Mud rain!

That's what the weatherman called it!  Glad I was listening to the news, because I thought I was having a "senior moment" when I found my car's windshield, and the rest of the car also, covered with muddy spots.  It looked like I had been 4-wheeling in my '98 Grand Am.  Not likely. 

Now, I'm not one who washes their 'daily driver' every week, or month, or...well, suffice it to say my car gets washed once a year, whether it needs it or not.  I mean, isn't that what rain is for?  This morning I saw some hail at the bottom edge of the front windshield, and just shrugged it off.  Later in the day, when I went to the store, I got in and the dirt on the windshield was awful.  I was trying to figure out how that happened as usually after a rain, it's as clean as it's gonna be, until the next rain.

So what's mud rain, you ask?  Well, there was a dust storm in Texas, and that dust got carried into the upper atmosphere where it mixed with moisture, which eventually came down in the form of rain, in the Ozarks.  I guess this happens every 7-10 years although this was the first time I had ever experienced it.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Spring has sprung...

...in the form of DANDELIONS!!!  I found 4 flowers today!  I promptly ripped them out of the ground and gave them to one of our tortoises.

This also reminds me that it's been 4 days now and I still have heard nothing from the Dixon Mower people!  I even posted on Facebook! 

Maybe I'll have to make some signs and picket their store...stay tuned...

I have the perfect husband...

No kidding!  Well, ALMOST perfect...even I'M not perfect!

We were having a "warm (as opposed to heated) discussion" one evening and he informed me that he NEVER leaves the toilet seat UP!  And you know, he never does!  I've never "fallen in" because I failed to look and see where the seat was!

He said living with his mother (who is quite the task master) and his sister, he would have been crucified on the spot if he ever did that.  I must say, I have great admiration for those two women!

DR part two and quest for a new mower...

So I went to the Lawn & garden show last weekend to look for a commercial mower, like they use for golf courses, so I could keep up with the mowing I had already done with the DR.  You see a commercial mower can have a cutting swath of over 62 inches, and the DR probably cuts around 26 inches.  

You can also RIDE on these mowers.  And they have roll bars, places for your cold soda, probably get high speed internet if you asked!  They're zero turn, so if you get in a tight place, you can get out without walking in a large circle, or going in reverse.  These are both issues with the DR.

I found the one I want, the DIXON.    The price is right (around $7900 for the top of the line.)  They're made in America (I'm big on that!)  They have a little flag on them.  Are you reading this, Dixon people?   I had looked at a Scag for a couple years now.  Even oogled them at the L&G show.  But at almost $11,000, the Dixon looked better and better.  And I did NOT see the little American Flag on the Scag.  Are you reading this, Scag Rep? 

 I'd be happy to take either one and rave about it in my blogs, for years to come!  But Scag, if you come through, I want the top of the line, not just one that's price-matched to the Dixon! 

As for you DR folks...I've already done bought your product, so could'ja send me a few extra blades...pretty please??? 

Do you DR?

Probably not, because you have NO idea what I'm talking about.  A "DR" mower is like a walk-behind brush hog.  Still in the dark?  A brush hog is a heavy-duty brush cutter, like a lawn mower on steroids.  Usually you pull them with a heavy duty tractor. 

These beasts used to be advertised in the back of all the magazines, such as Good Housekeeping, etc., when I was much younger.  Since there are so many more magazines, and more specialized magazines, you're more likely to see these advertised in Mother Earth News or Hobby Farm (if there is such a magazine...made that one up!)  Always wondered about them, but not having more than a city lot, it wasn't a "must have!"

Fast forward years, and years, and we now have 20 acres that we want to "manage" ourselves.  We don't want a commercial brush hog operator to come in and mow down all the small saplings we're trying to help along, and mow in tight corners where we're leaving "habitat" for some of the little forest animals.  The DR is just the tool for that.  Oh, let me clarify that we do NOT mow the entire 20 acres.  I figure about half or a bit less, is heavily wooded.  And it's a bit hilly, and large tractors pulling brush hogs do not do well on those hills.  But the 10 or so acres left, we, or rather I, want to try to keep as nice as possible, with little brush, and good pasture.  This is easier said than done. 

