shine. The
challenge was the tent site was in the wetlands and when it rained, the
inside of the tent would get damp and a lot of things got musty. I was
constantly taking all out of the tent and drying out my bedding, rugs,
clothes, etc.
The last weekend of October I was going to say with a friend who was
recovering from hernia surgery. On Friday, I heard there was going to be
a freak snow storm and I moved most of the things out of the tent. I
gave away my twin bed with new sheets & mattress pad (100% cotton from
Vermont Country Store, very expensive) and moved some things into
storage. I put some things into the basement apartment (vacant) in the
house where I was going to stay with to care for my friend when she came
home from hospital. She called me early Monday morning to say she was
coming home, needed a ride and could I come NOW. I wanted to take my
things out of the basement and to storage, but she insisted she was
ready NOW to come home. So, I went to pick her up. Needless to say, I
waited for THREE hours for her to be released. When she got home and saw
my pile (not so big, by the way) in the basement, she went nuts. She was
verbally abusive and mean to my dog. I called a couple
of friends and we moved my stuff out of the house, but the woman (who
was my friend, by the way and who I had loaned almost $1,000.00) wouldn't let us get all the stuff out of her
house that afternoon. She said come back tomorrow. We had only one truck
load of stuff to move, but she threatened to call the cops. I had no
place to sleep.
Another friend has a cabin behind her father's house. She keeps her
horses there and lives with her elderly parents. She has been grooming
BB since I first got him and we are good friends, she also was my tenant
for three years. She asked her dad if I could stay in the cabin, he
agreed. No electric, water, but at least there was a small wood stove.
It was now November. No wood. I did manage to scrounge some wood from
here and there so at least it wouldn't be freezing. BB (my dog) and I
stayed for 12 days in that cabin. I did have kitchen and bathroom
privileges in their house and could take a shower. BB was welcome there and they really
love him.
A year ago in May 2014, I bought another 240 Volvo, just the same as my red 1989
Volvo, but newer. I didn't get it till the end of September. I sold the
red Volvo (had that car since 1996) for $400.00 and I hear it is still going strong. This newer
Volvo is in very nice condition, body wise. The undercoating is just
like new. It is an automatic and has power windows, neither which I like
much. Anyway, I had been searching for a camper that I can tow with this
car. I located one, a Jayfeather Liteweight Sport, it is called. I hired
a man who works at a RV sales/service place (it is his family business,
I have known him for about 11 years) to come look at the camper with me.
I know jack about campers. He found that the roof had been leaking and
the floor in the kitchen area had been replaced and new flooring
installed. He also found two other places where the floor had been
compromised by leaking roof. Funny thing, the seller had the rotted
floor fixed but didn't seal up the leaky roof!!!
The asking price for the camper was $6,200.00. My friend said the camper
was worth $2,000.00. Told the seller this. In the seller's defense, the
camper was very clean. It has a permanent bed, a 3/4 bed with a
twin bunk above. This was one of the things I wanted. I was not going to
convert some bench every night to a bed. The seller and I negotiated the
price to $2,250.00 and I bought the camper. I had my friend from the RV
place tow it up to their shop, he sealed up the roof and installed what
I needed for LP gas hook ups since I was going to use 100# tanks ( which
I already own and used for the trailer's (where I lived for 11 years) cook stove and water heater
fuel source) rather than 20# tanks.
November 11, 2014 the camper was installed at my friend's place where I had
camped over the summer. I was happy to be out of the tent and cabin and
have electric for the first time in 4 months. I bought a new laptop and
accessories since the PC I had was old and needed replacing. My friend
has cable and hooked up WiFi for me, I could watch TV on my laptop, send
emails without aging while they loaded and do research, all inside a
camper and out of the damp..or so I thought.
I couldn't sell my layer hens to save my skin. Over the summer, I had
hatched out about 40 - 45 eggs and was easily able to sell the pullets.
The cockerels went to freezer land. I was able to use another friend's
kitchen to clean up the birds and put them into FoodSaver bags. They
went into the freezer at other friend's garage.
Over the summer I was still selling eggs at Lucky Field's CSA every
Thursday. But the income wasn't enough to pay for grain. In November, I
culled heavily and again in December and January.
In late August 2014, the fat man (who I co-own the property with) kicked out
his two Narry breeder turkeys. They were wandering around the yard,
totally displaced. Of course, it didn't take them long to figure out
where the good food was. One afternoon, I left the pullet yard gate open
and they meandered through the gate. And they stayed. I had no housing
for them so I created some roosts and they spent the winter outdoors. At
least they had good food and fresh water 2X daily.
