Making Hay While the Sun Shines

We've had so much rain this spring that it has been hard for farmers, including us, to get the hay cut and baled.

 

 

Finally this weekend my husband managed to get the big field cut and baled. It is the latest I remember that field being cut in 30 years.

 

 

He was assisted by our nephew, who loves to help.

 

 

Those tracks in the field indicate where it was still swampy when they were rolling up the bales.

 

 

At this point the hay has lost most of its nutritional value and is mostly good for straw or bedding.

 

 

But you have to cut it to get it off the field and make way for the next cutting.

 

 

It is labor-intensive work.

 

 

It is tough on nice days like this past weekend, but very difficult in 90 degree heat that comes later in summer.

 

 

Hay goes to the cows or horses.

 

 

The cows eventually go to slaughter.

 

 

This is part of the work it takes to make a hamburger, the part that most people don't see.

Magic Mushrooms

We have had a lot of rain and that makes the fungi grow! 

 

 

 

These came up in the yard.

 

 

I had to hurry to get a photo because my husband was going to mow.

 

 

 

I wanted some good up-close shots.

 

 

Including the bottom. I should have just kicked the things over but instead I shot from the ground.

 

According to my field guide, these are called "meadow mushrooms."

Sunday Stealing: It Would Be Nice To Give It A Try

IF I WON 100 MILLION DOLLARS . . .

(Isn't it sad that you have to win not a million dollars, but 100 million dollars? Money doesn't go as far as it used to.) 


What kind of car would you buy?

Probably the same thing I have: a Toyota Camry. I might get the 6-cylinder engine, though. And my husband would get a new Ford F-250 pick up truck of some kind, I'm sure. Although you never know. Maybe I'd go check out the Cadillacs or a Jaguar or something.

Where in the country would you move to?

I imagine we'd stay right where we are.

What kind of house would you buy?

We might build a new one after purchasing some of the property around us. It would have a nice front porch.

Would you give your family any money?

Yes.

What charity would you donate to?

Probably the same ones I donate to now, and I'd set up some kind of endowment at my alma mater.

Would you give your friends any money?

Yes.

Where would you go on vacation?

Europe. I have always wanted to go to Scotland, England, and Ireland. 

What luxury item would you buy first?

I would hire a cleaning person.

Would it change your life?

That much money probably would, yes.

Would you save any of it?

Yes.

Would it change your current relationship?

No. At least not the one with my husband. I am not sure how it might affect my friends.

Would you quit your job?

Yes.

Would you ever work again?

I would continue to write. But I might be the newspaper owner instead of the freelance writer.

What one task would you never do again?

Clean the toilet.

What dream of yours would you be able to do?

More travel.

Would you change the way you dress?

Yes.

Would you change anything about your body?

Yes. I would go spend time at a fat farm if I could find one.

Would you miss anything about not being rich?

No.
 
Who would be the first person you tell?

My husband.

Would it bring you happiness?

I doubt it. But it would be nice to give it a try.



These questions are from Sunday Stealing.

First Fawn

I had my first fawn sighting earlier in the week.

It was dancing around in the front yard.

I am sure it will grow up to love to eat my roses, too.

Thursday Thirteen

Recently I wrote an article about a neighbor who raises honeybees. So I thought I'd give you some bee facts:

 

1. Smoke is used by beekeepers to keep bees calm. The beekeepers do this when they collect honey or relocate a hive.

2. Honey feeds the young of bees and gives them food for the winter.

3. There are about 20,000 different species of bees in the world.

4. A bee home is called a colony.

5. Each colony has three types of bees, a queen bee, a worker bee and a drone.

6. The worker bees are female and they cannot reproduce. Worker bees clean the hive, collect pollen and nectar to feed the colony, and care for the baby bees.

7.  The queen bee is also female, but only she is the only bee who reproduces. The queen’s only job is to lay eggs.

8. Drones are male bees. The drone’s only job is to mate with the queen.

9. Bees store their venom in a sac attached to their stinger. Only female bees (worker bees) sting. The stinger, called an ovipositor, is part of the female bee’s reproductive design. A queen bee uses her ovipositor to lay eggs as well as sting. The worker bees, who are sterile, just sting.

