Disaster averted!

(Thanks be to God who answered my shouted pleas.)

Rick fixed our electric entry gate – again. (It's old.) Yay; Poppy could at least go outside, if not yet play with the neighbor boy (but SOON; very soon). She had been out for at least 30 minutes, sniffing around, playing with Chuckie, looking through the fence longingly for her friends. I thought I heard the recycling truck so went out to see. Poppy started running over to me when she spotted Stella in the middle pasture, apparently for the first time. I haven't been turning Poppy loose when the horses are out because she acts like she wants to 'play' with them. (She obviously wasn't permanently traumatized by Lance stepping on her.🙄) When I had taken her out earlier on the leash, she seemed to notice the geldings without taking interest, so I had turned her loose. But as soon as she saw Stella, she streaked towards the fence – and I streaked after her, calling for her, yelling "No!" Before I could nab her, she found a gap under the fence to squeeze through, and the chase was on. Stella startled and bolted, but wheeled on Poppy when she got near. Poppy would reverse course, then turn to chase Stella again. Once, when Poppy got close, Stella fired with both hind feet – fortunately missing Poppy, but underlining just how dangerous this game was. After all three of us had sprinted back and forth for a few minutes, Poppy stopped for a breather. She wasn't going to come to me or let me catch her, but perked up when I said "Cookie?" Seizing the possibility that she might follow (I didn't have treats on me), I jumped up and ran for the gate to the yard, saying, "Let's go get you a cookie!" And hallelujah, praise the Lord, she did.

She was pretty tired after that, and just wanted to stretch out and rest. She did get up on my bed, which has a new blue spread on it thanks to her 'unstuffing' the old, tattered comforter, but the photos below were taken earlier this week.

As demanding and exhausting as she can be, it would break my heart to lose her. She's beautiful, smart, and the best little napping partner I've ever had. (I think I've needed more naps since getting her!)

Yep, I think I'll keep her. Which means not turning her loose again when the horses are out on pasture!

Sometimes I call her "Sweet Pea," like the wild ones blooming along the roadside.

That's it for today from . . .

Hold onto your sun hat – it's another post!

My guys have been gone all day, giving me a day to catch up from last week's hectic schedule. (Apparently Brian will be working six days a week from now on; Rick is on emergency duty and had patients to treat as well.) It's after 6:00 now, and I'm feeling pretty good about the day's accomplishments.

This morning was spent in the garden: watering, weeding, tying up the snow peas, picking boysenberries and marionberries – and anticipating!

blurry bean blossom

snow pea flower

one of three eggplant varieties

variety #2 (the third isn't blooming but looks vigorous)

first cuke (I think this is burpless)!

sweet peppers

this tomato is COVERED with blooms and green fruit!

there were two red cherry tomatoes 😉

getting water on the rhubarb has perked them up tremendously

Next came some tax stuff, which is always a bit stressful; laundry; dishes; and work on next month's church newsletter. Then I filled out a registration form – Poppy is going to school later this month! We're going to beginning agility classes at a trainer's my friend with the furry terriers uses. Bonus: my friend is going with me so we can visit on the trip down and back; she can also be an 'assistant trainer' as she's taken these agility classes with several of her dogs. The session we're signing up for is six weeks long, which will end shortly before Brian is supposed to leave for college. An eight-week session starts after that – which may be an excellent diversion for an empty-nest mom (as well as a smart, high-energy pup, of course), if I can afford it.

"I need a job!"

The other night we went out for a potty break and Chuckie was out front with a big mouse, doing the usual catch-release-catch game that cats do. The mouse ran to the corner of the garage door frame, so I took Poppy over to see if she would catch it. It startled her, but then she was ON. IT. Or rather, she would have been, if it hadn't run under Rick's truck and she wasn't on a leash. OH, she was upset that it got away! Purpose-bred, she is, except that she doesn't think her quarry is limited to small rodents. She really wants to go after the deer she sees as well. Since there are fawns afoot, that could end badly for Poppy (and I have a neighbor who would be VERY upset by Poppy chasing deer),

Yesterday evening's “golden hour” light was beautiful. Today is similar; partly cloudy, not too hot with a pleasant breeze. Just about perfect!

