June 27, 2014 Tree & Dog Torture & A Baker

Our tree tortured by the clothes line!

The baker & the tipi

Wednesday 6/25.  I love how the girls usually "announce" to the world when they lay an egg.  So proud!

Just noticed while I was hanging up the laundry today that the rope around the small tree is now way too tight!  Had to take it down and retie it.  I feel terrible about that.  

We used the tractor bucket to move the white water barrel from the porch to the hen house.  It still had about 20 gallons in it.  We have to put wood under the edges of all the barrels to allow expansion at the bottom when the water freezes.  The bottom rounds out and the barrel won't stay upright.

Then JB mowed north of the outhouse.  Looks so nice, and makes the area look a lot larger.

After lunch we worked on cutting all the poles for the baker (tent).  Had a lot of pieces left over that I was going to use for fire wood, but I am sure we can use them for building something instead.

Dark clouds floated over and filled the sky.  It looked threatening, but we didn't get any rain or hear any thunder.

Thursday 6/26.  I left at 7:30 am this morning to take the dogs Down There for their annual torture session with the vet.  At least that's Dinga's opinion of the visit.  Thank goodness it is only once a year!  Was back home by 10:00 am and taking a nap to recuperate by noon. . .

After a late lunch, we put the baker up.  Lots of great memories with that lodge.  About ten minutes after we finished there was a very LOUD clap of thunder just to the west of us.  Most of the rain fell to the north but we got about a 20 minute shower.  No more thunder though.  Our high for the day was 72.

Miss Kitty needed to be used so I drove her north of the tipi and filled her up with wood from down the slope.  There is lots of branch wood down there that I keep forgetting about and it needs to be cleaned up.

I have discovered that the girls love dandy lion greens and miner's lettuce.  Both are nutritious and all free!  The lettuce is almost all gone, but I doubt we will run short of dandy lions any time soon.  The girls are so much a part of our life Up Here already that I just can't picture being without them.  Blondie loved the nesting boxes from the first day they were here.  She even sleeps in them at night while Betty and Belinda sleep on the top roost, usually one facing the back and one facing the front.

Randy left a message on my phone just after he finally saw his first moose.  I have put Claudia and Nene on notice that I am not leaving Idaho until I see one!

Friday 6/27. It is 53 and over cast this morning.  One week from today is July 4th already!  So far we only have two people coming to our family picnic.  Last year we had more than twenty, ranging from six months old to 91 years old.

Regarding the comments on my last posting, these elderly inhabitants can get by just fine with no hand rails, thank you!

As far as being fed up with the government, I too am sure they will figure out a way to make it worse.  I simply do not understand the greed, corruption and the hunger for power.  Am so glad I am Up Here, even though there is no way to completely escape their madness.  But even with all my complaining, this is still the only country in which I want to live.

Thought for the day: For who can endure a doctrine which would allow only dentists to say whether our teeth ache, only cobblers to say whether our shoes hurt us, and only government to tell us whether we are being well-governed?  C.S. Lewis