10. Bees see all colors except the color red. They also have a good sense of smell. These two senses help them find the flowers they need to collect pollen.

11. Pollen is a good food source for bees, and when the bees drop some of the pollen, they help with cross pollination. The relationship between the plant and the insect is called symbiosis.

12. Some types of bees die after they sting. Their stingers, which are attached to their abdomen, have little barbs or hooks on them. after they sting, the stinger stays in the victim, and when the bee tries to fly away, part of the abdomen is ripped off.

13. Bees are currently in danger and suffering from something called colony collapse disorder. This means the worker bees in a hive disappear. Without worker bees, the colony dies.



Some info from:
http://www.pestworldforkids.org/bees.html

The photos are mine.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 299th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

In Search of Junes Gone By

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday. She would have been 69 years old, which is not so old by today's standards. However, she died when she was 56.

Recently, in early June, I turned 50. I tried to remember what happened when my mother turned 50. Did we take her to dinner? Throw her a party? I couldn't recall. That would have been 19 years ago. Maybe we let the day pass by, because my mother did not like to be reminded that she was growing older. She hated her birthday.

While I may not remember her 50th, I do remember her 55th birthday. That is when I realized that the stomachache she brought back from Paris was more than something she'd eaten. She had returned in early May complaining of a pain in her belly, and we all thought it was from traveling.

But when she was still complaining of it when I had her over for small gathering on her birthday, I knew something was up. It wasn't many days later that she went into the hospital and the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer came through.

Mom was a beautiful woman. She had an Elizabeth Taylor sort of beauty to her. She was skillful with makeup and never went out of the house without looking her best. She was not someone who went to Kroger in a jogging suit, no way. I don't think she even owned a pair of blue jeans for wearing around town; they were for gardening or working on the farm only.

My mother's birthday used to fall on the first day of summer; I don't know when they moved the day. I remember shopping for presents for her, looking for a pretty something with a quarter in my pocket. Until I could drive that was a very limited search. I think it mostly took place at Newberry's, which used to be a big five and dime department-like store in Salem. We spent summers with my grandmother, who lived in Salem, and we would walk to town.

I remember the shopping and the looking, and I can see my mother's face as she tried to look happy with whatever I purchased, but I can't for the life of me remember a single present I gave her. It must have been just so much trash, you know. A hand mirror, maybe, or a small jewelry box, or some little trinket. Life is full of little trinkets, isn't it? Easily forgotten. It is the doing I remember - trying so to find just the right thing.

My mother worked up until she was 50. She started the job when she was 15, working as a file clerk for a company in Salem that made submarine parts or something like that, secret stuff for the government. She worked at the receptionist desk and even though she had been with the company for over 35 years when she left, her title was still file clerk. I have always thought that was pretty sad, but how heroic, really, to have stayed there all of those years, working the same job.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and I see pieces of my mother. I have her hands. I do not look like her; I certainly do not have her beauty. I have never worried about my looks like she did, and while I seldom go out without makeup (I got that from her), I do tend to dress down more often than not. Most people do these days. I look in the mirror now and I see that I am starting to wrinkle, and I have a few skin things. My hair has been gray for a dozen years. My mother colored hers up until the last - her hair never fell out from the cancer treatments. That was how my grandmother knew they weren't working, she said.

My mother's last June was a terrible one. She was sick and in pain, and though we didn't know it, only two months from dying. We knew it was going to happen. In her last June they stopped the treatments because there was no point, and she didn't want to give up. She was angry with the doctors for not being able to treat her, to fix her, to make it all better. She fought to the last, all through June, but it was near the end of the month when we had to call the rescue squad and they took her from home for the last time. She died in August.