Over the summer my counselor and I discussed my mental state. She and my
primary doctor decided I had PTSD from living under the conditions that
the fat man had pressed on me while I lived at 199 & 191 Quaker Lane. At
least I knew why I was having problems focusing on what I needed to get
done but couldn't seem to accomplish much.
Then, in early October 2014, I was involved in a scenario in downtown New Bedford
with a man who must have been having a nervous breakdown. The whole
thing was so outer limits, it is hard to describe. There was a driver
who cut me off from the left. I let him go by. We stopped at a red
light. He backed his vehicle into mine, got out of his car, was yelling
and screaming, put his hand on my car door handle and told me he was
going to call the cops. When he tried to open my door, I panicked, left
the scene. I parked about three blocks up on a side street and went to
my doctor's appointment at the health clinic. When I got out of the
appointment, there was a cop parked next to my car. When I told him what
had happened, all he wanted to know was why didn't I call the cops. I
said "I guess I am more afraid of being late for my doctor's appointment
than I am of a crazy man". This cop cited me with THREE CRIMINAL CHARGES based
on what the other driver told him. No witnesses,
just an he said she said situation. What a freaking mess!
I went to court on December 1, 2014. The charges were dismissed due to
lack of probable cause. The other driver didn't show up. The cop sat in
the magistrate's off ice and was embarrassed by the whole thing. When I
went to the court clerk to get a copy of the dismissal, they told me all
was good. They were going to send all the info to the RMV showing the
charges were dismissed.
On January 9, 2015, I was coming back from the next town with some
layers on ice (they had been killed and were going to freezerland). I was stopped by a Mattapoisett town cop. He said I was driving with
a revoked license. He removed the plates off my car, had my car towed.
At least I had them tow it back to Acushnet and park it next to my
camper.
Cost me $125.00! I had to go to Fall River RMV for a hearing with a hearing officer. My
friend drove me...the first thing the hearing officer said was "Where is
the abstract?" I had no idea what she was talking about. I showed her
the paperwork I got from the court after the charges were dismissed. She
told me to go to that court clerk and get a copy of the abstract. The
clerk of court could FAX it to her at the RMV. She handed me some
paperwork and told me to take these classes and pay the reinstatement
fee and then I could have my license back. Fees for the class = $200.00.
Reinstatement fee = $500.00. All because I went to my doctor's
appointment instead of confronting a madman in the street.
Meanwhile, I had never received a notice from the RMV that my license
had been revoked.
When I moved from 191 to 88 Quaker Lane, I notified a
million people, the RMV included. I got a copy of my new Volvo's title,
a copy of the title for the camper...but no notice about revoked
license. I am supposed to be a mind reader, I guess.
The same day I went to Fall River RMV without the right paper work from
the courthouse, I went to said courthouse and spoke with the clerk of
courts. She handed me a copy of the abstract and FAXed a copy to the RMV
in Fall River. Weeks passed, I heard nothing from the RMV.
I went to court in February for the driving with revoked license. The
charges were dismissed. I went to the clerk of that court (different
county) and asked her for a copy of the abstract so I could take it to
RMV. She told me it was against MA laws to give me a copy of the
abstract. They could only MAIL, not FAX the abstract to the RMV,
this was NOT PUBLIC RECORD since the charges had been dismissed.
It seems that the other court had broken the law by FAXing the abstract
to the RMV AND giving me a copy of same.
WHAT IS GOING ON????
Meanwhile, getting to Fall River for classes is impossible. I had a car but no
plates. I couldn't even get my friend to drive my car!
I was now walking back and forth to the farm 2X a day. It was a mile
round trip. Since it was cold, I was having to haul water but at least
could get water at the farm. Then it snowed. And snowed some more. And
then it snowed again and again. And again. It never stopped snowing for
the entire month of February. I shoveled paths at the farm and then it
drifted closed. I got my snowshoes out and used them to get between the
two poultry yards, the spigot for water and the storage camper where
kitty lived. Kitty was left behind by some tenants when they moved in
2009. I discovered his situation in Feb of 2012 and began to feed him.
He is a barn cat, never wanting to be inside the trailer. But I locked
him inside the storage camper winter of 2013-14 during snow storms and
did the same when the first real snow came in late Jan. 2015. He spent the
winter of snow in the camper. He is now litter trained...and I have to
find him a new home soon. Cats don't travel well
and he is an outdoor barn cat.
