Sunday, September 21, 2008, 21:47
Craft Sales, Isabelle, Muskmelon and Lady Bugs
This past week was terrible. I had meetings every night. And six newspaper stories to write.
I was signed up to go to a craft sale on Saturday. But I decided not to go. The economy is just too bad right now. The last two craft sales I've been to, I have not sold enough to cover my vendor fee and mileage. Last year I sold 2 books at that same craft sale. And that was with $3 a gallon gas. This year gas is nearly $4 a gallon. And the prices in the grocery store are up on everything.
We got Isabelle out Friday night and worked with her some more. Randy and I have been making an effort to work with her now that the weather is a little cooler. We both sat on her bareback in the training pen. She was very good. It was only after I finally got her back in the pasture that she threw a temper tantrum. Mostly, I think, because I didn't let her graze on the lawn before I put her back.
I could have let her graze. And maybe I should have. But I didn't. It was after 7 p.m. and starting to get dark anyway. She tore around the pasture like she was nuts and tried to climb through the fence. I went in there with my training whip and figured she could just keep moving (this is per John Lyon's training technique for training green horses).
Isabelle tried to kick me a couple of times but missed, thank goodness. When she had run enough she wanted to "come in" to me. So I let her. I suppose this is going to be the kind of constant struggle I will face for the next however many years until we get through all of that. But at least we were able to sit on her back. She's needs practice in figuring out how to shift her weight according to the weight that is shifting on her back.
When I went down in the barn to put our more kitty food at midnight Friday night, there were three good-sized raccoons on the shelf helping themselves to what they could find for kitty food. I chased them out of the barn. I really wish Charlie was still around .He would chase them off so they would think twice about coming back. Cat food is expensive enough as it is without three raccoons eating their weight in kitty food every week.
I made the mistake of eating muskmelon from the garden Saturday. And boy, was it good. You can't find muskmelon like that in the grocery store.
Unfortunately, I am paying for on Sunday. My throat itches intensely. The inside of my ears itch. And my sinuses are clogged. The protein in the muskmelon is something like one molecule away from ragweed. So my body thinks I am eating ragweed. We have a bumper crop of ragweed this year. Some of it out in Isabelle's pasture is waist high on me. And of course, we have not had any rain to amount to anything to wash the pollen out of the air.
It is not one bit fair! Muskmelon is one of my favorite foods!
The weather is warm today (Sunday). Like summer at 84 degrees. It feels much too warm for September. I am ready for this kind of heat in July and August. But not in September.
The lady bugs are starting to filter into the house. I have maybe a dozen of them crawling around the ceiling in my office. As long as it is only a dozen, it's not too bad. It's when it gets to be hundreds of them that I can't hardly stand it. Henry, Katerina and Dora have tons of fun chasing the occasional fly that makes its way into the house. I wonder what they will think about all of the lady bugs on the ceilings? They haven't noticed them yet, I don't think. And maybe that's a good thing -- as far as my vases, pictures and other breakable items are concerned.
LeAnn R. Ralph
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 06:33
Henry Strikes Again
There I was, sitting at the piano, trying to unwind after a somewhat long school board meeting, picking out a few hymns. Randy had already gone to bed, but he says he doesn't mind if I play the piano.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my gray tom cat, Henry, jump up on Grandma Inga's trunk (the one she brought from Norway a century ago) and then up to the top of the china cabinet.
"Henry!" I said.
Now, the top of the china cabinet has all kinds of things up there. Things I do not want the kitties to knock down and break. Vases of various kinds. A handmade "miniature" sturgeon that I consider to be a work of folk art. Pictures of various kinds. You know, breakable things.
Before I could react to Henry jumping up on top of the china cabinet . . . well . . . one thing led to another. It was like dominoes. I don't know what went first. But a vase crashed to the floor. And so did my nephew and his wife's wedding picture.
As soon as all the crashing and smashing and breaking began, Henry leaped off the china cabinet and streaked down the hall. Before the last vibration of sound died away. Randy came charging into the living room.
"What in the world is going on in here," he said.
"Henry was on top of the china cabinet," I said.
As it turned out, the vase did not break. The glass on my nephew's wedding picture is now in many pieces. (sigh)
Henry is developing quite a history. He broke my green claw-footed bowl. He also broke a drinking glass one day that was sitting on the counter. I had my back turned at the time. I don't know what he did. All I know for sure is that the glass was smashed to smithereens. I'm not sure which of the kittens it was (but it was one of them!) also broke my glass lamp shade. And we have had to move the air cleaner/filter unit from away from the coat closet because Henry was using it to jump to the top of the coat closet. One day he knocked down a couple of plants while he was up there (deeper sigh).
As my sister said when the kittens broke my glass lampshade (I was on the telephone with her at the time) -- "Never a dull moment."
LeAnn R. Ralph