June has always been a month of birthdays for my family. At one time we celebrated in June the birthdays of my brother, myself, my uncle, my maternal grandmother, my paternal grandfather, and my mother. After I married a June boy we also celebrated his. 

Once my mother made me a cake shaped like a butterfly. I have a photo of it somewhere; I think I was ten. A special cake for a decade of life. Again, it's the doing that I recall, that action, my mom making me that cake.

I wonder what she would have thought of me this year, my turning 50. Would she have felt old, having a daughter so ancient? She was very young when she had me, too young, really, to be mothering a child. Women do it every day but that doesn't mean they should. We had a rocky relationship, my mom and I. Would she look back now at my life and say, yes, daughter, you accomplished much? Or would it be meaningless because it wasn't her dreams for me? I don't know.

Fifty-six seemed young to me when I was 37, the age I was when my mother died, and it seems even younger to me now, with the age just six years off. Six years to live the rest of my life - I hope not. But you never know. You can't know. When my mother turned 50 she didn't know she had only six more years.

So many Junes under my belt. So many Junes my mother has not seen in these years since she passed away. Time flows by like a gentle breeze, so soft on our skin we don't even notice it. Then we look back and it's like a tornado, the memories all swirling and tossed about. Who can make sense of it after such a torrent of time? Not me. Not you. No one, really. It is what it is, another June gone by.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short - Meme Questions

The Weird Question Meme, Part Two

Q. What is your ring size?

A. I don't know.

Q. How often do you wear jewelry? 

A. Every day. I always wear a watch and a wedding band. Usually I also have on earrings and a necklace.

Raisins in gin

Q. When was the last time you consumed alcohol? 

A. If you count gin-soaked raisins, yesterday. If not, then I had a little wine in 2011. Generally I don't drink alcohol.

Q. Any big plans for the summer?

A. Nope. I am teaching a class this summer at the community college. 

Q. What is your favorite comfort food? 

A. Chocolate. Followed by potato chips.

Q. Do you prefer broccoli or asparagus?

A. Broccoli. 

Q. What color are your bedroom walls?

A. Eggshell. Or maybe the bedroom is moonlight and the living room eggshell. It is one or the other. 


One of my "children"

Q. With whom do you live?

A. My husband, a herd of cows, crickets, stink bugs, deer, coyotes, foxes, and bears. We live on a farm.

Q. Which Star Wars movie is your favorite?

A. The last one. Return of the Jedi.

Q. How about Harry Potter?

A. How about him. He's an all around good guy but Hermione is the real wizard. If you are asking which movie I liked the best, I'd go with the first one. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. 

Q. What was the last movie you saw in theaters?

A. The Hobbit. 

Q. Did you get the popcorn or candy?

My husband bought a bag of popcorn and a soft drink. I bought a bottle of water. 

Q. What is the most romantic text in your inbox?

A. I don't text. Besides, I don't even have anything romantic in my email. 

Q. Have you ever played miniature golf on a date? 

A. My husband and I play miniature golf on dates when we are at the beach.

Q. What’s a phrase you overuse?

A. "That's interesting." It's my polite way of saying, "What the hell are you talking about?" 

Q. Do you always use good grammar?

A. Usually I do in my writing. I speak southern, though. Ain't much good grammar in saying, "Y'all come, we're goin' over yonder, uhwanto?

Q. Do you have an accent or a speech impediment? 

A. See above. I have an Appalachian accent.

Q. What did you eat today?

A. So far I have had a glass of tea and a little chocolate. 

Q. What do you do at work?

A. I write. I make phone calls. I stare out the window. I research things. I create power points. I make websites. I read.

Q. Do you know the rules to any sports?

A. Yes. I know a little about football, NASCAR, tennis, golf, basketball, etc. How could you not know a little bit about that sort of thing? It is all over the TV.

