Saturday, November 07, 2009, 05:27
Indian Summer
What has become of this past week? Where did the days go? What happened to them?
I don't know what happened to the days this past week, but I can say for the last few days, we have had lovely weather. Sunshine. Temperatures in the 50s. Really almost balmy outside. "Real" Indian Summer. Since we have already had snow on the ground, it is permissible to call warmer, sunny weather Indian Summer.
Or least, that's what my mother always said, that it wasn't Indian Summer until there had been snow on the ground.
We've had snow a few times already. The sunny, warmer weather has helped to dry out the horse pastures. For a while this fall, Isabelle, Kajun and I were slogging around in ankle-deep mud. We didn't even have ankle-deep mud last spring since what little snow we had gotten over the winter was a dry snow without much moisture.
Chippewa Falls Public Library
I did an author appearance at the Chippewa Falls Public Library Thursday evening and it was so much fun! It was a really good group of people. They had interesting stories of their own to tell and many good comments. My appearance was part of their author series for this fall on farm life.
What is that?
Since it is getting darker so much earlier these days, it is hard to get the horses fed after we arrive home in time to go for a walk while there is still daylight. Friday evening, since it had been such a hectic week, I really needed to walk. We took Pixie for a walk before all of the light had died out of the sky completely. Our little Shetland Sheepdog will turn 11 in December, and she cannot walk as far or as fast as she once could.
After we brought Pixie back to the house, Randy and I decided to go for a walk in the other direction up the dirt road. The moon was not up yet, but there were stars in the sky, and after our eyes adjusted we could at least see enough to make sure we were walking on the road.
We had just gotten past the neighbor's house a quarter mile away when we saw something dark by the side of the road -- a small dark lump sitting there.
"What's that? A kitty?" Randy asked.
He had clipped his handy-dandy little light onto his cap, so he reached up to switch it on.
It was not a cat.
It was a skunk.
And he was now about five feet in front of us.
Talk about beating a hasty retreat. We turned abruptly and went back in the direction we had come.
I'm not sure, exactly, what we were worried about. It has been my observation that skunks walk around the countryside with a supreme sense of confidence. They *know* that other creatures will leave them alone and they don't seem to worry about much of anything. I think the only time we would have been in real danger of getting sprayed is if one of us had accidentally kicked him in the dark. Although, come to think of it, we almost did. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, November 03, 2009, 04:19
Ducks, Cows and Devils
For the first 10 years that we lived here at Rural Route 2, we never had any trick-or-treaters on Halloween. We are seven miles from town and live in sparsely populated area.
But all of that changed a few years ago when our little neighbor girl, Emilie, started coming for trick-or-treat. Her dad is very imaginative in coming up with the particulars of the costumes that Emilie has chosen for Halloween.
The first year, she was quite a convincing witch. The second year she was a fairy princess, the third year she was Bo-Peep (complete with a sheep for her treats, a stuffed toy stretched over a small plastic pail and fluffy with white pasted on cotton balls). This year she was a fiery red devil.
Along the way, my great-nephews were born, and soon, they started coming for trick or treat as well. Last year, two-year-old Eli was a puppy dog and his six-week old brother, Sam, was a chili pepper.
This year, Eli was a duck. Sam came as Holstein cow, who, when you pressed a button, said, "moooo--mooooo-mooooo."
Perhaps it was only because trick-or-treaters are rare in this rural area, but when the duck, the cow and the fiery red devil showed up around 5 p.m. on Halloween, it sure was fun to see them.
I insisted on a hug from each of them before they left, too. It's not every day that I can claim I've been hugged by a duck, a cow and fiery red devil.
It's a Wonder
It's a wonder I ever get anything done with all of the help I get. My little black kitty Dora insisted on helping me when I had the camera out the other night. The camera strap was a delightful toy that she could not resist chewing on. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph