Unwanted company & Ticks

Hello to all, 

Wow, this summer is bad for heat, humidity and lots of rain. Just don't want to go out for much of anything this summer.  Also "ticks" are very bad this summer, I let the dogs out to run and play, they come back with one flea and one huge tick on top of her head, needless to say I went into panic mode, bath for both with flea and tick shampoo, then while sitting by them at the computer, I found one HUGE tick on my arm, needless to say I then sprayed with home defense all over and outside also. Then the next day (pets are being kept inside at this point) went out to feed chickens and found one on my boot that I wore when out. Needless to say boots got sprayed very good also. Now I will not let the dogs out anymore this summer, they are house trained so there is no problem there. These are huge ticks and I am not kidding when I say "huge". In the last 3 years we have lived here, there have been NO ticks and only a flea now and then. I have never seen it this bad here before. It is dangerous around here this summer. Even my neighbor down the street said she has taken ticks off her and her husband and pets this summer.

Just an update about what we are doing. Nothing much, working on getting the upper deck of the house redone. But the people doing it are working in between other jobs, and then when it is clear for them to come to home to work it is raining. So it is slow progress. But, it is getting done a little bit at a time. Can't wait until it is done, the old deck had holes and wood was rotting away. They are using yellow pine that is pressure treated. What they have got done so far looks really nice. 

I do enjoy so much feeding the birds, little hummers are so much fun to watch. There are enough this summer to put up two feeders for hummers. Two small feeders for the regular birds that come by.

Did get new glasses this year and WOW how much detail I was missing, everything looks so much better now. Getting use to wearing them "all the time" now though is something else for me. Was only using them at the computer or sewing machine. I think the eye doctor made me realize just how much I was missing "in between" as she put it. So glad I listened to what she said. Now I can see all around me in sharp clean vision which is something new for me. 😋

 Here is the unwanted company, another raccoon, on man are they mean acting and trying to bit you also. He has been dispatched now as of yesterday.  I sure don't want them around my chickens. This one was on my back porch. UGH! Needless to say, they stink so bad, had to scrub the cage and back porch with soap to kill the smell and make clean for the next one.

Bad Raccoon

The night before this there was a "cat" in the cage. It was released, seems quite wild and not even half grown. Don't know what people think when they dump their unwanted cats and dogs on other people. It is not always a good out come for them.

 We are always protecting our pets and we always keep our pets on our own property. They do not run loose to bother someone else. I sure wish other people would do the same. We also had fence put around the property to keep the loose dogs from getting to our pets when outside in yard.

Love and Prayers, 

Margo

Happy 4th of July

Hello to all

Wishing all a very Happy 4th of July. 

This design is for sale, look under Designs for July 4th.

 

This is a very weird summer this year, Rain and more rain all the time and the humidity is off the scales around here. Something else strange this year, don't seem to be so many bees around. Not that I am complaining, I love it. 

We do have something "huge" living under one of our sheds, I keep putting rocks to fill the hole and it keeps pushing them or pulling them out. Today I re-did the rocks again and placed a much larger heaver rock on the hole, if this is moved again, I will fill it using quick set cement. 

The flowers and scrubs have flowered, the bulbs for "tree lilies" are not doing their thing this year either. Just so many things are strange this year. 

Now working on making some mug rugs. I have made one and it is so cute.

Love and Prayers, 

Margo

What is happening

Hello to all, 

      I am still here, just so much going on I have forgotten to even post in a while. We have had snow a little bit now and then and we watch it melt away then more of the same.

     I have been so busy sewing up 10 10-inch blocks using a crazy patch with huge stitches over all the seems. They are so pretty, I can't seem to stop to do anything else.

    We did the dogs last month, decided to keep our money and save some gas and wear and tear on the truck and try to do them ourselves.  This lady whom we have been going with all three dogs for some time now just charges way too much money and she takes too long to get them done. We were dropping them off at noon and not picking them up until 8:30 p.m.  That is just way too long, but for a long time with all that was happening here, I just could not do them. Now we only have 2 dogs and it still takes her the same time. Plus she was getting the pattern on them all wrong and crooked. So I have bought a new hand clipper and I use the small little ones, I will give it a try and see how it goes.

     We also lost our parakeet sometime back now. Died of old age, as far as I know, he was old but healthy. So it is just us and Frosty and Kricket and Truffles. We are all doing just fine. 🥰

Love and Prayers, 

 Margo

Happy New Year

Hello everyone, 

Long time no post, sorry about that, just too many irons in the fire simultaneously. It is so cold outside it turned my letters blue for this post.  

Little birds outside need you to take care of them for the winter, remember to put fruit and/or seeds out for them each day and water. They will pay you back by eating lots of bugs around your home in the summer. 

We are doing just fine and I hope this will find each of you doing well.

 

We lost little Ginger Rose in Dec. last year. Her immune system was fighting itself and it took her to skin and bones. She is with Nita and Larry now. 

We also lost "Lucky" a parakeet we had rescued 10 years ago now. He was sitting in his huge food bowl, looked like he was taking a "nap". We placed him under the bushes in our yard where flowers will be each spring and summer. 

We got a couple of days ago, rain, thunder, lightening, and hail all in one day. Two days later it was snowing again, about 1-1/2 inches. Before all that, we were in the high 60s outside, and a couple of weeks before all this, it was so cold, below 0 here where we are located, it has been a wild winter here in W.V. I never have heard the house "pop" so loud, it even scared the dogs. 

Our 5 chickens are being taken care of outside also. They stayed nice and warm during this awful cold. Warm the right way for outside chickens. They had dry hay to stand on in the covered pen area, and a wind break was much needed the way the wind was blowing. Inside their shed, it was warmer and we do have an overhead heater that you don't even know is on unless you take your glove off and put your hand right under and on the heating part, can hardly feel any heat, but is just enough to keep the hens from getting frostbite on their cones. When it gets so cold their feathers turn blue, you can find them in their shed on the roost under the heater. Out of 5 hens, all but one has quit laying this time of the year, but we keep getting a huge brown egg from one hen each day. Oh yes, we have cedar chips for the floor in the shed. Keeps them warm also. 

Love and Prayers, 

 Margo

First Snow

Morning Everyone, 

Well, I have been saying it for many months now. When the first snow comes I am going to organize the kitchen pantry. Well, the day before yesterday it snowed here in W.V. So I got to work and cleaned it out and now it is almost empty compared to what it was before. Extra food stuff went downstairs for storage in cabinets. Before it looked like a rock slide. I could not find what I needed and therefore kept buying food. Oh what a mess, now cleaned up. 

I felt so good yesterday that I scrubbed all the floors in the house. Now nice and shiny and smelling good. Spot cleaning was a thing for a long time, but now it is nice and clean all over for a while. 

Yesterday was dog bath and clip day, also a day to do all the laundry and doggie beds and blankets, they have a bunch of stuff all now nice and clean. I think my diet is now starting to work, I have more energy and am able to do lots more, now today I am looking for things to do, and think I will head back downstairs and work on unpacking some more.  Bird cages are now clean also, everyone is happy but my body needs more exercise. 😅

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day and week.

Love and Prayers,

 Margo

Copper Head

Copper Head Snakes, 

Yes, ya just never know where you will run into one of them. 

Vince was headed out after dark to shut up the chickens, and on the path 

to the shed, there was this snake. If not for the corner porch light that 

come on he would have walked right into the thing. 

 

I have never seen one before, so took a pic and showed the neighbor down the street and he took one look and said "Copper Head", Poison stay away from them. 

     

Night Shot

Daylight

Watch your step even in your own backyard in West Virginia. 

Love and Prayers,

Margo

Cool Morning

Hello everyone, 

Wow! This morning we woke to a cool 53 degrees. I am loving it although had to get my jacket to go outside. 😇 The air feels like the start of "Fall" already. Not too soon for me though. This summer has been so hot and humid and rainy off and on so bad I could not get out and enjoy the summer at all. How I do miss the cool summers of Alaska. Perhaps mid-70s and if it got hot it would hit into the 80s which did not happen that much. 

We have not hit the triple digits this summer, but it seems to have been doing that all over the lower 48 this year. We hit into the high 90s this summer and the humidity is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Hard to breathe in that kind of weather for me with asthma. So mostly I stayed inside this year. I am also bothered pretty bad with swelling of hands and feet, and legs with humidity. So pretty much miserable all summer this year. 

Evey the puppies don't want to be out in the weather either, they want back in right away. So we all just live inside or do what we have to outside and then recover inside. 

Love and Prayers, 

Margo

About Ginger

Little Ginger.

Did I tell you all about what has happened to her? IF not will let ya know what we have found out. She is now being treated for over a month with meds. We almost lost her and she acted like nothing was wrong. She was eating and drinking and going to the bathroom just fine as always. We noticed she was covered over most of her body with huge deep bruising. We rushed her to the vet. to see what was going on. They did blood work, and she had NO platelets in her blood. She was bleeding to death slowly. They do not know why this happens, but they have had cases of it and they do not all end in a good way. They took her in the back and did an IV with some radiation meds in her ASAP, then sent me home with two meds to give her. It has been a week-by-week ordeal with her as to if she was going to live or not. Two weeks later, she had platelets back to normal, meanwhile, she was losing wt. like really fast. Ginger was always FAT, Nita and Larry over-fed her and Truffles with way too much "food love", so now with her health, as it is her wt. last time there was 7 lbs. 1 or 2 ozs. She use to be over 12 lbs. She is a walking bag of bones right now as she fights her way back to life. Her body the vet said is attacking itself and we go back again this Thursday to see how she is doing.

One good note to say when we go back, she is now showing some signs of life, barking, and showing interest around the house again. She is such a sweet loving, gentle baby, I so hate to see her like this, but we are hoping that she will show "no wt lost" this time around and perhaps maybe gain a little something. I have been giving her special treatment, feeding 3 times a day just for her, she is so weak, almost all of her muscle has been used up or eaten up, she is so weak, but I feel this time around after over a month a small sign of improvement.

Keep fingers crossed that this time around the vet. will say she is improving. She is also had different meds throughout all this, now on two Liq. meds. They seem to be helping. But the vet. said we will know when all the meds are stopped if she will be able to maintain or start slipping away.

This is a real tough time for us on top of all that has happened around her in our lives. The other two dogs are doing just fine.

 

Ginger Rose

 

UPDATE:  Ginger keeps losing wt. She now is just over 4lbs. She has stopped eating and drinking, nothing we try will she eat. She really looks like she is going to die any time, more vet trips and we decided to let her go, she was so so so sick and she was not going to get any better. She is now at rest and with Nita and Larry. 

Love and Prayers, 

Margo