Q. Do you prefer to watch or play sports?

A. Neither. 

Q. What is your favorite kind of hat to wear?

A. I used to wear a big floppy leather hat. Nowadays I seldom wear a hat. 

Q. Do you pray?

A. Getting personal, aren't you? But yes. 

Q. To whom do you pray?

A. Nobody's business but my own. 

Q. What is the closest mountain to your house? 

A. Tinker Mountain.

Q. What size engine is in your vehicle?

A. It's a four cylinder. 

Q. What do you need to do tomorrow?

A. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and I need to make sure I have everything for class on Wednesday.



These questions are from Sunday Stealing.

Life Events

My father giving a speech at my nephew's graduation party yesterday.
Happy Father's Day!

My nephew and his father, Loren, my brother.

My sweetie enjoying a rare moment of not working. Love you!

My step-mother, Rita.

Trey with his cake.

The nephew opening presents.

Yesterday we celebrated Trey's graduation from high school. He is going to college this fall.

A Day in the Life of a Rose

Thursday morning I noticed that one of my roses was readying to open. The sky, too, was going to open up later in the day. I decided to take pictures of the rose until the rains came.

First thing in the morning.



Just a little later.



Blooming out mid-morning.



Reaching for the sun.



Full bloom a little after noon.



Around 4 p.m., after the wind and rain.



This morning (Saturday). The rose had tinged pink.

Congratulations, Nephew!

My handsome nephew, Trey, graduated from James River High School in Buchanan Wednesday night!

He will be attending Roanoke College this fall. He plans to major in Health and Human Behavior or something like that. I'm not 100 percent certain I have that correct.

Here are some shots of the graduation ceremony:

The proud father, my brother, watching the ceremony.

My niece, Zoe, and my nephew, Corey, happy for their brother!

Trey is in the second row, peeking around a fellow graduate.

The school superintendent has his say.

My nephew Trey receiving acclaim for scholarships and awards!

An overview of the gym were the ceremonies were held.

At the end, the graduates let loose with silly string!

Boy did they make a mess.
 

Here is a video my husband took of the moment when Trey received his diploma:



Congratulations, Trey!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things that make me smile . . .


1.

Butterflies

2.

History

3.

Books

4.

Small towns

5.

My life with my husband

6.

Wildlife outside my door

7.

Parades

8.

Interesting landscapes

9.

Fried green tomatoes!

10.

Fresh veggies

11.

Fireworks!

12.

Birthdays!

13.

Flowers

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 298th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Books by Richard Paul Evans

A Winter Dream
By Richard Paul Evans
Copyright
Read by Fred Berman
Approximately 6 hours


Lost December
By Richard Paul Evans
Copyright 2011
Read by John Dossett
Approximately 6 hours

Richard Paul Evans is nothing if not formulaic. These two books are almost interchangeable in plot, though they are based on two different Biblical premises. The first, A Winter Dream, is a rewriting of the tale of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors. The second, Lost December, is a rewriting of the prodigal son.

In both books, the young up-and-coming son leaves home, runs into trouble, finds himself again, and returns home. The only difference is that in A Winter Dream, Joseph is forced to leave home, and in Lost December, Luke leaves home by his own choice.

In each book, the short chapters begin with a line from the protagonist's diary. He also does this in his series The Walk.

Since I listened to these back-to-back, it was not hard for me to see the similarities in these books.

However, Evans writes well and tells a good story. His main character is always interesting, even if these two fellows were nearly interchangeable. He always has a happy and satisfying ending, even if you have to wonder if things like that really happen (and you know they usually don't).

Evans gives us hope in his stories. That, I think, is why he is such a successful author. He helps the readers think that maybe, just maybe, all that is wrong in their lives will somehow turn out all right in the end.

If you are a feminist, you might find these stories lacking. Women are not generally front and center in these books, and do not come off well. In both books there is a girlfriend who deserts the boy and destroys his faith in humanity, and another woman who is sweet and kind and worthy of him. Women also tend to hold traditional jobs in Evans' stories - they are secretaries and waitresses.

Even though there are some things about Evans's books I don't like, I have to give him a solid rating of 3.5 - 4 when I review him, simply because the stories are solid and well written. They also make me feel something, usually, and that means a lot.