It didn't take long for the fat man to fill my "traveling paths" created
with snowshoes with snow. He did it deliberately, as my mother said. Did
I mention my mother died spring 2013? and that is yet another story.
I was spending many hours shoveling snow at the farm and to keep my
camper roof clear of snow...and paths for walking and paths for the
birds and shoveling off roofs at the farm and then doing it all over
again. Not to mention walking two miles every day in all weather. The
only day I didn't go to the farm was the day of the real blizzard. The
plows had not come through by 1 PM and I really couldn't walk because
the wind was so fierce, it would have blown me right into a tree.
Have you heard enough yet? Well, lets add insult to injury. I got a
letter from Ma state Social Security saying they cut my disability
benefits off because a letter was returned to the Fed SS office. WTF? I
call the state SS office and they say they are just confirming what the
feds told them. OMG. I call the Fed SS office. They are SO FREAKING
RUDE!!! I tell them I had changed my address, what address did they send
the letter to? They refused to tell me. Said I had to come into the
office to see my file.
I got to thinking...The RMV sent me a letter, I never got it. I know I
should have gotten a FEDCO seed catalog, never got that. Didn't get my winter
copy of the Natural Farmer...now a letter from SS goes back to their
office? WTF? Is it me or am I having a bad winter?
Then more snow
comes. REALLY???
I call the post office and speak to a supervisor named Guy...yes, a guy
named Guy. He tells me there have been THREE temps on my postal route. I
tell him that all kinds of shit has hit the fan because letters are NOT
being delivered. He apologizes, but damage has been done. He says with
all the shuffling between the different temps, my address change card may
(MAY???) have been lost.
But here is the question...What address did FED SS send the returned
letter to? I had received correspondence from them in November at my new
address. How is it they didn't have the new address on the returned
letter? Or was it an error by the PO?
I went online and did my SS research. I applied for some form or
another, asking for a hearing and to have my benefits reinstated. I
filled out and sent the form to Fed SS.
Meanwhile, I am wrangling with the RMV. No response from them AT ALL.
So, I talk to Senator Montigney's office and send them all the paper
work, including the abstract I have and all the crap I have been going
through. Finally, they tell me to appeal to the Mass Insurance board.
That costs $50.00. Non-refundable. I have a hearing in Plymouth. My
friend drives me there, we have the hearing. There is the FATTEST man I
have ever seen not in a wheel chair on the board. He is so fat, he is
four of me! There is one woman, two men. I hear what the police report
says and the other driver is such a liar, I can't believe my ears!!! And
the cop believed him!
The outcome is that I hve to take only one class four hours in Fall
River. My friend drives me and it costs $80.00 and I will never get that
four hours back. I have to pay $500.00 to have my license reinstated.
I re-register the car. It is now the end of May. It has been over 110
days of walking 2 miles a day to the farm. That is over 220 miles. And a
lot of money to get this mess straightened out.
I have more to write, but I am done for tonight. Let it be said that the
state of MA has really cleaned up on me this year.
And I wonder why I have PTSD?
To be continued...
Hey readers,
Thought I would let you know that my server is not notifying me of any comments to my blog. So, I am sorry that I haven't been approving comments. Things have been busy on the farm with many birds departing for new homes. Last week, the Dominique rooster went to live as a spoiled flock man in a very elite, small backyard flock. I have seen pix of him and he is doing very well. As of now, he is in a fenced subdivision inside the main flock's yard. There are 11 hens, six are Barred Rock pullets about 4 months old. They show the most interest in the rooster, flirting with him through the fence. He is frustrated at the fence, but the fence will allow the hens time to become accustomed to him. The older layers are suspicious and keeping their distance. He fetched a nice price and I got a tip from the buyers because I took time to show them how I keep the birds safe from predators with different kinds of natural shelter. I have red-twig dogwoods, perannial sunflowers that grow 12 - 15 feet tall, a great number of tall growing plants that serve as duck-and-hide places for the birds should hawks come looking for a meal. I made new friends and the rooster will be well taken care of.
