A memorable May continues

Raise your hand if you got to see the recent, widespread display of the Northern Lights! 🖐🏻🖐🏻🖐🏻 I saw posts from friends in  Kentucky, Kansas, and Missouri, which is amazing; I've only seen them before during the winter we spent in northern Minnesota. SO thankful my neighbor texted me late Friday night to let me know that she was watching, or I would have missed them. I had seen something about the huge solar storm with its potential to generate aurora borealis, but didn't give it much thought. Below are the best of the photos I took with my iPhone, which did a great job in the low light conditions and intensified the colors. I love how many stars show up in the photos as well (click to biggity).

A day and a half later, I enjoyed a delightful Mothers Day. I have learned to keep my expectations low about a lot of things, which serves to keep disappointment in check. But this year Mothers Day was all gravy, especially since I didn't have the conflict I thought I had. I thought this coming Sunday is Mothers Day and another agility trial, but finally 'woke up' to reality last Saturday morning in church. So bright and early last Sunday morning Rick left to pick up his mother and step-father while Brian and I took my car, and we met at a favorite restaurant at the coast for a great breakfast. Then we drove to the beach to walk and look for treasures during low tide. In addition to the usual shells and stones, I chose some pieces of driftwood from which to hang wire-wrapped treasures. On the way home Brian and I stopped to play disc golf, but the course hadn't been mowed and we couldn't find parking so canned that idea. It was a beautiful day for a walk on the beach AND a drive!

Mothers Day selfie at the restaurant

I  don't know what this white-flowering crop is, but it is FRAGRANT

blooming mustard

crimson clover and Mt. Hood

  Rick brought me a bloom from his mom's peony

In other memorable May news, WE HAVE A GARDEN! After three years of neglect, we have reclaimed our garden spot, first by my hiring that guy to kill the surrounding blackberries and ivy, then getting it tilled twice, amended, and partially tilled again. Rick surprised me by buying a used 5' tiller for our tractor, and it did a beautiful job of working up the soil. So this week I inventoried my saved seeds, soaked green bean seeds, picked up starts, planted herbs in the leaky stock tank in the yard, and planted everything else in the garden. Well, not quite everything; Rick got strawberry starts from a client to plant which I assume he'll do tomorrow while Poppy and I are at an agility trial. (I took a bunch of pictures after planting to help me remember what I planted where, but my computer won't let me open them right now. Maybe later!)

A bit of lamb spam:

Bethany, my 'cloudy' lamb, with sister Bernice behind

Blossom, my newest BFF

All five lambs on the lam

Another beautiful baby that Poppy found but thankfully didn't harm

That's it for this week from . . .

Cinco de May-ow and onward

Stella has made this a memorable week. On Sunday, when I was turning her and Lance out on pasture, I corrected Lance for trying to pull away from me to start eating and she jumped, somehow landing on my ankle from behind. I ended up on my butt just as Rick drove in from an errand, so he was able to come help me, taking the lead ropes that I was still hanging on to, turning the horses loose, helping me hobble to his truck for the short ride to the house, and bringing ice packs to put on it. Thankfully it was badly sprained, not broken, but it is the worst sprain I've had since childhood. There is still so much swelling on the outside that there are no contours visible from bone or tendon. I can walk on it just fine, as long as nothing bumps it and it doesn't roll to the outside (as it did on Wednesday when I stepped in a divot in the pasture; OUCH again). Good thing, because on Monday Stella made me move – and nearly gave me a panic attack! Pasture time was over for the day; I had already led Lance back to the barn and walked back up to catch her. Stella usually plays hard to get for a moment or two, then stands still and lets me approach her with the halter. Not Monday night; she galloped circles around me and then headed purposely toward the entrance of our property, tucking her legs and neatly clearing the fence beyond our gate. I yelled for Rick, who had just gotten home from work, to grab his gate opener – just as Stella galloped from stage left, past our gate and up the gravel road towards the winery and the paved road beyond! I wasn't sure what to do then, but decided to follow her on foot while Rick got the gate open. She stopped to graze along the lane, so I called our wonderful neighbor on our north and asked if she could run out her gate to hopefully haze Stella back towards home. It worked; we got her headed back towards our place and she galloped in and down the driveway to the barn  – whew. I really do need to update my dressage blog and title it, "How do you solve a problem like Stella?"

Spring has abruptly bowed to summer; good thing we had a good soaking (3" in our rain gauge from that period) to start the month! Even though the sheep have grazed the middle pasture intensively over the winter and spring, the invasive foxtail is still managing to head out. As the awns harden, I'll have to pull the ewes and lambs off, but am almost out of sheep hay. I'm hoping our  local hay supplier is getting first cutting put up now with second cutting following soon, but it won't be soon enough. I'm trying not to borrow trouble; "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." And there are daily joys, too. Among them:

1) Lambs, of course! I worked hard this week trying to get good shots of all of them, with varying success.

Don't tell Bitsy; her supplemental bottles are ending this weekend.

The biggest lamb, Bud, with the smallest one, Bernice, in front, and Bethany behind

Blossom & Bud visiting sire Sanson

Blossom has decided she likes my attentions 😍

2) Indoor blooms! My littlest orchid's blooms are still eliciting smiles, along with my anthurium and peace lily. The zygocactus a friend gave me when she moved a few years ago, which has produced ONE bloom to date, is now covered with buds. My African violet has buds, too.

3) Dogs and cat. These companions never leave us alone, even when we might occasionally wish them to. 😉

4) Fiber crafts. Even though I haven't spent much time lately spinning and weaving, they are still very satisfying ways to keep my hands busy when I'm not working on something else.

That's it for now from . . .

Springing along, except when dragging

This week started out strong, slowly staggered to a halt, and is starting to pick up steam again. Oh wait, that was me. Spring is as exuberant as always!

Me, I finally succumbed to the cold that Rick has been miserable with for a couple weeks. On Monday my nose ran like a faucet, on Tuesday my head felt like a tight balloon and I ended the day with chills (made me realize I haven't shivered in years!), Wednesday morning I felt like hammered grunt and spent hours in bed before managing to skirt three fleeces and make a couple new recipes for dinner, and today I feel great except for a stuffed-up nose.

The bluebirds came back weeks ago. This one was perched in the cherry tree outside our bedroom window (click to biggify).

Sunset over Stella and two houses:

I love whatever this spring explosion of color is called in the evergreen on our west property line:

Sunday Poppy and I went to our first agility trial of the year. She did great! Even though she had a serious case of the zoomies in our first class (Jumpers), I managed to get her back on course for a qualifying run. The next two classes she qualified and won; the last class we blew thanks to a handling error by yours truly.

A rainbow at the end of Sunday, which was supposed to stay dry but didn't.

Bernice looking cute eating a stem of hay. She has the prettiest head!

Our Pink Walloper rhody is brightening the south side of the house. The lilacs at the bottom of the yard, on the other hand, aren't.

Blossom and Bud on the lam again. I catch as catch can when it comes to photos of the lambs!

That's it for now from . . .