That's it for today from . . .

I've really got to do this more often

More frequent posts would mean fewer photos and less mental effort to put them all (not that you ever get them all) together with thoughts and words, but I'm having trouble managing that. So here goes another big catch-up – and I'll try to check in with shorter posts in the future (she says hopefully).

HAY

The very afternoon of my last post, we picked up and unloaded the first of four loads of hay. Our local hay guy had stored first cutting orchardgrass in his barn for us, and needed it out because he was getting ready to bale alfalfa. We were going to haul it all on Sunday, but with a chance of rain in Sunday's forecast, we decided we'd better not wait. So we got a load Friday afternoon, another load Saturday night, and two more loads on Sunday – and managed to avoid the rain! Now our barn is satisfyingly full; we left enough room for a couple tons of second or third cutting orchardgrass for the sheep.

Poppy's first hay season

safety inspector

supervisor

Hay crews were busy on our hill that weekend, too, trying to beat the rain that never really materialized. (I'm glad the hay we got was put up several weeks earlier; this was too mature.)

CHICKENS

I was sure we were losing another one. One morning last week I found one of our Black Australorps on the floor of the henhouse. She couldn't stand and I figured it was only a matter of time. To let her die in peace without getting henpecked, I placed a bottomless wire cage over her in such a way that she could access food and water, and picked a few tender greens for her. Every time I returned I expected to find her dead, but by afternoon she actually seemed a little better. That night when I shut the pop door, the wire cage was empty and she was up on a roost, and she has been fine ever since! That's a first.

GARDEN

Last Sunday I finally got Rick to fix the water lines so I can more efficiently water the garden plants. We also picked the last of the strawberries, the first flush of marionberries, a small bowl of black raspberries, a smattering of boysenberries, and a mediocre harvest of red and white currants. The currant bushes were hard to access for all the grass and weeds. Rick said with some surprise and frustration, "I weeded these earlier this spring." Uh, yeah; weeding is not a 'one and done' thing around here, especially this year! I also picked basil and made pesto; yum.

Wrens serenaded my berry picking

POPPY

Will this heat cycle never end??? It does, finally, seem to be waning, and Rick confirmed that with cytology today – but she's still not safe to socialize with the intact neighbor boy. Poppy really needs regular romps with other dogs; humans just don't cut it in the energy expenditure department. She did get to play with her sister after we finished hauling hay Sunday before last; Penny and her people were going out of town and they were showing me what needed to be watered.

Here is a much mellower Poppy the next day. As I've said before, a tired terrier is a good terrier!

This week I've worked my usual two days, and covered for Rick's vacationing secretary the other three days. I took Poppy with me to the clinic which was BOR-RING –

but we did stop to play with a friend's terriers after work Tuesday (Poppy wore them out!),

and on Wednesday another friend brought her dog to the clinic.

I played with Poppy when I got home from work Thursday,

 but like I said, humans don't cut it. When I turned my back she jumped back on the bed and destuffed the little pillow I use to support my shoulder at night,

and when I put her in the laundry room to work Stella and do evening chores, she destroyed the pink bed she sleeps on. Used to sleep on . . . it's in the trash now.

It's a good thing she's so stinkin' cute!

PANDEMIC TIMES

Last Sabbath we had our first in-person church service in almost four months. It was a physically distanced, outdoor affair, which we can easily do behind the church on our very large lot. Everyone brought their own chairs and signed in at tables in case contact tracing was needed; the building was only open for restroom use with masks on. I was comfortable with the protocol, although I don't crave the physical gathering as some do. The plan is to continue doing this for the time being. In the meantime....

Yesterday afternoon, Penny and her people got back from their camping trip in eastern Oregon. They attended an outdoor July 4th gathering, at which one of their friends didn't feel well. Too much to drink, he thought. A few days later, still not feeling well, he got tested and found out he has COVID. By then, Penny's 'dad' was having symptoms, and is still sick. Penny's mom feels fine, but they are both planning to get tested and are presuming he, at least, is positive . . . and over 70 with heart problems. 😳 Obviously Poppy won't be going over to play with her sister for awhile. And maybe I'll stay home and watch church on live stream tomorrow!

Stay safe out there, people. Love from . . .