The DR is self-propelled but will drag you along (if you're in 4th gear) and take everything in its path.  I've cut down a few trees I didn't mean to...  I do go slower, depending upon the terrain, the brush, the area...I'm just impatient!  Let me take this opportunity to say that you REALLY SHOULD wear ear protection.  They are noisy!  I didn't the first couple years (!), and I'm paying for it now.  I have constant ringing in my ears.  At first I thought it was cicadas, but in December???

The DR is almost fail safe fool proof safe idiot proof safe!  If you let go totally of the gas/gear handle, it stops immediately, and the blade stops moving too.   So if you lose control and let go, the machine stops.  The worst thing you can do is walk in front or next to it, while it's moving.  I say this because while someone else was operating the DR, I was walking aside it and was hit in the rear by a flying rock (they do that too) and I thought I had been shot in the a**.    The thing about rocks is that the DR will NOT turn them to gravel, and so I'm a bit hard on blades, at times.  I try to miss them...

This is getting wordy, so I'll tell you my next step, next blog entry!

Love kills!!!!!

And if you don't believe it, just look at all the dead skunks on the road these days. 

This is their mating season, and they're out looking for mates.   On the way to Springfield, I think I saw at least 8.  I don't know if they were males and females...didn't want to stop and take a closer look.  That's also the reason there's no "picture" to accompany this topic!

But, if they were in "pairs," would this be like Romeo and Juliet and their unrequited love?   They "ran into traffic" because they knew they were doomed, as who likes a skunk, anyway???  (If you're not familliar with the story, Romeo and Juliet died also.)

Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle...PEE WHEW!!!!!

Now THAT'S snow!!!

(The picture has been removed...probably because I couldn't give credit for it, as I received it in an e-mail.  Suffice it to say it was a "snow tunnel" where two lanes had been plowed down a highway, but the drifts on either side of the road were taller than the semis going through.  I guess they have special "snow-blowers on steroids," to do this sort of work.  Anyway, the snow was piled higher and wider than I've almost ever seen!)

I remember the winter  before we moved to Missouri, we had the "blizzard of the century" where we had three feet of snow fall in a day.  One of the north-south two lane roads in northern Illinois, close to where we lived, a regular truck route, was plowed just like this, with "drifts" taller than the tops of semis.

The only difference was that they only plowed ONE LANE, and left little pockets along the way so that if someone was coming in the other direction, you or they could pull over and let the other person pass.  Now THAT'S snow!

Our blizzard here lasted a day, and two weeks later, the temperatures were back in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and the snow was gone on the streets though still piled high in parking lots, and that's disappearing fast..    I don't think the above snow will be gone by March 1st, do you???!!

And the above picture is from the North Dakota/Wyoming line, I believe.

What a difference a day makes...

Three weeks ago this coming Saturday, I saw a Mustang going down the road, with the convertible top down.  Envy set in immediately!

The following Monday we had a real, honest-to-goodness blizzard.  Today, almost 2-1/2 weeks later, the very last vestiges of the snow are disappearing, except for the mini-mountains left in parking lots.  And it's convertible weather, again!!!

But we must remember, this is still February, and Spring is not officially here until March 20th!  And we have had snow in April before, a lot of snow!  But when the temperatures outside are in the high 60s or low 70s, those two awful weeks are forgotten, and convertible days are on my mind!

That and the sight of those awful flip-flops everyone wants to wear...

Breaking the ice...

Ah yes, winter finally showed up the first week of February!

The really cold weather showed up this week, the 2nd week of February. 

So one of the chores we have on a daily basis, is to break the ice on the horses' water trough.  And I've had a surprising observation. 