The poults left on Saturday evening. After having to fetch them out of the Mulberry tree every evening for weeks (the Dominique chix were up in the tree, too) when I have vertigo, this is a relief. Only three times up the ladder to get the 3 Dominique chix every night will be a happy event! The poults went to the fellow who bought their parents and will be well cared for. The guy who purchased all the turkeys is now farming on his grandfather's farm, 18 acres in Taunton, about 30 minutes ride north of my farm. There aren't many farms left in Taunton and this guy is lucky to have bought it for a continuing farm. He now has eight poults, five from me and three from the eggs the hen turkey laid prior to his moving the pair to his farm. When he bought the breeding pair, I handed him 20 eggs the turkey hen had laid. I stressed the breeding of these birds, father to daughter, mother to son, never sister to brother for best breeding results. I believe he understands this process. He plans to breed Narragansett turkeys for table. I wish him luck. He also bought all my chain link fence panels and gates. I now have to release them from all the grass that has grown up over the bottom of the fence.
The woman who purchased four of my Dominiques in early July has told me she can't take the remaining layers till the end of August. I am still culling layers. Seems only half of the 10 are laying. Last night, I checked out the hens to see what is what with them. I discovered one older hen with a distended abdomen. She is probably an internal layer, so I have to arrange to have her put down for she won't make a good candidate for the freezer.
I purchased a digital camera last week and have been learning how to use it. I took a lot of pix of the poults before they went off to their new home. I now can take pix of items I have and put them on the internet for sale. I hope to work on this project over the next few weeks.
This week, I hope to gear up for a yard sale on Saturday. I have contacted my friend who will come to help me prepare. I have arranged for tables so we can set out the goods for sale, we will get the garage ready for the tables. The plan is to set the packed boxes up on the tables inside the garage and bring all out early Saturday morning for sale. I will sell only things that have small value, reserving the antique and valuable items for selling online. I will advertise the yard sale in several papers in this area and hope for a good turn out and good weather.
The post I put up earlier today about seeing a doe yesterday afternoon and a doe and her twin fawns early this morning should be up before this post.
Thanks to you readers! Sorry I am busy and don't have time to write as often as last winter, when the snow was piling up in copious amounts all around my camper. Wish I could post more pix on this blog, I sure have some good ones!
Yesterday, around 6:15 PM, I was headed out of my camper to the farm and
glimpsed movement in the area where I camped last summer. My camper is
on a slight rise over that site. I looked out the window and saw a
yearling doe browsing on low growing leaves. I sat and watched, then
called my friend, who's property this is. He was on a bike ride, but
headed back home. I warned him to be quiet when he came around to the
campsite and to leave his dog, Holly inside. While I waited for him to
come, I took some videos of the deer as she browsed. To my amazement,
she decided to take a nap, right by the stored flat-bottomed skiff in
the not-so tall growth. She blended right in, almost invisible in the
dappled late-day sun. When my friend appeared, he startled her and she
took off. He wasn't quiet enough or didn't move slowly enough. He barely
saw her. But I got her on video through my dirty camper window. I went
out and washed the window before I went to the farm.
This morning, the radio woke me up with warnings of high winds, thunder,
lightening and heavy rain headed towards our area. National weather
alert. I turned out of bed, got dressed and took my dog out to the
camping site so he could do his business. I was single-minded in my goal
to get the dog's business done before the rain came, not paying
attention to my surroundings. As I set my dog down on the ground, I saw
movement out of the corner of my eye. A doe with two spotted fawns had
just come over the stone wall in my direction. She saw me and made a 180
turn around and I watched her and her two fawns go back into the
thicket.
I am surprised to see fawns, never mind twins! With the harsh winter we
had, such deep snow and bitter temperatures, I figured there would be
few fawns this spring. Normally, when food is scarce and does begin to
starve, they abort or reabsorb growing fetuses back into their bodies to
conserve their lives. But it seems I was incorrect.
Nature is amazing. Too bad most don't have their eyes wide open to it.
I got my birds turned out before the storm hit. It was a heavy storm,
high winds blew rain sideways, lasted about 45 minutes. Lots of thunder
and lightening. I remained dry. I hope the doe and her fawns found
shelter, but they will dry since it is now clear blue sky.
We need the rain, that is the truth. Much of my wild garden in the
pasture area has started to succumb to the lack of rain. I do water some
of the plants, but there are large areas of perennial sunflowers that I
just can't manage to water. They are all parched. The small areas of
clover planted early this spring are struggling to stay alive. This rain
will put a little life into things. I hope the young chix didn't get too
wet! There are many sheltered areas where they can hide from the rain,
but now that their mother doesn't mind them and the poults are recently
gone, these small birds are at a loss at what to do. They are making
their way on their own. Like the badgers are.
Life is full of things making their own way. We are just one of the
beings trying to find our way. Keeping our eyes open for signs and
knowing what those signs mean is important.