Nuts, bolts, and wrenches

In the nuts and bolts section, I've fixed a growing problem with website access on my laptop. My native Mac browser,  Safari, has been increasingly dysfunctional because of my old OS, which I can't update or I'll lose access to my design software. I used my iPhone for some websites, but not everything can be done on a tiny screen. Things came to a head when Shutterfly wouldn't let me create my MIL's wedding photo album. I called Shutterfly's help desk, and after her first suggestions fixed nothing, she told me to download Chrome. Now I use Safari when I can, and Chrome allows me to access everything else, including some blog comments sections that have blocked me for years. Hurray!

More nuts and bolts. In my July 5 post, I mentioned a building project my guys have embarked on. Said project is farther along now and has 'grown,' as such projects do. The excavator Rick hired to finish the prep had to do a LOT more sitework than estimated, leaving a mountain of dirt to deal with. Then Rick decided to expand the use of the new structure, if not its footprint. His clinic's lease is very uncertain now as the larger commercial property on which it sits has been sold to new owners who want it ALL for a U-Haul super-rental eventually, so the new shop may very well do double (triple?) duty as a large animal clinic on top of firewood storage and shop. The vast majority of Rick's work is ambulatory, but he needs an exam bay for the occasional haul-in, and a place to store some drugs and supplies. Might as well be here, since commercial property is shockingly expensive to rent or buy (compared to the rent for his current clinic which has barely changed since 1995). Rick is building forms for the footings now.

some of the dirt has been spread out in the orchard and upper pasture

From nuts and bolts to 'bullets' and 'pellets.' Honeybun has been giving us regular 'pullet bullets' but yesterday I found a tiny egg in a nestbox – more like a 'pullet pellet.' Maybe from a second of the three pullets? The second photo shows two regular eggs, three pullet bullets and the pellet. I'll have plenty of eggs to feed the company we'll have next week; Rick's cousin's son is interested in veterinary medicine so is flying out from MO to ride with him. His mom and aunt are coming, too, but plan to do a lot of sightseeing so we may not see them much.

 I love that the pullets form a gradient in colors 😁

As for wrenches – or is that wrenching? – our son ended up in the ER for a few hours this week for doing something stupid. I often wonder if he'll get his act together before he destructs – or Rick's and my marriage does. As always, I distract myself from the drama and trauma with horse and dog training, fiber crafts, exercise, a few close friends, and of course lots of talking to God. The day after Brian's crisis I went with one of those friends to her weekly training session with her reactive dog. It was fascinating and informative. I prefer to train with only positive reinforcement and research bears out that this is best, but for highly reactive dogs like my friend's German Shepherd/Malinois, operant conditioning may be the only solution to changing behavior that could otherwise result in euthanasia. The trainer did some talking first and then gave my friend a timed assignment without instructions – to get her dog to stand on four empty 28oz tin cans and hold that position for at least 10 seconds. Amazingly, she accomplished the assignment in less than two minutes; the trainer said the average time it takes for someone to do this for the first time is more than 20 minutes! I was watching in fascination and didn't take any photos, but after she finished the instructor talked about the nine  principles behind training this and other behaviors, referencing the same principles used in training military recruits, and I took a photo of  those, and then the instructor's own dog demonstrating the ability to do the exercise for much longer than 10 seconds. All I could think about is how much my son needs this training!

But to reference Al-Anon's three Cs, I can't control or cure him.... (But yes, I did have to try it with Poppy.)

That's it for now from . . .

Variations on summer themes

The weather, chickens, garden, orchid, and spinning along with the TdF – all are ongoing for better or worse. To wit....

Our weather moderated from 'infernal' to hot, and then on Tuesday neared triple digits again. Thankfully, though, a stiff coastal breeze dramatically dropped the temperature outside and in through the evening and we had lovely sleeping weather. Such cooling breezes used to be near nightly occurrences, but they have become less common with climate change – maybe that's why our tomatoes are doing better this year! Silver linings....

The following is not a silver lining. My husband has taken up the battle with ivy and blackberries. Unfortunately, strong herbicide is his tool of choice, and the other evening, he sallied forth to attack the new recruits making an incursion around the northwest corner of the garden. I expressed concern but he assured me he would take precautions and all would be well that should be well. Well, it's not. When I went up in the garden a day or two later, I noticed my Armenian cucumber, some strawberries, and at least one of my hills of summer squash all exhibiting the stricken curled stems of herbicide poisoning. I've watered everything to eliminate other stressors and can only hope the effects aren't fatal – and any resulting produce doesn't poison US. Environmental glyphosate persistence is real, in spite of what the label – and my husband – says. I'm not too worried about the produce coming from seemingly unaffected plants, but what if the affected ones recover and produce?

Long White Zucchini of Palermo, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Calima Beans, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

My glorious little orchid now:

I've continued spinning up the little fiber snacks from BSG for the Tour de Fleece. As always, spinning is a great way to fill the time, which I've had more of than usual. I have made three trips this month to the Casey Eye Institute at OHSU in Portland, transporting a lady from our church to and from her appointments/surgery; we go again next Tuesday. When I get too cold spinning in the air conditioning, I stroll around outside, taking in the beautiful views from "Pill Hill:"

a much less scenic view in the opposite direction

And Wednesday, Honeybun gave us our first 'pullet bullet'!

At the end of this month, we are getting unexpected company. Rick's cousin's son just graduated from college and is considering vet school, so Rick's cousin called and asked if his son, his wife, and his sister could fly out for a week. Rick, of course, is delighted; I have two guest rooms to clear and clean and a lot of extra cooking to plan for. C'est la vie.

That's it for now from . . .

Technical difficulties

I know it has been more than a week since my last post, but it's not for lack of effort. I have most of a post written for this blog and a post underway for my Dances With Horses blog, but Blogger won't let me upload photos for either. I've tried everything I can think of with no change to the stalemate, so for now you can call me "Blocked at Boulderneigh."

Black and white and hot-hot-hot

Decided to write another post while it's too hot to do any more than absolutely necessary outside. This is our fourth triple-digit day, and last night, for one of the only times in the almost 35 years we've lived in this area, we kept the windows closed and the AC on in order to sleep. Tomorrow is 'only' supposed to reach 90°; I'll believe it when I see it....

from left to right: pullets Honeybun, Toffee Bits, and Snowcone, and mature Pearl

In the last few days, the three pullets have started moving around more, kinda-sorta mingling with the older hens instead of clustering together as far away from the others as possible. Since I was told they'd be old enough to start laying in August, I was surprised to learn my neighbor's pullets (purchased from the same friend mine came from) started laying this week! I have never had this many white hens before (five out of nine) – or at least since I was a teen and we had a flock of Leghorns. That made me think of all the black-based sheep I have now, also an all-time high; 12 out of 17! Then there are the dogs, the barn cat, and Stella, so yeah; things have gotten very "black and/or white" here. (And yeah, my mind is often drawn to observations like this. 🤪)

One of the 'absolutely necessary' outside tasks, of course, is keeping everyone and everything watered. The garden is rewarding my efforts. Photos from this morning:

Tons of tiny tomatoes on my gold cherry plant

that fingerling zucchini will probably be big enough to pick in about 15 minutes

about half the strawberries we've gotten so far on this year's plants

daylilies don't mind the heat

Inside, my little orchid is putting on an encore performance:

All the hiding indoors from the heat has been great for my Tour de Fleece spinning. I've been spinning and plying the fiber snacks from BSG, and just completed plying the fourth 2oz. bundle of my sweater spin (progress to date shown with a fire extinguisher because of the scavenger hunt the Jenkins group is doing for TdF).

That's it for now from . . .