Dennis has been filling the water, when it gets down about a foot (it's a 2x4x4 metal tank) with HOT water.  Even though the temperatures have not been over freezing, and the sun is not always out, the water has not been getting that inch or more  of ice on it.  The other day we had yet another 2 inches of snow, that just sat on the top of the water, in the trough.  NO ICE AT ALL!!!

I don't know if it's the hot water, the placement of the tank in the pasture (it does get full sun most of the day) or just dumb luck.  But it's SO much more "enjoyable" to take care of the water problem included with winter.

Oh I know, we could use an electric tank heater.  We have one.  If you've ever used one, you can just watch the electric meter spin wildly out of control, too!   I have to credit the hot water, and perhaps the placement of the trough.  And I should credit Dennis for thinking of it!

More Snow Pictures to Brighten a Gray Day

It's Monday, February 7th, and there's more snow coming...or so the weatherman says.  I think we need to look at some of the more interesting aspects, like footprints, etc, rather than the hassles we may incur!  So here are a few observations...

Remember, we TOLD everyone not to come down our driveway unless they had 4WD!   This is a picture of some of the ruts, when a friend came down and tried to get back up the driveway.  Dennis ended up pulling him out with our Jeep.  A lesson learned...perhaps...

We have a ridged metal roof on the shop.  Therefore the snow slides off in plank-like form.   These were four planks that came off the roof.  They started to melt a bit, and then it turned colder again, and so are now frozen sculpture.  You don't want to stand next to the building when the next thaw comes, as snow has come off in longer "planks!"  The roof on the house is the same, and it can make a lot of noise when sliding off.

When the snow was fresher, and a bit more soft, our dog, a Corgi, was running all through it.  She's a stout small dog, but her paw prints might make you think we have a wolf running around.  Her pads, and her nails, are very well defined in many of the frozen prints.  They also appear to be larger than her foot actually is.  If you look closely, you can see my boot tracks under some of her paw prints.

Snow doesn't last forever, unles you live at one of the Poles, so let's enjoy at least some of it!

What is it???

Another small mystery unfolds during this snowy week. 

We have a shop building, which we know small animals and/or reptiles live under, and probably hibernate under.  Along the north side two small holes appeared in the snow, at the base of the building.  One had tracks leading from it, the first day.  The second day, tracks appeared coming from the second hole.   This is a picture of the first hole, with additional tracks that showed up the following day. 

Now we're trying to figure out what's coming and going.   They were NOT rabbit tracks.  I was thinking rat, or opossum, but there was no track from the tail, which would have been hanging down between the feet, or so I assume.   Unless, of course,  they hold their tail up so it doesn't get cold?

I do know we have snakes hibernating under there, and the well house, so the rodent population is kept in check during the summer months.  We were contemplating putting up a mini-cam, but that might spoil the fun of not knowing.

Snow isn't for every one but the footprints in the snow are truly intriguing!

After a fairly mild winter...this!

This first picture shows our driveway (somewhere under there) with a view from our front deck, to our gate (the opening at the top of the picture.)  It's a slight incline uphill, 1/8th mile, and only accessible, in this snow, with 4WD.

Obviously we have to feed the birds.  This is our cluster of feeders, with some spillage on the ground, so nothing is wasted, obviously!

This just came out as a nice close-up with all the cardinals gathering around the feeders.  The type of birds changes with the time of day.  We had a flock of red wing blackbirds here last afternoon.  There were a few doves this morning.   We also have 4 different types of woodpeckers (we have 4 suet feeders not pictured).

We needed the moisture as it's been a dry fall and winter.  And it's pretty.  And if you don't have to work, and you don't have kids at home to entertain, it can be enjoyable.

While other people were running around over the weekend, as this storm was well forecasted, I bought a few groceries, bought some material for quilting, and got some good books to read, from the library.  No panic here!  We got extra gas for the generator, dog food and horse feed, bird seed, and we're set!  We did not buy out the store, as we know the plows will get around to us, and we do have a jeep if we really want to get out.    And it will probably be all gone in a week or less...