Rabbits!

The wild rabbits in the neighborhood have been behaving in a most unneighborly manner. They have taken to visiting my garden patch and taking one bite from a tomato and leaving the remainder. Now, I do not mind sharing even the ripest of my veggies but I do take exception to such wasteful behavior. I left several on the edge of the garden in the event that some mommy rabbit would come along and encourage those young'uns to clean their plates. For the first time in my life I find myself identifying more with Mr. McGregor than with poor Peter and his brothers and sisters. Wasteful bunnies!


Speaking of bunnies, we do have some new additions to the household. Earlier in the summer we had a tragedy when our heavy bunny hutch was knocked over during a storm. Sadly, one of our bunnies died. This week we decided to replace him and to be honest we went a little nuts!

This is Marshmallow. She is a Lop mix. We have had her for awhile.

A new baby! This is a little mixed breed bunny. He is named Dash in honor of the Olympics.

Here is Dash again with our new Californian baby. She is named Cali. Dash and Cali are about eight weeks old. Cali will get up to 9-10 lbs.

The rabbits are an excellent way to provide fertilizer for the garden. My girls enjoy keeping them and taking care of them. After we got the two babies, we ended up bringing home another Mini Rex male. his name is Peter. I will post pictures of him later. He is a very tame fella who was slated to be a pet in a daycare center. They said he was stressed and I am sure that is true. Call me crazy but I am guessing an animal that is prey for nearly every meat eating animal everywhere is not going to be comfortable around a lot of noise and activity. That is one of the reasons our rabbits are housed outside and in secure cages away from the dogs. We don't want them stressed and unhappy. So here is to beautiful plants and flowers next year!

Recent pictures

Hydrangea

Hydrangea

This one is located at the home of my aunt, Nancy. 

I believe that it is actually two bushes but still

 find it interesting that the colors are so varied.

Japanese Maples from the garden of Aunt Nancy.

A fading rose from my garden.

Catie--Age 9 and Gus--Age 15 months.

Drenagh--Age 16 months

Drenagh

Gus practicing being our guardian angel. :)

"Dogs are not our whole lives but they make our lives whole"

Dream Big!

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagine."--

Henry David Thoreau

I started typing tonight with a completely different spin on this topic until I realized I have been a lifelong come from the back of the pack under dog! Yep, I am that girl. I've never had a thing from an A at the top of my paper to my name turning up on the cheerleading roster come easy to me. Most people will tsk tsk and say that they worked hard for everything they have ever gotten too. I know that is true! I believe we all work hard. 

Between varsity and junior varsity cheerleading I think I tried out six times before I finally made majorettes. Granted, we really didn't have majorettes but I was finally something! The following year I was a cheerleader. Grades were hard and I was suddenly in a very academic atmosphere coming from  barely making the grade. Summer school! That was just the beginning.

I'm still at it. Training and titling working dogs without close resources. Another time of learning from the ground up, making mistakes, and being the underdog. Wish me luck!

A kind of hush....

It is the time of night when a hush begin to fall over the house and things become quiet. The time of the night when I might sigh and take a deep breath. When I smile over my sleeping household and think about our blessings.

My children finished the school year today. My fifth grader had her graduation ceremony. Father's Day is fast approaching. The outings and events that go along with the end of school are complete. We have begun working on our "bucket list" for the summer. For now, I can just enjoy a few minutes of the hush that falls over my sleeping family. 

Eeek! Mouse in the House!

Tia and her sense of humor

 Each time they cut the grass in the field behind my house field mice move their residences over into my yard. It is part of the price we pay for having a nice large open field behind our house. Tia, pictured above, has tasked herself with hunting and monitoring this mouse population to the point of obsession. Out in the yard she is constantly showing me where they are and flushing them out from their hiding spots. Often she is hampered by the fact that she is fenced inside our dog yard and they are right outside her reach. She signals me by wagging her tail furiously while she keeps nose pointed at the exact spot. From experience I know that walking in that area or moving anything lying there will produce a number of mice running in all directions. She will be delighted and I will be shivering and stepping away quite quickly. Yes, I can not stand the little buggers.

Mouse hunt in the yard

Ready for a track

 On rare occasions they get into the house. The other day was one such time. Tia indicated that a mouse had somehow gotten into the heater in the living room. That happens to be about five feet or less from where I am sitting right now. She was determined and focused and so was I. She has tracked and hunted for a day and a half. This morning I observed her hunting success! Out ran the mouse from another heater across the room. Tia dispatched him quickly. That quick it was over. No muss and no fuss. I rather like her method. Much as I already love her I do believe she has endeared herself to me even more. Thank you, Tia.

Doing tricks with the kids

Phobia!

I feel it only fair to warn you that I have developed a phobia over the past several months. I have not only developed the phobia but am embracing it and even encouraging it in myself and my family. I have developed a fear of meat. I would not go so far as to say that I have gone vegetarian. Let us not get crazy!

Even though I stumbled upon the information concerning factory farming and the health implications some fifteen years ago, I consider that I lived in denial over all those years. It has only been in facing the consequences of my own health decisions and in teaching my children about health that I have begun to realize that we do not have the luxury of sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that all will be well. I do not need hundreds of pages of scientific study laid out before me to be able to determine that injecting animals intended for food full of antibiotics, hormones, and vaccines is not good for the product that ends up on our tables. Nor do I need someone to tell me that animals kept in confinement areas so small that they begin to kill and eat one another cannot possibly be at optimum health. Frankly, I do not care what acceptable agriculture practice is in place. If that practice does not meet the sniff test when it comes to good animal husbandry then it is, in my humble opinion, not a sound agricultural practice. For the record, in addition to not having become a vegetarian I have also not become a member of PETA or any crazy animal rights activist group.

I digress. Lost weight. That is what we have gained from the phobia. My husband has lost twenty five pounds. I have lost twelve.......without trying. At forty-seven any weight I can lose without trying is sheer perfection!

Appomattox Manor

This is Appomattox Manor located at City Point in Hopewell. The history is quite interesting to me but more than the official story on any of the locations we visit is an interest in the people. Perhaps I have seen too many Hollywood movies but each time I walk on the grounds of such a place I step back in time as if I had entered a time machine.

I can imagine approaching the house at night. Of course, back then, the trees would not have been so big so that you could have seen the gleaming lights from the house. Lantern beaming bright and welcoming and gate open wide. Somehow that seems like home to me.

On the right side of the house is a wide porch. Perhaps this is the entrance family used. From this porch there is a beautiful view of the river.

The front of the house is beautiful with an air of dignity and welcome.